Encyclopedia Magica, Volume Three - Pick of Earth Parting to Thesis on Conditional Ruptures (Spellbook)
Continuing on from the last volume, the total page count at the end of volume III is 1248. The total item count for three volumes is 5,127.
p.834 - The volume proper opens with a full-page illustration of a group of adventurers opening the lid to a stone coffin, finding it packed full of gear - and a copy of the Encyclopedia Magica vol. III. In the shadows behind them, monsters with big teeth and claws stir.
P
The Pick of Earth Parting allows easy tunneling through "elemental earth" - fair enow. The Cursed Pick of Earth Parting, on the other hand, is a brilliant example of how to do a cursed item. Now, the primary function of the cursed pick is to throw off your sense of direction so you end up tunneling in a circle (which might be handy in some circumstances), but look at this secondary effect:
If you think about it, that is brilliant - it's a large part of what makes a dwarf, along with shortness of height and hatred of gobbos. It's intrinsic to their character. He'll never be able to show his beard at a dwarven mitzvah until he can overcome the loss.Furthermore, any dwarf who uses the pick finds that all dwarven mining abilities are lost until a remove curse spell is cast.
Pie of Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds is something of a misnomer - on command, it releases a flock of 24 black pterodactyls that follow your commands. Normally I would bitch about mislabeling, but dinosaurs > ravens.
Pill of Hangover Relief. Exactly what it says on the tin.
Book Plate. This is a paper seal attached to a book. When the command word is given, the book transforms into a fine pewter dinner plate. When given again, transforms back into a book. This is the kind of pun-nish wordplay you don't get in magic items nowadays. There's less of a sense of humor about the whole thing. If you had something like this today, it would probably be a "book sword" or "book staff" so the wizard could keep ahold of their spellbook and slay monsters at the same time.
Plumastone
For those that may be confused, the Maztica Campaign Set which added a sort of New World to balance the Old World of Faerun in the Forgotten Realms, had this really crappy magic based on colorful feathers called "pluma." I wish I was making that up.The artisan who creates this talisman must be a weaponmaker as well as a master of pluma. An item of plumastone is an enchanted weapon with an obsidian tip or edge. It can be a maca, a knife, a bundle of three spears, or a quiver of 10 arrows. The objects are not subject to the normal breakage rules of obsidian-tipped weapons. In addition, each receives a _2 benefit to attack, and a +3 to damage.
I've gone on about polearms before, but let me show you why:
I don't think that's even comprehensive. Needless to say, despite the degree in Medieval Weaponry that went into that list, there aren't very many magical polearms - but this one stands out: the Blessed TridentRoll Polearm Type
01-02 Attached Gaff-Hook
03-04 Awl Pike
05-07 Bardiche
08-09 Bec de Corbin
10-11 Bill-Guisarme
12-13 Bill Hook
14-16 Dragon's Paw
17-18 Fang
19-20 Fauchard
21-22 Fauchard-Fork
23-24 Footman's Pike
25-27 Fuxina Trident
28-29 Gaff-Hook
30-31 Glaive
32-33 Glaive-Guisarme
34-36 Goblin Stick
37-38 Guisarme
39-40 Guisarme-Voulge
41-42 Gythka
43-44 Harberd
45-47 Hook-Falchard
48-49 Horseman's ike
50-51 Impaler
52-53 Lajatang
54-56 Lotulis
57-58 Lucern Hammer
59-60 Luqu Trident
61-62 Main-Gauche
63-64 Mancatcher
65-67 Military Fork
68-69 Nagimaki
70-71 Naginata
72-73 One-Handed Trident
74-76 Partisan
77-78 Pincher Staff
79-80 Pitchfork
81-82 Poleaxe
83-84 Ranseur
85-86 Sode Garami
87-88 Spetum
89-90 Tetsubo
91-92 Trident
93-94 Trikal
95-96 Two-Handed Trident
97-98 Voulge
99-00 Weighted Pike
Likewise, we have the Trident of Elemental Death - another crappy Sahuagin magic weapon, similar to the dolphin's bane, except this one gives a whopping +2 bonus against tritons, water weirds, and water elementals. In other words, your pimped-out Sahuagin baddy has a shart-tooth dagger for stabbin' dolphins and a trident for stabbin' water elementals. He's still likely to get killed either way, and the players will sell his treasures to cover their bar tab. A variant of this, the Water Elemental Slayer Trident, is presented later in the section.Land-based paladins seek out holy avengers swords, rare swords that give many abilities to the paladins who wield them. Holy avengers are even more scarce under the seas. The paladins in the Order of the Dolphin use special tridents created by the Dargonesti wizards and priests. To a nonpaladin, the trident acts as a +1 weapon with no other abilities. In the hands of a paladin, it becomes a +4 weapon, that does +8 points of damage against lawful or chaotic evil opponents. In addition, the trident bestows 25% magic resistance to the wielder. The trident also can cure serious wounds and know alignment, each three times a day. The trident also enables the paladin to communicate with any sea creature encountered.
