Favorite homebrew artifacts and magic items.

Because so many RPG sessions focus heavily on combat, a lot of magic items are kind of bland, giving a simple mechanical effect with a little flavor. This is fine, but I do rather like seeing examples that are something More. Something with strong flavor, sometimes with little actual utility.

For me, the items I'm most proud of creating were a set of musical instruments I placed in a Dwarven ruin. Besides some magic to make them operate - the stringed instruments were powered by lightning, the organ could fold itself up impossibly small - they were enchanted with illusion and enchantment magic. When music is played through them, the instruments can give visual effects while projecting the music far further than would normally be possible. More signficantly, they manipulate the emotions of the listeners to feel what the piece is supposed to make them feel a happy song brings joy, a sad song brings sorrow, etc.

The combat use of these is nil - they have most of their utility as a set and a single bard won't be able to make strong use of them. General adventuring and dungeoneering? Clever players could find uses, but that's not what they're for. They exist just as a flavorful treasure.


What's your candidates for stuff like this?

I stole my favorite magic item rules from a Lamentations of the Flame Princess module; which one, I'm not sure, probably Weird New World.

In any case: the basic premise is that there's a trinket. A ring, a jewel, a seashell - whatever it is, it is supremely beautiful. Anyone who sees it has to make a saving throw or be driven mad by the desire to possess it. Of course, in case of player characters, a game master can check the saving throw in secret and, if failed, describe it as obviously important to the afflicted character(s). Either way, it's also immensely valuable, so some players will want it just for that.

Watch and laugh at the ensuing hilarity when people start fighting over it.

For bonus points, do as I did and make finding such an object the focus of a campaign. I even gave players a leaflet explaining the object's full backstory, illustrating (literally, there were pictures and everything) why unearthing it would be a bad idea. They still fell for it.

Gauntlet of Mighty Magic

Your hand gesture casts a spell. Finger Gun = Magic Missile, Middle Finger = Bestow Curse, Peace Sign = Calm Emotions, Vulcan Greeting = Heal, Thumbs Up = Resurrection, etc.

Of course, Gauntlets come in pairs. You need both Gauntlets to do 9th level spells. Fingers Crossed = Wish.

Another type of item from LotFP that deserves to get stolen more, this time from Death Love Doom:

Once again, there is a trinket. (A necklace, a jewel, a painting, etc.). It is cursed. However, it also obviously valuable. Every time a player wonders out loud about whether they should destroy it (presumably, because it is cursed), new information appears to suggests the trinket is worth even more than previously thought. Indeed, if there is any monetary value that would make a player decide to keep the cursed thing, the value of the object rises to that value. This only stops when the player affirms that no monetary value would be enough to justify the trinket's continued existence.

If given to someone out of some seemingly innocent and wholesome motive (romantic love, in the module, but you can replace this with any other suitable motive), the curse will trigger and summon a horror from beyond. The horror will mock both the giver and recipient of the gift, deconstructing their motives (gaslighting the people involved if necessary), unearth any unwholesome secondary notives, take control of the bodies of the people involved, and then make those people commit unspeakable atrocities while said people are fully conscious of the fact.

Since it is valuable, it has a tendency to make its way upwards in society. So even if a player manages to personally get rid of it by exchanging it for ungodly sums of material wealth, doing this at the wrong time and place can have catastrophic consequences.

I like using boring magic items as a way to flesh out my worldbuilding. If you're in a logging community, the most common enchantment is to make your axes float in the water, for example; agricultural farmers might have indestructible plows and scythes that can bundle hay.

One of the magic items my wife made and put on DnDBeyond was an adventuring hat. It's just a nice looking hat that fits the wearer and shifts itself slightly so it looks good on you and matches your vibe. Of everything we've made, that's the thing that other people use the most.

A major campaign artifact at one point was a pen that when used to change a document, also changes all copies of that document made from that original (and can also edit magical contracts, of course). Mix in a plot to find the Pact Primeval and ...

