Charms (Single Use Magic Items that Are Not Potions)

Some of these items seem at home in an alchemist's lab (universal solvent), others are more like the surprisingly useful tokens given to heroes in fairy tales (feather tokens, wondrous figurines), and a few are wahoofuntimes (Marvelous Pigments!), and the rest seem to be emergent from exploring and logistics
in an imaginary world (Dust of Dryness) or one-use spell effects that don't grok as potions (salve of slipperiness).

Item (First "Core" Appearance)    Schtick


Bag of Tricks (Greyhawk)          Pokemon, for regular animals
Bead of Force (2E)                    Force grenade/Forcecage
Candle of Invocation(AD&D)    Magic Circle of Protection + Cleric Spellpower + Gate
Candle of Truth(3E)                   Zone of Truth
Dust of Appearance (Greyhawk)    Negate invisibility, blur, displacement, illusions, stealth
Dust of Disappearance(Greyhawk)    Invisibility
Dust of Dryness(2E)                          Dehydrate water
Dust of Illusion(2E)                            Disguise self
Dust of Tracelessness(2E)                  Hide tracks
Elemental Gem(3E)                           Pokemon, for elementals
Elixer of Love (AD&D)        Love Potions
Elixir of Fire Breath(3E?)    Breathe Fire...like a boss   
Elixer of Hiding(3E)        Hide like a thief
Elixer of Sneaking(3E)        Sneak like a thief
Elixer of Swimming(3E)        Swim like a fish
Elixir of Vision(3E)        Search good
Elixir of Truth(3)        Truthtelling compel
Wondrous Figurines (Greyhawk)    Pokemon, for badass beasts
Feather Tokens    (AD&D)        Anchor, Bird(Message), Fan(Wind), Swan Boat, Tree, Dancing Whip
Incense of Meditation(AD&D)    Extra spellpower for casters
Marvelous Pigments(AD&D)    Looney Tunes painting power
Ointment (AD&D)            Cure wounds/heal maladies
Salve of Slipperiness(3E)    "Grease" spell
Silversheen(3E)            Like poison for a weapon, but silver
Soverign Glue(2E)        Alchemical superglue
Stone Salve(3)            Reverse-petrification treatment
Unguent of Timelessness(3E)    Longevity coating
Universal Solvent(2E)        Alchemical anti-glue

THE WIZARD IS UNDETERRED

My next D&D campaign will be this

via Doctor Rotwang

Still with the Magic Items

This week, I have been commenting a lot on Telecanter's one-page magic items quest.
I hope I'm helping.

History of Rods, Staffs, and Wands.

Staffs and wands appear in Volume II: Monsters & Treasure, Rods are introduced in Supplement I: Greyhawk as rarer items that are listed with the wands and staves, but have no real distinction from any other miscellaneous magic item.

Staff/Wand magic generally, but not always, mimics cleric and magic user spells, or spell like effects. I think this is the very first patch for player dissatisfaction with Vancian-magic.

Player: "But its lame I only get to cast (1, 2, 6) spells per session, what if my dude had like a magic wand filled with spells.

GM: "Okay, murder a manticore and pay 10k gold and leave your dude in Town for this week session and next time he's got a wand of fireballs with (roll roll) 45 charges in it.

Player: "Everything is beautiful and will be this way forever."

Rods are more like special effects. One neat distinction, the Rod of Lordly Might can only be used by Fighter-Types but the Rod of Rulership can be used by any character.

Again, Holmes and B/X take the greatest hits, and leave out the highest level stuff like Lordly Might/Resurrection. B/X breaks the Trap/Secret Door detection wand into two separate sticks.

AD&D adds a Rod of Smiting and Staffs of Curing and Magi to supplement the Healing and Wizardry Staffs.

AD&D is also the first appearance of the wand of magic missiles (how many arguments about "low-magic, high-fidelity, "realistic" campaigns did this start), Wand of Illumination (because tracking torches is lame?), and the whimsical Wand of Wonder (Make a saving throw versus banality if you didn't capitalize the words in your head).

The divergent evolution of the Cyclopedia rears again, "Dominion" instead of "Rulership", a handful of weapon-rods, and more variety to spell staffs. And 2nd Edition brings it all back together again.

