More Magic Item Origins

At the suggestion of someone on the forums, I went to check out the magic item section of the D&D Next playtest. I'll say this for WOTC, they get points for flavor-- so many of the items in it are shot through with interesting details and story hooks (and they even snuck in a little 4e/Points of Light setting reference in the Ioun stone entry!) One of my favorite parts was including a series of tables to help spruce up some of the less inherently flavorful magic items, like +1 swords. There were tables for special details of its history like being featured in a prophecy, minor special properties like glowing in the presence of a certain type of monster or functioning as a key to a door somewhere in the world, minor disadvantages like being painful to use or making you covetous of the item, and the subject of tonight's post: Who made the damn thing in the first place (and how it might look as a result.)

If there's one downside to those tables, it's in that last one: The damn thing doesn't even cover half the alphabet! It goes from Abyssal to Gnomes. But I aim to correct that egregious oversight. I'm not going to include the other table-- if you want it it's the work of five minutes to find the 5e playtest and put it to use. Magic items have a 50% chance of being rolled on that table or this one, or you could combine them and use 1d4 and 1d10.

D20	Creator
1-2	Goblin
3	Hag
4	Halfling
5	Illithid
6	Infernal
7	Kobold
8	Lizardfolk
9	Orcish
10-12	Primal
13	Primitive Human
14-16	Sanctified
17	Shadow
18	Technological
19	Undead
20	Yuan-Ti

Goblin: This item was crafted by Goblins, Hobgoblins, or Bugbears for one of their many, many wars. At once it gives off the regular, precise feel of being mass-produced and the curious uniqueness of a one-of-a-kind item. It is wicked-looking, with carefully-placed hooks or barbs, and may be adorned with hide or teeth taken from wolves, worgs, or other beastly allies of the goblins.
Hag: This item was granted to a mortal by a hag, or perhaps a hag created it to accomplish some nefarious purpose herself. From some angles, especially in moonlight, it appears beautiful and well-crafted, but in others it is a horrible thing made of twisted hair, disembodied eyes, or the bones and teeth of children.
Halfling: This item was made by the halflings. While halflings make few magic items, like everything the halflings make, those they do are simple, sturdy, and functional, and tend to have some useful built-in feature for everyday life or travel. It feels comfortable to hold.
Illithid: This item was crafted deep underground, in the secret vaults of the Mind Flayers. It is supernaturally light (half the normal weight), as if held aloft by their dark wills. Leather or cloth components have a strange rubbery smoothness, or are made from the hides of their thralls, whereas metal components are made of clear crystal of surprising strength. Brainlike wrinkles, tentacles, or symbols of forgotten gods of madness adorn it.
Infernal: This item is almost mathematically perfect in its shape and balance. Any metal in it is iron black as night, and cloth or leather is wrought from the hide of devils. Close observation reveals impossibly tiny runes on every surface that spell out an exacting and detailed contract, one you hope that by taking up the item you have not inadvertently become party to.
Kobold: This item, made by the kobolds, is crafted in imitation of a draconic item. As such, the shed scales, fangs, feathers, and claws of kobolds are implemented into it. Hidden compartments for poison or other such dirty tricks are often built into the item itself.
Lizardfolk: During their long-ago heyday, the lizardfolk crafted items such as this one. Patterns of thick but intricate lines decorate it, as do scraps of hide. Obsidian or flint, bone, and wood replace worked metal, which the lizardfolk have always been trepidatious of, though inlays of gold and copper are not unlikely.
Orcish: This item of black iron looks somewhat crudely made and feels quite hefty and brutal. It is notched, and may be decorated with trophies taken from foes, whether monsters or men, that fell to its original owner.
Primal: This item was a gift from a spirit of the natural world. It appears unworked, as if it were not so much crafted as plucked whole from the environment in which the spirit lived, or perhaps even the body of the spirit itself. When you handle it, you get some inkling of what the spirit is feeling, if it still exists in the world.
Primitive Human: This item feels impossibly ancient, perhaps as though it was created by some of the first men in the earliest days of their civilization. Or perhaps it is not so old itself, but the work of cunning barbarian shamans using techniques passed down ever since those first days. Raw hides, wood, stone, bones and teeth, clay, horn, and feathers might be used in it, but never metal, and it is adorned with simple fetishes lashed to it with narrow strips of hide.
Sanctified: This item was bestowed on the world by a god. It is made of impossibly fine materials, and holy symbols of that god feature in its design in some way. It may even be a near-perfect imitation of an artifact closely associated with that god. Followers of the god who created this item feel the divine presence most keenly when they handle it.
Shadow: This item was created by those few creatures who live in the shadowy reflection of the material plane, along the roads to the next life. It seems unnaturally colorless and flat, except in areas of relative darkness, where its elaborate beauty comes into greater focus. You can just barely hear the whispers of those who have taken the longest journey when this item is near to you.
Technological: This is the artifact of a supremely-advanced civilization now forgotten, or perhaps visitors from a distant star, who have learned to harness the energies of magic to power their machines. It may look fiendishly complex, or deceptively simple, but after a moment's trial and error you figure out how to make it work. It is possible that it may not resemble a typical magic item, for instance a technological +1 sword may be a narrow tube about the length of your arm that produces a humming shaft of blue or green light when you press a button on it.
Undead: This item was suffused with necrotic energies from the moment it was crafted by the dead hand of its maker. It is cruel-looking enough even without the symbols of death and pestilence worked into it, and always feels cold and unwholesome to the senses of the living.
Yuan-Ti: The items the ancient serpent-folk created often bear serpentine motifs such as coiled spirals, fangs, or rattles, when they are not outright made in the (extremely realistic) likenesses of snakes. Their weapons almost always bear hidden compartments and channels for poison.

