A review copy of “Ezzat’s Catalogue of Magical Oddities” was provided by the publisher. Find more DMs Guild Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.
Support my work by using my affiliate links and pledging via Patreon.
Designed by: Colin Shopp
Liches are normally fearsome, deadly foes, but Ezzat is disarmingly charming, which I could use to describe this entire 50-page magic item supplement. Ezzat’s Catalogue of Magical Oddities features over 80 magic items and about two dozen spells, with a heavy emphasis on humor.
Humor is extremely subjective, and trying too hard often spells disaster. Thankfully the designer successfully balances that thin line between laughter and groans.
The catalogue is divided into four chapters, with the first chapter organized into “useful” and “useless” magic items.
The useful items are filled with lower-level gear, such as magic darts and rings, which are indeed useful for many campaigns.
Of the rarer items, Heward’s Hefty Hotpan is a fun frying pan weapon that doubles as a cooking utensil, though I wish the flavor table was more rewarding. I chuckled at the Vorpal Pocketknife, and was impressed with the legendary Boots of Vhaeraun, featuring a pair of sentient personalities, one for each boot.
On the useless side is a d20 table of useless properties and several examples of joke magic items, such as Goggles of Vision (provide vision in bright light if you are not blinded or obscured), Invisible Cloak (the cloak itself is invisible) and the Periapt of Attunement (grants the wearer an additional attunement slot, requires attunement).
Whether you find those examples funny is a good indication on whether you’d enjoy this book. The combination of funny ideas and Ezzat’s running sidebar commentary (and his pseudodragon familiar Ipses) had me chuckling throughout.
Chapter two features collectible magic items. I think set collection is an awesome feature for loot-based games, though trickier with 5e’s deemphasis on loot (and attunement limitation). In this case the collectible sets are punny variants of recognizable magic items from the Dungeon Master’s Guide, such as the Boots of Striding and Springing and the Ring of Spell Storing.
New variants for the Ring of Spell Storing include the Ring of Spell Snoring, Ring of Spell Sporing, and Ring of Spell S’moring, the latter of which can turn spell slots into delicious marshmallow treats (temporary hit points). Delightful!
These items are an excellent blend of humor and functionality, but probably work best if your players are familiar with the original item. If they manage to collect all 10 or so of these funny item variants, they can earn a powerful artifact, blessing, feat, or title, turning item hunting into an entire campaign or ongoing quest.
Chapter three includes tables for Artifier-crafted items, including reasonable monetary prices to buy and sell with. We also get over a dozen humorous new inventions, such as the Very Massive Cannon (a bloody howitzer), the Steel Cylinder (which literally doesn’t do anything? Inanimate carbon rod!), and the Absurd Golem, which is literally Pac-Man, complete with incorporeal weakness and limited turning.
I wasn’t nearly as big a fan of the new spells in chapter four, however. For the most part they’re either boring, or up-scaled versions of existing spells, such as Adaptation (Alter Self), Army of the Dead (Animated Dead) and Charm Crowd (Charm Person).
The chapter redeems itself with the Spell Upgrade system. Spell upgrades are optional traits that can be added to existing spells, bolstering their damage, increasing their range, reshaping their area, or sprinkling a bit of wild magic. Over 30 upgrades are provided, along with half a dozen example upgraded spells.
It’s a neat system, but also a bit like turning the Sorcerer’s Metamagic into loot (upgrade spell scrolls) or generic character progression, and makes spellcasting that much more dynamic. I’d be wary about using it when spellcasters are already typically more powerful and interesting than their martial counterparts.
I’d also be wary about inserting funny or useless magic items as jokes to trick my players, but given the right circumstances, including puzzles, dungeon designs, NPCs, etc, I think they could bring a lot of fun to a campaign.
Pros:
- Over 80 magic items, ranging from thoughtful to purposefully absurd.
- Legitimately funny magic items and cheeky sidebar commentary.
- Nice expansion for artificer inventions and infusions.
- Over two dozen interesting spell upgrades
Cons:
- New spells are lackluster, and mostly higher level versions of existing spells.
The Verdict: Despite Having a lich on the cover, Ezzat’s Catalogue of Magical Oddities is a delightfully humorous collection of puns and gags, alongside great ideas such as set collections and spell upgrades.
A review copy of “Ezzat’s Catalogue of Magical Oddities” was provided by the publisher. Find more DMs Guild Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.
Support my work by using my affiliate links and pledging via Patreon.
RogueWatson 