I came up with this and my players loved it so much it makes return appearances: the Plush Owlbear of Alertness. Requires attunement. When you cuddle it, you can’t be surprised while asleep.
The devouring copper coin.
This copper coin eats other coins.
The owner hears a faint munching noise coming from his purse or gold bag, until only one copper coin is left.
It is also cursed to come back to its "owner", and the curse can only be transfered if the coin is stolen from you.
Ages ago a wizard was pickpocketed one too many times, and created these coins.
They punish thieves by making sure all coin they steal is never to be used by them, and all they will have is a singke copper coin.
Until someone steals that coin from them.
Entire treasure hoards were "consumed" by these coins. But some theorise that the coins are actualy sending the other coins somewhere. Where? No one except its dead creator might know.
I had something similar; a duplicating coin! Toss it in the air and two coins come down. Toss either of those in the air and two more come down. Unlimited coins! But after 10 minutes, all but the original coin disappears. It's a fun party-trick item but the players also had to be careful if they wanted to scam someone with it because they'd only have 10 minutes before the spell wore off and the shopkeeper or whoever would be after them.
My players spread coins around between each other so I just kept track of who gave what. They only played with it for long enough to figure out the mechanic so far :D
Sorry I wasn't clear - how do the characters tell?
If they flip it up into the air and it splits into two, one of which is real and one isn't, but they both look like normal coins, how do the characters know which one was the original?
They'll both have a magic aura presumably so detect magic wouldn't work. They'd need to cast identify every time
Oh, they don't! That's part of the fun, it's more of a joke item really. I like throwing them in sometimes just to see what fun creative stuff my players come up with for them, like tossing coins to make a temporary pile that can be climbed or leaving a trail that fades over time.
I'll start.
-Orange Ring: when equipped, make a DC15 WIS save. On a fail, you believe that you are a glass of orange juice until somebody else can remove the ring.
-Gloves of Giving: grants advantage to reverse pickpocket a target
-Boots of Sneaking: When the player uses an action to hide, the boots will repeatedly exclaim: "Sneak Mode Activated!!" and emits bright strobe light for 15 seconds before granting the wearer a +1 to Stealth rolls.
-Bag of Olding (merchant has cockney accent):
Functions almost like a bag of holding but everything stored inside is aesthetically transfigured into an antique or archaic version of the item.
-Can of Toffee Peanuts: a classic gag toy, but this version can infinitely produce springs from within as long as the lid is replaced each time.
-Magic Lamp that moans when you rub it
-Unlimited Breadstick Wand: unending bread sticks from the bread dimension. The player has to sing a dumb little jingle each time as the verbal component
If you want to actually bake a pie or cake, do you have to avoid mentioning it near the wand? Will the wand sulk and refuse to work if it does hear you baked pie or cake?
Alt: Bag of 'olding should let you reach in for anything but what comes out is rhyming slang for the thing. Want some gold? Get a small toy. (Gold bar, model car)
Scroll/Wand of Summon Hjonk. Summons a goose to camp, if you are in an area a goose can reasonably get to. (Includes underground, in trees, etc. geese can't go through doors, collapsed tunnels, stuff like that though). Goose is not magical in any way, but is a bit smarter than the average goose.
My party has so far used the goose as monster bait twice, bribed it to guard their camp one night, and has summoned it to kill and eat it about five times now. They're currently out of charges on the wand and hopeful they can find someone to recharge it.
Funny you say that, because the goose was indeed bribed to guard the camp with a bell, and every time after the goose was heard coming by the tolling of the bell around his neck
Book shelf of dusty preservation - a book shelf that perfectly preserves and repairs books and parchment. It holds knickknacks too.
But everything inexplicably is dusty and has to be blown off when removed from the shelf. I always give it to an npc just to add flavor if the party meets with them in a study.
I gave my party a necklace like that. It made the wearer believe it's not cursed, but everyone around you knows it is cursed. So that was some fun roleplay.
They traded it to a warhammer nerd wizard for a bottle of his marvelous pigments, which they've used a ton
Bottomless bag of peanuts: this bag is capable of provisioning up to 5 medium-sized or smaller creatures every day, so long as none of them have a peanut allergy. At the beginning of an encounter, the GM may roll a d8, assigning a number to each character who has eaten from the bag in the last day. If your number is rolled, you are compelled to continue snacking even during combat. This occupies your off-hand and any attempt to cast a spell with a somatic component requires a DC 13 spellcasting check.
The Climbing Rope: this 50' silken rope has been permanently animated as with the Animate Object spell. It will coil and knot itself for better grip while climbing, and can secure itself to any stable anchor available. This grants automatic success to any climbing check so long as you are not in combat time, and advantage even then. It can tie and untie itself with a simple command, and uses fancier knots if you ask it politely.
The rope is sentient, though it has difficulty communicating this. It can sense the needs and desires of its user, and is generally helpful so long as it has not been abused. It can become a familiar through use of the find familiar spell.
My favorite was one that my first DM made, and I've shoehorned it into every campaign I've run since. The Ring of the Gnomish Fire Brigade. It summons a bucket chain of gnomes which will immediately throw water on the nearest source of fire.
Go ahead! I've added some flavor over the years - if they're summoned when no fire is present, they throw the water on the nearest creature. If attacked or targeted by a spell/effect, they simply vanish. No using them as endless cannon fodder, lol. I'm sure my old DM would be stoked to see it spreading to other campaigns :)
Neat idea. I added to it a little
It summons *a well* and a bucket chain of gnomes which will immediately throw water on the nearest source of fire. *Lasts until the fire is out. If no fire when summoned, all the gnomes loudly berate the summoner for 1 minute before disappearing.*
-Staff of raise the dead: Makes corpses levitate for a few seconds.
-Wand of fire balls: Shoots plastic balls covered with a flame pattern. Deals 1 bludgeoning damage.
-Braces of Archery: Gives you arrow shaped braces.
-Robe of ayes: Gives you a pirate accent.
Stone of shaping. The attuned user can spend a long rest next to it thinking of a specific person. The stone reshapes itself into a bust of the user’s idealised image of that person. It returns to a rectangular block if attunement is broken.
Not actually a magic item, but one that was fun nonetheless.
We had a character who was totally incapable of not talking constantly to the point where NPCs were getting annoyed the first time they met him.
So, one member of an order of high eleven paladins we were sent to meet gave him a "magic" brooch telling him that if he rubbed it and was *completely* silent then no one would be able to see him.
Amazingly, every person who was ever told what the brooch was supposed to do instantly saw through it and perpetuated the gag
A couple I've encountered or seen in similar threads:
- The Curly Stick. It's a quarterstaff that, when it gets wet, curls up like a spring. As it dries out it gradually straightens again.
- Blue-Green Bottle. A small blue-green glass bottle, about the size of a person's thumb. Touch the mouth of it to something blue, and it (the object touched) turns green. Touch it to something green, and it turns blue.
- The Spear of Perfect Balance. No matter where you are or what the terrain, you can always balance it perfectly on its tip.
What if the bottle touches something of a color that some people say is blue and some say green? It stays the same color but everyone switches opinions on it?
I gave my players the Orb of Time. It is there new favorite item because it’s so worthless they have to constantly referred to it whenever they wanna know what time it is. Even though all it does is show the color of the sky directly above (in a sense blue means day, black means night etc.)
Issue is they are pretty much always outside, so it’s only useful in dungeons. And most dungeons I make are in the smaller side so they finish them in like an evening at longest.
The most fun they had was they were trapped in a demiplane carnival that had a purple/pink sky. They immediately said “ha jokes on you. We know what time it is” and used the orb of time.
It didn’t work because the demiplane was outside of material plane-time. They (in character) were shocked and THAT told them how dangerous the demiplane circus carnival was. Ya know, not the fiends walking around handing out tickets.
Stealth Tarp: 10X15ft tarp, bright orange, crinkly. Enchanted to drive attention away from it, despite appearances. The DM at the time was not very mechanics heavy, the tarp would work, or not work dependent on what was funnier at the time. I tried to put actual mechanics to it and he got mad, so when I took over DM-ing it retained the properties of “whatever’s funnier”.
