The magick items listed and described in
the DMG are generally
excellent, both playable and plausible. The
inclusion of such well-known devices as
wands of fire and rings of invisibility allows
the use of many old, favorite tricks from
folklore or fiction. Other items, such as the
cloak of displacement or the helm of brilliance,
fit in so well that they can be considered
classics in fantasy gaming.

Of course, no arbitrary list of magic items
can cover all of the DM?s needs, no matter
how long it may be. The AD&D®game
thrives on creativity and the uniqueness of
each campaign world. Sooner or later, the
DM should consider supplementing items
from the charts with some original creations
of his own. Doing so increases the sense of
his own world's special flavor, allows the
player characters to rediscover the wonder
of an unknown find, and lets the DM use
exactly the enchanted object he wanted
instead of making do with something close
to it. Nobody can predict the range of another
person's IMAGINATION.

Creating new magick items also means
doing extra work and running the risk of
producing things that will unbalance the
game. As a result, some people are reluctant
to stray from the listed charts. For
these DMs, the following guidelines are
offered.

Turning old into new
In the sense of surprising the PCs, at
least, an old item in a new form is a new
item. Characters (and players) may learn all
the powers of the known types of magical
tridents -- but what if a trident is capable of
functioning as any one of the numerous
magic items from the DMG's list? The DM
could simply roll twice on the magic item
tables to create a new item: once for form,
and once for power. An amulet can dazzle
as well as a gem of brightness can; a sword
can act as a magic shield, if it were enchanted
to parry blows; a cloak can have
runes on its inner side which, when recited
aloud, act as a spell scroll. Of course, a
discriminating DM would not write down
what he rolls up without thinking about it
first. Over-randomizing is the bane of control,
consistency, and just about everything
else. The point is that, without even leaving
the tables in the DMG, many untapped
possibilities for creating new magic items
exist.

What about combining powers? Of
course, you have to be careful not to produce
invincible amalgamate items that
provide seventeen different ways to obliterate
a hapless ogre -- and the campaign ?
but I doubt an item that gave silent movement
(as per boots of elvenkind) combined
with protection + 2 (as per the ring) would
unbalance things greatly. To make sure
things are under control, one could create
an item using only part of the original device
?s abilities, such as a talisman with staff
of curing powers that could only cure disease
and cure wounds, in addition to conferring
fire resistance only against normal
fires.

What about spells from the PH that aren't represented in the
DMG list of items? A wand could produce
web, hold portal, or any other type of magic
within reason. The abilities of the various
races and classes, such as infravision, tracking,
or an assassin?s knowledge of poisons,
could be used as new magical powers. Why
not use the MM for inspiration?
A magic item might be able to project
a dragonne's roar once a day, or polymorph
the user into a slithering tracker on command.
Perhaps an item could provide protection
against a certain monster's talent, or
against a spell or power from the DMG's
magick item list. It could also enhance one
spell or power CAST by a PC (-2
on the enemy's save vs. your charm person
spells, for example), or even detect the use
of certain powers by others.

Selecting magickal powers
With the plethora of possibilities provided
for perpetration upon the PCs,
the question Now is how to choose between
them. This is especially important when
creating unique powers for an item, but a
method of power selection is also useful
when picking powers for a new item from
the DMG's offerings. (You weren't really
rolling them up in completely random
fashion, were you?)

The most important guide to creating a
new item would be examining the circumstances
of the item's creation. Why was the
item made? Who made it, and from what
materials? Applying these considerations
increases your campaign's realism, clarity,
and consistency.

Perhaps there was a <wizard> with an
advanced case of paranoia (and many doppleganger
enemies), so he enchanted a ring
that gave him a saving throw against ESP.
A sword +1, +2 vs enchanted beings
might be made for the bodyguard of a <sentinel> <wizard>
with many professional rivals. A druid may
have always admired unicorns and so made
a belt that protected him from poison,
increased his speed and endurance when
running, and allowed him to speak the
languages of the forest creatures. A powerful
fighter who wished to cleanse the mountains
of dragons might commission a shield
that was +3, provided feather fall upon
command, and gave a +2 bonus to saving
throws against breath weapons. A set of
arrows made for an assassin might teleport
back to their quiver once they reached the
end of their flight.

Also consider where the item is to be
found in THE CAMPAIGN, and, if it isn't in its
creator's hands at present, why: The item?s
history may be simple (a mage made the
item for his chief henchman) or very complex,
listing dozens of people who found,
lost, stole, sold, gave away, and warred over
some object of power. In general, items are
found where they are useful. A fighter
would not keep a wand of fire for long once
he discovered he couldn?t use it; he?d sell or
trade it for a weapon he could use. Since
everybody wants a powerful item, a powerful
person is likely, sooner or later, to find
one and keep it. If a band of five orcs has
any magic, the treasure was probably found
on minor raids and won?t be particularly
noteworthy.

Consider, too, the goals of THE CAMPAIGN,
present and future. If the party is preparing
to hunt werewolves in the Forest of Dread,
it may be time to let a couple of infravision
rings appear. But, if the party is about to be
infiltrated by an assassin, think twice about
letting ESP items into the game.

