Knights & Knaves Alehouse

EGG in Bazaar of the Bizarre in TD#27 - July 1979 wrote: BAG OF WIND

by Gary Gygax

A magical bag of wind (not to be confused with a windbag, which I
have been accused of being from time-to-time) appears to be a normal large sack, but very careful examination of its drawstring will reveal that the cord is woven of special fibers and radiates a dim magic if this is checked for. When the bag of wind is drawn shut, a bow tied, and a magical word spoken, the bag fills with air — appearing then as a normal sack filled with some form of goods such as clothing or the like, as it will seem lumpy and weigh only about 14 pounds or so. The possessor of the item may at any time loose the bow knot and release the wind which the bag contains. The effect of the wind depends upon the type of bag of wind, as detailed below.

The Bag of Aeolus: This sack contains one gust of each of the four separate winds (Boreas, Euros, Notus, Zephyrus) described hereafter. These can be loosed one at a time, on command, and the bag retied after each such release. If the possessor wishes, however, he or she can release all four winds at once. Such a release will equal the whirlwind effect of an air elemental, the whirlwind lasting four rounds; the four winds will increase the strength of any one air elemental in range to a full eight hit points per hit die, regardless of the number of hit dice of the elemental. The range of the released winds is 6”. Direction of their effect is determined by the mouth of the bag when opened.

The Bag of Boreas: When this sack is loosed and the command word spoken, a blast of freezing wind shoots forth. Creatures within 3” take 2-12 hit points of frost damage, those within 3” to 6” take 1-6 hit points of damage, and all small flames and fires of non-magical nature along the 2” wide course of the wind gust will be extinguished.

The Bag of Euros: The release of this puff of air effects an area 3” broad by 3” deep. All creatures within this area are effected by a langor which causes them to deduct one pip from their initiative dice. They will also be 10% less likely to react unfavorably and attack due to this langor, unless they are already angry, hostile, or engaging in combat. Fires are only fanned by this release.

The Bag of Notus: By opening this sack, the possessor releases a gust of hot, dry air which causes 2-8 hit points of damage to all within 3”, 1-4 hit points of damage to those from 3” to 6” distant and within its 2” broad path. Water dwelling creatures will take double damage from dehydration. All fires and flames are affected as described for Boreas.

The Bag of Zephyrus: A gentle breeze issues forth when this sack is untied, and all those within its 3” broad by 4” deep area of effect are so refreshed that they gain from 1-4 previously lost hit points. In addition, all creatures within this area add one pip to their initiative rolls for the next four turns. Flame and fire are simply fanned by the release of this zephyr.

The command word necessary to release the wind or winds contained by one of these bags will typically be magically written upon the container. Of course the possessor will possibly know the word in the case involving non-player characters initially owning the item.

Each bag of wind can be used a maximum of four times before its magical powers are lost. Naturally, any such bag found might have been previously used, so the number of magical wind releases contained within can vary from 1-4. The Bag of Aeolus is entirely drained if all four winds are released at once, and if any one of the separate winds has been previously released, the whirlwind function of the sack will not work.

Anytime a magic bag is found you may assume there is a 1 in 4 chance that it is a bag of wind rather than the type indicated on the miscellaneous magic table. If a 1 is rolled, it is a bag of wind. Roll d6, and use the table below:

Die
Roll === Result

1 ===== BAG OF BOREAS
2 ===== BAG OF EUROS
3 ===== BAG OF NOTUS
4 ===== BAG OF ZEPHYRUS
5 ===== BAG OF AEOLUS
6 ===== roll again using d4 instead of d6

geneweigel wrote:I didn't have that particular issue and it may just be one of the only "should have been" magic item finds that "missed the official boat". The only reason this particular item entered my campaign was due to the 1994 ENCYLOPEDIA MAGICA by random chance (there is no notation its by Gary there). If anything EM has good "gems" in it although its like finding them in a big mess of mostly half-hearted stuff. That would have benefited better with proper notation to author and "game system era/year" to separate it from the repeating specific items (not really different) sourced from TSR trading cards. That and the "TSR worlds flavored items" are the ones that annoy the most out of that encyclopedia.