Dynastic New Game+

Family Tree

I've long desired to run a dynastic campaign, importing something like Pendragon's "after every session/adventure/tourney/happening, a year passes", where eventually you're expected to retire your character and their heir takes over -- D&D meets Crusader Kings (Crusader Kings having been designed in a lab to be precisely catnip to Malimars).

But that's the only thing I really like about Pendragon, so I want to hack it onto a system I do like. Seems like a half-decent fit for Daggerheart, but I don't yet know the likelihood of persuading my group to try that one.

The Issue

The main problem with hacking it onto D&D would be: presuming not everybody retires at the same time (so, presuming elves and humans in the same party); and presuming I don't want any given character's heir to just automatically straight-up start at the level their parent retired at; how do I make a mixed-level party more or less balanced? How might I let one player do a New Game+ while remaining in a party with a player who just keeps playing their original character?

My second instinct is: abandon allowing mixed-level parties: heirs just start at the level of their parent, and/or every character always retires at the same time. But I low-key hate both of those options? I want players to have the option to play an elf (eg, one player just straight-up hates the dynastic game idea and wants to opt out -- if multiple players hate it, of course I would run something else). I want players to be able to pick when their character is done (perhaps using the aging rules from 3.5e to encourage done-ness, though that does hardly encourage spellcasters to retire). I want players to be able to play an Obi-Wan from the previous generation or a sidekick/apprentice from the next.

My first instinct is: something like beginning with magic items or Epic Boons or bonus feats or something? Like, establish some exchange rate: new characters begin with some amount of Stuff for each level lower your new character is than your old character would have been.

New Game+

Assumption, while we think this out:

Every time the party would level up (so, basically every adventure/delve, ish), some number of years passes. I was thinking 1d6 or 1d8 or 1d10 or 1d12, but randomness does us no favors here; another solid possibility is 5, plus or minus a few depending on DM fiat; another possibility is that it can depend on how successfully and effectively the adventure's task was accomplished, that a party gets a decade or two of peace if they completely smash it out of the park, only a year or two if they straight-up fail.

Perhaps, in the middle of some adventures, there could be an extra level-up point that applies only to characters of below the party's max level. If this were 3.5e and we were playing with experience, the increased XP and decreased XP-to-next-level from being lower level makes it balance; we need to approximate that with an inelegant hack, because we don't want characters who are behind to remain behind forever.

A new-generation character begins with all the physical loot of the previous-generation character they're taking over for.

A new-generation character starts at any level below the level of the previous-generation character they're taking over for (this may get to be a bit of a wibbly muddle if, like, one player's new character takes over for another player's old character, or two PCs get together and make babbies who then take over as new characters, or whatever, but ad hoc DM adjudication is a thing).

For each level so sacrificed, a new PC begins with an additional Thing (eg, 1st-gen PC is lvl7; 2nd-gen PC elects to begin at lvl3; the difference is 4 levels, so they begin with 4 Things).

What shall be the Things?

My first notion: each Thing is a rarity level of magic item. A 1-level difference lets you start with an extra Common item; a 2-level difference lets you start with an extra Uncommon item (or 2 Commons); a 3-level difference lets you start with an extra Rare item (or 3 Commons, or a Common and an Uncommon); a 4-level difference lets you start with an extra Very Rare item (or a Rare and a Common, or two Uncommons, or an Uncommon and two Commons, or four Commons); a 5-level difference lets you start with an extra Legendary item (or a Very Rare and a Common, or a Rare and two Commons, or a Rare and an Uncommon, or an Uncommon and three Commons, or two Uncommons and a Common, or five Commons), etc. You cannot begin with an Artifact (unless the previous-generation PC gained it during play, of course). Raising the question: can a level 5 character with a Legendary item (plus level ten character worth of miscellaneous loot) hold their own with a level 10 character (with only ten levels worth of miscellaneous loot)? Can a level 5 character with three Legendary items hold their own with a level 20 character?

Another notion: each Thing is a free bonus feat (and every so many Things is a free Epic Boon bonus feat? no, I think not, some Epic Boons may be fine for this purpose, but some are very powerful). Can a level 5 character with 5 bonus feats hold their own with a level 10 character (with only the normal number of feats)? And what happens to the bonus feats as the character acceleratedly levels up -- do they evaporate; do they start to occupy real feat slots as such become available to the character; something else?

One big issue is hit points. PCs progress fast in terms of HP, so monsters correspondingly progress fast in terms of how hard they hit. I think some kind of free bonus HPs may be the only thing to do here, though that is an inelegant solution. Maybe 5 bonus HP for each level you are different from the party's level (which you gradually lose as you level up faster than the party does, until you have 0 bonus HP when you reach the party's level)? No, I think I like this better: all characters have Hit Dice, and consequently HP, in accordance with the maximum level of the party, regardless of their character level.

Another issue is hitting power. PCs progress fast in terms of how much damage they do (doubling at level 4, among other things); monsters correspondingly progress fast in terms of HP. A single really good weapon and/or some bonus feats can make up this difference handily.

See Also

Forum thread on the topic

Update

A point was raised on Bluesky: "If you give a lower level character extra hp, and extra items, and extra feats, and let them do damage above their level aren’t they functionally just higher level characters?"

Which: no... but also yes? Reoriented my perspective drastically.

A new character shouldn't have to be exactly balanced with the old characters; there just needs to be some incentive to retire a character (the Aging rules from 3.5e might take care of that, though I might have to bite the bullet and ban elves, perhaps plus being generous with maimery), and maybe a very low-key bonus to ease the sting of starting at a lower level.

Or maybe instead of straight-up banning elves, resurrect the thing in earlier editions where you can level up a lot faster if you're a shorter-lived species? You can, if you do desire, eschew the whole conceit of the campaign by playing an elf, at the cost of your human companions ding lvl 10 -> start over at 1 -> ding 10 again a few times times over the course of the time it takes you to ding 10 once?

3.5e Homebrew Items

 ==Armor==

*Diving Suit

This is an articulated suit of armor which contains a high-pressure oxygen tank and can be pressurized to maintain one atmosphere of pressure for the wearer. Normal movement is extremely difficult in this suit, but it has the advantage of protecting the wearer from hostile environments, particularly the depths of the ocean. While wearing this suit, a character can always breathe normally and takes no damage from water pressure. If the diving suit is punctured, for example by a piercing or slashing weapon which does damage through the suit, then its pressure-resistant properties are lost.

