Item highlight: Wizard's staff

 

Most wizards (and other powerful magic-users) are often seen brandishing long walking sticks, sometimes plainly made, other times set with gems or other items of power. There is a very specific reason why the staff is such a popular and iconic part of a wizard's inventory:

Powers: While wielding the staff, the risk of Tzeentch's Curse is NOT increased when over-channeling.

Individual staffs can have various additional powers. Some may provide bonuses to attack or defense (and are considered magical weapons) or provide bonuses when channeling a specific color of magic.

Staffs are attuned to a specific wizard but can, with some time and effort, be attuned to a new wielder.

Wizards are not penalized in any way for NOT using their staff. So it's perfectly possible for a wizard to go "undercover" by leaving their staff in the broom cupboard at home. 

Note: Some rare wizards have wildly different channeling items.

Item highlight: Gromnil armor

 

Gromnil armor is always of exquisite craftsmanship and is usually heavily ornamented, gilded, and so forth. Gomnil armor is VERY rarely made for human customers, and it's therefore quite rare to find armor that would fit non-dwarves. Furthermore, most dwarves would be very suspicious of any human wearing gromnil. He or she better have a good explanation of why they have it! However, if a rare dwarf-friend should be allowed to wear gromnil, this will increase his standing with all dwarves (a +10% bonus to Fel where appropriate).

Powers: Armor forged from gromnil has +1AP compared to equivalent steel armor.

In addition, it protects (through a combination of the material's strength and fine craftsmanship) against normal critical hits (i.e. doubles on the attack die) but not other sources of crits (e.g. weapon qualities that grant crits on '0s'). 

Some say that gromnil is more comfortable to wear and that it doesn't get as hot/cold as normal armor, but whether this is true or not is hard to say for certain.

Gromnil is never enchanted - the material itself isn't inherently magical either - but some sets of armor might be rune-marked (this is, for reasons unknown, quite rare). Since gromnil isn't magical, it can be used in conjunction with many other types of magical protection. For example, Wigmar's magical amulet stacks with his gromnil armor.

Gromnil is harder and has a higher melting point than steel, but claims that it is "indestructible" is obviously an exaggeration. If it was, gromnil would be the ultimate defense, impervious to any attack, no matter how lightly made.