Items Found in the Wizard's Closet

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Solomoriah
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Items Found in the Wizard's Closet

Post by Solomoriah »

As I'm working my way through Castle D'Angelo I'm finding myself overwhelmed by the amount of sheer crapola that would be in such a place. A castle occupied by wizards for around a thousand years would have a lot of stuff in it; most would honestly be rubbish, but there would have to be a few interesting bits. Items not magical enough to be actual magic items, medals or (broken) watches or ancient copper coins of limited value. Weird stuff.

So I decided, rather than try to think of something for every room, that I'm going to put a Random Items table in the adventure. A hundred would be perfect, but I'll take what I can get. Submit your items here, and I'll edit them into a list and add them to the adventure. If you are not already an author or contributor to Strongholds of Sorcery, please either include your name as you want it to appear or PM me if you'd prefer to limit your (ahem) exposure.

I'm breaking my own rule about Workshop threads, in that I'm not posting any materials in this first post. If nothing appears in 24 hours, I suppose I'll have to remove the thread and give myself a ban or something... don't let that happen, okay?
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SmootRK
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Re: Items Found in the Wizard's Closet

Post by SmootRK »

Minor Magic Items:
Spoon of Stirring - when placed within a pot or similar vessel and command word is spoken "turbatio" the spoon will magically begin stirring the contents in a slow rotation.

Infinite Candle - when alit burns with a small flame lasting as long as a typical candle, however the candle is renewed once each day at dawn when exposed to daylight.

Slippers of warmth - nothing is worse than a chill from walking around a cold castle. User's feet will remain a comfortable warm temp while wearing the slippers.

Broom of Sweeping - will remove debris from floors in a single room. Unlike Mickey Mouse's unfortunate broom experience, this broom will cease cleaning when there is nothing left to clean up.

Dancing Sapling - a small sapling tree in a non-descript pot will begin dancing in place when music is played in the vicinity. Upon close inspection the sapling has a vaguely humanoid visage.
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Dimirag
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Re: Items Found in the Wizard's Closet

Post by Dimirag »

Lets see...

-An old and really fancy cape
-An hourglass that functions backwards (sand going up instead of down) with a duration of 1 hour
-A box with carvings showing a flying owl, if opened there is a mummified owl inside.
-A set for chess or another boardgame
Sorry for any misspelling or writing error, I am not a native English speaker
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PapersAndPaychecks
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Re: Items Found in the Wizard's Closet

Post by PapersAndPaychecks »

Subtable: Writings
# Formula for a mixture of alum and egg white which turns out to be a reliable substitute for demon's brain fluid in magical ink recipes
# Invitation to a party, written in blood
# Page from a diary detailing lamentably unsuccessful date
# A prayer to Nyarlathotep
# What first appear to be esoteric writings turn out on closer inspection to be the wrapper for someone's lunch
# A note which reads: "Bearer is a test subject, to be admitted to my laboratory -- P"
# Research notes about a so-far unsuccessful attempt to crossbreed a cockatrice with a harpy
# A love poem in 324 stanzas of alliterative trochaic tetrameter, addressed to "my unchanging love" --- this turns out to be the beautiful princess Aleolah Latimai, now a vampire
# Conversation about which would win in a fight between a green slime and an ochre jelly, written in chalk on a piece of slate (made during a boring lecture)

Subtable: Container contents
# 4d6 human teeth
# 1d3 hard boiled eggs
# A glass eye
# 10d4 silver pieces
# A chrysalis, which if left undisturbed will hatch in 1d3 days into a really unpleasant species of bloodworm (native to the Plane of Tarterus and used in torments)
# A prophylactic made of pig's intestine
# Mucus, vaguely golden green in colour
# The world's smallest clay golem, height 4"
# A pressed flower, formerly part of a treant
# Ointment for an embarrassing personal problem
# Small tightly-stoppered glass pot of viscous grey liquid (a magical substance used as glue; precisely four seconds after it contacts air, it expands to thirty times its previous volume and then sets as hard as steel)

Subtable: Less successful spells
# Tasha's Uncontrollable Hideous Sister
# Bigby's Insulting Finger
# Ray of Tourette's
# Pyanpi's Instant Water Closet (conjures water-filled bucket and curtain which disappear after ten minutes)
# Power Word: Blog
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Solomoriah
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Re: Items Found in the Wizard's Closet

Post by Solomoriah »

PapersAndPaychecks wrote:# Research notes about a so-far unsuccessful attempt to crossbreed a cockatrice with a harpy
:o :o :o :o :o

Oh, my goodness. What a terrible idea...