A diving suit costs 2,750 gp, has an armor bonus of +7, a max dexterity of +1, an armor check penalty of -10, an arcane spell failure chance of 75%, a speed of 20 (for a character whose base land speed is 30) or 15 (for a character whose base land speed is 20), and weighs 150 lbs.

==Wondrous Items==

*Baggie of Holding

Baggies of Holding, sometimes called Bags of Holding Type 0 and -1, act as normal bags of holding, but are even smaller and cheaper.

Bag Bag Weight Contents Weight Limit Contents Volume Limit Market Price

Lesser Baggie of Holding 2 20 2 250

Greater Baggie of Holding 7 90 10 1000

*Helm Of Opposite Alignment, Greater

As Helm of Opposite Alignment, but functions 10 times before running out of charges, and save DC is 17.

Strong transmutation; CL 12th; Craft Wondrous Item, creator must be 12th level; Price 50,000 gp; Weight 3 lb.

*Questmaster's Box

This ornately-decorated 12"x7"x4" wooden box is frequently used by guildmasters to send items to random places, so that low-ranking guild members may be tested by requiring them to find the item.

The front of the box has two buttons and a dial. The buttons are labeled "Send Object" and "Retrieve Locating Stone"; the dial is labeled "Radius" and may be set to 5 feet, 50 feet, 500 feet, 1 mile, 10 miles, 100 miles, and 1000 miles. If the box is closed and "Retrieve Locating Stone" button is pressed, the locating stone (a non-magical and otherwise uninteresting pebble) appears inside the box. If the box is closed and "Send Object" is pressed, anything inside the box is sent to a random location within the dial-specified radius of the locating stone. The locating stone can be sent away by the box like any object. If the locating stone is destroyed, the box keys off the last known location of the locating stone, before it was destroyed, and creates a new locating stone if "Retrieve Locating Stone" is pressed.

Moderate conjuration; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item, locate object, teleport; price 1500 gp; weight 5 lb.

*Restraining Bolt

This item comes in two parts. The main part is a coin-sized disc that can be affixed to the outer shell of a seaforged or warforged with a touch attack. The other part is a remote control, a short metal wand.

The bearer of the remote control may issue orders to the affected seaforged, who is compelled as if under the effects of a suggestion spell. The save DC to resist this compulsion is 18.

Moderate enchantment; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item; suggestion; price 11,000.

==Universal Items==

*Goblet of True Mind Switching

If this jeweled silver cup is filled with any liquid, and two creatures drink from it in succession, the minds of the two creatures are swapped, as with a True Mind Switch power. Neither individual loses a level. This ability functions once per week. If one of the bodies later dies, that body's current occupant dies, and the other immediately loses one level.

Strong telepathy; ML 17th; Craft Universal Item, True Mind Switch; Price 200,000 gp.

==Warforged Components==

*Swim Bladder and Propeller (Embedded Component)

This warforged component takes the form of an air-filled sac which can be expanded or contracted at will and a propeller or set of propellers which allow you to move underwater as if you were naturally aquatic.

This component grants you a swim speed equal to your land speed. Because of this, you gain +8 to Swim checks to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. You can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. And you can use the run action while swimming, provided you swim in a straight line. You still do not need to breathe.

Moderate transmutation, CL 7th, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, swim (Spell Compendium), price 10,000gp, weight 10 lb.

*Rustproof Coating (Attached Component)

You have been equipped with a special coating that makes your armor more resistant to rust.

You gain +4 to saving throws vs all spells with the water descriptor and all spells or effects which rust metal, such as rusting grasp or the touch of a rust monster.

Moreover, you suffer no rust-related ill effects from prolonged exposure to water or moisture.

Faint abjuration, CL 3rd, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, resistance, price 2,000gp, weight 1 lb.

Loot as Balance Solution

So it's well-known (by me) that 3.5e's biggest flaw is balance between classes. (This flaw is slightly lessened but not really entirely fixed by Pathfinder.) Monks are crap, druids are boss. It is known.

In my opinion, the best way to fix this is to go well beyond standard wealth by level guidelines.

You can just spam extra gold and it'll ameliorate the problem, because a fighter is more improved by doubling his WBL than a druid is.

But there's an even better way, and that's to drop extra loot tailored to the party. Specifically, loot that the underperforming characters can use and characters performing adequately can't.

Is the party's monk underperforming? (Yes of course he is, don't be silly.) Give the next encounter a Monk's Belt and a Necklace of Natural Attacks.

Warlock? Chasuble of Fell Power (Magic Item Compendium). MIC has a lot of these items, tailored to specific classes in this way. Vest that gives the rogue more sneak attack, boots that give the scout more skirmish, etc.

Got a fighter that's getting outperformed by a warblade? Give a Holy/Unholy/Anarchic/Axiomatic weapon opposed to the warblade's alignment. Or the Crown of White Ravens and its brethren from Tome of Battle (this is useful to a warblade, so you'll need to encourage the warblade to give it up to the fighter), which serves as an introduction to ToB and might encourage the fighter to multiclass to an initiator class (which, unlike multiclassing into a spellcaster and being forever behind, is a favorable choice, because your initiator level is half your non-initiator-class levels plus your level in initiator classes, and which maneuvers/stances you can pick depends only on your initiator level, so a fighter 4/warblade 1 has an IL of 3 instead of 1 and can pick 2nd-level maneuvers right off the bat).

Even a wizard or an archivist can underperform through being played by an unsavvy player, so you can drop scrolls of better spells for them to copy into their spellbooks to subtly encourage their use. E.g., archivist wasting all his time healing? Drop him some divine scrolls of entangle and hold person and stuff. Alternately, and this works for pretty much any caster, drop a wand of something useful that's on the underperforming caster's class list.

