Greetings, 3WD-verse! DM Chris here. From King Arthur’s Excalibur to the mighty hammer of Thor, Mjölnir, the history of fantasy is filled with iconic magic items. Their names take them from something simple, like a sword or hammer, and make them as much a part of the story as the characters who wield them.
I’d like to share a funny scene that has played out in my head numerous times over my years playing D&D…
Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves have made their way to the Last Homely House at Rivendell after their escape from the goblins. Lord Elrond investigates the ancient runes that adorn the magical swords the party found in the troll’s cave, finally turning to Gandalf after some time, “This weapon is called…+1 sword of goblin-slaying!”
Now, any of us that have read The Hobbit and/or The Lord of the Rings trilogy will recognize that particular sword as the fabled Glamdring, also known as “Foe-hammer” and “Beater” (Yeah, it has three different names. Tolkien was a master at deep lore). That’s a fair bit better than if Elrond had used it’s D&D equivalent’s name, as in my adapted scene above.
While not every magic item needs a collection of names like the aforementioned Glamdring, letting things like a +1 sword or Armor of Invulnerability into your world without anything more than a rules-based description as a name can diminish the power they can have outside of what they do.
It All Starts With The Name
So, for obvious reasons, the crux of the naming process is coming up with the all-important name. There isn’t a right or wrong way, but a good name should conjure something when you hear it. In general, the two best varieties are historical/lore-based, where the name speaks to the previous owner or some earlier event in your world, and descriptive, where the name comes from a particular feature of the item.
Consider the legendary Drow Ranger Drizzt Do’Urden’s two swords – Icingdeath and Twinkle. Both are iconic, with names that engage the imagination, and yet both use the different naming varieties from above. Icingdeath, as a historical/lore-based item, was named after the white wyrm that Drizzt defeated to claim the weapon. On the other hand, Twinkle uses a descriptive feature of the sword for its name, as it glows when enemies are near.
Is There A Better Way To Say It?
Using the master, Tolkien, as a guide, one of the first things I like to do is decide on a language. Now, if you’re a scholar of ancient languages, then feel free to roll your own. But for us lesser mortals, just use what’s already there. Obviously, names in the common tongue can be just as powerful, like the deadly Valyrian steel greatsword, Ice, from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, but what if you want to go a little deeper and tie it into your world?
As an example, in our current homebrewed Return to the Further campaign I’m running, DM Lenny plays a Drow Twilight Cleric named Guernon. I was preparing to give him a Weapon of Warning, but I wanted it to play into his character’s backstory. It needed to be something about twilight and protection. The Twilight Protector isn’t bad for a start, but Guernon is an Elf. Something given to him by his deity should reflect that somehow. So I hopped onto an online Elvish Translator and several minutes later I had it – Tel Lareth Aegis (or The Twilight Protector in Elvish).
With very little work, a Weapon of Warning (very cool item) transforms into an ancient relic of Guernon’s faith. Which leads me to the next part…
What Does It Say About Your World?
Our names say something about us. They speak to our ancestry and our place in the world. Magic items can also benefit from the same thing. By taking them from their basic description and adding some history or lore, the item becomes a part of your world. While Excalibur is technically “a sword in a stone”, it is also an ancient mystic weapon that is held fast in the rock until the next King of Britain can pull it free from its stony prison. That’s not just a cool sword, it’s a story, too.
A beautiful application of this from my personal experience is from our current Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign. DM Dave gave my Bard, Rasgueado, an Elven Lute. But not just any old one. You see, besides trying to save the world, Rasgueado is looking for his father, who left when he was very young. This lute, Arael Onal or “Heart Speaker”, was originally his father’s instrument, from an earlier time when things were different. So, not only did my Bard get a magic lute that can cast spells, but Rasgueado now carries with him a clue to his past and his future. Powerful stuff.
The Big Reveal
Well, now you’ve spent valuable time coming up with a suitably epic name for your item, but right now it’s like a tree falling in the forest. If no one knows the name, does it really matter? There are many different ways to reveal the name to players without much drama – it’s written somewhere on the item or it’s the macguffin on a quest, for example.
But maybe no one in your party knows Elvish or Dwarvish, or perhaps they’ve just stumbled upon it in a treasure hoard? Now they’ll need to seek out a wise person to decipher the runes and/or identify the item. Without much work, you have an instant quest that lets you lean into the history and lore we talked about earlier.
I’m going back to the sword that inspired the article, Glamdring, for my example. Despite having Gandalf in the party, Bilbo and the dwarves still had to seek out the wise Elrond Halfelven to have the runes on Glamdring and Orcrist deciphered. With that brilliant stroke, Tolkien delivered both history and lore, combined with a well-crafted reveal.
But, there is one additional benefit to holding off the name reveal. From the very same Troll hoard that produced Glamdring and Orcrist, we also have Bilbo’s iconic weapon, Sting. Which brings me to the final point.
The Players Will Do It, Too
We’ve spent the whole article talking about how important naming magic items can be. And yet, sometimes the best names just seem to happen. As I started to give named magic items to players, suddenly I found that they, too, were coming up with names for them. Like our friend Bilbo and his dagger, Sting, that seemed like a sword to him, they very often will come up with a name themselves.
Which brings us back to the Return to the Further campaign I discussed earlier. After a particularly deadly battle with a creature of darkness, my brother Matt’s (the Monster Wrangler, himself!) Half-Orc Barbarian, Thokk, found a shadowy axehandle. I already had a name for it – the Axe of Shadows, which in retrospect was kinda weak – but Matt latched on to a portion of my description and started calling it Black Blade before I could reveal the name. Nothing quite as satisfying at the table than having a player adding flourishes to the story you’re coming up with.
Final Thoughts
If it’s good enough to do, it’s good enough to do well. Magic items are one of the best rewards to give players, but there is so much more possibility there with the addition of a name. Drizzt may have slain many enemies with his two scimitars, but he captured our imaginations with Icingdeath and Twinkle. Spend a few minutes with your items and they’ll do the same for you and your players.
And, when you’re swinging Black Blade, or Icingdeath, or Beater, you’ll need some dice. Check out our affiliate link at FanRoll Dice to get 10% off your entire order.