I'm fond of sensory items that let you view alternate information or view things in different ways. In my current campaign, one of the players literally has a 'cluedar' - they can pose a question and take a photograph of a scene, and any object that contains information relevant to the question is lit up.

Not homebrew exactly, adapted from an OSR module

HELM OF THE SKULL

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black steel open-face helm with necromancy symbols & crest of silver skeleton rising from the top. Wearer's face turns into fleshless skull (just an image). As half action 1/day OR 1 hero point for supernatural VISUAL based single target fear rating = power stat-1 (1=10, 2=15, 3=20, etc.) for the rest of the scene.

ULTRASONIC TRAPFINDER

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2d10 use before magic smoke escapes, techno-magic, black box w/speaker grille & little lenses & one white button, on press low power lasers over everything in 10m, then !!SHOUTS!! "trap free" or "trap detected" & roll for wandering monster in 2d5+2 rounds. magic smoke powered (little cylinders, like CO2 or inhalers, of magic smoke works like batteries for some techno-magic items)

ROBE OF CLIMATE CONTROL

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silvery robe, as endure elements spell, as light leather armor (arms body legs), can go on over armor but no AP stacking, head & hands & feet included for comfort but not for energy damage reduction

Circlet of meat detection

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silver circle w/ large emerald, gem turns & 1/scene, 20m radius detect meat (living, dead, fresh, decayed, & species if you have eaten of them). Per use save arcana+willpower vs 22 else from next corpse you "save a bit for later", text p.69, @ 24hr w/out nibbles roll willpower vs 15 & result x 2 = min to next roll or else FRENZY(+1 str, +1 con, -2 int, -2 wis, +1 spd, +2 hp, -6 def) & melee attack nearest person as food.

The METAL AXE was just a +2 two handed axe with double bit heads and six steel strings. Only fighters could play it because only the fighter class is METAL enough (its OSR so that's true) to use it. Originally operated once a day, max effect was limited by fighter level, and you had to find scrolls with tunes on them to use the special powers.

METAL AXE SONGS

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(name, perform/TN, effect): 12 hour recharge OR hero point to use, 40m & duration or by desc, if you want to attack while playing roll perform+fellowship to hit in addition w/ fail by 10 breaks the magic effect.
1. smoke on the water, 1/15, 10cm smoke & only if water body then smoke 5m radius & 10m high & all at -2k0 except the caster from coughing
2. run to the hills, 1/15, target saves arcana+willpower or else fear TN 15 check & must flee to minimum 40m away
3. back in black, 2/20, heal one not-yourself person 1 + (perform ranks OR raises) hit points at the end of the song
4. iron man, 2/20, one person gains +10 armor & +2 str & -2 dex & +2 resilience & a brawling attack as a power fist
5. master of puppets, 3/25, target saves arcana+composure or must attack person of the caster’s choice & new save each turn
6. welcome to the jungle, 3/25, only if natural zone then summon 3 OR raises animals of caster’s choice, otberwise confusion as the spell PBAOE 40m
7. ace of spades, 4/30, musician gains +1k1 fight & music & save & damage rolls while playing
8. night stalkers, 4/30, only if darkness then 4 OR raises elite soldiers + darksight + stealth, otherwise darkness PBAOE 40m
9. disposable heroes, 5/35, a dead person returns to life with 'stuff of nightmares' & ignores killing crits for duration & cannot heal during that time, then dies again at end of playing or scene
10. number of the beast, 5/35, PBAOE darkness to 40m while playing & summon standard greater daemon thag is "allied" while you keep playing

Most of my artifacts are just magic items more powerful than normally achievable.

