d30 Challenge Day 25

This is my 25th entry in the d30 Challenge, which is a bastardization of an idea I first saw on Mark "CMG" Clover's feed. Now I'm a sucker for these things and I know some folks aren't so while I'm committed to answering one question about my favorite hobby each day, and putting together a d30 table before the end of the month, I know not everyone is so interested. I'll put the question & answer after the break, posting late in the day, and not promoting this on G+ so those who don't like this kind of thing should be exposed only minimally.

I think this is the best I can do....
Day 25's question is "Favorite Magic Item".

Another easy one for me......

My absolutely favorite magic item came from HackMaster 4th edition (by now it must seem like I'm beating a dead horse) and I think it'll soon be clear why this is my favorite magic item.

Now HM4 was already a high-fantasy/magic game quite different from the current low-fantasy/magic game that I'm really enjoying. One of the cool limiting factors on magic was that you could only have so many XP worth of magic items for a PC based on their level and you could have, at most, one Serial Numbered Magic Item (SNI) on them. An SNI was a "special" magic item, custom-tailored, logged, and tracked by the HackMaster Association (HMA). There were only two ways to get one. You had to either win a high-level tournament or become a level 5 GM. The level 5 GM SNI's were specifically headgear that gave a +2 Armor Class, +2 to Saving Throws, and usually did one oddball thing.

My favorite magic item was the 1st SNI I ever wrote up called the Libram of Storage. I needed to write up a SNI for a Chapter-level tournament and I brainstormed what would be the best item for my current/active PC. Spellbooks in HackMaster can be huge, heavy, expensive, and many while magic-users aren't known for their strength. I figured a magic spellbook that could hold other spellbooks would be quite useful. The Libram could store up to 5 spellbooks and access them all. It basically also provided another level of protection to the spellbooks contained within. Combined with a decent spellbook holder/case, the Libram did a great job protecting the magic-user's most valuable possessions. I figured that you'd have to fail a series of saving throws before you risked losing any spell pages. Perfect for a paranoid DS Invoker.

Of course, this SNI wasn't written for me. It was given away to the person voted Most Valuable Player (MVP) at the tournament I had organized. The MVP wasn't a regular HackMaster player and when presented the SNI as a prize, he politely handed it back to me as a gift with a polite, "Thanks for setting all this up."

As shocked as I was, I accepted the SNI and held on to it for almost six months to make sure that the player hadn't registered with a gaming group and started a regular HackMaster game. SNI's were a big deal and while he had given it to me I wasn't going to accept it as mine until he had a chance to reconsider.

This gift resonated with me and while I don't even remember the player who gave it to me I never forgot that gesture. Years later at Origins when the new version's Hacklopedia of Beasts came out, I was fortunate to win the first copy off of the printer through bit of completely random luck. I had a volunteer that year from Canada that GM'd his butt off and I gave him that book as a gesture of thanks, just like the guy who gave me my most treasured magic item.