Twilight of Empires

It just wouldn't be a high fantasy world without a wondrous collection of magical toys for people to play with and be menaced by.

The bulk of simple enchanted weapons simply have had what they do boosted to some degree: a sword is sharper, a mace hits harder, a bow sends arrows swifter, and so forth. More complicated enchantments are usually crafted for specific individuals, and augment that person's personal Power, in whatever form it may take.

• Ars, the Witch's Spear: Va'retha's Elven hunting spear. It is an excellent conduit for spiritual magics, reducing the energy required for such techniques, and bears two spirit houses. Speaking the spear's name extends and contracts the handle from 18“ to six feet.
• Baryon's Capture Rings: Chiyome's fighting rings. Two Aerobee-like 8” rings of black metal, and a finger ring of the same material carved to resemble a chain. Wearing the third, one can command the other two to expand to three feet across and use them as melee weapons or throw them. Damage STR+2d6, +1 OCV HTH, +2 vs Range Mod Penalties. If thrown over a target, they can constrict with the thrower's strength, otherwise they roll back to their feet. Baryon was the slave who brought them to Fort Sinister.
• Doppel: Rasgrid's enchanted axe. Durability-enhanced steel, which can create a phantasmal second axe floating in the vicinity of the first. At the cost of one end per phase, either provides two-shot autofire, or one hex of reach, depending on grip position.
• Piercing Gaze: Nariko's Slumbering Era vintage Elven heavy shortbow. Not a self aware weapon, but it has sufficient Purpose that it can determine whether a wielder is worthy and hide itself from those who are not. The primary enchantment of this bow are to allow the wielder to perceive the Unseen, and strike at them. Other abilities likely will reveal themselves over time.
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Weapons of Renown, take things to an entirely new level. Excalibur, Glamdring, the Elfsword of Shanarra: epic weapons of legend gain power over time as more and more people believe in their legend. They also tend to have a Purpose, which can lead to the unfortunate wielder being dragged off into undesired peril.

Like weapons, simple enchantments on armor tend to make it better at what it does normally: tougher, lighter, provide proper torso coverage despite being a chainmail bikini, or reduced maintenance. Better gear has more interesting abilities, frequently based on what was crafted into it. And of course, Armor of Renown gets into epic levels of strangeness.

The gods, the mortals, and everything in between have been making widgets to make lives easier, more complicated, or abruptly shorter since the Divine Age. There is no telling how many are still running around loose, and of course, people keep making more. We'll try to keep track of the common ones here.

• Accessories: specifically, widgets one semi-permanently attaches to a piece of gear to add some sort of bonus enchantment. In many cases, it is simpler to add a Crest of Blindness resistance to your headgear rather than have an enchanter decipher how the heml was crafted in the first place, and upgrade. Plus, you can swap it to a new piece of gear when you upgrade!
• Ammunition, Branded: Arrows, bolts, sling stones, and even trebuchet ammunition can be Branded by a mere journeyman mage to bear an alternative special effect. These can include all ten (twelve?) elements, and an untold variety of other possibilities. Khuvor of Thassalon's Paint branded arrows can inflict acute embarrassment, even if they don't kill you.
• Arrows of Exsanguination: technically not magical. Constructed using a stirge's beak for the arrow head. Superior flesh, hide, and leather armor penetration; wounds caused by these arrows take excessive time to close on their own.

• Bracelet of Flotation: An extremely basic adaptation of the enchanter's arts to enhance a particular aspect of an item. In this case, since wood floats, anyone wearing this bracelet will too. Popular with Dwarves, heavy-armor users, and rich slobs with heavy coin purses.
• Bracer of Protection: Unlike the AD&D counterpart, these are normally used singly, and do not generate additional bonuses if you wear two (or four, it you're an Ogrilion). A metal arm guard with a modification of the “enhanced coverage” enchantment, allowing it to function as an equipped shield. Effectiveness of course varies.

• Cookies: Zelda Zecour's number one seller from Harvestmath through Sproutmoon. One of her apple-ginger-alfwort cookies provides +3 Resistance to catching disease for a single day.

• Demon Bag, “N”: A magical satchel that has been enchanted to be able to contain a specific number of items, regardless of size, as long as they can be passed through the opening of the bag. Once inside, the objects have no apparent mass. These are not a simple enchantment, and if you find one for cheap, be warned it likely leaks… in BOTH directions.

• Earring, Mindsafe: An enchanted ear decoration (always made of gold), That provides basic (5 points) Mental Defense. In the empires, and most good sized kingdoms, you'll likely find them on anyone ranked senior merchant or higher. Also,they aren't all that effective against a serious Mind mage.
• Elemental Mouth*: An enchanted ring in a variety of sizes that encompasses a direct, permanent, and one-way connection to one of the elemental planes. Probably a third of the fountains in the Principalities employ Water Mouths.

• Glimmerlamp: At some point in the last generation, some enterprising enchanter came up with a modification on the standard hexlight: a lamp that burned at a fraction the brightness of the standard spell, for many times the duration. Evidently it was an easy enchantment, and he flooded the market, went bankrupt, and faded into obscurity. A Glimmerlamp is a lantern the size of an apple, that shines with the strength of a standby LED on your average piece of modern electronics, apparenly for the next century or so. Strong enough that people with Nightvision or Duskvision don't walk into furniture at night.

