1001 Cheap Magic Items (Let's come up with some)

[Gildedragon]

43: Innocent Lockpicks
200gp, .5 lbs, No Aura
This set of nondescript masterwork thieves' tools is coated in a matte black lacquer, that seems brittle enough to break. They are favored by spies and thieves that cannot afford to be caught with the tools of their trade.
By succeeding in a DC 5 strength check or dealing 1 point of damage an individual can break the brittle coating, making the tool dissolve into a puff of smoke and a puddle of ordinary water, destroying the evidence of any wrongdoing.
Because of their fragile nature these tools have a chance of breaking. If the would-be lockpicker rolls a natural 1 on an Disable Device or Open Lock check and fails to disable the device or open the lock,there is a 5% chance the tool snaps in their hand.
The item's properties are wholly mundane, but spells are required in its construction.
Craft Wondrous Item, a set of masterwork thieves' tools, stone metamorphosis, 50gp

44: Ringing Bell
400 gp, faint Telepathy/Divination
You see something, a play of light, a fleeting image; a smell reaches your nose, a taste your tongue; or you overhear a snippet of talk. Suddenly there insight strikes and you remember something you have forgotten. On your ear, a little crystal bell jingles silently.
A Ringing Bell seems like a bad prank, this small crystal bell is silent, no matter how much or how hard it is shaken; it does, however produce a faint subsonic vibration that stirs memories and unearths subconscious associations.
Once per day the Ringing Bell may be used to retry a failed knowledge check. Activating this power involves a full round of observation and introspection.
Ringing bells are often sold as earrings, or sewn onto hems or belts.
Cheaper, single use versions exist (40 gp); and more expensive versions that grant a bonus to the knowledge check exist (+2 competence bonus, +200gp; +4 bonus, +800gp)
Craft Universal Item, call to mind
OR
Craft Wondrous Item, guidance, fox's cunning

[Eldan]

44: Cloak of Purity

Favoured by professions such as sewer workers, morticians and even some butchers, the cloak of purity serves to keep the wearer clean and free from infection. In appearance, it looks like a floor-length oilskin cloak, including a hood, sleeves and buckles at the front.

When properly buckled on, which takes a full-round action, the wearer gains a +1 resistance bonus on fortitude saves against natural inhaled or contact diseases and inhaled or contact poisons, as well as all effects based on smells (such as a troglodytes stench) and a +2 inherent bonus on all strength or escape artist checks to escape from sticky substances (such as tanglefoot bags or the web spell).

As a move action, the cloak can be made to clean itself, removing all dirt and stains from it.

Craft Wondrous Item, Resistance, Market Price ~1000 GP

[WhiteBread]

45 : Compass of Directions

A magical Compass directing to the nearest object or location of the word spoken last to it. For example: Water! And it shows to nearest lake, mug filled with water or whatever.

Craft Wondrous Item, Know Location and Direction, Market Price ~500 GP

[infinitum3d]

Alchemist's Wallet - A tiny pouch that transmutes 1 oz of lead into 1 gold piece. Takes one hour from when the lead is inserted to complete the process. Cost: 150gp
Aura: faint transmutation; Prerequisites: craft wondrous item, polymorph any object

This is pretty damn strong. Worth well over 150 gp, considering it is doing something PAO explicitly can't do: "This spell cannot create material of great intrinsic value, such as copper, silver, gems, silk, gold, platinum, mithral, or adamantine" and it pays for itself within a week (at which point you buy/make a second, one week hence you buy/make 2)

I once had an Alchemyst's Coinpurse. Every day at sunset the purse would 'create' a copper piece.

What good is it?

Well, sometimes a single copper is enough to buy a piece of bread. Not bad if you're starving.

Also, if you collect the copper piece every day, that's the equivalent of 3+ gold each year. Not a lot but like Ben Franklin said, a penny saved is a penny earned.

Also, if you've got good negotiation skills, you can probably convince a tribe somewhere that you've got strong juju, which is especially good if you're a low level rogue with no magical ability.

Also, along that same Negotiation line, you can possibly sell it to someone for a decent price if you can convince them it's more valuable than it seems.