48 More Things To Populate Your Dungeon

1 magic mirror lies to men but not to women
2 A goblin key which will lock (but not unlock) any door
3 a forgotten account of dwarven history. Anyone familiar with dwarven history who studies this text will find references to a king who has apparently been excised from the modern records
4 A statue of a gargoyle with an open mouth with a switch at the very back of the mouth, just within reach of a Medium creature reaching his arm all the way in. the switch closes the mouth, severing the arm (reflex DC15 reduces to elbow, 20 reduces to hand, 25 pulls completely out in time)
5 Partial and crappy dungeon map (To simulate it, any player is allowed to look at the DM's map for a number of seconds equal to their PC's intelligence divided by 2)
6 mosaic sacred to the god of trickery, figures attempt to steal gold (sleight of hand +10) from anyone who comes within 5'
7 valuable but obscene tapestries
8 safe room: Glowing orb, Monsters will not enter (DC20 Will save negates)
9 A tiny figurine of the goddess of fertility, carved from a rare, fist-sized pearl. For two weeks after it is picked up any woman touching the figurine will become pregnant with a half-celestial child. After the two week period has expired, the figurine will never work again
10 Rotating wall bisects a round room (rotates 45 degrees each round; if it moves you, Balance DC10 or fall prone)
11 Small altar to god of ocean depths. If any [darkness] spell is cast on the altar, the spell energy is absorbed (the effect of the spell doesn't happen) and the caster gains darkvision 60' (or their existing darkvision increases by 60') for a number of days equal to the spell's level. If any [water] spell is cast on the altar, the caster gains the amphibious quality for a number of days equal to the spell's level. If any [evil] or [lawful] spell is cast on the altar, the caster is protected by protection from good or protection from chaos (respectively) for a number of days equal to the spell level
12 a shirt of the leech (MIC) which also attracts 1d4 leech swarms (stormwrack) every time the wearer enters water
13 You feel like you're being watched
14 1d12 human eyeballs in a jar
15 North wall strong magnet, attracts all metals
16 Ring of Extra Ring (magic ring allows you to wear one more ring than normal)
17 barrel, rolling endlessly around the perimeter of the room
18 greater helm of opposite alignment (as helm of opposite alignment but functions 1d10 times before running out of charges and save DC is 17)
19 automagic broom (starts sweeping the area automatically when stood upright)
20 Staff which, when stood on end, balances indefinitely
21 Seeking dagger (Stab it into one of your own body parts and the next time you throw it it will unerringly seek the corresponding body part of the enemy. Works once for each user. Runes on it explain it fairly well in Abyssal.)
22 like a butterfly collection, but not of butterflies
23 +1 dwarven waraxe (2330 gp) which, once drawn, can't be dropped, put away, or exchanged for another item until it has scored a hit
24 A belt of growth (MIC) that makes you grow, but none of your items grow with you. Any armor and clothes worn (except magic items) are destroyed, and your weapon still does its original damage
25 brazier of endless fire that yells obscenities and insults (FOR ME TO POOP ON) at all passersby
26 Huge sphere of sandstone (which is slightly magnetic, having a magnetic core)
27 long-dead humanoid corpse contorted in agony
28 Oak tree which teleports to the surface during the day and remains in the safety of the cave at night or when danger threatens
29 statues of the PCs
30 Little bell and a hammer and a sign that says "Please do not ring this bell"; If bell is rung a huge fire elemental appears and attacks (works 1/day)
31 Insane beholder runs underground trade post with success
32 Ceiling collapses (as cave-in) when anyone steps in the middle of the room. Ceiling is restored (and will do it again) if doors are closed when nobody is inside
33 A loose stone (search DC23), when pushed, reveals a small obsidian altar to the deity of secrets. Sealed to the altar is a book of thousands of secrets, most of which are useless to the reader. However, at the end of the secrets are blank lines. If a characer writes a secret (known only to them and up to 100 other people) into the book, the secret is permanently removed from their mind and replaced with a useful secret (treat as a Commune spell). A character can use the book as many times as they wish, losing a secret and gaining a new one each time.
34 a small granite pebble which registers faintly to detect magic and similar spells but which is otherwise wholly unremarkable
35 Ring of Eyes (when worn, user sees what the ring sees)
36 A tablet of pure gold, inscribed with the core rites and beliefs of the church of the deity of the sun. Careful study of this tablet, however, will reveal subtle – but important – differences between these ancient practices and the current practices of the church
37 a black pudding sealed in a Large stone urn
38 Fountain that permanently swaps the gender of anyone who drinks from it (but only once), DC20 Fort negates
39 Room with three pedestals made from the same rock as the room: on the extreme right an orchid in a small pot; in the center a goblet containing red wine; on the left cake
40 everything spoken in this room comes out backwards
41 1'-tall bronze idol of the god of death that ages anyone who touches it by 1d10 years (fort DC15 negates)
42 succubus (with Mindsight instead of Mobility) takes human form, sets up a trap by summoning a vrock and telling it to eat her. when the PCs rescue her, she befriends them, then tries to seduce them the next night.
43 Speaking stone statue of the god of secrets. Answers questions. All lies.
44 complete set of 7 dice
45 A large signet ring of gold, worked with a unicorn crest. Any commoner who dons the ring will suddenly discover its metal heated to unbearable levels – causing one hit point of damage per round. However, anyone with noble blood (however slight) who does the same will suffer only a momentary flash of pain (with an accompanying 1 hp of damage): They will find that the unicorn crest has reshaped itself to their own heraldry, which has also been branded in miniature form upon the back of their finger. From this point forward, they can put on or remove the ring at will without any further ill effects
46 pile of severed ears
47 pile of severed hands
48 You know what? Just pick a body part. Pile of severed that body part. Skulls? Feet? Intestines? Spleens? Go nuts.

81 Things To Populate Your Dungeon

Since I've benefited from many such lists in the past, I figured I'd pay it forward and provide a list culled from my personal Big List Of Stuff. Some of these things are stolen from others, I don't remember which.

1 exposed vein of [pick a mineral];
2 room hates a certain group (such as elves or divine casters) so they need to make a Reflex save or Strength check or be forcibly ejected from the room
3 coin-operated door that opens to a donation of at least a certain value
4 a potted fern
5 Potion of Grow Facial Hair (The imbiber grows a random style of facial hair)
6 Illusion of broken bridge. Actually fine to cross.
7 metal cabinet full of bottles of every emotion, carefully labeled
8 Nice rug, it really ties the room together.
9 graffiti
10 steam emitting from vents in the ground
11 Blindfold of Sight (allows you to see like you normally would)
12 +1 Undead-Bane Outsider(evil)-Bane Heavy Mace (glows blue in the presence of evil outsiders, red in the presence of undead, purple in the presence of both)
13 something smells like
14 chasm spanned by an illusory bridge. The first ten feet of the bridge are real.
15 Approximately bed-sized altar to the deity of fertility. If carnal acts are willingly performed on the altar, everyone involved gains a permanent +1 morale bonus to all charisma-based checks. If at least 10gp worth of fine alcoholic beverages are poured on the altar, it immediately sprouts a heroes' feast.
16 gravity is altered in this room -- down is some direction other than down
17 A field where flowers grow to the size of small trees.  Watch out for the giant bees.
18 19 zombies perpetually headbutting floor.  Mostly oblivious.
19 Chute trap that empties into a higher location in the dungeon
20 portal that leaves the user behind but teleports their clothes and items to a specific location for a local greedy monster to collect at their leisure
21 +1 Dragon-Bane Throwing Axe (glows in the presence of dragons with the dragon's colour)
22 Aggressive door approaches you.  Desires to be opened.
23 horn of chickens: a large spiral goat's horn: if you blow into the horn (as a standard action) a chicken appears
24 Huge stone hand projecting from the ground. If somebody puts an item on the hand, it sinks into the ground, then reëmerges 1d6 days later with an enchantment on the item
25 Grandfather Plaque (Dragon Compendium p207) whom the local creatures revere as a god: cr7 offerings in treasure lie in a heap nearby
26 ancient Flesh To Stone'd princess on a bier
27 A locked chest containing nothing but its own key
28 hobnail. Pound into goblin's head to produce hobgoblin
29 magic circle which removes one subtype (such as [evil]) and adds the opposing subtype (such as [good])
30 Magic Coin (When targeted by the spell Detect Magic or similar effect, this coin detects as magical. That is its magical property.)
31 Amulet of anti-gravity (As soon as you put it on it (and only it) immediately falls upward off your neck)
32 Evil greataxe that hungers for souls. Whenever you kill someone with it it traps their soul and gains a +1 attack/damage bonus for 24 hours (max +5). After 24 hours, the soul is digested and you need wish/miracle/truerez to rez them.
33 A complex clockwork mechanism which close inspection reveals to be an altar to the god of machines. If you lay a construct or machine on the altar, then place at least ten pounds of metal into a receptacle, the altar begins complex apparatusing, taking 1d10 minutes to complete its work. Some of the metal is used to repair the construct, bringing it to full HP. The rest is used to upgrade or decorate the construct, with effects depending on the metal and the construct involved (e.g., cold iron grants the Cold Iron Tracery feat). The altar works 1/day
34 garment that always fits perfectly no matter who wears it but has no other magical properties
35 Ring of Friendship (if you wear one, you know there's another in the world. If you wear both, you know where both of them are)
36 special magic weapon or armor that has sockets for more than one augment crystal (Magic Item Compendium)
37 a splendiferous garment of gorgeous many-colored silk, visible only to people with INT or WIS scores higher than 16
38 It's a hose- You put one end on a magic item and the other end against another, and it swaps their effects.
39 tube that makes change between one kind of coin and another (e.g., put one platinum in, get 10 gold out)
40 Door that reverses the gravity for anybody who passes through it in either direction
41 nest of monster eggs
42 Staff of Rings (permanently sacrifice one finger and the ability to wear rings on your hands; can wear and benefit from up to 10 rings on the staff as long as you're holding it)
43 Machete "Untetherer" (+1 Undead-Bane short sword. If it hits any controlled undead, the controller must make a DC18 Will save or the undead is no longer controlled. If wielded by a character who can turn undead, the machete grants 1 extra turn attempt per day.)
44 you feel like you're being watched
45 wonderfully attractive many-colored garment turns invisible out of shame if anyone with a CHA of 14 or lower wears it
46 a Huge iron magical idol of the deity of secrets. those who are faithful to this deity can ask one question and receive a true yet cryptic answer, once in a lifetime
47 wand of identify that works fine, but any item it's used on turns permanently bright pink
48 divine scroll of Planar Ally, keyed to a specific deity -- DC20 UMD check to cast it to a different deity
49 Indestructible Ring (the ring is indestructable. it does not bestow this property on the wearer)
50 whispering plant -- an ancient king whispered an earth-shattering secret into a hole in the ground. From this hole grew a plant which has muttered the secret ever since
51 door that opens on someplace completely different in the dungeon
52 This area appears to be rather neat and tidy, almost as if somebody has been sweeping
53 Decanter of Endless Slaughter (as Decanter of Endless Water, but blood instead of water)
54 you thought the dungeon continued on here, but it's simply a clever painting on the wall
55 garment that automatically mends itself
56 Giant stone nose sniffs passersby.
57 A room full of corpses frozen in prayer position -- some have treasure, but one is a very patient wight
58 Tapestry depicts party members murdering one another horribly.
59 A plain mirror with a frame of pale ashwood. Whenever someone looks in the mirror, however, they perceive an elven face in place of their own.
60 perfectly healthy rosebush - plucked roses instantly wilt
61 unexplained sound of
62 Lair of a gynosphinx, who says "You've intruded upon my territory. But I will give you the choice of how you are to die: If the next words one of you speaks are true, I will simply maul you to death. If your words are false, I will activate the Symbol of Death hidden somewhere in this room". If they utter a sentence with no truth value (such as "you will activate the Symbol of Death"), she chortles and lets the PCs go
63 a gargantuan faintly glowing millstone, sacred to the deity of agriculture. the hole in the middle is Small; any individual who passes through the hole feels unusually vigorous and gains a +4 divine bonus on saving throws vs disease for the rest of their life
64 Bag of Holding Type III containing 1d4 Shadows for safekeeping
65 Cloak of Gray Tomorrow (1/day invisibility for up to an hour, but once you turn it off you're blind for exactly as long as you were invisible for)
66 A locked chest (DC25) containing nothing but its own key
67 Bag of Infinite Chalk
68 Small, bloodstained, ash-covered altar to the deity of anger. A burnt offering of a sapient creature (intelligence score of at least 3) grants everyone in the room the ability to rage as a level 1 barbarian 1/day (or increases their effective barbarian level by 1 for rage-related purposes if they already have the ability to rage) for a year and a day
69 Summoning circle, brimstone smell, dead wizard.
70 Bag of Infinite Muffins
71 monster, spread open and staked to wall, partially vivisected. Knows secrets.
72 Small altar to the deity of the sun, hallowed with a daylight effect. If a devoted worshipper of the deity or any creature with good dragon heritage touches the altar, they are immediately blessed with cure disease, remove curse, break enchantment, remove paralysis, neutralize poison, and lesser restoration. If a cleric of the deity casts atonement within radius of the altar, the altar pays the XP cost for the spell.
73 you have a good (or bad) feeling when you enter the room
74 Beheadad elves branded with fae rune for "boring"
75 Bag of Holding Type II containing a Noble Djinn who already gave two wishes to the bag's last owner (thus owing only one more to whomever next owns the bag)
76 a shrine to the pantheon, littered with gold and gem offerings. If the PCs present an offering, something good happens; if the PCs steal the offerings, something bad happens
77 door with a face of the deity of trickery with a knocker through their nose -- if you use the knocker, or knock with your hands, or cast Knock, or manifest Psionic Knock, or say "Knock, Knock", the door asks, "Who's there?" If you give it any knock-knock joke, even a terribly unfunny one, it lets you through. If  you fail to give it a knock-knock joke, it hits you with a ray of shimmering light (ranged touch +7 tohit, 5d6 untyped damage))
78 A sealed door which can only be unsealed by simultaneously casting Knock and manifesting Psionic Knock -- "Knock Twice To Enter" is written in Draconic and Gith on the door
79 Small altar to the deity of the sea. If seawater is poured on the altar, everyone in the room immediately feels refreshed, as if they had gotten a good night's sleep, and all movement speeds they already have are increased by 5 feet for 24 hours.
80 A small altar to the deity of nature. If at least a pound of fresh dirt is sprinkled on the altar, a small basket full of 1d100 random seeds (wild plants, bushes, and trees) appears. This works 1/day

