Compound Magic Items

Just for fun I pulled out my copies of Monsters & Treasure and Supplement I: Greyhawk. I had the idea to roll twice on the magic items tables and try to combine the results into a single magic item. Here are three magic items I cam up with:

Armour +1 + Rod of Beguiling =
Armour of Beguiling
This armour subtracts its bonus from the hit dice of the opponents of the wearer. The wearer of this armour is also able to beguile all enemies in a radius of 20' into believing that the wearer is their most trusted friend or respected mentor. Each use takes one charge and the armour has 4 to 24 charges. Beguilement lasts for 4 to 16 turns.

Ring of Contrariness + Scroll Protection from Undead =
Ring of Attracting Undead
When this ring is put on it cannot be removed without a spell to Remove Curse, and the wearer will not wish to remove the ring. It makes the wearer absolutely contrary and he will act in the opposite fashion of normal/requested. Each day the ring has a 2 in 6 chance of attracting undead. Roll on the Undead-Types table from the Wilderness Wandering Monsters table in Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry to determine the type of undead.

Sword +1 + Drums of Deafness =
Thundering Sword +1
This sword will seem to every test to be a normal sword +1. However, each time the attacker rolls a 20 for their attack roll, the sword will cause a peal of thunder which will deafen the wielder of the sword as well as those within a 6" radius, and this deafness will last until Remove Curse spell is cast upon them.

Variable Magic Items

I am not a huge fan of static bonus magic items - the sword +1.

A simple formula I work with when developing a magic item is:

1. What benefit does the item provide?

2. When does it provide this benefit?

3. What does this benefit cost?

Some examples:

- The Sword of Final Death - This sword has a +3 bonus to attack rolls against undead. It also always does maximum sword damage (8 + any strength bonus) against undead. However, the wielder of the sword also takes the same amount of damage when an undead creature is hit as the negative life force of the undead creature is absorbed into the wielder's body.

- The Night Helm - Anyone wearing this helm has a 99% chance of hiding in shadows and moving silently when outside at night and the command word is spoken. However, each time it is used the wearer must make a Constitution check with a penalty equal to the cumulative number of times the Helm has been previously used by the wearer. If the Con check is failed the wearer is turned into a Shadow.

Both of these magic items give the user a benefit under certain circumstances but also introduce an element of risk.

Caster Level of B/X Magic Items

Page X44 of the Expert Rulebook says:

"In general, magic items are used in the same way as before, except that many items will be much more powerful. When such items have the effect of spells whose effects change with level, consider the power of the item to be as a 6th level spell caster." (emphasis mine)

Page X51 of the Expert Rulebook says that clerics, magic-users and elves can attempt to make magic items "On reaching name level" which is 9th level.

Where do these 6th level magic items come from?