Oh, and to be clear, it doesn't actuality create copper. The Wizard that crafted it connected it to an abandoned dwarven copper mine. The copper mine still has about 30 GPs worth of copper left, so the bag should last about 10 years.

Tony
[email protected]
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...e-black-dragon

[Chaos_Laicosin]

This is pretty damn strong. Worth well over 150 gp, considering it is doing something PAO explicitly can't do: "This spell cannot create material of great intrinsic value, such as copper, silver, gems, silk, gold, platinum, mithral, or adamantine" and it pays for itself within a week (at which point you buy/make a second, one week hence you buy/make 2)

I edited my post. I suppose it was kinda strong with the 1 gp. I was just trying to add some sort of investment character trait that would be based in an item instead of a banker NPC of sorts.

So assuming that a character what right on top of putting in that lead whenever they could (aside from sleeping) that would be about 16 cp per day or about 60 gp per year. Maybe its more useless than flavour this way?

[Gildedragon]

I edited my post. I suppose it was kinda strong with the 1 gp. I was just trying to add some sort of investment character trait that would be based in an item instead of a banker NPC of sorts.

So assuming that a character what right on top of putting in that lead whenever they could (aside from sleeping) that would be about 16 cp per day or about 60 gp per year. Maybe its more useless than flavour this way?

More reasonable but PCs would be a 24 hour thing. Get an undead or a construct to be doing that all day long. 0.24gp a day is more flavor than power. Takes over a year to pay back the investment.
Question: what happens when a magical lump of lead (which magic can produce) goes into the device?

[Bohandas]

46.) Rosetta- These are mithril coins, worth 100 gp each, with an entire book's worth of text inscribed on them in tiny print. They're not magical but generally require either a fabricate spell or advanced technology to produce. (This is actually based on a real technology see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD-Rosetta)

[Aniikinis]

45. Goo Pouch of the King Slime: This small cloth bag produces a sticky slime that can be smeared on anything and set aflame, similar to a renewable pouch of gelatinous Alchemist's Fire. However, this substance can also become extremely slippery when a single drop of blood.
This pouch allows a character to:

• Use Grease(as the spell) 5/day and it deals 1d2 damage per use in this fashion, this usage of Grease is very flammable and can be ignited with Spark, unlike the normal spell.
• Create up to 4 vials of Alchemist's Fire per day with a DC 15 Craft:Alchemy check.
• Once per day a character can turn the pouch upside down and turn it inside out to produce a tiny-sized Giant Amoeba that will obey the orders of the owner of the pouch to do any non-attack related action, The pouch cannot be used after this action has been taken until the beginning of the next day after the Giant Amoeba has disappeared.

The Giant Amoeba is made of the same substance as the pouch produces and thus if ignited can be thrown at a creature to act as a constant fountain of Alchemist's Fire, if the Giant Amoeba is used in this way it expires at the beginning of the 4th round unless killed before then. If not used as a living fountain of fire the Giant Amoeba will disappear after 10 hours have passed.

[Bohandas]

Does the giant ameoba look like a real ameoba scaled up, or like a jrpg slime blob?

[Aniikinis]

It can be fluffed either way, but I don't think it'd matter to the enemies or our players if they saw a ball of gelatinous flames soaring towards them.

[sengmeng]

47. from my campaign setting: Backus crystal. A piece of this green crystal becomes attuned to an individual if it is within one foot of them for twenty four hours. While they possess it, they gain a mild psychic ability. They gain a +1 insight bonus to reflex saves, and they automatically make search checks for anything which can be found with a search check, like an elf with regards to secret doors, except they lose this ability after finding a single object per day. An attuned crystal remains attuned to it's owner until it becomes attuned to a different owner. 300 gp.

[kardillamo]

48. Compass of Need
A compass that points to the nearest public restroom with a range of up to 5 miles. If 5 miles away from an available bathroom, will simply point to the nearest tree.

49. Peeping Tom's Guide to Relaxing
A leather bound book, fairly large, unassuming embossed cover, when opened the pages are all blank except in the middle of the book where the pages act like a window, treating the book as transparent from the reader's point of view.

