Here are some magic items that have no specific purpose. They’re ingredients that could be used by the DM as part of Rube Goldberg traps, or by the players in any number of DM-confounding plans.

The Incredible Changing Brick

This item appears as a colored stone cube, sized anywhere between a few inches to 15 feet across. It has five possible sizes. When it is exposed to fire (or any effect hot enough to do damage) it grows one size. When it is exposed to freezing temperatures (cold enough to do damage), it shrinks one size.

If someone is struck by a cold or heat attack while carrying the brick, the brick is likely to change size. When the Changing Brick grows, it is strong enough to burst any container except well-constructed stone or thick metal. In a confined space, it will crush any creature who cannot escape or make a DC 21 Strength check.

Size 1: The size of a half-brick, the Changing Brick is 6 inches long and 5 pounds.
Size 2: 2 feet long and 50 pounds, about the size of a stone in a typical dungeon wall. If it’s in a full backpack or bag when it grows to size 2, it’s likely to burst the container.
Size 3: 4 feet long and 400 pounds. It is difficult to drag, even by strong characters.
Size 4: 8 feet long and too heavy to lift. It’s big enough to almost completely block a typical dungeon corridor.
Size 5: 15 feet long.

Example uses: A Brick at the base of a loose wall could cause an avalanche if struck by a careless fireball. A character armed with an at-will Cold spell and a torch could use the Changing Brick as a portable defensive wall or battering ram.

Electrum Mirror

The ancients used solar and light power to fuel many of their lost technologies. If you find a cache of ancient electrum coins, look around carefully for an electrum mirror guarding it. Electrum mirrors were versatile parts of many of the traps and devices in ancient dungeons.

An electrum mirror is a smooth silver-gold sheet marked with a single rune. It’s frequently mounted, out of reach, on a dungeon wall or ceiling.

Electrum mirrors can have a single wizard spell stored on them. They’re sensitive to light: when a certain light level is reached, their stored spell is triggered. Electrum mirrors can cast their stored spell once per day.

Electrum mirrors can distinguish between firelight, sunlight, moonlight, and colored light, and may be programmed to react to any or all of these. Characters with dungeon experience might be able to spot the devices from a distance, noticing the glint of electrum before their torches trigger any spells.

If the rune is physically wiped off the mirror, the stored spell is erased and a new one may be cast into it. The caster presets variables like spell range and direction.

Example uses: An electrum mirror might be programmed to shoot a fireball down a corridor when exposed to torchlight. Another one might cast the illusion of a ghost when moonlight shines on it through a window. A third might react to any light by casting Mage Hand, pulling a nearby lever and opening a pit trap.

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