:twisted:
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Clever_Munkey
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Re: Items Found in the Wizard's Closet

Post by Clever_Munkey »

Ever-flowing hourglass: The sand in this hourglass seems to flow like normal, but both halves maintain the same amount of sand regardless of how much time passes, or which direction it is turned.

A small box with a switch on top, when flipped a small hand comes out of a hidden panel and flips the switch back.

Noisy Earplugs: When used these earplugs simply create a lot static noise for the user. They still prevent the user from hearing outside sounds the exact same as normal earplugs.

A small wooden cube made from a single piece that has no perceivable openings, but will rattle when shaken. (might have something inside, or might be solid)

A cage with a small frog skeleton inside and a tag which says "sings and dances."
(may or may not sing and dance)

A jar of small marbles whose only unique feature is that it detects as magic.

A scroll of uselessness: detects as magical, but has a random useless effect:
Reader tastes a random color
Reader's brain itches (temporarily)
The scroll rewrites itself
The scroll disintegrates
etc.

Boots of walking: Nothing special happens when worn, but they will follow their owner around.
Last edited by Clever_Munkey on Thu Feb 23, 2017 3:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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mwest
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Re: Items Found in the Wizard's Closet

Post by mwest »

A jar containing several eyes floating in a greenish liquid. The eyes seem to follow you as you move.

A crystal prism about 6 inches long that can be used to magnify text.

A yellow-green conical hat

A mummified hand.

A green wand with the word "here" written on its side. If a spellcaster uses the wand and says "here", whatever the wand next makes contact with will have a two inch square amber-glowing X appear on it. The X is permanent unless dispelled by magic. The wand is called a magic marker and it has 17 charges.

A purple felt coif.

An indigo wool cummerbund

An hourglass made from redwood and copper with black sand inside the glass.

A ritual dagger. The handle is made of oak entwined with brass and set with a single hyacinth. It is worth 120 g.p.

A book with an agar wood cover encrusted with white tourmaline gems worth 200 g.p. The first 12 pages are an introduction to a work on conjuration with several references to kings, counts, barons and other royalty that is an obvious attempt at flattering these persons for favor. Page 13 has suffered an ink spill. The rest of the book is blank.

A coral-red hemp (cloth) cloak with white fur trim.

A set of ebony (wood) pan pipes bound with dove-gray fabric. An engraving in Elvish can be translated as saying "make music".

A dalbergia wood cartouche with ebon inlay.

A druse of uvarovite (a green, sparkly chunk of crystal).

An iron letter opener with a rosewood handle.

A set of brass horseshoes engraved with runes (non-magical).

An iron hair pin

A bubinga wood statuette showing the proper technique for casting Magic Missile.

A mahogany chalice inset with a single greenish stone.

A tawny-orange linen belt pouch with something soft and squishy inside. If opened, the rotting spell components have molded and require the pouch opener to save vs. poison at +4 or suffer from -2 Con for the next 24 hours.

A bronze bracelet set with a blue quartz (60 gp value).

A gold monocle set with a rose-colored lens (150 gp value)

A gold armlet set with a morganite gem (300 gp value). Inscribed in Goblin is "this slave is the property of Gormanath the brutal"

A bronze cube. Each face is set engraved with a rune of some sort.

A yew-wood scepter with a few platinum inlays, set with a single opal (500 gp value).

A large plate made of sandalwood.

A hand-sized, soapstone carving of a whale with a distressed look on its face and a tiny engraving on its side. In common is written, "Oh no, not again!"

A hemlock wood holy symbol (a symbol of a god of sorcery).

A large copper key. Engraved on the side are the words, "For use in the room behind the secret door." The key is a memento from the magic-user's adventuring days and is too large to fit in any door/lock in this adventure.

A hand fan made with ivory-white paper and balsa wood. Written in blood red (ink ?) in the language of the infernals is the phrase "Hot enough for you?"

A bright yellow crystal shard.

A ceramic pot with the crunchy withered remains of a plant that apparently had two fangs.

A black-iron cauldron with a dusky black (but otherwise harmless) goo inside.

A life-sized stuffed mockingbird. If handled, the bearer hears insults in the back of his head. Any NPC touching the bird must make a save vs. spells at +4 or immediately make a morale check. Any NPC failing the morale check will drop the bird, and flee from it; the NPC will never willingly touch the bird again. If the NPC comes in contact with the bird again, he or she is still allowed a save vs. spells at +4 to resist the effect; while failure has the same effect as before, if this save is made, the NPC will attack the bird to destroy it. The mocking bird has an Armor Class of 10, 1 hp, does not move nor attack, and is worth no XP if destroyed.