[sengmeng]

48. Compass of Need
A compass that points to the nearest public restroom with a range of up to 5 miles. If 5 miles away from an available bathroom, will simply point to the nearest tree.

49. Peeping Tom's Guide to Relaxing
A leather bound book, fairly large, unassuming embossed cover, when opened the pages are all blank except in the middle of the book where the pages act like a window, treating the book as transparent from the reader's point of view.

<3

50. Claysteel. This metallic looking substance is malleable like modeling clay, and becomes as hard as steel when given a command word, holding whatever shape it was sculpted into until the command word is spoken again. It can only harden and soften once per day. It is a favorite of thieves who can sometimes sculpt a duplicate key, defeat a lock, and quickly soften and squish the key to hide evidence. It's usefulness as any tool depends on the Craft (sculpture) skill of the user. It costs 1200 gp per pound, but it is usually used and sold in much smaller amounts (an ounce, at 75 gp, can often be useful).

[Bohandas]

51.) Everclean Clothes: Twice per day at a command word this article of clothing instantly cleans itself of most mundane types of dirt and stains (Faint abjuration; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, Prestidigitation; Price ~+135gp, maybe less)

52.) Everpristine Clothes: Twice per day at a command word this article of clothing instantly cleans itself of most mundane types of dirt and stains, and once per day can mend itself as per the mending spell. (Faint abjuration; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, Prestidigitation; Price ~+694gp, maybe a bit less?)

[LastCenturion]

53) Feather token of the elements

This feather token works exactly like most tokens it shares a title with, but when used dissolves into one of the following things, as chosen by the user:
1) A blaze of heat, lighting all prepared fires within 5 feet of the user, also dealing 1d6 fire damage to anything within five feet of the user
2) six gallons of pure water, as per the spell create water with caster level 3
3) A clear breeze, removing any poisonous gases or smokes within 30 feet of the user
4) A solid lump of stone in a roughly spherical shape with a diameter of approxiamately five feet, appearing just in front of the user
After use, the normally dark feather takes on a much paler hue, commonly beige.

250 gp

[Gildedragon]

54: Training Whistle
This silvery whistle produces no sound when blown; but it can make friendly animals perform deeds they had never done.

When used within 30' of an animal with a disposition of friendly or better towards the whistler the animal immediately performs (but does not learn) a trick: selected when the whistle was created. Whistles are often sold in sets of 3 related tricks or the full 12. Using the whistle is a move action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Single: 110 gp
Trio: 300 gp
Full Set: 1100 gp

[Shpadoinkle]

A few that I've seen in my games/heard about from other players.

- Blue-green bottle: Tiny glass bottle, two inches long. Touch the mouth of it to something green and the object touched turns blue. Touch it to something blue, and it turns green.

- Curly stick: An otherwise nonmagical quarterstaff that coils up like a spring when it gets wet. As it dries out it gradually straightens again.

- Perfectly balanced spear: A shortspear that you can easily balance on its tip.

- Gassy salt: Normal looking and tasting salt, but anyone who ingests it produces loud flatulence for 1d6 minutes afterward.

Also not really in the spirit of the thread but I remembered it anyway, but in one 2e game one of the randomly generated treasures was a flaming sword. The party wizard claimed it and only ever used it to start campfires.

[sengmeng]

59ish

Weight Loss Pill

This is actually a tiny potion inside a dissolvable capsule. It eliminates some of the consumer's weight for 30 minutes. The first pill eliminates 25% of the consumer's weight, and each subsequent pill is half as effective. This allows the consumer to essentially subtract that amount of weight from his encumberance. If he is only carrying a light load, it also adds a +2 to all jump checks. Eating one to five pills is a swift action. 35 gp.

[VoodooPaladin]

Weight Loss Pill

This is actually a tiny potion inside a dissolvable capsule. It eliminates some of the consumer's weight for 30 minutes. The first pill eliminates 25% of the consumer's weight, and each subsequent pill is half as effective. This allows the consumer to essentially subtract that amount of weight from his encumberance. If he is only carrying a light load, it also adds a +2 to all jump checks. Eating one to five pills is a swift action. 35 gp.

