One of the coolest things about our C&C campaign, the Brown Trousers, was the unique magic items I handed out.
My favorite of all was the Boots of Mighty Ass-Kicking. A person wearing the boots had to get behind and enemy, roll a hit, and would then kick the enemy like 2d6 inches (20-120 feet) forward, doing some damage in the process and knocking them prone at the end.
Another was the Maul of Mighty Pile-Driving, which if it hit on a called shot to the head would drive an enemy into the earth up to his head. It was also useful for building stockades and wooden buildings.
In our 4e campaign, Irongate, I really liked the mummifed head of the prophet Hystrix, which could talk and give advice and information to the party.
Back in my college days, my roommate Pete created a magic sword for this guy. Every time the sword hit an evil priest or wizard, it would turn the caster into a puddle of green slime. What the user didn't realize was that this would also summon a demon who would show up several days later and beat the living crap out of the user and then depart. He never made the connection.
One of the reasons I like AD&D 1e is that there's a huge list of magic items, and they aren't necessilarily tied to effects and abilities that players can do with spells and skills. 4e has an impressive list of items too, but they just seem too constrained and forced to fit into the mathematical model. I want my magic items to be awesome and not just buffs.
I love unique magic items. I've always felt that one of the weaknesses of D&D is the really bland feel of just a +1 widget of generic offense/defense. Playing Neverwinter Nights game on the PC, they have the regular plus whatever weapons and armor, but they have a very wide array of magic weapons and armor of various strengths that frequently have unique abilities or combinations of abilities, along with a short history/description of the item.
ReplyDeleteOne campaign I played in, the DM gave my dwarf fighter a magic axe I called 'Crippler'. It was something along the lines of a Sword of Sharpness, except it would only disable opponents, like giants it would cut off toes and tendons so they couldn't move as easily or have as much reach against me.
One of my favorite purchases many years ago was the Encyclopedia Magica. Basically it was a complete list of every magic item from every official game book (like the DMG or Unearthed Arcana), game module, game magazines (like Dungeon, Dragon, and Polyhedron), and a bunch of other places I can't quite recall. In five volumes of the book it has every version of every magic item from OD&D, 1e, and 2e (about the time the set was published) put together in categories listing their original appearance, and has a gigantic magical loot table.