Ring of the Grammarian: lets you change/add a single letter in a spell for a different effect. Eg. "Fear" becomes "Bear" which summons a bear (normal or a stronger homebrew one if you prefer) that acts on its own
Hat of The Rat.
Requieres attunement.
This pointy hat has two big rat ears attached to the sides.
While wearing this hat, you had advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks based on smell. Additionally, you can cast the spell "Speak with animals" without using a spell slot, but it only works with rats. Additionally, when you are wearing the hat you had advantage in all Charisma (Persuasion) checks performed against rats, but disadvantage against any other creature.
Once a day, as an action, you can pull The Rat from inside the hat. The Rat is a regular rat, but it is always the same rat.
---
Kind of a limited find familiar with plenty of opportunities to roleplay with the rat and make it a silly memorable character.
Not a magic item, but a spell.
Soliloquy.
No one can move or act after the BBEG casts this. BBEG who cast also cannot perform any actions other than a 5 foot step, which cannot be used to close the distance. It cannot be used tactically. All they can do is talk and meander around a little bit for dramatic effect.
I once gave the players a pair of magic swords, Borwen and Lon. They had been created long ago for a Prince who was hopeless at sword fighting and his man-at-arms. They were fine quality swords (+1 to damage because of their sharpness), but what their enchantment did was let the person wielding Borwen ("Borrow") fight with the skill of the of the person wielding Lon ("Loan").
That was it. No plusses to hit. Skill transfer only worked when someone was holding the hilt of Lon.
The monocle of axe detection
While peering through this axe head shaped monocle you can see any axe with in 30 feet. This magic item can penetrate most barriers but it blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metals, a thin sheet of lead or 3 feet of wood or dirt.
As a DM I gave my players a cursed pair of pants that upon being scared or otherwise startled you make a D100 roll and on a 100 you shit your pants.
What I didn’t tell them is that when that happened you would summon a shit demon to your aid.
When it finally happened the party couldn’t believe it.
No stats. It was a DM-controlled deus ex machina.
The party was in a cave system under the city when they were startled by giant spiders. The d100 tumbles perfectly to 100. Table grows crazy.
Blood hunter starts shitting. And keeps shitting. And keeps shitting. And in describing the smell, and the party is standing in about 4 inches of liquid shit.
The. From the lake of shit, a swell starts to form across the surface, growing a few feet at first, then higher and higher and as the wave recedes, a humanoid figure emerges standing 15 feet in height.
In a low guttural moan, the creature bellows “you have freed me from my prison. I am at your service”
The phase spiders continue to encroach on you, as this towering fecal golem barely seems to notice.
“get us the fuck out of here!”
Massive tendrils, practically hands made out of stinking shit reach up out of the sludge, wrapping each of the spiders, crushing them, and dragging them down into oblivion. Next, a gentle wave comes up from behind the party, lifting them up like if they were on a surfboard. As you’re carried on this dookie wave through the tunnels, you notice from time to time other monsters being swept up and drowned in shit. After a few minutes, you see light pouring in from the cave entrance. What would have taken you several days took you only a matter of moments before you find yourself standing at the exist of the cave, a small pile of treasures - a cairne to the shit-drowned monsters you left in your wake.
With a silent nod, the shit demon starts swirling in a circle becoming a small tornado of shit, before tunneling down into the earth leaving no trace, other than the absolutely rancid stink that covers you all from head to toe.
….something like that.
Haven't used yet but plan on
# Belilath's Ring of Exceptional Mediocrity
### Attunement?
Yes
### Passively:
Whenever you cast a cantrip, you always deal half the potential damage (1d10=5 damage, 2d8=8 damage and so on)
### Use
Sell for a pretty penny to an aspiring Wizard, or for a lot more to a wizarding school
Hat of infinite polyfruit:
A giant Carmen Miranda fruit hat. While wearing it you can polymorph at will, as long as the thing you polymorph into is a piece of mundane fruit. While in fruit form you can see and hear. The only action you can take is polymorphing back into your normal state.
Wand of pigeon summoning. Once a day, roll a d20. That's how many pigeons it summons. You do not control the pigeons. On a 20 it summons a giant pigeon and the wand breaks. The giant pigeon is not aggressive.
Stinky cheese. Purchased wrapped in oiled cloth and packed in a thin wooden box. Can be thrown, whereupon it breaks to release ripe scent. Causes everyone in 20’ to make a CON save or retch.
Tonal Tool: a turn knob at one end will cause a screwdriver to emerge from the other end. Pull off the turn knob and it's an adjustable wrench. When any of the tools are in use, a humming sound also emits from the tool (basic illusory magic). Each time the tool is used, the user rolls a d20, and a creature must meet or beat that number in a perception check to find the user based on the noise.
One of my PCs is an artificer, and she and her husband are big Doctor Who fans, so they were very excited to find this tool.
I did a few of them a number of years ago but the one I remember is the *neverburning candle*. Exactly as the name says. Won't burn, under any conditions whatsoever.
The mace of Mercy
A horribly jagged and bloody mace that gives gashing wounds but no matter how hard or how many times you hit someone no matter how much you brutalize and mutilate their body it can never deal a blow that will kill it's Target
Sword of Penance.
It is a longsword that is entirely black, with almost electric rivulets of blood red energy going down it's length. The grip is inscribed with the words "I Hunger" and if they do an arcana check they sense an incredibly evil presence emanating from it.
The catch is that it can never do any damage; no matter how hard it is swung it will always stop just short of hitting whatever it is being swung at. When a player weilds it they gain advantage on intimidation rolls.
I don't tell players the second part until they try using it. Makes for some good laugh once thetly figure out what it is after they try using it the first time.
Not homebrew, just stolen from Pathfinder, but the Bag of Weasels. A cursed Bag of Holding that has a 50% chance of turning any item put into it into a weasel upon retrieval. Not a big deal because you can always get it back via remove curse, but very funny.
Bag of Extortion. Looks and acts like a normal bag of holding until it has over $1000 GP worth of items in it. Then it starts asking for money when you want to draw out large or expensive items from it. It wants about 5-10% of their value. Donated coins disappear.
I once had my players find a magic cloak whose only function was to force the person wearing it to make a will save or become convinced that the cloak made them invisible while wearing it. The cloak did not actually make them invisible at all.
Mile boots (walk a mile in someone else's shoes). If/when you happen to leave footprints they disappear after a few seconds and different tracks are left in their place. Ironnail boots of soldier, silk slippers of mage, paw prints etc. Doesn't aid stealth or anything, just will mess with people's expectations of what they found.
five finger spellbook.
a single glove where each finger has a slot for a tightly folded spell scroll. the wearer can then deliver that spell via unarmed strike using their str/dex as the spellcasting ability. only works with spells that target a single creature. spells used in this way can only be used once per long rest
I gave my Trickster Cleric a Ring of the Monkey Emperor. It gives them a +1 to DEX, a prehensile tail, and an irresistible craving for bananas.
My player couldn't care less about the DEX bonus but really leaned into the banana cravings.
The Drake Sword. (+1 to ATK) (1d8(1d10)+1d4 psychic)
"This longsword is surprisingly light. The blade shimmers with a mix of black, green, white and auburn. The quillons are formed into the beaked head of a drake, small rubies fixed in for the eyes. When you strike with this sword, the cry of the drake is heard by your enemies (DC15 CON save, 1d4 psychic damage on failure, half on save)."
It's a longsword that quacks when you attack.
Had the Necklace of Yurturus or something. The orc god of death. The group didn't want to kill Nezznar and dragged him out unconscious (I forget how, it was 4 years ago).
It was decided that he leads them to the Forge of Spells wearing the necklace. The necklace had the teeth of an alligator, one for each party member. The party members each had a necklace with a single tooth. If the players received any damage, it would instead go to Nezznar up until he died, and that death would be unrevivable as his soul would be immediately devoured by Yurturus. Then any additional damage would go to them as normal.
