Please post any interesting magic items or artefacts you have come across, especially 'ancient' things. Everything is welcome though!
>>48237995
>Tarnhelm
Tarnhelm is a magic helmet in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (1848-1874). It was crafted by Mime at the demand of his brother Alberich. It is used as a cloak of invisibility by Alberich in Das Rheingold (1869). It also allows one to change one's form:
Alberich changes to a dragon and then a toad in Das Rheingold, Scene 3
Fafner changes to a dragon at the end of Das Rheingold and appears thus in Siegfried Act II. (It is never made clear whether Fafner actually used the Tarnhelm to transform, or simply transformed as many giants and gods did in the myths. There is also no Tarnhelm present in the original Andvari myth from Reginsmál in the Poetic Edda from which Wagner drew inspiration for this scene.)
Siegfried changes to Gunther's form in Götterdämmerung Act I, Scene 3.
Finally, it allows one to travel long distances instantly, as Siegfried does in Götterdämmerung Act II, Scene 2.
>>48237995
>Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegār
Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegār (Persian: شمشیر زمردنگار, 'the emerald-studded sword') is a sword in the Persian legend Amir Arsalan. The witch mother of a hideous horned demon called Fulad-zereh used a charm to make his body invulnerable to all weapons except this specific sword.
Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegār originally belonged to King Solomon, and was carefully guarded by Fulad-zereh, not only because it was a valuable weapon, and indeed the only weapon that could harm the demon, but also because wearing it was a charm against magic. A wound inflicted by this sword could only be treated by a special potion made from a number of ingredients, including Fulad-zereh's brains.
Well, besides the obvious ones that are Excalibur, Caliburn, Durandal, and Kusanagi, there's also this one:
>Thuận Thiên (Heaven's Will) is the mythical sword of the Vietnamese King Lê Lợi. Legend says the sword possesses magical power, which made Lê Lợi grow very tall. When he used the sword it gave him the strength of a thousand men.
Also Egeking, the sword from the poem Greysteil.
>Egeking was wrought far beyond the Mediterranean Sea for the price of a jewel of highest quality. It must never fall into a coward's hands, because it would cause tragedy if it did. Also, "no man of woman born" could survive drawing the sword.
I improvised this one as loot for defeating a fiend guy for my players. It consists of a small anvil (around 25 kg) with some runes on it. If the players achieve a roll to inspect the anvil (it should be a bit difficult) they find a small compartment in the base of the anvil. It can't be opened unless the anvil is destroyed.
When a broken object is placed on the anvil and touched or hit with a hammer (any kind of hammer) the anvil emmits a sound (it can be any sound, for example I chose a gong) and the object magically repairs. You can have it leave no trace that it was never broken, or maybe some magical gold glue appears in the cracks to make it cooler. Now, the anvil has 1d10 charges, and after those uses the anvil emmits a small bell sound, like a microwave, and the compartment at the base opens. If the PCs inspect the compartment it is empty and it seems like the anvil requires some kind of fuel or magical component to function. You can make this component anything, but I recommend you make it really scarce and hard to obtain, because this object is very easily abusable if you don't. If the players introduce anything that is not the required component into the anvil, you can make any kind of malfunction occur, like a random magical effect or a predetermined event. I had one of my players be transported back in time and another have her fingernails grow 1d4 a day.
>>48239364
Don't forget Cortana.
>>48239576
im taking this with some minor changes, thanks dude
>>48237995
not come across but a here's a pair that could also be justified in finding multiples of.
>Storm Bow
>This bow is capable of firing all arrows within a five meter radius around it. This can be used to fire rapidly by having another arrow on the string after the last was fired, firing a crapload of arrows all at once (arrows will fly with one degree incremental, radial deviation from around the initial shot) for a hailstorm, or an archer with good reflexes can even fire back and enemy's arrows at them.
