Contents
The following magical items are known to exist in the Old World campaign setting.
Armor
Enchanted armor
Magically enhanced armor (with enhancement bonuses of +1 to +3) often comes from the arsenals of the Church of Pelor, worn by holy warriors of past generations. Some such armors have been passed down as family heirlooms, in noble families that descend (or claim to descend) from the heroes and saints of the early Pelorite period.
Rare variants of such armaments include armors that protect against the attacks of incorporeal creatures (ghost touch) and shields that can flare with blinding light (blinding).
While orcish smiths cannot compare to human ones in their armor-crafting skill (and thus orc armors tend toward the easy to craft and the utilitarian), stories tell of suits of armor—crafted for champions of past ages—that are made to appear exceptionally terrifying, enhancing the wearer’s ability to demoralize his enemies (fearsome).
Unusual armor
Of unknown provenance, leafweave armor is a light armor made of magically enhanced (and seemingly living) plant material.
Weapons
Enchanted weapons
Magically enhanced weapons (with enhancement bonuses of +1 to +3) are some of the most well-known enchanted items; like armor, their origin can often be traced in those wars of Donaille’s tumultuous past in which Pelorite paladins and pious warriors took up blessed arms against savage humanoids, demon-worshipping barbarians, and other enemies of civilization. Many noble lords like to display such weapons as proof of their family’s exalted heritage.
Some such weapons have special properties, among which is the ability to strike at spectral enemies (ghost touch) or to destroy undead creatures outright (disruption), to strike with greater power against any evil monster (holy), or to channel the energy wielded by clerics (grayflame). There are even said to be blessed weapons that can use the light of Pelor to destroy illusions and magical deceptions (illusion bane). Stories also tell of exceedingly rare weapons with greater powers, such as a sword that acts as a talisman against magical enchantments, or weapons that gain tremendous power when wielded by a worthy paladin.
The orcs, too, have their versions of ancestral weapons of great power; the techniques used to create the weapons once wielded by the orcish warlords and heroes of the past are thought to now be lost, but many of those weapons have been carefully safeguarded by the tribes (and many others have passed into human hands, having been taken as spoils of war… or bought in trade, in times of want—although no orc will admit that such things take place). The weapons of the orcs are distinctive in design, and their enchantments reflect orcish sensibilities, emphasizing reckless assaults (vicious, mighty cleaving, furious), physical force (brutal surge), and the inflicting of grievous injuries upon the enemy (keen, wounding, maiming).
The most famous sort of magical weapon is, of course, the fiery sword; such weapons (flaming, flaming burst) figure prominently in both human and orcish stories.
Wands
Wands are small batons or rods which are enchanted to produce one or more kinds of spell-like effects. They are a rare commodity, as they have a limited reserve of magical power—and once that reserve is expended, the wand’s magic is gone forever. The secret of creating new magic wands must be a closely guarded secret, as most wizards do not know it (to say nothing of less learned spellcasters).
Anyone who takes the time to research such things can learn of wands of healing and blasting, wands of frost and fire and lightning, and wands that create fear or shoot magic missiles.
Wands are usually usable by a certain sort of spellcaster (i.e., arcane or divine), or else anyone who is himself able to cast spells or otherwise produce the effects that match the wand’s powers.
Magical theorists hold that a wand, if newly created, should be usable up to fifty times before expiring. To find a never-used wand would be an exceptionally improbable occurrence, however.
Staffs
The magic staff is perhaps the most iconic implement of the archetypical wizard, and yet true staffs are rare indeed. They are said to hold spell-like effects in a similar manner to wands, while also having various other powers. One who has mastered the use of a staff may wield it to greater effect—or so the stories say.
Scrolls
Any wizard knows the technique of inscribing, upon a suitable parchment or vellum, arcane formulas which represent the magical structures which constitute a prepared spell, which may later be triggered by reading the scroll (assuming that the reader is sufficiently skilled). While most scholars of the arcane believe that it should be possible to construct such formulas for any spell, and some (if, admittedly, a minority) of such scholars hold that even a non-wizard might be taught the methods of magical inscription, the development of such techniques has proven elusive. (Although it’s not clear that any wizard has made much of an effort in this regard… or so a very cynical person might observe.)