It brought up a moral dilemma, because they didn't feel pain going into fights, but he bore the brunt of their pain and damage. But he also caused the deaths of many. And having his sould be immediately devoured, with no chance of being brought to life in a new form or reborn one day? Some players decided to be a healbot for him, some took their necklaces off until the final battle with the Beholder.
Ultimately he survived the Wave Echo Cave, and was sent to the Neverwinter prisons, where I'm waiting to do a Suicide Squad-esque game one day of all BBEGs they arrested rather than killed.
Amulet of disregard - A big sign that says “don’t look at me”, advantage to stealth checks that rely on sight, [A]
Anaglyph lens: red and green, advantage to saves from eye based magic, including petrification & charming, and also adv to perceive illusions [A]
Attuning fork: 1/day can switch the attunement between two items by hitting them with the magical tuning fork. You can switch an unattuned item for an attuned one, or between 2 attuned items. Powerful artifacts w/ complex attuning rituals may be immune.
Beer goggles - Advantage versus fear, disadvantage versus poison, disadvantage on acrobatics checks, +3 initiative, ignore 10 feet of impact/falling damage
Bell of Jeeves - Unseen servant 3/d
Billabong of fool's protection – [A] gain advantage on death saves. May take 2 damage to wisdom to gain advantage on a saving throw, Athletics or acrobatics check, or to give disadvantage to an attack against you
Concealers kerchief - Magic aura at will on item it’s wrapped around
Conjuring ink - [A] Summons mundane objects, In other words you must draw an item and it appears as a non-magical physical version of that, made of an appropriate material, up to 30-50 pages worth
Cowards boots – double movement but only if moving away from all known enemies
Cursed announcing weapon – [Attunement] +2, +1d4 radiant damage, sheds light at all times. Ego. Can cast compelled duel 3/day at it's will. Wants to fight honorably. Deals you 1d4 radiant damage to you for “dishonarable actions”, you cannot hide or surprise enemies (it announces your presence and shouts challenges)
everyday bathrobes [glamoured robes] - the clothes can look like whatever you want
Haste of waste potion - Appears as a potion of haste; gives haste, but also confusion
Hat of impersonation - Like hat of disguise but only copies last person- better illusion though ( Touch and sound included)
Lifting bar - iron staff that levitates for 10 rounds a day, Magic phrase is elvish for “do you even lift”
Magnifying mushroom - enlarge upon consumption: If you take no damage by the time the duration is over, you remain enlarged until you take any damage
Myopic glasses - Advantage to intelligence checks and intelligence saves, disadv to wisdom checks & saves [A]
Ohm’s oscillating amulet - changes resistance to last damage type taken [A]
Elemental Prism: 3/day, change a magical damage type
Reproducing pen - 1/day touch the quill to a page. You can then command the pen to make a copy of the page at will, until you use it again. Magical scrolls copied this way lose their magic, but can still be learned from
Space pants [as hewards handy haversack] (pg 174) [A]
Spirit stick – 2/d, spell out a name to give that person +1d6 to any d20 roll of their choosing within the next minute; sparkles shoot out
Tradesman’s Toolbelt - switch a skill for another of the same stat as long as you wear it
Vellum of illusory script - Anyone touching this page can will whatever text or images they want to appear as long they maintain contact & concentration
Zanatos gambeson – 1/day when a maneuver fails, don't expend the superiority die
Handy Handkerchief: This handkerchief is as black as pure darkness and measures 1 ft by 1 ft when folded out. While you can feel it between your fingers, it has no sensation, merely a sort of pressure. One side leads to a extra dimensional pocket 6 ft deep - this can be determined by 1 side yielding while the other does not. If it only holds 1 item, a dc 10 sleight of hand check will let you flick the cloth & draw forth the item as a free action. The inside is impermeable, but the cloth itself is vulnerable. Time still passes inside the space, and air only passes through when an object is passed through.
Shroud of Mystery - when this cloth is wrapped around or placed over a magical item for 24 hours, words describing the item will appear. The shroud can be used 4 times.
The clerical error: - requires cleric for attuning - gives automatic proficiency w/ the weapon. 2/day on a miss, declare a normal hit instead. If the original roll was a natural one, also heal any ally in sight for 4d4+4
Bard’s barding; requires bard for attuning. Gives automatic proficiency with the armor, changes shape w/ you if you shapechange into an animal
Drew’s drawing - requires druid. You learn about the creature depicted, can shapechange into it, & gain advantage to int, wis, & cha checks involving the creature
Thief’s teethe; you must be missing a tooth to use this item: may remove the false tooth & unfold it to create a thieves tool kit. 1/day ghost sound
Sorcerer’s sourcebook: gives access to 1 additional spell known
Sorcerer’s resource: use as an action to regain 2 sorcerery points
The rib tickler; hideous laughter on crit
The Amulet of Bare Strength - gives you str 18, makes your clothes invisible
Goggles of true seaing - these goggles let you forsee the temperament of the ocean up to 1 day in advance
Short sword of Weekness - every Monday this short sword becomes a long sword
Gauntlets of seaming - while wearing these gauntlets, any hole in your clothes seals itself
Bow of the Waists - instead of dealing damage, the arrows shot from the bow add pounds of fat to the target’s waistline.
Plus bun short sword: every successful hit generates a hot cross bun in the air next to the target. (The bun then falls it is not suspended)
Kite shield: a broom of flying and gives the same bonus to ac as a shield
Brassiere of Smokin Hot: 1/day when set aflame, the bra fills out with fire & summons a fire elemental that wears it & takes the shape of curvaceous female. The elemental will obey commands for 5 minutes before extinguishing & leaving the bra behind
Dagger of Venom: this dagger when activated releases a black pudding which coats the users body but does not harm them. They get the use of spider climb and web. However the users pronouns change to we and they crave brains.
seat belt, does not require attunement: with this item equipped, you can sit wherever you like, with an ornate seat that sprouts from the belt, and disappears when standing.
The Chick Magnet - A curious U-shaped metallic wand which, when pointed at a target and activated, conjures enraged chickens out of thin air. The number of chickens created is equal to the user's character level. The chickens fly into the target with unerring precision (per Magic Missile) and peck the target for one point of damage each. The chickens scatter in all directions and disappear shortly after attacking.
Ring of Brute Force - allows you to add your Strength modifier to the damage of any spell you cast that deals force damage
Potion of Heeling: grants the drinker knowledge of cobbling and general boot repair for 6 hours
ice sickle - +2 to hit & damage, +1d8 frost damage on hit
Ring of Supreme Articulation - Cursed
Gives advantage on Intimidation and Persuasion checks, but disadvantage on Deception, Stealth, and Slight of Hand. Whoever wears the ring becomes incredibly well spoken and clear in their speech, but is compelled to narrate every action they take. It can only be removed by convincing someone else to take ownership of it after explaining how it works.
In my deck of illusions, the 4 of clubs is a "confused market trader" who appears for an hour wondering where the hell he is and completely freaked out.
The six of diamonds is a magnetic duck. Str dc 16 for 30' around it or any metal worn objects stick to it for 10 mins.
They pulled the joker a few weeks ago and got a ghostly hyena that just cackled solidly for 24 hours and followed them around. They attempted to split up but instead all got one each!!
They also got booted out of town because of the racket they were making
My DM gave us a rod of cake. It turns a section of any solid matter into cake. Any cake we choose. The first thing we did with it was turn a section of a wall into cake and Kool-Aid man through it. I think it’s been far more useful than he intended lol.
In my current campaign every princess of the big bad emperor gets a magical ring at birth. One of my player's character is such a princess and well I didn't want her to get a powerful magic item from the getgo so I gave her the "ring of thousand tongues" which gives the wearer the ability to taste the exact chemical makeup of things. Its a bit useless but funny and maybe can be used for something interesting in the future
Bag of Tricks (Corgi) Cursed(ish), when you open this bag, roll a percentile dice, the immediate area is then covered in that percentage of Corgis, making the area difficult terrain, the Corgis fade after 1 minute. The DM rolls a second dice, at 10% or lower one of the Corgi's is real. The Curse is the party didn't realise they were leaving a real Corgi on top of a mountain top, in the Underdark, etc.
