© Daniel S. Wall, April 27, 2026.

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Some magic items are not meant to be held onto. They are meant to be passed along. A “Traveling Amulet” is one such item. It will appear as an exceptionally beautiful amulet featuring a gem of some kind. It is a magic item of great power, but a Traveling Amulet may be used only once, after which it must be exchanged in ritual to an appropriate party. Doing so in a timely manner may bring additional magic into the life of an Amulet Bearer; failure to do so will have negative consequences in that it tends to weaken the will of an Amulet Bearer. For this reason, a Traveling Amulet can be a burden as much as it is a boon.

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Exchange

To receive full benefit for a Traveling Amulet, an Amulet Bearer must receive it in direct exchange for another. To confer the normal benefits upon each party, this exchange must trigger a change in color (see below) for each Amulet. The exchange must be conducted in the context of a simple ritual in which both parties eat and/or drink together. Each must also toast the other in some manner. When this is done properly, each party may thereafter carry the item they have received for up to a year in game-time, but each can only use the magical powers of their new amulet once. Once its power has been triggered, the party in possession of it will begin to accrue a small  degree of malaise for each game session completed without giving it up.

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Restrictions on Use and Possession: A party of characters may only carry one Traveling Amulet with them at a time without incurring a penalty (one Malaise point per game session to each Amulet Bearer traveling in the same party). If anyone in a given party has already received benefits from triggering the powers of a Traveling Amulet during a given game session, then no other amulet may be triggered in their presence, nor may a second amulet help them for the balance of the game session in any way. Attempts to do so simply will not work. No character may trigger the same amulet more than once in their lifetime. A given amulet simply will not work for her a second time. Note also that no amulet may be triggered in any game session wherein it has been kept hidden for any significant encounter or any significant length of time. Amulets hidden during a game session simply cannot be triggered in that game session.

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Magical Features

Each Traveling Amulet has three features relevant to the magical effect it will produce; its name, its color, and its trait.

Its name: This simply identifies an amulet and helps characters to distinguish one Amulet from another. Each amulet carries its own lore, lore that may well be known to experienced bards and scholars.

Its color. This is a function of the type of creature from whom it was acquired. The color of the central decoration within a Traveling Amulet literally changes when it is transferred from one Amulet Bearer to another. This color determines the benefit to be gained from triggering the Amulet. The known colors and powers are as follows:

• Black: A Traveling Amulet turns black when it is received from Undead. It holds death at bay for the one triggering it and a certain number of allies for a limited time, but this effect may prove costly to those whose death has been so averted.
• Blue: A Traveling Amulet turns blue when it is received from an Angel or Celestial. It prevents a designated character, her allies, or her subordinates from attacking the one triggering it or her known allies in any way for a full game session.
• Clear: The source of Amulet turning clear may be anything that does not fit into any of the other categories mentioned here. It enables the one triggering it to gain a substantial quantity of wealth over the course of the game session.
• Gold: A Traveling Amulet turns gold when it is received from a Dragon. It enables the one triggering it and a certain number of allies to go directly (and quite inexplicably) to a single location of their choice anywhere in the world through 1 minute of apparently conventional travel (such as walking, riding horses, rowing a boat, etc.).
• Green: A Traveling Amulet turns green when it is received from a Sylvan, a Sprite, or a Fey. It enables the one triggering it and a number of her known allies to learn a great deal from a single game session.
• Purple: A Traveling Amulet turns purple when it is received from an elemental. It enables the one triggering it and a number of her known allies to avoid being surprised for a single game session. In addition, they can automatically achieve the maximum possible surprise in one encounter (at the choice of the person triggering it) during that game session. (Note that scholars have debated what would happen if two parties employed Purple Amulets in the same encounter, but the truth is that nobody knows. If such an event has ever happened, there is no record of the results.)
• Red: A Traveling Amulet turns red when it is received from a Netherspawn or a Fiend of some kind. It enables the one triggering it and a number of allies to gain spectacular benefits from critical combat rolls for one game session.
• Silver: A Traveling Amulet turns silver when it is received from a creature with inherent powers of psionics or Spiritual Warfare. It immediately heals the one triggering it and a number of allies. (Note that in RPGs without psionics or spiritual warfare, Traveling Amulets dimply do not turn silver.)
• White: A Traveling Amulet turns white when it is received from a Giant. It enables the one triggering it to determine the outcome of a two die rolls during a single game session, one for herself, and one for another character (which can be friend, ally, or even foe). Her player literally places the dice on the table with whatever result she sees fit to assign it.

Its trait: Each Amulet bears a single trait, preserving something of the character who creates it. When an Amulet Bearer triggers an Amulet possessing a trait she herself possesses, she personally gets an extra boost out of it.

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Alternative Means of Amulet Travel

If a traveling amulet is acquired by any means other than the exchange mentioned above its magical powers remain inert until it is exchanged properly, at which point, both of the parties in the exchange gain the appropriate powers. Yes, this means that a character acquiring a Traveling Amulet from a fallen foe, for example, would have to exchange it with another creature to gain any actual powers from an amulet. Once a character has done this at least once, they are considered to be a genuine Amulet Bearer.

If an Amulet Bearer gives away or loses her Amulet by any means other than the appropriate exchange, she acquires a significant penalty likely to last beyond a single game session. (The suggested penalty is 3 points of Malaise.)

Should an Amulet Bearer (or one of her allies) rob or otherwise harm a character (or a known ally of such a character) with whom she has exchanged amulets in the same game session, she will acquire significant penalties for doing so. (The suggested penalty is 1-3 points of Malaise; 3 if both relevant parties were Amulet Bearers, 1 if both were allies of an Amulet Bearer involved in the exchange, and 2 if one was an ally and the other was an Amulet Bearer.)

Beginning with the game session immediately after the one in which an Amulet is triggered, the character acquires a small penalty at the end of every full game session it is retained until it is exchanged or otherwise given up. (The suggested penalty is 1 point of Malaise per game session conducted after the one in which the Amulet has been used.)

If the item is kept for more than a year without use, the same penalty is applied. (The suggested penalty is 1 point of Malaise per game session conducted after the year in question.)

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The Social Life of an Amulet and its Bearer

An Amulet Bearer has a vested interest in knowing the identity and location of other amulet bearing individuals. She even has an interest in letting her own identity and name be known to others bearing amulets, although doing so also carries its own risks. Known Amulet Bearers may attract potential trade partners, but they may also attract would-be thieves. So, Amulets and their Bearers tend to become public knowledge; stories will be told about them.

In many respects the full significance of a Traveling Amulet is as much a stimulant to role-play as it is a practical asset. A Traveling Amulet will lead a character into social interactions they would not otherwise have, and it will get them talking to creatures they might not otherwise speak with.

I would suggest that a GM aim for campaign in which a few amulets and their Bearers are known to the player characters, and one wherein with a little extra effort they may find one or two additional amulets. What one probably does not want is a campaign in which characters can shop freely for an amulet carried by the creature of their choice, nor does one want a campaign in which exchange is simply not possible and the burden of an Amulet is likely to weigh more heavily than the benefits.

Maintenance and care of a Traveling Amulet should not be taken for granted, but neither should it be overly burdensome, and the steps taken to manage one’s relationship to an amulet should generate interesting plots lines in their own right.

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The above description is presented in fairly general terms. For mor detailed rules, you may look here for D&D, 3.5 edition.