Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Aishar 02-18-05, 04:21 AM	I need to find a magical item that can be given to a Rogue character of 4th level, and I want it be very special for him, as he is given it by a tutor of his of very high level, I want it be a memorial moment for him. I want the item be very powerful, but not overbalancing. I DO NOT want items that use statistics (no Leather Armor +1's and magical weapons), nor items that give bonuses to skills, nor items that simply allow minor spellcasting, nor items from the DMG, 'cause I have it, and I haven't found anything I liked in there. Sorry for being so unfriendly, but I really want something special and more set to roleplaying and less to hack-and-slash and skill-boosting. Thanks, Aishar.
srkingdavy 02-18-05, 04:46 AM	uh... well since you've pretty much ruled out every possibility there is, I guess you can go with armbands of happy fuzzy thoughts. They don't do anything in game, but you can tell your player that his character feels "mostly pretty okay."
Aishar 02-18-05, 04:50 AM	Funny...
srkingdavy 02-18-05, 05:15 AM	in all seriousness, throw us a frickin' bone here. what do you want?
Vapthorne 02-18-05, 05:25 AM	I have to agree, there isn't many items without any statistical benefit. Unless it's a medal or certificate, most gift from mentor to student is a valueable tool of the trade. A knight would most likely give is the fighter student a sword. But, if you want a simple roleplaying relic, here's a few: Go with the master's first set of tools (just tools, masterwork or not), or a lucky coin. Maybe a favorite book, one that reminded the master of the important life lesson that he wanted to pass on. It could be a book that inspired him, or one he written himself. You should look for this that focuses on the character and person. Or, if you want a riddle type gift. Give him a magic ring; a meaningless one, but the mentor will say other wise to inspire him. One of those 'the power was in you' type of deals.
Fuzzus 02-18-05, 06:01 AM	Go with the master's first set of tools (just tools, masterwork or not), or a lucky coin. I like Vapthorne's lucky coin idea. How about the coin allowing you to reroll one roll per session (rather than day). That's not terribly overpowering, but useful enough that it could become quite precious to him. And if it gets to be a problem, well....we all know how coins are. After your campaign is over, have one of the surviving adventurers find it in the couch years later. :D
MarkB 02-18-05, 06:36 AM	Are there any roguey organisations in your campaign-world, and is this tutor in good standing with any of them? If so, he could give the rogue a badge or token that shows his status as a favoured pupil of the tutor, which would be a status symbol within the culture of these organisations. It wouldn't provide any specific game-mechanical benefits, but would mean that within certain organisations, he will be respected or befriended by default when otherwise he would have to prove himself. To increase the value of this, maybe the tutor only has one such token that he can ever give out - it's a sort of heirloom, an acknowledgement of the recipient as being fit to bear the legaacy of his reputation.
Abulafia 02-18-05, 08:40 AM	You seem to be on a collision course with a very disappointed player. Let me tell you a story: I ran cross country my junior and senior years of high school. At the letter ceremony my senior year, the coach gave medals to all of the seniors except me. Because he wanted my award to be "special," instead of a medal, I received a photocopy of the short story "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner," complete with the incoherent marginalia he scribbled in the original book. That was 12 years ago, and I still resent not getting a medal like everyone else. Somewhere at my parents' house, I still have my high school letterman jacket, and the medals and awards I got in football and wrestling, but that story got tossed as soon as I finished reading it that night. Now, which do you think your player will appreciate more: a "very special" item that doesn't do anything useful, or a plain ol' Ring of Blinking?
Greldinard 02-18-05, 08:47 AM	If you want to give the player an item he will remember for years you have to give him something useful and cool. I once played a necromancer and got a staff of healing from my master which was a wooden staff with the skull of a cleric on top of it and his spinal column twisted around it. I always kept it because it looked so cool.
sollmn 02-18-05, 09:16 AM	Give him an awakened pet rat or something.
tompulsar 02-18-05, 09:24 AM	How bout a facial scar :devil:
Molitor 02-18-05, 09:27 AM	A scar. HAHAHAHA
Vharuck 02-18-05, 10:21 AM	You should check out the Magic and Spells board. They create more magic items and have the equations memorized over there.
