The Eight Sacred Armors
Many scholars who study dusty ancient tomes have read of the Sacred Armors of, for example, Heaven, which lends glowing wings of flight to the wearer, or the unfortunately common Demon Armor, a loathesome clawed abyssal creature that one can wear as protection. And the similarly tragic Berserker armor of Limbo. Only those with true Guts can survive that mythic armor for long, as the wearer can not feel any pain while wearing it. But quasi-astral pshyoastronologimists that I have visited with postulate that each phase of octoethossection will tend to evoke an iconic armor into demihumanoidimaginationmanefestation vortices.
Hence, as observed during long multicosmic explorations, with protective bonuses measured in the +1 to +4 range:
- “Heaven”, the Angelic Breastplate grants the wearer flight speed 60 feet per round and use of the light spell at will.
- A nameless suit of golden chain mail that grants the wearer a bonus of 1d12 HP to any healing spell or effect.
- Berserker Armor which grants a the wearer a advantage on Strength checks and on Saving Throws against effects that impose a condition on the wearer, such as webs that restrain or spells that charm. Additionally, the DM secretly keeps track of HP for the Player’s Character.
- The Helm of Truth grants use of the spell Detect Thoughts to wearer at will.
- The Shining Crown – rumored to not exist , only clues point to Sigil where it is rumored to be worn by the Lady of Pain.
- Chaos’s Shield allows the bearer to resist a chosen damage type once per day as a reaction.
- Inferno Armor grants fire immunity and a fiery thorn whip as a cantrip.
- Shadow Armor gives the wearer advantage on Stealth and cold resistance.
- Demon Armor (per DMG).
-Alidol, High Mage of Soguer
Posted in 1st edition D&D, 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Magic Item and tagged alidol's writings, magic armor by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Berzerker Armor
For the 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons players out there, here’s a magic item from our unpublished adventure For Love of Evil. Dan and I wrote this adventure to run at GenCon in 2009 – it’s a scenario where the 30th level Player Characters are trying to release the ultimate god of evil to unmake the universe.
Berzerker Armor
Lvl 28 +5 2,125,000 gp
Armor: hide, chain, scale, plate
Enhancement: AC, Dexterity & Strength
Property: The player does not keep track of their own hit points while wearing the armor, instead the DM does. In addition, whenever the player wishes to use a healing surge, they must make a saving throw. Success indicates that they can, failure indicates that they instead attack the nearest enemy (via charge etc.) In addition, while bloodied, the wearer of this armor gains +2 to speed and +2 to athletics checks.
Cursed: Removing the armor from a living creature requires a Remove Affliction ritual with a penalty to the Heal check equal to the armor’s level.
Posted in 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, Magic Item and tagged #Berserk by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Jäällätaudin the Ice Tongue
The History: This ancient blade’s full history is known only to the most studious Dwarven sages of the Dunheng Kingdoms, where it was forged to slay giants and dragons. In the centuries since, it has appeared in the hands of many heroes, only to be lost again with their passing. Most recently it was wielded by Jak, a King of the Fridon people who in tales is called the Giant Slayer. He was a king of the Fridon many years ago, when his people were attacked by the giants from the Danor Mountains. He fought them wearing the hide of a dragon and wielding Jäällätaudin, and drove them back to their burning peaks.
Below are statistics for Jäällätaudin using 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. To customize it add some of the magic item quirks from the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Or alter these stats or add abilities to make it fit into your campaign.
Weapon (greatsword), very rare (requires attunement)
This thick-bladed, angular greatsword is a masterpiece of dwarven artistry. You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. Against creatures with Damage Immunity to fire, the bonus is instead +3.
Sentient
Jäällätaudin is sentient, and is only interested in slaying dragons, and giants, or other fire-type creatures (salamanders, fire elementals, etc.). It will communicate its history through nightly dreams (telepathy), where the wielder lives through the many battles that the sword’s previous owners fought. If its wielder does not actively peruse the killing of its foes, a deep chill comes over the wielder and they must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or become fatigued and vulnerable to cold damage until the sword is convinced the wielder will do as it wishes.
