Dungeon Master: Arrows of Randomness

Part of the fun of magic items comes from wackiness and wonder. There is something particularly interesting about a magic item that the wielder can't trust. Naturally, fostering this kind of un-trust between magic weapons and players can take a few different forms. I, however, will focus on the use of randomness to create such an item. I will do so by putting forward an example that is aimed at 5^th edition D&D but the general concept is not restricted to just one rules system. It can also be used on any kind of weapon, but I will focus purely on arrows.

Magic Arrows of Randomness

Feel free to chance the name to something more epic and setting appropriate, but I feel this name does a perfect job of explaining exactly what the item is.

Roll	Effect
1	1d6 fire damage
2	1d6 cold damage
3	1d6 lightning damage
4	1d6 necrotic damage
5	1d6 acid damage
6	Arrow does no damage and heals 1d8 hit points

There we have it. Since there is a much greater chance to do extra damage it is unlikely that the player will notice the possibly of healing their enemy until after using the arrows for some time. However, when they finally do notice that their arrow actually healed their opponent it creates the correct conditions for distrust between the user and the arrows. If your players are risk takers, it also allows your players to try to heal each other by shooting each other in the face with an arrow (this was an unintentional side effect that came up during play).

The World

From my experience, this kind of magic item works best when used sparingly or when the entire world is made in such a way as to create distrust between the people of the world and magic. If it is used sparingly, the surprise is still kept. If the entire world is built around making magic an inherently risky and wacky thing, having items that embrace randomness in this way fit perfectly into that style of setting.