OSR Christmas List item #1: Treasures of the Insect Cult!

First comes the stocking of Arnold K., who asked Santa Ghoul for

I would like a list of beautiful jewelry/treasures made by insane, insect-worshipping cultists.

So, here goes nothin'.

Roll 1d12 and consult the following table:

1	Perfectly-formed chrysalis made of real gold instead of silk. A caterpillar broken out of its native chrysalis and sealed inside will turn into a butterfly with wings of pure gold
2	Deedly-bopper-like antennae of silver wire. The balls on the end are made of pure rubies
3	The Knee-fiddle, an experimental musical instrument made in imitation of the cricket. A skilled performer can dance and caper about while playing it, but currently none of them have more than mastered the basics
4	The Amulet of Hammond: A pendant of magically-treated amber: the mosquitoes inside are alive and wriggle about in it. Rumors persist that this item was stolen from the cult of the Reptile God, whose priests use it to summon dinosaurs.
5	A pair of jade double-rings, long scything scalpels jut beyond the finger of the wearer. These are used to cut the veins of sacrifices.
6	Clicking mandibles of copper inlaid with platinum. When worn across the tongue, they make normal speech impossible but facilitate speaking the languages of phraints/thri-kreen/formians/what have you
7	A cunningly-made crinoline that, when worn under the black and white robes of a priestess of the insect cult, makes her look like a gravid queen ant.
8	An ant farm-- the world's first-- made with dwarven mithril frame, gnomish glass, and sand of crushed rubies
9	A tank of pygmy ankhegs and rust monsters, each the size of human hands and fed on a diet of iron filings and expensive sausage.
10	A map to the purported burial sight of the world cicadas, horse-sized things that are said to awaken and breed for only a single day every seven thousand years.
11	Giant flowers for the cultists to crawl in, that they might know the purposeful joy of the worker bee.
12	A holy text made from the paper of a giant wasp's nest, the letters written in their venom.

Which Literary Cleric am I ripping off for this NPC

I love Jack and his blog, but given that he's already moved on to villains I think this one is gonna have to fall to me. Answer key will be posted when I feel ready to.

