9 Legendary Magic Items From DM Tony’s Storm King’s Thunder

Greetings gamers from all systems, places and timelines.

They say that you give the same type of gifts you wish you were receiving. In terms of gaming, this translates to running the type of games that you would like to play in. While a wide range of gaming is fun, unfortunately, you can only save the farmer’s son from the cave goblins so many times before it gets even older than my jokes. For this reason, my ideal gaming environment is in a high-magic world with equally audacious stakes. 

If a DM is planning to roll out some earth-shattering crises, then the world itself should have some equally high-end magic available in it. As a player, what could possibly be more indicative of being in a high magic campaign than discovering a legendary item? This gives you an opportunity as the DM to introduce a signature weapon, item, or anything else to one or even all of your players. The sky’s the limit. 

Now, a character like Captain America is not defined by his shield, but it definitely adds to his awesomeness. It’s a recognizable piece of gear that is a hallmark of the First Avenger. Something like that is exactly what you want as a DM: To be able to give a special reward that will not only enhance the characters but also add a level of mystique to the game world itself. 

(Not to mention, if all the magical treasure is bland or outright sucks, then the campaign world itself is probably fundamentally flawed and equally boring. Sorry, I don’t know about you, but I’m not fighting a CR23 blue dragon for a bucket of +1 weapons.)

So, let’s take a look at this broken mess of magical mysteries my party encountered in my custom version of the Storm King’s Thunder. 

The 6 Weapons of Legend

We talked on the Storm King’s Thunder DM Review podcast about how each party member received a magic item that tied into their backstories and served to forward their character development. Here’s what we were talking about: Just some nice, under-powered, tasteful PC bling:

1. The Fallen Star 

This meteor fragment was an implement for the party’s celestial warforged warlock – because who hasn’t always wanted to play a transformer? 

• +2 to all attack rolls
• Eldritch Blast upgrades from a d10 to a d12
• 20 charges 
• Recharges 2d8+4 per day (no chance of destruction when reaching 0 charges) 
  • 1 charge: modified burning hands that does both radiant and fire damage, the level 1 spell Light
  • 2 charges:  Misty Step, max 3 times per day
  • 3 charges: Fly
  • 4 charges: Radiant Shield (Same as Fire Shield except its damage is radiant and it provides necrotic resistance) 
  • 5 charges: Sunbeam, max 2 times per day
  • 6 charges: Truesight 

This implement is very similar in design to the Trident of Cania, which you can see below and was described in my custom magical item creation article. The obvious key difference was the themes of the items being light and cold, respectively. 

Both were based on an existing book item, the Staff of Power, which was used as a loose guideline, and then aspects were added and taken away to suit the respective character. 

2. Dwarven Rune hammer (Skybreaker) 

The weapon intended for the party barbarian who, if he were to be compared to Thor, I would say he was most like the 1960s version (read: a complete goody two shoes.)

The wielder must know its true name to be attuned to it, However, once the name is uttered the attunement is instant.

• +2 heavy warhammer
• Can only be lifted by someone with a 21 strength or greater.
• If the wielder has a high strength score because they are wearing a belt of giant strength, this can be further enhanced by gauntlets of ogre power. The synergy of these two items will raise the strength provided by the belt of giant strength to the next category. (For example, the character in my game had a belt of frost giant strength, and when gauntlets of ogre power were acquired, his strength was elevated to that of a fire giant.) 
• Inflicts 1d10 damage when used in melee or when thrown.
• Giant’s Bane: On a non-modified 20, the struck giant must make a Dc 17 Con save or be slain outright.
• The hammer has the Returning property with a range of 60 feet
• While held, all the character’s attacks do an additional 1d6 force damage
• While attuned to this weapon, the wielder gets a critical hit on a 19 and 20

Skybreaker was based on my favorite signature magical weapon of all time: “Thor’s Fury,” which was an empowered hammer of thunderbolts from the earliest editions of D&D. Because of this, it gave me a certain sense of in-game satisfaction as it was used to deal out heaping helpings of the gift of pain. 

3. The Thunderbolt 

This implement was intended for the storm giant hybrid wizard who was constantly explaining to other giants that, no, he wasn’t a child who’d lost his parents. Being only 9’ 6” in the giant world is a hard knock life! 

• Acts as a +2 spellcasting implement that can disappear or appear on command in the hand of its wielder 
• Has 3 charges and recovers one every eight hours 
• 1 charge: The wielder may summon and hurl a thunderbolt as if it was the lightning bolt spell cast at the character’s highest casting level. When the bolt strikes a solid object, it causes all creatures within 30 feet to make a Constitution save or be stunned for one round. 

This item, while right to the point, was somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine. Because sure! It’s cool to have an extremely sharp ax, but it’s not nearly as cool as being the person chucking bolts of lightning around like Zeus. 

4. The Red Dragon Katan

I was going to do this as a classic samurai katana, but due to our furry fighter’s audible into a polearm battle master, we wound up calling it an Odachi and treating it as a polearm (yes, including allowing him to make the PAM “butt strike”).

