magic items in the Monster & Treasure Assortments

[geoffrey]

First of all, I am sure that there are errors here and there in this list. The list is only mostly right.

Second, you must make allowances for laziness. I ignored the alignments and special powers of magic swords.

After each item are one or more digits. This refers to the dungeon levels in the Monster & Treasure Assortments (the original printings, not the revised printing) in which the item is found. For example: "Human Control Potion 6899" means that one is found on dungeon level 6, one on dungeon level 8, and two of them on dungeon level 9.

All but two of the items are found in either the 1974 D&D rules or in Supplement I: GREYHAWK: potion of water walking and scarab of protection from magic. I think they are probably typos.

SWORDS
+1 Sword 345566799
+1 Locating Objects 68
+1 with 5 Wishes 6
+1 with 6 Wishes 8
+1, +2 vs. Lycanthropes 359
+1, +3 vs. Trolls 29
Flaming Sword 7
+2 Sword 589
+2 Green Dragon Slaying 8
+2 Red Dragon Slaying 3
+4 Sword 7
+1 Cursed 6
-2 Cursed 245688

ARMOR
+1 Armor 1566
+2 Armor 456669
+3 Armor 9
Armor of Vulnerability 7
+1 Shield 44566677
+2 Shield 355669
+4 Shield 7
-1 Shield of Missile Attraction 9

MISCELLANEOUS WEAPONS
+1 Arrows 1568
+2 Arrows 69
+1 Axe 9
Magic Bow 4
Crossbow of Speed 7
+1 Dagger 169
+2 Dagger 39
+2 Mace 7
Mace of Disruption 9
+1 Spear 6
+2 Spear 7
+3 Spear 2
Cursed Spear of Backbiting 5
+1 War Hammer 4
+2 War Hammer 9

POTIONS
Animal Control 25569
Clairaudience 3399
Clairvoyance 568
Delusion 4677
Diminution 3477
Dragon (Brass) Control 77
Dragon (Red) Control 4
Dragon (White) Control 8
ESP 19
Extra-healing 36677899
Fire Resistance 368
Flying 2679999
Gaseous Form 699
Giant (Hill) Control 6
Giant (Storm) Control 99
Giant (Cloud) Strength 17
Giant (Fire) Strength 44
Giant (Frost) Strength 7
Giant (Stone) Strength 5
Growth 577
Healing 6688
Heroism 557799
Human Control 6899
Invisibility 4699
Invulnerability 588
Levitation 688
Longevity 35588
Oil of Etherealness 458899
Oil of Slipperiness 399
Plant Control 46788
Poison 567788
Polymorph Self 477
Speed 166699
Super-heroism 67
Treasure Finding 3
Undead Control 557
Water Walking 33 (typo for ring of water walking? Perhaps meant to be either a pair of undead control potions or plant control potions?)

SCROLLS
1 Spell 8999
1 Spell (Charm Person) 6
1 Spell (Curse) 9
1 Spell (Death Spell) 8
1 Spell (Delayed Blast Fire Ball) 8
1 Spell (Invisibility) 8
1 Spell (Light) 4
1 Spell (Lightning Bolt) 3
1 Spell (Limited Wish) 6
1 Spell (Power Word Stun) 9
1 Spell (Rope Trick) 6
1 Spell (Ventriloquism) 6
1 Spell (Wall of Ice) 12
2 Spells 557778
3 Spells 77899
7 Spells 2568889
1 Cleric Spell 9
1 Cleric Spell (Raise Dead) 8
1 Cleric Spell (Speak with Dead) 7
2 Cleric Spells 448999
3 Cleric Spells 3789
Protection Elementals 4567799
Protection Lycanthropes 6779
Protection Magic 258899
Protection Undead 66789
Curse 5689

RINGS
Contrariness 58
Delusion 445
Fire Resistance 2
Human Control 8
Invisibility 47
+1 Protection 9
+2 Protection 5' radius 9
+3 Protection 5
Spell Storing 9
Water Walking 6
Weakness 4
X-ray Vision 9

WANDS, STAFFS, AND RODS
Cold Wand 8
Fire Balls 5
Wand of Magic Detection 9
Metal Detection Wand 7
Wand of Negation 4
Polymorph Wand 8
Wand of Secret Doors & Traps 4
Snake Staff 47
Staff of Striking 6
Rod of Cancellation 88

