Being a low-level character in Dungeons and Dragons is tough. You don’t have most of your special abilities yet, you’re pretty easy to kill, and you spend most of your time fighting bandits and goblins. There are certainly ways to make those first levels fun and engaging for your players, but it can be tricky; after all, you as the DM don’t have all of your tools at your disposal, either. If your players are Level 2, most creatures in the Monster Manual would snap them in half like a breadstick. At the same time, you can’t just go handing out magic items like candy to keep the game interesting. A Level 2 paladin with a Vorpal Sword would be just as unbalanced as having your group of newbies fight a dragon turtle.

It’s a solvable problem, to be sure, and there are plenty of low-level adventures out there that work hard to walk that line. But it is nevertheless something that you have to be aware of when you’re planning your sessions.

While thinking about ways to address this issue in my own games, I noticed that people on Twitter were creating mostly-humorous common magic items. There are a couple of these floating around in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, but for the uninitiated, they’re exactly what they sound like: items that aren’t hard to find, and aren’t particularly powerful, but are still a little bit magical. They make great rewards for low-level players: they’re different enough to be exciting without being so powerful as to throw the game off-balance.

I was inspired to create a few common magic items of my own while spicing up the perennial adversary in low-level play: goblins. I think that goblins get a bad rap, and it’s mostly due to overexposure. Pretty much every adventurer has killed a few goblins in their time; they’re like murlocs in World of Warcraft. Throwing some magical goblin items at your players gives them a fun reward, and also forces you to deepen your own understanding of how goblins work in your world. How do they decide who’s in charge? Do they like getting drunk? Why do they always try to attack creatures that are bigger than them? In answering these questions, you’ll create a more interesting and textured enemy for your players to face.

I’ve thought about some of these questions myself, and I’ve come up with a few relatively common magical items that I think would be fun to include in your own game. If you have other ideas for goblin artifacts, feel free to share them in the comments.

Gug

Gug is what goblins drink. It is mostly made from the cast-offs, leftovers, and mysterious liquids that they scavenge during their raids. Each goblin clan camp has a single large black iron pot that is always kept at a low simmer over embers. This is the Gug Pot. Anything that they decide is worth drinking in thrown into the Gug Pot and mixed up with whatever is already inside by the clan’s shaman. More than a few hapless goblins have found themselves in the Gug Pot as a result of lovers’ quarrels and juvenile pranks gone wrong.

When it’s time to eat, Gug is ladled out of the pot into shallow wooden bowls to be served with the meal. No two pots of Gug ever smell or taste exactly the same, but stale beer, vinegar, and spoiled milk are common flavor combinations. Upon drinking it, make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the player is immediately sick. On a success, they experience some of the goblins’ infamous “fury of the small.” Until their next short or long rest, the player has advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened. In addition, when they make a melee attack using Strength, they gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll. If they are knocked unconscious, the effects end.

Boss’s Stick

Wondrous item, common

You can always tell who the boss of a goblin raid is. Gender and age are irrelevant: the boss is the one with the loudest voice and the biggest stick.

The Boss’s Stick is a crooked length of dark wood with a possum skull lashed to the top. The Stick comes with three charges.

Once per round, when the player holding the Stick is the target of an attack, can use a reaction to expend a charge and target an ally within five feet. The ally must make a DC 10 Charisma saving throw. If they fail, the player and the ally switch places, and the ally becomes the target instead.

The Stick recharges 1d3 charges per day at dawn. When you use the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the possum skull falls off the top of the stick, and it becomes a mundane piece of wood.

Goblin Razor

Weapon (shortsword), uncommon

Goblins are not known for keeping themselves or their weapons in prime working order. Most goblin swords are at least a little soiled and pitted, but certain blades become particularly rank. Adventurers call these nasty swords “goblin razors.”

The Goblin Razor looks like a mundane shortsword with a rusted, dirty blade covered in old blood and bits of gore. When the wielder makes a successful melee attack with this weapon, the target must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, they suffer an additional 1d4 poison damage and are considered poisoned for the next hour. On a success, they suffer no penalty, and are immune to the sword’s effect for the next 24 hours.

Potion of Irrational Bravery

Adventuring gear (potion), common

If you’ve ever wondered why goblins charge headlong into battle, only to run away screaming seconds later, this is the reason why. This is a favorite concoction of goblin shamans, and they love to feed it to bosses right before a fight. It looks a bit like brackish swamp-water, and tastes basically the same as it looks.

When you drink this potion, you have advantage on all saving throws against being frightened when fighting an enemy that is at least one size bigger than you, and your first melee attack each turn against that target is made with advantage. When the effect ends, you gain one level of exhaustion.

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