Philoso-sphinx poses riddles with no answer, from koans to trolley problems, and demands you show enlightenment, such as answering with one of your own.
I can't believe I've never included a trolley problem situation in a DND dungeon yet
Anyways I've settled on five questions for five adventurers:
1. What was the happiest moment in your life?
2. What was the most heroic moment in your life?
3. What was the saddest moment in your life?
The sphynx is then in the memories of this moment as a spectator who was always there the whole time.
The other sphynx is going to ask:
1. Teach me something I don't already know (borrow one of their skills for a day).
2. Give me one of the syllables in your name (sphynx takes one of the syllables or consonants in their name. Sphynx is going to try and learn the character's true name with this information, resulting in a future campaign hook).
Some really interesting ideas, tho' I'm not sure why a sphinx is being attributed these kinds of world warping powers, did fifth ed make them genie level beings?
I'm fairly arbitrary when it comes to following the materials DND provide, in that I modify everything I touch. It keeps things fresh and also keeps it interesting for my players, two of which regularly DM and so know a lot of the stuff DND source material has
Speaking of, I'm making a fuckhueg set of tables for custom magic creation. I'm doing it as a table of 5-100, with rolling 5d20 to get the results, ensuring a dominating spread around the centre. Alternatively, just mix and match to your heart's desire. The centre is going to be full of fairly standard effects (giving an item +1, +2, +3, att increases, low level spells e.t.c.) whilst the fringes will be full of the wild effects. I'm making four big tables: magic, curse, artifact and cosmetic.
The cooler magic effects are all things I hope can incentivise player roleplaying and creative thinking, so they're going to be full of things that affect the character's relationship with the environment (wall climbing, water breathing, stealthing, a few low level utility spell or creature effects).
The artifact effects are going to be much stronger magic effects or uniquely powerful effects, like the legendary Breastplate Stretcher of the Mighty Robert (allows the user to resize any heavy armour set), chalked gloves of the LIFT Princess (gives advantage to any athletics check to grapple, climb or LIFT, doubles lift capacity) or the lost Pearl of the Oyster King (casts lvl 9 animate objects. Currently the centrepiece for my beach campaign, where my players are going to retrieve it from the Sand Castle, which is full of animated sand homonculi at war with the Oyster King (it was his pearl), an angel of fate (he gave the pearl to his love), the seven deadly pondlings (they intend to use it to return to life) and a witch, Lady SingLe Tang (she lost the pearl).
The curse effects are either the inverse of the magic effects, corruptions, conditions or any particularly fun drawback, added onto a magic item/artifact in addition to the beneficial effect. I like it when curses are more like glitches, and players are incentivised to use them anyways rather than be forced to make a WIS save to not use it.
For example, the
Berserker's Axe, which was a favourite of our whole party as it let us use our party barbarian like a cruise missile.
Lastly the cosmetic effects. Mostly harmless flavour text and adjectives here, however some materials or conditions can have significant impact on the item. E.g. an oversized greatsword or armour too small or too big to wear, the courtly adjective would turn an item into a refined equivalent that may not be the most combat effective wear, target demographic might be something wildly different to the finder of the artifact (e.g. opposite gender, wildly different age or race).
Some more examples I've made so far using the table:
Original item (pair of socks) + magic item effect (+3 to AC) + curse (corruption, dwarven) + cosmetic (adamantine, material) = The Blankets of Victory, a masterwork dwarven pair of socks. If the person wearing the Blankets of Victory is not a Dwarf, every day the wearer is attuned to the Blankets of Victory, roll a DC15 CON Save. On a success nothing occurs. On a failure the wearer grows a beard (if they have none), or their beard grows 5 inches (if they have one). On each successive failure, the wearer's beard grows further, and they lose/gain d6 inches of height until they are between 4 and 5 ft tall. If within this height range, they stop changing height, and no longer need to roll a CON save to avoid beard growth. Instead, the character can choose to willingly grow their beard by 5 inches a day. Greater restoration will restore the character to their former stature, and the beard can be harmlessly shaved off. The socks can also be used to cast charm person one one Dwarf a week (DC15 WIS).
OI (book) + magic effect (casts
banishment opd) + cosmetic (target demographic: child) = A copy of the children's book "Fae, Fae, Go Away." Inside the front cover is a written message: 'For my dear Ori,
Never be afraid of the dark. For as long as you have this book with you, you are safe.
Love,
Walden'
Whilst holding this book, you can cast
banishment once per day.
OI (cloak) + magic effect (casts invisibility) + curse effect (inversion) + cosmetic (giant cave spider silk) = Cloak of invisibility. When activated, the cloak is always invisible. Does not affect the wearer, however. Stitched onto the cloak is a letter of receipt, stating the cloak was commissioned by the Emperor.
OI (shield) + magic effect (ABI) + curse effect (condition: only works in bright light) + cosmetic (courtly) = The Dayman's Shield of Justice. Increases strength and AC by +2, but only provides the strength bonus when the shield is exposed to bright light.
OI (high boots) + magic effect (enlongening) + cosmetic (courtly) = The Highest Heels. Created at the behest of Tiana the Small, later known as Tiana the Tall. When attuned, the Highest Heels provides +2 dex. For one action, the wearer of the Highest Heels may modify the length of the heel, up to 30ft in length. The sole of the shoe does not rise to match the length of the heel, and the wearer may have to make a DC (5 + every ft of heel) Dex acrobatics save in order to avoid falling over / stumbling in a random direction, at the DM's discretion. At their resting state, the Highest Heels have a two inch heel.
OI (Helm) + magic effect (casts dominate person/monster) + curse effect (inversion) + cosmetic (battleworn) = Broken Helm of the Enslaver
The players find the Splintered Helm of the Enslaver beneath the skeleton of its former wearer, with a pickaxe running through the Helm and the skull. After the helm is repaired, it can be worn. Wearing the repaired Helm provides +1 AC and allows the casting of
dominate person or dominate creature once per day.
Upon casting either spell, both the wearer and the target make a DC18 WIS save. If both creatures succeed, nothing happens. If one creature fails, they are under the effect of the spell, as if the creature who made the successful saving throw had cast the spell. If both creatures fail, the creature with the highest saving throw rolled is considered the caster of the spell, and the one with the lowest roll is under the spell.
OI (medium leather armour) + magic effect (grants aquatic adaption) + curse effect (corruption, gotta be catfish) + cosmetic (leather) = Tunic of the Deep Cat (grants swim speed, water breathing, nullifies underwater disadvantages on attack rolls or ability checks caused by being underwater). Using the Trident of the Deep Cat for too long causes the character to become sea-adapted on a failed CON save, causing them to air-drown on dry land. Removing the tunic removes all of the benefits it provides, but does not remove sea-adaptation unless greater restoration is cast upon them.
Original item (Wand) + Artifact Effect (lvl 9 fireball) + Curse (inversion) + cosmetic (living, organic material) = Wand of Pyrrhus.
The Wand of Pyrrhus looks like a desiccated human index finger, and brims with the powerful evocation magic of the Archmage Pyrrhus. Once per day it casts a lvl 9 fireball centred around the wielder,
also affecting the wielder. It does this once a day and provides the wielder with resistance versus fire damage for the duration of the spell.
Any more ideas for adjectives, effects and modifiers to add to any of the tables?
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Topic: Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: COBRA!!! (Read 834170 times)