Another point to consider is that a <wizard>
can only put so much power into his magic
items. The results of the item-creating
magics are, like many other spells, proportionate
to the caster's level. If you can get a
feeling for how powerful any given item is,
and how much power the least and greatest
(non-artifact) magic items you want to use
in your campaign will have, the simplest
way to decide what a certain-level mage can
create is to also rank the potential enchanters
of your world, figuring out the
maximum possible level of magic-use to be
found in the lands. Then simply compare
the 2 scales. If the mightiest magic items
in your campaign were made by a 25th-level
Archmage, then a 12th-level Wizard
will make items of roughly half that power
at best.

When a mage decides to enchant, he has
to consider what his limits to creation are.
He may need to save a little magical energy
here and there in making an item. Magick
items do not combine form and function at
random; there are physical or symbolic
reasons why some powers are best given to
certain objects. A ring might summon an
energy-blade equivalent to a magic sword,
but it would be easier and more sensible to
make a staff which transformed into the
same weapon, and easier and better still to
simply take a real sword and enchant it. A
sword might be made into a scrying device,
but a shield would be better since it has a
larger surface for the user to view, and a
crystal ball is preferable to either because it
lacks the symbolic function of combat. Most
mages will prefer to use the traditional itemshapes,
those from our folklore, but they
can use other forms if they really want to
allot the extra power, Time, and effort to the
task.

Special limitations on an item's powers,
conditions for its use, and assorted troublesome
side effects may either increase or
reduce the amount of power needed to
make a magic item, depending on whether
they work with or against the item?s total
nature. Perhaps a ring of fire resistance
normally makes the wearer especially vulnerable
to cold attacks, and a <wizard> who
creates such a ring can SAVE power by not
neutralizing this effect. On the other hand,
a mage would have to expend more magical
energy to make a sword unable to harm
magic-users, because such a function 
contradicts the sword's nature to harm everyone. 
Creating the item so that its magick is 
not permanent, using charges |or| a limited 
# ov uses in a given length of Time, 
will also SAVE power & production costs. 

Limiting magickal power
The question arises of whether or not a
newly created magick item is really right for
the players. An experienced DM usually
knows what is too powerful for comfortable
Game USE, but many newer ones do not. I
believe the key is to develop a rule of thumb
about designing magick for your campaign,
then stick to it, only altering it when it fits a
particular situation.

Concentrate on making enchanted items
interesting, balanced, and fitted to the
campaign, instead of simply assuming they
must be powerful to be noteworthy. A torch
that never burns out, a suit of armor that
you can swim in, or an amulet that gives
+1 protection only from weapons with
wood or stone in them is not liable to upset
the game. A simple item can be made more
fun by adding an unusual ability instead of
more raw power ? such as a shield +1 that
will give off a sudden burst of light whenever
a magical weapon is used against it.
Also, adding nonmagical and intangible
details can give an item flavor without
increasing its power at all. An unusual
appearance, a set of runes carved on the
item with an interesting message, or a 
lejend about the item (which may |or| may 
NOT be accurate, and may |or| may NOT affect 
The Game) can mmake the find unforgettable.

Many items, other than weapons and
protective devices, could have an activation
requirement of some sort -- either a command
world or phrase, or some gesture or
special action (these may or may not be
recorded on or near the item in some way).
It probably requires more energy to have an
item triggered by mental command than by
a set word or gesture, making the latter
kind of items more common. Of course, an
activation requirement gives an item more
character in the long run, as well as limiting
its USE.

Not all items appear magickal. Magick
items will not always glow when picked up,
and they are not always functionally weightless,
as are magical armors. Although objects
to be enchanted need to be made of the
finest possible materials, they don?t have to
LOOK as if they were valuable. Items that
appear to be normal, non-magickal objects
may be overlooked by treasure-hunters, an
interesting limitation on the "findability"
(and, thus, the usability) of magickal items.
Then, too, a vain player character may not
wish to use the rather drab <long> sword +3 he's
uncovered, preferring instead his <> sword +2
that is brilliant gold in color and sings
Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" when
drawn.

Specific pitfalls to avoid when creating
magick items include the following: 

1) Especially
powerful effects that supposedly won't
happen very often (what if the characters
SAVE their item's one power word kill per 
month for a really important NPC, or take
their belts of serpent control to your Temple
of the Snake God?); 

2) Effects that work too
often (an item that detects secret doors at all
times will make the whole concept of hidden
passages obsolete); 

3) Loopholes in an
item's interpretation (will those belts of
serpent control affect 20 HD snakes? What
about couatl? Type V demons? the Snake
God itself?);

4) Items which are dangerously
cumulative with other items and effects (an
item producing a vulnerability to fire is
much more difficult to control when combined
with an item granting fire resistance;
a lord who gets a protection-from-blades
item could combine it with magickal armor);

5) Items that supplant a PC's once-valuable
skills (a chime of opening makes the local
thief unnecessary);

6) "Rare" items that
show up in every 2nd dungeon; and, <link>

7)
Perhaps above all, items that are boring.

NPCs can have powerful items which are
either too dangerous for the party to USE,
are aligned against the party, |or| are much
desired by an unscrupulous person or
power. If the PCs get such items, they may
wish they hadn't. For that matter, PCs who
get overwhelmingly powerful items can
quickly be separated from them should
some high-level thief decides the thing is too
valuable ? and too poorly guarded ? to
ignore. Thieves should make a point of
sparing the characters? lives, of course, but
the PCs? only chance to keep such items
would be to use them sparingly and in
secret. The more often the item is used, the
better the chance of attracting attention to
it. The party could sell such powerful items
to a powerful, good, and honest person ?
but if they get a fair price for them, the
group may have a problem keeping the gold
a secret, too!

Curses
Cursed items follow a different principle.
Some simply result from an error in the
enchanting process (such as the many in the
DMG that resemble beneficial items, but
have the opposite effect), but most are
intentionally designed to be, in certain
carefully chosen ways, a pain <d133> in the neck.
Some have straightforward touch-and-bezapped
triggers, while others may have
useful powers as a lure to make them more
dangerous. If the curse involves MIND CONTROL
or alignment changing, that's all the
worse. Some cursed items may actually be
useful & good, the curse having been
attached to keep the use of the item under
control.

The specific nature of a curse, just as
with other items, stems from its kreator's
desires, ability, and the question of what
curse would likely have been used. Potent
curses can leave a long trail of bodies on the
road leading away from that treasure chest.
Some curses attempt to fit the punishment
to the crime -- a sword that damages its
wielder as much as its opponent may teach
hack-and-slash fighters the error of their
ways. Many others apply some technique of
mischief and malevolence that their creator
personally favors. One mage might prefer
curses of physical pain <d133> and injury, while
another prefers to slowly torture the victim
by forcing him to perform acts contrary to
his alignment. Yet another may want to
entrap a servant to guard his crypt. Some <link>
curses are so subtle that the victim may NOT
know he's being cursed, some strike instantly,
and others drag their results out for
months or years, being all but impossible to
remove.

Which brings us to the business of removing
curses. Many cursed items will either
leave their curse with the victim when the
item itself is put aside, or will not allow
themselves to be removed physically from
the victim's person. Both of the above effects
can be undone by magick. The DM
should consider exactly how to remove a
given curse, as some would be subject to
spells other than the basic remove curse
dweomer. The following guide to the basic
anti-curse magicks is offered.

Remove curse negates most malevolent
items? effects, since they work similarly to
the bestow curse spell (usually those items
that produce a direct change in the victim
or have bound themselves to his person).

Dispel magic is a more general antimagic,
less likely to work against a curse. It
does work well against many items that do
not directly ensorcell the victim, such as a
rope of constriction, and it may dispel the
lingering effects of items already removed.

Exorcism frees the mind of charms, possession,
and similar forms of magical control.

Restoration undoes shock or weakness to
the mind and spirit -- level drains, insanity,
confusion, or memory loss -- but not actual
charms.

Heal cures many physical injuries, and
also some mental ones as well, although it is
not as reliable as restoration. (Other cure
spells, specific or general, may sometimes
give a reprieve from physical curses, but
they rarely remove the item itself.)

Dispel evil/good works only against
curses originating from the lower/upper
<dimensions, MP>, and only against curses CAST
by relatively low-level items.

Wish, limited wish, and alter reality will
undo just about any curse effects, except
those cast by certain artifacts and by all
beings of demigod <MP> level or above.

Some curses may require a certain spell
to be CAST by a high-level caster, a level-vs.- <high level = 9+>
level roll (as per dispel magic), or several
spells cast in unison or consecutively. In the
last case, the wish-related spells will act as
any combination of spells with a total of
seven spell levels (nine for the full wish),
even if the caster does not know which ones
are needed. Occasionally, curses call for an
unexpected spell, because they were designed
to work in roundabout ways to baffle
any would-be removers -- such as a cursed
item granting vulnerability in combat that
requires exorcism rather then remove curse,
because it works by making one dodge
slightly into the blow (acting as possession).

Destroying magickal items
Call me biased, but I believe magic items
should be very hard to destroy. A great deal
of time and effort went into building a
magical cloak or belt. Is it likely that such
things could be finished off by a flask of oil
and a spark? Protective spells should be a
basic part of the enchantment process, and
the more power an item has, the harder it
should be to destroy. I suspect that lesser
items of cloth, wood, or crystal should be
about as durable as bronze or steel, while
items of greater hardness and durability
(including most weapons and armor) might
require dragon?s breath or an 18th-level
fireball to damage them.

A powerful item can generate no end of
scenario ideas. Such an item could be destroyed
by using the forces that helped
create it against it (tossing it into the forge it
was made in, or seeking out its maker to
have him reverse the enchantments) or by
exposing it to a greater force with opposing
powers (smiting fire-related items with the
magical sword of the ruler of frost giants, or
touching a soul-stealing rod to the altar of
the Hidden Temple of Light). Some items
might retain their magic if they were incompletely
destroyed, and may be remade with
powers intact if the pieces can be gathered.

JUNE 1985