Thanks for the video! We used one of these at a Gary Con 1E one-shot to find a stairway down. It was a raucous seven turns as we hustled to make the most of the item. We made sure to have a Find Traps spell going to prevent tripping lots of damaging obstacles.
It's always fun watching these to see some of the old magic items. Much more interesting than a lot of the stuff found in the newer editions in my opinion.
Part of what I think makes old school magic items interesting is that in newer editions you have the in vogue unified mechanics. Like 5e will have defined statuses and effects that are defined elsewhere in the rules. The magic items there tend to reference preexisting mechanics. But alot of these older magic items will have functionality entirely contained in this magic item which serves to make more unique stuff. The most unique magic items in the modern edition, imo, are the legacy items. And sometimes they changed alot over the years and are kind of a worse version unfortunately. Like I was looking at the 5e Deck of Many Things the other day and… yeah it basically becomes a permanent magic item because it never disappears after making your draw it just has a cool down. And I was looking at it because I heard 5e players saying it destroys campaigns, so I’m like “wait how?” And upon reading the description I’m like “well no fucking shit it’s broken”
Tony - I have given out two Arrows of Direction in 35yrs. Both were to low-mid level parties. I made a very similar adjustment for its use indoors and out, otherwise it’d be a much more niche item. I would allow it to be used as a magical weapon with no bonuses and once fired it’d lose all enchantment.
That example with the gargoyle made me think of a cool way to implement the arrow in combat: When firing it, you name a target aloud, and it will automatically seek out the nearest target matching what you said. You get an automatic hit on the creature, but it only deals standard damage for an arrow, and has a higher probability of breaking (maybe 60%). After all, if it simply points to a specific location when tossed, why not have it seek out a specific creature when fired? Especially considering it's just a single 1d4 damage (or however much arrows do in AD&D), and you can pretty much only use it once (unless you have multiple Arrows of Direction, but you could homebrew rules to prevent that, like including something akin to attunement from 5E).
This is pretty much what I came to say. Something like a much weaker version of an Arrow of Slaying, in that it's enchanted in that moment only against a particular target.
Time to start the discussion around the difference between a "+1" item and a "magical" item is. 😊 A “+1” item is a object of exceptional craftsmanship. It is a sword with perfect balance. A set of armor with improved alloys or flexibility. It is a bow that has a higher draw weight. Through craftsmanship the item improves the chances of a player to carry out an attack or defense. Being simply +1 is not itself a magical property. In some of my older campaigns, more exotic materials would allow for higher bonuses. Meteorite ore could reach +2, adamantium (or our version thereof) could reach +3 all while not being “magical” in nature The crafting of a magic item requires an exceptional item as a base. A magical sword must be well balanced and of the hardest metals or exotic ingredients. And therefore, by their nature start as a +1 object. By imbuing the item with magic, the item is able to achieve higher bonuses +2, +3, even the fabled +5 As a more simple enchantment, an arrow of direction would rate a +2 as it would have exceptional build quality (+1) and a basic enchantment (+1)
Desert of desolation had a magic compass that I also think could cast locate object once per day. Like this one. Magic arrow, yes can hit a gargoyle. Yeah we never gave experience points for magic items.
This is a very useful item when your party Magic User fireballs their own group and you are three levels down in the dungeon and the guy making the map fails his saving throw and the map fails the save too and burns up. Ask me how I know. The guy who did this was never ever allowed to play a caster again, we did relent eventually but fireballs were banned.
One of James Ward’s players was constantly hit by friendly fire whenever he tried to melee. Eventually, James gave him a magical Amulet of Protection from Normal Missiles.
@@disfiguringthegoddess1102Good point. Consider they following: ‘Arrow of Direction’ has higher XP value, in 1E. Also, I’m not a 5E player but WOTC did limit the use of ‘Arrow of Direction’ to once per day.
@@disfiguringthegoddess1102 You’re absolutely correct. To be specific, the Arrow of Direction is Divination magic, while magical weapons are Alteration (+ possibly Invocation/Evocation) magic.
I would allow an Arrow of Direction to strike creatures only hit by +1 weapons. Of course, it won’t have to hit or damage bonuses. If it hits, it will automatically break and be forever useless. Drinking a Potion of Invulnerability will also allow you to hit creatures only hit by +1, because that’s what you become.
Thanks for the video! We used one of these at a Gary Con 1E one-shot to find a stairway down. It was a raucous seven turns as we hustled to make the most of the item. We made sure to have a Find Traps spell going to prevent tripping lots of damaging obstacles.
It's always fun watching these to see some of the old magic items. Much more interesting than a lot of the stuff found in the newer editions in my opinion.