1	This blind wanderer carries the last copy of a forgotten holy book, in a language only he knows how to read. The gods guide him with such surety that few people ever notice he can't see them.
2	As a world-shaking disaster loomed and chaos reigned, he stood in public and delivered a sermon, urging people not to lose faith. Then a few started listening to him. Gradually, a few became many, and then many became all. Their hope was rewarded, and so was his.
3	Believe it or not, the small animal this simpleminded novice keeps by his side is his god's earthly form.
4	This gentle priest has a suspicious amount of pull with those in power, and an equally suspicious knowledge of the ways of thieves and assassins. He is deceptively handy with a weapon. Though he has taken a vow never to kill, he maintains that he is under no obligation not to cripple his enemies.
5	This fat friar settled down with a band of outlaws to keep them on the up-and-up. He can wield sword or staff alongside any of them.
6	This stern archdeacon is tormented by his lustful obsession with a wandering dancer, whom he believes is a witch that has enchanted him.
7	This scheming patriarch seeks to expose the indiscretions of the queen in order to increase his political influence over the king.
8	This deathless outcast has fought against and fought alongside his half-demon brother countless times. Unbeknownst to him, the higher power he conducts dark rituals in the name of is none other than the son of the corrupt king he seeks to overthrow. It is whispered that there is one day a year on which he can never be defeated.
9	This small, worn-looking high priest was granted his office after the assassination of his predecessor, when a mass of his supporters invaded the chamber of the church's council with him raised upon their shoulders. Thanks to his negotiating of a deal with the Regent of a major kingdom, clerics of his faith are no longer barred from fighting.
10	This scarred warrior-priest has renounced his religion, but has sworn to avenge the people who practiced it on the order of wizards who committed genocide against the people who practiced it using their own magic.
11	This dark-haired priest has killed hundreds, always after he solemnly repeats a single phrase in a foreign language.
12	For this axe-wielding reverend with an excruciatingly long name, the crusade against evil is not just a metaphor.
13	Though only twelve, this fun-loving youngster rose high in the ranks of his monastic order-- even without taking advantage of the fact that he is the vessel of a powerful spirit.
14	This plain-speaking dwarvish cleric was turned into a vampire recently, but he still intends to keep to his good-aligned faith.
15	This devout missionary once went astray and became second-in-command of a legion of brutal slavers, but returned to the fold after its leader had him set on fire and thrown off a cliff.
16	This well-dressed, doddering clergyman speaks at great length with an incredibly annoying speech impediment-- unless a nearby nobleman orders him to hurry it along.
17	While he has a good reputation, this depraved bishop openly practices cannibalism and usury.
18	A brutal warlord, this unaging snake-cult leader maintains that flesh is the strongest thing there is-- evidenced by the near-mindless obedience of his followers.
19	This dark-skinned young girl showed a gift of prophecy from an early age, leading her to become the spiritual leader of a nation when she was only four, after she ferreted out a cabal of disguised rakshasas. She shows a cleverness and wisdom far beyond her years. Within the temple that is her home, she is much stronger than she would be outside.
20	The daughter of a priest who sacrificed his life in a vitally-important ritual that must soon be repeated, this sheltered priestess is expected to follow in his footsteps, but she has fallen desperately in love with one of her traveling companions.

On hidden treasure

So I'm sure that if you read this blog, you've seen Wayne's post about hiding unguarded treasures. I sort of wanted to have a chart to go with, so here's d20 places to hide treasure. These are designed to be fairly straightforward ones that can be recovered with basic searching-- crazy stuff like being dissolved in acid ala Bohr's nobel prize is cool but we're going for simple and functional here, I believe in leaving truly unique stuff up to individual information, not random charts.

d20	Location	d20	Location
1	Behind a brick or stone in the wall	11	In the base of a statue
2	Behind a mirror, painting, or tapestry	12	Inside of a hollow statue or decoration
3	Bottom of a barrel, pot, or chest full of nonvaluable objects	13	Inside of a sufficiently bulky piece of furniture
4	Buried in a refuse pile	14	Invisible, but otherwise just out of the way
5	Disguised as something else by illusions	15	Lining the bottom of a pool or fountain
6	False bottom of an empty container	16	Loose floorboard or flagstone
7	False bottom of a drawer	17	Under a (false) pillar
8	Hollowed-out book or books	18	Under the seat of a privy
9	Hollow spot above a panel of the ceiling	19	Up the chimney of a stove or fireplace
10	In a room behind a secret door	20	Up the spout of a fountain

8/15: Well, who knew? Dyson had something similar a while back. I'm surprised none of these occurred to me. Told you lot he was cleverer than me.

