New Level 1 Magic Items – “B” – Living in a magical world

Holy Aggregator
Aura faint transmutation; CL 3
Slot none; Price 14,500 gp; Weight 2 lbs.
Description
This contraption looks like a smaller, more streamlined version of the Cask of Food Purification, a small keg with a holy symbol of a good deity on one side. If 1 pint of water is placed in the keg and the lid sealed, the water is imbued with positive energy, converting it to holy water. In addition to manually opening or closing the top lid, there is a winch with a removable handle on the side. Rotating the handle 90 degrees clockwise opens the top lid, rotating it a further 90 degrees clockwise closes the top lid, rotating it a further 90 degrees clockwise opens the bottom lid, and rotating it the final 90 degrees clockwise back to its starting position closes the bottom lid. A full clockwise cycle can be made once per round, allowing water to pour in the top, be imbued, and then pour out the bottom. Each full cycle consumes 1 pint of water and produces 1 flask (1 pint) of holy water.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Bless Water; Cost 7,250 gp

Tarp of Hardened Sleep
Aura faint necromancy; CL 3
Slot none; Price 2,160 gp; Weight 25 lbs.
Description
Up to three medium sized (or six small, or one large) creatures can sleep on or under this waterproof tarp. When the command word is spoken, up to three creatures wearing medium or heavy armor may sleep the night on or under this tarp without suffering from fatigue the next day.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Bed of Iron; Cost 1,080 gp

Escape Pill
Aura faint evocation; CL 5
Slot none; Price 360 gp; Weight N/A
Description
This small white pill has the symbol of a key marked on its side. Once over the next 24 hours, if the imbiber is restrained by some kind of object and speaks the pill’s command word, it deals 5d6 damage to the restraints ignoring hardness of 10 or less. A Fortitude save halves the damage, although only magical restraints receive a saving throw. The pill loses its power if the imbiber gains the Nauseated condition after consumption, 24 hours elapses, or the pill is used.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Burst Bonds; Cost 180 gp

Standard of Legal Integrity
Aura faint enchantment; CL 3
Slot none; Price 12,000 gp; Weight 3lbs.
Description
This banner is a grey cloth surrounded by a border of black links. If the symbol or emblem of a settlement is embroidered or painted onto its surface and the standard is placed in a location commonly used by the settlement’s law enforcement, it becomes active. Anyone who swears the oath given to new members of the watch, often referred to as the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor, while within 50 feet of the standard, will receive the benefits of a Bless spell with a duration of 3 hours. This oath may be sworn any number of times (given access to one, many guards meet at the standard and restate their oath at the beginning and halfway through their shift).  If at any time the speaker either enters an area not in the jurisdiction of the settlement’s law enforcement (such as an unknown dungeon under the city) or breaks any of the articles in the oath, the spell ends. Further, if the standard is removed from the jurisdiction of the settlement’s law enforcement for more than 24 hours, the symbol or emblem of the settlement fades and will need reapplication.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Blessing of the Watch; Cost 6,000 gp

New Level 1 Magic Items – “A” – Living in a magical world

Bell of Announcement
Aura faint abjuration; CL 3
Slot none; Price 12,000 gp; Weight 1 lbs.
Description
This small silver bell with a clear crystal knocker can be hung from a hook, string, wire, or similar connection; this causes the knocker to glow a faint yellow (equivalent to candle light). Once in place, a password can be spoken out loud, activating the effects of the bell; the knocker glows a faint green at this point. If a creature of Tiny or larger size enters with a 20 foot emanation of an activated bell or touches it without first speaking the password, the knocker glows a faint red and the bell rings for 1 round. This ringing is audible to anyone within 60 feet of the warded area; reduce the distance by 10 feet for each interposing closed door and by 20 feet for each substantial interposing wall. In quiet conditions, the ringing can be heard faintly as far as 180 feet away. Creatures within a silence spell cannot hear the ringing. Ethereal or astral creatures do not trigger the bell. A creature remaining within the warded area will not retrigger the bell (unless they touch it), and the knocker will again glow green.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Alarm; Cost 6,000 gp

Collar of Hauling
Aura faint transmutation; CL 4
Slot neck; Price 1,440 gp; Weight 7 lbs.
Description
This collar automatically resizes and reshapes to best accommodate whatever creature it is placed upon. Once worn, upon speaking the command word once per day it activates for the next 8 hours. Removing the collar removes the effect but does not interrupt the duration (one could wear it for 4 hours, remove it for 2 hours, and would have 2 hours duration remaining).
The wearer’s carrying capacity triples (see Table 7-4: Carrying Capacity on page 171 of the Core Rulebook). This does not affect the creature’s actual Strength in any way, merely the amount of material it can carry while benefiting from this spell. It also has no effect on encumbrance due to armor. If the creature wears armor it still takes the normal penalties for doing so regardless of how much weight the spell allows it to carry.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Ant Haul; Cost 720 gp

Living in a magical world

            Dungeons and Dragons, at its core, is a magical world.  Gods exist and not only directly answer prayers, but grant power to their Clerics.  Magicians know words of power that can create something from nothing.  Sorcerers draw upon their internal energies to manipulate the world around them.  Creatures exist who live upon the energy in your dreams, others who can draw upon your life force, and creatures grow impossibly large.  Different realms of reality that have no edges exist either alongside or invisibly overlapping our own.  Even Fighters and Thieves can perform superhuman acts, not to even mention the Monk whose abilities are non-magical but impossible in the real world. 

