Items of Conviction

Preamble

Controlling magic safely is all about certainty and conviction. Especially with more subtle or powerful enchantments, enforcing your design upon the maelstrom and bending it to your will requires absolute, cast-iron belief in your abilities. The tiniest glimmer of doubt can bring the entire thing crashing down on your head.

The wizard Xidius was intrigued by this, and researched deeply into how certainty and belief themselves can be created and controlled. After all, a great deal of an apprentice’s training is simply hammering this absolute belief into them. Short-circuiting this process would save him a lot of time when dealing with his students.

Unfortunately, while he met with some success, this did not turn out well for him, as we shall see shortly.

Boots of Conviction

Xidius’ first success were the Boots of Conviction. These are occasionally found out in the world, being worn by someone who has no idea what they do. Like most magic items, the always fit well and are very sturdy, and for a lot of people that makes them valuable enough already.

They allow the wearer to levitate, with almost no restrictions. No daily charges, no penalties, no nasty hidden catches. The upper limit on their flight speed has never been established, although it’s probably faster than is good for the wearer.

The only problem is the method of activation. The wearer must absolutely believe, without any doubt or hesitation, that they can fly. It’s hard to stress how iron-clad their conviction must be, and some people have spent years in meditation and mental exercises without ever being able to achieve the necessary self-delusion¹.

In-game, you could just have a player make a wisdom saving throw or whatever to use them, but where’s the fun in that? Question the player. Grill them about whether their character is absolutely, definitely certain they can fly. If they show any sign of doubt, have them tumble to the ground immediately! This item is extremely powerful once they get the hang of it, so make them work for it!

Ring of Sincerity

It’s believed that Xidius made the rings of sincerity as a way of working around the difficulty of activating the boots. Presumably he was very naïve despite his intelligence, as he doesn’t seem to have noticed the obvious problem with the rings.

When worn, the ring of sincerity makes everything the wearer says sound believable. Not just convincing, but sincere and genuine in a way that makes everyone around them want to trust them. Imagine a very skillful orator and turn it up to eleven.

This works wonders for convincing people of things, especially things they’re predisposed to want to believe anyway. Obviously, this means they’re highly sought after by cult leaders, rulers, con artists and others who ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT be allowed to get hold of them.

In game, they can be something of an interesting moral problem. You’re not exactly lying or tricking people by wearing the ring, but you’re also not exactly not doing that either. Of course, they also make excellent accessories for the big bad in your game, especially if they’re a scheming high vizier.

Ring of Dread

Finally, we come to the fate of Xidius, and the nastiest item on this list. One of his students, Kadel the Insidious as he came to be known, saw the potential of the rings of sincerity and wanted them for himself. He decided to get rid of his master using Xidius’ own magic against him.

A ring of dread is the twisted counterpart of a ring of sincerity. If the wearer is able to instil doubt into you about something, that thing will come to pass. Is that nasty cough the start of something worse? Your rations tasted a bit off this evening; is someone trying to poison you? Can you really trust your companions? Are they looking at you funny since they agreed to let you carry the gem you found?

The ring has no effect on someone who doesn’t believe whatever the wearer is trying to put into their head. However, the moment you experience the faint prickling of dread, it’s already too late…