3rd Edition doesn't appear on this list, because of the way it systematized rod/staff/wand magic items.
In 3rd Edition, any low level (0-4) spell could be placed on a wand, and any character who could possible learn the wanded spell could use the wand.
Staffs, were items that could contain multiple spells that shared a theme, and a primary spell user who was the right level to learn the spell in the staff could
cast the spell from the staff using his own caster level but without having to memorize the spell.

But this mundanifying meant that some of the more "wahoo" wands and spells (Wonder, enemy detection, metal detection, withering) got turned into rods.
A rod was just a miscellaneous magic item, that might also be a magic club weapon, that you had to hold in a hand (instead of a weapon/shield/implement).

Rod	OD&D	Holmes	B/X	AD&D	Cyclopedia	2E
...of Cancellation	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Beguiling	YES			YES		YES
...of Absorption	YES			YES		YES
...of Lordly Might	YES			YES		YES
...of Rulership/Dominion	YES			YES	YES	YES
...of Resurrection	YES			YES		YES
...of Smiting				YES		YES
...of Health					YES
...of Inertia					YES
...of Parrying					YES
...of Victory					YES
...of Weaponry					YES
...of the Wyrm					YES
...of Alertness						YES
...of Flailing						YES
...of Security						YES
...of Splendor						YES
...of Passage						YES
...of Terror						YES
Staff	Staff	Staff	Staff	Staff	Staff	Staff
...of Curing	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Command	YES		YES	YES	YES	YES
Snake/Serpent Staff	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Striking	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Withering	YES		YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Power	YES		YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Wizardry	YES		YES	YES	YES
...of Curing				YES
...of the Magi				YES		YES
...of Dispelling					YES
...of the Druids/WOodlands					YES	YES
...of an Element (Thunder & Lightning)					YES	YES
...of Harming					YES
...of Slinging						YES
Spear Staff						YES
Mace Staff						YES
...of Swarming Insects						YES
Wand	Wand	Wand	Wand	Wand	Wand	Wand
...of Metal & Mineral Detection	YES		YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Enemy Detection	YES		YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Magic Detection	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Secret Door/Trap Detection	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Illusions	YES		YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Fear	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Frost	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Paralyzation	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Fire	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Lightning	YES		YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Polymorphing	YES		YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Negation	YES		YES	YES	YES	YES
...of Conjuration				YES		YES
...of Magic Missiles				YES		YES
...of Illumination				YES		YES
...of Wonder				YES		YES
...of Earth and Stone						YES
...of Flame Extinguishing						YES
...of Size Alteration						YES

History of Magic Rings in D&D Part II

In the last post, I couldn't figure out how to post the comparison chart, showing magic rings that were added to The Game over the editions. I think I figure out a way to make it fit now.

The column named OD&D includes the three little brown books and the Greyhawk and Blackmoor supplements. The Ring of Freedom was originally for unencumbered underwater movement, part of the aquatic treasures from the original Temple of the Frog.

We see again how Holmes Basic made good choices, including those rings from the 3LBB that took the least words to explain.

The column for B/X is the Moldavay/Cook edition. I did peruse the BECMI Cyclopedia, but it only had a few entries that weren't already covered and they were very outre' (like the Ear Ring, put it up to a door and hear whats on the other side!)

The columns for AD&D, 2E, and 3E are based on that generation's Dungeon Master's Guide.

See that the 1st Edition DMG only added 4 rings that hadn't already appeared in the Original edition; Elemental Control, Feather Falling, Warmth, and Wizardry.

The 2nd Edition added several more, and shows evidence of the bifurcation of approaches during that era. On the one hand: Truth, Clumsiness, and Mind Shielding because it matters who you talk to and who tells the truth, because you can't just smack around any NPC anymore, they exist to order you around, save the world when you're not looking, and be awesome in novels and metaplots that mean you can't actually take part in the (un)making of the world. On the other hand: Shocking Grasp and Sustenance, because at Bot the Lousy DM's table the only thing you can count on is explicit combat plusses on your sheet and tracking rations is lame.