            All of that said, much of the world seems to be blatantly ignorant of this magical life around them.  Stories often revolve around how peasants are shocked and awed by minor cantrips or are shocked by the existence of extra planar beings.  This in settings whose history goes back hundreds if not thousands of years often stuck at the medieval level.  Books exist in these settings, as do Bards and other story tellers.  Many creatures are immortal, or live for hundreds of years themselves.  The idea that such worlds would some combination of medieval Europe and magic, with methods of recording and beings that can tell the tales, stretches one’s suspension of disbelief to suggest that the magic would not influence day to day life.

            Further, the average citizen would live a very short life, if one expects a typical NPC (Non Player Character) to only be level 1, having on average between 2 and 6 Hit Points.  Chances are good that someone who falls 10 feet would fall unconscious.  Fireballs (with their 20 foot radius effect, and picked up at level 5, so doing on average 17.5 Hit Points of damage) would wipe out crowds with ease.  And a 5^th level character is not considered incredibly powerful!

            All of this is done in support of the idea that the PCs (Players Characters) are special, they’re not just good at what they do, they’re amazing.  Even a 2^nd level character is head and shoulders above the average person, and because everyone is so weak, they need heroes, like the PCs, to save them from the darkness and danger that is all pervading.

            To me, these concerns have forced me to first consider that the typical NPC would have a level between 3 and 5, and that spells would be far better understood.  Low level spells, particularly 1^st through 3^rd level, would be seen on a regular basis.  Higher level spells that are particularly flashy, and thus good fodder for stories, would also be known, as would spells that greatly contribute to one’s community.

            I’m sure I’ll update this in the future, looking at higher level spells that either would have direct uses or would inspire people to create conventional countermeasures, but for the moment let’s have a look at several 0^th level spells and their consequences.

Arcane Mark – A simple way to put a seal of authenticity on something.  There is no mention of how easy or hard it would be to copy someone else’s mark, but that it is ‘your personal rune or mark’, which to me implies that it would be different from someone else’s, by magical necessity.  You could have this at the hand off of a particular product, as a mark of quality.

Create Water – 2 gallons of water per level.  Under Starvation and Thirst, a ‘Medium creature need(s) at least a gallon of fluids’ while ‘In very hot climates, characters need two or three times as much water’.  Given my suggestion of even a typical character being at least 3^rd level, that would be 6 gallons of water, enough for 2 to 6 people a day, depending on the climate.  A settlement need not have a water supply if they have someone who can cast this cantrip.

Detect poison – While it’s limited to ‘one creature, one object, or a 5-ft cube’, it would make poisoning a lot more difficult.  Poisons would be more threats for folks eating food from an unreliable source or on weapons.

Know direction – Every town would likely have a permanent marker pointing in the direction of north.  Maps would also be more accurate, as you can orient whatever you’re observing to a direction.

Mending – ‘restoring 1d4 hit points to the object’ ‘Casting Time 10 minutes’ ‘one object of up to 1 lb./level’ So for lighter objects, 3-5 lbs, you could repair something 15 times faster than a smith (1 point per hour, vs. 2.5 points per 10 minutes).

Purify Food and Drink – Following up on Detect poison and create water, this is far more effective.  ‘1 cu.ft/level’ is 8 gallons of water, enough for 3-8 people (drink up that swamp water everyone!) per level, and if you can separate out the rotten food from the good food, it means spoilage over long trips is a thing of the past.  It’s like refrigeration.

           
            Another thing to note is that the cost of creating magic items that could cast these spells once every day is quite low.  ½ (0^th level spell) x 3 (3^rd level caster, get those just out of apprenticeship journeymen to make them) x 2000 gp x 1/5 (1 charge per day) = 600 gp.  That’s a suit of Half Plate or hiring a caster to cast that spell every day for 40 days (1/2 x 3 x 10gp = 15 gp / day).  Even upping the magic item to 3000 gp (removing the number of charges, making its effect continuous) would make for economic sense: imagine grain being fed into 3 cubic foot barrels, then a device casting Purify Food and Drink on every barrel being passed through.  No more rotten grain, no matter how far you have to transport it.  This sort of investment would be incredibly useful for a city.  It would also mean that craftsmen would rarely get involved in repairing light items, as it could be done far faster using a magic item that could cast Mending without end.