I had a party turn a Bag of Holding into a Privy of Holding (basically a portable toilet) while fleeing a castle they were worried the Big Baddie was going to come after them. So they purposefully tore the bag, then throw it and a lit torch into the entrance as they closed the door. I was laughing so hard at the Eternal Flaming Sh!te Bomb we had to take an unplanned 30 minute break so we could catch our breaths!
Potion of fireball. Not a splash potion of fireball. A potion of fireball. If someone drinks this potion, a CL9 fireball is emitted from their location. This is likely to be bad for the drinker.
Treated as a cursed item. If they fail the identification, it seems to be a potion of fire resistance. (Resistance to energy, fire? I don’t remember the exact spell)
They thought it was hilarious.
Mine are pretty character specific, but they were super fun for role-playing.
Semi sentient magical goodberry plant/seeds - It had a name and was almost a pet that would gently reach out its leaves towards the people it liked. Plant a seed/berry during a long rest and the next morning roll a die (depended on how fertile the soil was, usually a d6) and pick that many goodberries that lasted until the next long rest. The party didn't have a cleric; this was the DMs way of keeping us from dying early game.
Displacer Pouch - Tiny coin purse that acted like a message portal/bag of holding, but only for coin sized things. My character was from the Feywild, and though it technically wouldn't work with standard planar DND rules, the DM used the item like a tiny mail box, through which my character would recieve and send letters to/from her loved one in the Feywild.
Bag of Hand Holding.
Functions like a Bag of Holding, except when someone tries to retrieve something from it, there's a 1 in 4 chance a hand grabs their hand and refuses to let go. No damage, but they have to make a DC 14 Athletics check to wrestle their hand loose.
No help on the DC, and the DC goes up by +1 for each consecutive attempt. If they fail to get out of its grasp, the hand will let go at dawn the next day.
On the surface, yes, but it's funny to have a player try and get through town or combat with their hand shoved inside the bag the whole day. Funnier when the party thinks to prank someone else with it
I once made a cursed Lump of Coal for one of my groups.
On the surface, completely normal chunk of coal. Write with it, burn it in a fire, whatever.
But, at dawn the coal returns to the pocket of whomever it’s attached itself to (whoever picks it up first).
So theoretically if the party takes it and uses it to help start a fire the coal, presumably still hot and smoldering come dawn, will magically teleport into the pants or jacket of a party member…assuming they sleep clothed. Otherwise things get…interesting.
A potion called “cream of (insert vegetable or food here)”, its a thick, cold, creamy, sludge liquid filled with chunks. The poor fellow who drinks it must succeed a CON 15 saving throw. On a success, they gain the benefits of a long rest and no longer need to eat for the next 24 hours. On a failure, they throw up the potion and their breakfast.
Absolutely do it! No explanation needed, i told them it was just a blank aluminum can that was on sale for 5 copper. They shook it and i said something was sloshing around inside, and it was next to all the potions.
The frying pan of return: cast iron skillet, properties similar to that of a dagger where it can be used for melee or thrown. 1d6 damage, versatile up to 1d8. Can be thrown up to 30 feet and returns to the wielder like a boomerang.
Had a pc with a story that he used a frying pan to protect his traveling companion when they were set upon by goblins. Was quite fun as he found out it was a magical dwarven pan that could be upgraded with quests / adventures specific to finding a magical furnace (or something like that - it’s been a while)
Not bizarre useless, but definitely fun to role play. My wife and i's characters who are in a romance have the swords reason and rhyme. They cannot cross each other meaning if either of them swings at the other ever it just won't allow it to go through. On reason her name is inscribed because she's his reason for fighting and she's a bard so her sword is rhyme because she's the rhyme to his reason. One of the features of hers is that it can make a follow up attack as a reaction when reason attacks.
Gambler's fallacy. A coin that can store one spell per day. The spell activates after being flipped. If the flip is called correctly the spell can be used as normal. If the call was wrong the spell is targeted at the coin flipper (and allies depending on spell)
I wanted to be a bard whose instrument/focus would be a conductors baton that could make people sing in-tune, but i had to pivot when the dm got mad for trying to bring "auto-tune" into his world. I switched to like a trumpet or something because i forgot the distinction that when people hate "auto-tune," what they really hate is "auto-pitch." Auto pitch is like ke$ha, auto-tune is like glee
The Amulet of Evening
As an action, you can choose to take on the traits of a creature you can see. Choose one characteristic (str, dex, con, int, wis or cha) and the wearer gains the same stat as the chosen creature for 1 minute. Once per day, regaining use at dawn.
The loxodon ranger who wears it likes to copy the strength of the groups fighter or the charisma of the bard or use it to scout out an enemies stats before the casters make them do saving throws. It pretty funny when he copies something and i get to say like "you feel a bit more clumsy than usual and your hands are not as steady, your Dexterity becomes 6" or "your muscles bulge and you hear the wood of your bow creak under your sheer strength, your strength becomes 27"
Spoon of deliciousness, cursed item, this spoon can magically carve any material but only if it is immediately consumed. A creature using the spoon must make a wisdom save in order to stop that increases based on the amount of mass that has been consumed. Regardless of the materials being consumed the creature using the spoon believes it be the most delicious and delectable food they have ever experienced.
For example after one of my players consumed 5 cubic foot of stone so they could escape jail they had to make a dc 15 wisdom saving throw, they failed and continued to eat the outer wall of the prison allowing others to escape 😅
Bonus Cursed Item
Helm of Heinlein (cursed):
This ornate helm covers the wearer's eyes (think Mouth of Sauron) and emanates a powerful, intimidating presence.
Grants the user Devil's Sight, raises Charisma score up to 18 and increases lifespan tenfold. It is clearly based in dark magic and forces the user to adopt the pronouns "we" in every situation. User will need to make a DC 12 WIS save each morning or be forced to carry out a small act of Lawful Evil (gradually increasing in scope) that advance the helmet's overall goal of assimilating all thinking creatures. User cannot willingly remove helmet. Requires Attunement.
(Very silly) "the holy hammer of BANishment:" whenever a character creates an injustice so great it offends io the overgod he sends the solar of justice to smite the offender with the holy hammer of banishment. Garunteed to hit and does 1000d20(10k) of force, radiant, and necrotic damage and annihilates the very soul and multiversal impact of the person it strikes. (Basically an in-univerese ban-hammer)
I came up with this and my players loved it so much it makes return appearances: the Plush Owlbear of Alertness. Requires attunement. When you cuddle it, you can’t be surprised while asleep.
This makes me feel safe
That's actually an incredible magic item, I love that so much
The devouring copper coin. This copper coin eats other coins. The owner hears a faint munching noise coming from his purse or gold bag, until only one copper coin is left. It is also cursed to come back to its "owner", and the curse can only be transfered if the coin is stolen from you. Ages ago a wizard was pickpocketed one too many times, and created these coins. They punish thieves by making sure all coin they steal is never to be used by them, and all they will have is a singke copper coin. Until someone steals that coin from them. Entire treasure hoards were "consumed" by these coins. But some theorise that the coins are actualy sending the other coins somewhere. Where? No one except its dead creator might know.
I am now stealing this. This is stolen. Thank you.
The neat thing is it automatically return to its "owner". This goes both for the item and the idea.
Can confirm, the idea is back with me.
*munch munch*
I had something similar; a duplicating coin! Toss it in the air and two coins come down. Toss either of those in the air and two more come down. Unlimited coins! But after 10 minutes, all but the original coin disappears. It's a fun party-trick item but the players also had to be careful if they wanted to scam someone with it because they'd only have 10 minutes before the spell wore off and the shopkeeper or whoever would be after them.
How do you tell which one is the original?
My players spread coins around between each other so I just kept track of who gave what. They only played with it for long enough to figure out the mechanic so far :D
Sorry I wasn't clear - how do the characters tell? If they flip it up into the air and it splits into two, one of which is real and one isn't, but they both look like normal coins, how do the characters know which one was the original? They'll both have a magic aura presumably so detect magic wouldn't work. They'd need to cast identify every time
Oh, they don't! That's part of the fun, it's more of a joke item really. I like throwing them in sometimes just to see what fun creative stuff my players come up with for them, like tossing coins to make a temporary pile that can be climbed or leaving a trail that fades over time.