A wand with the word "attention" written on its side. If a spellcaster handles the wand and says the word "attention", a dim and harmless shaft of red light extends from the end of the wand towards any item within 20 feet. This shaft of light only appears for one round and then turns itself off. The light is so dim it only illuminates where the shaft shines and will not work as an effective light source for humans and other beings without Darkvision. This wand has unlimited charges.
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mwest
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Re: Items Found in the Wizard's Closet

Post by mwest »

Perhaps some mundane scrolls?
  • [written in Anubian] On Conoids and Spheroids [mathematics] by Urem Babal (1 book, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Common] Come Back Ziun the elder by Boe Shoff the calamitous (1 tome, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Common] Focal Properties Of Mirrors And Light Rays by Scoburf (1 scroll, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Common] On Dreams by Lithia the spinster (1 book, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Common] On Privileges [law] by Fixbish (1 tome, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Common] On Spirals [mathematics] by Baccena Pendelin (1 book, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Common] On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon [science] by Spadas the sad (1 tomes, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Common] On the Soul by Grik Smurnon (1 tome, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Common] Plane Loci [mathematics] by Tonand Bogg (2 scrolls, worth 4 gp)
  • [written in Common] Satires by Chumspax the oath-keeper (1 scroll, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Common] The Many Loves Of Eralan by Callen Adufon (1 scroll, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Common] The Poisoning Of Der-Scoza the unready by Shangry-Ti the rude (1 scroll, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Dragon] Please Be Faithful, Frethesancia Griffonholt by Vindranne (1 scroll of a poem, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Dwarvish] Ethics by Dvafus (7 scrolls, worth 14 gp)
  • [written in Dwarvish] On Harmonics [science] by Clingwel Brythull (1 scroll, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Elvish] Against Tibur by Prochir Caraud (1 book, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Elvish] Cutting An Area [mathematics] by Arithas (2 scrolls, worth 4 gp)
  • [written in Elvish] Morality by Shon-Gescuz the greedy (5 scrolls, worth 10 gp)
  • [written in Elvish] On the Sphere and Cylinder [mathematics] by Steron Dialeux (4 tomes, worth 8 gp)
  • [written in Gnoll] On Determinate Section [mathematics] by Phencus the red (2 treatises, worth 4 gp)
  • [written in Gnomish] On Parabolas [mathematics] by Muta the nimble (1 scroll, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Gump] On Planar Equilibriums [mathematics] by Famphnu the careful (3 tomes, worth 6 gp)
  • [written in Halfling] A Collection Of Poetry by Glyrshen Nauce (18 scrolls, worth 36 gp)
  • [written in Halfling] On Verging Constructions [mathematics] by Danzer (2 books, worth 4 gp)
  • [written in Halfling] Tangencies [mathematics] by Halia Ocklon (2 tomes, worth 4 gp)
  • [written in Harpy] The Assassination Of Diona the ardent by Bleanna the glorious (1 book, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Kobold] Measurement of a Circle [mathematics] by Dampa the polite (1 book, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Kobold] On Floating Bodies [physics] by Callem the horrid (2 treatises, worth 4 gp)
  • [written in Lizard Man] The Sons Of Renthe by Warler (1 book, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Orcish] A Collection Of Fables by Anâtab (1 treatise, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Orcish] Conics [mathematics] by Udramph the impious (1 book, worth 2 gp)
  • [written in Orcish] Cutting Of A Ratio [mathematics] by Ellota Kilrad (2 tomes, worth 4 gp)
  • [written in Orcish] The Impudent Boyfriend Of Hawise Partingcup by Wettorli (1 scroll, worth 2 gp)
  • A Common To Dragon Dictionary (1 scroll, worth 2 gp)
  • A Common To Ogrish Dictionary (1 scroll, worth 2 gp)
[/list]
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Solomoriah
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Re: Items Found in the Wizard's Closet

Post by Solomoriah »

Nice. Do you mind if I recast some of these scrolls as books for the libraries?
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mwest
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Re: Items Found in the Wizard's Closet

Post by mwest »

No problem making them books. Most of those were genuine ancient scrolls "rpg-ized."

For example, Archimedes of Syracuse [287 – 212 BC] wrote On Conoids and Spheroids. I use ancient books as a basis for dungeon finds.
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