The 3rd Edition added only a few more by name to show off the new skill and counterspell systems (Climbing, Counterspells, Evasion, Force Shield, Meld Into Stone, Friend Shield). The 'share hit points with a friend' idea of the Friend Shield Ring is a really cool concept.

Remember that 3E had item crafting baked in, so really the base game there implied the possible existence of "Rings of plus 1-30 to any number on your character sheet" and "Rings of any magic-user, cleric, or druid spell 3/day".

Ring OD&D Holmes B/X AD&D 2E 3E
Invisibility yes yes yes yes yes yes
Weakness yes yes yes yes yes no
Protection (+1) yes yes yes yes yes yes
Three Wishes yes yes yes yes yes yes
Delusion yes no yes yes yes no
Water Walking yes yes yes yes yes yes
Fire Resistance yes yes yes yes yes yes
Mammal/Animal Control yes yes yes yes yes yes
Plant Control no yes yes no no no
Human Control/Influence yes no yes yes yes no
Protection (+1), 5' r. yes no yes no no no
Regeneration yes yes yes yes yes yes
Jinn Summoning yes no yes yes yes yes
Telekinesis yes no yes yes yes yes
X-Ray Vision yes no yes yes yes yes
Spell Turning yes no yes yes yes yes
Spell Storing yes no yes yes yes yes
Many Wishes (4-24) yes no no yes yes no
Protection +2 to +5 yes no yes yes yes yes

Shooting Stars yes no no yes yes yes
Contrariness yes no no yes yes yes
Freedom/Free Action yes no no yes yes no
Movement (Swimming) yes no no yes yes yes

Elemental Control no no no yes yes yes
Feather Falling no no no yes yes yes
Warmth no no no yes yes no
Wizardry no no no yes yes yes

Sustenance no no no no yes yes
Truth no no no no yes no
Blinking no no no no yes yes
Chameleon Power no no no no yes yes
Jumping no no no no yes yes
Mind Shielding no no no no yes yes
Ram no no no no yes yes
Clumsiness no no no no yes no
Shocking Grasp no no no no yes no

Climbing no no no no no yes
Counterspells no no no no no yes
Evasion no no no no no yes
Force Shield no no no no no yes
Meld Into Stone no no no no no yes
Friend Shield no no no no no yes

History of Magic Rings in D&D

Inspired by Telecanter's Story of Potions I tried to do the same thing with Magic Rings.

Rings as Gygaxian Building Blocks:              
A Ring is a magical piece of jewelry that imbues the wearer with a magical effect for as long as they wear the ring. Effects are generally limited to the person of the wearer, and primarily defensive or evasive rather than offensive. A character can't wear more than 1 or 2 rings at a time.

              
A few of the classic and evergreen rings that don't meet this building block test are:              

• Three Wishes--Limited Uses is not a permanent effect
• Djinni Summoning--Summoning is not a permanent or personal effect
• Many Wishes--Limited uses is not a permanent effect
• Plant Control--Animating sessile plants is not a personal effect
• Elemental Control--Summoning is not a personal or permanent effect
• Shooting Stars--A fancy wand of fireballs is not a personal or permanent effect.

There were also a few rings in the Cyclopedia that had charged protective effects, but anything with charges shouldn't be a magic ring under this rubric. And there are alternative platforms for these effects anyway.

The genie ring does have folklore behind it, but summoning spirits and animating objects doesn't fit the idea of a magical aura the way invisibility or water walking does.

Rings for controlling/befriending Animals and Humans do fit, just barely, in that they change the way other beings percieve the wearer.

I also gave the Telekinesis Ring a pass, because I imagine the ability to move objects with the mind is different from animating a plant or object.

As you can see from the Table, most of the magic rings survive relatively unchanged from the original 3 books all the way through to 3rd Edition. Most of the rings on my selected list come straight from OD&D+Blackmoor, except:              

• Feather Falling (AD&D)
• Wizardry         (AD&D)
• Sustenance      (Cyclopedia/2nd Edition)
• Jumping           (2nd Edition)
• Mind Shielding (2nd Edition) 
• Melding           (3rd Edition)  

I did squeeze a few rings together for what I thought was simplification.
Fire Resistance, Elemental Adaptation and Warmth become a single Ring of Resistance to Elements.
Rather than have item trade-in syndrome for Rings of Protection, I turned it into a scaling effect.