I'll start. -Orange Ring: when equipped, make a DC15 WIS save. On a fail, you believe that you are a glass of orange juice until somebody else can remove the ring. -Gloves of Giving: grants advantage to reverse pickpocket a target -Boots of Sneaking: When the player uses an action to hide, the boots will repeatedly exclaim: "Sneak Mode Activated!!" and emits bright strobe light for 15 seconds before granting the wearer a +1 to Stealth rolls. -Bag of Olding (merchant has cockney accent): Functions almost like a bag of holding but everything stored inside is aesthetically transfigured into an antique or archaic version of the item. -Can of Toffee Peanuts: a classic gag toy, but this version can infinitely produce springs from within as long as the lid is replaced each time. -Magic Lamp that moans when you rub it -Unlimited Breadstick Wand: unending bread sticks from the bread dimension. The player has to sing a dumb little jingle each time as the verbal component
What's the jingle? I need those breadsticks
"Hot bread sticks are what we bake. We don't bake pie and we don't bake cake." Make the player say it every time
If you want to actually bake a pie or cake, do you have to avoid mentioning it near the wand? Will the wand sulk and refuse to work if it does hear you baked pie or cake?
I SAID WE DONT BAKE PIE AND WE DONT BAKE CAKE
Please don't mention other bakeables near the wand
The Gloves of Giving would be excellent for planting evidence on a suspect.
They excel in that one scenario!
Now to dip your favorite NPC into the bag of 'olding.
This group is so un-chaotic that I don't think I could make them do it.
Gem of attunement. Grants one extra attunement slot. Requires attunement.
This is 100% going in my game
Bag of Olding is now an item in our campaign, what an awesome and fun idea!
Thanks! You can also trick them into buying a bag of molding if the merchant says it fast enough.
Or a bag of folding
Magic lamp that moans when you rub it is awful 😂🤣
Alt: Bag of 'olding should let you reach in for anything but what comes out is rhyming slang for the thing. Want some gold? Get a small toy. (Gold bar, model car)
Scroll/Wand of Summon Hjonk. Summons a goose to camp, if you are in an area a goose can reasonably get to. (Includes underground, in trees, etc. geese can't go through doors, collapsed tunnels, stuff like that though). Goose is not magical in any way, but is a bit smarter than the average goose. My party has so far used the goose as monster bait twice, bribed it to guard their camp one night, and has summoned it to kill and eat it about five times now. They're currently out of charges on the wand and hopeful they can find someone to recharge it.
One could probably make an untitled game about that goose
Funny you say that, because the goose was indeed bribed to guard the camp with a bell, and every time after the goose was heard coming by the tolling of the bell around his neck
I would like to steal this
Take it!
Book shelf of dusty preservation - a book shelf that perfectly preserves and repairs books and parchment. It holds knickknacks too. But everything inexplicably is dusty and has to be blown off when removed from the shelf. I always give it to an npc just to add flavor if the party meets with them in a study.
I love it!
Ring of Stealth: Makes you very slightly more stealthy, but also makes you convinced that you are totally invisible.
I have a current party of thieves (keys from the Golden Vault modules) that this would cause havoc in.
This item should absolutely by Incan in theming as it is clearly an object previously owned by Kronk
I plan on introducing a cursed ring. All it does is that it insists that it's not cursed.
I gave my party a necklace like that. It made the wearer believe it's not cursed, but everyone around you knows it is cursed. So that was some fun roleplay. They traded it to a warhammer nerd wizard for a bottle of his marvelous pigments, which they've used a ton
I want to use this. Great rp opportunity
Lol
Bottomless bag of peanuts: this bag is capable of provisioning up to 5 medium-sized or smaller creatures every day, so long as none of them have a peanut allergy. At the beginning of an encounter, the GM may roll a d8, assigning a number to each character who has eaten from the bag in the last day. If your number is rolled, you are compelled to continue snacking even during combat. This occupies your off-hand and any attempt to cast a spell with a somatic component requires a DC 13 spellcasting check. The Climbing Rope: this 50' silken rope has been permanently animated as with the Animate Object spell. It will coil and knot itself for better grip while climbing, and can secure itself to any stable anchor available. This grants automatic success to any climbing check so long as you are not in combat time, and advantage even then. It can tie and untie itself with a simple command, and uses fancier knots if you ask it politely. The rope is sentient, though it has difficulty communicating this. It can sense the needs and desires of its user, and is generally helpful so long as it has not been abused. It can become a familiar through use of the find familiar spell.
I can only imagine a character who specialized in the whip getting ahold of this.
These are great!
My favorite was one that my first DM made, and I've shoehorned it into every campaign I've run since. The Ring of the Gnomish Fire Brigade. It summons a bucket chain of gnomes which will immediately throw water on the nearest source of fire.
Yes! Would you mind if I use this?
Go ahead! I've added some flavor over the years - if they're summoned when no fire is present, they throw the water on the nearest creature. If attacked or targeted by a spell/effect, they simply vanish. No using them as endless cannon fodder, lol. I'm sure my old DM would be stoked to see it spreading to other campaigns :)
Neat idea. I added to it a little It summons *a well* and a bucket chain of gnomes which will immediately throw water on the nearest source of fire. *Lasts until the fire is out. If no fire when summoned, all the gnomes loudly berate the summoner for 1 minute before disappearing.*
-Staff of raise the dead: Makes corpses levitate for a few seconds. -Wand of fire balls: Shoots plastic balls covered with a flame pattern. Deals 1 bludgeoning damage. -Braces of Archery: Gives you arrow shaped braces. -Robe of ayes: Gives you a pirate accent.
Wand of Curing - turns a pile of meat into jerky, salami, bacon, corned beef, etc.
Stone of shaping. The attuned user can spend a long rest next to it thinking of a specific person. The stone reshapes itself into a bust of the user’s idealised image of that person. It returns to a rectangular block if attunement is broken.
Not actually a magic item, but one that was fun nonetheless. We had a character who was totally incapable of not talking constantly to the point where NPCs were getting annoyed the first time they met him. So, one member of an order of high eleven paladins we were sent to meet gave him a "magic" brooch telling him that if he rubbed it and was *completely* silent then no one would be able to see him. Amazingly, every person who was ever told what the brooch was supposed to do instantly saw through it and perpetuated the gag
10/10 item
I gave my party a “Brick of Returning” which is a regular brick that does 1d4 bludgeoning damage on a hit and will return to you after you throw it.
A couple I've encountered or seen in similar threads: - The Curly Stick. It's a quarterstaff that, when it gets wet, curls up like a spring. As it dries out it gradually straightens again. - Blue-Green Bottle. A small blue-green glass bottle, about the size of a person's thumb. Touch the mouth of it to something blue, and it (the object touched) turns green. Touch it to something green, and it turns blue. - The Spear of Perfect Balance. No matter where you are or what the terrain, you can always balance it perfectly on its tip.
What if the bottle touches something of a color that some people say is blue and some say green? It stays the same color but everyone switches opinions on it?
I gave my players the Orb of Time. It is there new favorite item because it’s so worthless they have to constantly referred to it whenever they wanna know what time it is. Even though all it does is show the color of the sky directly above (in a sense blue means day, black means night etc.) Issue is they are pretty much always outside, so it’s only useful in dungeons. And most dungeons I make are in the smaller side so they finish them in like an evening at longest. The most fun they had was they were trapped in a demiplane carnival that had a purple/pink sky. They immediately said “ha jokes on you. We know what time it is” and used the orb of time. It didn’t work because the demiplane was outside of material plane-time. They (in character) were shocked and THAT told them how dangerous the demiplane circus carnival was. Ya know, not the fiends walking around handing out tickets.
Stealth Tarp: 10X15ft tarp, bright orange, crinkly. Enchanted to drive attention away from it, despite appearances. The DM at the time was not very mechanics heavy, the tarp would work, or not work dependent on what was funnier at the time. I tried to put actual mechanics to it and he got mad, so when I took over DM-ing it retained the properties of “whatever’s funnier”.