Many times in the past, this compulsion has driven the sword’s wielders to their doom, for no warrior survives every fight. Other times stubborn warriors resisted the sword’s commands, discarding it in an icy ravine or mountain lake. Twice those who could not leave the sword behind died from the cold, buried under a slowly-growing ice.
Cursed
This sword’s driving purpose and blood-soaked past have coalesced into a curse – no one, once attuned, may voluntarily discard the blade unless they succeed on a DC 20 Charisma saving throw.
Posted in 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, Magic Item, Uncategorized by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Banquet of Horrors
In sumptuous banquet hall in the Tower of Zards, the walls are festooned with skeletons in manacles. On a table laid with golden plates, cups, and cutlery, there lay beautiful bejeweled forks bearing a curse. Upon picking a fork up characters are compelled to begin eating themselves. Every round affected characters must succeed on a DC 13 Charisma or Strength saving throw or stab themselves with the ornate fork and eat their own flesh, dealing 1 HP of damage.
The skeletons in manacles will begin a mocking, cruel cackling if anyone picks up a fork and takes a bite of themselves.
If they are incautious, multiple player characters may end up feasting on themselves. The curse can be temporarily interrupted by intoning a solemn prayer to the gods, or through use of a cleric’s turning power. The curse can only be ended permanently by a remove curse spell, or by melting the cutlery down, destroying most of their value. Until such time, any time the cursed PCs eat something, the curse activates again, they find the evil fork inexplicably in their hand, and they must make a Charisma or Strength save every round as described above. This may lead to fatigue or inability to rest if the players don’t eat so as to avoid the curse.
Posted in 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Encounter, Magic Item, Trap and tagged cursed, Tower of Zards by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Alidaal’s Barrel of Commerce
This oaken wooden barrel is bound with silver hoops and has a well-fitted lid. It was created and left behind long ago to by the arch-wizard Alidaal. Is enchanted such that it exists in two places at once, is intelligent, can talk, and anything put in to the barrel goes to an extra dimensional space that the barrel alone has access to. Alidaal originally used it to facilitate trade with a trading group in the outer worlds, and the “second barrel” is still in the the trading area. The barrel has become cranky over the decades of its abandonment but will act as in intermediary with the otherworldly merchants if the PCs are indulgent of the barrel’s desire for conversation.
Posted in Magic Item by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Magic Item – Delver’s Rope
Description
This small coil of fine silk rope is light and wonderfully easy to handle. When users speak a magic word and uncoil it, however, they will discover that it it long enough for any use, no matter how much rope is needed. For example, the small coil can be lowered all the way down to the bottom of a 300 foot deep chasm, or used to tie a tightrope across a eighty foot gap between two rooftops, or bind a single prisoner, and the rope is exactly long enough to accomplish the task.
Construction and Cost
Craft Wondrous Item, rope trick; Cost 4,000 gp.
Posted in 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, Magic Item by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
The Beastblade
This broadsword’s wide blade extends from the lion-headed crosspiece like a steel tongue from the open jaws. It bears enchantments which give the wielder +1 to attack and damage, but is considered +2 and deals an additional 1d6 points of damage against magical beasts such as chimeras, hydras, and gorgons.
Though sentient, the Beastblade communicates mainly in growls and roars. Those who wield it are immune to all fear effects, but the blade’s spirit will not accept retreat from combat – those attempting to withdraw from melee or flee a fight must successfully beat the Beastbalde’s ego score of 17 (Charisma, Will, or Fear saving throw) or it will force them to continue fighting instead. This has resulted in the death of many of the blade’s wielders.
Those with bardic knowledge or who are deeply steeped in arcane lore may recall the tale of a Beastblade that bears a blessing and a curse – “those who wield it know no fear.”
