Favorite Magic Item
Of all the listings, in all the DMGs printed thus far. My favorite magic item isn't listed. It's become too formulaic over the past few addition. Not sure that was the best of decisions to take something that is supposed to be mystical, fantastic, and rare. And boil it down so you can tailor a magic item to suit a character.
Way back in olden times.... Mainly the 80's. We played between 3 and 5 games of AD&D per week. Sometimes it was after school for a couple of hours. Sometimes it was a weekend marathons. Throughout all these games, we would play the same characters. Since there wasn't the interest in the hobby back then, the player/DM pool was an order of magnitude smaller. We could play the same characters across multiple DMs and modules because you were there when the Fighter got a magic sword.
We weren't encouraged to leave magic items tailored to help the PCs defeat the big bad at the end. We rolled randomly. Also, the DM didn't just up and tell you what the bonuses were, even if you had a Magic-User that would cast Identify in the party the spell tells the DM not to give specifics. Was that magic helm you just found a Helm of Lordly Might, or a Helm of Opposite Alignment? Hey! Let's play magic item roulette!
What this all means is that my Favorite Magic item is the mystery attached when you don't know whether that bag you got will hold the contents of the royal treasury or if it might eat you. It sometimes took us months to guess what properties a sword or a small statuette were. Don't even get me started on the Potion Miscibility table. That was probably the most fun you can have with your armor on. Will the Thief turn blue for a week, or just keel over and die? Ah, those were the days...
So there you have it. Another reminiscence of times past. I hope you enjoyed it.
Happy Gaming!
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