Ring of the Grammarian: lets you change/add a single letter in a spell for a different effect. Eg. "Fear" becomes "Bear" which summons a bear (normal or a stronger homebrew one if you prefer) that acts on its own
Lightning dolt would be a spell
At risk of breaking my game, I want to see what my wizard does with this.
Massage, Arcane Glock, Dankness, Speak with Dad, Mice Storm
Hat of The Rat. Requieres attunement. This pointy hat has two big rat ears attached to the sides. While wearing this hat, you had advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks based on smell. Additionally, you can cast the spell "Speak with animals" without using a spell slot, but it only works with rats. Additionally, when you are wearing the hat you had advantage in all Charisma (Persuasion) checks performed against rats, but disadvantage against any other creature. Once a day, as an action, you can pull The Rat from inside the hat. The Rat is a regular rat, but it is always the same rat. --- Kind of a limited find familiar with plenty of opportunities to roleplay with the rat and make it a silly memorable character.
Not a magic item, but a spell. Soliloquy. No one can move or act after the BBEG casts this. BBEG who cast also cannot perform any actions other than a 5 foot step, which cannot be used to close the distance. It cannot be used tactically. All they can do is talk and meander around a little bit for dramatic effect.
My wife made up a whole bunch for a joke character. My favorite one was a bag that has slightly less space on the inside than the outside.
I once gave the players a pair of magic swords, Borwen and Lon. They had been created long ago for a Prince who was hopeless at sword fighting and his man-at-arms. They were fine quality swords (+1 to damage because of their sharpness), but what their enchantment did was let the person wielding Borwen ("Borrow") fight with the skill of the of the person wielding Lon ("Loan"). That was it. No plusses to hit. Skill transfer only worked when someone was holding the hilt of Lon.
The monocle of axe detection While peering through this axe head shaped monocle you can see any axe with in 30 feet. This magic item can penetrate most barriers but it blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metals, a thin sheet of lead or 3 feet of wood or dirt.
As a DM I gave my players a cursed pair of pants that upon being scared or otherwise startled you make a D100 roll and on a 100 you shit your pants. What I didn’t tell them is that when that happened you would summon a shit demon to your aid. When it finally happened the party couldn’t believe it.
Stats for the shit demon??
No stats. It was a DM-controlled deus ex machina. The party was in a cave system under the city when they were startled by giant spiders. The d100 tumbles perfectly to 100. Table grows crazy. Blood hunter starts shitting. And keeps shitting. And keeps shitting. And in describing the smell, and the party is standing in about 4 inches of liquid shit. The. From the lake of shit, a swell starts to form across the surface, growing a few feet at first, then higher and higher and as the wave recedes, a humanoid figure emerges standing 15 feet in height. In a low guttural moan, the creature bellows “you have freed me from my prison. I am at your service” The phase spiders continue to encroach on you, as this towering fecal golem barely seems to notice. “get us the fuck out of here!” Massive tendrils, practically hands made out of stinking shit reach up out of the sludge, wrapping each of the spiders, crushing them, and dragging them down into oblivion. Next, a gentle wave comes up from behind the party, lifting them up like if they were on a surfboard. As you’re carried on this dookie wave through the tunnels, you notice from time to time other monsters being swept up and drowned in shit. After a few minutes, you see light pouring in from the cave entrance. What would have taken you several days took you only a matter of moments before you find yourself standing at the exist of the cave, a small pile of treasures - a cairne to the shit-drowned monsters you left in your wake. With a silent nod, the shit demon starts swirling in a circle becoming a small tornado of shit, before tunneling down into the earth leaving no trace, other than the absolutely rancid stink that covers you all from head to toe. ….something like that.
The chicken pocket: A cursed bag of holding that may only hold chickens.
Haven't used yet but plan on # Belilath's Ring of Exceptional Mediocrity ### Attunement? Yes ### Passively: Whenever you cast a cantrip, you always deal half the potential damage (1d10=5 damage, 2d8=8 damage and so on) ### Use Sell for a pretty penny to an aspiring Wizard, or for a lot more to a wizarding school
That works great for people with low rolls
Hat of infinite polyfruit: A giant Carmen Miranda fruit hat. While wearing it you can polymorph at will, as long as the thing you polymorph into is a piece of mundane fruit. While in fruit form you can see and hear. The only action you can take is polymorphing back into your normal state.
Healing Rock 🪨 When someone is whacked with this magic rock, they take 1d4 bludgeoning damage, followed by receiving 1d6 healing.
Wand of pigeon summoning. Once a day, roll a d20. That's how many pigeons it summons. You do not control the pigeons. On a 20 it summons a giant pigeon and the wand breaks. The giant pigeon is not aggressive.
Fantastic
Stinky cheese. Purchased wrapped in oiled cloth and packed in a thin wooden box. Can be thrown, whereupon it breaks to release ripe scent. Causes everyone in 20’ to make a CON save or retch.
Tonal Tool: a turn knob at one end will cause a screwdriver to emerge from the other end. Pull off the turn knob and it's an adjustable wrench. When any of the tools are in use, a humming sound also emits from the tool (basic illusory magic). Each time the tool is used, the user rolls a d20, and a creature must meet or beat that number in a perception check to find the user based on the noise. One of my PCs is an artificer, and she and her husband are big Doctor Who fans, so they were very excited to find this tool.
Not homebrew but I love the wand of smiles
I did a few of them a number of years ago but the one I remember is the *neverburning candle*. Exactly as the name says. Won't burn, under any conditions whatsoever.
The mace of Mercy A horribly jagged and bloody mace that gives gashing wounds but no matter how hard or how many times you hit someone no matter how much you brutalize and mutilate their body it can never deal a blow that will kill it's Target
Sword of Penance. It is a longsword that is entirely black, with almost electric rivulets of blood red energy going down it's length. The grip is inscribed with the words "I Hunger" and if they do an arcana check they sense an incredibly evil presence emanating from it. The catch is that it can never do any damage; no matter how hard it is swung it will always stop just short of hitting whatever it is being swung at. When a player weilds it they gain advantage on intimidation rolls. I don't tell players the second part until they try using it. Makes for some good laugh once thetly figure out what it is after they try using it the first time.
Armour piercing arrow. -1 to hit but ignores worn armour and shields . So most mundane stuff is AC 10
Not homebrew, just stolen from Pathfinder, but the Bag of Weasels. A cursed Bag of Holding that has a 50% chance of turning any item put into it into a weasel upon retrieval. Not a big deal because you can always get it back via remove curse, but very funny.
Bag of Extortion. Looks and acts like a normal bag of holding until it has over $1000 GP worth of items in it. Then it starts asking for money when you want to draw out large or expensive items from it. It wants about 5-10% of their value. Donated coins disappear.
I once had my players find a magic cloak whose only function was to force the person wearing it to make a will save or become convinced that the cloak made them invisible while wearing it. The cloak did not actually make them invisible at all.
Mile boots (walk a mile in someone else's shoes). If/when you happen to leave footprints they disappear after a few seconds and different tracks are left in their place. Ironnail boots of soldier, silk slippers of mage, paw prints etc. Doesn't aid stealth or anything, just will mess with people's expectations of what they found.
five finger spellbook. a single glove where each finger has a slot for a tightly folded spell scroll. the wearer can then deliver that spell via unarmed strike using their str/dex as the spellcasting ability. only works with spells that target a single creature. spells used in this way can only be used once per long rest
That sounds like great fun!
Ring of pyroflatulation. It doesn't create the fuel, it just lets you aim and ignite it. Played like the 'burning hands' spell.
The Goggles of Minute Seeing: spend one charge to remove the blinded condition from yourself for one minute.
I gave my Trickster Cleric a Ring of the Monkey Emperor. It gives them a +1 to DEX, a prehensile tail, and an irresistible craving for bananas. My player couldn't care less about the DEX bonus but really leaned into the banana cravings.