• Hexlight, common: How do apprentice illusion mages pay for their educations? They cast two weeks (16 days) of Continual Light on 1“ glass balls for noble houses and well to do merchants. Over, and over again.
• Hexlight, Permanent: Found in important high-born dwellings, imperial government facilities, and salvaged ones in some of the more popular buildings in Newhaven. A two foot carved stone torch, normally attached to the wall, with a 2” quartz sphere hovering over the top end. Depending on which way you last turned the sphere, can generate either zero, one, or fifty candlepower. They weigh about forty pounds, and only function as a unit, if the base stays perfectly upright.
• Hexlight, Relic: Identical to modern permanent hexlights, except the base is the size of a candlestick holder (~ five pounds), the sphere is jade, and the light an eerie greenish-white.

• Manacles of the Dark Champion: enchanted by the mage-lords of Tyh to endow a trusted servant with increased size, power, and obedience. Cursed, dark magic, and explode when broken.
• Manastone, Lesser: A semi-precious or better stone enchanted to store energy. Lesser manastones are portable enough to be set in jewelry, and function as a reusable Elixir potion, restoring some portion of the user's END on demand. The user can restore the power to the stone at a rate equivalent to their REC per minute as a deliberate meditative activity, or the stone can be left in a high-energy location.
• Manastone, Greater: A not casually portable enchanted stone (head sized or larger), that stores energy and can be drawn upon on demand to fuel large-scale ritual magics. Greater manastones slowly absorb energy out of the environment, or can be fed energy by others, much the same way one does a Lesser stone.
• Mirror, Two-sided: A silver hand mirror. One side shows your normal reflection. The other side shows the back of your head.

• Oils: General term for any fluid that is poured onto a piece of equipment to enable a bonus effect. Not limited to weapons and ammunition! Mixing two different types together usually negates the effects of both.
  • Flame: Any alchemical fluid that sets your weapon, shield, or other piece of equipment aflame for significant damage WITHOUT DAMAGING IT. Adding four to eight dice normally, it should be noted that untreated salamander slime only fulfills the first requirement.
  • Flammable: Any mundane flammable liquid thick enough to coat a weapon. Adding one to three dice of fire damage for a minute or two, the bonus is merely annoying to armored opponents. The primary use is to set other things on fire.
  • Inertia: A strangely thick fluid that adds dice of damage to any melee weapon at the cost of increasing the strength minimum by two per die. While cumulative, it takes a full turn to apply a single treatment, thus explaining the value of higher-grade oils. Coating your boots generally negates most “foe falls” Change Environment effects.
  • Piercing: A substance that temporarily (minutes of duration) adds the Penetrating advantage to pointed tools. Highly volatile, once you open the bottle, you better use all of it!
  • Quickness: This fluid physically lightens your weapon, granting +1 to any combat maneuver you use with it, at the cost of one die of damage. Very popular with Divine Champions, as their primary goal is to connect with their Jewel-Branded effect any way they can.
  • Refrigerant: Like flame, but cold. Also excellent for coating the inside of your picnic basket, and any other use you might find for liquid nitrogen.
  • Sharpness: A substance that temporarily (minutes of duration) adds the Armour Piercing advantage to edged tools. Highly volatile, once you open the bottle, you better use all of it!
  • Slipperiness: Depending on how you apply it, this super-slick fluid adds +2 to Escape Artist, Lockpicking, tripping, or physical shield DCV.
• Oineronomicon: A thick leather bound tome with a rune carved cover and a mystical sigil sealing the locking flap. Touching the book allows you to know its name. Trying to force it open puts you to sleep for three days.

• Potions. Short term or one-use magical effects in liquid form. Curative potions can either be imbibed, or poured directly on the afflicted area.
  • Elixir: Bread and butter potion for any alchemist near a mage school: the basic version restores 2d6 character points of Endurance.
  • Healing: A competent medical alchemist or the right kind of holy person can prepare a potion That works under the Simplified Healing option. In Newhaven, Zelda Zecour can craft 2d6 potions on a viably commercial volume.
  • Heroism: Add 1 to OCV and DCV for one minute at the basic level. Master alchemists usually focus on duration more than effect.
  • Might: Basic draughts add 2d6 to Strength, and start fading after a minute.
  • Poisana: Universal antidote. Generally, one vial such as Zelda offers (4d6 Dispel, Cumulative) will not cure you of a normal poison, but a few doses will: hope you survive that long! More potent toxins of course require stronger potions.
  • Viruna: Universal antibiotic/antiviral. Functions much the same way as Poisana.

• Ring, Featherfall: The classics are classic because they work. A shell or maple-wood ring enchanted with 5“ of down only gliding.
• Ring, Firestarting: Produces a small jet of flame over a range of a foot or two. Considered a silly trinket until one finds oneself with no other way to start a fire in an emergency!
• Ring, Protection From Big-Folk: An almost ubiquitous trinket among Halvelings who find themselves traveling or living with the other races. +3 DCV vs. Grabs.
• Ring, Spouse's: An enchanted ring with a removable stone or seal. Placing a drop of blood inside the ring allows you to know the general direction of the donor. It is possible to clean it out and reapply the blood, and can be disabled by higher-rank Cleaning spells. Check the inside before assuming your partner is deceased!
• Ring of [Animal]'s Blessing: One of the more popular professional grade enchanted items produced in all the major empires. Grant the wearer one or more useful traits of the associated animal. Basic ones aren't ruinously expensive, and pawn and curio shops frequently have some of the better grades, assuming the local thieves guild hasn't bought them up!
  • Badger: +2 to smell/taste, +1 to all digging skills, +2 to Ego rolls involving stubbornness.
  • Cat: Nightvision, improved balance, PRE Defense.
  • Condor: Bottom tier member of the Raptor series of enchantments. Telescopic vision, non-targeting IR Vision, full gliding, and a penchant for carrion if you use it too long continuously.
  • Eagle: Top of the Raptor series. Superior telescopic vision, combat range modifiers, and gliding, plus limited full flight.
  • Falcon: Third in the Raptor series. Better telescopic vision, combat range modifiers, and gliding.
  • Hawk: Most common of the Raptor series. Telescopic vision, combat range modifiers, and down-only gliding. Occasional urges to stomp on small moving things near your feet.
  • Wolf: Enhanced smell, increased running and endurance. Howling at the moons optional.
• Rod: A sturdy length of wood roughly scaled as a short walking stick (4' for a human, for instance). Rods are capable of bearing greater enchantments than wands, and are more maneuverable than staves.
  • Imperial Magus: The I.M. style is enchanted with varying levels of accuracy, improved range mods, and incremental end cost reduction, depending on which branch of the service and rank they were intended for. Cavalry Rods also add +2 vs. combat-while-riding penalty levels.

• Selkie Ring: Provides the basic racial abilities of a member of the Selkie subspecies of Goblin: +2” swimming, 15 minute breath holding, cold resistance, pressure resistance. Given the simplicity of the enchantment, and the inordinate usefulness of this item, one is surprised they aren't more common.
• Spring of the Myst: One of an unknown number of permanent fixed artifacts left behind by the gods in the Divine Era. Dunking an object into one will imbue that object with power. What power, however, is dependent on time, date, weather, phases of the White AND Red moons, and possibly position of the Shining moon. Most high end Imperial universities will have a book on the subject. Somewhere. (Spring of the Myst may only be used once per month, some restrictions may apply.)
• Staves: Long (character height or longer) rods created as a fairly general tool for the wielder.
  • Fighting: the Uruk Mandarinate is the home of a lot of frankly scary staff fighting techniques, leading to the creation of many equally scary enchanted weapons. The exact nature of the weapon's enchantment is usually a reflection of whoever it was crafted for. (There are only two known staves of absolutely arbitrary length, one in the Emperor's armory, the other purportedly in the dragon Bulgyar's hoard. The rest have a maximum extension.)
  • Wizard: the classic trope. Aside form the benefits offered under Rods, a well crafted Wizard Staff will directly amplify the power of the caster's magic.
  • Traveller: frequently created through the Acclaim method rather than by overt enchantment. “My grandpappy walked from one end of the Old Trade Road to the other for forty years, selling his wares, with only his trusty walking stick and a pack!” Usually comes with increased REC, a host of Environmental Movement bonuses, and Survival levels.

• Tidal Statue: A popular item for mariners, Lake Men, and canal operators. Generally a goblin to Human sized statue that can generate the effect of the Raise Tide and Lower Tide spells, centered on the hex in front of it. The idea is that you mount the statue in the stern of your craft, and it will either slide down the 3' high, 5 hex across swell, or back into the 3' deep depression, continuously. Most require mage talent to operate, and some lack the Lower Tide function.

• Wands: Short rods (8-18 inches) of some rigid material generally enchanted for one specific task. Unlike their AD&D counterparts, they rarely have limited charges.
  • Dueling: Popular with Elven nobility of all levels, and frequently found in any other culture where formal dueling is a form of recreation (except Yamato). A roughly 15“ blunt rod with a grip and bell guard at one end. Anyone with the least amount of talent can use one to produce a single bolt of a specific type of magical energy at the expense of their own personal endurance, equivalent to the power of a medium bow (4d6). Someone versed in a school of magic that uses that same element can use the wand to amplify the power of their basic attack spell by two dice. As a rule, most Light wands only cause blinding damage, though rare Jewel Light wands cause Holy damage (and are worth their weight in mithril!) Dueling wands also provide the normal defensive benefits of a Main-Gauche.
  • Levitation: Fundamentally a Dueling Wand of Telekinesis (10 STR). Lacks the bell guard, does not inflict direct damage, but does add directly to the wielder's own telekinetic strength, if applicable.
  • Prestidigitation: Creates a Change Environment centered on the caster with marginal Telekinesis, a pip of damage(flame), and penalties to Deduction and Perception.
  • Spellslinger: Popular in the larger coastal cities of the Asterian Empire. Provides bonuses to Fast Draw and Initiative.