81 A single random card from the Deck of Many Things

Identifying Potions

Alright, so there's actually more ways to identify a potion than there are to identify other things. A simple DC25 spellcraft check will let you identify a potion, no problem.

But something that I think the DMG may even mention (or possibly DMG2, it seems like the kind of thing that would be in DMG2): it lends verisimilitude and consistency to the world if you always describe the same sort of potion the same way.

So, in the same sheet as my list of items, I've begun to create a master list of potions. Every time anybody finds a potion that isn't already on the list, I'll add it to the list, and henceforth describe all of the same kind of potion the same way. From now on, potions of cure light wounds will always be "shimmering puce".

This gives an additional way to quickly identify potions: if you've seen a potion of glibness before and it was a transparent white potion, and you encounter another transparent white potion, it's a safe bet that's another potion of glibness. There are only 900 possible combinations, so the slightly hilarious situation might arise where two potions appear identical (like what happened when Sky the drow cleric labeled several flasks of acid "healing potion"), but that's likely to be pretty rare.

To this end, I created a master random potion chart (cribbing in part from the possible potion descriptions available in Angband), which one can consult whenever a new potion needs to be described. You'll need to roll two d30s (or one d30 twice):

Dice	Color	Quality
1	azure	bright
2	black	bubbling
3	blue	clotted
4	brown	cloudy
5	chartreuse	coagulated
6	clear	dark
7	copper	effervescing
8	crimson	fizzing
9	cyan	gloopy
10	gold	glowing
11	gray	hazy
12	green	icky
13	indigo	intense
14	infrared	marbled
15	magenta	metallic
16	maroon	milky
17	navy blue	misty
18	orange	oily
19	pink	pale
20	puce	pastel
21	puke green	pearlescent
22	puke yellow	pungent
23	red	sedimentated
24	silver	shimmering
25	tangerine	sickly
26	teal	smoking
27	ultraviolet	speckled
28	violet	translucent
29	white	transparent
30	yellow	viscous

(Any potion described as "coagulated", "clotted", or "sedimentated" should be shaken well before use. Any potion described as "bubbling", "fizzing", or "effervescing" should never be shaken, lest it explode.)

If you want to really push the number of possible combinations up there, you can first roll 1d4: 1 = roll color once, quality once; 2 = roll color twice, quality once; 3 = roll color once, quality twice; 4 = roll color twice, quality twice. This allows for things like a cloudy, marbled, silver-and-maroon potion. Perhaps if there are two colors, that might mean they're separated like salad dressing and you should shake well before using. Or if there are two colors and it's bubbling, maybe the bubbles are the second color. There's a lot of room for improvisation.

Unidentified Items

So D&D gives an elaborate set of procedures for identifying items -- detect magic plus a Spellcraft check, examine it for helpful clues, an epic Appraise check plus a Spellcraft check, an epic spellcraft check, casting Identify, or (inevitably the most common course of action) bringing it to the Mage's Guild to ask divination specialist apprentice wizard Beth to cast identify for 110gp. (But even these methods are unlikely to identify any cursey properties of an item, which generally come out in the normal course of play.)

But it doesn't give a lot of advice for dealing with unidentified items. I hit upon a technique that has worked pretty well for me. It involves a separate sheet in my Excel Document of Doom.

Basically, whenever players acquire a magic or otherwise special item (or occasionally a completely mundane item, just to throw off metagamers), I describe it, and then I give it a number, and I tell the players that, whenever they use the item or mention it to me, also mention the number, so I know which one it is.

The Excel sheet has four columns: the number; a description and all the properties of the item; a list of all the properties the characters have identified so far; and whoever currently possesses the item.

"I hit him with the big sword I found in that pile of dung. Item #6."
"Do you now? Excellent. As you fly into an uncontrollable rage, you discover that it wasn't just a +2 greatsword after all."

It works pretty well.

Items aren't removed from the list unless they're lost or broken or sold to an NPC. (Given to an NPC means it goes into the NPC's treasure. Sold means it goes into the master list of things that might eventually get rotated back into the world.)

