Magic Item Creation Table, v1

The hardest part of writing for me is looking at a blank page, so I tend to lean heavily on random generators for a kickstart. While there were a few magic item related ones out there none of them really followed the rules I wanted so I made it myself.

It should be pretty self-explanatory, It does not create the item's story for you, you still gotta do that yourself. But for me just generating the statline is enough to develop enough of a story/description for it to work.

Link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/mp7t9l15gtk2ibs/Magic_Item_Tables.pdf/file

Here are some examples I made with it (system neutral terminology so they can be used in any game, just think on how the terms apply to your game of choice):

ISHISHAKU

The blood sorcerer Hakanaimaru was a greed man, with a strong lust for gemstone and coin. Hakanaimaru toiled for years in his laboratory trying to convert coal to diamonds but to no avail. Then one day he struck upon an idea. To summon an earth spirit to search out mountains that could be mined. Acting upon his idea, the sorcerer forged a ring of gold and jade and summoned an earth spirit to bind into the ring. The spirit hated its servitude but performed its tasks dutifully – searching out veins of gold or untapped gemstone mines that the sorcerer would stake a claim. One day, on a routine voyage into the mountains to search out jade and holy stones, the sorcerer was stung by a scorpion. In the fit of pain his concentration slipped and the spirit had full control over his own actions for an instant and summoned a great earthquake. The sorcerer died in the rock-slide and the spirit was free. However, its freedom wasn't complete. The spirit, still trapped in the world of men, entered into a berserk rage and attacked a local village. The priestess of the local temple, who had kept an eye on the sorcerer and was planning on stepping in soon, gathered her juzu (prayer beads) and gohei (purification staff) and stood against the spirit. She did battle with it but was no match for its might and rage. She perished in the battle. She expected this and planned for it. In her dying breath she released the spell she had been working on – the reason she hadn't moved against the sorcerer earlier. With her life as a sacrifice she forever bound the earth spirit into her juzu and gohei.

Ishishaku (石笏, stone scepter) is a two-meter long rod of rough crystal with a notched top for the standard tassels of a gohei to be attached if so desired. The rod is loosely wrapped with a length of 108 jade beads. You may weild Ishishaku as a bo in battle. Against the living, the wounds it deals heal slowly and scab over with rocky growths. The scars it leaves glitter with gemstone dust. Striking an evil spirit with the staff can banish it, with a greater effect for earth spirits. You may use the staff as a diving rod to search out deposits of precious stones within a kilometer. Infrequently (never more than once a month) you can strike the staff into the ground and command the spirit within it to shake the earth; causing an earth quake.

Table Results: Weapon; Item of Power; 1 major, 3 minor; Power over a primal force, Detect a specific mineral, charge shape of the enemy, banishes spiritual entities; Cursed? No.

GLAREA

Carved from rain-kissed stone from deep within the kingdom of the desert stands, the sorcerer-kings who ruled under the gods of the night's sky kept this rod as a symbol of power and their divine right to rule. The true name of the was long lost, now only known only the name given to it by the imperial usurpers who supplanted the sorcerer-kings.

Glarea is a 30 centimeter long rod of smooth sandstone, both ends perfectly flat. One end of the rod is marked with three symbols positioned to be the points of a triangle; the marking of fourteen dots surrounded by three circles, then twice the marking of eight dots surrounded by two circles.  The rod is cool to the touch, and remains so even in the hottest of environments.

When brandished as a weapon, Glarea can be commanded to launch a cloud of sand from the marked end, creating a small puff of sand that will blind an enemy within a few meters. You may command the rod to detect water, which it will point you to as a diving rod so long as the water is within 10 kilometers. Finally, if you brandish Glarea as a wand, the rod grants you telekinetic control over sand within line of sight. Up to 200 kilograms may be moved in such a manner, but it is slow and ponderous at that weight. You gain faster and finer control over the sands the less you move.

Table Results: Wizardly implement; Item of Power; 1 major, 2 minor; Power over a primal force, Detect water, Induce blindness/deafness; Cursed? No.

WRAITH-FLESH TALISMAN

When sitting dormant this suit of armor is a fist-sized triangular talisman with soft edges. It is made from a strange cool material, neither metallic or stone but highly resistant to harm. One side of the talisman is coated in a soft black substance, and the other has a smaller triangular section covered in tiny gemstones.

Placing the talisman on the exposed back of a person so that the black substance is touching their skin or hide causes the gemstones to glow in a seemingly random pattern while singing a simple tune in time to the lights. Then the talisman releases a coating of a thick black substance that spreads out over the person's body, protecting them as soft armor. The armor can only be removed from a corpse or by destabilizing it with a powerful enough electric explosion.

After having worn the armor for a day, it communicates to the wearer how to use it's intangibility power. The power has no time restrictions, but saps the wearer's stamina. While intangible the wearer is invisible, and can pass through walls. The passage can go through any amount of woods, vines and loose dirt, but is stopped by a meter of soft stone or packed dirt. The passage is also stopped by a third of a meter of hard stone or metal, or even a single centimeter of lead.

The mechanism that allows for intangibility uses a parallel spirit world to do so. Each time the wearer returns from intangibility there is a very high chance that the character drags a hateful spirit back with them.

Table Results: Armor; Item of Power; 1 major, 2 minor; Summon a legion. Allows passage through walls, Turns you invisible; Cursed? Yes, hard to remove, one power is reversed.