Cthulhu1138 02-18-05, 11:31 AM	How's about this: (insert name of teacher here)'s Lucky Lockpicks This is a normal set of MW lockpicks which, in addition to all the usual picks, contains a single pick made of some strange, almost clear subsance. This pick allows the rogue to pick an arcane lock separately from the door's lock as though it were equal to that of the door. If either check is unsuccessful, the door remains locked. Ex. A door has a lock of DC25. It is also arcane locked, making for a total DC of 35. If using the Lucky Lockpicks, the rogue may choose to make 2 open lock checks at DC25, one for the physical lock and one to open the Arcane Lock. This means that the overall DC for an arcane locked door is reduced by 10, but the character has to succeed at 2 separate checks to open the door. I think this is an interesting benefit with some tradeoffs that fits the initial setup for the items Aishar was looking for. (IE, no spellcasting, no stat or skill boosts, not from DMG)
clarkvalentine 02-18-05, 11:39 AM	I like the coin idea. Maybe it's an old silver piece the tutor has had for years. It's been his lucky coin, given to him by his tutor. Now he passes it on. What good is it? Well, if your player is a decent roleplayer he'll appreciate it for its own merits, but mechanically you could allow it to be a 1/week "Free 20" on any saving throw. As long as it's on his person, once per week he can forgo a saving throw and simply declare that he rolled a 20 (plus bonuses). Note the advantage here - it's a guaranteed good result, but it doesn't allow him to do anything he couldn't otherwise do on his own, so it's not ridiculously powerful. A downside, if he's carrying it, he's compelled to fidget and fiddle with it and play with it, giving him a -1 to hide checks. Edit: Another idea. Make it the Coin of Fate. Here's the catch - you have to find a physical prop, some coin (preferably large, and somewhat "special" - an exotic-looking foreign coin would work.) When your rogue player is asked to make a save, he can instead elect to flip his Coin. Reduce it to 50/50 - let Fate decide. Decide which one of you will do the flipping (I can see symbolic merits either way) and have the player call it in the air. Flip the prop coin with much ceremony. If he wins, he suffers no ill effects, and even comes out ahead somehow (you as GM determine how). If he loses, not only does he get slammed by the full effect of what he was saving against, but something REALLY BAD happens to him. You, as the GM, determine that too. This requires some creativity on your part and trust on th eplayer's part, but it could be really nifty. It also doesn't require your player to do anything - it's completely his own initiative, and if he's not feeling lucky he doesn't have to do it.
Mrdeathclaw 02-18-05, 11:49 AM	I got one even better :dancin: A Mushroom Stamp :rofl:
DrMorganes 02-18-05, 11:58 AM	If you're going for a gift that has no impact on game mechanics, your only real options are items of roleplaying significance. MarkB's suggestion of an item (a brooch or pin, in my opinion) which signifies membership in a guild is a great option - particularly if there are any roguely Prestige Classes in which your player has expressed an interest. The item essentially becomes a key to next step in the character's career and provides lots of plot hooks for the DM. Another idea is a book, but one that contains within its binding and pages a coded map or the key to another series of codes which lead to some great treasure. (I'm stealing rather blatantly from the recent movie National Treasure here.) "Treasure", of course, can take many, many forms. At its most obvious, the book leads to an actual treasure trove. The mentor knows this, but for whatever reason (he's pursued by other, more sinister treasure hunters perhaps) he gives the book to his most favored student. Perhaps the motive is far from altruistic, and the mentor seeks to follow the party to the treasure, allowing them to do the hard work of deciphering the clues and overcoming traps and guardians, only to claim it for himself in the end. Master/student betrayals are a time-honored plot twist, especially where rogues are involved!
Board_Rider 02-18-05, 12:03 PM	Simply give him something that grants a Feat of your choice that is rather roguely...Players love free feats. Kinda lame...but there are some good ideas here.
kliate 02-18-05, 12:44 PM	Give him a magic key that can unlock any door once per day. Once the door is closed, it's treated as being stuck.
