ALL MAGIC ITEMS ARE RINGS.
So instead of a Cursed Shield, AC10, it's a Cursed Ring, AC10. Instead of a Sword +1/+2 vs Lycanthropes, it's a ring that provides the same bonus to all of the character's attacks.
You may want to keep some fun unique items, like the Deck of Horrible Things, as they are, as well as anything that really doesn't work as a ring. On the other hand -- ha ha -- it might be fun to have woefully inappropriate items shoved into a ring; a ring that is somehow a treasure map could be interesting. Perhaps the map is literally carved into the ring -- only visible in fire perhaps, what a clever idea I've just had -- or perhaps the map can be seen in the mind's eye of the wearer, like a cyberpunk HUD. Maybe potions are one-use rings, but I quite like potions, so probably not. I'd love to see what a Folding Boat would be like as a ring.
Most games have a limit of two rings per character, one per hand. When all magic items are rings, that puts a nice hard limit on magic item proliferation.
Fun idea! I know you're somewhat joking but I do like how doing this would limit what magic items a character has, and they'd have to choose carefully what they keep.
ReplyDeleteYes, exactly! It creates a hard limit, but with a plausible in-game reason, because All Items Are Rings.
DeleteKind of reminds me of Petal Throne where Eyes were techno-magical artifacts that had various effects. You could well imagine a world where spells didn't have permanent effects, by nature, but a long-lost magical technology crafted manual control devices that you were expected to have a whole beltful of, and swap in and out between hands.
ReplyDeleteYes, the natural limitations in this system suggest that characters will take to wandering around with multiple rings, all looped together, perhaps on some sort of... ring. A ring-ring.
DeleteAll of that magic concentrated in one place could have consequences...
I see someone wanting to go full Mandarin, bust out ten rings like the equivalent to a quiver full of different elemental arrows.
ReplyDeleteAlternatively, someone playing a character of small enough stature wears a ring meant for a giant as a belt. Or vice versa, I suppose. Belt of True Sight (halfing-size) becomes Ring of True Sight (half-giant size).
I would be inclined to allow one ring to be worn as an ear-ring, because that seems fun.
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