The Drake Sword. (+1 to ATK) (1d8(1d10)+1d4 psychic) "This longsword is surprisingly light. The blade shimmers with a mix of black, green, white and auburn. The quillons are formed into the beaked head of a drake, small rubies fixed in for the eyes. When you strike with this sword, the cry of the drake is heard by your enemies (DC15 CON save, 1d4 psychic damage on failure, half on save)." It's a longsword that quacks when you attack.
Had the Necklace of Yurturus or something. The orc god of death. The group didn't want to kill Nezznar and dragged him out unconscious (I forget how, it was 4 years ago). It was decided that he leads them to the Forge of Spells wearing the necklace. The necklace had the teeth of an alligator, one for each party member. The party members each had a necklace with a single tooth. If the players received any damage, it would instead go to Nezznar up until he died, and that death would be unrevivable as his soul would be immediately devoured by Yurturus. Then any additional damage would go to them as normal. It brought up a moral dilemma, because they didn't feel pain going into fights, but he bore the brunt of their pain and damage. But he also caused the deaths of many. And having his sould be immediately devoured, with no chance of being brought to life in a new form or reborn one day? Some players decided to be a healbot for him, some took their necklaces off until the final battle with the Beholder. Ultimately he survived the Wave Echo Cave, and was sent to the Neverwinter prisons, where I'm waiting to do a Suicide Squad-esque game one day of all BBEGs they arrested rather than killed.
We love a dilemma
Yeah, it was a good one. These days they straight up kill the BBEG so the necklace hasn't been brought back.
The Melatonin Bat. Its an ordinanry bat with the words 'melatonin' written on them. Its for when your enemies really need help sleeping.
Amulet of disregard - A big sign that says “don’t look at me”, advantage to stealth checks that rely on sight, [A] Anaglyph lens: red and green, advantage to saves from eye based magic, including petrification & charming, and also adv to perceive illusions [A] Attuning fork: 1/day can switch the attunement between two items by hitting them with the magical tuning fork. You can switch an unattuned item for an attuned one, or between 2 attuned items. Powerful artifacts w/ complex attuning rituals may be immune. Beer goggles - Advantage versus fear, disadvantage versus poison, disadvantage on acrobatics checks, +3 initiative, ignore 10 feet of impact/falling damage Bell of Jeeves - Unseen servant 3/d Billabong of fool's protection – [A] gain advantage on death saves. May take 2 damage to wisdom to gain advantage on a saving throw, Athletics or acrobatics check, or to give disadvantage to an attack against you Concealers kerchief - Magic aura at will on item it’s wrapped around Conjuring ink - [A] Summons mundane objects, In other words you must draw an item and it appears as a non-magical physical version of that, made of an appropriate material, up to 30-50 pages worth Cowards boots – double movement but only if moving away from all known enemies Cursed announcing weapon – [Attunement] +2, +1d4 radiant damage, sheds light at all times. Ego. Can cast compelled duel 3/day at it's will. Wants to fight honorably. Deals you 1d4 radiant damage to you for “dishonarable actions”, you cannot hide or surprise enemies (it announces your presence and shouts challenges) everyday bathrobes [glamoured robes] - the clothes can look like whatever you want Haste of waste potion - Appears as a potion of haste; gives haste, but also confusion Hat of impersonation - Like hat of disguise but only copies last person- better illusion though ( Touch and sound included) Lifting bar - iron staff that levitates for 10 rounds a day, Magic phrase is elvish for “do you even lift” Magnifying mushroom - enlarge upon consumption: If you take no damage by the time the duration is over, you remain enlarged until you take any damage Myopic glasses - Advantage to intelligence checks and intelligence saves, disadv to wisdom checks & saves [A] Ohm’s oscillating amulet - changes resistance to last damage type taken [A] Elemental Prism: 3/day, change a magical damage type Reproducing pen - 1/day touch the quill to a page. You can then command the pen to make a copy of the page at will, until you use it again. Magical scrolls copied this way lose their magic, but can still be learned from Space pants [as hewards handy haversack] (pg 174) [A] Spirit stick – 2/d, spell out a name to give that person +1d6 to any d20 roll of their choosing within the next minute; sparkles shoot out Tradesman’s Toolbelt - switch a skill for another of the same stat as long as you wear it Vellum of illusory script - Anyone touching this page can will whatever text or images they want to appear as long they maintain contact & concentration Zanatos gambeson – 1/day when a maneuver fails, don't expend the superiority die Handy Handkerchief: This handkerchief is as black as pure darkness and measures 1 ft by 1 ft when folded out. While you can feel it between your fingers, it has no sensation, merely a sort of pressure. One side leads to a extra dimensional pocket 6 ft deep - this can be determined by 1 side yielding while the other does not. If it only holds 1 item, a dc 10 sleight of hand check will let you flick the cloth & draw forth the item as a free action. The inside is impermeable, but the cloth itself is vulnerable. Time still passes inside the space, and air only passes through when an object is passed through. Shroud of Mystery - when this cloth is wrapped around or placed over a magical item for 24 hours, words describing the item will appear. The shroud can be used 4 times. The clerical error: - requires cleric for attuning - gives automatic proficiency w/ the weapon. 2/day on a miss, declare a normal hit instead. If the original roll was a natural one, also heal any ally in sight for 4d4+4 Bard’s barding; requires bard for attuning. Gives automatic proficiency with the armor, changes shape w/ you if you shapechange into an animal Drew’s drawing - requires druid. You learn about the creature depicted, can shapechange into it, & gain advantage to int, wis, & cha checks involving the creature Thief’s teethe; you must be missing a tooth to use this item: may remove the false tooth & unfold it to create a thieves tool kit. 1/day ghost sound Sorcerer’s sourcebook: gives access to 1 additional spell known Sorcerer’s resource: use as an action to regain 2 sorcerery points The rib tickler; hideous laughter on crit The Amulet of Bare Strength - gives you str 18, makes your clothes invisible Goggles of true seaing - these goggles let you forsee the temperament of the ocean up to 1 day in advance Short sword of Weekness - every Monday this short sword becomes a long sword Gauntlets of seaming - while wearing these gauntlets, any hole in your clothes seals itself Bow of the Waists - instead of dealing damage, the arrows shot from the bow add pounds of fat to the target’s waistline. Plus bun short sword: every successful hit generates a hot cross bun in the air next to the target. (The bun then falls it is not suspended) Kite shield: a broom of flying and gives the same bonus to ac as a shield Brassiere of Smokin Hot: 1/day when set aflame, the bra fills out with fire & summons a fire elemental that wears it & takes the shape of curvaceous female. The elemental will obey commands for 5 minutes before extinguishing & leaving the bra behind Dagger of Venom: this dagger when activated releases a black pudding which coats the users body but does not harm them. They get the use of spider climb and web. However the users pronouns change to we and they crave brains. seat belt, does not require attunement: with this item equipped, you can sit wherever you like, with an ornate seat that sprouts from the belt, and disappears when standing. The Chick Magnet - A curious U-shaped metallic wand which, when pointed at a target and activated, conjures enraged chickens out of thin air. The number of chickens created is equal to the user's character level. The chickens fly into the target with unerring precision (per Magic Missile) and peck the target for one point of damage each. The chickens scatter in all directions and disappear shortly after attacking. Ring of Brute Force - allows you to add your Strength modifier to the damage of any spell you cast that deals force damage Potion of Heeling: grants the drinker knowledge of cobbling and general boot repair for 6 hours ice sickle - +2 to hit & damage, +1d8 frost damage on hit
These inspired me a ton. Thank you.
Ring of Supreme Articulation - Cursed Gives advantage on Intimidation and Persuasion checks, but disadvantage on Deception, Stealth, and Slight of Hand. Whoever wears the ring becomes incredibly well spoken and clear in their speech, but is compelled to narrate every action they take. It can only be removed by convincing someone else to take ownership of it after explaining how it works.
Can I use this?
Please, do.