Fun New Items: Goblet of True Mind Switching and Greater Helm of Opposite Alignment

Goblet of True Mind Switching
If this jeweled silver cup is filled with any liquid, and two creatures drink from it in succession, the minds of the two creatures are swapped, as with a True Mind Switch power. Neither individual loses a level. This ability functions once per week. If one of the bodies later dies, that body's current occupant dies, and the other immediately loses one level.
Moderate telepathy; ML 17th; Craft Universal Item, True Mind Switch; Price 200,000 gp.

Helm Of Opposite Alignment, Greater
As Helm of Opposite Alignment, but functions 10 times before running out of charges, and save DC is 17.
Strong transmutation; CL 12th; Craft Wondrous Item, creator must be 12th level; Price 50,000 gp; Weight 3 lb.

Questmaster's Box

This ornately-decorated 12"x7"x4" wooden box is frequently used by guildmasters to send items to random places, so that low-ranking guild members may be tested by requiring them to find the item.
The front of the box has two buttons and a dial. The buttons are labeled "Send Object" and "Retrieve Locating Stone"; the dial is labeled "Radius" and may be set to 5 feet, 50 feet, 500 feet, 1 mile, 10 miles, 100 miles, and 1000 miles.
If the box is closed and "Retrieve Locating Stone" button is pressed, the locating stone (a non-magical and otherwise uninteresting pebble) appears inside the box.
If the box is closed and "Send Object" is pressed, anything inside the box is sent to a random location within the dial-specified radius of the locating stone.
The locating stone can be sent away by the box like any object. If the locating stone is destroyed, the box keys off the last known location of the locating stone, before it was destroyed, and creates a new locating stone if "Retrieve Locating Stone" is pressed.
Moderate conjuration; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item, locate object, teleport; price 1500 gp; weight 5 lb.

Cursed Item Design

A good basic principle of cursed items is this: take a standard item, and make it do what it's supposed to do except not quite right, or make it do something ironic in addition to the intended effect. Go for things that work just fine, if you're okay with the side-effects.

Examples, just looking through the Magic Item Compendium and coming up with things off the top of my head:

• A bear helm that also transmits werebearism
• A belt of growth that makes you grow, but none of your items grow with you. Any armor and clothes worn (except the belt) are destroyed, and your weapon still does its original damage
• A blindhelm that also makes you permanently blind
• Bracers of opportunity that provoke an attack of opportunity every time you use them
• A cloak of the salamander that has a 50% chance of setting its wearer on fire (doing the listed fire damage every round until the wearer is dead or immersed in water) every time they activate it
• A hair shirt of suffering that damages the wearer (by the same amount healed) every time they use its healing ability
• A ring of negative protection that, instead of protecting you from negative energy, instead grants negative protection (i.e., vulnerability) to all forms of energy
• A shirt of the leech that also attracts 1d4 leech swarms (Stormwrack, I think) every time the wearer enters water
• A torc of heroic sacrifice that has a 25% chance of outright killing its wearer every time it's used
• A metamagic rod that applies a misspelling effect to spells instead of a normal metamagic effect

Also consider cursed coins - nobody ever thinks to detect magic the money!

Interesting Locations

One of the biggest problem in my dungeons is a lack of interesting locations. My dungeons were an endless series of bland, uninteresting rooms, filled with monsters and not much else.

So I made a concerted effort to seek out ideas for landmarks and items with which to populate my dungeons. I compiled a list. I found discussion threads listing interesting features, traps, and puzzles, added most of the things from the Alexandrian's 101 Curious Items, added one of each cursed item (and some additional cursed items), added a vial of every basic potion, added some random additional magic items, followed the Alexandrian's advice in that post and made some interesting new locations with the help of the 1st edition DMG, added most of the lists from the 3.5e DMG and [i]Dungeonscape[/i] and other sources, and eventually had a massive list. Then, for every room in the dungeon, I rolled 3 or so times on this list of landmarks ("nothing" was a prominent option, so not everything had 3 landmarks; unlike in my dynamic random encounter tables, I did decrement "nothing" by 1 each time it was selected).

Here are some ideas to get you started on your list, should you chose to do the same:

• A door that opens on someplace completely different in the dungeon
• A dung heap
• A metamagic rod that applies a misspelling effect to spells instead of a normal metamagic effect
• A monster nest (roll on wandering monster table to determine whose nest)
• A mound of rubble
• A statue (roll on wandering monster table to determine what it represents)
• A toppled statue
• A trap
• A trap that's already been triggered
• Adventurer corpse
• Bloodstains
• Bottomless chasm with a bridge across it
• Bottomless pit
• Ceiling collapses (reflex 15 or 5d6 damage + buried) when anyone steps in the middle of the room. Ceiling is restored (and will do it again) if doors are closed when nobody is inside
• Door that reverses the gravity for anybody who passes through it in either direction
• Graffiti
• Hidden treasure
• Humanoid bones
• Little bell and a hammer and a sign that says "Please do not ring this bell"; If bell is rung a huge fire elemental appears and attacks (works 1/day)
• Monster corpse
• mosaic of dozens of Olidammaras who attempt to steal gold (sleight of hand +10) from anyone who comes within 5'
• Nonhumanoid bones
• One-way passage, can travel one direction but not the other (DC25 strength check to pass 5' in the wrong direction).
• Room full of lifelike statues. Pedestal which casts Flesh to Stone (save DC15) on anyone who touches it.
• Some vertical elevation change
• Tapestry which forcibly casts Rage (will DC15, duration 5 rounds) on anyone who sees it
• Unidentifiable slime on the walls

Baggies of Holding

Because low-level characters being unable to carry all their gear is a recurring problem: here, have smaller bags of holding that even a newbie may be able to afford (depending on starting wealth).

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Baggies of Holding, sometimes called Bags of Holding Type 0 and -1, act as normal bags of holding, but are even smaller and cheaper.