However, certain rare scrolls are known to exist which contain not merely the transcriptions of prepared spells, but magical effects of a different sort. Whether these are the records of spells the knowledge of which has been lost (and which those who possess them cannot comprehend sufficiently to reconstruct that knowledge from the scroll), or whether, instead, such scrolls were created by means of an entirely dissimilar technique, is not clear. The most well-known examples of such scrolls are scrolls of protection, which can ward the reader against some type of creature, effect, or phenomenon (a scroll of protection from water, for instance, would create a shield of warding against water elementals, water-based magic, etc.). Scrolls of this type are treasured by their owners at least as much for their rarity as for their potential usefulness.
Magical jewelry
Mainstays of heroic tales and songs, the described variety of such items of magical jewelry—rings, amulets, and the like—is great; the items themselves are considerably rarer than are the stories told about them. If any live today who know the secret of crafting such items, this fact is not known generally. Those lucky few who own things like this are unlikely to part with them.
The most famous items in this category include rings that ward against physical attack (ring of protection), protect against the elements and their magical manifestations (ring of fire/cold resistance), turn the wearer invisible (ring of invisibility), aid in countering magical attacks (ring of counterspells), or confound spells of magical discernment (ring of mind shielding), as well as amulets that block finding magic (amulet of proof against detection and location), magic bracers that ward off blows as well as steel plate (bracers of armor), and magic lenses that pierce illusions and reveal the true forms of all things (lens of seeing).
Miscellaneous items
Figurines of wondrous power
This sort of item—a small statuette or carved figure that, on command, turns into a loyal animal—is a favorite of bards and storytellers. The mythical origins invented for such items are probably a fabrication, but it’s certainly true that the few such items that are known to exist are quite old; if there is anyone who knows how to craft such things, they seem to be keeping that ability quiet.
Stories are known of such figurines that take the form of dogs, goats, lions, elephants, owls, ravens, and even camels. Other versions doubtless also exist.
Metamagic rods
Exceptionally valuable tools, metamagic rods are more common than many other items (e.g. wands), because they never “run out” out of magic; this, however, is counterbalanced by the fact that they’re quite likely to be in regular use, so finding someone who is willing to sell a rod may be difficult. Lesser metamagic rods for Enlarge Spell, Extend Spell, Merciful Spell, Reach Spell, Silent Spell, or Still Spell are fairly well-known (with many such items having been in continuous use for at least a century). Metamagic rods of higher levels, or ones that apply the effects of other metamagic feats, are much more rare.
Bags of holding
Also known as “bottomless bags”, these items have a somewhat unsavory reputation, due to (almost certainly exaggerated) stories about thieves who use them to steal all sorts of improbable things. In reality, such items are rare and valuable because they are useful for a variety of purposes beyond mere burglary; trying to find one for purchase may lead some people to draw the wrong conclusions, however.
Crystal balls
These scrying devices unquestionably exist, but their owners are unlikely to part with them; their unparalleled usefulness for espionage, reconnaisance, and communication means that most crystal balls are in the hands of high nobles and other people for whom almost no price is too high to pay for such an item’s powers.
Magic boots
Footwear that lets the wearer move more quickly, or in novel ways, is another popular feature of bardic tales. Some such items are said to simply let the wearer run more quickly (boots of speed), others allow wall-walking (slippers of spider climbing), yet others grant the ability to walk on air (cloud-strider’s boots) or outright flight (boots of flying), etc. There are even stories of shoes that instantly transport the wearer to some desired location, although this is likely a storyteller’s fantasy.
Other items
Many other items are known to exist that do not fall into the above categories: hats of disguise that can make the wearer look like any other person; chimes of opening that can unlock any door or open any chest; weapons or shields that can attack enemies or block attacks on their own, as if wielded by some unseen force; flasks that, when unstoppered, release a genie, a demon, or some other magical being; bows that release arrows that unerringly find their targets; arrows that instantly strike their targets dead; a box that, when opened, releases an endless torrent of spiders…