Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Most Iconic & Unique Items in RPG History

Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2,509
Location
The Present
What are the most iconic items in RPG history? I'm not just talking weapons, but other items like boots, rings, and more. It could be a trope/staple item like Boots of Speed or a Holy Avenger, or a very unique item like The Tome of Pestilent Thought from Planescape: Torment.

So what are they? What are the most interesting and unique items you've come across, and which RPG do they belong to?
 

Bester

⚰️☠️⚱️
Patron
Vatnik
Joined
Sep 28, 2014
Messages
11,005
Location
USSR
Sentient items with their own will can be cool.

Boots of speed are iconic, but so what, you know? Eh.

Items are part of a mechanic. But they're particularly interesting when they modify the mechanic. The bow that doesn't need arrows, or can shoot a thousand arrows per shot once/day. Anything like that that does something non-ordinary. Anything that breaks the mechanic, basically. That's what this thread should be about, not about "iconic".

Items like that are few and far between, because they require a dedicated coding session just for this one item.

Also, this is the kind of stuff Nu-Torment should've tried doing. But I can't remember a single usable item with a special effect. Not that I finished the game, but still.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
4,189
RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In
Lord British's Sandalwood Box from Ultima V, even after all these years people are still mad about it.
 
Last edited:

The Jester

Cipher
Joined
Mar 1, 2020
Messages
1,414
FO2-Ballgag.gif
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
Patron
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
33,052
Location
KA.DINGIR.RA.KI
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Boots of Blinding Speed from Morrowind.

Yeah it increases your speed by 200 and makes you super fucking fast, faster even than if you maxed out your speed stat naturally.

But it also makes you blind and your screen turns black.

BUT you can equip items that grant magic resistance, then put on the boots, and the negative effect will be blocked.
 
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2,509
Location
The Present
Baldur's Gate 2 certainly has a lot of them. Lilarcor is the sentient weapon. Carsomyr is also the best holy avenger around. The list could go on an on for that game. One that I like in Betrayal at Krondor is "The Idol of Lassur". It is a statue that has 8 charges. Each charge will allow you to instantly kill any enemy in the game without fail. The catch? Having it on your person gives you a -20% penalty to everything. Brutal. Everything an artifact to an evil god should be.
 

NJClaw

OoOoOoOoOoh
Patron
Joined
Aug 30, 2016
Messages
7,513
Location
Pronouns: rusts/rusty
Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
Spider's Bane (the +2 greatsword in Baldur's Gate that makes you immune to web among other things) is one of my favorite items in any RPG. I can't even explain why, I just like the idea of a sword made to kill spiders (forgive me, Generic-Giant-Spider). It also became a recurrent item in all my D&D campaigns.

Another item I love is the Book of Infinite Spells in BG2 and that's another staple in my D&D campaigns, but with all the existing spells instead of just 10. I love the idea of a spellbook that, when you cast a spell, starts to randomly shuffle its pages and lands on a random spell that might be either completely useless or a lifesaver.

As for more recent games that DEFINITELY ARE RPGS:
YGzNulc.png
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

Time Mage
Patron
Joined
Apr 30, 2020
Messages
3,292
Location
Arborea
I'm very into cock and ball torture
I really like Xan's moonblade because of the intrinsic conflict it causes. One of the best weapons in the game, stuck on a character who can barely utilise it due to his class.
If you choose to use him as a normal mage with Sleep/Haste/Skulltrap and the like it is still neat due to the very valuable fire resistace. I however always try to turn Xan into a melee character. Layer on the defensive spells like mirror image, layer on the buffs to his strength score, try to position him well so he can provide attacks without being targeted by the enemies. He will obviously still be casting the usual powerhouse control spells but against some enemies with immunity to magical weapons +1 he can be really usefull.

Xan has remarkably few lines, but his moonblade still turns him into my favourite character in BG1. What do you do when you find yourself in a position you are wholly unsuited for? Wallow in misery? Change your profession and only use the moonblade for the defensive buff? Rise to your legacy and try to make it work (badly)?
 

Thal

Augur
Joined
Apr 4, 2015
Messages
413
For me it was the Mentor's Ring from Morrowind. It was a genre-defining item for me from the first open world sandbox crpg I played. Finding that ring for the first time showed so tangibly that there are items of tremendous power out there, and all I have to do is to go out there and find them.

However, I would still say that the most iconic item in rpg history must be the Stone of Jordan from Diablo 2. Really, has there ever been an item that had a similar meaning to almost an entire generation of gamers?
 
Last edited:

Bester

⚰️☠️⚱️
Patron
Vatnik
Joined
Sep 28, 2014
Messages
11,005
Location
USSR
Lilarcor is the sentient weapon.
I wouldn't call it that.

I've read fantasy with a sentient rope ("ropey") - it acted sort of like the carpet from Alladin and had a personality. There was a sentient house with a damaged psyche (due to a traumatic past) which became a house of horrors, a sentient prison, a sentient sword that was hell-bent on killing a certain person and schemed to do it, but went silent after completing the task.

Lilarcor was pseudo-sentient, had one gimmick, and that was it.
 

Desiderius

Found your egg, Robinett, you sneaky bastard
Patron
Joined
Jul 22, 2019
Messages
14,131
Insert Title Here Pathfinder: Wrath
Robinett's Speck (that's what I called it when I was nine).
 

Nano

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
4,648
Grab the Codex by the pussy Strap Yourselves In
I really like Xan's moonblade because of the intrinsic conflict it causes. One of the best weapons in the game, stuck on a character who can barely utilise it due to his class.
If you choose to use him as a normal mage with Sleep/Haste/Skulltrap and the like it is still neat due to the very valuable fire resistace. I however always try to turn Xan into a melee character. Layer on the defensive spells like mirror image, layer on the buffs to his strength score, try to position him well so he can provide attacks without being targeted by the enemies. He will obviously still be casting the usual powerhouse control spells but against some enemies with immunity to magical weapons +1 he can be really usefull.

Xan has remarkably few lines, but his moonblade still turns him into my favourite character in BG1. What do you do when you find yourself in a position you are wholly unsuited for? Wallow in misery? Change your profession and only use the moonblade for the defensive buff? Rise to your legacy and try to make it work (badly)?
I've heard Xan was supposed to be a Fighter before they changed him into a mage at the last minute. Hence his "dagger" that looks suspiciously like a longsword.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom