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Enchanted Items

Svrtnsse

Staff
Article Team
I got inspired by the thread about Magical Objects, but my idea didn't quite fit there. So, here goes...

What kind of enchanted items do you have in your stories? For the purpose of this question, let's say that an enchanted item is a regular object that has had its functionality or performance improved by magic. Then again, feel free to interpret it as you will (someone's going to anyway, I'm sure).

For myself, in my current story, Kala's hunting rifle comes with an enchanted scope. When looking through it she sees as if in broad daylight. This comes in handy seeing as she lives in the far north where the long night lasts for several months.

Any other examples?
 
In one of my older manuscripts I had written about a guy who was living on his own after America had broken out into multiple countries warring over territory; He had an enchanted bullet (urban fantasy) that could bend around a corner to hit someone, and it always went through them so he could retrieve it. I was oddly specific with thatXD


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cydare

Minstrel
One of the main characters in a story I have IS a gun. Due to an experiment gone wrong, she (and an associate) are stuck in a pair of pistols. I'm not sure if that counts as enchanted.
 

Svrtnsse

Staff
Article Team
In one of my older manuscripts I had written about a guy who was living on his own after America had broken out into multiple countries warring over territory; He had an enchanted bullet (urban fantasy) that could bend around a corner to hit someone, and it always went through them so he could retrieve it. I was oddly specific with thatXD


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This is a pretty interesting choice. It's very powerful, but also somewhat limited. It's only got one use, before it needs to be picked up again.
I've toyed with similar ideas for my setting, but haven't made up my mind about how hard/difficult it would be for someone to craft such an enchant.
 

Svrtnsse

Staff
Article Team
One of the main characters in a story I have IS a gun. Due to an experiment gone wrong, she (and an associate) are stuck in a pair of pistols. I'm not sure if that counts as enchanted.

I'm not sure it's technically an enchant (but that seems like a minor technicality in this context), more like a possession, or a haunting. It's also an interesting idea. I've come across this in swords before, but not in pistols/guns.
Is the character able to communicate in this form, and is she able to control the pistol?
 
C

Chessie

Guest
I don't have any enchanted items in my WIP, but the MC uses an ivory primrose necklace to work illusion magic. This isn't explained in the narrative because I have no idea how it works. It just does. Lol.
 
Don't have any.

Writing low magic stories can suck sometimes...

What's funny about that statement is that I include some magic even in my science fiction and post-modern extravaganzas XD I usually make it fit somehow, sometimes in really bizarre ways


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skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
One of my major characters has a magic sword. She herself doesn't do magic, or at least that's how she understands it. The sword itself, in the hands of anyone else, is just a sword.

But when wielded by Inglena, the sword shimmers snow white, cuts through just about anything or anyone, her arm never tires, and blood never sticks to it (so it's always white).

She uses it to fight goblins.
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
Umm, my world is littered with them, heh heh. Most aren't all that powerful, and they mostly come from a previous age when gods walked the world. One key to a subplot is a pearl, which the character bunds to himself and a little girl, so that she can call him in time of need. Most enchants are subtle like that.
 

Malik

Auror
I have a magical shield in my series, that one of the MC's buddies uses. It has a charm that causes the wielder's opponents to attack anyone else other than him. (It's useless for fighting solo, however; and the downside is that it can make you the last man standing in your unit, at which point it's also useless.)

Nobody knows that it's magic, though. It's just been handed down from generation to generation as a good luck charm. "It was your father's shield. It served him well at the Battle of (Whatever.)"

It's now about 400 years old and it's still in really good shape.

Most of my magical items are more or less like this. Some get explained; some don't. I try not to midi-chlorian all the magic away.
 

Queshire

Auror
Haha, wow, this is making me think that I've gone overboard with all my magic items. At this point most of these are just things I've thought up and have yet to include but I have;
>A sword that's basically treated as that setting's equivalent to Excalibur, but is really ultimately just a remote control for a terdaforming engine built by the gods. Its user can kill anything within his own country but outside of that he needs the flagship airship which has a part of the terdaforming engine hidden inside it in order to use the anti-army level abilities.

>A mantle that can freely take the form of anything that can be worn and always provides the defense of light armor no matter the form.

>A bracelet that allows free shape shifting so long as you shift into a version of "you." Instant hair and make up is easy enough, but it also allows you to change sex, race, age and so on.

>Various bags bigger on the inside, including one big enough to have a nice small cottage inside it.

>Various alchemical concotions, magical potions naturally enough but also magical cooking

>Various magitech weapons meant to add almost a sci fi-punk element to things.
 

cydare

Minstrel
I'm not sure it's technically an enchant (but that seems like a minor technicality in this context), more like a possession, or a haunting. It's also an interesting idea. I've come across this in swords before, but not in pistols/guns.
Is the character able to communicate in this form, and is she able to control the pistol?

Thanks!
She's able to communicate via telepathy with the pistol's owner but no one else can hear her. Though she can't control the pistol, she has a level of supernatural influence over the owner. She's almost like a second mind within him, pushing to control his actions. The owner himself (who acquired her by accident) can resist if he pushes back, but he starts off the story as passive and self-depreciating which makes him an exceptionally easy target.
 
C

Chessie

Guest
Most of my magical items are more or less like this. Some get explained; some don't. I try not to midi-chlorian all the magic away.

I prefer not explaining how the magic in my stories work. It's freaking magic for crying out loud! I'll show what it does and how it affects those wielding it, but nothing else besides that. Works out better for me that way.
 
I've always like the kind of magic items that are simple but can be used in creative ways. I had a MC with a cloak that could harden like stone. She would often wrapped enemies with it to trap them or use it as a shield. She's even used it as a club in emergency situations.
 

Saigonnus

Auror
Magic items in my world are usually simple things (combs that automatically straighten hair, fresh boxes/bags/bottles to keep food fresh, or curatives. Rodent/insect wards)


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