Mouse Trap #4

Sometimes I get frustrated by the mad scientist trope for wizards.

What I mean is, if wizards are so common, why aren't more of them boring engineer guys like Tommy Edison?   The original Continual Light spell is a great idea, you'd think more wizards would routinely use them like light bulbs, just as most parties will do eventually.  You'd think more cities would give off a nightly glow like a strip mall.

I'm not saying every city should be that way, but how many ancient civilizations have you whipped up that would have done such things.  So here is a list of ten products from the wizards at GE.  Like all magic items, they can be game changers with the right players.

Warmth Rock:  Size 1'x1', 30lbs, equivalent of an equal-sized fire.  It's worth it just to watch people try to steal it.

Jumbo Warmth Rock:  Size 3'x 3' x 3', the equivalent of a metal forge.  Will smelt metals.

Cold Box: Size 1'x 1' x1', 10 lbs, keeps temperature in box at -30 F to 50 F.

Stasis Box: Size 3' x 1' x 1', 20lbs, keeps non-alive goods in stasis.

Stasis Box, Jumbo:  6' x 2' x 2', 100lbs, keeps non-alive goods in stasis.

Detection Globes: Reveals invisible beings in a 20' radius.

Jumbo Detection Globes: Reveals invisible beings in a 200' radius.

Load Lightening Candle: Reduces the weight of a given object to 1/20th for duration of the burning candle.  Even wizards need to move a credenza at times.

A Clock:  A simple sundial that works without the sun. Think about how preoccupied the medieval alchemist.inventor was with precise time measurement. A basic scientific instrument was the pendulum for time keeping.

True North needles:  Early compasses were often thought to be magic.  If you have friends like me, you've gone around and around on whether the compass is a medieval invention and such suitable for D&D or not, with spiteful declarations occasionally being used such as "well maybe this world doesn't have a magnetic north."


OK and here you go, a gratuitous picture for inspiration of what I think is a monkey raping a cat.  The look of terror is worth it.  I've just been looking through old image files lately.

OK so I like taking pictures of other people's art.