Zezen Washio's Trident I love if only for the image it conjures:
Is anybody else picturing a samurai whispering to his beloved trident at night, or is it just me?Zezen Washio, a 6th-level Samurai, owns a trident +3 with an Intelligence of 15. It has the power to detect magic in a 10-foot radius, detect large traps within 10 feet, and detect precious metals in a 20-foot radius. It is semi-empathic with an Ego of 6.
pp.852-3: The infamous Potion Miscibility Table. I actually really enjoyed it when they brought this back with Hackmaster. Basically, if you mixed two potions - either dumping them together or drinking another while the first is in effect - you had to roll on the table and hope you didn't explode. On the other claw, if you were really lucky one of the potions became permanent! And if you filtered them through a dragon liver, the chances of being poisoned were reduced... Of course, this was not the case through the entire D&D lifecycle, as evidenced by the Amalgamous Potions from The Secret of Bone Hill module, and various things like the Potion of Delusion and Potion of Magnification are designed to be mixed with other potions.
There are a lot of potions by the way - 46 pages, 240 potions in toto, and that's not counting philters, elixirs, pills, oils, unguents, ointments, philters, etc.
I'd like the emphasize that the random-mix-potions-together thing is one of the many small but permanent enhancement possibilities in D&D - that is to say, there was more to a character than just their level, and with luck a character could pursue and gain some unusual and interesting abilities. For example, the Potion of Alternate Profession allows a character to temporarily gain the 1st level abilities of any class of the character's choosing - imagine if that were made permanent. You could be a 5th-level Paladin with the skills of a 1st-level Assassin without mucking about with dual-classing (if possible, based on race). Granted, the chances are low, but they exist.
Other odd notes before getting to the potions proper: According to the Potion Type Table, there is a 10% chance of it being koumiss ("I don't have a drinking problem!"), and potions in Dark Sun always take the form of magical fruit...which is bizarre, given the general lack of fruit trees because, y'know, desert.
Potion of Advanced Meditation - another of those weird magical items that only benefit psionic characters. Likewise, the Potion of Inner Strength, Potions of Psionics Boosting, and the Potion of Contact Disruption, which is so arcane I can no longer remember what the effect means in context:
Dark Draft of the Voodoo Masters - Racial insensitivity aside, this is fun because it lets you mix a bit of it with another potion, along with a hair, blood, or stool sample from the victim, and when you drink the unholy mess that results the victim gets the effect of the potion! Great trick for the clever.When consumed, this potion removes one tangent gained by a psionicist who is attempting to establish contact with the imbiber. For example, if the imbiber is under a two-finger contact, it is reduced to a one-finger contact. The potion lasts 1d4 rounds, and it is eliminates one tangent each round.
Both the Potion of the Dracolich and the Potion of Lichdom get large and impressive entries, to go along with the arcane formula given back in Vol. 1.
Potion of Drunkenness
I can't help but wonder whether this would be of any benefit to Drunken Masters...I don't recall if AD&D had those, maybe as a kit or something. Might be good material for a houserule. It's effective opposite is the Potion of Sobriety.Upon imbibing this potion, the individual immediately becomes horribly, totally inebriated. Roleplaying aspects of this situation are left to the player and the DM, but in game terms the individual is -4 for all attack rolls as well as all proficiency checks. An Intelligence check is required each time an affected spellcaster attempts to cast a spell to see if it is cast correctly (failure means merely that the spell is lost), and all spells cast have a +2 bonus on saves. The effects last six hours, followed by three hours of splitting headaches (no spellcasting allowed, -1 on attack rolls.