Totally agree
Part of what I think makes old school magic items interesting is that in newer editions you have the in vogue unified mechanics. Like 5e will have defined statuses and effects that are defined elsewhere in the rules. The magic items there tend to reference preexisting mechanics. But alot of these older magic items will have functionality entirely contained in this magic item which serves to make more unique stuff. The most unique magic items in the modern edition, imo, are the legacy items. And sometimes they changed alot over the years and are kind of a worse version unfortunately.
Like I was looking at the 5e Deck of Many Things the other day and… yeah it basically becomes a permanent magic item because it never disappears after making your draw it just has a cool down. And I was looking at it because I heard 5e players saying it destroys campaigns, so I’m like “wait how?” And upon reading the description I’m like “well no fucking shit it’s broken”
Love these videos
*ranger proceeds to ask it to point to the nearest criminal but the arrow immediately jumps into their bow and points towards the thief*
Pretty neat little item
I would recommend adding "friendly" to the request.
"Show me the way to the nearest *friendly* village" :)
Tony - I have given out two Arrows of Direction in 35yrs. Both were to low-mid level parties. I made a very similar adjustment for its use indoors and out, otherwise it’d be a much more niche item. I would allow it to be used as a magical weapon with no bonuses and once fired it’d lose all enchantment.
That example with the gargoyle made me think of a cool way to implement the arrow in combat: When firing it, you name a target aloud, and it will automatically seek out the nearest target matching what you said. You get an automatic hit on the creature, but it only deals standard damage for an arrow, and has a higher probability of breaking (maybe 60%). After all, if it simply points to a specific location when tossed, why not have it seek out a specific creature when fired? Especially considering it's just a single 1d4 damage (or however much arrows do in AD&D), and you can pretty much only use it once (unless you have multiple Arrows of Direction, but you could homebrew rules to prevent that, like including something akin to attunement from 5E).
This is pretty much what I came to say. Something like a much weaker version of an Arrow of Slaying, in that it's enchanted in that moment only against a particular target.
We did a lot of outdoor RPGing with this version of DnD. But, it was still homebrew back then, and not module driven.
Time to start the discussion around the difference between a "+1" item and a "magical" item is. 😊
A “+1” item is a object of exceptional craftsmanship. It is a sword with perfect balance. A set of armor with improved alloys or flexibility. It is a bow that has a higher draw weight. Through craftsmanship the item improves the chances of a player to carry out an attack or defense. Being simply +1 is not itself a magical property.
In some of my older campaigns, more exotic materials would allow for higher bonuses. Meteorite ore could reach +2, adamantium (or our version thereof) could reach +3 all while not being “magical” in nature
The crafting of a magic item requires an exceptional item as a base. A magical sword must be well balanced and of the hardest metals or exotic ingredients. And therefore, by their nature start as a +1 object. By imbuing the item with magic, the item is able to achieve higher bonuses +2, +3, even the fabled +5
As a more simple enchantment, an arrow of direction would rate a +2 as it would have exceptional build quality (+1) and a basic enchantment (+1)
Isle of Dread was mainly an exploration hex crawl.
Desert of desolation had a magic compass that I also think could cast locate object once per day.
Like this one. Magic arrow, yes can hit a gargoyle.
Yeah we never gave experience points for magic items.
never given one of these out after playing for 42 years.
This is a very useful item when your party Magic User fireballs their own group and you are three levels down in the dungeon and the guy making the map fails his saving throw and the map fails the save too and burns up. Ask me how I know. The guy who did this was never ever allowed to play a caster again, we did relent eventually but fireballs were banned.
One of James Ward’s players was constantly hit by friendly fire whenever he tried to melee. Eventually, James gave him a magical Amulet of Protection from Normal Missiles.
Guys, I changed my answer. After reading p.40 of OD&D Greyhawk. I would say the weapon needs to be: +1, +2, +3, …
I would say yes, ‘Arrow of Direction’ is a greater magic than ‘+1 Arrow’.
yeah, but gary was very clear in writing that it's not the same type of magic in responses before.
@@disfiguringthegoddess1102Good point. Consider they following: ‘Arrow of Direction’ has higher XP value, in 1E. Also, I’m not a 5E player but WOTC did limit the use of ‘Arrow of Direction’ to once per day.
@@disfiguringthegoddess1102
You’re absolutely correct. To be specific, the Arrow of Direction is Divination magic, while magical weapons are Alteration (+ possibly Invocation/Evocation) magic.
I would allow an Arrow of Direction to strike creatures only hit by +1 weapons. Of course, it won’t have to hit or damage bonuses. If it hits, it will automatically break and be forever useless.
Drinking a Potion of Invulnerability will also allow you to hit creatures only hit by +1, because that’s what you become.
👍🏻😎🤖👽