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I want to give my players a lot of dimensions and options to be clever.

I've already given the spellcaster a horrible device that I read about on reddit: A ring of the Grammarian (allows you to change one letter of a spell's name to change the effect). That was already interesting when he once cast "Firebaal" instead of Fireball.

I want to give each character a ring that's part of a multi-ring set. The general working idea is that it allows each player to "borrow" an ability from another. Not a race ability but a class ability. For example, the thief might be able to "steal" the wizard's "blink" spell. The ranger might be able to borrow the backstab ability from the thief. And the wizard might be able to borrow "pick lock" when he fizzles on a knock spell. And so on.

The idea isn't to give them power but to coordinate more during combat and tactical situations where the players must line up their actions to build to a crescendo action. Get them communicating and planning, really get into their character more.

Thoughts?

I want to give my players a lot of dimensions and options to be clever. I've already given the spellcaster a horrible device that I read about on reddit: A ring of the Grammarian (allows you to change one letter of a spell's name to change the effect). That was already interesting when he once cast "Firebaal" instead of Fireball. I want to give each character a ring that's part of a multi-ring set. The general working idea is that it allows each player to "borrow" an ability from another. Not a race ability but a class ability. For example, the thief might be able to "steal" the wizard's "blink" spell. The ranger might be able to borrow the backstab ability from the thief. And the wizard might be able to borrow "pick lock" when he fizzles on a knock spell. And so on. The idea isn't to give them power but to coordinate more during combat and tactical situations where the players must line up their actions to build to a crescendo action. Get them communicating and planning, really get into their character more. Thoughts?

21 comments

[–] [Deleted] 1 points (+1|-0)

OK, that makes sense.
I assume there'd be a dice roll to see if they were successful in using the ring?

No, maybe not. A ring of protection is passive and requires no roll... but this could be considered an intelligent ring, right? I mean, it has to be. It has to communicate with the other rings who then has to delve into the mind of the person wearing it.

So the question is this: if it's intelligent, and perhaps too intelligent, it might have the capacity to control the user. Perhaps the intelligence should be just high enough to make that a risk but low enough to be enticing.

[–] [Deleted] 1 points (+1|-0)

I assumed it was more than a passive ring based on its ability to determine what abilities the other ring-wearers have. If the intelligence level of all of the rings is the same you won't have a concern for one ring taking over the others. However, if the ring is smarter than one of the wearers it could decide that it should be the one in charge.

You could go all Tolkein on them and create another ring that they don't necessarily know about and give that one the ability to control all of the rings...

I was thinking of making it a set of 3 or 9 and, yes, having a master ring. One of my players is smart enough that he'll catch onto it immediately. So maybe I need to make it into a quest/campaign. They find one, maybe two and get just enough information to know that there are more and how to find the next one. But not enough information to know where they came from.

Oh, man, this is artifact level stuff. And artifacts come with curses. And are nearly indestructible.

If it were appropriate, I would jumping up and down with glee right now. This little item idea just turned into an epic campaign. They're not even finished with the one they're on, I have a second one lined up for the ranger (that tree tower), and now the rings. Oh man, this is gonna be great.