Broken Magic Items

MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarte... We discuss 5 magic items that could impact your games in unforeseen ways. These magic items are ones that are amazing to award players but might have implications that were not immediately apparent.
DUNGEONS OF DRAKKENHEIM is coming to Kickstarter in 2021! We’re partnering with Ghostfire Games to publish the complete adventure for Fifth Edition.
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[@Llaqus]

Most quotable line paraphrased: "Most problems can be solved by throwing a black hole at it"

[@JoRoq1]

To borrow the phrase from Mythbusters: "When in doubt, black hole."

[@zacharylona]

"There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable application of high explosives." ~Scott Adams

[@havokmusicinc]

There was an enemy back in 3.5 - I think from the Epic Level Handbook? - that was, literally, a sentient sphere of annihilation. they were a CR 32 construct called an umbral blot or a blackball, and they were fucking terrifying

[@MonkeyJedi99]

This made me think of Major Carter's exchange with her father. Jacob: Come on, Sam. It can't be any harder than blowing up a sun. Sam: You know, you blow up one sun and suddenly everyone expects you to walk on water. [alien control panel lights up] Sam: Next step, parting the Red Sea! - Stargate SG-1, "Reckoning, Part 2"

[@dallindespain5082]

Just to be clear a black hole is way way more dangerous than the sphere of annihilation

[@cyntogia]

You start the campaign in a bar with a wizard and a deck of many things. He offers each person a draw. His reason, he just wants to see what will happen and is too much of a coward to draw himself. Thus starts your game.

[@WolfiePH]

An hour in; The barbarian has been decapitated by a doppelganger, The druid becomes a phylactery, The bard has wished to become the local lord of the town and retired adventuring, finally, the paladin undid it all and now they're face-to-face with a wizard with a deck of many things.

[@legomaniac213]

@@WolfiePH The Bard: "Lets do the Time Warp again!!!"

[@ciscodisco8966]

I honestly don't understand why this channel hasn't been verified. Amazing dudes that love D&D and constantly put out incredible content so we can enjoy D&D even more. Thanks Kelly and Monty!

[@kev_whatev]

Can verify, they are dudes

[@callmeobsequious]

100% agreed. Verify these guys already, KZbin! They deserve it more than some other creators on here!

[@ciscodisco8966]

@@kev_whatev lol, im at zero hitpoints

[@diversezebra6754]

@@kev_whatev Can not verify location. Could be a dungeon...could be a hobbit hole.

[@kingdomrains]

Verification is all about who you know, not how popular your channel is.

[@mr_son]

I played in a game once where one player was playing an evil character, but no one in the party realized it because he was so helpful. His idea for the character was simply a guy that wanted to be remembered forever. Didn’t care what he had to do to get there, but was determined that his name would be known for generations. After 6 months of play, the party unexpectedly came into possession of a spree of annihilation, and entrusted Helpful Joe with it. The next arch of the game, we had to cross the great sea of whatever. Halfway through that journey, Joe climbed into a landing boat and lowered it down the side of our ship and into the water. When the Captain ordered him to return to the ship, he threatened it with the sphere, and told the captain to go on without him. The GM informed us at the end of the arch that there was a serious problem at the port, and that the tides were behaving unusually. Joe sent the sphere to the bottom of the sea.

[@Stratocumulus25]

I think your evil player would be getting a visit from Poseidon pretty quickly....

[@evilsquirrel0573]

I mean it might be kind of slow, but yeah there is no reason why that would not literally empty the ocean that I can think of

[@aprisia]

The solution to that is actually fairly simple, though might take some work to pull off. Erect a permanent barrier that is watertight around it. The sphere doesn’t actually work like a real black hole, in that it doesn’t have a gravitational pull around it. However, kudos to the player.

[@hatihrodvitnisson]

@@evilsquirrel0573 By that logic, though, wouldn’t a Sphere of Annihilation destroy all the air on the planet as well?

[@evilsquirrel0573]

@@hatihrodvitnisson it feels different to me and I wouldn’t rule it that way, but I can’t legitimately think of a good reason why not

[@sozintallus5619]

Wing Boots 2:00 Helm of Teleportion 8:15 Sphere of Annihilation 13:40 Luck blade/Ring of 3 wishes/Efreeti Bottle 18:10

[@simondiamond9628]

22:02. The Deck of Many Things.

[@01Tilly01]

Thanks boy's, saved a lot of time. 👍

[@WorlviusYT]

The hero. 5 items being stretched to half an hour.

[@matthewnichols7207]

Thank you for the time stamps

[@dyciefisk2535]

I actually think that giving your party a Luck Blade with no charges left in it could make for a more balanced magic item *and* a potential plot hook, like who was it's previous owner and what did they do with it?

[@annahamilton2664]

I gave a paladin a Mantle of Spell Resistance a couple weeks ago. I regret everything.

[@Hazel-xl8in]

i sincerely hope they take the mage slayer feat

[@OnionJuiceEnjoyer]

regret everything....so far ;)

[@annahamilton2664]

@@Hazel-xl8in He's Oath of the Ancients, too, so I just flat out can't use damaging spells on him.

[@Ragnok21]

My Dm always regretted giving my Paladin a flametongue greatsword. Made my damage far outpace the rest of the party. Only the Sorc could potentially match my dmg output.

[@Dr-Lex]

Well the Mantle only applies to spells, not "magical effects" or "spell-like effects" so it is useless against aberrations or other monsters in the DMG that have innate abilities. Chuck a couple of Aboleths or Mindflayers their way and see how well it works :)

[@mupumupu2842]

I remember when our DM used the deck of many things in our first campaign, long story short Strahds career as a BBEG was very short lived

[@wolfherojohnson2766]

How many characters were lost to the deck? Just curious

[@lyingcat9022]

Yeah The DoMT would be a great tool to completely break most large prewritten adventures.... Was you DM trying to nuke your campaign?

[@mupumupu2842]

@@wolfherojohnson2766 none actually

[@mupumupu2842]

@@lyingcat9022 it was a homebrew campaign but Strahd was in it

[@lyingcat9022]

@@mupumupu2842 Oh cool! He’s a fun bad guy for a home brew :) Sorry to hear he was a casualty of “The Deck”. Haha hopefully it was at least entertaining!

[@anthonyrenli8740]

Ahhhh - The Efreeti bottle One of the most...evil....things I even did as a DM was have the party find one (without them knowing what it was). Out pops a large read dude with firey hair and eyes radiating heat. Turns to the Druid who opened the bottle Efreeti: "How Do You Wish To Die!" Druid:: "ahhhhh....peacefully?" E: "Your Wish is my Command, Master!" D:"WHAT?" (slumps over onto the floor) E: Well, Master, you have 2 more wishes...Just let me know when you want to take them, I'm heading back to the City of Brass, but I'll be listening!

[@mke3053]

My 17lv players once visited the City of Brass and one of them wished to an efreet for somewhere safe from the bbeg... he ended inside a carceri prison.

