Lots of small tech, but if we want it to stay useful to them longer than one battery charge, I'd say a crank-powered flashlight or lantern.
I suppose anyone doing a lot of math, like a moneychanger, would also lose their shit over a solar powered calculator.
A solar powered calculator, that one I like.
That is simple enough that it could actually keep working through the isekai teleport, and it also probably would comport with the arithmetic knowledge of the smartest person in the village, and might not get you immediately killed as a witch or warlock.
8008135
04 55378008
The Plants that Would Not Die
Slinky, vibrator, laser pointer
I want a Isekai where the person has a laser pointer.
The nearest thing is Dr. Stone and the Mentalist.
Smartphone
I'm not sure exactly what you mean.
If you're asking what household item doesn't actually change, but would be considered extraordinary by someone in a medieval setting, and function and be useful in that environment, I'd say matches.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match
It sounds like China had a primitive chemical match well before Europe, but that it wasn't until the early 1800s that Europe had the match in common production, so I'd guess that a European fantasy setting likely wouldn't have matches.
Oh, another one. A stainless steel knife. Stainless steel apparently didn't exist until the early 1800s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel
"The knife that does not rust."
It sounds like we didn't have aluminum until the early 1800s, either (and it was very expensive for a while, until we got processing with electricity), so very lightweight metal objects would be pretty remarkable.
Matches get wet.
Also, not that impressive to people who may already have flint-based lighters. And whom definitely had flint at least.
In 1662, Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi visited Vienna as a member of an Ottoman diplomatic mission, and admired the lighters being manufactured there: "Enclosed in a kind of tiny box are tinder, a steel, sulphur, and resinous wood. When struck just like a firearm wheel, the wood bursts into flame. This is useful for soldiers on campaign."
I think "needing" matches could be seen as you just not knowing basic shit. Kinda how we look at kids today in school. ("Back in my day we had a blackboard!")
And since OP defined "a fantasy novel", and not just medieval times, I don't think my stainless steel knives would be that impressive. Probably good and worth a bunch, but you'd have some actually magical metals then, eh...
Hmm..
Honestly just as an all arounder I think my previous phone was kinda nice if you could have a solar charger. It had a camera better than my eyes (10x optical zoom), compass, bunch of sensors that could probably be adapted. Could hold Wikipedia and take notes. Hell, just edit a video a little to make a deepfake about the king being corrupt and other political demagoguery, especially for like a bard type character.
It's a boring answer and it wouldn't be that special tbh, but aside from having my ebike there with some sort of charger (although I think I'm fairly confident I could manage to build a charger / battery if it came to it, it's not really that hard. You'd just need a very large one to get the voltage right. And I don't known how picky the battery in my ebike is about the voltage it receives.
But if I had like a Wikipedia on my phone, oh wait no, then that's two items, bike and Pedia. Pff. Bike would be so much more worth than a phone though, at least if we're imagining a basic DnD party type of thing and not some massive political campaigns or bringing forth a new era of technology and culture through educating people with a Wikipedia.
The wandering inn has a couple chapters (and even starts a gang war) over matches.
Light at the flick of a switch.
It's was a glacially cold moonlit night. Our hero turned on the LED ceiling lights.
Which drew their power from...?
Divine intervention
Ah, so strange, inert baubles which can apparently, according to legend, be made to glow via some kind of arcane ritual, lost to the ages.
gun
I'm just imagining you showing someone in a fantasy realm a modern Glock and they go, "Ah that's like our matchlock pistols!" And they explain the dwarves and their technical capabilities.
I forgot about those dang crafty dwarves! If Mr. Gun (the glock) fails to impress, it's time to whip out his papa; Dr. Gun (something big and fully automatic idk gun stuff lol)
Brooms
a stove, or perhaps matches. they'd allow you to use fire magic without needing to know fire magic.
Polaroid, lighter, vape, flashlight, fleshlight
🎶 ...we didn't start the fire! 🎶
A Cup, 3 pieces of jewelry, a diary, a pet and for some reason an opponent's child.
The standard faire would be a mirror or the ladder to the attic or a broom.
If you’re looking for the path less traveled, a microwave magnet is a fantastic way to curse your nemesis’s compass.
A microwave without an accompanying, compatible power source would just be a weird box.
EDIT: Oh, you said the magnet from one, I can't read lol.
Well, uh microwaves have electromagnets.
They don't produce much of a magnetic field without a power source.
So... same problem, actually.
I cast one of my donut shaped microwave magnets in your direction. Qty: 30
I am mildy amused as the 'magnet' bounces off of my cuirass.
Apparently there are microwaves that use permanent magnets in the magnetron.
I am mildy amused as the 'magnet' ~~bounces off of~~ clings to my cuirass.
