A few magical items/curios I posted elsewhere some time ago:
Time-reversed Cube: A cube of wood somehow possessing inverted time, this object can’t be destroyed by conventional means as any damage done to it “resets”. An interesting aspect is that if someone considers damaging it, the damage will appear on the cube before they actually do anything - even if they choose not to, as the damage was done in the future where they did in fact try to damage the Cube.
The Mirror of Division: In appearance this object is an ornate full length mirror. When gazed upon for the first time by someone within 5 feet, they will be irresistibly pulled into the Mirror. About thirty seconds later two perfect copies of the person will be expelled from the Mirror, stark naked. Thirty seconds after that, their belongings will also be expelled - but they aren’t duplicated. This tends to result in a certain…dissension over who gets what, not to mention arguments over who is the “original”. Things get even more interesting if they’re married or have land.
Afterwards, the Mirror will fold in upon itself and vanish, only to later again mysteriously appear in some treasure hoard.
The Blinding Blade: A sword that as long as it’s drawn everyone within a 50 foot radius is rendered blind, including the wielder. Created centuries ago for a legendary blind swordsman, it was extremely useful for him, but not so much for most anyone else.
Gloves of Molding: These enchanted gloves allow the wearer to mold any unenchanted, unliving substance as if it was soft clay in their hands. They are valued by crafter and warrior alike; they allow the easy, fine shaping of the most obdurate materials, while allowing adventurers and soldiers to dig holes through walls and fortifications with but moderate effort.
Dramatic Sword: When drawn this sword glows bright in one of several colors, and when swung it makes a loud “zhuuunnng!” noise while leaving a trail of light behind. And…that’s it. No bonuses, no extra powers, nothing. Well, except for the anti-divination magic that keeps anyone from actually telling that it has no special powers. Often found in a place that makes it look obviously important.
Bow of Arboreal Archery: When arrows fired from this bow strike unpaved earth, they will suddenly sprout into a sapling and rapidly begin growing. Within a minute they will be a tree of a native variety several times as tall as a man; for especially tall types of tree they will continue to grow more slowly, reaching full height in an hour or so.
Wood elves and druids covet this bow for obvious reasons. Others can still find it useful; for example, it can rapidly produce cover, render roads impassible by wagons, or render a battlefield unsuitable for cavalry charges.
Mutagenic Healing Potion: A slightly misformulated healing potion. Drink it, and besides being healed the character gains a mutation, transformation or new body part randomly from a list. Typically created by accident and found mixed in with normal healing potions.
The Enigmatic Orb: A crystalline sphere that once per day can be held up and commanded to speak. It will then speak in a sonorous voice, making an important sounding but enigmatic statement.
“Beware the Red Handed One.” “Fortune is found beneath the Sign of the Serpent.” “The Three Who Know have come.” “Steel shall fail, the spell prevail.” That sort of thing.
It appears to be a genuine oracle of some kind, but its prophecies are virtually only understood long after the fact if ever, and are easy to misinterpret. In a game, you’d just make up something portentous sounding referring to something or someone the players haven’t run across yet and probably won’t recognize from such a Nostradamus-like oracle.
Portal ring: When worn, the wearer’s finger will vanish as it passes into the ring, projecting into some other unknown realm. Sometimes disturbing feeling things can be felt brushing up against the finger.
Ring of X-Ray Vision: allows the user to see through low-density objects and inside living things. However, it has a progressive chance of inflicting cancer on anyone looked at while using it - including the wearer if they glance at themselves - because it uses actual X-rays.
Silly items:
The Shortener: This sword when swung at a target will pass through armor and flesh with little effort, although the damage it causes heals almost as soon as it passes; the result is painful but not fatal. However every successful horizontal bisecting of a victim causes them to permanently shrink by one to three inches, and the wielder of Shortener to temporarily gain those inches.
Notoriously instrumental to the “Feud of the New Dwarves”, which resulted in a pair of noble families who both acquired one of these blades reducing each other to a tiny stature as they both tried to steal their rivals’ height and regain their own. And since it turns out the change in height is inheritable…
Furry Bow: This item is named thus because for some reason everything but the string is upholstered in fur. When the command word is spoken, an arrow fired from it instead of wounding the target will stun them for a few minutes, and transform them into a random anthropomorphic animal.
Squid Sphere: An apple-sized, rubbery black sphere. When thrown, it unfolds itself into a large air-breathing squid that latches onto the target, grappling with it and biting it.