Some potions are not meant to be consumed. Case in point, the Potion of Explosions.
Potion of Greensprouting
Who would make this potion? And why? Druids? Elves? Likewise, the Potion of the Pseudo Treant which turns you into an ambulatory tree for 10d4 turns.This potion allows the drinker to polymorph at will into a green, leafy bush with thick bark. The bush takes one-half damage from bludgeoning weapons and is AC 5. The potion's duration is 2d10 days; 10% of the potions cause the bush to become rooted to the spot, not allowing the character to change back to proper form until it wears off.
Potion of Housecat Control
A minor variation of the various Potions of ____ Control (Human, Dragon, Monster, etc.)It allows the user to control one housecat for a number of rounds equal to his or her Wisdom. It does not work, however, on familiars.
Potion of Immunization From Lycanthropes
No one tell Jenna McCarthy.Protects user from contracting lycanthropy for one month. There is a 1% chance of contracting the disease from the serum, however.
Odrovir
p.884 has a half-page one-column illustration of a bleeding intellect devourer strung up by it's hind leg, so it's ichor can be collected in a pot below. Watching the process is a dude with a scorpion-tail hat.In Norse legend, a great war took place between the Aesir (the 24 deities of Asgard) and the Vanir (the nature gods of Noatun). At its peaceful conclusion, both sides spat into a jar, providing their mixed essences hostage to peace. Kvasir, the wisest of all men, was made of the spittle. His blood, mixed with honey, was called Odrovir (or Odhrevir), and all who partook of it became poets. In game terms, those who partake of this fluid can choose two bardic artistic proficiencies.
Potion of Tragic Heroism
"Today is a good day to die!"This elixir works as a potion of superheroism, with the following additional effect--all monsters within 20 feet of the character quaffing the potion sop whatever they are doing and attack the character. The monsters fight until they are slain or the character dies. To paladins and other heroic figures, this potion has considerable appeal.
"What are you, a Klingon?"
"Worse, a paladin."
"We're fucked."
Potion of Useful Appendages
Makes you temporarily grow a tail, or two arms, or two crab claws, or four tentacles. Great for orgies.
Potion of Worm Calling
The accompanying image is Friar Tuck hanging out with some snakes and worms. This isn't actually a bad curse to port over into other editions - I can see some druids that would even be down with this, at least until the linnorm and the Yuan-Ti Abominations started showing up.This potion causes the drinker to become irresistible to all crawling insects, animals, and monsters, such as snakes, worms, carrion crawlers, and caterpillars. The location of the character determines the type of creature attracted. Each potion lasts 1d12 turns, and 15 creatures are attracted to the drinker per turn.
The last two potions, Zombie Blood and Zombie Broth, are both efforts at making the whole "living zombie" thing happen. Thank you Hollywood Voodoo and The Serpent and the Rainbow.
Prism of Light Splitting and Sim's Prism of Light Splitting both revolve around the "seven colors" magical theory that gave us spells like prismatic spray and prismatic wall, i.e. the thought that colored light was somehow magical without ever giving any coherent explanation as to why, or consistent properties. Anyway, when you shine the light through these prisms right, the resulting colored ray can be shined on any potion, oil, powder, elixir, etc. for a full day to apply some special effect - double dosage, double effect, miscibility, oil to powder, etc.
Pyramid Power gets a two-and-a-quarter page entry. Once you build your massive pyramid, you can use this power for healing, to control statues, create undead warriors ("For detailed information on the processes by which a body is mummified, consult your local library's Egyptology section."), and research. I actually like this one:
QResearch: This application allows a wizard or priest to access a "spirit library," consulting with wise folk in the afterlife to gain insight into new magical spells. To use this skill, one must first invest 10 points of pyramid energy per hour of "consultation" then roll on the following table, or pick a result as you see fit:
Roll Result
1 Spirits cannot be bothered. No assistance available.
2 Receive a small hint. Reduce research time by one day.
3 A capricious wizard (or priest) lied. Double the research time.
4 Contacted the wrong spirit. The spell is successful, but add 1/4 to research time.
5 Contacted an eccentric individual. The spell yields results are different from what was intended (DM adjudication).
6 The spell is very important o the scheme of things. Halve research time.
7 Cosmic censors pull a fast one. Quarter the research time, and reduce spell effects by half.
8 Cosmic censors really dislike the spell. Everything works (special effects,light, and sound), but the spell is a dud.
9 Hard work pays off. Research time reduced to 1/4 of original amount.
10 Immortal sees the spell research and says, "Neat!" Research time cut to overnight.
Six pages. Queen Elissa's Marvelous Nightingale, quill pens, and quivers. I could go on a bit about how important scrolls were, but really a good bit of this is boring. One gets the impression that the editor struggled to fill out this section, as evidenced by a couple of new magic items added to the very end:
RQuiver of Returning
A missile fire form this quiver always returns to it, ready for a second shot.
Quiver of Wrong Returning
Missiles taken from this quiver and fired return to it--but they're always the wrong ones. If a crossbow bolt is fired, an arrow returns; an arrow returns a javelin, which, at least, is useful.
Rabbit's Foot
The paladin's horse sees his master's new trinket and goes "Mr. Bun-Bun?"If worn visibly on outer clothing or armor, this item gives the user a bonus of +1 to all saving throws. However, any herbivores seeing the item take an instant dislike to the wearer, having a -2 penalty to reactions.
The Regalia of Might remains some of the most legendary "set" artifacts in D&D - an orb, crown, and scepter for each of the nine alignments, and their powers are complementary and augmentative, so the more pieces you own the more powers you get (along with some drawbacks). However, they see less use today because they're based on an older, more stringent understanding of alignment - the Neutrals really get boned if they own all three of a given set.
The Regalia of Might II versions are slightly less gloriously/stupidly overpowered, are divvied up into Evil, Good, and Neutral rather than individual alignments, with more defined curses - in particular, holding all three items begins artifact transformation, where your character becomes an Outer Planes exemplar of their alignment. You can combine regalia of different alignment this way, but it generally end very badly for the character. Instant one-way ticket to the Nine Hells kind of badly. Or my favorite:
The bulk of R is, of course, taken up by rings - 62 pages of them, 296 in total.Good and Evil: As soon as both items are held, a massive blast occurs. The character at the heart of it is instantly vaporized (no saving throw). Those within 20 feet suffer 10d10 points of damage (save vs. breath weapon for half damage) and those between 21 and 40 feet away suffer 2d10 points of damage (same saving throw). The pieces of regalia are hurled to completely random locations on any Prime Material world, although they may be quickly recovered by servants of the deities.
Some of them are impressively specific, such as the Ring of Aquatic Depth Location:
And the Ring of Infravision Negation:This ring allows one to determine the depth of any body of water at a given point by merely observing it while wearing the ring. If used while in the water or underwater, it also reveals the approximate location of the nearest land mass about the ware line, be it a wall, a beach, or an island.
Others are more adaptable, like the Ring of Anything:When worn, this ring emits a field around the wearer that hides his or her body heat from all forms of infravision, but negates the wearer's infravision.
One of the things I loved about AD&D was the cantrip spell, or "little wish." There were dozens of canon effects of cantrips, making it one of the most versatile spells at any level, and particularly at low levels. The ring of cantrips allows the wizard or bard wearing it to create 1d4+4 cantrip effects per day.This ring initially appears to be a standard ring of warmth. However, the wearer may command three other functions from the ring, choosing from among the other standard sorts of magical ring. The period of such functioning is one operation, in the case of a ring which has such a function type (djinni summoning, wishes, and the like). Otherwise the effect lasts for one day (24 hours). Any ring function so commanded is never usable again; for example the ring cannot be made to give more than one wish. After three singular uses of this sort, the ring turns into a nonmagical piece of jewelry worth from 100 to 600 gp.
Before Ed Greenwood came up with the name of faezress for the weird underground radiation that kept the drow's stuff disintegrating in sunlight, it went nameless. Thus came into being the drow ring, whose power is to keep drow magic items from disintegrating in sunlight by projecting a field of underdark radiation. Man, if I had one of these things my four-armed photosynthetic drow would be truly pimp. Of course, in 3rd edition games, Ed would probably make a side effect where you turned into some faezress-infused undead or mutant.