• +2 Red Dragon Katana
• Inflicts 1d10 damage when used in melee
• Melee reach 10′
• While held, all physical and spell attacks inflict an additional d6 fire damage that ignores fire resistance
• 20 charges
• Recharges 2d8+4 charges every morning (no chance of destruction when reaching 0 charges)
• 3 charges: Burning hands cast at 3rd level 3 charges
• 3 charges: Agnazzar’s Scorcher 3rd level 3 charges
• 3 charges: Fireball (2 per day)
• 4 charges: Fire shield (1 per day)
• 4 charges: Conjure fire elemental (2 per day)
• Wall of fire 6 charges (1 per day)

5. The Scholar’s Lute of Secrets

This indestructible lute was in an iron coffin that the hill giant matriarch wore as a necklace. It’s a signature implement with powers and effects activated by strumming the strings in specific patterns. 

• As an indestructible as a relic 
• +2 to any attack based spell or cantrip 
• 20 charges 
• Regains 2D8 +4 charges per day with no chance of destruction if it reaches 0 
• 1 charge: Dark Firebolt – same as Firebolt at the caster’s level, but deals necrotic damage. If you already have the Firebolt cantrip, it has a casting cost of 0. Undead struck with this attack cannot regain hit points until the start of your next turn. 
• 1 charge: Darkness
• 1 charge: Detect Magic
• 2 charges: Levitate  
• 2 charges: Knock 
• 3 charges: Invisibility
• 3 charges: Telekinesis  
• 3 charges: Barkskin 
• 5 charges: Polymorph (2 per day) 
• 5 charges: Haste (1 per day) 

6. The Trident of Cania

As mentioned above, I broke down the process of creating this in a previous article on homebrew magic item creation. This is a +2 magical trident for a player who loves the sea and whales.

• Can be used as a spell casting implement.
• The weapon has 20 charges and recharges 2d8+4 every morning. These can be used to activate the following powers:
  • 3 charges: Ice Knife cast at 3rd level:
  • 3 charges: Icy Mist/Gaseous form: 3 charges 
  • 5 charges: Ice Storm: 5 charges (2 per day) 
  • 5 charges: Cone of Cold: 5 charges (2 per day) 
  • 6 charges: Wall of Ice: 6 charges (1 per day) 
  • 6 charges: Investiture of Ice: 6 charges (1 day) 

Magic Boons for the Whole Party

Onto the whole-party rewards!

The Spirit of Halloween 

At the end of our Halloween game, the party was given the following powers from a permanent unique boon:  

• +1 to any one of your three lowest ability scores 
• Resistance to Psychic damage
• Advantage against saves versus Fear

The Blessing of the Stone Father 

After earning these giant’s trust in a key portion of the storyline, the party was offered the following boon, which granted everyone some giant-like powers. 

• Hands of Stone Punches: as per the effects of an Alter Person spell, granting proficiency on unarmed strikes with an +1 to hit and damage with a base damage of d6 plus their strength modifier
• Giant’s Stride: Add 10′ of movement
• Here’s where it split. I gave the players two decisions to make regarding the other rewards. The players could one of each:
  • 60′ of dark vision (a bonus 30′ if they already had it) or 30′ of tremor sense.
  • +1 to their Constitution or +8 hit points. 

However, there were side effects, as there often are when getting magical treatments. Don’t do mana, kids.: All players grew 1-6 inches in height, which they could either choose or roll for.  

One of the challenges that you will face when running a game is that you may roll out a reward that you feel is extremely cool only to have it yield a “meh” response. This is why it’s been decently successful when offering a special reward to players to give them some choices on what direction it takes. 

Zephyros’ Guide to Building Tactical Excellence™

This book was given by the giant wizard to the party for two reasons: to get the party to operate more effectively together, and to force the party to operate outside of their “comfort zones.”

Win Condition: Everyone in the party had to succeed in two skill checks throughout the session using skills they did not have proficiency in. These skill checks had to be in live situations in the field, so something like the wizard trying to jump over the sofa back in his inn room wouldn’t count. If everyone succeeded at this as a team then they received the following reward at the end of the session:

• +1 to the ability score the skill is connected with. If the player used two different skills that they lacked proficiency in, then they choose either one to raise. 

Conclusion

Some of the greatest fun that can be had running a game is not only presenting challenges for the players to overcome but giving them rewards as well. And while I am well aware the items and boons presented here are above the typical power curve, my players never felt overpowered. (According to them. Maybe they’re lying to keep getting easy encounters, who knows.) 

Additionally, having access to a greater array of magic made the players feel “special.” And, honestly, if your character is a grand protector of an entire kingdom and they don’t feel all that special, then something is definitely lacking. 

All in all, don’t be afraid to give your players kick-ass items and equipment. Just be careful not to roll all of the good stuff out at once or you may find yourself in a situation where the players expect every monster to drop either a holy sword or a genie’s bottle.  Generally, you’re better giving your players a few magical items that they honestly like and appreciate than a dozen that they will never use or even remember they have.  (Because, let’s face it, unless it’s in their hand, they’re going to forget about it.)