[@MsKeylas]

Be careful what you wish for

[@aqacefan]

If ever I bring an Efreeti Bottle into my campaign, I will relish the consequences of someone wishing for "wealth beyond the dreams of avarice" and answering "nothing" to the question of what they consider such riches to be. At which point, the fool has no inventory, no possessions, and NO XP. EDIT: I just saw there's only a 10% chance you get a Wish out of the summoned Efreeti... and that it counts as one of the three times the player gets to pull the stopper. Wild!

[@a.z.pantera5577]

One of my character's whole plot point is that he made wishes on an Efreeti Bottle. The 3rd wish freed the genie, and so bestowed powers onto the character. Not knowing that he would slowly become a genie himself. And that's how my Genie Warlock came to be.

[@aragorn1780]

HOW DO YOU WISH TO DIE? ....peacefully in my old age! YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND! *rapidly ages right before your eyes and dies right then and there*

[@ralvirnixilis6026]

The way i as a DM have dealt with aaracokra characters is the fact that, since it's not a magical flying speed, falling prone makes them fall to the ground and i always make taking large hits in mid air have a saving trow against losing control of your flight

[@snazzyfeathers]

Plus they can't fly at all with anything heavier than light armor. You could add variant encumbrance into the mix to make it more difficult for them to fly depending on their strength and how much stuff they're carrying.

[@lyingcat9022]

Good ideas :) But like they said, that doesn’t address the out of combat usage of flight to solve all kinds of other encounters.

[@snazzyfeathers]

@@lyingcat9022 In terms of races that have wings, specifically Aaracokra at 1st level, it can be tricky to try to keep them balance while also making sure everyone has fun at the table for sure

[@ralvirnixilis6026]

@@lyingcat9022 I introduce to you the concept of magically induced wind

[@derrickmiles5240]

Most out of combat problems that are solved by flying can also be solved with the humble grappling hook or a climbers kit. For outdoors combat encounters just use some crossbow units or some flying enemies. If they're in a forest, tell them the tree canopy blocks their line of sight. You could homebrew a rule that makes them roll at disadvantage above a certain altitude, because of wind speed.

[@sadakotetsuwan9229]

Rather than ruin games with the Deck of Many Things, I've created a stock character that my players all encounter in Session 0 or Session 1--a fortune teller who offers them a card reading, and his deck is a mundane Deck of Many Things. He gives them a 4-card spread (their Present, their Obstacle, their Advice, and their Relationship to the Party), and tells them of the weal and woe they're sure to face on the journey...which then gives me potential plot hooks for each character, especially useful for someone who comes to the table with a sparse backstory or an edgelord whose friends are all dead.

[@1breakerbox844]

The Sphere of Annihilation or as the Oxventurers call it, the Demonic Pokéball!! And yes, the deck of many things... Once it changed one of the PC who was chaotic evil into a lawful good character.... Let's just say that his warlock patron was confused...

[@Mary_Studios]

The moment they started talking about that item I was like oh shoot that's the ball that Prudence has.

[@rogerwilco2]

Hahahahah.

[@blalockj7788]

Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum actually says, "Nothing can Teleport into or OUT of the warded area."

[@matthewcrowther890]

The winged boots can actually be made by the artificer infusions once they hit 10th level. Which honestly is a pretty good metric for when they should be handed out. Sure you can physically fly from 5th, but that’s limited to 1 hour and requires a large investment (the highest level spell slot available at the time). For the flying basically without limits and on anyone, that should come later.

[@Claytonic3000]

In ToA I used Bigby’s Hand to push Acererack into his own Sphere of Annihilation.

[@evilsquirrel0573]

Hit em with that reverse uno

[@aethon0563]

Weird, since Acerarak wears a special amulet that prevents that.

[@Claytonic3000]

@@aethon0563 my DM didn’t play it that way

[@Bam31415]

In 5e he has a Talisman of the Sphere, but that doesn't stop him from getting pushed. Sadly this will still only do 4d10 damage to him, but it's a fun move.

[@angrygardengnome8383]

@@Claytonic3000 reckon he forgot or was just rule of cooling it for your party?

[@DravenDresden]

I'll never forget the time my most recent Wizard's DM, in an attempt to show how powerful this 1 family was, showed they had a Ring of Three Wishes and Ring of Spell Storing. I tried to convince them to lend me the Ring of Spell Storing. They didn't. We *ACCIDENTALLY* stole the Ring of Three Wishes while trying to steal the Ring of Spell Storing. We ended up with both. At level 6. Wish Ring had 2 Wishes left. 1st Wish was used to solve a plot issue (DM approved). Last Wish was used to fix a party member's family issues (Wish: Modify Memory for the step mom to love the child - aka the party member).

[@liamassassingaming922]

Oddly wholesome

[@chrisframe2227]

The problem with low level flight is it’s a double edged sword. Get knocked prone, stunned, webbed, or put to sleep while flying and you could quickly die from falling.

[@chrisframe2227]

Ugh. I just realized winged boots also give a feather fall ability. Grumble grumble.

[@darkgloomie]

@@chrisframe2227 they only give you the Feather Fall effect if you run out of time, otherwise you fall down hard. Still, feather tokens are cheap

[@exomancer3632]

@@darkgloomie Winged boots count as magical flight. Magical flight doesn't get dropped by speed reduction, incapacitation, or prone.

[@darkgloomie]

@@exomancer3632 not disbelieving, but source quote? Might want to share that with a friend.

[@exomancer3632]

@@darkgloomie "If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover *or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell.* " Emphasis mine.

[@ChknPotPythagoras]

Me: So you're saying we shouldn't use these magic items ..... because of the implication? Dungeon Dudes: No, no, you totally can use them. But you won't .... because of the implication.

[@hauz287]

Its not about the use it's about the level and when they're recommended. In dnd each item is recommended by party levels. Uncommon for upto 5th. Rare to 10 so on so forth. If your adventure party is teleporting 3 times a day on level 8 your game is going straight to hell and the party's going to lose interest as well. I agree with them 100% in this regard. Not the " dont give them this item" but "give them maybe later and cautious about this drawback".

[@snazzyfeathers]

@@hauz287 Additionally you could give an interesting drawback for using the item, like how Monty sort of did with Kelly in the first campaign where every time he used the item it caused a wild magic surge.

[@MsKeylas]

@@hauz287 or git gud at adapting

[@compella1]

It's Always Sunny in Drakkenheim

[@hauz287]

@@MsKeylas like I said if you give them the item be aware and cautious

[@callmeobsequious]

This is exactly what I needed today, lol. Had so much going on that I forgot y'all were uploading but now that I have a break? Let's go!

[@stars1941]

Ah yes, my new shopping list!

[@AvangionQ]

If you're using a Helm of Teleportation just to ensure a safe rest, I'd like to mention Rope Trick and Tiny Hut.

[@jakubguziur7522]

Dispel Magic

[@bayleebooo]

@@jakubguziur7522 if it’s rope trick you can pull the rope into the dimension and there’s no way to see it i believe

[@josephdouglas5242]

@@bayleebooo Rope trick is fantastic near the levels you get it (for short rests). By the time your near teleportation levels, enemies with true sight become a problem.

