Author Topic: Anti-Morgoth gear  (Read 1624 times)

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Offline Ginger McMurray

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Anti-Morgoth gear
« on: March 08, 2020, 12:20:58 PM »
You're in Middle Earth and looking to fight spawn of Morgoth. What sort of magical weapons, armor, etc. do you want?
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Offline Ginger McMurray

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Re: Anti-Morgoth gear
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2020, 11:18:17 AM »
Is there anything specific? I'm especially interested in any unique items from Middle Earth. Like how Frodo had Sting, Aragorn had Anduril, etc..

I'm not terribly concerned with power level, either. The basis for the campaign is that Morgoth is on the verge of escaping the void. Sauron doesn't want that to happen and is, in his usually nefarious way, working to prevent it. Part of that is hunting down troves of powerful magic his minions can use. The party, of course, stumbles into the mix. The way Sauron works (infiltration and assault) doesn't lend itself to them figuring out he's actually the good(ish) guy this time around. So, of course, they go about trying to stop his plans. Part of that includes getting to the troves before his minions can.

Eventually they'll end up going against Morgoth's spawn and minions themselves, either with or without Sauron's help.
No pre-written adventure survives contact with the GM.

Offline Hurin

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Re: Anti-Morgoth gear
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2020, 12:22:56 PM »
The Lords of Middle Earth volumes, which give stats for many of the great heroes/heroines of all ages of Tolkien's mythos, list a lot of great, unique artifacts, many of which would still be kicking around in the Third Age.

E.G. Fingolfin's sword is a +88 Holy Two Handed Sword of Cold that makes its wielder immune to stun, fear, charm, possession and fumbles, Slays armor and shields, casts Haste automatically when drawn from its sheath, has constant Utterlight, and can be used to cast 200 PP worth of spells from Ice Law. Oh, and all the spells it casts have 5x range, area of effect, and hit point damage.

So that's pretty good.
'Last of all, Húrin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed'. --J.R.R. Tolkien

'Every party needs at least one insane person.'  --Aspen of the Jade Isle

Offline Ginger McMurray

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Re: Anti-Morgoth gear
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2020, 12:36:45 PM »
Thanks! I also found Treasures of Middle Earth, which has a lot of the same types of stuff. Apparently anything holy would be amazing. It's slaying vs. any creatures of Sauron or Morgoth.
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Offline Curtis

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Re: Anti-Morgoth gear
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2022, 05:07:03 AM »
Probably not what you had in mind, but I crossed over into MERP from D&D.  I ran a three year campaign set in the last few years of the First Age/first few years of the Second Age.  When I discovered MERP (and later Rolemaster) I translated some of the D&D magic items over into the Rolemaster system.  Most are too low-level for what you had in mind, but among the useful ones (from old Dungeoneer's Guild adventures) were:

The Wand of Elbalond — found in a dragon horde, it combines the powers of the Staff of Power and the Staff of Wizardry.  Basically, find spell lists from Rolemaster or MERP that match the D&D spells, then allow the wand to cast spells of up to 20th level from those lists.  I gave the Wand (which at command can become 2', 4' or 8' in length) 400 power points per day, half of which could be used to cast spells and half to manipulate them (increase range, duration, etc.).

Less powerful were the Wizard's Belt and the Prayer Beads.  The Belt allowed the wearer to cast spells from the realm of essence as if the wearer was 3 levels higher (also increasing their power points, spell resistance, ability to overcome spell resistance, etc.).  The Beads allowed the user to treat every spell cast from the realm of channeling as if they'd rolled a natural '00'.

Similar were the Belts of Giant's Strength, which granted the wearer a strength of 101-107, depending on which belt they found.  In your campaign that would probably be 106-112.  A Belt of Giant Strength combined with a Hammer of Thunderbolts (or a Dwarven Throwing Hammer in the hands of a Dwarf) can be pretty impressive.

And there were others; a Ranger Blade, a suit of chainmail (AC-16) for the scout (treat as AC-1 in Rolemaster/no armor in MERP), and many items of lesser power.

Offline Vladimir

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Re: Anti-Morgoth gear
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2022, 01:00:23 PM »
E.G. Fingolfin's sword is a +88 Holy Two Handed Sword of Cold that makes its wielder immune to stun, fear, charm, possession and fumbles, Slays armor and shields, casts Haste automatically when drawn from its sheath, has constant Utterlight, and can be used to cast 200 PP worth of spells from Ice Law. Oh, and all the spells it casts have 5x range, area of effect, and hit point damage.
+
  Nice, I'll need enough to equip a regiment...by next week.
When the Master governs, the people
are hardly aware that he exists.
-Lao Tzu

Offline Hurin

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Re: Anti-Morgoth gear
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2022, 02:58:54 PM »

Nice, I'll need enough to equip a regiment...by next week.

There's going to be a surcharge for that.
'Last of all, Húrin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed'. --J.R.R. Tolkien

'Every party needs at least one insane person.'  --Aspen of the Jade Isle