So that's why everyone's so thin in fantasy...

[LastCenturion]

Stones of Awareness 50gp
These small stones (about half a pound each) come in attuned sets of two or more. Each stone after the second adds 25gp to the base price of the set. If you are holding a stone, you can use a swift action to determine the exact location of every other stone attuned to yours. This ability functions like the Locate Object spell, but has a range of half a mile. These stones are primarily used either by adventuring parties with invisible members, or by merchants to keep track of their carts and employees. By increasing the cost by 50%, you can increase the range by up to 2 and 1/2 miles, applied as many times as you like. Once a set of stones is made, no other stones can be attuned to that set; for this reason most producers make larger sets and hope to slip the extra awarenesses by when selling in smaller numbers.

reqs: Create Wondrous Item, locate object

[archon1212]

Stones of Awareness 50gp
These small stones (about half a pound each) come in attuned sets of two or more. Each stone after the second adds 25gp to the base price of the set. If you are holding a stone, you can use a swift action to determine the exact location of every other stone attuned to yours. This ability functions like the Locate Object spell, but has a range of half a mile. These stones are primarily used either by adventuring parties with invisible members, or by merchants to keep track of their carts and employees. By increasing the cost by 50%, you can increase the range by up to 2 and 1/2 miles, applied as many times as you like. Once a set of stones is made, no other stones can be attuned to that set; for this reason most producers make larger sets and hope to slip the extra awarenesses by when selling in smaller numbers.

reqs: Create Wondrous Item, locate object

In a Similar manner, but Different Fuff:

61. True Love's Rings.

A pair of simple golden bands, identical in every way. When someone wears one ring, they can sense the location and state of the wearer of the other (as locate object, and deathwatch), with any range (but only on the same plane).
150gp for the pair. Faint Divination and Necromancy Prequesites: CL1, Craft Ring, Deathwatch.

62. Perfect Lighter.

A short piece of red quartz crystal, about two inches long, and a quarter inch wide. When the comand word is said, a flame is emited from one end. This flame is enough to light nearly anything flamable. However, it is barely large enough to hurt - it does only 1 point of fire damage when held against the skin for a round.
100gp. Faint Evocation. Prequisites: CL1, Craft Wondrous Item, Any spell with the [fire] Descriptor.

63. Wizards Ice.

A handful of small stone cubes, pale blue in color, and half a cubic inch in size. These stones are perpetually noticable cold. They aren't good for much besides keeping drinks cold, but they sure are good at that. a substancially larger quantity could be used to keep food preserved, but that would require many more - enough to pack the food, as though one were useing ice for the purpose.
50gp for a set of 8. Faint Transmutation. Prerequisites: CL1, Craft Wondrous Item, Any spell with the [Cold] descriptor.

[Bohandas]

64.) Mug of Flavor - This mug temporarily imparts any water poured into it wih a flavor chosen at the time of the mug's creation. The flavor chosen cannot be extremely strong. Water flavored in this manner loses it's flavor 30 minutes after leavig the mug.
(faint transmutation/illusion; CL 1; Prereqs: Craft Wondrous Item, Prestidigitation; Price: <~50-125gp? [1/8 of lv1/2 spell at lv1 x 2000 gp for use activated; though arguably 1/10 of 1/2 of a 1/2 level spell])

[sengmeng]

65). Formal Sash. When worn, this sash takes up the amulet slot, and creates a charm that the rest of the wearer's clothing is also formal. True Seeing does not negate this effect, but being mindless does. There is normally no saving throw, but a DC 25 spot check or physically touching the wearer reveals the deception. The reason True Seeing doesn't work is that the sash draws all attention to itself, and does not actually change the appearance of the rest of the outfit. 300 gp, caster level 7th, Craft Wondrous Item, Obscure Object.