Arms Race
Without mandating an attunement period to benefit from a ring, GMs can give ring overuse a bite similar to potion miscibility by having characters who overload on rings, or who swap rings out too often have to make saving throws to avoid thematic side effects.

 

Ring	Ability	Side Effect	Metal	Jewel
Invisibility	Wearer is invisible as long as they wear ring.	Only partly visible	Silver	None
Weakness	Wearer is enfeebled, their Strength is now as low as possible. Takes remove curse or similar to remove ring.	NA	Gold	Diamond
Protection	Wearer gets bonus to Armor Class and all Saving Throws equal to 1/3 their class level (minimum =1)	Penalty to Armor Class	Silver	Ruby
Delusion	No Powers. Roll Again. Wearer thinks that result is true	NA	Gold	Diamond
Water Walking	Wearer can walk on water as if it was solid ground.	Wearer sinks into ground like its mud.	Silver	Pearl
Resistance to Elements	Immune to hardships of natural environment (cold, heat, wind, rain, etc.) +2 on Saving Throws against “energy” attacks (Fire, Ice, Lightning, etc.)	Wearer extra sensitive to temperature/light/humidity	Iron	Emerald
Beastmastery	Automatic Friendly reaction from animals and beasts. Can have animals and beasts as loyal retainers	Animals react poorly	Copper	Jade
Enchantress' Ring	Wearer's charisma is now effectively the maximum possible, automatic friendly reaction from human(s) and can cast Charm Person 3/day	People react poorly	Gold	Diamond
Regeneration	Wearer regenerates wounds like a troll.	Hemophelia	Quicksilver	Opal
Telekenisis	Wearer can move objects with their mind. As the spell telekenisis	Clumsiness	Steel	Diamond
X-Ray Vision	Wearer can see through walls and things up to 30 ft range. Blocked by lead.	Blindness	Lead	Sapphire
Spell Turning	Any spell or similar effect which targets the wearer will be reflected back to the caster or source.	Spell effects double	Tin	None
Spell Storing	A spellcaster can store any spell in the ring. The wearer can cast the stored spell as if they were the original caster.	NA	Iron	Amber
Freedom	Wearer can swim like a fish and is immune to any slowing, entangling, or physically hindering effects.	Clumsiness	Quicksilver	Coral
Feather Fall	If wearer falls of a cliff or somesuch they float like a feather.	Wearer is heavy, like high-gravity	Quicksilver	Moonstone
Wizardry	Wearer can memorize double usual number of spells. Magic-Users/Wizards Only	Wearer forgets spell levels	Gold	Diamond
Sustaining Energy	Wearer does not need to breathe, drink, eat, sleep	Gluttonous and Slothful	Copper	None
Jumping	Wearer can jump really high, like chanbara.	Clumsiness	Tin	Moonstone
Mind Shielding	Wearer is immune or at least resistant to telepathy/esp/mind blasts etc.	Wearer accidentally broadcasts thoughts	Iron	Quartz
Melding	Wearer can hide in or walk through walls, stone, and other matter, but not forcefields	Wearer sinks into ground like its mud.	Silver	Obsidian

