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1d6 Items in a Scholar’s Pack
The Pack Itself
The scholar’s pack is a compact satchel made of sturdy green leather stitched with heavy gold thread. Brass buckles hold the main flap tight to the body, and a leather handle makes for easy carrying. A detachable shoulder strap can be stored in the pocket on the front of the main flap, while a larger external back pocket makes for easy access to sheets of parchment or a slim volume.
Inside The Pack
Alongside the more common scholar’s materials like bottles of ink, an ink pen or quill, sheets of parchment, a bag of sand, and the like, the scholar’s pack contains the following:
- Sticks of sealing wax in a variety of colours, wrapped in a supple sheet of waxed cotton and kept in an inner pocket alongside a signet ring engraved in intaglio with the scholar’s seal or monogram.
- A pocket-sized notebook tied shut with worn leather cord, filled with lists of books and manuscripts that you have sought out or intend to read. Those that you have found have been crossed out, but the uncrossed list is much, much longer than the completed entries.
- A collection of feathers from different birds – mainly goose, swan, and turkey – wrapped in cloth alongside a small knife to sharpen the ends for writing.
- A flyer torn from a notice board, advertising a display of rare manuscripts at a library in a city you passed through recently. The date of the exhibit is coming up soon.
- A small brass whistle on a chain, used for alerting people to dangers when working in the deepest, oldest part of the stacks in the library where you trained.
- A narrow scroll case made of lacquered wood and engraved with the name of the university you studied at. It contains your certificates of merit and letters of recommendation from your tutors.
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Image Credit: A scholar-alchemist pores over a book, searching for. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
1d6 Items in the Priest’s Pack
The Pack Itself
The priest’s bag is a large backpack made of simple leather, uncoloured and relatively unadorned. The backpack has thick, cushioned shoulder straps and a padded belt that sits on the hips and fastens at the front of the waist to aid in weight distribution – a must-have for a travelling priest set on spreading the good word. Straps on the bottom of the backpack give external space to carry a rolled up tent and bedroll.
Inside The Pack
Alongside the day-to-day items of a travelling priest – a blanket, candles, a tinderbox, an alms box, incense, and vestements – the pack also contains the following:
- A leatherbound Book of Common Prayer, containing prayers and rituals common to all of the major faiths in the region.
- A small vial of water from a revered place of pilgrimage. It is not magical Holy Water, but still sacred to you.
- A set of prayer beads carved from dark wood and painted in swirls of red, green, and purple. They are strung on a simple cotton thread with a silver clasp so that they can be worn as a necklace.
- A small journal or diary containing your reflections on bits of scripture, the nature of your faith, and your quest for truth. This may be written in a code known only to you. Reading it would reveal facts about you that you may not wish known.
- A plain wooden box that contains the contents of a simple shrine or altar – a silk sheet, small candles, a statue or idol, and herbs and incense for burning.
- A glass jar containing a thick, clear substance with the consistency of wax or jelly. It smells faintly of incense and spiced oils and is used to anoint the skin during certain rituals and sacraments.
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Image Credit: A priest pronouncing a benediction on a dead child. Lithograph. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
1d6 Items in the Component Pouch
The Pouch Itself
The component pouch is a small bag made of worn, faded red leather, lined on the inside with blue felt. Supple leather drawstrings pull the mouth shut and are long enough to loop around a belt to ease carrying.
The inside of the pouch is divided into one large compartment and two smaller ones. There are three slim pockets in the lining of the larger compartment to hold longer items like sprigs of wood or sticks of graphite.
The pouch always has a vague smell of must and patchouli, along with the combined smells of whatever is currently being stored inside it.
Inside The Pouch
Alongside more common spell components like guano, chalk, iron filings, charcoal, and the like, the pouch contains the following:
- Seven dead beetles, preserved and painted in a variety of shimmering colours – cerulean, umber, dragon’s blood, cadmium yellow, emerald, violet, ultramarine.