[@SamuraiMujuru]

On the "When should you start to grant flying" in one of the Scarred Lands 5E books there is an ancestry that grants flying and there's a side bar right next to them not recommending allowing one into the game until the party is at least fifth level.

[@willdavis3802]

Which is oddly when this magic item comes available commonly.

[@ariagrumpy8254]

Me standing here with two bags of holding: Maniacal laughter*

[@ajuc005]

In our campaign we did the 2 bag of holding trick using our artificier construct as a delivery drone. We opened a portal to astral plane near a big bad boss. GM rolled for something and said the boss disappeared. Half the party went to investigate and fell into the invisible persistent portal we accidentally created and the rest of the party had to pay a high level npc wizard with our best magic items to get us back.

[@SymbioteMullet]

My melee focused paladin once got winged boots (actually the ability to just grow wings, but with the same rules as the boots), and in that situation, it wasn't breaking, because i had only piddly ranged attacks. And the DM really handled it well, flight became... not essential, but very well prepared for. By the time that game wrapped, we could all fly by different means, my wings, a surfing shield, a carpet, wild shapes, etc. Very fun.

[@ripopol]

Speaking of the Deck of Many Things. Did you know that a 2nd level ritual can negate the entire risk/reward structure of it. Just cast an augury, and state your intend to draw a single card from the deck. You now know wether the card is "risky" or "rewarding", without shuffling or messing with the deck itself. The cards are still entirely random, so RAW the deck should still work as intended.

[@wex5955]

But doesn't this depend on what exactly is meant with a "good" and "bad" result. RAW Augury tells you whether the result is good, bad, both, or nothing. It never mentions anything about what kind of good it is. Say you draw The Void and get imprisoned, is this good because you cannot kill any more creatures? or is it bad because you get imprisoned? Is it both because of both of the aforementioned happens? Although RAW the DM decides the outcome meaning that it'll probably be decided by their view on what good/bad means. Another problem with RAW is that it states that "you receive an omen from an otherworldly entity", but exactly what otherworldly entity is it that gave said omen? Ofc all these issues can be solved by just homebrewing an interpretation of the spell that fits whatever campaign you're in.

[@williambennett8511]

I don't think this works, because the DM doesn't know what card you will end up drawing. If you leave it up to chance like you're supposed to, with you drawing the card and not the DM drawing one for you, the answer should always be noncommittal.

[@midworldcrafting4958]

When we had the deck, the half orc Ranger became a noble and got a keep which the DM infested with an ancient green dragon. The first time the Warlock drew, he got a ton of jewels. The second time, the party was on the verge of a TPK by that ancient green dragon, and the warlock went up two levels and got a magic item: he took Plane Shift and a dark shard amulet, and was able to shift all but one member of the party to his patron's realm in the Shadowfell.

[@crazyscotsman9327]

Deck of many things. DM let us draw at 5th level (depending on who won a card tournament.) The Wizard suddenly became 10th level, 1 wish, and with a staff of power. The warlock had the enmity of a person, and a rewrite their past.

[@ashleyhoughton8592]

I've given my players so much flying at low level in my current campaign.... It's entirely indoors.

[@faxmine]

Watching Monty lose his shit from a snail being chucked into a sphere of annihilation is the best.

[@MitchT97]

Oh boy have I seen my dm in confusion, remorse, and shock as we abused a magic item. It was a wand with a frog on it, a wand of Frog Polymorph with 6 charges. The dm stated it could turn a creature into a frog for a minute or so, but if the creature died as a frog it just straight up died (we think he gave it to us as a fail safe in case he over balanced a encounter). With each use in dire situations a limb of the frog dispersed until only the head and body remained on the wand. We’d used it well and in good situations. Until we decided to split the party. A girl we were trying to save from a Dark Elf, the BBEG’s right hand, was stricken badly with sickness from a bite from the vampiric Dark Elf. My group (3 of us) went to reason out a deal to rescue a werewolf to get the pack on our side as we were building forces to fight a dark lord. Cut back to the old tower we’d hid the girl only our illusion Wizard, Druid goblin, and a npc (a chicken). The Dark Elf showed up at the tower.. with the BBEG of our year long campaign (we’re level 7 at this point and they’re easily CR 19 or higher). Seeing he’s not a match he agrees to their terms of giving them the girl in exchange for his life to our surprise. The Dark Elf follows him and the chicken up to the top of the tower while the goblins waited nervously with the BBEG. Upon entering the single room at the top of the tower the door shuts and the Illusionists plan springs into action as Clucky (the chicken) actually a 4th level Path of the Beast Barbarian attacks along with a suit of enchanted armor the Wizard had found. The next few moments had us all on our feet as they battled, then the Wizard Rosey Smiled “I use the Wand of Frog Polymorph” we’d all forgotten. We’d left it with him. Despite having a legendar resistance the Dark Elf failed both times to save. The enchanted armor made shirt work of him after that. The dm told me later this npc was supposed to have a huge huge role to play in the doing events and we’d done such a crazy thing by taking him out.. but it was hilarious he agreed non the less. Be careful what you give the old drunk illusionist. How he got out of there alive is an even longer story but even funnier.

[@drumlessons833]

DM **maths out damage numbers** Drunk Illusionist: _"Frog!"_

[@leodouskyron5671]

I thought I saw this one before … makes it clear what my Nanowrimo will be this year - Fixing Broken Magic of D&D

[@robertsilvermyst7325]

I did solve the problem of the winged boots in my oneshot. There was a tower where there was a corrupted lighthouse stone that was radiating necrotic energy instead of light. So what I did was once the party arrived at the area, a barrier would go up and trap them. When the flier tried to fly up, their head would hit an invisible barrier at 20 feet up, and the tower stretched to 100 feet. Every floor had its own barrier layer, and you had to destroy the artifact on each floor to dispel that floor's barrier layer. I still had areas within the tower where the boots would be very useful, so it didn't make the flier feel useless to have the boots.

[@RobKinneySouthpaw]

I throw in some flying nuisances to Harry the flyer. If exploration would get broken by a flyover, I'll make it a jungle with canopy, maybe with giant spider webs or bird traps.

[@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar]

In older editions after you declared how many cards you would draw, and you drew those cards the deck vanishes.

[@Hazel-xl8in]

that’s probably a better way of running it to be honest

[@cdknightes]

in AD&D, you had to declare number of cards, and it could only be 1 to 4. The deck was really popular in our games. So much so that a friend made a physical deck in a pouch. Also, back then, you didn't max out at level 20, so gaining a level wasn't that massive an event. It seems if you limited the draw to 4, you wouldn't have game breaking results. The other thing is once someone draws one of the really awful cards, people are a lot less inclined to take that risk.