The magical item that confuse the monster's sense of direction.
And also can instant kill them.
Stick of deoderant.
People tend to very much not consider how fucking awful everyone smells when almost everyone is a manual laborer, washing machines don't exist, indoor plumbing largely does not exist, people tend to have a wardrobe that can fit in large satchel, not an entire walk in closet.
This is part of why people really really viewed annointing oils and incense as luxury items.
Just mask the smell lol.
EDIT:
Any kind of memory foam anything, pillows, mattress.
Totally impossible to produce without modern industrial society, heavily reliant on modern chemistry, oil processing, etc.
The level of comfort would likely be seen as literally supernatural.
Also:
Zippers.
Yep, you heard me right, zippers.
Sure, you could have a finely skilled artisan who crafts mail or scaled armor.
... Zippers?
Real ones, made of metal?
Yeah, the not shitty ones are made of metal alloys that roughly medieval people could not create, not to mention they are made of very small pieces that must be pretty precisely shaped, and then also all finely and sturdily woven together.
If a handheld clock is basically magic in your scenario, a zipper is almost as hard to craft, but has a much, much broader range of practical applications.
And if its made of plastic?
Again, plastic requires oil refinery. Plastic = Magic.
Yeah, theres a reason why most pre industrial fashions use folds and drawstrings and buttons... and not zippers.
EDIT 2:
Maybe not common household items unless you are a bit of a prepper, but uh:
Mylar (space) blankets / ponchos.
Emergency water filtration 'straws'.
Sanitary wipes / individually packed steri-wipes with alcohol for cleaning wounds.
People tend to very much not consider how fucking awful everyone smells when almost everyone is a manual laborer, washing machines don't exist, indoor plumbing largely does not exist...
This is a common myth but people absolutely did wash and do their best to stay clean. Being smelly was just as undesirable as it is now, if not more so because it was commonly associated with disease. People would have a ewer (pitcher) of water and a basin in their bedrooms and wash themselves every morning and evening with a cloth. Of course scented oils and perfumes used to be a huge business, but even people who were extremely poor could make or buy "posies" or sachets of sweet smelling herbs, grasses and flowers and carry them with them. As another poster said, they would also wear natural fibers like linen, hemp, cotton or wool that don't hold on to scents as much as polyester or rayon do. Even if they had one set of clothes, they would have at least two under clothes like shifts or shirts or tunics and wash them regularly in ammonia and hot water.
Deoderant would probably be a neat trick and on par with an expensive perfume but I doubt it would be on the level of magic.
That being said, while people back then certainly smelled bad on the whole, they had one advantage going for them which was fabric materials that breathe better than the synthetic fabrics that we use today. It made it easier to wear pieces of clothing for longer before it started smelling bad compared to polyester/nylon/etc. which trap oils and moisture and start to smell bad after only one wear.
But the other thing is that people also go nose blind to BO after prolonged exposure, which is why people who don't bathe enough often don't realize how bad they smell to others.
Fine and good points!
Yes, we do tend to have much shitter quality fabrics these days, at least for the masses... as you say, medieval era common clothing did not need to washed as often, tended to generally be more rugged, and also were more easily capable of being repaired.
Myself, I hope that at some point we go back to hemp based fabrics, or at least include hemp in the blend.
Vacuum cleaner.
I came to say this... in a land of humans with dog spirits.
Useless without a power source.
Just a strange, misshapen polearm of some kind, or possibly an artwork.
They wouldn't have a power source in a fantasy novel?
You mean like uh, if we isekai'd with a solar power backup station upc as well?
Yeah, that'd work, if it could deliver enough watts.
They didn't say that though.
You would still have to run the right amps and voltage through the thing, and it would have to connect into the right kind of wall outlet... which all implies that such a 'fantasy' setting has a more or less equivalent to our modern power infrastructure.
Maybe its some kind of LiON vaccuum, that was already charged? I guess then that would be neat untill it ran out of charge.
I mean, if your fantasy society has electro magic... presumably they would also already construct and use devices which make use of electro magic, so one of our vaccuums would probably just be seen as again, still some weird thing, as it would probably not be compatible with some completely different paradigm for eletrical power generation.
Or, if said society has electro magic and doesn't use this with machines/devices... well ok I guess you could have a story where electricity benders try to figure out how to control their powers such to not just instantly overcharge and destroy the vaccuum cleaner lol?
I dunno, Timeline by Michael Crichton goes into the actual logistics of setting up electrical infrastructure in a less fantasy but still medieval setting.
We can I guess argue about what exactly confines the boundaries of the general concept of fantasy, I would say fantasy does not generally include something like an existing industrial power grid.
Uh ok
Hair dryer
a labubu~
or your superbly crafted resin figurine
for household items, i think the ceramic knife hits the spot.
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