Need good ideas for items

[injijo]

Im looking for interesting items to spice up a current campaign. Its in my own campaign world, but it resemebles classic DnD/Everquest worlds.
Im playing it in GURPS so please dont refer me to DnD manuals.
If you give a named item please explain what it does.

Im specifically looking for cursed items that may be worth the curse. They will be fairly powerful characters, 400 point character in GURPS. If I had to guess that might be like level 10 in DnD.
[B]Ever since the government covered up the proof of Space Dracula, we haven't trusted a thing they say.

[EZ_Kintire]

400 point characters in GURPS are closer to lvl 20 than 10, I would say!

The classic 'cursed' item is of course, the X of summoning. This object summons a powerful entity to the users location. Oddly, when they discover this, few players will bother to check that they also have control over the entity. Great for those 'No! NO!! I am your MASTER!!!' moments. After the first shock, a bit of preparation should ensure that the thing attacks the enemy first, if you pick an enemy it hates too, for example.

Seven League Boots. always good for a laugh. Watch, as a cheerful PC attempts to speed up a journey by putting one foot 21 miles in front of the other. Ouch.

Ring of invisibility. Turns the user invisible. Permanently. Good for sneaking into places, bad for getting service. Crossing the road, or walking through crowded markets, becomes a serious problem.

Oh, the list goes on....

Ring of Retribution. All damage done to the wearer also affects the attacker; and vice versa. All damage the wearer does to people, she takes.

Staff of Eldritchness. a wierd, gnarled staff, glowing with power, written with strange runes, and with a wierdly glowing crystal at the tip. Doesn't actually do anything, but intimidation factor is way up.

Further installments as inspiration strikes...

[injijo]

Yah, you're probably right on the level conversion. Im gonna drop the total down to 150points with possible 50disadv points. Anywho, those are some great ideas, thanks.

[Llabak Tharr]

Orange Spoon of the Fisherman!

This metal "spoon," painted bright orange and festooned with feathers, will improve your chances of success when you fish. +4 circumstance bonus added to a Profession (fishing).

I @#%$ you not, I have one of these. Llabaktharr Gigglegiggler
51 Lawncare Facilitator and gnomosexualizer of da ladies (retired)
And introducing: Heremon, Level 39 Firbolg Bard of Percival, Legendary Grandmaster Smith
Sanditari Gigglegiggler, 37 'keen 'chanter
100% socializer 53% explorer 33% achiever 13% killer and 100% lover.
AGM for Camelot, Crusaders of the Realms

Can ya dig it?

[EZ_Swipey]

Why would anyone make a cursed item?

1) When they were made, their undesirable effect was not considered undesirable. (These are Items that are "working as intended", and if they are "sticky" (cant be gotten rid of) it is because that was deemed a good thing when they were made)
2) They were made by a particularly vengeful wizard for a favorite enemy. (These ones, if they arent outright deadly, are highly likely to be "sticky", but also not very likely to have any useful effect... The wizard making them would arrange for the effect to break as soon as the curse hit, I would think)
3) There was some mistake made in their creation, or they have been damaged since then. (occasionally "sticky", usually just "buggy" instead)
4) Their enchantment, by its nature, requires a tradeoff. (Almost never "sticky")



Like :

Justicar's Sword/Sword of Law : (a Type 1 (working as intended, but things have changed) item)
In the distant and now largely forgotten past there existed an empire dominated by followers of an extremely lawful god. To enforce the laws of the empire, an order of officers known as "The Justicars" was created, and given the power and responsibility of upholding the Code of the Law throughout the land. As the mark and symbol of their office, each Justicar carried a Sword, upon which powerful enchantments had been laid. Some of the enchantments helped the Justicar do his duty, while others bound him to do it. Not just anyone could pick up a Justicar's Sword. To do so, one had to perform a lenghty ritual, which, among other things, required the recital, without error, of the entirety of the Code of the Law, and the freely accepted binding, mind, body and soul, of the Justicar to his Duty. The Sword was the talisman that carried this bond, and therefore could not be seperated from the Justicar, nor carried by anyone but him. The only way a sword could be seperated from its Justicar was to utterly destroy one of the elements of the bond (mind, body, or soul), or to perform another (now forgotten) ritual. A Sword unbound was nigh unmovable by any but another Justicar. Since all of the Justicars are long dead and the Code of the Law is not preserved in its entirety, none can now bear these weapons, or wield their powers. What makes them important anymore is their relationship to another set of swords, the Swords of Law.

