Fantastic Treasures - Role Aids, Cassandra's Carpet Trap VII

Fantastic Treasure is the first of two books released by Role Aids describing magical items from myths, legends and religions around the world. The books covers items with names that begin with A to L. It was released in 1984 and says it is suitable with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. I am not sure of the relationship at that time and if this approved. It also features a striking piece of cover art by Boris.

The book as stated earlier includes magic items from all over the world. It has items from North America to Australia to Africa to Europe and Russia. All of these items are items that have been mentioned in myths, legends or literature. There are no new items but the items are varied enough to allow introduction into almost any campaign though many are deity specific.

There are over 375 items described in the book. I counted them all and came up with 383 but I was not going to recount and feel safe saying the first number. They range in power from fairly simple items such as herbs and scrolls to powerful magic items that might unbalance a campaign. There are also some items that are too steeped in history to be used in all but the most specific instances such as the Ark of the Covenant, Excalibur and Gabriel's Trumpet. The art in the books is not up to the cover in most most cases passable and in some cases charming.

As with many of the early Role Aids items Fantastic Treasures at the time of release was a product that was worth a spot in many DM's collections as a play aid. Today the level of quality and content is not what most would come to expect. Still it can still be found cheap enough that most any DM should pick it up and mine it for ideas.

Spell:

Cassandra's Carpet Trap VII

Level: Ninth
Range: 6"
Duration: Special
Ares Effect: Special
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: Two Turns
Saving Throw: Special

When this spell is cast the magic user brings into being a carpet that is  magical in nature. The nature of the carpet can very based on the caster's  desire and the level of the spell.

By default the carpet will be of ornate and of exceptional quality. The  caster can specify a different appearance if desired though it will always  appear to have been a carpet of some quality at one time.

The carpet created will have a maximum size equal to ten square feet per  level of the caster. It will by default fill the space it is cast in though  the caster can specify any shape and size.

The carpet will remain until such time as the effect it is intended to have  is triggered. The triggering effect can be anything that the caster desires.  It can be a timed effect such as one day from now or a specialized event such  as the first thief to walk on it or if a spell is cast by someone while  standing on it. Until such time as the trigger effect occurs the carpet is  nothing more than a carpet. The carpet can be moved with no impact to the  trigger effect unless moving was part of it.

With this level of the spell there is only one type of carpet that can be  created. It is important to note that higher level of the spell can also  create all versions of carpets that previous version could create.

Carpet of the Planes

All who are caught on this carpet when the trigger event occurs will need to  make a saving throw versus Spells. Those who save will be affected as if they  had been standing on a Carpet of Teleportation.

Those who are on the carpet and fail their saving throw will be sent to a  randomly determined plane other than the Prime Material. They will not be  sent to a plane that they could not survive on normally. It is possible that  the character may be sent to an alternate Prime Material Plane that mirrors  our very closely.

The material component of this spell is a small woven rug of exceptional  quality. This carpet will cost no less than 100 gp per level of the Carpet  Trap. The rug transforms into the carpet with the casting and is used up. The  appearance of the actual carpet will be whatever the caster desires though it  will always appear to have been so high quality at some point.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the write ups  last, were all written up back in the 80's so the terminology may not  appropriate for anything other than 1e and depending on how well I did back  then it may be slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of  spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :) Please feel  free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on me. If anyone wishes to  use these in anything they print please let me know in advance and all I ask  is proper credit.