Bag	Bag Weight	Contents Weight Limit	Contents Volume Limit	Market Price
Lesser Baggie of Holding	2	20	2	250
Greater Baggie of Holding	7	90	10	1000

Apparel of Severing

These plain adjustable silver loops come in a variety of sizes, appropriate for neck, wrist, upper arm, torso, ankle, upper leg, or finger.
When the loop is cinched tight around some portion of a living organism, the loop splits into two, along with whatever it's fastened around. If you cinch a bracelet of severing around your wrist, for example, your hand immediately falls off. The stumps are flat, featureless silver. Through the apparel of severing, the severed limb is still connected (through a warp in the fabric of reality) in every relevant way (veins and arteries, nerves, muscles, etc) to the body, no matter how far away the limb is taken. Spells cast on one part of the body affect the whole as if they were still attached. The wearer of the apparel of severing can still control any severed limbs as if they were still attached, though movement is limited by the form.
The apparel of severing can be removed only with application of a remove curse spell, though this does not repair the damage, it only deactivates the connection. Missing limbs must be reattached or regrown with a restore extremity power or similar (or raise dead, in the case of a severed neck). If the two halves of the apparel of severing are in close proximity to one another when remove curse is applied, they become one dormant apparel of severing. If they are separated when remove curse is applied, each half has a 50% chance of becoming a dormant apparel of severing.
A limb that has been removed with the apparel of severing and glued back on with sovereign glue functions as if it were a normal limb (and negates any spell failure chance), though the apparel still occupies a magic item slot. If two people trade limbs (by using apparel of severing to sever matching limbs and sovereign glue to attach them to each others' stumps), then both are affected by any spell which targets one of them.

Choker of Severing
Also called the choker of headlessness, this is one of the most common forms of the apparel of severing. It goes around the neck and causes the head to fall off. In addition to the usual effects of apparel of severing, a wearer of a choker of severing has a 50% chance to negate the harmful effects of a vorpal enchantment, even if his head has been secured to his neck. If your head has been severed, your body can still move at its normal move speed, provided you can see it. If you cannot, you are treated as blinded for the purpose of your body's movement.
Not all possibilities are listed here (in particular, we shall refrain from speculating on non-finger uses for the ring of severing); only those which merit additional special considerations are listed.

Bracelet of Severing
Also called a bracelet of handlessness, this item is both a blessing and a curse for mages. It imposes a 15% arcane spell failure chance, but touch spells may be delivered through the severed hand. Particularly devoted clerics have been known to give a severed hand to their allies to perform healing without getting too close to combat.

Armband of Severing
Also called an armband of armlessness, this item imposes a 30% arcane spell failure chance.

Belt of Severing
If your legs have been severed from one's torso, your legs can move at your regular move speed, provided you can see them. If you cannot, then you are treated as blinded for the purpose of your legs. You can use your arms to drag your torso about at a 5 foot move speed.

Ring of Severing
If a thumb or index finger has been severed by a ring of fingerlessness, you incur a 5% arcane spell failure chance. Severance of other fingers incurs no spell failure chance. You may deliver touch spells through a severed index finger, but no other severed fingers.

The Evil Encyclopedia of Evil

One of the several fun things about Blades of Avernum was item creation. I spent long hours, once upon a time, writing up scenarios, and I would always populate these scenarios with a multitude of custom items. A brief survey of such items:

Tin Foil Hat
Doorbane Axe
Science Pole
Gobbet of Flesh
Tasty Bugs
Meat of Malevolence
Lord Hammer's Hammer
Evil Candle of Doom
Coins of Costliness
Succubus Skirt
Pants of the Archangel
Miracle Pants/Miraculous Pants
Silk Panties
Pants of Pollution

Forgive me, I was young and BoA offered a "pants" item slot.

Anyhow, the set of items I most frequently tried to include into my scenarios as macguffins were nothing more than a list of alliterative names. Recently, when I was trying to decide what evil macguffin or plot coupon an evil priest of Quasxthe might want adventurers to steal from the monastery of Pelor (the mantra of the Open Gaming Table: options, options, options), it occurred to me to dust off this list. (The name is not actually redundant. It's less like the Evil League of Evil and more along the lines of the Monster Book of Monsters and the Invisible Book of Invisibility - it is an encyclopedia about evil which is itself evil.)

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Each individual volume of the Evil Encyclopedia of Evil is a lesser artifact. Collectively, the entire encyclopedia qualifies as a greater artifact.

Evil Encyclopedia of Evil
Centuries ago, before the Inundation, the evil archtheurge Megiddo Mehida, adventuring companion of the first Count Rogan, made decades of work out of (very carefully) studying copies of the Book of Vile Darkness, Book of Exalted Deeds, Tome of Ancient Lore, Tome of the Stilled Tongue, Book of Infinite Spells, as well as lesser documents like Tomes of Understanding, Tomes of Leadership and Influence, Tomes of Clear Thought, Manuals of Quickness of Action, Manuals of Gainful Exercise, Manuals of Bodily Health, Golem Manuals, Vacuous Grimoires, and uncountably many scrolls. He learned more words of the Dark Speech than any sane mind could possibly contain. He worked for further decades, copying, writing, and splicing pages whole to construct a single document which would combine the powers of all these books and contain all the power that words collected together could possibly contain.
Megiddo worked so long and hard that one day, his minions entered his libratory to find it deserted; the only thing remaining of their master was a multi-volume encyclopedia. No one knows the details, but it is thought that Megiddo put so much of himself into his work that his physical form ceased to exist, and everything of him was subsumed within the encyclopedia itself.
The next part of the story is uncertain, but it is known that all the volumes of the encyclopedia were somehow dispersed to all corners of the globe even before the Inundation. To this day, evil cults still seek to recombine the scattered portions of the encyclopedia and wield its immense power for themselves.
The Evil Encyclopedia of Evil has seventeen volumes. Perusing each volume has a different effect on the reader. Once a character has begun to read, he is compelled to continue in whatever manner he began until he has finished (which takes 4d6 hours) unless he makes a DC20 Will save. If a character reads the book aloud, everyone within earshot must make a DC20 Will save or stand fascinated until the recitation is complete. If the book is read silently, only the reader suffers its effects. If the book is read aloud, all listeners suffer its effects. No two readers or listeners can ever quite agree on the specific contents of the volume they read, only that it was profoundly distasteful.
A character who suffers the effects of reading or hearing a volume read aloud takes an effect as if a spell had been cast on them, specific to each volume. Treat this spell as cast by a level 20 wizard or archivist, save DC 17+spell level. The effect of this spell is permanent, and can only be removed by Remove Curse or Dispel Magic.
Volume : Effect
Album of Agony : Angry Ache (BoVD 85)
Book of Blight : Unholy Blight (SRD)
Codex of Catastrophe : Earthquake (SRD)
Compendium of Corruption : Corrosive Grasp (SpC 53)
Dictionary of Doom : Doom (SRD)
Manifesto of Malevolence : Malevolent Miasma (SpC 137)
Manuscript of Malignance : Love's Pain (BoVD 98)
Omnibus of Obscenity : Blindness/Deafness (SRD)
Opuscule of Offensiveness : Addiction (BoVD 84)
Palimpsest of Plague : Contagion (SRD)
Paper of Pestilence : Plague of Rats (CD 174)
Publication of Profanity : Desecrate (SRD)
Report of Wrath : Rage (SRD)
Text of Turpitude : Red Fester (BoVD 102)
Tome of Tyranny : Geas/Quest to kill your closest friend (SRD)
Treatise of Terror : Fear (SRD)
Volume of Villainy : Morality Undone (BoVD 99)
If all 17 volumes are brought together and read aloud, all participants suffer all 17 effects once the reading is complete. Additionally, an Apocalypse From The Sky spell centered on the readers takes effect immediately after the completion of the recitation. The books themselves take no damage from the apocalypse.
It is possible to copy a volume of the Evil Encyclopedia of Evil using mundane skills and materials. A proper copy is identical in power to the original. However, the copier takes the effect of reading the book, but they automatically fail all saves, and the effect cannot be removed except by the application of a Wish, Miracle, or spell of similar power.