The Ring of Gax/Ring of Gaxx, also known as "Gary's d9" has an 8 or 9-sided gem, each facet of which gives a different power, and the gem rolls randomly on which facet it decides to show on a given day. On the downside, the more powerful version (Gaxx) turns you into the Dungeonkeeper avatar if you wear it too long:
Once the ring is worn for more than 48 continuous hours, it begins to transform the wearer (over the next 96 hours) into a creature of unknown origin. A thick pair of horns grows 2 inches above the ears; the skin hardens into thick scales, providing a natural AC of 5. The eyes develop infravision (90 feet) and daylight becomes painful (-2 penalty to attack rolls). The lower canines extend an inch beyond the lips. Horn and bite attacks are possible, inflicting 1d4/1d4/1d6 points of damage.
Sorry, bit of nostalgia in my eye there.
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0536.html
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0536.html
At 200 gp, it's an expensive alternative to bathing or deodorant; male adventures may be accused of being metrosexuals for not smelling like mud and iron rations.The ring of jasmine odor changes the body odor of the wearer to a pleasant jasmine scent.
Ring of Life
Best. Typo. Ever.This item protects the wearer from the effects of Athasian defiling magic. When worn, the character is immune to the initiative point loss incurred in the destructive diameter of a defiler's spell. The ring of life also bestows upon its wearer recuperative powers as if by complete bed rest; the wearer naturally heals 3 hit points per lay. The ring of life does not protect its wearer from the dragon's defiling magic.
Ring of Mammal Control
This deserves a Far Side strip. An adventurer is surrounded by duck-billed platypuses. Caption: "Billy wished Mister Cavern had read that book on Australian wildlife."(Note: the ring does not affect bird-mammal combinations, humans, semihumans, and monsters such as lamasu, shedu, or manticores) If the DM is in doubt about whether any creature can be controlled by the wearer of this ring, assume it cannot be controlled.
Ring of the Nibelungen
I love that that table exists.This item comes from several Scandinavian legends. The ring was part of an entire hoard in the Rhine river, which was guarded by the Rhine Maidens until Alberich gained it by foreswearing love. The greedy dwarf cursed the item, and when the Ring was later taken by gods and heroes for various uses, it brought doom to all, resulting even in the destruction of Asgard and the gods. Every two days, the DM should roll on Artifact Table 1-01: Cataclysm. The ring cannot be removed short of a very carefully worded wish.
Rings of Paraelemental Command went by the wayside in 3rd edition, but were effectively rings of elemental command for Ice, Ooze, Magma, and Smoke paraelements - and if you think those are silly, a couple pages later were the Rings of Quasielemental Command, which dealt with Ash, Dust, Lightning, Mineral, Radiance, Salts, Steam, or Vacuum. Yes, those are all bullshit, but they still make more sense than blood elementals.
Ring of the Phoenix was actually brilliant; it was a ring of fire resistance, but if you died in a fire (Last thought "Huh, it's getting warm in here.") you got reincarnated as a "human phoenix" (or, presumably, elf phoenix, dwarf phoenix, whatever):
The one time I saw this happen at a table, another player got pissed and claim the MC had "pulled a Gandalf."Physically, the reincarnated character looks the same as before death, except for the bright orange skin and deep red eyes. The character's alignment changes to neutral good, and he or she is instilled with the urge to fight evil at every opportunity. The character retains all class powers and abilities and is bestowed with the following innate spell abilities, cast at the 12th level:
* Fire resistance, always in effect.
* Affect normal fires, three times a day.
* Fireball, once a day.
* Pyrotechnics, once a day.
* Wall of fire, once a week.
Ring of Resistance to Breath Weapons
Quick check: A god uses a breath weapon on you? No damage. Faerie dragon? You're still half-fucked.The ring gives the wearer complete immunity to all breath weapon attacks from creatures other than dragons; the wearer suffers half damage from dragon breath.
White Copper Ring of Fire - This is the ancient source behind 3.x feats and whatnot that make energy spells that can overcome energy resistance.
One of my favorite joke items is the Robe of Useless Items, mainly because some of the items are actually useful.This unique item was forged by the djinn to help them against the efreet. When worn by a wizard or other spellcaster, any fire spell cast produces a white-hot flame rather than a red or orange fire. These flames draw on the energies of the Positive Material Plane as well as the Plane of Fire and cause an additional +1 point of damage per die to evil creatures or those drawing energy from the Negative Plane. Creatures normally immune to fire attacks suffer normal damage when the caster wears the white copper ring.
