Rings of Mutual Exclusion
These relatively plain silver rings allow the wearer to go unseen, unheard, and un-smelled and render the wearer completely intangible - but only to others who wear a Ring of Mutual Exclusion.
When putting on one of these rings, the wearer instantly looses sight of everyone else who is wearing a Ring of Mutual Exclusion. It has no effect whatsoever on anyone else, so anyone not wearing a ring can still see, smell, and hear the wearer. Wearers cannot sense each other in any way, cannot see items carried or worn by each other, and sense all tactile sensations when feeling or bumping into each other.
Appearance:
Each ring looks identical, but each ring is actually unique. While appearing to be plain silver, there are hundreds of slight color variations that only a keen eye could detect. When dropped onto a stone, each ring chimes with a certain tone. These tones are nearly indistinguishable, but most musicians could probably tell the tones of two rings apart. Finally, a ring could be any size. While some rings share a color and some other rings share the same size, each rings has a unique combination of color, tone, and size.
Angry Professors:
Often when a classroom is full of unruly students, it can become difficult for a teacher to maintain order while teaching an effective lecture. In cases like these, instructors often require each student to wear a Ring of Mutual Exclusion during the class period. This makes each student feel like he or she is the only student in a large, empty classroom. The instructor usually finds this a much easier environment to teach in. The professor will occasionally slip on a ring for a second just to see if any of the students aren't wearing theirs.
Twisted Tournaments:
Some of the more eccentric thrill seekers will arrange for as many as a dozen gladiators to fight to the death in a small arena while each is wearing a Ring of Mutual Exclusion. Each combatant is unable to see his opponents or even feel them until, by randomly swinging his sword, he finally draws blood. An archer is usually hired to wear a ring and oversee the combat. If a contender should remove his ring, he would instantly become veiwable by the archer and subsequently shot until he died. Such tournaments often attract a large bidding competition.
Easter Egg Hunt:
During a race or scavenger hunt, the overseer will often require the competitors to wear Rings of Mutual Exclusion to provide a little more viewing pleasure. Racers will often run into each other and fall to the ground without feeling the collision. The resulting humor is often very gratifying. In a scavenger hunt, one seeker could be reaching for an item only to have it disappear in front of his eyes when another seeker grabs it first.
Silent Accusers:
Clever judges use Rings of Mutual Exclusion to allow all of the witnesses and suspected felons into the same room without them hearing each other. A guilty criminal usually becomes very nervous when the judge asks a potentially convicting question and the answer given is completely unheard. The guilty often break down and confess when witnesses don't have anything useful to say. The tension it creates is a very useful tool.
Patient Thieves:
A patient thief looks for someone who owns a Ring of Mutual Exclusion. When she sees someone wearing a silver ring, she will slip on her own ring for a moment to see if the target disappears. Once she knows that someone owns a ring, she just has to wait outside his house while wearing her ring until she can't hear or see the target. She can then steal all she wants at her leisure, but if she takes too long, the target may notice items disappearing into thin air.
Ex-lovers
Either through choice or Court Order ex's may be ordered to wear these rings to stop them argueing with, stalking or otherwise hurting each other.
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? Responses (15)
I'd like to have a pair of these.
Maybe someday I'll have an idea or a use for these to throw into the mix. We can hope!
Then the canny thief arranges for a few of these to be given to the local constables and city guardsmen, ornamented in such a fashion as to pay homage to the order of law keepers. Then at night, the thief slips on his ring, rendering the guardsmen invisible to him, and him, invisible to them. (this would have to be a modified set, otherwise everyone would notice when the guards suddenly couldnt see each other)
Nice.
I considered something along these lines. The magic of the rings only works because each ring is unique. If you were to craft two rings with the exact same hue, tone, and size, those two rings would not exclude each others while all other rings function properly.
A set of these could easily be cursed or altered so that they are not removeable by the wearer. If I ever wanted to break up my pair of intrepid adventurers for awhile, this would be a good trick to pull.
Brilliant, practical, have some creative uses, and some devious ones. The gladiator match would be amazing for a group of players to get involved in. The notes about the appearance and tones was a very nice touch.
Voted.
I saw the first couple lines of this and said "Why on earth would anyone ever want one of these?" Then I saw your ideas and I think they are BRILLIANT.
So cool!
A simple but sweet idea. Liked the illustrative uses for these rings.
Nice - I can think of several ways to use the examples - the court/law one is especially good.
The ideas on how these rings can be used, take them up a notch!
Indeed. A very interesting item with lots of subtle potential uses.
Ditto. These are awesome.
I've the perfect use for this in my campaign, thanks!