Friday, March 18, 2011

Magic Items in Flying Sworsmen RPG

So I've had Flying Swordsmen RPG on the mind again lately.  Something in my subconscious is dreading going through my screenplay to tighten up the descriptions and dialogue one more time, I think.  I'm looking for other things to keep my mind occupied.

Anyway, what I considered is that magic basically breaks down into two main groups in a D&D type game: consumables and permanents.  D&D divides things by function and form more than by use, but since I won't be including massive random tables or long lists of items, I'll focus more on the big division.

Consumables will be broken into two sub-groups.  True consumables (things that must be ingested to activate) will include the standard potions/elixirs, but also magical fruits (lots of these in Chinese mythology), wines, and powders and pills based on traditional Oriental medicine.

Second are use activated one-shot items, often in some written form.  Scrolls, sutras, clay tablets, joss sticks, incense, drawings/paintings, oils.  When used, they become non-magical or disappear.

The permanent group again gets two sub-groups.  Weapons/Armor will be pretty much what we know and love from D&D.  Basic magic arms get a +# to hit/damage or AC (up to +3).  Some special ones get extra abilities x times per day.  No intelligent weapons.  This part would have the only random chart in the section, so a GM could randomly roll how powerful one of these items is on a d12:
1-4: +1
5-7: +1, ability
8-10: +2
11: +2, ability
12: +3

And then there's everything else.  These could be magical jewelry/gems, household/craftsman/student/artist tools, music instruments, clothing, containers, furniture, animal parts, game pieces, vehicles, flags/banners, etc.  These items may work all the time, once per Turn (encounter powers to use the new-fangled term), or x times per day, but they're never exhausted.

What's been left out?  Well, I'm basically not including wands/staves/rods as they primarily exist in D&D.  If a GM were to create them, they'd follow the 'miscellaneous' magic item group's rules, and instead of having expendable charges, would be x per day or once per Turn items. 

I'll follow the original Dragon Fist's lead in just giving an overview of the types listed above, some examples and suggestions for creating new ones, and done.

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