MISCELLANEOUS MAGIC
Amulet vs. Crystal Balls and ESP 8
Bag of Holding 6
Bean Bag 9
Boots of Levitation 9
+1 Cloak of Protection 9
Crystal Ball with Clairaudience 9
Deck of Many Things 58
Efreeti Bottle 8
Elven Boots 9
Elven Cloak 3
ESP Medallion 3" range 8
Eyes of Charming 9
Figurine of Wondrous Power: Onyx Dog 5
Flask of Curses 5
Gauntlets of Dexterity 7
Gauntlets of Swimming & Climbing 9
Helm of Brilliance 9
Helm of Chaos 9
Horn of Bubbles 9
Javelins of Lightning Bolts 9
Libram of Gainful Conjuration 9
Manual of Puissant Skill of Arms 1
Pipes of the Sewers 9
Scarab of Protection from EHPs 9
Scarab of Protection from Magic 4 (typo for Scroll of Protection from Magic?)
Tome of Understanding 9

[Zenopus]

FYI, the Onyx Dog is in Greyhawk.

[geoffrey]

Nov 28, 2020 10:11:58 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

FYI, the Onyx Dog is in Greyhawk.

Whoa! Thanks for the heads up! This reveals that the onyx dog was mistakenly dropped in the first printing of GREYHAWK. It is neither listed on the random table, nor is it described. But it is certainly in the second and subsequent printings of GREYHAWK.

Thanks again for the catch! I've fixed my opening post.

[Zenopus]

I didn't realize or had forgotten that myself. It's not on the "Corrections" sheet for Greyhawk, so it seems that sheet was only released after the 2nd printing. It's all material not found in the 2nd printing that was never incorporated into the text. I guess they didn't want to reset the text again.

I wonder what else was added from the 1st to 2nd printing of Greyhawk?

[Zenopus]

Potion of Water Walking is not found in OD&D Vol 2, Greyhawk, Holmes or AD&D. I wonder if this is a typo for Ring of Water Walking or Potion of Water Breathing? I'd guess the latter, since it is not found elsewhere in the Treasure Assortment, but there is a Ring of Water Walking.

[Zenopus]

The Scarab of Protection from Magic seems related to the Scarab of Protection from Evil High Priests, which became the Scarab of Protection in the DMG.


OD&D Vol 2 --- Scarab of Protection from Evil High Priests: Absorbs up to 12 "Finger of Death spells"
DMG --- Scarab of Protection: Absorbs up to 12 Finger of Death/Death Ray/Death Touches/Energy Drains and gives +1 on saving throws


I'd posit three possibilities:

(1) The Scarab of Protection from Magic is just an intermediate name for this device, once the second power was added.

(2) There were two Scarabs at the time of the M&TAs: The Scarab of Protection from EHPs (as OD&D Vol 2) and the Scarab of Protection from Magic (giving a bonus to saving throws), which were later merged together for the Scarab of Protection in the DMG.

(3) The Scarab of Protection from Magic in the MT&As is simply a typo for a Scarab of Protection from EHPs or even a Scroll of Protection from Magic, possibly due to Scarab and Scroll both starting with the same letters.

[Zenopus]

Note that if the Potion of Water Walking and the Scarab of Protection from Magic are merely typos, all of the magic item results are possible using the tables in the 2nd print Greyhawk.

I believe Ernie did say he rolled up the results using the tables in the books, although clearly the monsters include some that were not yet published. But perhaps he did use the Greyhawk 2nd print tables for the magic items.

[geoffrey]

Nov 28, 2020 11:25:50 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

Potion of Water Walking is not found in OD&D Vol 2, Greyhawk, Holmes or AD&D. I wonder if this is a typo for Ring of Water Walking or Potion of Water Breathing? I'd guess the latter, since it is not found elsewhere in the Treasure Assortment, but there is a Ring of Water Walking.

The ring sounds likely, but there is no potion of water breathing in the OD&D booklets. IIRC, Ernie Gygax made these lists, and I can imagine him rolling between a 41 and a 65 on the percentile dice: "Ah! Potions!" Then he rolled somewhere between a 61 and a 65 on the percentile dice. He meant to look at the potions table on p. 42 of second+ printings of GREYHAWK (which indicate a potion of either undead control or plant control), but he mistakenly looked at the rings table directly below it where it reads "Water Walking". And then he wrote wrote "two potions of water walking". And there you go. Mystery solved, AFAIC.

[geoffrey]

Nov 28, 2020 11:36:44 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

(3) The Scarab of Protection from Magic in the MT&As is simply a typo for a Scarab of Protection from EHPs or even a Scroll of Protection from Magic, possibly due to Scarab and Scroll both starting with the same letters.

I think that, once again, your theory here is probably correct. I suspect it was a typo for "Scroll of Protection from Magic" because of the similarity of the words "scroll" and "scarab". Who knows if young Ernie had poor handwriting? It also makes more sense for it to be a typo for the scroll rather than for the scarab of protection from EHPs because dungeon level 4 is rather early for such a scarab.

[geoffrey]

Nov 28, 2020 11:24:10 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

I didn't realize or had forgotten that myself. It's not on the "Corrections" sheet for Greyhawk, so it seems that sheet was only released after the 2nd printing. It's all material not found in the 2nd printing that was never incorporated into the text. I guess they didn't want to reset the text again.

I wonder what else was added from the 1st to 2nd printing of Greyhawk?

The ring of water walking is not in the random list in the 1st printing of GREYHAWK, but it is in the 2nd+ printings of GREYHAWK.

[Zenopus]

Nov 28, 2020 11:50:59 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

Nov 28, 2020 11:25:50 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

Potion of Water Walking is not found in OD&D Vol 2, Greyhawk, Holmes or AD&D. I wonder if this is a typo for Ring of Water Walking or Potion of Water Breathing? I'd guess the latter, since it is not found elsewhere in the Treasure Assortment, but there is a Ring of Water Walking.

The ring sounds likely, but there is no potion of water breathing in the OD&D booklets. IIRC, Ernie Gygax made these lists, and I can imagine him rolling between a 41 and a 65 on the percentile dice: "Ah! Potions!" Then he rolled somewhere between a 61 and a 65 on the percentile dice. He meant to look at the potions table on p. 42 of second+ printings of GREYHAWK (which indicate a potion of either undead control or plant control), but he mistakenly looked at the rings table directly below it where it reads "Water Walking". And then he wrote wrote "two potions of water walking". And there you go. Mystery solved, AFAIC.

Aha! I was looking at the DMG Potion table when I wrote that about the Potion of Water Breathing, and just assumed they were in OD&D/Greyhawk without checking. (They do show up later, in the Blackmoor supplement, as a suggestion for Underwater Adventures and in Temple of the Frog)

[Zenopus]

Nov 28, 2020 11:57:49 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

Nov 28, 2020 11:24:10 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

I didn't realize or had forgotten that myself. It's not on the "Corrections" sheet for Greyhawk, so it seems that sheet was only released after the 2nd printing. It's all material not found in the 2nd printing that was never incorporated into the text. I guess they didn't want to reset the text again.

I wonder what else was added from the 1st to 2nd printing of Greyhawk?

The ring of water walking is not in the random list in the 1st printing of GREYHAWK, but it is in the 2nd+ printings of GREYHAWK.

Good catch! Which means that in the 1st print, fully 25% of rings (1 in 4) are of Delusion (41-65 on the chart). Once that was corrected, it is only 20% (1 in 5). The next closest are Weakness at 15% and Contrariness at 13%. None of the other rings are even at 10% (the highest is 5%).

Before the change, 53% of Rings are cursed - more than half! After, 48%.

[geoffrey]

Nov 28, 2020 17:29:52 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

Aha! I was looking at the DMG Potion table when I wrote that about the Potion of Water Breathing, and just assumed they were in OD&D/Greyhawk without checking. (They do show up later, in the Blackmoor supplement, as a suggestion for Underwater Adventures and in Temple of the Frog)

Hmmm. Those mentions in BLACKMOOR make me wonder if the potions of water breathing in M&T are intentional. It would certainly be an easy potion to describe: Imbiber is under a water breathing spell for 7-12 turns.