Roll Item
2 A bag containing 1,000 lead pieces
3 A 1-inch length of rope.
4 One pair of high, hard boots, halfling size.
5 A wooden ladder, 25' long, with three rungs.
6 Half a pair of safety scissors.
7 A string of electrical Christmas tree lights.
8 A rubber dagger and a glass shield (matched set).
9 A Book of Exalted Deeds, written entirely in Thieves' Cant.
10 A pint of sovereign glue (undiluted with oil of slipperiness) in a tightly stoppered unbreakable bottle.
11 A treasure map pinpointing the exact location of an immense hoard, relative to "the old oak tree," "the big rock," "the woodcutter's shack," and "the bend in the river" (extraneous details such as the name of the kingdom or the continent are omitted).
12 A 25th-century, death-ray handgun, 100% accurate within 300 feet, that kills anything it hits (batteries not included).
13 A letter from Ed McMahon, telling the PCs they may already have won $20 million.
14 A normal bo stick, jo stick, awl pike, fauchard, partisan, and mancatcher. (in the history of the AD&D game, has any PC ever willingly become proficient with any of these weapons?)
15 Half a bucket of fresh, orc beer.
16 A wanter poster (600,000 gp bounty) for an ex-paladin gone really bad who's 20 levels higher than the highest-level character.
The Rod of Absorption is an odd duck, as it was basically one of those items were the designers were playing with spell points before spell points was really a thing. Eventually it led to Ed Greenwood mucking about with spellfire, and we all know how well that ended.
Rod of Cancellation
A very ancient artifact, this powerful, magical weapon is currently wielded by an executive at a broadcast network.
FOX, or maybe SyFy.
S
Saddle of the Spirit Horse
This is just bizarre. If the horse (special versions for camel, alpaca, whatever, but flying critters are right out) wearing this saddle dies, the spirit of the horse gets right the fuck back up and continues to allow the owner to ride it for 24 hours. That's giving 110%, when your mount delays heading off to Horsie Nirvana to cart your ass around for another day.
This frightens living horses. No normal horse will approach the animated saddle within 100 feet. For this reasons, it is best used when a character is alone and whose horse has died.
There's also a section on what happens if a character deliberately kills his horse to get 24 hours of tireless service, but it's depressing and can be summed up with two words: Horsey Revenge.
Scarabs of Deception should arguably have gotten much more use - they tell you what divination spell someone is aiming at you, and lets you project false information. That's handy.
The Scarab of Uncertainty is another one - it confuses summoned creatures, making them think the wearer is the summoner. Imagine if Ash threw down the pokeball and the electric rat went "Pika?" and then zapped the shit out of him.
Most of the entry on Scrolls covers the type of one-shot spells you might be familiar with, but of course there are many more types of magical scrolls in D&D than just that. My favorite is the Cursed Scroll of Amber:
When read, this cursed scroll turns its victim into a living fly trapped in a piece of amber unless a saving throw vs. spell is made.
Also included here are a (very) early version of the Nether scrolls for the Forgotten Realms, which would later go on to be artifacts.
There are a number of Scrolls of Protection from _____ (Felines, Gas, Genies, Heat, Illusions, Magical Weapons, Nonmagical Weapons, Plants, Water etc. This is the sort of thing where you might think a generic approach might clean things up a bit, but the effects are actually fairly diverse. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
Tattoo Scroll
When a wizard, or a thief who is of at least 10th level, reads this scroll, a dark blue and black tattoo of a dagger appears on the character's forearm and he or she suffers 1d4 points of burning damage. The scroll dissolves. B placing a hand on the hilt of the dagger tattoo and saying "para mi" the wearer can remove the weapon and use it as a +3 weapon. To return it to his or her body, the thief places it on the portion of the body where the tattoo should appear and utters, "de mi" The dagger then becomes a tattoo again. If the weapon leaves the possession of its owner it dissolves. It must always touch the owner's skin. Therefore, the owner cannot throw it, hold it in a gloved hand, or give it away.