>One-Man-Phalanx
>A shield an short spear that, when worn together and the command is given can summon x number of phantasmal duplicates of the wearer lining up shoulder to shoulder.
>Optional: there's more than one of these, and the more of these sets brought together within a five hundred meter radius increases the number of phantom phalanxers summoned by each user
the idea for these artifacts was that a long time ago a kingdom had lost a bulk of it's forces, either they were already away or defeated in another battle. The court wizard then scrambled to help come up with some means of compensating for the lesser numbers.
The worst artifact I've ever seen was introduced by That DM. It was a coin, that the bearer could flip when something bad happen to him. If it's a heads up, that thing doesn't happen; if it's tails, it happens to the whole party. So it gives one PC the ability to either escape certain death, or turn it into a TPK.
![[MP023] Old Oak Tree by Sean McAleenan.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/gUKzuxp.jpg "[MP023] Old Oak Tree by Sean McAleenan.jpg")
The Golden Acorns of the Elder Tree:
These are big, golden Acorn, more then twice the size of a regular ones.
When one is planted in the earth and watered it will grow into a wide, gnarled, ancient looking tree within an hour.
And while this is nice, it's not spectacular, here's a power of the Acorns the players can either discover themselves or get told by a druid or something:
If something else is put in the earth with the acorn, it can influence the tree that grows out of it.
Here are a few examples i have thought up, just to give you a few ideas:
Copper Pieces: The tree appears like it's Autumn, with all leaves in spectacular shades of red and enough fallen leaves to make sleeping on the ground much easier.
Silver Pieces: The Tree bears silver-grey Acorns. These Fruits are edible, nutritious and have a nutty, but bitter taste. Each Silverpiece buried spurs the tree to produce enough Acorns to feed a person for a day, up to 500 Units.
Gold Pieces: Now the Tree hangs full of silver-grey Acorns (same amount of food as if paid with silver) and with a [Goldpieces] in Percent Chance a golden Acorn can be found among them. The Tree never bears more then a single golden Acorn [this way] but the one it grows can be seen without a problem.
Fruits that grow on trees in addition to the Silver: The Tree now grows these fruits as well as the acorns, in a 50/50 mix.
Bones: The Tree appears dead and the bark is lighter then usual. An uneasy feeling overcomes most people that get closer.
Flowers: The Tree is in full bloom.
Birds feathers: Birds flock to the tree.
Sunrods: The Tree glows bright for one day per Sunrod.
etc
>>48242801
That does sound aggressively awful.
Currently my favorite one.
>>48237995
The Sympathy Knife
Once used in rituals to inflict punishments upon those who had fled the law, the Sympathy Knife functions much like a traditional voodoo doll. Using a body of the same race and gender as your chosen target (this body can be living or dead, the knife cares no which) any wound inflicted upon the body will affect the chosen target likewise. This can even carry special circumstances, such as poison, even if the body you cut into is already dead and itself unaffected.
Obviously, if used with a living body as the 'doll', that person will suffer the full effects of being cut by the knife as well. The effects of the knife do not move the wound elsewhere, merely copy it onto another. In the heat of battle against similar foes, this knife can effectively make two cuts for the price of one. Though using it for that purpose alone is a rather unimaginative use of its power.
To chose a target for the knife, you either need to be able to see them, touch them, or have some part of them (blood, hair, tooth or nail) to form the connection from afar. Sometimes a scrying spell can be used to replace the line of sight, but it depends on the quality of the scrying and the focus of the weilder.
Has anybody used items in their camaigns that got an... interesting reaction from their players?
Halteres (Leaping Stones)
Heavy Stone weights used by ancient athletes and instilled with their determination and strength.
Bearing both stones in hand the user uses the stones to help them to train to leap great distances afterwards imbuing them with the ability to do so on their own.
The set of ancient work out equipment was said to be used by the famous warrior and athlete Teliore who was said to be divinely blessed
>>48243219
That font Jesus
>>48239576
Your ingenuity is impressive.