[DeadpanSal]

66. Chalk of Dimension Door - This single use item allows you to create a portal to a square 400 feet away in any cardinal direction you choose. If the intended square does not allow passage, the door appears in another, randomized direction to ensure the user's safety. After use, the piece of chalk vanishes somewhere into the astral plane.
GP - 500 per piece

[Bohandas]

65). Formal Sash. When worn, this sash takes up the amulet slot, and creates a charm that the rest of the wearer's clothing is also formal. True Seeing does not negate this effect, but being mindless does. There is normally no saving throw, but a DC 25 spot check or physically touching the wearer reveals the deception. The reason True Seeing doesn't work is that the sash draws all attention to itself, and does not actually change the appearance of the rest of the outfit. 300 gp, caster level 7th, Craft Wondrous Item, Obscure Object.

So Mind Blank would work though then.

[sengmeng]

So Mind Blank would work though then.

Yeah, and any sort of immunity to charms or mind-affecting effects.

[Bohandas]

67.) Bag of Tricks (Tattered Sackcloth): As a normal Bag of Tricks except charges are per day rather than per week but the user can only draw out ordinary mundane bugs and worms, one at a time as usual.

EDIT
prerequisites: craft wondrous item, summon nature's ally 1, or summon monster 1, or insect plague
price: ~40-200gp

[DuctTapeKatar]

Sphinx Ring
A small band with a little head of a lion, made from either metal, bone, or wood. By stroking the band while worn, the lion whispers a riddle based on events which its wearers has witnessed, and the riddles can vary widely in difficulty- from simple riddles to questions only previous wearers could logically answer. If the answer is correct, the ring purrs, while if incorrect, it roars. It is mostly used to pass the time during long travels, but nobles have been known to use them in party games.

Fool's Ace
To the untrained eye, this unassuming card is a faded ace of any suit. However, on further inspection, the "A" is actually a small rune which creates weak illusions. By tapping the Fool's Ace against another card, the rune changes that card into another ace- and any card touching the changed card is also changed, turning the entire hand into all aces. The illusion is broken by taking the cards affected by the magic and shuffling them. These cards are used for cheating in games, but there has been the occasion where a Fool's Ace has been implemented where the goal is to find the original card before the entire deck becomes identical and has to be re-shuffled.

Glove of Booping
A childish toy. Upon command, this sheepskin glove flies around and pokes a chosen person's nose or cheek. It then becomes limp and falls onto the ground. More complicated forms of magic allow the glove to act on its own, but those are more complicated and expensive, while these are made by apprentices who are practicing simple animation and sold for pocket change. Perfect for practical jokes! Max range of 30 feet. If no target is given, the glove veers back and pokes the person who sent it away.

[red_kangaroo]

#71 Mace of Minor Missiles
This masterwork light mace can be activated as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity to shoot a lesser magic missile dealing 1 point of force damage with a maximum range of 30 feet.
Faint evocation; CL 1st; Craft Rod, magic missile, lesser; 1.001 gp

#72 Gourmand’s Ring of Many Flavours
The user of this ring will taste any food she eats with the flavour she believes the food will have, with no conscious control over what the flavour will be.
For example, eating a sweetroll after being told it’s salty will make the sweetroll taste salty to the user. Eating a poorly cooked meal if it looks tasty will make it delicious to the user, as he is led to believe it will be delicious. Eating an unflavoured food the user have eaten before will add the flavour the user remembers, etc.
Faint universal; CL 1st; Forge Ring, prestidigitation; 30 gp

#73 Minor Ring of Deflection
Three times per day as an immediate action, the user can increase his AC for given attack by 1.
Faint abjuration; CL 1st; Forge Ring, deflect, lesser; 50 gp

#74 Major Ring of Deflection
Three times per day as an immediate action, the user can negate a single melee, ranged, spell, or psionic attack by blocking the pyhisical attack or line of effect.
Faint evocation; CL 2nd; Forge Ring, wings of cover; 500 gp

[Bohandas]

75.) Everburning Candle- Dimly illuminates a 5-foot radius around itself forever. The flame is illusory and cannot burn things.
faint evocation; CL 1; Craft Wondrous Item, Continual Flame; 11 gp