Random elf names

This is meant to go with Jeff's Random Dwarf Names generator from a while back. The results will probably be gibberish most of the time to anyone who actually understands any Sindarin or Quenya, but I don't so fuck that.

Roll for the first part. Then roll 1d3-1 for the number of middle parts. Once you've gone through all your initial elements roll for the last part.

First Parts

1. Ar-
2. Cele- or Cir-
3. El- or Ea-
4. Fea-
5. Fin-
6. Gal-
7. Glor-
8. Hal-
9. Le- or Li-
10. Lu-
11. Or-
12. Thran-

Middle Parts

1. -a- or -ar-
2. -ad- or -d-
3. -b- or -eb-
4. -du-
5.  -e- or -er-
6. -fin-
7. -go- or -gol-
8. -in- or -n-
9.  -ir- or -r-
10. -la-
11. -ri- 
12. -th- or -thi-

End Parts

1.  -ad or -an
2.  -as
3. -dor or -rod
4. -el or -del
5. -gol
6. -iel
7. -il
8. -in
9. -ir
10. -on or -ond
11. -or or -orn 
12. -we or -wen

Guidelines:

• Double vowels and any diphthongs that don't look right should be broken up with an appropriate consonant-- any of g, th, l, or d usually work.
• Double consonants should likewise be broken up with a vowel, probably a or e maybe o.
• Like I said, most of the result you get out of this will be gibberish.

How I'd do Psionics

I'm not usually a big psionics fan, but once in a while they're fun to have around, I guess. I noticed that Telecanter is still looking for a simple psionics system and I figured I'd give it a shot. All this is probably badly in need of editing.

Developing Psionic Powers

If a character's mental ability scores (Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma) total at least 35, there is a chance that they were born with psychic abilities that set them apart. Subtract 35 from the sum of those three abilities and add it to the following values to get the percentile chance of having the relevant power.

ESP	Telepathy	Telekinesis
2%	2%	1%

Using psychic abilities is mentally exhausting, so you can only use your powers for a number of rounds per day equal to your level plus any Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma bonuses. Except where otherwise noted, using psychic powers requires full concentration, much like casting a spell.

ESP

There are several different forms of extrasensory perception. Roll on the following chart once, then again a number of times equal to your WIS bonus, if any.

1d6	Power
1	Aura Sight
2	Clairvoyance/Clairaudience
3	Dowsing
4	Pyschometry
5	Precognition
6	Spirit Medium

Aura Sight: By concentrating, you can see the auras of living creatures. This allows you to Detect Evil, Detect Invisible, or tell if a creature is living or dead. It can also be used to get a general measure of a person's personality, though not reveal their alignment. These abilities function out to a range of about 20 feet.

Clairvoyance/Clairaudience: These, obviously, function much like the spells of the same name. Depending on GM preferences, you can use both, one or the other at a time, or only one.

Dowsing: Dowsing functions similarly to the clerical spell Locate Object. Its range only extends out to 30 feet.

Object Reading: By holding an object in your hands, you can learn about its past and present. Concentrating for one turn allows you to determine if the object is magical. Additional turns may be used to determine one magical property the item has per turn. In addition, object reading can be used to determine the name and face of the last person, other than yourself to touch the item (additional rounds will reveal additional previous users), or an emotionally strong memory attached to the item of no more than a minute in length.

Precognition: You can see a few moments into the future and accordingly are never taken by surprise. Additionally, you receive a +1 bonus to initiative and a +2 bonus to saving throws against unexpected dangers (such as a trap unknowingly sprung). Unlike other forms of ESP, these abilities are effectively always on. Additionally, by concentrating on a course of action, you can get a sense of the results of those actions, similar to the clerical spell Augury.

