# Minor Items
# Accurate measuring spoons
A set of small measuring spoons, labeled things like “a pinch”, “a dash”, and “a smidgen”. When used for cooking that requires following a recipe, they make food taste better. When used for ritual magic that requires following a recipe or resembles cooking, they give a +1 bonus.
Story Hook: Which well-known magical cook wants these spoons back, and what will the cook do to get them from the adventurers?
# Acorn necklace
Makes foraging in the wilderness easier. Probably worth a +1 to a skill check now and again.
# Amber comb
A comb carved out of amber, inscribed with curved knot-work. The comb makes hair shiny and helps it grow faster. The more that it is brushed, the faster the hair grows.
# Animated teeth
Chattering false teeth, these jigger and jump around on the floor and bite at the ankles of anybody who gets too close. The teeth are sneaky and like to lie silently in wait inside packs for unsuspecting fingers.
# Baby blanket
A small well-loved blanket, rubbing calms and relaxes the user. This was previously part of a noble’s baby blanket.
Story Hook: Though the pattern is threadbare, it is discernible. Is it worth trying to take back to its original family?
# Batwing backpack
Made from a demon’s wing-leather, anything placed inside the backpack is invisible to servants of Archdemons.
Story Hook: Who would want to hide things from an Archdemon? What would they do to get a backpack?
# Bearded skull
An orc skull, except that it has a long calcified beard. Kissing the skull on the mouth will make toothaches go away (the skull’s beard grows longer with each toothache it cures).
# Bone door-chime
Small bones suspended from a longer bone by sinew-strings. When placed near a door, the noise of the bones knocking together often manages to sound out the name of the person using the door. (It’s easier to understand if you’re a necromancer or are closely tied to a lich.)
Story Hook: One full recovery the bones say your name and the door opens, but you’re already in the room.
# Book with faded heraldic device on the cover
A ledger book for tracking purchases and expenditures, it always comes up with minor accounting errors in your favor. If you knew the location of the matching ledger book, probably in a bank somewhere, you could take advantage of those errors each time you visited. But for now, it’s simply a curiosity.
# Broken clay tablet
Covered in angular symbols and broken into two pieces, when fitted together it gets twice as heavy. It probably does other things as well, but until then, it makes a great door-stop.
# Butter knife
This dull knife butters anything that it is touched to—useful for buttering bread, or, if you’re super desperate or intent on vandalism, for making a floor slippery.
# Carved pipe
This pipe is carved to resemble the head of a dwarf, and the first time the pipe is smoked each full recovery, the pipe smoke billows toward the nearest gold. Useless for finding treasure if the smoker of the pipe is carrying gold coins already.
# Chainmail sock puppet
Jokes told via the sock puppet are better received by the audience than the joke might otherwise be, especially if the audience are soldiers.
# Crab-shaped belt buckle
An ornate silver buckle. Its minor magic ensures that you can find shelter, though always in unusual places.
Story Hook: Bivouacking in a cave one stormy night, you are joined by two others, both with crab-shaped buckles as well. Coincidence, or not?
# Cut crystal apple
The apple isn’t a gem, merely magically hardened cut glass. Written material viewed through the glass is translated into the viewer’s native language (unless it is magically obscured writing). It’s mostly accurate, except for anything to do with food.
# Double-ended wax seal
Seal an envelope with melted wax using one end and pour an identical wax blob and stamp it with the other side of seal. When one seal is broken (like when the envelope is opened) the other seal (that you keep) will break as well.
# Dragon mask
This enchanted face-covering allows the wearer to enter an extra-dimensional egg while sleeping. The nutrients absorbed while inside the egg give the mask-wearer sustenance for several days. The downside of resting inside an egg is that you are largely unaware of what is going on outside the egg (and you emerge covered in yolk).
# Dragon-breath tankard
This enchanted wooden tankard is carved to resemble a dragon’s head. If you drink enough strong drink from the tankard you can breathe out fire (works exactly like a once-per-battle dragonic breath weapon). The downside is that the amount of enchanted dragonmead you need to drink gives you a -2 penalty to all skill rolls and attack rolls.
# Dragon-scale needlecase
A slender needlecase, fashioned out of a dragon-scale and incised with runes and other mystic symbols. Needles stored within this case can perform many basic sewing functions on their own, from darning and repairing ripped clothing to embroidery. Thread and fabric must be made available, or they will use any materials left around –including taking apart one perfectly-fine garment to repair another.
