Ring of delusion.

[Porphyre]

I recently re read Booklet 2 and came upon the description of the Ring of delusion:

“Delusion: A ring which makes the wearer see whatever he desires, i.e. a bummer thrown in to fool players.”

Notice that the description is very less specific that the one of the similarly named Potion of delusion:

“Delusion: Makes the user believe the Potion is whatever he desires, and each Potion looks like some other type of Potion.”

With the potion, the player is fooled about the nature of the potion. But with the Ring, he sees "whatever he desires": the description doesn't imply that he believes just the Ring to be another type of Ring: anything could be the subject of the delusion!



The character could pile a full chest of giant rat dung believing to have won thousands of gold!

[oakesspalding]

It seems to me that one important question is this: is the ring "smart" enough to primarily do the delusion thing when no one else is looking? If not, then presumably the jig would be up pretty quickly. Or am I missing something?

[Porphyre]

Yes, and how does the referee determine what the character desires? Does he ask the player (who then should grow very wary of this unusual act of kindness!)

Note that all subsequent versions of the Ring of Delusion (AD&D or the Cook Expert version) are more akin to the Potion of delusion i-e: the player is tricked into believing that he's wearing another kind of ring.

[Finarvyn]

My interpretation has always been that the ring "acts" like some other type of ring, e.g. if a character loves gold the GM can say it's a ring of gold detection. Of course, the character keeps searching for that gold that he knows "ought" to be there but can never quite find it. Or, he finds some random gold in a treasure and wrongly assumes that the ring led him there.

[Starbeard]

I haven't run a game where the Ring of Delusion came into play, but I think I would rule it either:

1) Ignore the 'see' part of the description and have it act like a potion of delusion.
2) Keep it as a ring that causes hallucinatory delusions, but assume it affects the whole party on a failed save (or automatically?)—that way maybe the ones who actually saved the roll think they're hallucinating! Also, I'd still have it operate like #1, so that it's never entirely obvious what's causing the delusions.

After reading the encounter with the Spiderwitch in The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear, I'm particularly excited about the prospect of long-term delusions in a game. I can't really think of a good way to introduce personal delusions in a party-based game, though, unless it's just to convince the player that a piece of equipment does one thing when it actually does another thing.

[Scott Anderson]

The specific way it tricks the party would have to be specific to the effect. A phony ring of fire protection wouldnt protect the wearer at all, but the DM would describe how it would have been much worse without it. A ring of invisibility would make the wearer invisible to his friends (but not his enemies).

[Vile Traveller]

That thing is my favourite magic item, but I use it like the potion, i.e. the wearer thinks it's some kind of magic ring and believes the powers work for him.

[Starbeard]

I've just added an NPC to the home castle in my campaign based on this thread: a middle-aged man in very poor mental and physical health, of distant relation to one of the higher noblemen. For about two years he's been locked away in his room, spending his days quixotically attacking the furniture with pillows and collecting dust bunnies behind his bed. He honestly believes he is going on adventures and amassing wealth.

If the players choose to investigate, they may or may not discover that he's not legitimately insane, he's just been wearing a ring of delusion, which he refuses to take off because he believes it to be a ring of regeneration, and no one pries it off of him because they think it's a worthless family heirloom from his uncle (which it is, actually), and anyway, he's always saying crazy stuff about everything. His pillow is a Staff of Power, for crying out loud.

I'm hoping that's a good way to introduce the added suspense of never knowing what cruel deceptions magic items can store.

[Finarvyn]

It's always been interesting to me to note how many magic items in the table are actually "bummer" items. Cursed, delusion, otherwise worthless.

[tetramorph]

I imagine I might rule a ring of delusion to be like a false "power up."

Some characters want fame, others want wealth. So I guess I could judge based upon my players play-style. I could say: your Character now believes that his "bank account" is full up!! Others I could say, "your character feels invincible!"

They could choose to engage the role-play that inspires. Good players would roll with it and probably have a heck of a lot of fun.

The crazy they played it, the faster the other characters would figure it out and pull the darn ring off his finger!

[Scott Anderson]

Rather than describing the feel, describe it as fact. "You are invincible now." "You have just remembered a huge bank account you didn't know you had. The ring has reminded you!"