Comments on: What’s a +1 Sword?

By: Make Magical Item Identification Harder — Dungeon's Master

Make Magical Item Identification Harder — Dungeon's Master — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 04:28:34 +0000

[...] What’s a +1 Sword? [...]

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 19:37:59 +0000

My character in a campaign, a Genasi Swordmage had a weapon that he kept from 1st level all the way. I wanted a memorable weapon so I asked my DM if I could get on of those “Art Swords” that look cool but don’t do anything. He said no. I dropped a F-You and did it anyway. It’s how anyone at our table would have done it. Well I enchanted it and and used that Transfer magic ritual on it multiple times. The sword eventually became known as the Guzzler (because of all the gold pieces I spent on Ritual components)

By: What Do You Mean All My Magic Items Are Gone! — Dungeon's Master

What Do You Mean All My Magic Items Are Gone! — Dungeon's Master — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:31:22 +0000

[...] that no one really feels that anything their PC possesses is really that special. In the articles What’s a +1 Sword? and Who Owned Your Magic Sword Before You Did? we focused on magic item rarity and the importance [...]

By: Magic Items That Aren’t Magical – April Fools! — Dungeon's Master

Magic Items That Aren’t Magical – April Fools! — Dungeon's Master — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:01:58 +0000

[...] their magical items is certainly not the way that their characters describe their items (see What’s a +1 Sword?). With that in mind, every now and then the DM should have some fun at the player’s expense. This [...]

By: Geek Fu

Geek Fu — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:05:31 +0000

A player in my group wields a Mordenkrad named “The Postman” that has “Return to Sender” backwards in raised letters across the striking surface of the hammer.

By: Uberdungeon

Uberdungeon — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 06:58:31 +0000

Excellent article, this problem is pretty commonly found in my games, although we have named a few items when they were really fun
For example, our party found themselves stuck in an ice cave after killing some yetis, when they found a hole in the ice… the druid (who touched the hole) was teleported to the realm of a dwarven god of trickery who bestowed upon the druid a +2 returning dagger, which fit the hole in the ice, opening a way out
Anyway, this item was named “Goddagger” (original, right…) and was an integral part of the story, causing multiple quests and some very funny encounters

By: Adventure Builder Workshop: Rewards — Dungeon's Master

Adventure Builder Workshop: Rewards — Dungeon's Master — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:02:16 +0000

[...] What’s a +1 sword [...]

By: Who Owned Your Magic Sword Before You Did? — Dungeon's Master

Who Owned Your Magic Sword Before You Did? — Dungeon's Master — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:05:18 +0000

[...] and magic items are in your campaign world, each and every magic item is unique (as we discussed in What’s a +1 Sword?). Each item required time and resources to create, even if it’s just the most basic magic weapon. [...]

By: Ameron

Ameron — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:02:12 +0000

@Bog97th
I never used to tell PCs what an item’s power was until they had an opportunity to put it to practical use. However, we eventually spent more time trying to identify items then actually role-playing so we abandoned this methodology long ago.

You’re right about the one ring. Players need to remember that just because some worlds (like Eberron, for example) are magic rich, not all worlds are. Magic items should never be taken for granted just because you think their common-place.

By: Bog97th

Bog97th — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:54:29 +0000

When I used to play with my old DM, he never told us what the item did or a name unless it was a real relic. Them the name would be told but never the functions. Players had to figure the powers out on their own. Either through trial and error or magic. It lent a lot more to the game and the character back ground. I also try to follow that rule.

As more a +1 sword “just” being a +1 sword….. Look at Lord of the Rings! One lousy ring of invisibility created all that mess. Even with Wizards being around.

It’s all in how you run game not the how the game runs you.

Game ON!