d100 - Tells for Magical Treasures

One of the ways some Referees handle Magic Item Identification is by imbuing the Items themselves with tiny Clues or Hints to their function. Whether this by materials, decorations, or other semi-wonderous properties, it can sometimes give the Players a little bit of an idea as to what these enchanted objects might do.

I’m quite fond of this approach, and it ties in with my philosophy of making Magical Treasures more memorable and exciting. In my mind “Generic Magic” is a bit of an oxymoron.

So here is a d100 Table with some Potential Properties as well as at least three “Tells” that can be used to spruce up the occasional Wand, Staff, Sword, or other Mystical Implement. I’ve tried to stick with some of the more common Magical Features here for broader utility and hopefully inspire some ways of making these Treasures a bit more Interesting and even encourage particular approaches as part of Experimentation/Testing or Other Means to figure out how they function.

See also: Jewelry Generator, Flaws & Foibles, Monster Parts for Magical Reagents/Research, and of course other posts with the [magic item] label.