the slayer of heroes is one of the exceptions. it is a greatsword that over the centuries has been used to kill many great heroes, and gained magic through reputation. on its surface, scrolling on the blade a bit like the opening titles of star wars, are the names of various heroes killed by the sword. when wielded, it utters last words from various people it killed.
"you can't defeat me, I am invincible!"
"do you really think you can take me? do you know who I am?"
"mommy! I want my mommy!"
"now that my friends raised me from the dead, I will have my revenge!"
"ok, you killed me twice already, but third time is the charm!"
"eh, screw it. next time they try to raise me, i'll just stay dead"

its main power is activated by swearing a personal vendetta against someone. it must be a single, well identified creature, and it must be a hero (level 15+ is enough, lower level may be accepted if they have done something to qualify). To designate someone as your target, you must spend 10 minutes in public threatening that person, boasting how you'll kill them, swearing revenge, insulting them; you can get creative with the process, but you must hold the sword and you must be in public, people must see you swear to kill your target with the sword. then, among the list of heroes killed by the sword, will appear in bolded letters "[DESIGNATED TARGET NAME] COMING SOON". in the presence of your target, the sword will not utter last words of killed heroes, but instead will utter your threats and boasts.
"I'll kick your arse!"
"you are nothing! and after i'll be done with you, you'll be less than nothing!"
"righteous vengeance will strike you for your crimes!"
"I've been wanting to kill you since we were in second grade"
"this world is too small for both of us"

when a target is designated, the slayer of heroes gains a crapton of additional boosts against that specific person. it's normally just a powerful magic sword, but it gets insanely powerful against your designated target. additionally, it can find the target, replicating some of the most powerful locating spells on him. within the range of a few kilometers, the sword points at the target like a compass, to the point that moving in different directions than straight towards the target, or trying to attack anyone other than the designated target, incurs significant penalties (it does allow attacking someone standing directly bewteen you and your target, though). it can ignore all manners of damage reductions, and it can even strike the target from the ethereal plane, something very few effects can achieve. it can ignore concealment and some cover. it gives true sight on the target.
once a target is designated, it cannot be changed until he is killed or you are killed. by designating a target, you also bond the sword, and others can't use it unless they kill you first. granted, in a world with resurrection spells, this only means that if you want to sell the sword, you must also include 25k gp in diamonds in the price.
if you die, the sword loses the designated target and can be used again. if you kill the designated target, you can pick another one. but you can also keep the old target; if he is resurrected, the sword will notify you, and will resume working on it.
it was perhaps even more useful as a divination tool than it was as a sword. against anyone but the designated target, the party had better options.


another good one was the living armor. a druid-only armor made of living vines, behaving like powered armor and empowering you in various ways. its minor powers were quite creative; it could climb vertical surfaces by growing on it like a creeper. it would connect to your bloodstream and provide water breathing so long as you were exposed to sunlight. the living armor could be destroied by acid or fire, but in that case it would leave behind a seed, that would regrow the armor in a day.

So there was this person who made it a habit of spawning weird magic items for Fair Folk to use (Exalted, 2e with errata). Some (all) of them were slightly insane, but the mechanical broken bits were usually (sometimes) skipped in favor of fluff. So much (loony) fluff...

A portable chandelier for swashbuckling purposes, creating its own horses for you to ride off on once you broke through the window.

An oak wardrobe you could duck into and be perfectly safe inside, with only one minor flaw - it was made of turdy oak, so you'd be rather pungent when exiting.

A knife that would cut away your memories until all you had left was the need to murder its target.

A perfectly ordinary (TM) vending machine that spat out magical girl transformation wands, supporting pets, and weekly monsters - and enforced the genre in Creation's much more grimdark setting.

An uncountable brick. Each time you tried to find out how many bricks were in a pile, there was one more. Every. Single. Time. (it came with a side order of summoning castles overnight, but that's too gauche and mundane to be worth mentioning).

Now if I could just remember where that meschlum went off to... probably scared away by edition wars.

Everything my Interrogator has made but especially the 20mm Anti-Materiel Cannon and its selection of handcrafted ammo.