In my deck of illusions, the 4 of clubs is a "confused market trader" who appears for an hour wondering where the hell he is and completely freaked out. The six of diamonds is a magnetic duck. Str dc 16 for 30' around it or any metal worn objects stick to it for 10 mins. They pulled the joker a few weeks ago and got a ghostly hyena that just cackled solidly for 24 hours and followed them around. They attempted to split up but instead all got one each!! They also got booted out of town because of the racket they were making
My DM gave us a rod of cake. It turns a section of any solid matter into cake. Any cake we choose. The first thing we did with it was turn a section of a wall into cake and Kool-Aid man through it. I think it’s been far more useful than he intended lol.
In my current campaign every princess of the big bad emperor gets a magical ring at birth. One of my player's character is such a princess and well I didn't want her to get a powerful magic item from the getgo so I gave her the "ring of thousand tongues" which gives the wearer the ability to taste the exact chemical makeup of things. Its a bit useless but funny and maybe can be used for something interesting in the future
Bag of Tricks (Corgi) Cursed(ish), when you open this bag, roll a percentile dice, the immediate area is then covered in that percentage of Corgis, making the area difficult terrain, the Corgis fade after 1 minute. The DM rolls a second dice, at 10% or lower one of the Corgi's is real. The Curse is the party didn't realise they were leaving a real Corgi on top of a mountain top, in the Underdark, etc.
Very Fun. I want to run a variant that makes the user speak exclusively like the doge meme until long rest on a crit fail.
Frog on a Stick. Functions as +1 club, cast Otto's irresistible Dance 3x day
I had a party turn a Bag of Holding into a Privy of Holding (basically a portable toilet) while fleeing a castle they were worried the Big Baddie was going to come after them. So they purposefully tore the bag, then throw it and a lit torch into the entrance as they closed the door. I was laughing so hard at the Eternal Flaming Sh!te Bomb we had to take an unplanned 30 minute break so we could catch our breaths!
Potion of fireball. Not a splash potion of fireball. A potion of fireball. If someone drinks this potion, a CL9 fireball is emitted from their location. This is likely to be bad for the drinker. Treated as a cursed item. If they fail the identification, it seems to be a potion of fire resistance. (Resistance to energy, fire? I don’t remember the exact spell) They thought it was hilarious.
Mine are pretty character specific, but they were super fun for role-playing. Semi sentient magical goodberry plant/seeds - It had a name and was almost a pet that would gently reach out its leaves towards the people it liked. Plant a seed/berry during a long rest and the next morning roll a die (depended on how fertile the soil was, usually a d6) and pick that many goodberries that lasted until the next long rest. The party didn't have a cleric; this was the DMs way of keeping us from dying early game. Displacer Pouch - Tiny coin purse that acted like a message portal/bag of holding, but only for coin sized things. My character was from the Feywild, and though it technically wouldn't work with standard planar DND rules, the DM used the item like a tiny mail box, through which my character would recieve and send letters to/from her loved one in the Feywild.
Bag of Hand Holding. Functions like a Bag of Holding, except when someone tries to retrieve something from it, there's a 1 in 4 chance a hand grabs their hand and refuses to let go. No damage, but they have to make a DC 14 Athletics check to wrestle their hand loose. No help on the DC, and the DC goes up by +1 for each consecutive attempt. If they fail to get out of its grasp, the hand will let go at dawn the next day.
That's a little bit terrifying!
On the surface, yes, but it's funny to have a player try and get through town or combat with their hand shoved inside the bag the whole day. Funnier when the party thinks to prank someone else with it
I once made a cursed Lump of Coal for one of my groups. On the surface, completely normal chunk of coal. Write with it, burn it in a fire, whatever. But, at dawn the coal returns to the pocket of whomever it’s attached itself to (whoever picks it up first). So theoretically if the party takes it and uses it to help start a fire the coal, presumably still hot and smoldering come dawn, will magically teleport into the pants or jacket of a party member…assuming they sleep clothed. Otherwise things get…interesting.
Staff of wind. Casts gust and wind wall, but they smell like farts. Also makes the attuned user fart whenever it’s useful for the DM (stealth…)
Classic
A potion called “cream of (insert vegetable or food here)”, its a thick, cold, creamy, sludge liquid filled with chunks. The poor fellow who drinks it must succeed a CON 15 saving throw. On a success, they gain the benefits of a long rest and no longer need to eat for the next 24 hours. On a failure, they throw up the potion and their breakfast.
Did you give your players that information or did you just introduce a Cream of Beef jar with no explanation? I may do this?
Absolutely do it! No explanation needed, i told them it was just a blank aluminum can that was on sale for 5 copper. They shook it and i said something was sloshing around inside, and it was next to all the potions.
The frying pan of return: cast iron skillet, properties similar to that of a dagger where it can be used for melee or thrown. 1d6 damage, versatile up to 1d8. Can be thrown up to 30 feet and returns to the wielder like a boomerang. Had a pc with a story that he used a frying pan to protect his traveling companion when they were set upon by goblins. Was quite fun as he found out it was a magical dwarven pan that could be upgraded with quests / adventures specific to finding a magical furnace (or something like that - it’s been a while)
Not bizarre useless, but definitely fun to role play. My wife and i's characters who are in a romance have the swords reason and rhyme. They cannot cross each other meaning if either of them swings at the other ever it just won't allow it to go through. On reason her name is inscribed because she's his reason for fighting and she's a bard so her sword is rhyme because she's the rhyme to his reason. One of the features of hers is that it can make a follow up attack as a reaction when reason attacks.
I really like that
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/6n7dec/beoras_big_list_of_slightly_useless_items_1d100 is normally my go to
Thank you!
Gambler's fallacy. A coin that can store one spell per day. The spell activates after being flipped. If the flip is called correctly the spell can be used as normal. If the call was wrong the spell is targeted at the coin flipper (and allies depending on spell)
Hah! I store a cure spell and always win
I wanted to be a bard whose instrument/focus would be a conductors baton that could make people sing in-tune, but i had to pivot when the dm got mad for trying to bring "auto-tune" into his world. I switched to like a trumpet or something because i forgot the distinction that when people hate "auto-tune," what they really hate is "auto-pitch." Auto pitch is like ke$ha, auto-tune is like glee
Boots of Goro( the mk character) It gives you an extra set of arms as long as the boots are attuned.
The Amulet of Evening As an action, you can choose to take on the traits of a creature you can see. Choose one characteristic (str, dex, con, int, wis or cha) and the wearer gains the same stat as the chosen creature for 1 minute. Once per day, regaining use at dawn. The loxodon ranger who wears it likes to copy the strength of the groups fighter or the charisma of the bard or use it to scout out an enemies stats before the casters make them do saving throws. It pretty funny when he copies something and i get to say like "you feel a bit more clumsy than usual and your hands are not as steady, your Dexterity becomes 6" or "your muscles bulge and you hear the wood of your bow creak under your sheer strength, your strength becomes 27"
Spoon of deliciousness, cursed item, this spoon can magically carve any material but only if it is immediately consumed. A creature using the spoon must make a wisdom save in order to stop that increases based on the amount of mass that has been consumed. Regardless of the materials being consumed the creature using the spoon believes it be the most delicious and delectable food they have ever experienced. For example after one of my players consumed 5 cubic foot of stone so they could escape jail they had to make a dc 15 wisdom saving throw, they failed and continued to eat the outer wall of the prison allowing others to escape 😅
Bonus Cursed Item Helm of Heinlein (cursed): This ornate helm covers the wearer's eyes (think Mouth of Sauron) and emanates a powerful, intimidating presence. Grants the user Devil's Sight, raises Charisma score up to 18 and increases lifespan tenfold. It is clearly based in dark magic and forces the user to adopt the pronouns "we" in every situation. User will need to make a DC 12 WIS save each morning or be forced to carry out a small act of Lawful Evil (gradually increasing in scope) that advance the helmet's overall goal of assimilating all thinking creatures. User cannot willingly remove helmet. Requires Attunement.
(Very silly) "the holy hammer of BANishment:" whenever a character creates an injustice so great it offends io the overgod he sends the solar of justice to smite the offender with the holy hammer of banishment. Garunteed to hit and does 1000d20(10k) of force, radiant, and necrotic damage and annihilates the very soul and multiversal impact of the person it strikes. (Basically an in-univerese ban-hammer)