Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians
It is sung in The Deed of Barael:
In times long past, beset from the west by raiding gnoll tribes from the badlands, the beleaguered lords of that land traveled north to the temple of Baccob to beseech the mages there for aid defending their peoples. Unknown to them, the head clerics there had been seduced by the promises of Vecna, God of Secrets. After making a terrible bargain with the Priests of Secrets the warriors of the Hyperzephyrins were given these burning lances. At that time a prophecy was pronounced stating that the kings would defeat their enemies, but that upon their passing all that they knew would cease to be.
So great was the power of these weapons that all who faces them on the battlefield were laid low, and soon the gnolls were driven back. Emboldened by their power and their fearsome reputation, the kings of the Hyperzepharins made war on their neighbors, and took other’s lands for their own. After years of felling all who stood against them, they entered a long age of peace, and growing old, hid their magic lances and horseshoes and saddles for their sons to use if the need came.
But their subjugated neighbors never forgot that they were once free men, and under the banner of a rebel warlord from the east, they rose up and in a lightning war that swept the Hyperzepharian’s royal line from the land.
The secret of the resting place of the fire lances died with them, or so it was thought until recently….
Fire Lance
These +2 heavy lances are enchanted such that, upon the speaking of a command word, they are sheathed in flames, dealing an additional 1d6 points of damage on a successful hit. In addition, they are imbued with the power to unleash bolts of fire from their tips three times a day. Striking a target with a bolt requires a ranged touch attack, and deals 12d6 points of fire damage, no save.
Were the location of any of these weapons known, their market value would be considerable.
Strong transmutation and evocation; CL: 11; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, scorching ray; 68,000 gold
And once again, thanks to The Sword for inspiration – lyrics to “Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians” copyright 2008 The Sword, used without permission but with total respect and admiration.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged hook seed or legend, Middle Kingdoms region, Slaves to Malice, weapon by Adam A. Thompson with 1 comment.
Prattleberries
These grape-sized berries bear strange markings on their skin. When eaten, their sour-sweet juices tingle through the tongue and jaws.
Adventurers who consume the mystical berries are advised to avoid operating siege machinery or riding horses while under their influence.
Prattleberries are commonly used for long-range communication. For two weeks out of the year, each bud on the plant produces a pair of berries with identical sigils. When picked and eaten, the creature is able to slip his attention into a dreamstate where he may communicate freely with any creature that has eaten the partner berry.
Once eaten, a creature can communicate telepathically with the partner berry eater on the same plane up to 100 miles away. Along with sight and sound, the dreamstate communication allows the dreamselves to feel physical sensations including taste and smell. When in this state, their real bodies are treated as stunned.
This effect lasts up to 90 minutes. It does not have to be used continuously but will no longer function two days after they were consumed. Slipping in or out of the dreamstate is a move action.
An unwilling recipient of incoming communications is able to chose not to participate in the dreamstate, and will hear the faint, incomprehensible voice of the one trying to initiate the dreamstate.
In regions that prattleberries are native to, finding them when they bear fruit requires a DC 25 Survival check.
Once picked from the stem, the prattleberry will spoil and lose its ability after 6 days, unless steps are taken to preserve it and the partner berry. If a pair of prattleberries spoil, they can be made ripe again (and therefore regain their magical ability) for an additional 6 days with a DC 18 Craft: Cooking or Survival check. Thereafter, they become rotten for good and decompose.
To preserve a pair of prattleberries, a creature with ranks in Survival, Craft: Cooking, or Craft: Alchemy can make a skill check (DC20) to bottle them in preservative. The process takes 8 hours to complete and requires a sealable jar and 2 gp worth of materials.
Properly preserved pairs of prattleberries probably price approximately 10 platinum pieces.
Posted in Magic Item by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Hellskin Tunic
These shirts are made from the hides of slain fiends. As such, their appearance varies depending on what type of demon or devil originally wore the hide: some are scaly, some smooth and barbed, some blue-white as ice, and some fiery red.
Those who wear these specially-treated shirts find that they help resist the points of weapons and the tearing of teeth and claws. While worn they confer a natural armor bonus of +2.
Minor abjuration; caster level 3, Craft Wondrous Item, magic vestment, barkskin or mage armor; 8,000 gold
And thanks to my players for inspiration: the story of Doombringer’s return
Posted in Magic Item and tagged shirt by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Discus of Annihilation
This metallic disc soars up to 120 feet away, striking targets for 3d8 dmg and returning to the wielder’s hand. Unfortunately, it has a limited number of strikes (usually around 10 charges) before it annihilates itself. Without specific training, it is difficult hard to be accurate with the discus. Wielders are required to have martial or exotic proficiencies to avoid penalties.
Variants that do not annihilate themselves include a sonic disc (1d8+1d6 sonic damage), flame disc (1d8+1d6 fire damage), holy discus (1d8+1d6 holy damage), etc, etc.
Craft Magic Arms, return to sender; permanency; Cost 12,000 gp. The only magic given off by the standard version is the return to sender spell. Alternate versions also give off the enchantments that provide each bonus.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged missile, thrown, weapon by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Invisible Ink
Introduced to the continent of Farghal by the famed aquatic gnome illusionist and deep sea adventurer Tish Granjeur, invisible ink is used by mages and others to leave messages that can only be seen by those who can detect the invisible.