# Dreamy scarf
This scarf magically embroiders itself with the last dream of the wearer.
Story Hook: Found around the neck of a murdered cleric, does her last dream have any clues to solve her death?
# Elegant leather shoes
These leather shoes mold to the wearer’s foot and give perfect grip on any walk-able surface—don’t slip in mud, never let a wobbly cobblestone slow you down. These aren’t as magical as boots that are true magic items, but are probably good for an occasional +1 on a skill check until your magic boots arrive.
# Falconer’s leather glove
Whistle loudly while wearing the glove and the nearest bird will land on it. Just don’t use it around a phoenix—the magic of the glove will protect it but not you should the phoenix combust.
# Feller’s axe
This metal-hafted axe hatchet glows green and sings a dwarven war song when in the presence of plant monsters. The axe shuts up only if you pour strong drink over it.
# Festive poncho
This poncho is made of cloth woven in exciting colors. The poncho’s magic makes people want to be seen with you—they’ll buy you a drink to sit next to you at the bar, hold doors open for you to linger in your presence.
Story Hook: What happens if you meet another person wearing a festive poncho? Do their magics combine or come into conflict?
# Formal dress
This garment causes everybody to address you formally and politely.
# Fur pouch
When you are hungry and reach into this pouch it always contains a handful of something edible—sometimes nuts, sometimes berries, and sometimes it’s a handful of worms. Doesn’t work for more than one person, and not if you’re not hungry.
# Grabbing mirror
A large mirror in an ornate frame. When people pass too closely, hands appear out of the glass and attempt to grab, slap, or caress the person. Why some people are treated harshly and some are treated tenderly is unknown.
# Incised rolling-pin
Cut with the backward images of mystic sigils, when used to roll out baked goods (pie crusts, cookies, etc) the images make the correct impression, imbuing the baked goods with magic. The magic of the pies is pretty random—one pie might levitate, another might glow, another might release blackbirds when cut open.
Story Hook: The rolling pin itself must be stored carefully—the backwards symbols have power too. What strange powers might a carelessly stored rolling pin unleash?
# Indescribable ordinary object
This object is incapable of being described with words or gestures, despite the fact that it is all respects ordinary. Useful for winning bets in taverns or momentarily confusing city guards.
# Lattice-work lantern
When held in the hand, the lantern allows the bearer to see and hear ghosts in the area. Partly because even non-ghosts appear to the bearer to be ghosts.
# Leather belt-pouch
Has bread inside it, at least several small rolls per full recovery. Not great quality bread, but certainly quantity bread.
# Leather-wrapped glass bottle
Water drunk from this bottle helps relieve hunger pains (it doesn’t solve problems related to not eating such as weakness, etc). Water poured from this bottle glows brightly for an hour or two.
# Mildly-cursed rat skull
This sigil-inscribed skull groans softly, whispers mildly unsettling things, and causes small insects to die. Useful for keeping your home flea-free.
# Miniature tavern sign
Originally made to aid bootleggers navigating the sewers to their next drop-off point. This small coin-sized object transforms into the likeness of the signage of the nearest drinking establishment and glows brighter the closer one gets.
Story Hook: OK, OK, the Prince actually stole it from the Dwarf King. What are you going to do about it, beardo?
# Nautilus shell
When held to the ear, this shell produces a stream of sea-water. Useful if you need water, and don’t mind a wet ear. The shell usually makes a keening sound when near demons.
Story Hook: What is the connection between seawater and demon-detection that caused this item to be made in the first place?
# Plumb line
Anything architectural that is measured with this tool becomes slightly straighter.
Story Hook: The Architect’s Guild will pay handsomely for this item – the rumor is they want it destroyed. Why?
# Ring of fire
Any food handled by the wearer becomes very spicy. The side-effect is that the wearer’s scent is unpleasant to animals that track by scent.
# Seasoned fork
A weathered wooden utensil with manyteeth marks upon it, the magic of the fork makes anyfood eaten with it twice as tasty (and twice as fattening).Story hook—This fork could be found in the possessionof a tavern con-man, taking bets as to who can eat themost disgusting things.
# Semi-blessed saddle
Mounts with this saddle on them become capable of eloquent speech—though the magic saddle grants nether tact, nor increased intelligence. Now you get to hear exactly what your mount thinks about being ridden, hear its advice on the best grass to sleep on, and enjoy its musings on its last bowel movement.