History of Rings in D&D
OD&D	HOLMES	Moldavay/Cook	AD&D	2nd Edition	3rd Edition
Invisibility	Invisibility	Invisibility	Invisibility	Invisibility	Invisibility
Weakness	Weakness	Weakness	Weakness	Weakness
Protection	Protection +1	Protection +1	Protection	Protection	Protection 1
Three Wishes	Three Wishes	(Wishes 1-4)	Three Wishes	Wishes 3	3 Wishes
Delusion		(Delusion)	Delusion	Delusion
Water Walking	Water Walking	Water Walking	Water Walking	Water Walking	Water Walking
Fire Resistance	Fire Resistance	Fire Resistance	Fire Resistance	Fire Resistance	Energy Resistance
Mammal Control	Animal Control	Animal Control	Mammal Control	Animal Friendship/Mammal Control	Animal Friend
	Plant Control	(Plant Control)
Human Control		(Human Control)	Human Influence	Human Influence
Protection, 5' r.		(Protection +1,5'r)
Regeneration	Regeneration	(Regeneration)	Regeneration	Regeneration	Regeneration
Djinn Summoning		(Djinni Summoning)	Djinni SUmmoning	Djinni Summoning	Djinn Calling
Telekenisis		(Telekenisis)	Telekenesis	Telekenisis	Telekenisis
X-Ray Vision		(X-Ray Vision)	X-Ray Vision	X-Ray Vision	X-Ray Vision
Spell Turning		(Spell Turning)	Spell Turning	Spell Turning	Spell Turning
Spell Storing		(Spell Storing)	Spell Storing	Spell Storing	Spell Storing
Many Wishes (4-24)			Multiple Wishes	Wishes Multiple
Supplements
{G}Protection+2, 5'r					Protection 2-5
{G}Protection +3					Force Shield
{G}Shooting Stars			Shooting Stars	Shooting Stars	Shooting Stars
{G}Contrariness			Contrariness	Contrariness
{B}Freedom (Underwater action)			Free Action	Free Action
{B}Movement (Swimming)			Swimming	Swimming	Swimming
			Elemental Command	Elemental Command	Elemental Command
			Feather Falling	Feather Falling	Feather Fall
			Warmth	Warmth
			Wizardry	Wizardry	Wizardry (I-IV)
				Sustenance	Sustenance
				Truth
				Blinking	Blinking
				Chameleon Power	Chameleon Power
				Jumping	Jumping
				Mind Shielding	Mind Shielding
				Ram	Ram
				Clumsiness
				Schocking Grasp
					Climbing
					Counterspells
					Evasion
					Meld Into Stone
					Friend Shield

Minimal Monsters IV

In 1977, TSR began to split their efforts into sustaining the introductory "Basic" dungeons and dragons, and catering to newly experienced role-players with the Advanced line of products.

One of the first items in the Basic line, after the supplements, was Dr. Holmes' restatement of the original game in the blue dragon book. The blue dragon book is interesting in that the rules only supported characters of up to 3rd level, but included 10hit die monsters and other deadly threats that would challenge even high level characters in other versions of the game.

What low-level monsters did Dr. Holmes omnibus include?

Less than 1 Hit Die
Goblin(1-1)
Kobold (1/2)
Skeleton (1/2)

One Hit Die
Bandit (1 HD)
Dwarf (1)
Gnome(1)
Nixie (1)
Orc (1)
Pixie (1)
Stirge (1)


1+ Hit Die
Berserker (1+1)
Elf (1+1)


Hobgoblin (1+1)

2 Hit Die
Ghoul (2)
Green Slime (2)

2+Hit Die
Lizard Man (2+1)
Pegasi (2+2)
Shadow (2+2)
Zombie (2)

3 Hit Die
Giant Tick (3)
Gray Ooze (3)
Harpy (3)
Wight (3)

3+ Hit Die
Bugbear (3+1)
Carrion Crawler (3+1)

Hippogriff (3+1)

4 Hit Die
Blink Dogs (4)
Doppleganger (4)
Gargoyle (4)

Gelatinous Cube (4)

Medusa (4)
Unicorn (4)
Wraith (4)


Variable
Hell Hound (3-7)

Horse (2-3)

Hydra (1 per head)
Yellow Mold (2 per 10 sq ft)




Ogre (4+1)

Impressions
Looking at the monster list, it's clear the Holmes Blue Dragon Book is mostly a compilation of the 3 LBB.
The new entries for the sub-Ogre weight class are the Stirge (1), Lizard Man (2+1), Shadow (2+2), Wight (3), Bugbear (3+1), and Carrion Crawler (3+1). Nothing surprising, mostly new soldier humanoids and variant undead.

The barely sub-ogre weight class adds Blink Dogs (4), Dopplegangers (4), Wraiths (4), and Hellhounds (3-7), as well as new members of the clean up crew; the Gelatinous Cubes (4),  and Yellow mold (2 per square).

The new additions do add to the impression that Holmes world is designed to be brutal and difficult for the mortal men who dwell in it. The aberrations like the stirge and carrion crawler would soon find their place in the toolbox of "unfair" monsters.