Tactical Magic Items
Paying Interest on my deep Joesky Tax Debt
A running through-line in my writing is that I deeply care about the Game part of games. I want to be making informed, impactful decisions. I think the biggest part of OSR games where this tends to fall flat is in combat, which much too frequently devolves into easily-solved target-selection and position choices.
Games like 4e, 13th age, and draw steel address this by giving players access to a bunch of powers; stuff you can use once per battle or once per day, or only under certain conditions. In doing so, they create a lot of moment-to-moment decision-making that the OSR broadly lacks outside of spending spell slots.
Adding classes with these sorts of baked-in abilities is misunderstanding the genre/culture, but adding magic items is totally fair game. Here’s my attempt:
Displacement/Forced Movement
House rule: when a creature is forced into another creature, neither move, but both take 2 (or 4 if hitting a wall) damage for every 5 feet of forced movement remaining.
Tide-Turner (maul) | 6,000g
On a hit, the wielder may push the target 10′ straight back (Paralysis save negates). 3/day.
Comet-Hook Gauntlet | 12,000g
In lieu of attacking, fire a spectral chain at one creature within 30′ and pull it 20′ toward you (Spells save negates). It ends adjacent to you and disordered (-2 AC) until its next initiative. 3/day.
Boots of the Riptide | 12,000g
Freely click your heels and teleport yourself up to 15′ within line of sight, ignoring engagement, intervening creatures, and difficult terrain. No opportunity attack, no withdraw declaration needed. 3/day.
Mantle of Misplacement | 32,000g
In lieu of moving, swap places with any creature within 60′ (Spells save for unwilling targets). A swapped enemy lands disordered (-2 AC) until its next initiative.
The Cliff’s Edge (warhammer) | 17,000g
On a hit, you may push the target 5′ (paralysis save negates). If that push ends against a wall, another creature, or a hazard, the target is knocked prone and takes an additional +1d6. 3/day.
Zones, Terrain & Line of Sight
Ring of the Frozen Threshold | 15,000g
In lieu of attacking, lay a 20′-outer-radius, 1’ thick ring of rime on the ground with its closest point within 60′. The first time a creature enters or starts its turn in the frozen band it saves vs Paralysis or is rooted (MV 0, may still attack) for 1 round. The rime lasts 3 rounds; one root per creature. 1/day.
Censer of the Veil | 12,000g
In lieu of attacking, conjure a 20′ cube of opaque smoke with its closest point within 30′ for 1 turn. It blocks line of sight both ways. 3/day.
Banner of Brambles | 10,000g
In lieu of attacking, unfurl the banner to deploy a 30x30x3’ field of grasping thorns (half MV, 1 dmg per 5′ moved through it) for 6 turns. 1/day.
Targeting, Facing & Forced-Target
Helm of the Provocateur | 12,000g
In lieu of attacking, target one enemy in LoS within 30′ (Spells save negates). Choose:
Taunt: for 1 round it takes -4 to attack any creature other than you.
Goad: for 1 round it takes -4 to attack you or your chosen ally.
3/day.
Aegis of the Vow | 12,000g
When an ally within 10′ is hit, redirect that hit’s damage to you. 1/turn.
Reactive Windows
Hourglass Pendant | 20,000g
In response to being attacked or targeted, flip the hourglass to enter stasis until the end of your next initiative. You cannot be targeted, hit, or damaged, but you also cannot move or act. Ongoing save-or-die effects against you fizzle. 1/day.
Mirrorplate Buckler | 25,000g
When you are targeted by a spell or a single-target ranged attack, negate it entirely. If it was a single-target effect (not just damage), it is reflected back at the attacker. 1/day.
Tempo & Initiative
Skirmisher’s Token | 12,000g
You always count as having declared withdraw/retreat. Additionally, once per turn you may act first in the round regardless of rolled initiative.
Warhorn of the Vanguard | 15,000g
In lieu of attacking, blow the horn to grant yourself and all allies within 30′ of immediate movement (in addition to their normal movement) equal to their combat speed. 1/day.
Setup-Rider Items
House rule: you may stand up from prone while engaged with an enemy in lieu of attacking, or in lieu of moving if you’re not engaged. Attacking while prone incurs a -4 penalty to hit.
Pincer’s Point (sword) | 8,000g
On a hit against a target that is flanked by your allies (including yourself), rooted, or surprised the target is also knocked prone (Paralysis save negates). 3/day.
Hazard-Caller’s Censer | 12,000g
Any enemy creature standing in a magical zone you created (including the areas created by the other items) takes -2 on saves against your spells and abilities, and you may target it as if it had no cover.
These items try to play within the natural framework of OSR games; turn based combat, line of sight, positioning, etc. They’re written mechanically, so if your players are the sort that care about in-fiction explanations (“how come I can only use the Skirmisher’s Token once per turn?”), be ready to describe the magical physics (“it gathers ambient mana from the surrounding atmosphere passively, and takes about 10 minutes to recharge enough”).
Would love to hear similar ideas from other folks!
Great list!
"Sword of Daily Nastyness: Once per day, you can activate the sword before an attack. If you hit, you do 8 extra damage." (A minimalist Setup-Rider)
"Mancatcher of the Four Winds": +1 but +3 if the target have hostile combatants to their north, east, south and west."
"Shield of Arrow Attraction: All mundane, non-siege missiles fired at you or on a direct line that intersects you (and not sufficiently arched, impossible in dungeons with low ceilings) are attracted to the shield and harmlessly stuck there."
"Bow of Unstruck Accuracy: +2 bow. Loses its bonus if you are ever hit in combat. Bonus is reset when you wake up from 8 hours of sleep with the bow besides you." (or maybe reverse conditions to avoid 15 min adventuring day. Then again martials need to get more goodies from resting.)
"Mirror bow: If you are exactly in between two enemies, you can shoot both of them as one attack"
"Equilateral Bow: If you and two enemies form the corners of an equilateral triangle, you can shoot both of them as one attack."
"Piercing bow: If a shot hits and enemy, it continues through it in a straight line to hit the next enemy behind it and so on."
I think one problem with positional abilities like the Mancatcher above is that very much comes down to how the GM players the monsters. Do the orcs all charge? Or do they stay back and rely on their superior ranged attacks until the players close in? Do the orcs realize that the Fighter has the Mancatcher and then actively counterplay it? Detailed order of battles are needed or fights will be determined by GM fiat. I guess this is an issue in all combat but it seems to worsen with tactical play. But then again games like 4e exists and people play and enjoy it so it must be workable.
I'll still complain endlessly about the cursed problem I see in trying to get both tactical combat and a living world. If you give my PC a Tide-Turner, then every dungeon crawl will degenerate into "wait at the corner next to the Dangerous Dungeon Feature for a random encounter, then knock the monster into it". Not really "tactical" in the sense of 4e. Maybe I'm worrying too much and this isn't a problem in practice.
I think another useful route with less room for degeneracy is tactical monsters. Rubber Blobs are pushed 10 ft back whenever they are hit in melee. If you cast a spell on the Mirror Golem, it also affects the being closest to it. Many existing monsters have immunities and powerful abilities, but I think that weakness may give more room for interesting tactics. Now I realize that Goblin Punch kind of did this with the Monstrome: https://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2024/12/mushroom-men-monstrome-v6.html
Hello Beau, very inspiring items!
Happy to share a list I made some time ago!
May the fun be always at your table!
https://viviiix.substack.com/p/where-to-run-a-kup-game-10-artifacts