Since I both love, and need, and use this thread daily I thought I'd better port it over for the rest of you. None of it is my own work, just lovingly recreated.
Original thread here!
Quite a few people have complimented me on my descriptions, both on inventory items and fixtures, and I personally love seeing customised things with a story or personality around Arelith. I don't pretend to be the authority on these things or anything, but I thought I'd run through a few processes or habits of mine when personalising Fixtures, Crafted Items, Enchanted Items and anything else that no longer has [your name] at the end of it. These won't be in any coherent order, I imagine, just a series of pointers - feel free to chime in any of your own advice!
I plan to edit more things into this original post, rather than making placeholder posts or adding more further down the thread.
~Cal
1. What makes it function?
This is, from my approach, not necessarily the most important or longest part of description, but is the mainstay. An item always benefits from some sort of justification of its properties or capabilities. What nature of equipment is on that table that allows people to perform alchemy there? What do those runes around the ring do to make it give +1 Strength? What's so fantastic about the materials and craftsmanship of that sword that makes it twice as likely to inflict a critical hit?
I find myself adapting, but typically recycling and reusing a lot of my explanations for the same type of item. A lot of Sandrhir-made Art Easels, for example, have a set of boxes at the bottom containing an array of chisels, hammers and such to incorporate the fact that Art Crafters can make statues. I'll mention a small hatchet leaning against a Carpentry workstation, I'll mention lots of brass equipment like Alembics, Gauzes, Mortars and Pestles and so forth on Alchemy desks. That sort of thing adds a bit of believability to the whole effect and lets you visualise it - and also means, if someone's RPing using it, they've got prompts; give players (and yourself) the tools to say *Pours the catalyst slowly through the filter, grinding some bone with the mortar and pestle before mixing them in a bowl above the open flame*, which sounds a lot better than *uses the equipment to make an essence".
For Enchanted items, or magic crafted items, it gets a lot more fun - there are almost too many possibilities. Utilise your characters' languages, for a start - Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Abyssal, Infernal, Celestial and Undercommon are all in some way mystical or magical and can be used in spells or enchantments, say, on the clasps of boots, the buckles of belts, the hems of cloaks or around the edge of rings. Say a few related words or phrases in the language (whispering is good, it makes you look less odd - and you can emote muttering spells as tests and so on) until you get something that sounds dynamic and fun to put on the item.
A Word of Advice on Languages: This is a personal thing, but I always believe it's a good idea to work the English translation into the description somewhere (as in "the runes around the band read [YaddaYaddaInfernal], which a loremaster could deciper as translating to [YaddaYaddaEnglishTranslation]"). This is because - and you might find a theme in me advising stuff to do with this - it allows other people to build upon your RP. Having just the Infernal is all well and mysterious, but since there's no backwards-translation mechanic short of painstaking trial and error, if you don't put the translation then when someone is curious about the item and shows it to someone who speaks Infernal and really should be able to translate it, they won't have any idea what it means OOCly, so they can't RP that knowledge.
Another few useful things are skin, teeth, bones and blood. (...stay with me on this). The latter three are (potentially) small, (potentially) compact or able to be broken down, and can therefore be worked into a lot of items. A small drop of dragon blood in that amulet? Check. Two long ogre tusks on that helmet? Check. Tassles on the cloak made from Minotaur bones? Check. All of them can fit in with the appearance of many items (more on that later), and all of them (can) come from rare or magical creatures - and I find magic which "allows the natural properties of the creature this item came from to flow through the wearer" (I massively overuse that phrase, or similar ones) is a very believable, simple and neat way of justifying the magic in an item. Skin works in a similar fashion, except that you don't embellish your cloaks, boots, belts etc with it - you make them out of it. The beauty of this method is that there is an absolute plethora of magic creatures, outsiders and so on from which to make this sort of thing in FR - having a Monster Manual or other book with statistic profiles of creatures helps a lot. Say, for example, you've made an item which gives +1 Con, +1 Int. Whack the book(s) out, have a look through for a monster which has pretty high Constitution and Intelligence, and make something out of that. If you're struggling, Devils, Demons and Dragons tend to have very high everything (except Dexterity in the latter case).
Of course, the possibilities in this department are endless. To use Sandrhir's equipment as an example, he has five items equipped which grant him +1 Int, +1 Con, +2 Spellcraft. One of these is a cloak covered in abjurative runes, one is an amulet which contains the trapped essence of an Earth Elemental, one is a gold belt that is designed to anchor him to the prime, one is a mithril prosthetic leg that has runes of resilience carved into it, and one is a set of robes with protective spells sewn into the fabric. I find gemstones are also good, as one can imagine a lot of ways and means in which magic can be transmitted or imbued within them.
2. What does it look like?
The amount of effort, time and text which needs to be put into this element of a description is very much related to how much the game engine does for you. If the Statue you've just made really does look like a guy standing tall and upright with his hands on top of a golden kiteshield, then focus more on other aspects of the fixture. If it's actually a mage, with his staff thrown back in the process of casting a high-level destructive spell, then you're going to need to make that a bit clearer to whoever's looking at it.
The big thing here, particularly with fixtures* is to keep it as concise as you can. I find creative verbs are the best way to do this - "her hair falls elegantly and softly in an attractive fashion down the back of her neck" is absolutely fine if you've got the space, but "her hair cascades down the back of her neck" gives the same impression for about half the characters. With inventory items, you can go to town a bit more (at the expense of the eyes of anyone who reads the description =P) - consider any artistic elements on it; is it for an order, a church or a city? There must be some insignia which is relevant. Is it a gift or commission for a druid? What's their totem animal? For a mage? Maybe they'd appreciate lightning bolts? You get the idea. It's also nice to give your character some sort of trademark - whether it's a particular animal or religious motif, or something else with which your character has an affinity and by which people will be able to come to recognise the item. For example;
--> "the motif of a leaf, falling in the wind, with the name "Eldenial" etched into it in flowing letters" (Just one I made up on the spot)
--> "a large kite shield, with the phrase "Honour Through Triumph" emblazoned across it" (and another)
--> Or the one a lot of you are probably sick and tired of seeing around; "the symbol of a fading fireball, surrounded by eight spheres and with the elegant initials "S.L" inside it"
Put that sort of thing subtly on most of your items, and you soon end up with an array of unique-but-personal things that other players/characters may come to associate with you. This is particularly important with the removal of [nametags], because they at least acted as an OOC indicator of whose work the item was. Buckles, clasps the back of amulets, the pommels of swords or the bottom of staves and on small plaques at the bottom of (or underneath) fixtures are examples of handy places to put these.
* This is because whilst items in the inventory can have descriptions as large as the hard limit that the engine can take (which is around 8,000 Characters, more than you're ever likely to come close to unless you're writing a book), fixtures cannot. The descriptions will go onto it fine (if you hit the hard limit, they'll literally be cut off at the last possible character), but post-reset, the description will reset to the default one unless it's under around 1,800 characters).
It can often be nice to give an item an overall "theme", and work individual elements of it to that. For example, a pair of gloves Sandrhir has and wears in his "Devil Worshipper Disguise";
Quote:
Devilfingers
Black and red coloured, these pieces of handwear have been fashioned from preserved and imbued Cornugon flesh, which takes on the consistency of sturdy leather. They protect the hands, as well as empowering the wearer mentally and protectively.
At the tips of the fingers, small "nails" formed from what is presumably Cornugon bone can be found, seamlessly attached. These serve to make it appear as if the wearer has fiendish claws, further adding to his or her imposing and frightening visage.
And an extract from a staff I recently made for another character;
...[the head of the staff] is curiously worked so that, head-on, it could be mistaken for a skull rather than a hand. There are indents which indicate nasal cavities, and the metal recedes at certain points around the edge in the same way that a skull might. Looking at it in this way, the shaft of the stave seems to run straight up into the bottom of the jaw, and the eye-sockets contain a pair of dark, polished amethysts - these glow dully, as the runes do, when the staff is used as a conduit for divine intervention.
In both of these cases, what I've done is, instead of envisaging the individual aspects of the items and putting them together, I've considered what I want the overall impression of the item to be when looked at, and extrapolated from that what the individual elements would consequently resemble. This isn't foolproof and it isn't always good, but used sparingly and in certain situations, it can be very fun.
Another thing to consider is what is the item made out of? This is purely an aesthetic choice, for variety - yeah, it's a Wooden Throne? But you can create variety, and paint a picture of its colour and other attributes by being more specific? Is that Ebony? Yew? Mahogany? Oak? Similarly, you can have "Stone", or you can elaborate - White Marble? Speckled Marble? Granite? Obsidian? Jasper? Sandstone? Or perhaps your altar is devoted to Waukeen or Mammon, and covered in Gold?
Gemstones come in many, many types - a good variety of which Arelith incorporates. Use them all - I'm one of the worst for forgetting that there are others outside of Diamonds, Rubies and Emeralds. Even though a Master's Staff has a Diamond, Ruby and Emerald in the recipe, doesn't mean it can't be topped with an Amethyst. Just because you need Gold Ingots for Ruby Necklaces doesn't mean you can't make a couple out of Mithril. You get the idea. There's even that much variety in cloaks, robes and so on - Leather? Silk? Cotton? Velvet? Fur? All of them can say a lot about the quality and value of the item, and make it very personal and unique, even amongst a lot which have similar or identical uses and properties.
3. Specialising and Personalising Items
"But haven't I just done that with the previous two sections?", I hear you ask. Yes, in part, you have - just by adding a customised description and putting some thought into what makes the item what it is, and how it looks, you've made it both special and personal. However, I always think that for a really special item, it's possible (and a lot more interesting) to do a whole lot more.
What I mean by that is tailoring the properties of the item to give them a bit more flavour. Sometimes, this can be a way of expanding upon magic properties to contextualise them - so that two +1 Con, +1 Int items (whilst having the same impact on your character sheet) can in fact do very, very different things from an IC point of view. For some items, +1 Con could be described as increasing the pain threshold, for another, it could be toughened skin to reduce damage. +1 Int could improve memory retention or logical thinking skills or remove panic to allow more clear thought under pressure. Keen could be a particularly sharp edge on a blade, or it could be an enchantment which makes it naturally more likely to strike vulnerable parts. +1 Universal Saves could represent a small amount of Divine Protection, or sheer good luck, or antimagic wards (since Saves are commonly used against Spells). This, again, opens up greater avenues for RP - because it encourages people to look at the individual component parts of their Str30, rather than at the number itself. If a Barbarian has to smash down a crumbling wall, hurl a number of boulders out of the way, then keep an iron portcullis from crushing him before grappling an ogre and pushing it off a ledge, then sure, they can wave their high Strength at it and probably make some excellent RP out of it. But giving them the tools to be more specific adds to immersion and intensity of RP - their gloves make a sound like thunderclaps with each blow struck against the wall, because you've defined the +1 Str they give as massively improving hitting power. Maybe an amulet starts to vibrate around his neck as he holds the portcullis up, because you've specified that the +1 Strength it gives as representing staying power and the ability of the muscles to last for longer. You get the idea.
It's possible to be far more specific with this sort of thing, and within reason I'd advise that it doesn't matter if your "version" of +1 Dexterity on this item won't fit in all circumstances. Justifying every single positive property on a Cleric's items as "their God cuts them a break" is going a bit far, but it doesn't unduly matter that you've said a Rogue's pair of gloves makes their fingers more nimble and able to catch things neatly (+1 Dex), and yet in a specific situation that bonus helps them pass a reflex save to avoid a fireball. If you want to emote or explain it, attribute it to your boots which give you an improved jump (also +1 Dex!), instead - because those gloves will create their own RP and their own fun in a different situation.
Don't just limit this to emoting mechanical challenges, either. Good players will pay attention in RP/Emoting situations if you use the specific properties of your items, such as enhanced catching ability. And DMs can see your inventories and the descriptions of the items therein, so I definitely image they'll pay attention during DM quests.
The other way of doing this is to tie non-mechanical properties into the description. This requires a lot more moderation (because there's only so far you can say they can do things which they mechanically can't back up), but can also be far more effective in personalising an item, as well as giving new ways for it to create or enhance RP. Of course, it's hard to set out guidelines in this arena because you can do so much, but here are a couple of specific examples from Sandrhir's own equipment;
Pendant of Terran Essence
Hanging by a thin mithral chain around the wearer's neck, this amulet appears at first to be a simple golden locket, adorned with decorative patterns and likely containing a keepsake or artist's depiction of one dear to the wearer. Closer examination, however, would reveal the "patterns" to infact be Draconic Sigils, designed to empower the Arcane Casting of the Amulet's wearer more significantly, as well as contain and restrict its contents.
For within the capsule can be found what initially seems to be an earthy runemarked stone, marked as magical by the fact that it continues to faintly vibrate. However, someone with extensive expertise would be able to recognise it as the heart of an Elemental of the Plane of Earth. The organs are remarkably small for the size of the behemoths they belong to, and this one fits comfortably inside its minute prison.
Whether the spirit or essence of the Terran Elemental truly persists inside the things is very difficult to say, but what is certainly true is that the solidarity and indomitable reslience of the Elementals remains, passed on to its mortal wearer to prolong his life and health.
This adds, in my opinion, additional avenues of RP when interacting with Air or Earth Genasi, as well as Elementals of those planes when summoned by others or possessed by DMs or somesuch.
Corporeality Bond
It is not clear what complex combination of spirit magic, necromantics, enchantment and other less mainstream practices have been used to create this thin belt, which is made from leather but has myriad small gold-coloured "scales" placed all around it, each bearing a single rune of arcane power. Each scale has a different rune to its many peers, and they span multiple languages and branches of magic.
The effect of this intricate process of magic is that the wearer of the belt has his place on the Material Plane more firmly secured. There is a feel of "permanency" about his presence in the Prime, which makes dislodging him from it, or altering his state upon it - by death, or mental manipulation, or any other means one might conceive of - significantly harder.
Whilst banishing him elsewhere by force would prove highly difficult, should the wearer ever venture beyond the Prime of his own accord whilst wearing this belt it will act as a firm link to his home plane. Whilst this will arouse significant disturbance in more volatile planes of existence, it also means that the wearer is far less likely to be overwhelmed by the remoteness of another plane - he carries a little bit of the Prime with him, so to speak - and ultimately makes planeswalking significantly less perilous.
This provides big potential for RP when in Baator, the Abyss or the Shadow Plane, and to a lesser extent whenever interacting with Planetouched or Extraplanar beings.
I hate to feel like I'm showing off (which I know I sort of am... =/), but touches like that really contribute, in my view, to helping such items improve your character's RP as well as their character sheet. It's pretty important to remember not to add too many clauses, particularly if the item isn't for your own character (you want to aid their RP opportunities, not limit them), as well as not adding anything that contravenes mechanics entirely - a sword which automatically destroys someone's soul, for example, since it obviously goes to the Fugue and can respawn as a result of mechanics. Do remember that, more often than not, the "unique nature" of these personalised functions can be a weakness in RP as much as a strength - which is fine, since it still enhances RP. For example, the "Pendant of Terran Essence" above is likely to seriously anger any Earth Genasi or Elemental who learns of its nature, whilst a less unique description would just pass by casually.
With regards to "Hidden Properties": It can be pretty cool to add RP-Properties to items which aren't obvious - "It makes the wearer feel very uncomfortable in strong winds", "Though it would be near-impossible to tell, it is in fact powered by a small drop of demonic blood", and so on. However, I feel it is very, very important not to hide these hidden properties (or their cause) from the player. An item with "You may feel a strong sense of evil or unease" in the description can, if done well, occasionally simply give someone flexibility - but if that's all there is to it, it's limiting. There must be a reason for that sense of unease, so state what it is - even if you put something like "Only a very skilled demonologist could decipher that..." or "It would be almost impossible to tell without asking the artisan that...", so that the player understands it is very unlikely that their character would know. However, the player knowing means the player can react appropriately in situations - even if they RP their character as being totally confused and unsure. Similarly to the languages, the idea here is to encourage flexibility in RP, not to limit or restrict it.
Fixtures often have less of this element, but they can still be made fairly unique - examples including, perhaps, a pillar which rejects magic in the small area around it, or a brazier that emits no heat to anyone considered devoted to a specific deity. The principal thing to remember with all of these specialised and unique properties is that they are unenforceable - you can't back them up, and so you can't attempt to force people to conform to them if they don't want to, because that would be god-emoting. This applies doubly with Fixtures, because although with inventory items you can exercise discretion on when to "use" their properties, a Fixture - particularly one in a publicly accessible place - is open to everyone and any "effect" you give them is implied as being active, or ready to be active, at all times. You should, therefore, take specific care to make their properties as open-ended as you can, and to make sure there is always some way to ignore or bypass what you attribute to them if you want to - so that only willing players will have these fixtures as obstacles for their characters to overcome.
Magic Properties & Wands: One way I like to "mechanically back up" some of the magic properties on a few magic items I create is through the use of wands. This is not a perfect method, as it is limited by spell choices, ability to use wands, inventory space and encumbrance, and people can still choose to point out that you're technically using a Wand. But nonetheless, if you RP your ring as making the wearer able to withstand searing heat and freezing cold, why not craft a Protection from Elements wand and give it the same name as the Ring? Then you can "Use" the wand and because it's called "Heatproof Ring" or whatever, for all intents and purposes you're aiding your RP that the Ring is keeping you at a safe temperature. I make use of this principally for allowing Magic Staffs to "cast" spells, but it really is open to any magic item.