RPGaDay2024 Day 15 - Great Character Gear

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Magic items are one of the key mechanical devices for distinguishing characters. Even if you exclude the idea of min-maxing, magic items can give your character new opportunities, make them better at what they already do, fill in gaps to achieving your dream build, or address issues with your character.

In today's essay, I'm going to provide a few favorites, along with my all time favorite "special" item, in the "About the Art" section.

Night Vision Goggles

One of the best items in the game, if you are playing a human or other fantasy race that doesn't have night vision, is goggles that let you see in the dark. A lot of gaming occurs at night, underground or it ruins that don't have quality modern illumination. In those cases, you have to rely on a torch, lantern or other external light source.

Because of this one human in a party of people with darkvision can completely change the dynamic of the group, because "we're working our way through the forest, past the guards" is less effective when one of them is holding a blazing light source that can be seen for half a mile. I'd go further, and say that in practice, I can't imagine taking a human thief (even if I've played two of them) without the ability to see in the dark.

Night vision goggles address this "theme" gap, allowing you to act normally in darkness, not blow the stealth of the whole group and as a bonus, not have to use one of your two hands to hold your light source.

Handy Haversack

I've played a lot of different characters in 3.x and 5e over the last several years, and one of the constants is that with the exception of my Loxodon (elephant) paladin, I use Strength as a dump stat. The normal point buy system pretty much requires that one of your stats be an 8, and I really enjoy charismatic characters, which really leaves strength as the best option for a weakness.

And I am 100% in favor of playing to your weakness, letting it be a drag on your character, and something that you and the rest of the party have to work around. It's part of who you are supposed to be, so include it in the role play and mechanical aspects.

That said, D&D also penalizes your movement speed for having weight issues, which is a HUGE issue in combat situations. 3.x is especially bad, by reducing your speed from 30' to 20'. I've seen/been melee characters who didn't get to do anything in a combat, because by the time they got somewhere, their would-be foe was already defeated, and they had to move off to the next one.

Because I'm happy to play to my weaknesses, I work very hard to maintain a "light" load, which means I have to sacrifice carrying things I'd like to have. They end up on a mule, or carried by someone else.

My GM in my 5e game has a "quick release backpack" that lets you drop it as a bonus or item interaction, so you can get back to full speed for combat. This is a great option, and I appreciate that workaround.

But I also have characters who, for RP purposes, like to have things with them. My previous long term character was a disguise specialist, and he maintained a host of special outfits--vampire guard armor, noble armor, peasant rags, etc. At 5-10 pounds per costume, this got heavy, fast. My GM introduced me to the Handy Haversack, which let me keep those things with me. Since I was only carrying roleplay-focused items, it didn't feel like a cheat. I still maintained a light load. I just got to not worry about the mechanics of dropping items.

It came up recently that my new character had the opportunity to buy an exquisitely crafted crafted board game he'd just learned, for 10gp or something. It's bulky and heavy, and it's a struggle to figure out what to do with it. While realistically, that might be how it would actually play out, it doesn't fit the vibe of a heroic fantasy game. For that, again, I'd love to have a Handy Haversack, rather than having to do a "let's just not think about it too hard" workaround.

Boots of Speed

I have to mention this, because of the same movement gap listed above. While it's nice to move 40' when everybody else is moving 30', it's much more important that someone move 30' instead of 20. Having watched melee dwarves struggle to be relevant. I'd never take a dwarf unless I could get my speed up to parity with everybody else. This isn't about "slowing down the party during a day of travel"; that's just narrative. It's about being able to participate in the game during the combat experiences, which are an important third of a game.

Gloves of Thieving

This is a "improve my character's strengths" item, and not for general use. One of my 5e characters took the courtier background, and then a series of feats and abilities that lets him play the crowd, figure out secrets, and maybe extract a few unneeded items from people who aren't paying close attention.

The character took the telepathic feat, so he could read surface thoughts. And he took the Observant feat, so that he could read lips and improve his passive investigation and perception This is for a Strahd game, so my CG arcane trickster is WAY out of his depth, and none of this comes into play, directly. These choices are 100% character concept.

That said, one of the items I took gave me a +5 to lockpicking and sleight of hand. When everything stacks up, this gives me an absurd +14 on lockpicking and a +19 or so on slight of hand. I haven't made a single slight of hand check in the campaign, but I'm so happy to have the item anyway, because it's *such* a great fit for the character concept, and makes me absurdly good at what I'm good at.

About the Art

Today's art is a still from the greatest "Give your character additional abilities" scene in movie history, from the 1970's film, Wizards. This a huge spoiler for the film so if you ever plan to watch it, stop reading.

The movie is about the conflict between the "natural" wizard, Avatar, and his brother, a industrial/mechanical wizard named "Blackwolf." The key scene comes at the very end, as Blackwolf and his industrial machine is ready to wipe out all that is left of the natural world.

In a final conflict, Blackwolf is monologuing and gloating about his victory over his obviously inferior brother. When Avatar finally gets a word in, he says "Let me show you a trick mom taught me, when you weren't around", pulls out a gun and shoots Blackwolf, ending the conflict.

One could potentially even call this a one-shot item. Sorry, not sorry.

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