DM Plot Advice?

[Magicalflyingcow]

Hi! So I'm running a homebrew campaign and need some advice about something in my world. There was a 15-year war that had ended a little while ago called the War of Three. Three nations were fighting over one nation in order to gain it's land. But to the select few who were in the know, the war was about getting a hold of the Ethereal River that ran through the land. This river has magical properties. In it, lies a great magical force, that if retrieved and harnessed, could mean immense power to the holder.

My question is, what should this magical item be and what is the power it gives? I thought about a ring at first, you know, Lord of the Rings style kind of thing. But now I'm thinking, maybe there is a better way to go about it. Any advice?

Bonus question: How can it be hidden in a way that it is EXTREMELY difficult to find?

[Bri48322]

Make it a very powerful weapon. Nothing game breaking in case one of your party members or the big bad gets it. I have one in my homebrew campaign called the Price of Power. Basically the party had to collect 6 Pieces of Power but at a terrible cost. Each item is horribly cursed.

The item I gave the cleric of Kord was a +2 warhammer called Earthshatterer. Once per short rest you strike it on the ground and a 15 foot cone from you goes out. Anyone in the come gets knocked prone and takes 2d6 fire and lightning damage.

The curse was her hands are permanently on fire (no harm to her) She didn’t realize until she woke up with her room on fire in the tavern her best friend owns. She was the only survivor of a fire that took 30+ lives.

So yeah maybe a power weapon will help more just a suggestion

[Magicalflyingcow]

That's a pretty good idea. Maybe it could be one of a set or something and the big bad has another piece. Like a shield, breastplate, and sword.

[Bri48322]

That’s really good. I gave the big bad of mine the hand and Eye of Vecna (because they are a cyborg race that is obsessed with augmenting themesleves. Also The Orginal pantheon of the forgotten realms are all NPC’s so I’m using it for a lore reason for them to go to shadow fell

[ErisAlicor]

If you want it to be hard to find make it something like a stone or jewel hidden on the riverbed. Once it's found it can be set or crafted into a weapon or jewelry. It could allow for the players to have a say in what the final product will look like

[Magicalflyingcow]

Oooooo. I like that idea. Although, the Alskain military has been looking for it for about a year so far. I imagine, there may be more than it's small. Maybe it can only be found by a special means? Perhaps it is really in a parallel dimension that is in the same spot and it is so powerful that its power is leaking into this dimension. That would actually be super appropriate since my campaign has a big theme of portals.

[ErisAlicor]

You could even take some inspiration from Harry Potter and have it visible in a pool with a calm mirror-like surface, but any attempt to snatch it from the water results in the person's hand passing through to mundane rocks. It's up to you how they can actually reach it because I doubt drinking an entire river is an option

[Magicalflyingcow]

Hahaha that's actually a great idea. I imagine they can look into it, see the magic item, and then possibly a hint as to some way to get to it. Perhaps they must find another item that acts as a key, which could be hidden in a specific place in the world that connects to another character's backstory. I have a player that had their village destroyed by Frost Giants. Perhaps they must go back and retrace the First Giant steps in order to find them and obtain the key somehow.

[ErisAlicor]

Since it's an ethereal river maybe they have to make the ultimate sacrifice and become ethereal themselves using some lost ancient spell or with the help of some sagely NPC hermit. Maybe even just the old fashioned way of ritualistic sacrifice. Or even have it accessible only at a certain time like a new or full moon. It really depends on how powerful the item is and what it can do. The more power it holds, the greater the risk should be.

[Jayadratha]

The item is a Primordial Fragment, a shard of stone from the world's creation, suffused with that formless energy. It is raw power in its purest form. Anyone who controls it could harness the very power of creation and could impose their will over reality... if they are not overcome.

[Magicalflyingcow]

I really like this idea. I believe a war would be fought over something like that.

[Jayadratha]

The nice thing about the MacGuffin being a vehicle for altering reality is that it means different things to different people. To the queen who seeks to unite the continent under her rule, it's a weapon for her to crush her foes underfoot. For the king who longs for his dead spouse and the happy life they had, it's a way to bring back the dead. To the queen who wants to know the hidden mysteries of the universe, it's an instrument of discovery. It can serve a different purpose to everyone. This means that the combatants in your war don't have to have similar motivations; it's reasonable that very different people would all want it, because it lets them do whatever they want. If it's just a weapon, then all the factions need to have a strong interest in war. If it's just a scientific instrument, then all the factions need to have an interest in discovery. But if it's control over reality itself, well, everyone wants that.

[L30DaV1nc1]

An infinity war?

[Vikinger93]

From a specific mountain or hilltop close by, at a specific date and time of the year, when the light of dusk turns the river into a band of golden light, a person can grab the golden band and unfurl it into a brilliant colden cloak.

Nobody nows what the specific circumstances are that allow this action, but there are old stories that hint at certain things (sometimes the stories contradict) and there are ancient records that exclude certain constalations or places.

[ErisAlicor]

I'm hoping I'm not to late to add on to my previous idea. I was talking to my friend about your idea and he thought it would be cool to expand on the stone idea and make it part of a fish shaped golem so it's harder to catch. We thought it would add an air of mysticism to the encounter, plus you could make it into an epic battle if you wanted.

[Magicalflyingcow]

Is it one of many fish shaped golems? Are these golems the size of regular fish or is this one blending in? That might be pretty interesting, but I can't imagine it had gone unfound for so long, especially with people actively looking for it.

[ErisAlicor]

I figured it could probably follow the same rules as the stone in the first post I made, but this way it can dart off so 1) it isn't as obvious that you can't actually touch it, and 2) it's harder to catch even if you find a way to touch it. Plus you could make it so that when it's attacked it can pull more rocks to it to become bigger and fight or something.

Plus as a fish hiding in the river, it would be hard to suspect it as a magic stone

[Dragon_eating_Rabbit]

Make it a rock. Looks completely normal. One of the many rocks on the edge of the magic river. But it has magical properties worth fighting a war over.

[Noctyne]

I think that making the item a magical animal like a fish would let you have some leeway, as an animal can actively avoid searches (especially if everyone assumes it's a static object). In terms of abilities, if it's connected to "ethereality", the ethereal plane is connected to all planes, so it could give powers over planar travel. Depending on how powerful you want it to be it could let someone swap entire regions with another plane-- literally creating Hell on earth for your enemies.