[@Hesauce]

My game got really upended by the younger brother of the Deck of Many Things, the Bag of Beans. My level 5 players randomly summoned a pyramid with a mummy lord inside, and through clever use of a dust of disappearance, got a fire filled surprise round and broke my game's economy after getting the Mummy's treasure. Oh, and there was still 5 beans to go after that

[@kev_whatev]

Holy shit same! 5th level too

[@ariagrumpy8254]

Players be like: hey DM, what if I start with a luck blade, but, hear me out.... only has one wish left!!!! DM: (O__O) Player: (OvO)👍

[@Vanguard771]

I've been working on my own version of the helm of teleportation to limit its powers while giving players interesting choices. The idea is that the helm can attune to specific locations using detachable horns. Unattuned horns act as charges needed to travel to an attuned location marked by a detached horn. The number of horns is limited however and the wearer know the direction of all detached horns while wearing the helm. The more places attuned the less charges you have to jump around. Players may also find a helm that only has two horns and now you've got a plot hook to send them looking for the rest.

[@mke3053]

Helm of teleportation circle

[@Vanguard771]

@@mke3053 That was the earliest concept along with inspiration from the spell Word of Recall. I ultimately opted to give the players more flexibility

[@PsychedelicSlayer88]

I once gave out a Sphere of Annihilation, but with the caveat was that it was the phylactery of an ancient dracolich

[@pungoblin9377]

How is that a caveat?

[@timob1681]

@@pungoblin9377 maybe they meant, like, it lets the lich out if they use it? or maybe destroying it by using it would alert the dracolich which would then come after them? either way seems stupid to give the party an item they basically can't use.

[@pungoblin9377]

@@timob1681 Oh yeah or like the lich is hunting them down for the orb. But idk it really depends on how confident you are in your players’ collective resourcefulness when deciding if you want to give the item or not, because if they know about the dracolich in the orb, I’m sure some players could get creative with it.

[@lynxfirenze4994]

That... is an even more insanely good phylactery than the Hat of Holding. I love it, how in the hell do you destroy a hole in reality?

[@maid_of_heart3261]

@@lynxfirenze4994 With another, bigger hole

[@gruumy]

Thanks for the helm of teleportation, I am adding that in my next game, when they come to my favorite magic store, which is filled with useless magic items I find or come up with. Now the helm of teleportation will of course only teleport the helmet not the characters,

[@Immudzen]

I had the winged boots in a recent game. It was a lot of fun. However, I was playing a melee character and we were dungeon crawling. We did have a hard cliff to climb down and I was able to use the winged boots to fly down and attach the rope to the wall securely to make it easier for everyone else to get down.

[@whyamievendoingthis...]

The dungeon dudes: talk about how powerful flight is for a whole 7 minutes. Me, running actual dungeons: hm?

[@MsKeylas]

That is also great way to limit flyers. Yes you are flying,but we are heading into dungeon

[@zagzig3734]

Yes that's something they didn't really mention; you can limit flight by literally limiting it's range. Doesn't mean every combat has to be in a 10ft tall room, but just add a ceiling and it'll be needed

[@Leif47]

In TOA we were shopping for magic items and our DM decided to show us the Ring of Three Wishes knowing fully well we couldn't afford it (it was 200k GP). Well he didn't account for our Arcane Trickster Rogue rolling a Nat20 Sleight of Hand check with his invisible mage hand to steal the ring from the glass case and he immediately put it on and wished that anyone who knew about the ring believed he owned it

[@THEPELADOMASTER]

Your DM should've just said the cage was magically protected. A nat 20 doesn't matter when you can't succeed in the first place.

[@iyomatic7866]

fun thing about the wish spell, it gives a creative dm alot of power if the players make a wish the dm doesnt like. your dm could have just teleported him into the future where anyone that knew about the ring was long dead, therefore no-one knew he had it. the official rules of wish allow this.

[@THEPELADOMASTER]

@@iyomatic7866 you're essentially destroying the party if you do that

[@iyomatic7866]

@@THEPELADOMASTER yeah its abit of a dick move, but i was just pointing out that the dm couldve had that wish back fire

[@mke3053]

I'd say you stole a brass copy enchanted to seem like the real ring. An alarm spell give you away and yhe guards, elite rogue that were hidden, appear to fight.

[@TheLogicMouse]

You guys need to get together with Puffin Forest and illustrate the incident of the Deck of Many things in a time loop. That sounds utterly crazy!

[@BrianWalker93]

Kelly channeling the power of pink over there and I am here for it. Fabulous

[@joshuaarnaud993]

I gave a bag of beans too my lvl 4 party, they planted one bean (the1st one used) to create a distraction... they rolled 100... giant beanstalk burst out of the ground, and now I have too create a new area/plane/set of monsters into my sea faring campaign because OF COURSE they want too climb it

[@jessy5241]

Our DM gave us a bag of beans at level 4/5. Naturally, we keep forgetting to use it

[@docmike8601]

I just want to say this has got to be the best D&D channel I have seen on youtube.Keep up the great work.

[@Coyotebriggs]

One homebrew item I always line putting in my games I call "The harp bow" a 3 stringed bow, that doubles as a actual musical instrument bards can use, but still completely fine as just a multi how. Also magic/crazy use arrow are fun to experiment with

[@shanewalker3427]

We had a Deck of Many Things and it went super well. The Barbarian got sucked into the void, the Monk got a wish that they saved and used in the final encounter of the campaign but also got an arch devil enemy, one character lost all their magic items (including the item that helped us get into and supposedly out of the dungeon we were in) but also became a Lord in Sigil, my Bard got rich, and the Cleric stood by judgmentally by not being dumb enough to pull from the deck. It was super fun.

[@tscoff]

I’m running a campaign with an Aarakockra PC and he added a lot of fun to the campaign without taking anything away from it, even at first level. But it’s an ocean based campaign so the challenges that the PCs faced were different than normal.

[@martinhendry2683]

I'm always puzzled by people who find Aarakocra flight problematic: if you want to keep your flier grounded, simply have high winds or heavy hail during your combat encounter. If they're indoors, simply remember how big wings need to be to support an object: an Aarakocra's wingspan is about ten feet, so they're not gonna be able to fly in most corridors. There are loads of ways to allow a flying character and still limit their ability to fly in certain situations

[@DungeonDudes]

Flight is an easy solution to other, non-combat related adventuring problems -- not just tricky to manage in combat. Those problems are interesting and fun, but short-circuited by flight. When players need to choose a spell or use a character ability that's fine, but items like the Winged Boots or innate character traits have such long durations it means that such problems are completely trivialized with no "cost" to the characters resources.

[@randalldoane6708]

Our party had a variant (winged) tiefling. Our DM created a really cool cavern inside a dungeon where the dirt on the floor was filled with poisonous spores. Walking on the ground didn't disturb the spores enough to cause harm but as soon as the tiefling flapped his wings they would whip them up into a poisonous cloud that damaged the whole party. It was a really cool way to keep him grounded while we worked out how to get out of the cavern using more traditional means.

[@martinhendry2683]

@@DungeonDudes This is broadly true: I'm not saying that you're wrong about having to adjust your adventure designs in non-combat scenarios. I think you're correct to suggest not giving out winged boots at low levels, but with Aarakocra you can limit their ability to bypass your non-combat encounters by being strict about flight weight and real-world physics. Real birds can't fly, or fly very poorly, if they are carrying too much weight and if we simply apply that to an Aarakocra then you have a way of dealing with a lot of problems presented by their level one flying speed. Sure, you can carry all those weapons around when you're on foot, but you'll have to dump your pack in order to fly. Sure, you can fly up to that ledge, but to carry enough rope for the rest of the party to climb up there as well will require a couple of passed athletics checks to take off, weather a gust of wind while off-balance from 20lbs of rope and then land. There are some problems that it can simply bypass, this is true, such as situations in which you've got to steal a small, powerful magic item from a high tower, but as long as you know in advance that you've got a flying character then you can just deemphasise the encounter design inside the tower because of the likelihood of the flier simply grabbing the thing. You could also allow unlimited flight, but emphasise that the hollow bones of Aarakocra are fragile as hell and that if they take damage or fail athletics/acrobatics checks to land then their wings may get broken and be nonfunctional until they get healed, which may be a large enough gap to take substantial falling damage. To summarise: I agree that you need to be very careful with magical flight, but I think the habit many people have of banning Aarakocra or artificially hampering their flight abilities for artificial reasons at low levels is not the best way to do it: there are plenty of sensible, in-universe ways to hamper winged flight, if you have a bit of a think. I will admit, however, that many people may not think of these sorts of things and that banning or artificially hampering are easier solutions to the problem of winged flight.

[@THEPELADOMASTER]

It'd be really fucking weird if every time there's a fight it was always super windy or raining or some stupid random effect that doesn't let me use one of my race abilities. Why the hell did you let me pick that race if you're not gonna let me play it? Just tell me no from the beginning.

[@martinhendry2683]

@@THEPELADOMASTER I never said anything about doing it every time, but I do encourage using it occasionally in crucial situations in which it is the DM's solution to the problem of "how do I make sure the party doesn't autobypass this encounter?"

[@RavingNutter]

My Battle Master, Sharpshooter, Crossbow Expert player has been begging me for months for winged boots and I finally caved and added them to the game...... in the room before the final fight with the BBEG.

[@THEPELADOMASTER]

Give them one boot. The other one is missing

[@xenomaniac4875]

deliciously evil

[@DSlyde]

The deck of many things is definitely a campaign ender but our DM figured that only matters if there is already a campaign. She had us draw from the deck as the opening scene, and the party played the survivors of the drawing with plot hooks based on the cards we drew. The only time Ive seen an honest DoMT work and an absolutely amazing campaign

[@TheRealMuckluck]

What inspires me the most about about the Dungeon Dudes videos and guides isn't the advice (which is great), the ideas (which are creative), or the presentation (which is engaging). No, what inspires me most is the clear and unbreakable bond of friendship through which we get to see it all. The connection between two people who quite obviously have their differences and diverging opinions, but who have turned that into a tool for learning, growing, and finding new ways to appreciate and engage with something they are both passionate about. A bond that is both admirable, and a bit enviable. And then, as luck or fate would have it, we get to share in that connection, as well as so many of the wonderful things it has led to. Salut, you beautiful bas-... behemoths.

[@SquIDGAmiG62]

A helm of teleportation on a Warforged or integrated into 'Acane Armour' so it could not be removed against the users will. Well that is an interesting concept

[@MartinRouge]

Winged boots are made available too early, especially compared to the very next item in the DMG that also provides flight, but only for one hour, and is a rare item. It could be argued that the speed makes a difference, but I'd argue that four hours vs one hour balances it out. It should be a rare item, just like the wings of flying.

[@Blck0Knght]

I think the balance theory of Sphere of Annihilation is that the PCs will never have exclusive control of it (unless you give them an Amulet of the Sphere to go along with it, in which case you get what you deserve). Every time the PCs want to move the sphere, they must succeed on a DC 25 Arcana check, which even a specialized character is going to struggle to do consistently. Whenever they fail, it moves towards them instead of in the direction they would have chosen (which I suppose does let them slowly tow it along behind them, if they want). Even if they can maneuver it into the BBEG's lair, an NPC can try to take it over at any time, either to hinder its use by the PCs, or to use it against them!

[@tehvvisard]

As a DM I really like the idea of "Deck of some things" as a device to give players magic items or just normal things. It's not as dangerous as the Deck of many things just a bit more normal. Like a greater healing potion, or what ever you want your players to have. One curse item i like to include is something flying but it has limited use but the players don't know this/needs an investigation check to realise. Ether it suddenly stops working, or speed or carry capacity goes down. Up to you

[@charlesmwolf]

Flying characters are often nerfed because a DM forgets to account for a flying character? Towers do not necessarily have any points of access at said top of the tower for flying character to enter through. Flying characters are easy targets for ranged attacks Flight would naturally be effected by strong air enviromental effects, even magical flight. flying characters are often vulnerable to many other aspects that you as a DM honestly be preparing for the moment your players bring up any character with flight, rather then attempting to nerf them or argue that their flight ability would not come 'online' until a later level. I find its more interesting to give those players a challenge all their own they can choose to attempt to overcome, rather then just telling them no. I mean Magical Flight can easily come into play on quite a few casters by level 5, so thats a fraction of your game that 'might' not have flight, I really do not see why so many people have such an issue with a flight mechanic making others feel inadequate, yet will often also be advocates for rolling for stats, which can easily have a much more detrimental effect on a parties play style when one player happens to roll exceptionally well and can do everything. where another rolls poorly and struggles to maintain their class properly.

[@bjcwoneumann]

Think of the ecology of the world. Real flying threats are something that every village has had to contend with (human, orc, goblin, etc). Flying party members are just one more survival threat for the world to deal with. Ergo, it won't be metagaming for the DM to trot out a very reasonable response.

[@thebranchyboi]

I'm definitely putting a dragon ball in my level three dungeon. The characters won't have a clue what it is, but the players will be instantly intrigued.

[@joshshell8131]

For any new players, a really fun class/race combo is a Firbolg Druid! I am building mine right now, but I'm wondering what skills are good for it. Love this channel!!

[@freakyleaky1077]

I personally think the best way to go about flying boots is to make them rare. Best way to go about Birds, reduced fly speed. I hate the idea of "you can't do that because it's too good"

[@Fraanciscoq]

I would love to see a whole video about the Wish spell

[@fuzzygreentiger]

Is that your wish?

[@bobbylamb2136]

On crazy super powered wish I grant them the items. But the easiest way means the real owners know who has their items and will be coming to get them back.