Complete Deck Of Many Things

So randomness is fun, and powerful artifacts are fun. One might naturally be tempted to combine these fun things with a Deck Of Many Things. But the Deck of Many Things has something of a reputation as a campaign-killer. Plus, check it out: that "Deck" of Many Things only has 22 cards! What a ripoff!

So perhaps there's some way to simultaneously solve both problems. Consider: expand the deck to a full 54 cards.

We make sure the deck is roughly evenly balanced between bad things and good things, and between major effects and minor effects. We can leave in the terribly bad or terribly good things from the original deck, because they're each less than half as likely as they used to be, and we'll balance them out with piddling minor effects like alterations to hair colour.

All effects are permanent, reversible only by divine intervention or the Fates card. Rules are otherwise the same as for the standard Deck Of Many Things.

Drawn Card - In-Game Name - Effect
Ace of Spades - Fates - Stop some bad thing from happening to you, even retroactively.
2 of Spades - Donjon - Lose all gear and magic effects, immediately imprisoned
3 of Spades - Balance - Change alignment or lose a level
4 of Spades - Patient Zero - Afflicted with random contagion, save DC35
5 of Spades - Metamorphosis - Change to a random new Type without otherwise changing race
6 of Spades - Frog - Polymorphed to a random race of the same type
7 of Spades - Dwarf - Decrease one size category
8 of Spades - Crone - Age 1d20 years
9 of Spades - Tongue - Your languages known is reduced to a single language, randomly chosen (not necessarily a language you knew).
10 of Spades - Coin - -4 penalty to the skill in which you have the most ranks
Jack of Spades - Rogue - An NPC friend or ally is forever hostile
Queen of Spades - Euryale - -1 to all saving throws
King of Spades - Ruin - All nonmagical possessions are permanently lost
Ace of Clubs - Talons - All magical possessions are permanently lost
2 of Clubs - Idiot - 1d4+1 permanent Int drain
3 of Clubs - Burdened Man - 1d4+1 permanent Str drain
4 of Clubs - Bleeding Man - 1d4+1 permanent Con drain
5 of Clubs - Cripple - 1d4+1 permanent Dex drain
6 of Clubs - Nymph - 1d4+1 permanent Wis drain
7 of Clubs - Leper - 1d4+1 permanent Cha drain
8 of Clubs - Acid - -1 natural armor
9 of Clubs - Blind Man - -1 to all attack rolls
10 of Clubs - Hermaphrodite - Gender inverted
Jack of Clubs - Skull - An unturnable dread wraith attacks, must be defeated alone
Queen of Clubs - Flames - Earn the enmity of a random outsider
King of Clubs - Void - Body functions, but soul is trapped elsewhere
Black Joker - Fool - Lose 10,000xp and draw again
Ace of Hearts - God-King - Random race considers you their leader
2 of Hearts - Wizard - 1d4+1 permanent Int gain
3 of Hearts - Titan - 1d4+1 permanent Str gain
4 of Hearts - Chicken Soup - 1d4+1 permanent Con gain
5 of Hearts - Ballerina - 1d4+1 permanent Dex gain
6 of Hearts - Sage - 1d4+1 permanent Wis gain
7 of Hearts - Demagogue - 1d4+1 permanent Cha gain
8 of Hearts - Armor - +1 natural armor
9 of Hearts - Guide - +1 to all attack rolls
10 of Hearts - Heart - Fall in love with the next person you see
Jack of Hearts - Knight - Gain the services of a 4th-level fighter
Queen of Hearts - Moon - Granted 1d4 wishes
King of Hearts - Throne - Gain a title, a small keep, and +6 to all diplomacy checks
Ace of Diamonds - Vizier - Know the answer to your next dilemma
2 of Diamonds - Gem - Gain 25 jewelries worth 2000gp each or 50 gems worth 1000gp each
3 of Diamonds - Envy - Eyes randomly change color
4 of Diamonds - Sea - Hair randomly changes color
5 of Diamonds - Shoes - Gain a bonus feat
6 of Diamonds - Nose - Gain breath attack with rod of wonder effect, usable 1/day
7 of Diamonds - Giant - Increase one size category
8 of Diamonds - Maiden - Youthen 1d20 years
9 of Diamonds - Gift - Gain random major magic item
10 of Diamonds - Comet - If you defeat the next enemy you meet alone, you gain a level
Jack of Diamonds - Star - +4 to skill in which you have the most ranks
Queen of Diamonds - Key - Gain a minor magic weapon
King of Diamonds - Sun - Gain a medium wondrous item and 50,000xp
Red Joker - Jester - Gain 10,000xp or 2 more draws