System Agnostic Magic Item Creation Tables

A blank page is the worst enemy of writing. This article intends to use two dice to fill that page with enough bits and bobs to get you started on making a magic item for your game.

To use these tables, roll on them in order, noting the results. Once you’ve finished rolling turn that outline into a full magic item.

Item Type

2d6 – Item Type

2 – Mummified body part.

3 – Household item (comb, teacup, etc.)

4 – Gem or other precious stone.

5 – Book, scroll, or other form of writing.

6 – Rod, wand, staff or similar wizard tool.

7 – Weapon.

8 – Suit of armor, helmet, or a shield.

9 – Necklace, ring, or other jewelry.

10 – Boots or shoes.

11 – Belt, girdle, or similar accessory.

12 – Jacket, leggings, or similar clothing.

Power Level

1d6 – Level; powers

1–3 – Enchanted Item; no major powers, 1d2 minor powers

4–5 – Item of Power; 0 – 1 major powers, 1d3 minor powers

6 – Artifact; 1 – 2 major powers, 1d3+1 minor powers

Major Powers

1d6 – Power...

1 – the hearts & minds of a nation.

2 – Over a primal force of nature.

3 – Over a powerful entity.

4 – To create or summon a legion.

5 – To kill a god

6 – live forever.

Minor Powers

d66 – Type

11 – reaction time and agility.

12 – Improves health and fitness.

13 – Improves mental faculties.

14 – Improves your natural healing.

15 – Improves your movement speed.

16 – Improves one or more of your skills.

21 – Read an item or person's past.

22 – Understand any language.

23 – Mind control a one person at a time.

24 – Mind control a group of animals.

25 – Telekinetic control over small items.

26 – Telekinetic control over an element.

31 – Turns you invisible.

32 – Can shoot a death ray.

33 – Grants you flight.

34 – Allows you to pass through walls.

35 – Can project a shield or wall.

36 – Can supernaturally heal you.

41 – Circumvents immunity to harm.

42 – Detects a specific mineral.

43 – Detects water.

44 – Detects a specified person.

45 – Generate light.

46 – Is a good-luck charm.

51 – Steals luck from your enemies.

52 – Induces blindness/deafness.

53 – Induces pain.

54 – Induces sleep.

55 – Divines the future.

56 – Animate the dead.

61 – Changes your shape.

62 – Changes the shape of your enemy.

63 – Changes its own shape.

64 – Banishes spiritual entities.

65 – Binds spiritual entities.

66 – Stops or slows time around you.

Cursed Items – Roll 2d6 and on a 2 or 12, the item is cursed. A cursed item has one or more of it's powers flipped into being a drawback, and item is hard to get rid of in a thematic manner.

Example Magic Items

Ishishaku

The blood sorcerer Hakanaimaru was a greedy man, with a strong lust for gold and gemstones. 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 staff 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 earthquake.

Table Results: Weapon; Item of Power; 1 major, 3 minor; Power over a primal force, Detect a specific mineral, change 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 en 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.

Kabekiriken

Kabekiriken (壁切剣, wall cutting sword) is a katana; expertly crafted katana done in the traditional style but with the best materials of the modern age. It is blessed to cut through walls. The weapon is fitted with gold and purple silk, its scabbard is lacquered purple with veins of gold dust. While armed with Kabekiriken you may make an attack against a wall, damaging it. If the wall itself is less than one meter thick and not load-bearing the slash will open a hole large enough for a human to pass through.

Table Results: Weapon; Enchanted Item; 1 minor; Allows passage through walls; 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 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.