In the course of their duty, Justicars often met with quite formidable and quite deadly resistance. And because this was forseen a second order of Swords, the Swords of Law, were created. This set of Swords was to be distributed by the Justicars to those who would be their assistants when resistance to the Code required force to overcome. Their primary functions were to provide the retainers with considerable combat power and to compel the loyalty and obedience of those retainers to the Justicar. Lesser functions included things that might help the retainer do legwork for the Justicar in an investigation, such as the ability to detect falshoods spoken at the point of the sword, and to unerringly know the direction and distance of the nearest Justicar. The Swords of Law also bound its bearer in a few of the same ways as a Justicar's swords bound him, such as preventing him from ever communicating a falsehood himself. Now, sometimes, a Justicar's retainers could take a lot of casualties, so being able to quickly replace them was important, as was preventing them from just tossing down the Sword and abandoning the cause of the Code. So the enchantments on a Sword of Law allow anyone to pick it up and wield it and its powers, but also prevent anyone who has picked it up from seperating themselves from it (and the bonds of command from the Justicar) without a Justicar releasing them. Since all the Justicars have passed away, anyone who now picks up a Sword of Law now is stuck with it, and only death will seperate them from it.

So, in game terms :
Justicar's Sword : Immovable artifact with inaccessible powers.

Sword of Law : Cursed item with these effects :
1) Nice weapon
2) Wielder can detect lies when the sword is drawn and the point is placed on the person whose veracity is to be tested.
3) Wielder cannot lie.
4) Wielder cannot be rid of the Sword.

You could also throw a number of other powers onto the Sword of Law that are appropriate to the backstory, but if you do, you should add more curse effects too.



Here is another item:

The Rod of Life Transference : (a Type 4 (tradeoff) item)
An item that allows the wielder to transfer his health to another person, at 75% efficiency. (He loses 4 units, but the other guy gains only 3)


I'll think up some more later maybe. Edited by: Swipey at: 10/11/02 7:31:55 am

[Llabak Tharr]

I'm always in favor of items that have a chance of switching the character's gender with each use.

Edit:

If you're looking for ideas for powers and such, check out the 1st Edit AD&D Dungeon master's Guide (dunno if later versions have this stuff) and look at the relic powers. There's a whole section on various relics, major and minor powers the relics can have, as well as various curses. It may help spur your creative juices. Edited by: Llabak Tharr at: 10/11/02 7:47:26 am

[EZ_Maloscat]

Two best cursed items we ever ran across (In 2nd Ed. AD&D, ought to give you a few ideas...)

- " " of Youth. Appeared to be a common cloth turban, with a magically glowing brooch of sorts.

What is was, in fact, was a 'Diaper' of youth. Created by a powerful wizard to counteract a side-effect one of his spells had, it would regress a player's age rather rapidly. Great for counteracting the detrimental aging affect of a Haste spell... Not so great for the group mage that fell asleep with it on his head the first night.

- Blackrazor (Think that's the sword's proper name) Evil, evil bastard of a weapon. Literally, an evil +3 sentient, and very angry bastard sword. Had a lovely effect, though... Every time it's wielder killed someone / something with it, the wielder gained a number of levels equal to that of the creature killed. (The sword siphoned life energies and trapped them in the blade. The wielder had to make increasingly difficult daily checks to maintain control of his actions based on the length of time since the sword had 'fed')

Dastardly uses that we put the weilder through... (Dumb-as-a-rock barbarian, roughly level 7 at the time) Cut him loose in the middle of an orc tribe (Anywhere from 15-30 level 1-3 orcs), then rapidly teleport the whole crew to a previously scouted dragon's lair, where said barbarian (Now with a level off the chart) would happily mow down even the nastiest lizard.

Didn't last too long, but it was fun while it did. *grin*

[Nenjin]

Sentient weapons can provide the greatest curse factor, because you can just adjust the curse when and how you see fit.

My GM loved this tactic. Nice, super spiffy weapons gotten from the god's avatars ect... except using them made you putty in the grip of divine power, so you ended up becoming an instrument whenever the GM felt like it. The trade off for real power was always a big theme of his.

The powerful the sentient weapon, the more you can mix up it's effects. Although that kind means dropping "the end all be all weapon" on your players, which is bad.

Still, just give a couple thing's mischevous personalities, and at certain times, use them, force some good roleplaying =)