We haven’t actually seen one of WOTC’s Rare magic items yet: we’ll get our first look in the DM’s Kit. I’d like every Rare item to come with
Here’s an example of what I’d like a Rare item to look like:
Smoke Turban
Julli ducked into a corner of the town square and donned the black turban. As the gossamer veils drifted down around her head, the noise around her ceased and noon became night. Through the turban’s obscuring veils, she saw the bazaar in ruins and the crowd in the square was suddenly transformed to shuffling zombies.
Julli skirted the square, avoiding the zombies. She ran through the broken doors of the palace, up a stairway so dark that she could not see the steps, and climbed over the rotting woodpile that had been the treasury doors. Inside the treasury lay rat bones, dead moths, and bits of rusty iron.
Julli wrenched off her turban. As the veils around her dissipated, she found herself in brightness once more: inside the tightly locked treasury chamber, and surrounded by ewers brimming with rubies and stacks of gleaming gold bars.
Smoke turban. Level 5 head slot item. Rare.
A black turban, trailing thin black veils that drift into smoke.
When someone puts on the Smoke Turban, they become translucent and smoky, and gain a +10 item bonus to Stealth against living observers. Against the living, the wearer may also make Stealth checks without requiring cover. However, the turban wearer’s perception of the world also becomes translucent and smoky, and they take a -10 Perception penalty. Furthermore, all living creatures are totally invisible and inaudible to someone wearing the turban.
Level 15: +15 bonus/penalty.
Level 25: +20 bonus/penalty.
Leveling Up
When its owner learns more about it (possibly by performing a quest), the Smoke Turban becomes more powerful. Roll a d6 to determine what extra abilities the Turban receives.
1-2: Hunter’s smoke turban
3-4: Shadowfell smoke turban
5-6: Desert smoke turban
Hunter’s smoke turban. The turban belonged to a hunter of one particular type of creature of the DM’s choice (for instance, demons). While everything else is hazy and dark to the wearer of a smoke turbans, these creatures stand out. The wearer takes no penalty on perception checks made to identify this type of creature or its trail.
Shadowfell smoke turban. This turban belonged to a daring thief who finally met her end when she phased into the wrong part of the Shadowfell. While wearing this turban, the wearer sees his or her normal surroundings at a penalty as usual, but is also aware of the contiguous portion of the Shadowfell world, at the same perception penalty. As a minor action, the wearer may spend a healing surge in order to temporarily phase into the shadowfell. While in this state, the wearer is fully in the shadowfell. The wearer is also in the natural world as well, but gains Insubstantial and Phasing in the natural world. This may allow the user to, for instance, pass through some barriers that don’t exist in the shadowfell. The wearer returns to the natural world at the beginning of their next turn. If they are not in a legal square when they return, they are moved to the nearest legal square and knocked prone.
Desert smoke turban. This turban belonged to a feared desert assassin who walked alone and unnoticed between caravans. While wearing the turban, the wearer gains fire and radiant resistance, and cold and necrotic vulnerability, equal to the Stealth bonus, and an equal bonus to Endurance checks related to heat.
WHAT A GREAT TURBAN