When possible, the DM should select the magical items he will give out in his campaign. Sometimes, though, a fast and random selection may be needed. In this case, if the DM rolls 99 or 00 on Table 88 of the Dungeon Master's Guide (p. 135), he should not roll for a magical weapon, but make a simple d20 roll on Table 32 below.
The items shown in the later tables fall into three categories:
(i) Items restricted to use by thieves only. These are indicated by (T) following the title of the item in the tables.
(ii) Items which do not have to be restricted to thieves only, but which have more than one effect, with at least some of their effects being of value for thieves alone. That is, thieves will benefit far more from these items than other characters. These are indicated by (T*) following the title of the item in the tables. The DM may well wish to rule that these items can only be used by thieves in his campaign.
(iii) Items which can be used by non-thieves as well as thieves, but which are clearly important for such typical thief activities as spying, stealing, snooping, sneaking and such.
As a general note, most of the items in this section are of relatively low power. This should allow DMs to introduce one or two such items into even a fairly low-magic campaign with no fear of upsetting game balance.
| d20 Roll |
Category | Table |
|---|---|---|
| 1-7 | Potions and oils | 33 |
| 8-11 | Miscellaneous Magic: Clothing and Jewelry | 34 |
| 12-15 | Miscellaneous Magic:Other Sneaky Stuff | 35 |
| 16-19 | Weapons | 36 |
| 20 | Special | (see below) |
For each of the later tables 33 through 36, a simple d6 roll is used to determine the nature of the item found. None of these later tables has any subtables to worry about.
Detection Resistance[]
Many of the items listed below were designed to enable the thief to avoid detection, to prevent his ill-gotten gains from being discovered, and such. Clearly, the avoidance of detection by simple low-level magical spells is highly important to many thieves. As a consequence, some of the thief magical items are enchanted with detection resistance, requiring any spellcaster using a divination spell (such as detect magic, detect invisibility in appropriate cases, etc.) effectively to overcome 50% magic resistance so far as the detection goes. It also protects the thief against discovery by creatures able to detect invisible (allow a flat 50% chance of automatic nondetection in cases where such creatures have no spellcaster level). This detection resistance does not give the thief any general magic resistance, of course!
"XP Value" entries are experience point awards which apply for making the item. An entry of "U" means that the item is unique and cannot readily be magically made, since the original was made by unknown means.
| d6 Roll |
Item | XP Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Essence of Darkness (T*) | 300 |
| 2 | Oil of Slickness (T) | 350 |
| 3 | of Master Thievery (T) | 500 |
| 4 | Perception (T*) | 300 |
| 5 | Sleep Breathing | 250 |
| 6 | Thievery (T) | 350 |
| d6 Roll |
Item | XP Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amulet of Dramatic Death (T) | U |
| 2 | Boots of Balance (T*) | 1,000 |
| 3 | Gloves of Evasion (T*) | 1,000 |
| 4 | Mantle of the Mundane (T*) | 1,500 |
| 5 | Robe of Vanishing (T) | 2,000 |
| 6 | Shadow Cloak (T*) | 3,000 |
| d6 Roll |
Item | XP Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bag of Vanishing (T) | 5,000 |
| 2 | Boxes of Delightful Transport | 2,500 |
| 3 | Dust of Trail Dispersion (T*) | 500 |
| 4 | Lens of Remote Viewing (T) | 1,000 |
| 5 | Lens of Valuation (T) | 1,000 |
| 6 | Tallin's Tightrope | 1,250 |
| d6 Roll |
Item | XP Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crossbow of Angling | 750 |
| 2 | Dagger of Impaling (T) | 300 |
| 3 | Dagger of Resource (T) | 500 |
| 4 | Dagger of Sounding (T) | 300 |
| 5 | Scabbard of Poison | 500 |
| 6 | Shortsword of Backstabbing (T*) | 700 |
Special Results[]
If the DM rolls a "Special" result from Table 32, then a unique item should be developed for the thief. This takes careful work by the DM to design the item, and also to determine a suitable history for it. Multi-property items in the listings above (such as the potion of perception, boots of balance, amulet of dramatic death, etc.) can be taken as inspirations. A specially-designed item should have several functions, none of exceptional strength, and with an emphasis on protection and nondetection rather than strong offensive potential.
A history for the item is well worth the effort. One obvious possibility is that someone, sometime, will come to try and get the item back! Certain NPCs may be hunting the previous wearer/user of the item, and while they do not have a description of the previous user they know what the item looks like. Perhaps they have been hired to do away with that previous user. So, when they see it on the person of the PC . . . The history of the item can have great potential for adventure locked within it, which the DM doesn't need to exploit immediately. Also, the player whose character gets the item should not be told the history of the item; that's something he will have to find out for himself and, again, there may be adventures locked within this search. This is especially true if command words are needed to activate certain properties.
Don't make too much of such items, or other players may feel their characters are being put in the shade and overshadowed by all the attention the thief is getting. But a unique item, something the thief knows he is the only person on Oerth (or Krynn or in the Forgotten Realms) to have, adds color and character to any adventuring party!