WCH 02-18-05, 01:19 PM	Give him... a key for the front door of, and detailed blueprints to, the mansion of the richest man in the kingdom. "His guards are quite talented, so I never worked up the nerve, but I think you can handle it now. Make me proud." Of course, that'd be more something he'd enjoy right then and forget about a week later... "There is one million gold buried {X} paces due west from the {Y}" would work, but would unbalance things.
screwtape 02-18-05, 01:31 PM	First of all, “overbalanced” means “too balanced”. Why you would want something to be less balanced than it could be seems crazy to me, but what the hell, it’s your game. If that is what you really mean, finding a very powerful item that completely throws the balance out of whack should be easy. If instead you mean “overpowered”, and I think you do, then your request is at least a little self contradictory. So, you want something for a 4th level thief. It has to be very powerful but not *too* powerful and has nothing to do with statistics, skills or spells. That effectively rules out everything. May I suggest one of the following. They are all very powerful and have varying degrees of “overbalance”: a single wish, a plaque of achievement, a memorial fountain with a statue in the town square, a 1:1 scale tattoo of his mentor, a twirl with a prostitute, an enema, a lifetime supply of pickled herring, a slave to set off traps. I considered suggesting lycanthropy, but it seemed too statisticy. I have to agree with srkingdavey here.
mythandra 02-18-05, 02:00 PM	You seem to be on a collision course with a very disappointed player. Let me tell you a story: I ran cross country my junior and senior years of high school. At the letter ceremony my senior year, the coach gave medals to all of the seniors except me. Because he wanted my award to be "special," instead of a medal, I received a photocopy of the short story "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner," complete with the incoherent marginalia he scribbled in the original book. That was 12 years ago, and I still resent not getting a medal like everyone else. Somewhere at my parents' house, I still have my high school letterman jacket, and the medals and awards I got in football and wrestling, but that story got tossed as soon as I finished reading it that night. Now, which do you think your player will appreciate more: a "very special" item that doesn't do anything useful, or a plain ol' Ring of Blinking? How true. The point here should be taken to heart: children tend not to appreciate antiques with deep sentimental value as much as plastic toys with lots of flashing lights and sounds.
Lincoln Hills 02-18-05, 07:22 PM	...let's see here, no +1s and no skill or stat boosts... I'd go with the cloak of arachidae, rope of climbing, goggles of night, Heward's handy haversack or boots of levitation. All of 'em provide useful non-combat features and all of 'em are handy for rogues.
Callista 02-18-05, 07:48 PM	Filcher's Friend, and a set of finger blades... :)
tiercel 02-18-05, 08:45 PM	If you want a pure roleplaying item, then yes -- I would say give him a special token that identifies him as a Chosen One, one of the elite, something that will open doors for him in the figurative sense -- he will automatically be treated with respect by established thieves' guilds that have any knowledge or respect for his mentor. If you want to give him something to remember his mentor by, that will be useful in gaming terms without being a plain "+x" item that will get written down, forgotten about, and eventually replaced with a "+X" item with no regard for its sentimental value, give him something a little unusual. Say: Vest of the Second Chance Whenever the wearer's movement would be restricted (grappled, held, webbed, etc), he may move normally regardless of such restrictions for 1 round, just as if under the effect of a freedom of movement spell. This effect occurs automatically as soon as it applies, once per day. Not hideously overpowered (slightly better than a 1st level cleric's Travel domain power), but useful even at higher levels, not something that will be readily replaced (it's arguably *more* valuable at higher levels). Whenever it saves your rogue's bacon, he can breathe a word of thanks to his benefactor, watching out for him even in absentia ;)
Scarab 02-19-05, 12:22 AM	I've done something like this before in my game... I gave the PC a rock... No seriously, a rock... a plain river bed rock. At first the PC was mad (on the inside) but still took the gift with grace and love, and all that jazz. And in the end he threw it away. Sometime later, the NPC visited the PC again and asked to see the honored spot he kept it. The PC freaked out and in the end told his mentor what he had done. Later the NPC told the PC the importance to the rock.... it had saved his life... He was having a dual when he was a teenager (inexperienced and hot headed) against an old well know swordmaster... the duel started and then the NPC knew he was out classed (youth is no match for experience) , and right before the swordmaster could remove the NPC's head from his shoulders, the swordmaster slipped on a moss covered rock and impaled himself on the NPC's sword. If it wasn't for that rock the NPC wouldn't be alive... So in the long run think of it as a test to see if the PC really respects the older mentor NPC... or think of it as the NPC giving the PC his life... -Scarab "Look at me... I'm a regular Steven Spielberg" :bored: