4AD: Magical Equipment

I've had rather little time lately, but I've picked up Four Against Darkness to play when on the train or in a useless Teams meeting. For those who haven't heard about it, it's a solo hack & slash dungeon crawler with procedurally generated dungeons and simple rules which requires only a single d6 (except for a few d66 rolls). It has lots of killing monsters and getting loot, but not really any role-playing unless you invent some yourself.

I especially like the dungeon generator. You have d66 small map pieces in the book and every time you arrive at the edge of an unexplored corridor, you roll for the next piece. It results in a much more interesting map than the many abstract dungeon generators seem to provide.

Anyway, I've already started house-ruling and tinkering with it. :)

From Dark Souls.

 

When you find a magic weapon as per the base rules, roll on the table below for a special effect in addition to the normal +1 Attack.

d6	Magic Weapon Enchantments
1	Flaming: Counts as fire damage where advantageous, serves as a lantern when wielded.
2	Crystal: Can be shattered for a devastating blow - roll 3d6 and keep the highest result.
3	Vorpal (if slashing): Die explodes on ⚅. Thunder (if crushing): On ⚅, the enemies are stunned by a thunderous blow and miss their next turn.
4	Slaying: Against specific monster type (d6), grants extra +1 Attack. Animals Aberrations Greenskins* Undead Demons Bosses
5	Runic: Imbued with a single spell that any class can use; roll randomly on the spell table. Recharges each adventure.
6	Cursed: Gives the same base bonus as other magic weapons, but also carries a curse. Once picked up (and if you're rolling on this table, you've picked it up), it must be always wielded and cannot be exchanged for another weapon. Bless spell allows the character to exchange the weapon, but doesn't remove the curse.

 
Unlike weapons, magic shields do not get a bonus to Defence, but they do get a special effect.

d6	Magic Shield Enchantments
1	Protection: Simply gives extra +1 Defence.
2	Parrying: When you roll ⚅ on a Defence roll, make a free bonus attack against the attacker.
3	Reflection: Once per adventure, reflect a spell or spell-like ability back at the caster.
4	Sentinel: Shatter to completely negate one attack of any kind, even against an ally.
5	Warning: The user can act before the monsters when the party is surprised.
6	Warding: Offers immunity to one damage type or effect (d6). Fire Poison and disease Paralysis and sleep Level drain Instant death effects Shaping**

*) Goblins, orcs, ogres, trolls.
**) Any magic that affects the physical form. For example polymorph, petrification, mutations, etc.

QHW, Day 28: Spells

Upon their graduation, each member of the Mage Guild receives an implement which is used to focus and empower their spells beyond the common hedge magery. The focusing stone in this staff (it's usually a staff, though wands or rings and other jewelry are also possible) depends on the mage's chosen field of study, as certain types of stones resonate better with certain types of magic.

d20 Focusing Stones

1. Glintstone: illusions
2. Gemstone: emotions
3. Warpstone: alteration
4. Sunstone: paladin-style evil-slaying magic
5. Moonstone: glamour
6. Bloodstone: biomancy
7. Gravestone: necromancy
8. Keystone: portals
9. Brimstone: fire
10. Hailstone: ice and frost
11. Nullstone: hex-breaking
12. Lodestone: gravity
13. Felstone: hexes and curses
14. Voidshard: extradimensional magic
15. Soulshard: spirit magic
16. Dragonshard: draconic magic
17. Godshard: miracles
18. Dreamshard: dream manipulation
19. Fossil: time manipulation
20. Raw crystal: pure magic, crude but powerful

QHW, Day 23: Curses

Resurrection gauntlet
You may put it on and then touch a corpse, bringing it back to life. The resurrected creature is exactly as they were before their untimely demise - completely healed, all abilities and memories and levels untouched - except they no longer have hp of their own. They are linked to yours and any damage taken by the resurrectee is subtracted from your hp. Effects that don't affect hp are not transferred, except for death effects.

Once you have resurrected a creature with the gauntlet, it behaves as a cursed object and can only be doffed with the help of a remove curse spell. If you take it off though, the resurrected creature instantly drops dead.

QHW, Day 12: Alchemy

Trap seals are enchanted with the power to trigger the effects of other objects when certain conditions are met. For example, they could be attached to a magic item to invoke its magic, or to a bottle to release its contents, or to pretty much any mechanism. They are made of jale beeswax, elementally aligned additives and runic calligraphy.

• Trap seal of fire can be attuned to temperature or lighting levels, to the touch of flame or lightning, or to the presence of body heat.
• Trap seal of air can be fine tuned to vibrations or sounds, triggering on nearby movement, or the door creaking, or a specific voice, or a given password.
• Trap seal of water can be attuned to humidity levels, or the presence of certain substances (blood, poison, alcohol) nearby.
• Trap seal of earth can be harmonized with different metals or minerals, triggering when iron alloys or gold or precious gemstones get close to it.
• Trap seal of mana can detect metaphysical energies and may trigger when a source of magic, or any life force, or individualized brain patterns are nearby.

Famously, the dwarves of Kharaz-arad use trap seals to operate the many drawbridges of their mountainhome. Visitors receive permit-tokens forged from a secret type of brass, allowing them access to communal areas. Many other areas are restricted by having dwarvish blood, or by passwords.

QHW, Day 11: Graves

Grave-touched peppers can be found where the soil has soaked through with death; on battlefields and in graveyards, around abattoirs and gallows. The plant is sickly greyish green, but the peppers themselves ripen into a bold blood-red colour. To grow properly spicy, the peppers must be watered with fresh blood.

• Ghost-touched peppers grow through the Veil, being just as present in Reality as on the Other Side.
• Eating a grave-touched pepper will let you physically affect ghosts - but not see them.
• An oil prepared from the peppers is used to treat weapons and armour when expecting a spectral foe.
• A ghost who eats a ghost-touched pepper can similarly affect the real world.
• Some ghosts keep a garden of the peppers for this very reason. If you find an abandoned place full of well-tended ghost-touched peppers, a spectral gardener is likely watching you.
• Ghost-touched chilli is ground from the peppers and used to keep hostile ghosts at bay. A handful thrown in the air will likely blind and stagger them.
• Or it can be used to cook a delicious meal that brings about restful languor and thoughts about the ephemerality of life. Such a meal also helps ghosts to manifest in Reality.

Sex on the Pyre:

• 2 thin slices of fresh ghost-touched pepper
• 1 ounce of elfin sunshine
• 1/2 ounce of freshly squeezed goodberry juice
• 1/2 ounce of treant syrup
• 1/2 ounce of unholy water, frozen
• 1 spoonfull of black xarthan sugar
• 1 lime wedge

 

QHW, Day 1: Weapons

All weapons are magic.

Anything used as a weapon is imbued with magic by that very act. The more violence and death a weapon brings, the more powerful it grows. Once it grows powerful enough, it develops a consciousness.

It is said that a weapon that was only ever wielded in a righteous fight will gain a righteous soul, one that was used by a sellsword will gain a greedy, merciless soul, but one that squandered an innocent life in vain will have a ravenous, diabolical soul.

Do not ever fight unarmed, for then you are the weapon. True, angels might be a proof that one can keep fighting the good fight, but there are so many more monsters and demons who were once all men.

Poisons, Toxins, Venoms

Someone was bitten by a creepy crawly thing, or inhaled colourful fumes, or their meal tasted funny. The following tables can be used to roll up a new, exciting poison on the fly, or just use the flavour and make the mechanical effects whatever you like.

d4 The Toxin Must Be...

1. ingested,
2. inhaled,
3. injected,
4. absorbed through the skin.

d20 Relatively Normal Poisons

1. A pang of pain followed by nasty rash: One-off extra damage
2. Rapidly worsening breathing difficulties: Asphyxiation damage over time
3. Anticoagulant: Haemorrhaging damage over time
4. Vomiting or diarrhoea: Cramping damage over time
5. Weakness and fatigue: Strength damage
6. Convulsions: Dexterity damage
7. Tachycardia threatening a heart attack: Constitution damage
8. Confusion or hallucinations: Intelligence damage
9. Clouding of senses: Wisdom damage
10. Blisters: Charisma damage
11. Drowsiness and sleep
12. Fainting, unconsciousness and coma: Sleep resistance doesn't help
13. Inflammation and fever: Penalty to further poison and disease Saves
14. Blurred vision followed by blindness
15. Increased anxiety, increased salivation: Penalty to fear Saves
16. Irritability, irrationality and sudden bouts of rage
17. Splitting headache: Staggered or stunned, cannot act properly
18. Cyanosis: Progressive paralysis
19. Shivering and chills: No natural healing
20. Bleeding from orifices followed by massive organ failure: Instant death

 

So, what are we breathing today?
Poison Mist by Louise Goalby

 
As a bonus, here are some magical poisons with weirder effects.

d20 Exotic Poisons

1. Youth concentrate: Like an elixir of youth, but stronger. De-ages the victim 2d100 years, likely killing them.
2. Polyjuice: There will be no evidence left if your poisoned needle polymorphs the duke into an ant. Polyjuice only has temporary effects, but repeated exposure may result in mutations or the roiling polymorph syndrome. Strangely also occurs in nature; the recently-discovered fawlish serpent injects its victims with polyjuice venom, transforming them into a fattened, easily swallowed prey animal.
3. Lethe water: Strong amnestic. High doses leave the victim effectively brain-dead, all of their memories completely erased.
4. Water of Unn: While its classification as a poison is often times disputed (especially by the regular users), water of Unn is commonly employed as such due to its effects not dissimilar to the slow spell. In low dosages, it is however also used for its calming effects, numbing the mind as much as it slows the body. The aforementioned regular users seek out the water not only as a sedative and relaxant, but because its slowing effect is said to slow ageing as well. How is doubled lifespan worth it when you only have half the capacity to make use of it is anybody's guess.
5. Water of Nyanneechuan: A single cursed fountain is the only known source of this poison, which induces a painful sex change in the victim. Famously used by the Fajuna women who wish to escape their lot in life and become warriors. Infamously used by lord Godrick the Gracious to secure both his wife, prince(ss) Jean, and a male heir, before he succumbed to royal bane.
6. Royal bane: This slow-acting poison causes nightmares, paranoia and bouts of madness. Sadly, it accumulates in the body and does not metabolize nor react to healing magic, making an advanced stage of poisoning incurable. When caught early, it can be staved off or kept latent by regular consumption of pearls dissolved in vinegar.
7. Warp gas: Naturally occurring around unbound portals and rift, or created through alchemy, this gas causes unpredictable, uncontrolled spatial displacement. This teleportation leads in nearly all cases to telefragging or falls from great heights. Scarily, the gas is colourless and odourless, plus the teleportation is often delayed in cases of mild inhalation.
8. Octiron poisoning: Fine octiron powder is sometimes employed to assassinate magic-users. Poisoning disrupts the ability to channel magic, with prolonged exposure leading to permanent lowering or loss of spellcasting abilities.
9. Reifmilch: Causes shivering and paleness, then rapid body heat loss (cold damage over time). Can be slowed by proximity to fire, but unless treated it invariably leads to the victim being frozen solid. Used in trace amounts to treat fever and common fire.
10. Breath of catoblephas: Inhalation causes rapid petrification. Also works through skin contact, albeit at a slower, more painful rate.
11. Midas' venom: Extremely rare venom gathered from the scarce and deadly giant gold spiders, it has an effect similar to the breath of catoblephas, except the flesh is turned into gold. Midas' venom works only on living flesh, no matter the efforts of many an alchemist.
12. Xorian lymph: Causes massive swelling in both size and mass. With each failed Save, the victim grows a size category larger, until they max out the size table and die in an explosion of gore and meat. This poison is thankfully relatively rare outside of Xor.
13. Chronolisk venom: A misnomer, as this "venom" is spat by the chronolisk and effective via skin contact. The victim is frozen in time, with the duration of the effect dependant on dosage. Small doses are sometimes used medicinally. In contrast to its rarity, chronolisk venom is rather well-known due to the infamous failed mass poisoning in Tam Ruat, where an extremist group of void monks attempted to contaminate the water sources of the city with the venom.
14. Colourless ooze: A kidnapper's favourite, this poison induces full-body paralysis and invisibility in the victim.
15. Zombie dust: Causes feeble-mindedness, obedience and extreme suggestibility. While a dried up, powdered zombie brain is the main ingredient of this poison, it requires a complex alchemical process to catalyse and prepare.
16. Mum-mist: A single lungful of mum-mist is enough to steal the gift of speech from a person for a full day. Some druidic orders induct their novices by making them meditate for days or weeks in caverns with naturally occurring mum-mist.
17. Ectoplasmic residuum: More coarsely known in the graverobbers' business as grandfather's jizz and a prime reason why one should wear silver-lined gloves when looting an old tomb; ectoplasmic residuum semi-permanently shunts the victim to the ethereal plane. The unprepared victim will then likely be killed by the various hungry ghosts, lesser daemons, rabid psychopomps or other threats on the Other Side. Can be quite easily treated with a neutralize poison spell, but that unfortunately doesn't work cross-plane.
18. Runic honey: An insidious and expensive poison, it distorts and prevents all restorative magicks cast upon the victim. Not only does this reverse the effects of cure wounds, but spells like neutralize poison or restoration will have no effect at all.
19. Erototoxin: A whole class of toxins used by the cupid warriors to poison their arrows and blades. The cupids are widely feared for dismantling the whole societal structure of their enemies through clever usage of their poisons. Different kinds of erototoxin cause overwhelming euphoria and bliss, sudden orgasm, obsessive sexual desire (even against one's preferences, morals and taboos), or emotional imprinting (similarly to a love potion).
20. Colloidal silver, brine water and holy water: While mostly safe for humans, these three "poisons" are classic tools when fighting demons, werebeasts or the undead.

Even More Magical Trinkets

Here is part 1 and part 2.
 

d50 Trinkets

1. A jar of d10 leeches. Each leech can suck out either a curse or a memorized spell from a person. If the leech is then squashed, the magic is unleashed on the nearest target.
2. A bottle of liquid soul. Pour the potion on something to grant it sentience. If you first add a piece of a brain into the potion, the newly sentient object will inherit memories from it. You could also drink it, I guess.
3. A potion of purification. Violently removes all impurities from a liquid it's mixed into (salt from sea water, cells from blood).
4. A potion of impregnation. Any surface treated with the potion repels water strongly enough that droplets will bounce right off. Might have really weird effects when drunk by a female due to the magical principle of paronomasia.
5. A vial of pure concentrated mana. Has an equal chance of supercharging any magic, or making it dangerously unstable and unpredictable.
6. A vial of magic cement. Contains a cubic meter of liquid cement which will harden within 10 minutes even underwater.
7. A dragon's breath in a bottle.
   
8. A barnacle armour. Grows into your skin, cannot be removed. Starts as leather, but if well fed and cared for, will eventually mature into plate-equivalent. Can infect other people, but their barnacle armour starts very small, with no bonus at all.
9. An armour of ice. As plate, but light enough to float on water. Melts into lesser armour types if damaged by fire, but will slowly regrow when provided water.
10. A ring of returning. Anything you throw, drop, or even just put down will return to your hands.
11. A ring of lock-fingering. You can use your finger as a lockpick.
12. A wand of necrotic healing. Heals a creature to full hp, but also permanently decreases their maximum hp by 1*. When empowered, heals to full +d6 hp.
13. A wand of magnetism. A target metallic item becomes strongly magnetic, one at a time. When empowered, can either be used on multiple items at once, or affect even non-metallic items.
14. A scroll of advertisement. Every time it's read, it contains the directions to the nearest shop. May burn up if used too often.
15. A retroactive love letter. Write the name of your target on it and then your signature. Suddenly, you will have had an affair.
16. A cloak of fresh air. You seem to be always standing in a slight breeze. Smog, smoke and gases will part around you.
17. A craven cloak. Will scream loudly when danger is imminent - you are about to be ambushed, you would step on a trap, etc. It will be constantly shrieking in combat, making communication and concentration quite hard.
18. A dress that, when taken off, teleports you into the nearest wardrobe.
19. A tattooing needle that requires no ink. Can also be used to transfer tattoos from one person to another.
20. A quill that erases any writing it touches. If the writing was magically binding, the quill burns up but negates the binding.
21. A serpent staff. Can transform into a snake and back at will. The snake will translate from serpent-speech if you treat it well.
22. A chaos shard spear. Roll for a random damage type every time you brandish it.
23. A dagger of soul trapping. When you slay a creature with this dagger, their soul will be trapped in the gem on the pommel. The soul will be pushed out and released when another creature is killed and a new soul trapped.
24. A razor of quick-shaving. Anything with hair or fur can be shaved completely in a single round.
25. A soot-stained sword of low-grade iron. Grants immunity to fire, extra +d6 fire damage and sets you aflame for as long as you wield it. Probably found in the hands of a blazing, naked madman, his armour and possessions burned off long ago.
26. The sword of Babel. Anyone struck by the sword has one of their languages exchanged for a random one.
27. A humongous sword, twice as long as you are tall. Deals d20 damage, except if anyone realizes it should be impossible to carry, let alone swing around that easily, they will only take 1 damage.
28. A rusty firelock pistol. Doesn't shoot bullets - when the trigger is pulled, both the wielder and the target gain a random curse.
29. A short scabbard decorated with blue and white semiprecious stones. When filled with water, it freezes in the form of a dagger. This icy dagger acts as if made of steel, but will melt quickly once removed from the scabbard.
30. A shield bearing the depiction of a bulwark. Can project an illusory wall in the direction it is held; the wall moves with the shield.
    
31. A timecube. Shatter it to split the timeline. You have exactly 3 rounds to do as you please. When the time runs out or you die, everything will revert to the moment you shattered the timecube. Only you retain the alternate memories.
    
32. A pouch of dust of worthlessness. Anything sprinkled with the dust will seem unimportant on casual glance.
33. A pouch of fireflies. They live in the pouch and will obey its owner.
34. A spiked black leather choker that projects a bubble of force around your head (and your head only). Permeable to clean air, but nigh impenetrable otherwise.
35. A cigar box that once belonged to a serial killer. While you smoke, you can read the thoughts of all nearby potential victims that would fit the late killer's modus operandi (d4): 1. young women, 2. rich men, 3. children, 4. prostitutes.
36. A pack of cigarettes. The smoke will depict the most cherished or most regretted memory of the smoker.
    
37. A painting of yourself. It's bulky and fragile, but will absorb the first injury/madness/curse you suffer, if it happens in its presence.
38. A stone of spirit splitting. When touched, instantly removes all foreign spirits from a creature's body (demons, curses, diseases, spells), but they are incarnated into a physical body.
39. A circle of fine chain made of blessed silver and engraved with runes of warding. Like a quick-to-deploy circle of protection.
40. A phoenix down, said to bring back the dead. It cannot do that, but it will instantly wake up anyone asleep, unconscious or even in a coma if their nose is tickled.
    
41. A shadowlander's lantern that sheds darkness instead of light. The quality of the darkness depends on the combustible - cheap oil will dim nearby lights and lengthen shadows while a strong, pricey alcohol can make darkness so deep not even darkvision will penetrate it. Weird oils might shed weird dark.
42. A troll tallow candle. It regenerates quickly if not completely burnt. If left alone for too long, will regrow the whole troll.
43. A mummified severed hand holding a candle. Its light is only visible to those who are touching it.
44. A black candle that releases impossible amounts of acrid, dense, oily smog when lit.
45. A cursed lantern that constantly releases colourless, odourless, explosive gas when not lit. When you try to light it...
46. A magic lamp with an imprisoned fire elemental. It provides unlimited light and warmth, but it's quite irritable and will try to warn your enemies if given half a chance.
47. A runed candle pierced with a rusty needle. Anyone touched by its light is blinded.
48. A coral candlestick that can be set alight only underwater, but then provides very bright light and makes all water as far as its light can reach crystal clear.
49. A bright pink candle. When lit, releases a lightly pink gas that acts as an aphrodisiac and a weak narcotic.
50. A beautiful tea set. If you perform an hour-long tea ceremony, drinking the tea will grant you a boon based on the type of tea used. Black tea removes all exhaustion and sleepiness, leaving you refreshed as if you had just woken up. White tea must be shared with another being - as long as you sit and sip the tea, you can understand each other. Green tea cleanses the body, granting a bonus Save against one poison or disease afflicting you. Yellow tea stops your ageing for this day and protects against unnatural ageing effects. Herbal tea makes you drift off to sleep and enter the dream of the trees, where many druids and Folk can be met. Fruit tea is just preternaturally delicious. Using a cheap, poor-quality tea instead results in a curse.

*) Assuming Into the Odd amounts of hp. Increase for more hp-bloated systems.

Čert

While watching the many folk and fairy tales that are on the TV during the Christmas holidays, I realized that Czech take on Hell and its inhabitants is perhaps a bit unusual. In pretty much every story, the devils (or rather čerti, singular čert) and Hell are displayed in a positive light.

Čerti are not malicious, true evil is always found among humans. Čerti might be lazy, bureaucratic and ineffectual, but in the end they are there to punish and take away the sinners, thus leaving Earth a bit better off than before. Interestingly, angels, Heaven and God appear very rarely, and justice is generally served because čerti and good humans cooperate against evil humans. The mills of God Hell grind slowly but surely.
 

A čert coming out of the oven to get you!

 
Three main types of čerti appear in the folk tales:

The trickster čert is charming and the most diabolic, tempting people to sell their soul for money, power or magic. However, he likes and oftentimes ends up helping good people who defy him, even borrowing them magic items or coming to their aid. He will employ his human friends to get at sinners who protect themselves from Hell with holy ground or other magic. He will always have a contract for one's soul ready, to be signed in blood.

The punch-clock čert is ugly and dirty, but scary only because it's his job. He will try to frighten you, but if that fails, he will probably offer you a roast and a beer, then complain about how boring the job is, or hellish wages, or some such. He's very likely to be fooled and trapped by some evil human, who than uses stolen hellish magic to commit actually evil deeds. In that case, the čert will need to be saved by the human protagonist.

The clueless, young čert is either the protagonist, or his (soon to be) friend. He's really not good at this devilish stuff, and one of his blunders will probably strand him on Earth until he can recover a lost magic item / find a fugitive sinner / otherwise make up for his mistakes. He also tends to fall in love, which generally ends up in a wedding (becoming human optional).

When Lucifer, the King of Hell himself, appears, he ranges from being a wise mentor to the protagonist, to a strict and grumpy, but still fair and just ruler. He always comes off as nearly a saint in comparison to the corrupt, lazy, spiteful and outright cruel nobles on Earth. He will grant a wish (or three wishes) as compensation to innocents dragged to Hell by mistake (caused by the young čert above).
 

Lucifer in attendance on human wedding.

Every čert

• is male. Female čertice are very rare.
• has horns. These grow with age and power, so a young and weak čert will have tiny horns, while an older čert will have much bigger goat's or ram's horns.
• may have a hoof instead of one foot, or a tail. This is not always the case, though, so let's say 1-in-6 chance of each.
• spits brimstone, which can start fires.
• is immortal and immune to fire.
• is repelled or even burned by anything holy.
• cannot harm an innocent person.

d6 Hellish Powers

1. Human disguise: Loose the horns, hoof and tail, plus change from any demonic garb into a commoner's clothes (weak čert), huntsman or soldier uniform (trickster čert), or a noble attire (powerful čert). Also removes the soot and smell of brimstone.
2. Animal form: Transform into a black (d6) dog/cat/goat/horse/crow/rooster.
3. Hell portal: Teleport between Hell and Earth with a cloud of smoke and brimstone. Most čerti can only do this when they drag a soul to Hell, but Lucifer and his trusted lieutenants can pop anywhere at will.
4. Pyrokinesis: The more powerful the čert, the hotter the flames.
   
5. Telekinesis: Only the most powerful čerti.
   
6. Wish: Can grant wealth or build palaces to humans who sign away their soul in blood. Only Lucifer can grant wishes without getting a soul in return.
   

d8 Gifts from Hell

1. Cloak of invisibility: As any other cloak of invisibility, but doesn't work when wet and burns up when touched by holy water.
2. Tablecloth of wine and dine: When you unfold it, conjures a magnificent feast.
3. Sack of soldiers: Open to summon a squad of damned soldiers that will be loyal to whomever holds the sack. Treat as normal HD 1 soldiers, except they have Morale 12 (if they run, they go back to Hell; if they die, they go back to Hell) and disappear in flames when killed.
4. Bag of many items: Take out any item you can think of and that could fit inside of the bag. Each item taken is a sin.
5. Coat of gold: A dirty, threadbare overcoat. When you reach into a pocket, you always find a gold coin. However, no amount of grooming can make you presentable (-4 Charisma, -4 to Reaction rolls) and the coat disappears if you ever take it off.
6. Seven league boots
7. Scarf of fire resistance
8. Posh needle: Knits the most beautiful attire you can imagine out of thin air, but the clothes become ash when touched by sunlight.

 
All of these were given to the protagonist of one fairy tale or another.
 

Sinners in cages and boiling in cauldrons.

 
Here are several films that should give you a taste of čerti and their Hell:

• Anděl páně (Angel of the Lord): A čert tempts his angel buddy to fall, then does his best to get him back to Heaven. Available on Netflix.
• Čertí brko (The Magic Quill): Quite anvilicious, but has very nice depiction of bureaucratic Hell. Available on Netflix.
• Nejlepší přítel (Best Friend): This one actually inspired the post. Available here, but without subtitles.
• Princezna ze mlejna (Princess from the Mill): Your friendly neighbourhood čert. Available on Netflix.
• S čerty nejsou žerty (Give the Devil His Due): Basically a cult classic around here. Available here, but without subtitles.
• Z pekla štěstí (Devil's Own Luck): How being friendly with Hell can help you slay a dragon. Available here, but without subtitles.

So maybe the next time your players run into devils, these might be well-meaning collectors of evil souls, or good-natured spooks just doing their job.

More Magical Trinkets

Continued from here.

 

 

d50 Trinkets

1. A seed that can be pressed into the stump of a lost limb to regrow a functional replacement limb of twigs and branches. When pressed into a neck stump, will give the corpse the head of an obedient, dim-witted servant.
2. A pouch of builder-seeds. When planted, will grow into any desired (if wooden and a bit leafy) furniture or fixture in only a few minutes. Normally can only create wooden walls, but if loose rocks are available, the branches will pick them up as they grow and fashion a wood-mortared stone wall.
3. A wineskin of bitter wine. When spilled over a surface, causes an overgrowth of grass, moss, flowers, bushes and vines. When poured on seeds or existing plants, they rapidly grow to massive size.
4. An endless box of matchsticks.
5. A small vial of Midas' venom. It transforms living flesh, and only living flesh, to gold.
   
6. A soup stone. Boil it with nothing but water and get a delicious soup. Unlimited use, new flavour every day.
7. A ship in a bottle. When the bottle is broken, the ship rapidly regains its normal dimensions.
8. A statue that will move behind your back when nobody is paying attention. It does nothing else, just stand there right behind you. No burden or bondage seems to stop it.
9. A splendid ring. If someone voluntarily accepts this ring from you as a gift, they count as charmed by you for as long as they own the ring.
10. A pouch that always contains something completely useless in the current situation. The items you take out always go quickly missing.
11. A violin that turns you invisible as long as you play it.
12. A jar of endless lava. It drips veeeeery sloooooowly when spilt.
13. A compass that always points to the most dangerous nearby place.
14. A small blue key. Any door can be opened with it, but will only lead to a tiny extradimensional broom closet.
15. Several sheets of blank paper. When the blood of a dying creature touches the paper, its soul is trapped within and the paper folds into an animate origami of that creature.
16. A rug that acts as quicksand. The creatures or items lost in it are never seen again.
17. A small wooden box. As long as you stand on it and continue speaking without a pause, nobody will try to interrupt you.
18. A threadbare dress jacket. As long as you wear it, people will loudly and angrily argue against anything you say, no matter their actual opinions.
19. A phylactery. How did the lich manage to loose it, anyway? Are you sure you should be carrying it around?
20. A very snobbish skeleton butler. Once you acquire it, there's no way to get rid of it. It will serve you tea, right now.
21. A blade of glass. Deals d6+10 damage, but shatters on the first hit.
22. A blade of grass. When you hold it and concentrate, all nearby grass, leaves, petals and needles become razor-sharp.
23. A misenchanted arrow. When fired, will seek out its target and circumvent all obstacles, then barely miss, turn around and miss again, ad nauseam.
24. A cursed arrow that teleport-swaps the archer and the intended target when shot.
25. Fairy dust. Anyone sprinkled with it will firmly believe they can fly.
26. Pixie dust. Once you have it, there will always be more in your pockets. Can be thrown on someone to cause them minor discomfort, like itching or sneezing.
27. A small earthenware jar. You can put any number of things of any size inside without making it heavier, but the only way to get things out is to shatter the jar, spilling all the contents.
28. A breed-dagger. Any wound it causes spills stinging insects, not blood.
29. A dagger that drinks in any poisonous/venomous/caustic substance when dipped/stabbed into something. Will drip with the substance until it drinks a new one.
30. A tankard that prevents any liquid you drink from it from having an effect on you.
31. A small doll in a brightly coloured dress. You possess and animate it when you sleep.
32. A canary in a cage. It dies at the lightest hint of a poison, disease, harmful gas or other such danger, but comes back to life when you next rest.
33. Two small chests. Whenever you lock them, their contents swap.
34. A small pouch of holy spice. Flavour a meal with it to absolve it of all related sins (non-kosher, cannibalistic, etc.). Angels often use it to enjoy a hearty soul-based meal.
    
35. Powdered unicorn horn. Snorting a line makes you metaphysically pure, innocent and virginal for all magical purposes. Lasts until you do something even tiny bit bad (like attacking or swearing).
36. Dried demigod testicles. Swallowing one grants invulnerability to damage and a feeling of total invincibility until you fall asleep. Once you come down, take double damage from all sources. No known way of curing the addiction, but you could try to get your next fix.
37. A wheelchair of power. As long as you sit in it, all your stats are increased to 16 / 5, but every time you roll an attribute check, there is a 1-in-6 chance that you won't be able to use you legs ever again.
38. A fire axe. Can chop flames into neat, portable chunks.
39. A jar of nightmares. When you open it, everyone nearby (you included) is plunged into the deepest Dreamlands.
40. An apothecary weight. It cannot be lifted by anyone or anything, save for its rightful owner. It is not crushingly heavy, just cannot be lifted.
41. A wand of useful tools. Can transform into any small tool, like a hatchet or metal file. When empowered, can also form larger tools like a ladder or jack-hammer.
42. A scroll of omnipotence. Details a small part of a dangerous ritual to become omnipotent. Should you finish the bit of the ritual, you have a 1-in-20 chance to gain a minor magical power and the instructions on the scroll change to the next bit. Can be used any number of times, but the tasks will get harder and deadlier.
43. A potion of murder moss. Any surface it touches is instantly covered in blood-red, carnivorous moss. Unless completely burned, the moss will spread slowly, or rapidly when fed flesh and blood.
44. A stub of chalk. Any space enclosed by its drawing (like a circle on the floor) is slowly divested of air, until a bubble of vacuum forms. It will collapse if the line of chalk is broken.
45. A flesh-bang. When the pin is pulled, it explodes into a shower of gore and meaty tendrils. Those who succeed on their Save are covered in blood and viscera, those who fail are conjoined with the web-like growth of cancerous flesh.
46. A box of equivalent exchange. When you place an item inside and close the lid, it is replaced with a completely different item of roughly comparable value. When you insert an item and enough money, you will receive a similar but better item in exchange. It doesn't work with items that you gained from previous transactions.
47. A syringe of liquid beehive. When injected into living flesh, it will rapidly mutate, developing new orifices and spawning a brood of red bees. The bees are friendly to the creature they live in; they will help it drive away threats and even share their blood-honey, if there are enough flowers to make it.
48. A jar of brilliant paint labelled "Wizard's Heavy-Duty Anti-Scratch Wonder". Anything coated in it is completely immune to objects and effects of similar colour.
49. A jar of faded paint labelled "Wizard's Heavy-Duty Anti-Scratch Wonder". It expired a long time ago. Anything coated in it is doubly affected by objects and effects of similar colour.
50. A single link of chain that becomes a heavy iron ball chained to the leg of anyone it strikes.

His Flesh

He was a titan. He was a god. He was struck down by his brethren and trapped in these unhallowed halls. He was drawn and quartered and tortured and butchered and eventually, more or less, killed.
 

 
His meat and fat was cooked and devoured in the greatest feast this place has ever seen. Many a strange creature participated in the unlikely peace of this feast, all forever bound by a profound sense of fellowship. Those who tasted his flesh may always request a parley with one another.

His right hand has never stopped moving, and was stolen before the great feast was over. It now resides in the Endless Archives, tended to by the Archivist Monks who provide it with ink and papyrus, and study its scrolls of knowledge and foreknowledge.

His left hand was taken by Wlchzmlk the Cripple Queen. She later became known as She-Who-Touched-The-Sun, after she managed to escape this underworld and reach the mythical surface world so far, far above. Of course she eventually returned, as all wayfaring, wayward denizens do.

His legs were gobbled up by K'irssa and H'yshra, two Sisters of the Worm. For their gluttony, they were imprisoned in hanging cages where the Worm cannot free them. He is sure to reward anyone who would bring his Sisters back.

His skull and ribcage used to be worn as an armour by Umm Burhyaa Ra'ar al-Muscati, the Lichloved. Since her peaceful death, they have been interred in her tomb, along with other treasures beyond belief and an army of husbands and slaves.

His brain was sold to the dErO, who made it the core of their thinking machine. Any psychic can reach through the machine to all others. In fact, the dErO insist you do so. Yes, you!

His right eye was given to the nameless beholder, to quell his rage after he lost his central eye in a failed assassination attempt. It doesn't negate magic, it bends and warps and empowers it.

His left eye was swallowed by a fungal ambassodile for safekeeping. No one has yet acquired the proper deed to collect it.

His third eye has escaped and evades capture to this day, wandering the tunnels and mazes aimlessly, or maybe with an inscrutable goal.

His teeth were made into 47 daggers for the 47 name-thieves, each inscribed with the true name of its wielder.

His tongue was gifted to the golem lord Faragó Nándor, bringing back his eloquence lost in an unfortunate deal years before.

His lungs were claimed by the Bodhisattva of the Third and Seventh Winds, for purposes unknown. His meditations are not to be disturbed.

His stomach was eventually acquired by the Guild of Biomancers, who use it to brew their many drugs and draughts. Ask your local vendor!

His liver was personally prepared by the divine chef Palxaochitli and shall be served only to the champion of the Night Games. The meal is as of yet unclaimed.

His spleen was eaten by an unknown adventurer, yet it proved too powerful for her feeble frame. It gave her immortality in exchange for her sanity, and still sits undigested in her stomach, wherever she might be.

His kidneys were saved for the engagement banquet of Lord Eldar and Lady Aerith. Two stones were found in the kidneys and set into rings of orichalcum, then exchanged at their wedding. No elf can refuse an order given by a wearer of one of those rings.

His bladder was crafted into a hot air balloon by the dwarven brothers Urist and Cog, another of their many ill-fated attempts to escape the underworld.

Many an attempt was made to eat his pancreas, yet everyone failed, as those who take a single bite loose both their desire and need for nutrition, forthwith and forever. What might result from somebody eating more than a mouthful is the subject of much debate and speculation. Lately, baron Von Totenkopf led a successful heist and absconded with the pancreas. He is presumably hiding in the ghoul quarters, the bounty on his head ever-rising.

His skin was flayed, stretched and dried into a parchment, then scribed with all the curses he uttered with his dying breath and bound into a book of horrid magics.

His hair were burnt as an offering to Os and Oa, the conjoined demon-gods. If any bits of his hair were found to still remain, burning them might bring a blessing of the demon-gods.

His intestines were used to bind Yog-yiacarhu, Who-Lurks-In-Corners, and were the first thing to ever pin xyr in place. Unfortunately, many lengths of the intestines were since stolen from xyrs prison, and xe may very well tear free, should even one more loop be removed.

His penis was won in a bet by Barad the Bawdy, a party animal* extraordinaire. It became the pride of his collection of curios and memorabilia, after he realized that getting it grafted on is unfeasible. Barad loves to tell this anecdote to all his party guests, and those that don't laugh tend to become a part of the menu.

His testicles were seized by the Dark and used to breed all manner of Darkspawn. Anyone can challenge the Dark for the ownership of the testicles, but nobody yet dared and lived.

His scrotum was made into a sack, said to bring back to life anything dead placed inside. It is rumoured to be among the possessions of the Last Holy Priest.

His heart has been fed nectar and ambrosia, growing ever mightier and more humongous. When you press your ear to any piping, you can hear its distant beating as it pumps water and oil and blood and steam and sewage throughout the whole dungeon.

His soul has been trapped in a machine of black iron, its main chakras pierced by seven lances of magical metals. They focus his boundless pain and burning hatred, channel them into a heat exchanger to generate steam for heating the dungeon and powering its many traps and lifts and subsystems.

His blood, sweat, tears, lymph, urine, semen, cerebrospinal fluid and snot were preserved and portioned into countless vials. Each of the liquids is ascribed a plethora of beneficial properties, and any remaining vials might fetch a high price from the right buyer.

His cerumen was made into nine times nine foul candles. Lighting one produces horrid screeching and ringing that drowns out all other sounds and prevents concentration of anyone nearby. Longer exposure results in lasting tinnitus, severe migraines, and finally madness.

The leftovers were fed to the rats. None can say for sure, but it might have spurred the sudden and rapid development and procreation of ratlings, making them the nuisance they are today.

 
Everyone knows he is not dead, just biding his time. Maybe the prison of his soul will be damaged, and he will pull his body back together. Maybe some fool will consume enough of his corporeal remains to inherit his spirit, as well. The question is when, not if.

He is still a god, after all.


*) Literally.

Ancient Artifacts of Stupendous Science

There are interesting gadgets that your players can find when prowling the wasteland, and then there are these things. They were rare and expensive before the Turn, and now they are the most prized possessions of the most powerful water barons, the sacred relics of hidden arcologies, or long lost in forgotten vaults.

Some might be a treasure in the big bad's lair, some a treasure the big bad seeks. Some will be the crux of their evil master plan.

All can surely be used for many a shenanigan.
  

A cruciform.
I've stolen this one wholesale from the Hyperion Cantos.
If you haven't read it, I highly recommend that you do.

 

d20 Artifacts

1. Bioprinter: From a single droplet of blood, this device can recreate and clone any creature. An adjustable fast-time field will even age the subject appropriately.
2. Recoiler: A piece of jewellery (normally a ring, bracelet or a brooch) that can be activated to instantly return the wearer to the safety of a pre-defined receiver chamber. Its range is long enough to bring one from Earth to the Moon.
3. Transmat cannon: During the Turn, these weapons were used to instantly teleport an armed antimatter bomb onboard an enemy vessel. It has a range of about a light second, a projectile chamber large enough to fit several people inside, and cannot be blocked by anything short of very advanced force shields.
4. Hypnolearning bay: A comfortable coffin where one can lie down to sleep and learn a new skill overnight*.
5. Phylacterion: A throne of chrome and wiring. When a creature is strapped into it, the phylacterion can either scan their brain and create a new mindstate disc, or download a mindstate disc into the creature's brain, overwriting their whole psyche with another person.
6. Cruciform: A cybernetic symbiont that bonds with the user and makes them nigh immortal. No matter how grisly their injuries or how little remains from their dead and destroyed body, the symbiont will eventually reconstitute them to full (physical) health. It's impossible to deactivate or detach, so users tend to be dealt with by chucking them into a volcano.
7. Becoming nook: Lie down into this surgery station and close your eyes as it anaesthetises you. One quick implantation later, you will be on your way to bionic ascension. No surgery roll is required and the recipient gains +4 bonus to their post-surgery Con Save if the becoming nook is used to add a new augmentation.
8. Warp star: A miniature black hole trapped in an indestructible crystal. Serves as an infinite power cell, capable of powering a whole city alone.
9. Gravity cannon: An unassuming platform that can nonetheless accelerate anything up to the size of a spaceship to a good fraction of c.
10. Phase gate: A cannon-like device that will charge up with 5D energy, then blast a hole to the next dimension over.
11. Nulltime tank: Inside, the time itself stands still. The grieving might keep their loved ones alive, for a certain measure of "life", while the decadent will always have their meals fresh and warm.
12. Replicator: A cloud of nanites in a box will break down matter on atomic level, then rebuild it into whatever their owner desires. While pretty much anything can be quickly fabricated, one still needs the materials and blueprints.
13. Matrix: There are many people with access to the Matrix, but this is the Matrix. Destroy this core, and the Matrix is gone. Or reprogram it to change literally anything inside. You can be a virtual god.
14. Humongous mecha activation codes: The chrome colossi of yore have lain dormant since time immemorial, but this could bring them back to life.
15. Sensory deprivation tank: The resting place for powerful psions. See here.
16. Regeneration tank: A sarcophagus-like medical device that can heal any injury, and even bring back the recently dead. Minor injuries disappear within ten minutes, a lost limb would regrow in an hour, while a resurrection might take half a day. When used to bring back the dead, however, they must Save with a penalty equal to the number of hours since their demise, or gain an insanity. Corpses that already started to rot cannot be brought back at all.
17. Time machine: When you climb inside, you can travel anywhere along the machine's own timeline, from the first moment it was activated to a split second before it will be rendered inoperable.
18. Docility drug formula: Dulls emotions, squashes all defiant thoughts. Easily spread through water supply. With a passable chemical lab, it wouldn't be hard to mass-produce the drug.
19. Small spaceship: One planet is not enough.
20. Stargate: Actually, you don't need a spaceship.

 

A phase gate, from Stranger Things.

*) Still subject to the limits on Memory.

The Old Axe

A broad, jagged axehead of black iron, its haft stained with blood.

It is said to be possessed by the spirit of a mighty warlord who stood unconquered even in death. He succumbed to his wounds yet remained standing, and the enemy forces, unaware of his demise, were so shaken by his unflinching, horrible stare that they sounded a retreat while they already had victory within their grasp.
  

  

Fearless Axe
This axe bears the blessing of courage and valour. It grants immunity to fear and advantage on Trauma rolls. Once you win a number of battles equal to twice your level while wielding the axe, it transforms into the Fearsome Axe.

Should you ever retreat from battle or otherwise prove a coward, though, it transforms into the Fearful Axe.

Fearsome Axe
This axe bears the blessing of blood and glory. It has all the benefits (and drawbacks) of the Fearless Axe, plus whenever a fear effect* successfully affects your enemies**, you channel their fear and can either heal d4 hp, or deal d4 damage to any creature in sight, no Save.

Fearful Axe
This axe bears a curse of disgrace and cowardice. You automatically suffer from any fear effect that happened near you, even if you weren't the target***, and take d4 Stress. You will never voluntarily ditch the axe, though, and always wield it in combat, even if the situation would call for eg. ranged weapons. If anyone tries to take the axe from you by force, you immediately Crack.

However, if you manage to land a killing blow regardless, the axe will transform into the Fearless Axe.
  

 

*) Including when they fail a Morale roll.
**) Only once per effect, so affecting an individual is the same as affecting a whole group.
***) The wizard casts cause fear on some orcs, the fighter tries to intimidate the lonely kobold, the child shouts "Boo", etc.

Icelandic Magical Staves

Here are a few Icelandic magical staves used for folk magic.

The sigils can be used by anyone, but they are not common knowledge and will more often than not be kept secret by those who wish to retain the advantage such magic offers. Some are carved on actual staves, but others are inscribed on any item you would like to to enchant, or on small wooden talismans or coins for ease of use. One item can only bear a single magical sigil, and the effects of multiple talismans do not stack.

Also don't forget that while the sigils are generally not illegal, the local government might not take it kindly when you're abusing magic.

by Anne Mathiasz

 
d20 Magical Sigils

1. Að unni: Must be carved on a talisman along with your name and the name of a person you wish to charm. Then slip the talisman in your target's pocket and you'll get +4 bonus to all Charisma checks against them.
2. Angurgapi: This sigil wards off liquids. It is often carved on the ends of barrels to prevent leaking. A room covered in Angurgapi could make water float like in zero g.
3. Brýnslustafir: When carved on a whetstone, any blade sharpened with it gains +1 damage for a day.
4. Draugstafur: Any item bearing this sigil acts as a lure for undead. They will sense it from several hundred feet away and get pulled in, though intelligent undead may recognize what's going on.
5. Draumstafir: If you draw this sigil on your forehead before going to sleep, you will enter the Dreamlands.
6. Dreprún: All bovine, cervid and similar animals must Save vs fear or be unable to approach the sigil. Carved into boundary stones, it is often used in place of a pen fence.
7. Feingur: A sigil ensuring fertility, easy birth and healthy offspring. Can be used both on animals and humans, but has to be either branded or tattooed.
8. Gapaldur & Ginfaxi: Two sigils carved into the soles of shoes taken by force or deception from a great warrior. Gapaldur is placed under the heel of the right foot and protects from being pushed or knocked back. Ginfaxi is placed under the toes of the left foot and grants advantage on attempts to bullrush or knock down your foes.
9. Hólastafur: This sigil must be inscribed on a coin taken from a buried treasure. When placed on its edge, it will start rolling towards the nearest path leading deeper, such as shafts or stairs down in a dungeon.
10. Kaupaloki: Grants +4 bonus when haggling. Even a rumour of using this sigil is enough for the merchants to stop doing any business with you and maybe send a thug or few to have a little talk.
11. Lásabrjótur: Touching this talisman to a lock will shatter both the lock and the talisman with a loud crack, though magic locks get a Save.
12. Lukkustafir: A weapon inscribed with this sigil can store critical hits for later. Only one critical hit can be stored at a time, and only actual attacks can be stored, no swinging at air.
13. Máladeilan: Grants +4 bonus in legal and bureaucratic interactions if carved on a gold coin and carried in your left pocket.
14. Skelkunarstafur: Anyone who carries a talisman with this sigil on their person will automatically fail all Saves vs fear.
15. Stafur gegn galdri: This sigil cannot be crossed by magic (supernatural creatures, enchanted items, spellcasters) unless they succeed on a Save. Must be anointed with innocent blood before taking effect.
16. Tóustefna: All canines must Save vs fear or be unable to approach the sigil. Often carved into travelling staves as a protection from wolves and wild dogs.
17. Vatnahlífir: Grants +4 bonus to Save vs drowning if a talisman with the sigil is held under your tongue.
18. Vegvísir: When carved on a lit lantern, it will guide you through rough weather or darkness of the night. You cannot get lost unless your lantern goes out.
19. Veiðistafur: When carved on a fishing rod, it allows you to always catch at least 1d4 rations worth of fish in any river or pond.
20. Þjófastafur: Carved on a dowsing rod, it will detect stolen items, but only if used by an (ex-)thief.

 
And finally a bonus magic item:

Nábrók
The "corpse breeches" are trousers made from the flayed skin of a dead man inscribed with Nábrókarstafur. They can only be created from the skin of a man who agreed to this before his death. The wearer of nábrók can reach into the scrotum of the trousers at any time and pull out a handful of coins. The coins seem normal, but wizards will sense faint magic in them and if ever touched by sunlight, they will crumble to dust.

Once put on, the nábrók cannot be taken off unless someone else agrees to wear them. If the wearer dies while still wearing the trousers, their soul will be unable to leave their body and they will slowly transform into a draugr. Their mind will be overcome with greed, and they will spend the nights looking for treasures and hoarding them in their burial mound.

Worth of Soul

There was some talk about this on Discord a while back.

What to do with a soul?

Some would say that apart form the one that keeps you going, you have no need for further souls. Yet many supernatural creatures seems to have taken a fancy to souls, often demanding them in payment or hoarding them for some reason. Let's investigate these reasons.

Side note: Unless otherwise noted, we will be assuming heroic or magical souls, as souls of animals and dirt-farming peasants are too weak and faint for most uses. Except soulsteel. Throw every soul you don't want or need into a soulsteel furnace.

I rather like this depiction of a soul, or at least the core spark of life.

 
There is a reason that souls are usually depicted as glowing motes of light. Deep within the sevenfold soul is a spark that constantly pumps out raw power, converted by the outer layers of the soul into life energy, psionic energy, mana, the already mentioned ethereal glow, and more. This tiny spark is the core of the soul, a shard of primordial life. This constant flow of power is also the fundamental use of any soul, the basis upon which all other uses build.

Sustenance: At the most simple, soul energy can refresh your body similarly to a ration. Animal souls might taste like gruel, while the soul of a saint would equal to an opulent feast. Of course, most material creatures are not adapted to subsisting on souls, so it is not recommended to skip tangible food for too long. While you wouldn't starve to death, avitaminosis and massive weight loss would soon set in, followed by slow transformation into a wraith or lesser demon.

Power: A soul can also be drained to refresh a spent MD or psionic ability, though faint souls are too weak for this use. Souls of creatures that possessed magical or psionic abilities in life are already accustomed to this draining of energy, so they are not immediately used up, but rather can be drained repeatedly (once per day unless they were very powerful).

Healing: Souls are made of life energy, so of course they are good for your health. A soul can be distilled for the same effect as a healing potion, except potions don't tend to scream in terror all the way down your throat, don't leave fragmented echoes of memories in your mind after use, and don't see you branded as a diabolist and burnt at the stake.

Oh, I haven't mentioned this yet? Abusing and destroying souls is Evil; even using animal souls is heavily frowned upon and may get you in trouble with the Inquisition.

But I digress. Drinking souls is great! Not only can they mend your body, they can heal your mind, too. A soul elixir removes [HD of the original creature] Trauma when drunk, and a soul salve can be used to rub sins right off your metaphysical self. In both cases, the afflictions are transferred to the soul in the medicine, which can be then safely disposed of, or recycled for soulsteel production.

Knowledge: At times you need to know a thing, be it some lore or skill. You don't have the time to learn, but you do have a useful soul. Many people would pay a fortune for a soul that remembers something rare or forgotten, that has valuable abilities, or even one that knows languages they couldn't be bothered to learn on their own.

Entertainment: Many a noble has their secret stash of bottled souls with interesting stories. Wealthy women weep with memories of great romance they never had, cowardly rakes can live the life of danger and adventure through a purchased soul. There's also the "fun stuff" for those of dark desires, but who don't want to risk their own skin and sanity. From memories of humiliation, depraved sex, torture, or murder to souls that literally went through Hell, including such exclusive articles as souls tortured by famous demon lords. Some people willingly sell their interesting memories, as everything has a price.

Protection: There are many detrimental magics that target the soul; life drain, curses, mind reading or memory altering, death spells, soul trapping, etc. Strapping some extra souls on your own makes it much safer to confront such threats, as your ablative soul armour will take the hits first. Even better, so many souls concentrated in a single spot can also muddle up many divination and scrying techniques, making you even harder to pin down for a magical attack.

Traps: Every ghost hunter knows what a haunt is - an area imprinted with death, inflicting the cause of death upon anyone who ventures inside. Any grisly departed soul can be repurposed into a haunt, serving as a supernatural trap. The best haunts are obviously made from souls you specifically prepare for this task - burn a few people alive and bind their souls into a fire trap, torture someone to death for a symbol of pain. The possibilities are as endless as various causes of death. Some ectomancers even compress haunts into ghost-grenades, portable and very dangerous.

Metallurgy: Soulsteel is in high demand due to its high strength and innate ghost touch effect. It can be rather easily created by smelting souls with iron ore, making it the only magical metal available in significant amounts, and thus often employed in larger projects and big magical constructions. Even low-quality souls can make good soulsteel if you use enough of them, and their constant agonized wailing as they are forever trapped in the metal is more faint than with heroic souls.

Enchantments: More advanced and specialized magical weapons and armour utilize souls too, though quality and magical resonance matters here quite a bit. The souls are bound into the finished item rather than smelted into the raw material, and serve as the source of both power and basic magical traits. You'll need several simple soldier souls just to make a boring +1 dagger, while a cannibal chieftain's soul could make a nice human-slaying battle-axe, and a pyromancer's soul would be great for a flaming sword.

Intelligent magical items are the result of enchanting with too powerful and wilful souls, and there are of course stories of weapons with souls so strong they overwhelmed their wielder.

Animation: While intelligent items are normally not the desired outcome of binding a soul, you can use the same process to grant a mind to anything that needs one. Where the first ventures onto the field of golemancy attempted to create a guiding intelligence from scratch, it was soon discovered that such artificial intelligences are too expensive, limited, and inflexible. A soul, on the other hand, already comes with a plethora of innate abilities, instincts and learned behaviour, making it much faster and cheaper to animate a golem.

The trick, then, is to find a suitable soul given the required function of each golem, and find the right balance of geasa and cognitive restrictions that would allow it to perform at peak efficiency without compromising its absolute obedience with residual free will. The infamous golem rages are the result of imperfect application of these restrictions.

Magic: Souls can power your magic, but souls also are magic. Spirits are spells are souls. Think about the main characteristics of the person whose soul you would cast. Were they greedy? Then you can use the soul to cast detect treasure. Cowardly? Expeditious retreat. Pious? Bless, or maybe protection from evil. Some wizards even groom slaves to prepare their souls for specialized magical effects, or cross-breed souls with their favourite spells to get new, exciting magics.

Replacement: It's not uncommon in many magical professions to loose pieces of your soul. While definitely not healthy, it's not life-threatening is promptly treated. Souls that are neither good enough for better uses, nor weak enough to go directly to the soulsteel furnace are often sold for spare parts. Bring your old soul for an exchange and get 20% off your new one!

There is also the much less common practice of soul enhancement, where undesirable pieces of your soul are replaced with better ones. Think plastic surgery for the soul. You could get rid of boredom, switch your laziness for workaholism, implant a bit of faith, or cut down your anger and hatred.

Obviously the good bits have to comes from somewhere, and people with desirable mental traits can make good money by selling them, unless they get soul-mugged and wake up with their love or patience stolen.
 

A vodník with some souls stored in teapots.

 
But I didn't answer the question, did I? What is a soul worth?

Exactly [2d100 * HD * HD + 1d20] gp. Happy?

Magical Trinkets

 

d50 Trinkets

1. A golden coin that has your face on it, along with the name of the current local ruler. The face changes with the ownership of the coin, and the name with geopolitical location.
2. A two-handed sword that streak anyone it hits with copious amounts of fake blood, but never deals damage.
3. A pair of trousers that make you translucent and intangible up to your waist. And yes, you can kick ghosts.
4. An onyx necklace that turns your shadow large and monstrous. During the night of a new moon, you become a massive monster with a human shadow instead.
5. A disguise kit which makes anyone it's used on believe that they absolutely cannot be recognized.
6. A coral ring that makes you grow and shrink with the tides.
7. A pocket watch that makes you and everything on your person age backwards (at normal rate).
8. A jester's cap that makes you flip a coin instead of rolling any d20. Heads means critical success, tails means critical failure.
9. A statuette that turns into a loyal henchman during night. Anything he carries when the morning comes becomes a part of the statuette until the next dusk.
10. A carnival mask that turns you and everything on your person invisible, except for your skeleton.
11. An invisible and silent suit of plate mail. It's still quite cumbersome.
12. A hand mirror that does not reflect the holder. Great for spying what's behind your back.
13. A shark tooth necklace that makes you treat air as water - you cannot breathe it unless you can breathe water, but can swim through it.
14. A dried monkey's paw that lets you use a wish at the cost of your life.
15. Top hat of holding with a rabbit skeleton, a deck of cards and some colourful scarves inside.
16. A choker that makes your head detachable. If taken off while your head is not on your shoulders, well...
17. A ruffle shirt that makes everyone believe that you're their very distant relative.
18. A book that, when you start reading it, transports you 1d6 hours into the future. You can never quite remember what was it about.
19. A chess board that makes every game end in a draw.
20. A card deck that makes each person always draw the same card.
21. A wizard's staff that actually blocks anyone touching it from casting spells.
22. A teacup that turns anything poured inside into strong acid.
23. A bear fur cloak that, when worn, makes everyone believe against all evidence that you're a bear.
24. A doll that, when carried on your person, makes you look like a small child.
25. A doll that makes anyone who picks it up believe it's their baby.
26. A lute that makes everyone who would hear it deaf for as long as it's played.
27. A bedroll that makes you sleep peacefully until morning. Nothing can wake you up as long as you are lying on the bedroll.
28. A tankard that makes anyone drinking from it dead-drunk after a single gulp, no matter what's inside.
29. A piece of broken statue. As long as you have it, you can speak, read and write in an ancient, long dead language, but in no other languages.
30. A pebble that behaves as if it was a boulder.
31. A set of posh clothes that force everyone to be polite to you. Hostile creatures will still try to kill you, just politely.
32. A rusted iron ring that makes salt water constantly pour from your mouth.
33. A matchbox that never runs out of matches.
34. A sheet of expensive letter paper. If you show it to someone, they will see an invitation to an event you're trying to get to.
35. A pair of boots. If two different people wear one each, they can swap places no matter the distance.
36. A potion box of small bottles. Each bottle holds a different weather that can be released from it.
37. Demon lord in a bottle. Will threaten and demand, but cannot do anything if not released. Very dangerous if released.
38. A recipe for a cream pie that deals 1d8 acid damage on hit.
39. A wand that can shoot limitless number of illusory, harmless fireballs.
40. A bridle that transforms anyone into a horse for as long as they wear it. They retain their intelligence, but cannot speak.
41. A traveller's cloak. You teleport into a seemingly endless, featureless desert for as long as you wear it.
42. A loincloth that prevents any negative impact of cold or hot weather if worn as the only piece of clothing.
43. A helmet that makes the wearer experience zero gravity.
44. A haunted helmet. As long as you wear it, you loose your normal class and instead become third level Fighter*.
45. A cloak permanently covered in grease. Waterproof and extremely slippery.
46. A leather armour that, when worn, shunts your torso to a pocket dimension. Your limbs and head are not affected and behave as if there was not just empty space in between them.
47. A ring that makes your arm grow gigantic.
48. A striped shirt that makes everyone think you're an infamous criminal. Bad around guards, good for infiltrating a villainous organization.
49. A woollen blanket that is completely impenetrable to magic.
50. An L-space manifestation in the shape of a book. Every time you open it, it's a random different book.

*) Assuming GLOG rules. You might want to bump the level up for other systems.

10 Magical Necessities for Wealthy Wizarding Women

My girlfriend decided to think up some magic items that she would definitely need as a sorceress. So here they are, some fashionable trinkets and useful paraphernalia you could find in a boutique of a wizard city or the rooms of an enchantress.
 

Forest Mage by meago

d10 Accouterments

1. Chameleon lipstick: Adjustable colour lipstick. Variations on the product include animated lipstick, mood-sensitive lipstick and lipstick of glibness.
2. Cuddly polymorphic pet: It will purr in your lap as a kitten, then become a pony when you're out in the garden, or a songbird, or anything cute you'd like to pet.
3. Electroshock umbrella: Protects against rain, unwanted suitors and lack of personal space in crowds. Settings range from "ouch" to "AAARGH". Also very stylish.
4. Depilation spray: Painless, instant, easy to use.
5. Grooming fairy: Flits around and casts prestidigitation to keep you perfumed, your hairstyle and make-up tidy, and your dress clean.
6. Handbag of holding: Frankly, who wouldn't want one? It is embroidered with animate animals.
7. Infinite chocolate bar: Will regrow from the tiniest speck, but it may take some time, so you cannot just constantly gorge yourself on chocolate.
8. Mood-balancing bracelet: For that time of the month. *wink wink* *nudge nudge*
9. Painkiller amulet: Dulls headaches and stomach aches. (Would also prevent pain from a sword wound, though I really hope she won't be going around getting stabbed.)
10. Pocket dimension toilet: You will need to search for public toilets no more! Your personal restroom is always just a portal away.

By the way, as I'm writing this, my girlfriend is running around the apartment, making animal sounds and playing at the polymorphic pet. And she's aggressively cuddly.
 

Magic Reindeer by VargasNi

She also says I have to include this:

Displace PMS
R: [dice] x 30'; T: male; D: [sum] days

Any and all inconveniences related to the menstruation cycle are transferred from the caster to the victim.

The Master Sword

From here.

 
Broken sword (d3 damage)
An ancient, filthy arming sword, shattered so that only a short stump of the blade remains. The party will find it in a chest of rotten wood and rusty iron, all other items within having long ago succumbed to the ages. It looks ruined at a glance, but should they examine it, they will notice the metal was once of extraordinarily quality and there are still some runes etched into it under the layers of grime.

A blacksmith or a dwarf would recognize it as a once magical blade, but far beyond their ability to repair. A wizard could detect the faint traces of magic hidden in the heart of the sword.

Neophyte sword (d6 damage)
If the PC who carries the sword performs a suitably heroic deed*, they will dream about an elven princess the next night. She will name the PC her champion and urge them to vanquish evil with the sword she grants them. On the next morning, the sword will be found mended and cleaned. The runes on its now restored blade read: Non timebo mala.

The sword can be unsheathed and used in a single action, plus it can be thrown with no penalties and the same range as a knife. The PC will be aware of this from the dream.

Adept sword (d8 damage)
Should the sword wielder follow the wishes of the princess, the sword will eventually** grow more ornate and feel more magical. When thrown, it can now be recalled back to hand as a free action. In addition, by concentrating on any creature the sword had cut in the past, the wielder can dowse the direction towards this creature.

However, any overtly evil action will cause the wielder nightmares of the princess being horrified and furious with their deeds. They must Save every night or receive only half the benefits from sleep, until they make amends or get rid of the sword. Should they persist in evil behaviour, a wild hunt of fey creatures will raid their camp one night and even if they survive the assault, the sword will be lost in the struggle.

Master sword (d10 damage)
A great quest or a deed of undeniable virtue will cause the sword to start glowing with a faint white light. It becomes capable of cutting through any magical protections, shattering force fields, ignoring damage reduction and striking true against intangible creatures.

The wielder will now frequently dream of the princess and her fairy realm, waking up well-rested and in a good mood. They ignore any conditions that would disrupt their sleep, unless they make the princess angry as above. Their ears become elvish in shape, if they were not already.

Grandmaster sword (d12 damage)
One night, the princess will confide in the wielder of the sword about a grave threat to her kingdom, and that only they may help. If they accept this grand quest, the sword will grow into unearthly beauty and brightness. The wielder will also be affected as per geas spell.

When thrown, the wielder may now opt to teleport to where the sword hits rather than recalling it back to them. Furthermore, once per session they may summon a pixie that will help them with any short, simple task. Note that the pixie is too small to fight or lift larger objects, and the same pixie is summoned every time, so treating it badly (especially getting it killed) will quickly turn it uncooperative.

If the wielder succeeds in the final quest and later dies or retires, they will disappear along with the sword. Should the players later travel to Faeria or encounter the wild hunt of the Fair Folk, one of the fey nobles will bear a striking resemblance to their lost comrade.
 

A bit like this.

  
*) At this first stage, anything that doesn't scream "greedy, selfish murderhobo" will do.
**) Likely once they reach the next level. Further stages should also follow roughly once per level.