[@carsonrush3352]

Here's my take on which magic items are appropriate to give to a party. First of all, magic items that cast spells are in a class all by themselves and need to be considered separately. For everything else, they roughly fall into a direct comparison between rarity and the level of a spell of similar strength. However, you have to use the rarities listed inside of xanathar's guide to everything. Only award magic items that are the same strength as spells that you would allow players of that level to use. Minor uncommon = 1st or 2nd level spell Major uncommon (no attunement) = lvl 3 Major uncommon (attunement) = lvl 4 Minor rare = 5th level spell Major rare (no attunement) = lvl 6 Major rare (attunement required) = lvl 6 Minor very rare = 7th level spell Major very rare (no attunement) = lvl 8 Major very rare (attunement required) = lvl 9 You also need to be careful with items that grant several charges or that have effects that can backfire on users, as these tend to be extra powerful (ex: banishment via bag of holding). Lastly, magic items that cast spells can be safely handed out under the following guidelines: Wands- the level of the spell cast should not exceed 1/5 the level of the character (rounded up). Typical number of charges is 1+1d6. These should be given out sparingly, and should replace two magic items of the same level strength as the wand's spell. A level 3 wand replaces 2 rare items that you would award to the party. Staffs- the maximum level of spell in a staff should be 1/3 the character's level (rounded down) and have a number of prepared spells not exceeding 1+the max spell's level. The number of charges "shouldn't" be able to cast the largest spell more than once. Ex: a staff with level 3 or lower spells shouldn't have more than 4 spells in it, and shouldn't have more than 7 charges. This also replaces 2 magic items of the same strength as the maximum spell level. Consumable casters- scrolls and potions are pretty safe to hand out. Due to the single use nature of them, players might save them for the "right moment" and never end up using them. If you really want a guideline for this one, keep the max spell level of your scrolls to 1/3 the character level (rounded up). Lastly, for any spell casting item that can be used by a character that isn't a spell caster, cut the max spell level in half. For items that mass produce one spell (like a wand), this lowers from 1/5 (rounded up) their character level to 1/10 (rounded up). For items that produce a variety of effects (like a staff), this lowers from 1/3 their character level to 1/6. For consumable items like potions, the spell ends up being 1/6 their level (rounded up). And now you know my short rules for awarding magic items. For quantities awarded, just follow xanathar's guide. It's quite good.

[@yirtly2948]

SO something I did with the Deck of Many Things is that I gave it to my players around level 5, but there were only two cards left. The NPC that gave it to them told them the horrific and wonderful things that happened to his 4 friends, but he didn't want to take the risk. My players then had a mini-quest where they talked to people in towns across the continent to discover which two cards were left and if it was worth drawing from the deck. Some players might just wing it, but you have control over the two cards. My players were a bit more methodical about it. Made for a lot of NPC tours and learning a lot about the lore and such in my game without it feeling forced.

[@hydrophiliak]

I really want to see what happens to a party if you give them one flying boot.

[@theonlymatthew.l]

🤣

[@curtistic5724]

Or two left flying boots...

[@theonlymatthew.l]

@@curtistic5724 But you could solve that in any village with a decent cobbler...😋

[@curtistic5724]

@@theonlymatthew.l but fixing that turns them into upside-down flying boots...

[@Demonspell]

I don't think a cobbler would touch the boots. Too high of a risk of causing them to lose their magical ability.

[@ljmiller96]

IMHO Helm of Teleportation is intended to be a fast travel item, not an escape from trouble item. A group in combat will be moving around, some will be laying on the floor half dead, and they certainly won't be holding hands or standing in a close circle while the helm wearer activates the enchantment. I'd rule that everyone needs to hold hands for a minute for the teleport to include them.

[@Hazel-xl8in]

you could certainly rule that, but it wouldn’t be the magic item as presented

[@jasongarman]

That's a house rule though, and it still only deals with its use in combat. The helm is still a powerful get-out-of-trouble button for when the party wants to take a rest in a dangerous location. It removes any tension like "We have to push through this dungeon to the end, even though we're hurt, because we can't go back" or "We need to rest, but this whole place is crawling with enemies. How do we secure this room against attack for the next 8 hours?". The helm is an easy win button out of situations like these, because you just teleport home and have a nice rest in your beds before teleporting back to the dungeon. It's a fine item for high-level play, but it can invalidate a lot of low-level style conflicts.

[@Dr-Lex]

Or more easily, if they are attempting to use it to score a free long rest then return to the dungeon tomorrow, up the count of *all* the enemies & put them on high alert. They just made a racket and disappeared, and there is no reason the enemies won't be preparing for their return.

[@ljmiller96]

@@jasongarman It's no better for taking a long rest than Leomund's Tiny Hut or Rope Trick, both quite low level spells.

[@Valandar2]

I've had a DoMT in a campaign, where we had reached a point in the game where we were powerful, but not strong enough to face he Big Bad. Everyone got two draws... and nobody died, got their soul trapped, or the like. We got VERY lucky. ALSO... if the DoMT is created by a Trickster God, who says the cards are the same in every deck. Don't stack the deck by literally stacking the deck, stack it by removing the cards that you don't want to happen, and add some in that are similar in malevolence / benevolence, but better fit your campaign.

[@Twosocks42]

I ran a Curse of Strahd campaign with some added content, including loot. The group found a pair of boots of flying and immediately gave them to the Ranger archer. I wouldn't go so far as to say it broke the game, but man it made things much more challenging on my end. With another group I run, I once rolled that they found a Helm of Teleporation in a boss's loot. They are level 9. I decided that this is too powerful but came up with a creative solution instead. I made it a helm that can only teleport to teleportation circles (the group has a wizard who has gone out of his way to memorize those he has encountered) and it recharges weekly, not daily. The group still loved the item and have made use of it for getting to places faster without having to go on foot. They have not used it as a "jail out of free card" so much as a way to cut down travel times and avoid random encounters.

[@mattmitchell9702]

My DM normally has a wish from a spell a lot more limiting in what it can do compared to a wish from a genie or similar creature. And he always makes us write down what our wish is, so he can twist them based on our wording. It has backfired on us so much we are really hesitant to make a wish.

[@erichall090909]

While on one hand that is cool it also feels really bad to get something so awesome as a wish but it not really help at all

[@mattmitchell9702]

@@erichall090909 our campaigns never make it to high enough level for us to get the wish spell, so when we get a chance to make one we carefully try to word it to get what we want and need with the dm as much as possible. But it is always interesting.

[@diversezebra6754]

10 years ago, I wrote a 4 page 'contract' to describe my wish and define the specifics of what my Wizard was wishing for.

[@pattyofurniture694]

@@diversezebra6754 that wizard sounds like an awesome character

[@diversezebra6754]

@@pattyofurniture694 He fumbled over his words and could barely talk (because his mind ran too fast for his mouth to keep up with), resulting in him stumbling into gibberish. So the effrit gave him a day to think it over... that was a mistake. lol

[@bjcwoneumann]

Ooo how about the first time a targeted dispel magic is cast on the flying characters boots by the guards war mage on shift.

[@ChrisCox-wv7oo]

Dispel Magic doesn't affect magic items permanent effects,just spells cast through them

[@bjcwoneumann]

@@ChrisCox-wv7oo dispels the affect. Doesn't matter if it's not permanently turned off of you've already hit the ground.

[@ChrisCox-wv7oo]

@@bjcwoneumann "Choose one creature, object, or magical effect within range. Any spell of 3rd level or lower on the target ends." Winged Boots effect are not a spell. They give a fly speed. They do not cast Fly on the owner. You could disable the boots with an Antimagic Field (level 8 spell) though. "Within the sphere, spells can't be cast, summoned creatures disappear, and even magic items become mundane."