- An ivory sculpture of a rotund humanoid with short, stubby limbs. The bloated stomach is painted with a single red eye.
- A set of 23 brass buttons of various sizes, looped together with purple thread and wrapped in a silk pocket square.
- A slender glass cylinder, 4 inches long and the width of a pinky fingernail, encasing a single strand of gold thread. It shimmers in light like oil on water.
- A handful of smooth stone pebbles, each about the size of a silver piece, wrapped together in strong made from dried and wound seaweed.
- A stoppered wooden vial containing pink glass that has been ground into fine dust.
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Image Credit: Police raid a lodging house at night and arrest a convicted thief. Coloured etching by G. Cruikshank, 1848, after himself. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
1d6 Items In A Burglar’s Pack
The Pack Itself
The burglar’s pack is a slim, low-profile backpack made of green canvas so dark that it is almost black, designed to sit tight against the wearer’s back. Several hooks and slim sleeves attached to the outside of the pack allow quick access to essential items, while multiple external pockets allow other necessary tools to be kept close to hand wiithout needing to access the deep main pocket.
Inside The Pack
As well as the staples – a bag of ball bearings, string, candles, a crowbar and hammer, pitons, a hooded lantern with oil, and the like – the burglar’s pack contains the following:
- A set of common keys, along with picks and a rake.
- A small hand mirror mounted on an extendable rod.
- Cubes of cheese wrapped in cheesecloth, used for calming aggressive dogs.
- A grappling hook that folds down to the size of a small baton that can easily be slipped into a side sleeve of the burglar’s pack.
- A long roll of tape or ribbon with adhesive on one side that can be stuck to panes of glass, allowing you to break them without causing them to shatter.
- A small wax-coated canvas pouch with a narrow mouth that attaches to a tiny bellows. This can be slipped under sash windows and inflated, forcing the window up enough for you to slip a hand beneath it.
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Image Credit: Police raid a lodging house at night and arrest a convicted thief. Coloured etching by G. Cruikshank, 1848, after himself. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
1d6 Items Unearthed On The Beach
Yesterday I released a new Jenga-based party game on itch.io, Exit, Pursued by a Bear. Go grab a copy here.
This set of trinkets was created for John Gregory in exchange for a tip on Ko-Fi. John is responsible for one of my favourite ZineQuest releases, Gourmet Street, so it was an absolute pleasure to put together a table of weird things you might dig up on the beach for him.
Feel free to use these trinkets in your own games – and if you do, please let me know about it!
1d6 Items Unearthed on the Beach
- A small folding knife, with a handle of mahogany and a blade made from whale tooth. The blade is etched with an intricate design of a swordfish, stained in black ink.
- A long, twisted piece of glass formed from lighting striking the beach. It was a wand, once, but it was discarded when the magic that imbued it faded.
- A black leather scroll case painted with deep green waves. It contains an old parchment map that claims to lead to buried treasure. Somebody has written “gone now!” across the face of it.
- A large silver ring sculpted to look like an octopus, with tentacles forming the band. The eyes are small emeralds.
- A thick book bound in dried seaweed and shut tight with a rusted chain and padlock. The pages are rough and uneven in size, seemingly hand-made, and have been waxed to protect them from water. They contain handwritten notes about forgotten deities and denizens of the ocean, though large passages seem to descend into unintelligible rambling.
- A cracked glass eye mask attached to a snorkel that appears to have been carved out of a human tibia, with a scrimshaw mouthpiece.
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Image Credit: Ramsgate, Kent: the beach and harbour at night. Wood engraving, 1850. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
1d20 Dragon Sorceror Trinkets
Recently I’ve begun writing trinket tables in exchange for tips on Ko-Fi.
@leannipop requested trinkets for “a human sorcerer who got her magic from a white dragon. She is a sage and a professor at the local university”.
Feel free to use these trinkets in your own games – and if you do, I’d love to hear about it!