# Serpentine ribbon
A long embroidered ribbon—when tied, braided, or wrapped into wet hair, it dries the hair near-instantly. The ribbon has a tendency to animate like a snake (or possibly a dragon’s tail) at odd moments.
# Sewing snips
Dainty sewing scissors, shaped like an elegant bird— the beak the cutting edges, the feet the handles. They can cut through almost anything, but take only the tiniest of nips, so doing anything useful may take some time.
# Shell notebook
The covers of the book are large cockle shells and the pages made of processed seaweed taken from the Iron Sea. The paper never disintegrates and the ink never runs. The first half of the notebook is full of the notes of a blue sorcerer.
# Silver key
This key opens any adventurer-tier environment door, provided that it isn’t magically locked. However, each use of the magic key causes some of the user’s money to disappear—an amount equal to whatever it would cost to hire a locksmith to unlock the door, bribe a key-holder, or hire a brute to smash the door down.
# Skeleton key
When inserted into a lock (or tapped against a door), it summons a skeleton to open the door and step through it, holding it open for others. Only one skeletal doorman can be summoned each full recovery, and it will be reluctant or unable to stray far from the door it was summoned to.
# Small pocket knife
This magically dull knife cannot be sharpened. Other blades kept near the knife actually get sharper.
# Sparrow crown
A pewter crown, each of the glass ‘jewels’ of the crown is in a bird-shaped setting. Wearing the crown allows you to glide regally approximately 1 inch above the ground. If there is more than one of these in your world, they might have been made for official processions and parades, therefore coming with additional features such as fanfares of music, firework displays, or glowing halos. A bit dangerous in dungeon settings . . . .
# Spectacular spectacles
This outrageous looking eyewear is magically distracting, allowing the wearer to get away with wearing otherwise unsuitable clothing.
# Spider hat
It’s a hat shaped like a spider - the abdomen fits over the head, two of the legs tie under the chin. Spiders tend to avoid you when you wear it, but then so do most people.
# Thread-eggs
Eggs the size of a chicken’s, but the exterior “shell” is made of a stiff thread. If the thread is unwrapped, it can be braided or twisted into a nearly unbreakable rope. Inside, the eggs appear hollow, but a small gust of wind can be felt when the eggs are unwrapped. Thread-eggs are found on the ground in ancient elven forests, in groups of three or four.
# Three-eyed goblin-skull hat
The wearer of this hat is considered very attractive and charismatic by goblins and similar creatures, and it confers the ability to speak and understand goblin languages.
Story Hook: Who was the goblin with the three eyes? Someone interesting, we wager, with a story to get tangled in.
# Tiny scroll
A minute magical scroll, perhaps an inch wide, which unrolls to several inches long. The writing is too small to make out. Trying to read the writing gives a +1 bonus to examine other very small things immediately afterwards.
Story Hook: Was a famous wizard of the past who disappeared under suspicious circumstances actually permanently reduced in size? Why is that going to be a problem for the PCs?
# Tuning fork
When struck, it causes those that hear the tone to speak in rhyme for a short time. Works around 1d3 times a full recovery.
# Uncandle
An uncandle absorbs light, spreading deep shadow around it and freezing anything that touches its unflame. Uncandles are made from tallow runoff collected from the graves of wizards. Some books of magic can only be read by the light of an uncandle.
Story Hook: What type of unlikely un-ink is needed to write words that can only be seen in the uncanny un-light of an uncandle? Who needs the adventurers to fetch them un-ink ingredients?
# Walking stick
It’s just a walking stick, but it’s a walking stick that does everything it can to make sure it stays close enough to your hand and in view to avoid being forgotten. It sticks with you.
# Wet stone
This small pebble is always wet. If you pop it into your mouth you’ll never become dehydrated.
# White ceramic pitcher
Decorated with molded forms of grapes and leaves, it turns any liquid poured into it into cool refreshing grape juice.
Story Hook: If a way could be found for changing the liquid back to its original form, could it be used for smuggling, or even poisoning?
# Wig of grasses
This ‘hairpiece’ of long green grasses helps the wearer regain energy when exposed to sunlight. It’s more a psychological thing than a thing measured in hit points.
# Wooden eye
Anybody who uses this eye to replace a missing eye (or mounts it into an eyepatch and wears it over one of their own eyes) gains the ability to see using the eye. The eye can see through wood as though it were cloudy glass.