Makes use of the fact that higher-level thieves could read scrolls. The More You Know!(TM)
Trollflower Seeds
Tired of having to replant his flowers every time a dragon traipsed through his garden, Orlow developed the trollflower (found in lots of 1d4 seeds). This is what would be described as a very hardy perennial. This flower grows slowly at a rate of 2 inches per month, but regenerates (similarly to a Troll) within 24 hours (unless burned, of course).
I don't like dragons traipsing through my garden either. Brings down property values.
Sheath of Frogs
An innocuous and obnoxious item, this sheath appears to be a benign bargin--a cheap, magical sheath. The problem is that, whenever a knife or dagger is drawn from this sheath, 1d20 rabid frogs also emerge to attack the user--who must make a save vs. poison to escape.
Can frogs even get rabies?
There are less magical shields than you would think. Only 12 pages. Most are fairly boring, what you expect from protective magic. I'm not saying there isn't an artifact or two in here but...moving on.
There are five magical skulls. None of them are Bob from the Dresden Files, so moving on.
Yes, Elminster's Eversmoking Pipe is detailed. No, I don't care enough to comment.
Socks of Dryness
The socks of dryness are a pair of foot wrappings that repel water like rubber, but allow air to pass.
At what point in an adventure do you begin to steal the socks off of the dead people? I mean, I know I got one of my players to steal their boots, but what if you find a troll naked except for a pair of socks? Are you really going to want to put that on your feet? (Assuming the troll isn't wearing them Red Hot Chili Peppers-style).
Sovereign Glue - a glue so strong, it can only be used in conjunction with multiple doses of oil of slipperiness.
Black Mumade (a type of spear)
The black kumade an an obsidian weapon that is carried by Lin Goh, the clanmaster of the Panthers of Xi. The magical javelin returns to its thrower can be spun like a deadly baton forming a shield +3. It has been taken as the symbol of the ninja's passing or actions in Xi, a kumade painted black. This group controls the mountains east to the Malu River and they have a continuing war with the ninja clan of Manchar, the Vi'oontu (which means "evening swallow that calls death").
Deadly baton? Was this guy in marching band, maybe?
Sharksbane Spear
Also known as a spear +2/+4 vs. sharks, this is a large lance with a point made from a shark's tooth. These items, originally enchanted by triton wizards or priests, are greatly sought after by mermen and sea elves, who will readily trade valuables to acquire one.
See, the tritons don't send their troops out with fucking coral daggers with a piddly +1/+2 enchantment. Fucking spears, +2/+4. Sahuagin are just not playing the same game.
Spellbooks! Not to be confused with books, manuals, or librams. A lot of these come from Pages from the Mages articles or the back of adventure modules, and just represent collections of themed spells like Spherogenesis of the Multiverses (Otiluke's resilient sphere, Otiluke's telekinetic sphere, Otiluke's freezing sphere, globe of invulnerability, flaming sphere, prismatic sphere), though there are also several artifacts and miscellaneous spellbooks and the Exalted Book of Ethnic Humor:
This 9 by 12 inch spellbook is leather bound and appears to be quite thin. It is a magical study of insulting comments and gestures that a jester can make toward all known intelligent races and creatures. The reader need merely state the race to be insulted and open the book to receive the information. A jester using this item must fluently speak the creature's language (or a mutually known tongue) in order to properly insult it. The insulted creature must save vs. spell or else have a 90% chance of being filled with magical shame, causing the creature to flee and hide for 2d6 rounds. There is a 10% chance that the taunting enrages any listener of the appropriate species, causing it to chase the jester regardless of other circumstances in an attempt to attack the reader in hand-to-hand combat. The enraged victim makes all attacks and saving throws at -2 form his or her blind, all-consuming rage.
"Your mother was a goblin!"
In Mylsibis's Codex of Contention is the 9th-level spell Mylsibis's Arcane Contention, which is pretty much the one used by the warring wizards in Big Trouble in Little China. The spell description is over two pages long and rather silly - both the wizards are creating these massive magical avatars to battle in their stead, it's a bit like instead of two athletes going one-on-one they sit down and play a sports video game so the awesomeness of their confrontation does not inadvertently destroy the fans. White Wolf did a couple variations on the same basic idea called certaemen or something similar.
Last page is, again, blank for notes. Tune in tomorrow for the last volume!