Spirit Medium: By concentrating, you can see ethereal creatures, or ask a single question of a departed spirit as if using the Speak with Dead spell, however if you know the name of the soul you wish to contact, you do not need the body.

Telepathy

Telepathy allows a character who has it to do two things: Detect thoughts or form a mental link.

Detecting Thoughts: This functions in all respects except duration as the ESP spell. While using it you must concentrate.

Mental contact: You can form a mental link with other creatures. This requires you to touch the creature you wish to form a link with. Once contact is established with a willing creature, you no longer need to concentrate to maintain it, but can only stay in contact for as long as you could otherwise concentrate. Mindless creatures such as zombies are immune to being mentally linked.

While two creatures are mentally linked, each knows anything the other knows, feels anything the other feels, and can communicate regardless of language barrier and without being heard. All characters in mental contact act on the same initiative (if they don't normally already in the rule set you use) and if even one is not surprised, none of them are.

Multiple willing telepathic characters can enter into rapport, taking turns being in control of the link so that it may last longer. You can maintain contact with a number of other creatures at the same time equal to your Charisma bonus plus one. All creatures in contact with you are in contact with each other as well. While in mental contact with an individual creature, you can attempt to plant a Suggestion as the spell of the same name into it. Doing so requires concentration and expends effort equal to an additional turn of maintaining the link.

Mental contact with an unwilling creature: An unwilling creature is entitled to a saving throw every round to try to break the intrusion into its mind. If the save is successful, the character attempting to force the link takes 1d4 damage from mental backlash. Forming a mental link with an unwilling creature is extremely hard. Each round you remain in mental contact with an unwilling creature requires concentration and takes as much effort as a turn of maintaining contact with a willing creature.

Telekinesis

Telekinesis always requires total concentration. You can move objects weighing no more than twice your Intelligence score in pounds ("light objects") at a rate of 20' with a normal amount of effort, or objects weighing up to ten times your Intelligence score in pounds ("heavy objects") at the same speed with enough effort that each round of movement costs as much as a turn of moving a light object. A light object can be hurled at an enemy for 1d4 points of damage (unless it is a weapon, in which case it can be hurled for whatever its damage is.) Telekinesis can even be used to levitate yourself or another creature if your telekinesis is strong enough. An unwilling creature, or a creature holding an object you intend to try to wrench away from them, is entitled to a save vs. spells to reassert control.


This is probably not entirely ready yet.

How is this spellbook arranged?

Roll 1d12:

1. The spellbook is a lavishly illuminated manuscript. The spell formulas are incorporated into the marginalia and gold leaf.
2. The spellbook is a collection of poems or songs composed by the wizard. The cadences and melodies themselves are a mnemonic device for the actual spells.
3. The spellbook is a folio of paintings or drawings depicting bizarre creatures and landscapes. A certain continuous line in each image describes the pattern the magic must take through the wizard's mind.
4. The spellbook is a journal with entries recounting the day the wizard learned each individual spell. The wizard can memorize the spell by remembering how casting it for the first time felt.
5. The spellbook is a manual of yoga positions or martial art forms. By repeating a specific sequence of movements, a spell is ingrained into the wizard's muscle memory.
6. Each spell in this spellbook is presented as a different recipe, which the wizard prepares by cooking it
7. The spellbook isn't a book at all, but an elaborately-carved rod or staff, on which the wizard has carved a mnemonic pattern of grooves and bumps that she can run her fingers along.
8. The spellbook isn't a book at all, but a bag of tiny stones or other small objects which the wizard must swallow, one for each spell. Upon being cast, the wizard spits up the corresponding stone.
9. The spellbook is a deck of cards, from which the wizard divines a day's spells by shuffling and drawing a hand, trusting in fate to provide the spells she will need today.
10. The spellbook is a manual of acupuncture, complete with a set of needles. The wizard prepares each spell by stimulating the flow of chi through a certain configuration of meridians.
11. The spellbook is a notebook full of complex mathematical equations, which the wizard must solve each morning using a bit of pencil.
12. The spellbook is a collection of koans. By meditating on the paradox, the wizard attains a momentary state of enlightenment that puts her in tune with the flow of magic.