Annoying Magic Items

Tonight, while digging for other things, I came across a sheet of paper with a list of mostly flawed magic items I wrote out in one of those silly DM moments. Apologies if this is an inadvertent reblog.

Con-man Sword I10 E12, no other powers but talking, pretends it can Detect Slopes, Traps, Gold, Gems.

Potion of Levitation without vertical hold, you rise and rise until it runs out.

Magic Sword which drains XPs you would normally gain upon killing the monster.

Telepathy Crown which warns the opposition.

Horn of Plenty yielding Spam.

Sword of Chaos- Powers change with each being slain, shapeshifts. Needs a powers table or just roll on the magic swords table each time.

Lightning Whip - hit self on fumbles.

Addictive Potions - probably of Healing

Lightning Wand with a short. 1/6 chance of self zapping.

Coin-op magic sword - pay to play. +1 bonus for a GP for 1D6 rounds of combat, or make it eat a platinum or gem and give it a higher bonus.

Defective Portable Hole, eats stuff on 1/6, or 1/3 if really fritzing out.

Strength Potion - Adrenalin-like with power rush and weakening crash after duration runs out

Flying carpet with a penchant for acrobatics.

Animated shoes

Dragon gecko - changes when it hiccups.

Items which convert H.P. to spell levels.

Casting amulets give a bonus to casting rolls. - huh, a normal one slipped in...

Hangman's Rope - The rope is thick and coarse, its rough fibers make it painful to grip. It has a noose at one end, caked in brown, flaking blood.  It has a pompous magic activation phrase ", It is thy day to die." If no name is mentioned in activation,  it randomizes among all beings within 30'. Its reach is 30'. It uncoils quickly and moves fast, striking in a single round, hitting on 8+ on D20. Dex save on D30 to dodge. It jerks the victim from the ground and hangs him for 2D6 damage in the first round and 1D6 each subsequent round, AC 2 and 20 HP that will heal at the next new moon. All attacks or other action rolls by the hanging victim are at -2. If found enshrined, there will be an archaic inscription near it that tells a story of a hanging that includes the magic phrase: "Spake the Charnel Lord: ABROM! It is thy day to die. And the Hangman's Rope did lift the man to kick and jerk his life away. Eyes burst from their sockets, black tongue bit half through, he was dropped to earth and given to its cold embrace."

and... a couple of house rules ideas:

Impediment by weapons - can carry/wear 3 hands worth okay, -1 Dex and To Hit for each further. Alternative to detailed encumbrance, would need more when packing a lot of loot/provisions.
Daggers count 1/2 hand
Handaxes 1/2 hand
Shortbow 1 hand
Longbow 2 hands
Light crossbow 1 hand
Heavy crossbow 2 hands
Most shields 1 hand.
Large, heavy shields 2 hands.
Other weapons 1 or 2 hands as needed to wield them

A casting variant for semi-Vancian magic, where most spells are memorized to be reasonably reliable and safe, but others can be cast in a crunch. This was with an INT or WIS roll to cast. Pretty close to what was in my previously blogged 80s OD&D campaign house rules.

Casting unmemorized spells
-2/level of spell on casting roll
Caster takes 1 hit point of damage taken per level of spell attempted
Wipes memory of equivalent in spell levels.

Casting beyond listed number of spells for that level (Crashing for power):
Casting Roll modified as above for unmemorized spell.
Caster takes 1 hit point/ level for the attempt if casting roll failed.
Caster takes 1d6 damage per spell level if successful.

Preparation -
Gain up to 1D6 bonus on chance, rolled secretly by ref at 1 point per full turn of preparation with expenditure of 1 GP worth of magical supplies/turn/level of spell