[@bjcwoneumann]

@@ChrisCox-wv7oo Read the description of the Fly spell. The key is: "The target gains a flying speed of...". Same description (although the speed is less for the boots). Ergo, the boots are a magical effect mimicking the fly spell, hence able to be shut down by the dispel magic effect.

[@bjcwoneumann]

not permanently shut down...but it doesn't need to be permanent. Just long enough for the flyer to hit the ground.

[@Defofone]

Our DM gave us the ability to choose loot after finishing a campaign as we moved into a custom campaign for lvl 13+. Helm of teleportation and winged boots were on the loot list and our party now has a flying cleric and free teleports.

[@herthxx]

As a DM for someone playing the Avariel Elf UA subrace, I find that the ultimate solution to wings is putting your combat encounters inside.

[@RoncoRaptor]

My aaracokra had broken wings until lvl 6 when I made a deal with a hag to heal them and lost 3 wisdom

[@willmena96]

We all know the most broken item: Staff of True Strike. Okay, now I have to make it as a joke in my next session

[@jordanhansen5934]

You should hear about Puffin Forest's defective Sword of Warning. Instead of the usual effects it says "something bad might happen today" and then when something does happen it calls out "I warned you!"

[@willmena96]

@@jordanhansen5934 lol *takes notes *

[@Armphid]

Slippers of Spider Climb - I was playing in a game where we got these (only one pair) but it completely changed the danger of gaps in caves/dungeons as someone could just walk along the walls or ceiling with a few ropes and make a rope bridge. It didn't break the game, but it required the GM to have to re-think some of the puzzles/dungeons that they had planned.

[@MrSauce-tw6lm]

I am currently making a transformers plot line set on cybertron. It is taking a lot of time to come up with all the items, enemies, and class modifications. None of the magic items in this video even get close to the requiem blaster. TF fans who have seen POTP know what I am talking about. FYI, it does 10d10 times 10,000 damage in a 2000mi wide beam. It literally carves holes in entire planets! However, it is essentially an endgame plot device.

[@benjamintalbert4473]

Love the pink

[@mitchc6059]

In a campaign years ago ,I was playing a bard and the party came across a deck of many things. My roll to identify it was successful. I convinced the rest of the party not only to not draw any cards ,but destroy it lol.

[@gatchagreed]

i remember when, in the middle of a three year long campaign, my dm gave a chaotic player the deck of many things, and accidentally gave me a three charge luck blade, and the rest of the campaign was spent with players being afraid of the deck, and the dm being afraid of the sword, it was truly wonderful.

[@gigamaster001]

For the Wish spell, I would say "You have expended a wish," explain nothing happened, and then not explain that part when my players asked why. They would then have to figure out WHY it didn't work on their own, or if it did actually happen but nowhere they could observe. That usually made the hesitant to use it.

[@erichall090909]

Why not just not give them the wish

[@thegreatgabe6943]

I kinda think giving the Wing boots to a player at 5 or 6th level is ok because spell casters can get fly at 5th

[@ericsimmons6365]

Difference here is fly is concentration up to 10 minutes and a 3rd level spell slot.Wing boots are flying around 4 hours using no spell slots and no reason to worry about losing concentration.

[@Nstanier]

Huuuuuge difference. The spell uses a 3rd level spellslot, takes concentration and lasts 10 minutes. At level 6, you can cast this 3 times a day and then not have any other 3rd level spellslots left. The winged boots last for 4 hours a day and can basically be used at will. At best the Fly spell may break 3 or 4 encounters. The winged boots can break every encounter in a game day. Also huge risk when you have a combat scenario with someone flying around up 200ft in the air, if a monster hits the wizard and concentration drops, they guy flying around is taking 20d6 damage.

[@harrypriester9258]

Sick viddd

[@greenhawk3796]

lul wut? Did you speed run this? Lol

[@willmena96]

@@greenhawk3796 He casted Haste

[@greenhawk3796]

@@willmena96 and now he's napping it off lol

[@adwenger0066]

I ran the deck of many things once at my table on a session that was a bit of a lull. One player (who was the lowest in the party) leveled up and got a level 5 companion. One player (who was the highest in the party) leveled up, and then got Donjonned on his final card. One player immediately got Voided. And the final player immediately got Voided (but we retconned). It lead to a new overarching quest to find those missing players. I then brought back the deck, but called it the Deck of Not So Many Things for the new players who joined my campaign. They had the option to draw one card each. One got the Flames, but then they convinced an NPC to draw from the deck and got Fate and undid that player's draw (purely by coincidence). Another time it came up, and the player got the Key. I rolled for magic look. First rolled a 20... which triggered a reroll... Which was followed up by another 20.... That player got an artifact. Guess I just have luck when running the Deck? (Also, I drew 7 cards in another campaign. Lost about 30 scrolls, but gained a level, 50,000gp, and got to 22 INT with my Wizard.)

[@ryn2844]

My dm got us a bag of devouring at like lvl five. It was supposed to be a joke item because it looks like a bag of holding, which we had really wanted, so she was hoping that we'd think it was a bag of holding and it'd fuck us up. Well we didn't fall for it. We wanted to turn the bag into one of those butterfly nets on a stick so we could wield it as a weapon, but (surprisingly, lol) she wouldn't allow it to be used as a weapon of any kind, so now we only get to use it as a vacuum cleaner for all the dead bodies we have to quickly hide on stealth missions. It is still very useful. Also those flying skulls that throw fireballs at you and regenerate within an hour, yeah, bag of devouring takes care of that regeneration really quickly.

[@RJeremyHoward]

Winged Boots - Enemies should have ranged options, same as the party. But yes, should be Rare. HoT - Single use Teleportations or treat it like a teleport ring of spell storing (spell levels dump to recharge). But, yeah, should be Very Rare or Legendary, for sure. Sphere of Annihilation - broke AF. Must be on purpose. Wish - Not. That. Bad.

[@DarrylCross]

I'd also add that because the wish spell takes 1 Action to cast, the clauses of the wish should be what can reasonably be said within a 6-second (1 round) timeframe; the average speaking rate is about 150 words per minute, and 1 turn is about 6 seconds so that should give them around 15 words to state their wish. I wouldn't be too much of a stickler for it if they go a little bit over that, but If they come to the table with a carefully worded document detailing clauses and defining terms so that it can't be monkey pawed in any way, just throw it in the trash bin and set it on fire in front of them and tell them "There's no way you said all that before the spell went off. The Wish fails."

[@RyanTreadaway]

I chose Conjure Animals as one of my level 6 magical secrets. (My DM ruled that I can choose what I conjure as long as it's something I'm familiar with.) We've been using conjure animals to fly on giant owls ever since level 6. It isn't game-breaking because there are flying enemies and I also have to maintain concentration. You could homebrew winged boots to say that you have to concentrate on them. It's still super powerful because you're getting the fly spell, at will, for free but not game-breaking. If you wanted to be generous, you could say you can concentrate on the boots and on another spell.

[@nightflame69]

I remember in 3.5, the adventure path the age of worms. One of the ways to kill the final boss was to use a sphere of annialation. And it killed kysus within 2-3 rounds

[@gamernick1533]

In my games I generally only allow flight if it comes from a class ability. If a party member were to be absolutely desperate to gain the ability to fly, I may lay out a quest line that will allow them to track something down that allows them to do that, but they need to have the rest of the party on board and I will, out of game, have the 'star player' conversation. As awesome as it sounds that your party will no longer be challenged by walls etc, it means that you'll effectively almost never see those kinds of challenges put into the game anyway as it's something that is assumed to be unchallenging and unworthy of wasting game time on. If the party knows this and is willing to go along with this then sure, let's go track something down. Flying players should also expect that a lot of combats will start including unbalanced encounters, things that negate the advantage (the local cult have started twisting the local hobgoblins with extra limbs.. some can even fly...) or combats taking place in halls with low ceilings. Something that *does* work well for flying is limited use flight, potions, scrolls or even better... a magic item that is on its last legs, it could, at any time just give out on you and the more you use it, the more likely this becomes e.g. a broom of flying that has a 90% success rate, this drops by 10% per use. This way the owner isn't just going to go zip zip up into the air at the first sign of danger, or if they do they won't be doing it for too long. Generally, players will covet these uses and have them saved for cinematic and very rainy day purposes. Spider climb is almost as functional, whilst having some very interesting game design potential with it...

[@Vararx]

Regarding the Deck of many things: I once gave my Wild West bad boy party the option to draw from the deck after beating a Devil in a Poker match. Everybody participating could draw up to three cards, then that is it. We had so much fun that day. Our Bard got a nine lives stealer Pistol and proceeded to instakill his avatar of death, he described it as making a minor illusion of a gravestone with the inscription "the reaper" distracting the avatar then shooting him, it was fucking glorious.

[@grechy5685]

I gave my dwarf paladin some noisey steel winged boots. Made of old rusted metal. He’s got a 25% chance at the end of his turns that the boots will fail. It’s been an absolute blast of an item to have on the table. Will definitely be taking it into later campaigns

[@EtzEchad]

I once was in a game that had an item called a "Charge of Nova." Rumor had it that if anyone ever used it, the sun would go Nova and the GM would take out all the paper that defined the game and rip it up in front of the players. The GM was the kind of guy who would definitely go through with such a threat. Nobody ever triggered it. Oh, BTW, it was a pretty common item. We had several of them. :)

[@MassMoment]

This is a really great discussion. Although, I feel with a few tweaks, these magic items aren't so bad to introduce to the party. One possibility is to give them to a super low level party, with the intention of keeping the party a lower levels for longer. That keeps them vulnerable while still having a clutch item. Another is to curse the magic items -- have the Helm of Teleportation, for instance, draw on the soul of the wearer, such that the helm will eventually extinguish the wearer's soul if used too much. Just spitballing here.

[@nerdlydelicious1876]

In the first campaign with my current group I was playing a Zealot Barbarian. At level 6 or 7 he got his hands on the boots of flying (don’t remember how). Imagine, if you will, a murderous rage machine wielding a great sword with a ‘purge the wicked’ mindset suddenly receiving a three dimensional threat range. No chromatic dragon was safe from his wrath.

[@Fairfieldfencer]

In regards to the flying problem (specifically for Aarakocra), I would implement a House Rule similar to a Concentration Check that works like this: If you are currently flying and take damage, you must make a Constitution Check and roll above half the damage taken or 10, whichever is higher. On a failure, you drop out of the air and must roll a Dexterity Saving Throw to see if you take full damage or half damage from falling. The DC is DC 8 + 1 for every 10ft off the ground the player is, so 13 for 50ft or 18 for 100ft for examples. This means Flying has more of a risk factor involved in it and will require the player to think more carefully about using that power or else risk succumbing to fall damage.

[@zozeph1212]

I would add the cube of force, press the 3rd side (no living matter could pass through the field) and no one can touch you. I had a PC steal someone's necklace, activate this and calmly walk away as no one could stop him.

[@jasongarman]

I've used the Deck of Many Things to good effect before. The trick in my campaign was that I gave it to the party right at the end of a big campaign arc, in the hoard of the defeated big boss. Any PCs who ended up dead or imprisoned on a different plane, etc. could just be replaced by different PCs as we started the next part of the campaign. The Deck is fun because it's so ludicrous and imbalancing. One of my PCs got a follower, one got a demon that wanted them dead, one became enormously wealthy. I was able to work these into the campaign pretty easily because it was the start of a new arc, but if it had been in the middle of the action it would have been much more disruptive.

[@gamester512]

Another way to possibly handle items that grant wishes would be to award such items but indicate that such items only have *one* wish remaining and that the wishes *will not* be replenished (so once all of the wishes are used, the item can no longer grant wishes ever again), and put some real emphasis on just how powerful wishes can really be, and that items that allow wishes are going to be incredibly rare (and perhaps even imply that you *will not* give them another wish-granting item for the rest of the campaign). If the players are aware that their wish-granting item is exceptionally rare, and only has a finite number of wishes that it can grant to them, they will more than likely try to conserve said wish(es) for a situation where they absolutely *need* to use that wish. And even then, as you guys already mentioned, a wish is easier to manage than a Sphere of Annihilation or a Deck of Many Things, since the DM gets to interpret with wish however they want and decide if a given wish is possible.

[@thomasjenkin26]

If running a tower climb adventure and worried about the party just flying up, remember; - the only "safe" entrance is at the bottom, or the basement - Everything above the ground floor has been bordered up shut by fire-proof materials - there are magical force fields - there are trained guards and/or automated defences with super long range capabilities. - There's a bloody hostile horde of huge flying creatures descending upon the party and the only way to escape the horde is to either flee or take cover inside the ground floor of the tower. - the owner of this tower is a Megalomaniac.

[@muddlewait8844]

I’ve used a Deck once - in a nighttime outdoor session in a big tent in a friend’s backyard - and it went *great*. The cumulative outcome of all draws (thanks to the Fates card) were two Wishes and the party Anti-Paladin with a -3 Charisma - back in AD&D days when negative Charisma was a thing - gaining 18 Charisma and a small keep. (Luckily, you needed either a negative charisma or a 17+ Charisma to be an Anti-Paladin.) So a deformed, barely-human slathering spawn of evil was instantly transformed into a seductive dark landlord. I said the keep was on the other side of the continent. The guy who got the Wishes used them to 1) teleport the party to the keep and 2) because of various recent in-game events, to Wish that he and his companions didn’t smell so bad. Time, space and reality bent themselves to the dictates of the Deck and of almighty Chance, and thenceforth no power in the universe could make those guys smell worse than “fine”. When something awful happened, the party’s rallying cry became “But we don’t smell!” And it was true. The whole campaign shifted to a new location around the keep, and it worked out really well. We actually had more of the campaign that happened *after* the Deck than before! Man, that was a good game.