1d20 Dragon Sorcerer Trinkets
- A small leather-bound journal that you used to chart your experiments with magic when your abilities first manifested. The writings contained within writhe on the pages, seeming to change every time they are looked at, and nobody but you can make them sit still enough to be read.
- A delicate porcelain mask that covers the upper half of the face only, moulded and painted to look like a dragon.
- A flat pendant of some unidentified white stone, carved into the rough shape of a fang. It is perfectly smooth to the touch and heavier than it appears.
- A fist-sized teardrop of glass. It contains a flame that flickers softly to itself and never goes out. If the glass is broken you are sure the flame would vanish.
- A broken shard of mirror that you keep wrapped in a thick waxed cloth. The reflection it shows you is oddly disjointed and looks like a much older version of yourself. You do not know if what it shows is true.
- The scale of a white dragon, contained in a simple leather case with a thick thong so it can be worn around your neck. The front of the case is embossed with a single draconic rune, the name of the dragon who the scale comes from.
- A piece of white quartz carved in the shape of a dragon’s tooth. It is always cold to the touch.
- A glass vial sealed with a frosted glass stopper. It contains foggy, icy air that is constantly swirling and radiates cold. This is bottled cold breath from a white dragon, though there is not enough of it to hurt anyone. If the bottle is opened the breath will escape and dissipate.
- A white leather coin purse containing a dragon’s claw that has been split perfectly in two.
- A palm-sized shard of ice that never melts.
- A well-worn piece of parchment that has obviously been read many times. It contains a note from a favoured student thanking you for all that you taught them.
- A simple scroll case embossed with the insignia of the university or institute that you studied at. It contains certificates of merit, proof of your qualifications, and written references from tutors and colleagues.
- A library book that you never got around to returning. It gives a brief history of notable chromatic dragons over the past few centuries, and you were using it to try and trace your lineage. Some day you will return it.
- A long brass key with a fine chain, kept in a worn red velvet pouch. It opens a secret compartment in the desk that sat in your office when you were a professor.
- A fine black gown designed to be worn over normal clothes, worn during formal dinners and ceremonies at the university where you were tenured.
- A small wooden box with a brass handle that from the outside appears to be a plain music box. Inside it contains a miniature map of the planes that rotates when you turn the handle.
- A pocket-sized notebook sealed with a padlock almost as big as the book itself. This contains secret notes on your specialist field of research, written in a code only you can decipher.
- A long roll of parchment that has been treated with a minor magic to prevent it deteriorating from heavy use. It contains a long list of books and manuscripts that you are seeking or intend to read, with those you have managed to find crossed out. You add to the list regularly.
- A very fine quill pen with replaceable brass nibs and a slim leather pouch to store it in.
- A handbill taken from a notice board in a city you passed through early on your journey out into the world. It contains details of the opening of a new exhibit of ancient artifacts.
If you want your own table of trinkets, drop me a tip on Ko-Fi!
Image Credit: Jason fighting with the dragon. Etching by S. Rosa. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
The Wandmaker’s Cabin – Treasures & Trinkets
If you missed last week’s map, click here.
Celli Dustgrasp’s cabin contains a wealth of treasures in the form of valuable items she uses to create her magical items, and – of course – the items themselves.
In the previous post I gave you descriptions of three magical items that characters might find in Celli’s cellar. Today I bring you stats to go with them, so that once your players have got hold of them they can actually put them to use. Before that, though, here is a small list of other less magical trinkets that characters might find in Celli’s home.
Trinkets
- This knife is made for whittling wood. The handle is bone, and the blade is incredibly fine glass that has been enchanted so that it will not break or lose its edge.
- This small wooden box is plain and unadorned, but when it is closed it is almost impossible to detect the hinges or the join of the lid. It unlocks with a clever hidden mechanism that is very hard to find.
- This writing pen appears to have been made from a small magic wand that was never enchanted. The handle is slim and warm to the touch, carved from ash that has small veins of silver running through it. The writing nip is also silver, and resembles an ash leaf.