Posted in Equipment, Magic Item and tagged sword by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Room 7: Athganazar’s Laboratory
This area is a separate level that can only be accessed by the methods described in Room 6: The Crucible.
As the arcane mist dissipates, you appear in what looks to be an ancient laboratory which while dusty and archaic, has seen recent use. Tables along the walls and shelves set into alcoves in the walls are filled with various alchemical apparatus, half-completed mixtures and parchment. In the center of the room is a stone bier upon which rests a body draped in silken robes. A cracked flask with what remains of a dark, viscous liquid is on the floor nest to the body.
Athganazar is not actually dead but is instead a Proto-lich who has so far failed in the attempts to achieve the full undead status and abilities he desires.
This laboratory is where Athganazar’s soul has been awaiting new bodies to possess and attempt to finish his transformation into a lich. His dead body is what is lying upon the bier while his soul has moved into his phylactery (a plain seeming stone jar upon the top shelf along one wall of the room. It will appear as magical to detect magic, despite its otherwise plainness. The jar is tiny and has 40 hit points, hardness 20, and a break DC of 40) from which he will attempt to possess (via magic jar spell) the character that has seemed the most resourceful in solving the challenges up to this point.
His plan is possess one of the players and attempt to have them drink the remains of the liquid in the flask to attempt to create a new lich body for himself. If he succeeds then he will go ahead and kill the party.
Failing that, he will attempt to kill as many characters as possible, leaving the possessed body if it is slain to return to the jar and to possess another, continuing this until there is only one character left. When only one remains, he intends to possess that body and to use it to make another attempt at successful lich creation.
To defeat him, the party will need to locate and destroy the phylactery (thus leaving him no avenue of egress) and to either kill the character which he has currently possess of to find a way to otherwise force him to leave that body. If forced to leave or the possessed body slain after the phylactery is destroyed, (and there is no active Proto-Lich body ready for him) Athganazar will be destroyed.
The flask of dark liquid in the flask is the remains of the lich creation potion that Athganazar drank which killed his body but left it in a state of perfect preservation. If a PC tastes the dark liquid then they must save or die (Con DC 30). If they succeed they then take 20 pts of damage. If they fail their body becomes a new, empty proto-lich ready for Athganazar to possess. Likewise, if they spill or apply the liquid to the body lying upon the bier then that body will also become a revitalized proto-lich vessel suitable for possession as well.
Posted in 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, Encounter, Magic Item and tagged Fantasy, The Tomb of Athganazar by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
The Sword of Storms
This gleaming blue-steel blade is tied to the power of the storms, and in addition to it’s +2 enhancement bonus, deals an extra 1d6 points of lightning damage on a hit. Those who wield it resist 5 points of lightning damage from any source. Additionally, the weapon can strike with the power of a thunderclap – once per day, upon a successful blow, the wielder can force an opponent to succeed on a DC 15 Constitution, Fortitude, or Petrify/Polymorph saving throw, or be pushed back 10 feet and stunned for one round.
Posted in 1st edition D&D, 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Equipment, Magic Item and tagged sword by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Prehensile Fang Armor
Why attack them when they can hurt themselves attacking you?
Inspired by foes of Hluyuk Tikimit, the quivering porcupine, this legendary full-body armor appears as a typical suit of jet-black leather armor. However, when the wearer is attacked, it puffs up and strikes at the attacker, sending prehensile, poison-tipped fangs into the assailant’s flesh.
The wearer can also disengage the fangs, which then serve as poison daggers with spiraled-bone handles. In crisis mode, the armor projects the gruesome fang daggers as a standard ranged attack.
The wearer looks out on the world through a narrow slit, providing identity obfuscation for night-time antics.
For each day that the prehensile fang armor is worn, there is a cumulative 1% chance of it poisoning the wearer, so this deadly weapon of an armor must be used sparingly.
Posted in Equipment, Magic Item, rules agnostic and tagged armor by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.