- This small glass phial contains a thin, slightly opalescent liquid that smells like morning dew. These are a dryad’s tears.
- This set of six small wooden bottles each contains a different colour ink. They are held in a long felt-lined box, which also contains a thin brush. The hairs of the brush appear to have come from an owlbear.
- This clear glass jar is sealed with wax. It contains the body of a dead sprite, preserved with magic.
Treasures
Celli’s cabin is packed to bursting with her creations – rods, staffs, wands, and staves of expert construction and potent magical ability. Here are three such items which may be obtained by a party travelling to the cabin.
Woodweird Staff, unique (requires attunement)
This five-foot stave is made from three lengths of different woods – ash, elder, and rowan. The ends of each length twist into one another, creating an almost seamless transition between materials. A fist-sized ball of amber is set in the head of the stave, which is the ash end.
This stave can be wielded as a magic quarterstaff that grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. While you are holding the stave, you also gain a +2 bonus to spell attack rolls.
The stave has 20 charges for the following properties. The stave regains 2d8+4 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the stave loses all its magical properties and begins to sprout leaves. Over the course of the next day a healthy tree grows from the place where the stave lies. The tree is 60 feet tall and has a 5-foot diameter trunk, and its branches at the top spread out in a 20-foot radius.
Plant Tongue. Once per day, you can cast speak with plants without expending a spell slot. The stave regains this ability daily at dawn.
Spells. While holding Woodweird, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC and spell attack bonus: barkskin (2 charges), entangle (1 charge), grasping vine (4 charges), plant growth (3 charges), transport via plants (6 charges), or tree stride (5 charges).
Retributive Strike. You can use an action to break the stave over your knee or against a solid surface, performing a retributive strike. The stave is destroyed and releases its remaining magic in an explosion that expands to fill a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on it.
You have a 50 percent change to instantly travel to a random plane of existence, avoiding the explosion. If you fail to avoid the effect, you take force damage equal to 16 x the number of charges in the stave. Every other creature in the area must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes an amount of damage based on how far away it is from the point of origin, as shown in the following table. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage.
Distance from Origin Damage 10 ft. away or closer 8 x the number of charges in the staff 11 to 20 ft. away 6 x the number of charges in the staff 21 to 30 ft. away 4 x the number of charges in the staff
Wand of Withering wand, rare (requires attunement by a spellcaster)
This short, fat wand is 5 inches in length. It is made of a dark, almost black wood and is uniformly thick with no taper at either end. One half is knurled in a diamond pattern to improve grip. The other half is perfectly smooth. A small gold disc is set into the smooth end like a cap.
This wand has 7 charges. While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 of its charges to cause a thin black ray to streak from the tip toward a creature you can see within 60 feet of you. Make a ranged attack roll against the creature using your spell attack bonus. On a hit, the wand deals 2d10 necrotic damage to the target. In addition, the target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or have disadvantage for one hour on any ability check or saving throw that uses Strength or Constitution.
The wand regains 1d6+1 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the wand’s last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the wand crumbles into ashes and is destroyed.
Rod of Lightning rod, very rare (requires attunement by a spellcaster)
This rod is a 2-foot long twisted glass rod. The glass appears to be naturally formed, the result of lightning striking sand. There is no obvious place to hold it. Strands of some gossamer blue substance are streaked through the inside of the glass.
You have resistance to lightning damage while you hold this rod.
The rod has 10 charges. While holding it, you can use an action to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC: chain lightning (6 charges), lightning bolt (5th-level version, 5 charges), protection from energy (lightning type only, 3 charges), or witch bolt (1 charge).
The rod regains 1d6+4 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the rod shatters into shards of glass and is destroyed.
The artwork used on the image for this post is ©2018 by Samantha Darcy. Used with permission. You can purchase this art pack – and plenty more amazing pieces by Samantha – here and follow her on Twitter @65thvictor.
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