Invisible ink has also recently been used as a spell component in certain illusory spells having to do with obscuring objects or thoughts. Alchemists have begun to dilute invisible ink for use as a component of invisibility potions. Leather rubbed with this ink during the tanning process tends to be imbued with a hiding property, and cloth with near-invisibility, so this has been seen as a cheap way to make cloaks of near-invisibility. This is truly a multi-purpose solution.
Invisible ink gives off a faint magic glow that is often undetected by detect magic — those affected by detect magic must search for the ink in order to find it, unless it is present in large quantities (such as in a quill of invisible ink or in one of the above items).
Invisible ink is distilled from the ink of invisisquids, transparent creatures of the deep waters of the Emerald Sea. The ink must be extracted from the creatures’ pair of white nidamental glands while they are still living, making the ink relatively hard to come by, especially for those who live on terra firma.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged spell component by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Cloak of Daggers
This cloak is adorned with enchanted embroideries of ten daggers. Consequently, the wearer can pull real daggers from the interior. As they are removed, they disappear from the cloak’s outer stitching until they are replaced.
Due to the enchantment on the cloak, the daggers can be drawn as a free action, and when not in use are transformed into the images on the cloak, with an effect similar to gloves of storing. This means that the weapons cannot be found by searching the cloak.
In addition to daggers, the cloak can be used to store other light weapons or items of similar size, such as wands, up to a limit of ten items. Whatever items are stored in the cloak’s special pockets are depicted in embroidery on the cloak’s exterior. Daggers just happen to be the item chosen by Yoranda Delane as she crafted the item in her laboratory.
Faint transmutation; CL 9th; Craft Wondrous Item, shrink item; Price 17,500 gp or more, depending on what items are stored within.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged cloak, mundane weapon by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Spear and Shield of the Heavens
“…[he] Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield Ethereal temper, massy, large and round, Behind him cast; the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose Orb
Through Optic Glass the TUSCAN Artist views At Ev’ning from the top of FESOLE, Or in VALDARNO, to descry new Lands, Rivers or Mountains in her spotty Globe.
His Spear, to equal which the tallest Pine Hewn on NORWEGIAN hills, to be the Mast Of some great Ammiral, were but a wand, He walkt with to support uneasie steps…”
-Milton, Paradise Lost
These items are from a scene in the adventure-in-development “The Endless Road” from Unicorn Rampant Publishing. In it the party, while attempting to escape from the abyss on foot, come upon these items.
This spear and shield were carried by a famous archon in battle into the depths of hell, where it was used to slay a terrible fiend. There, in a blasted crater, it remains, clutched in the charred dead hands of that angel, plunged into the dead heart of the demon he slew, thereby dying.
In the aeons that have followed, the abyss has recoiled from these holy items, like an irritating grain of sand lodged in the fibers of it’s being. The blasted crater formed by the balor’s death has deepened and expanded, and bebelith have spawned in the blasted, lifeless lands around it.
The spear is a +2 cold iron holy longspear for medium sized creatures, or a short spear for a creature of titanic proportions.
The shield has a faint glow and a pearly luminescence about it, and is a +2 ghost touch shield that grants cold resistance 10 to it’s bearer.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged armor, The Endless Road, weapon by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Staff of G’raff
The transmutation on this quarterstaff provides an additional 5′ reach, as it has been enchanted by an extend reach spell.
This staff is generally made of a rare spotted wood, part of the reason for the normal price of 15,000 gp.
Faint transmutation; Craft Rod or Staff CL5.
Legions of young mages wielded Staff of G’raffs during the MageWar waged in the Phyloctaete, as they could be easily created from wood harvested our of the Border Forest on the eastern edge of the nation. Now that so many mages have fallen, and the spotted trees of the border wood have become scarce, so too has the Staff of G’raff.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged staff by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Guacna: ancestor stones
The presence of these idols allows these ancestors to protect and care for their descendents through various magical abilities. As the guacna are sometimes carried into battle as a type of magical standard, they can be useful for offense or defense.
The powers of the different guacna vary depending on the qualities of the ancestor to which they are linked. For example, a guacna made for a mighty hunter in a village might provide the hunters of that village with a +2 profound bonus on survival checks when hunting, or provide the benifits of the endurance feat. If he was a skilled archer, the guacna might provide a +1 profound bonus to attack and damage rolls with bows made in it’s presence. If the ancestor was a skilled healer, it might provide a bonus to heal skill checks, or perhaps automatically stabilize wounded and unconscious members of the tribe in it’s presence.
Crafting a guanca upon the death of an important person follows the standard rules for wondrous magic item creation.
Presented below is an example of a Naahaogo guacna.
Guacna of Baniha Long-horn
Baniha was a warrior of great renown, and over his lifetime defended his village of mountain goat people against the ice kobolds from the east, the humans from the south, and the dwarves from the west. So numerous were his battles against these people that he became very skilled at hunting and killing them. Upon his death a guanca was constructed to honor him, and to let him continue to help his descendants.
Any Naahaogo within 60 feet of Baniha’s guacna is granted his bonuses to damage against his favored enemies. They receive a holy +3 bonus against kobolds, a +2 bonus against humans, and a +1 bonus against dwarves. Additionally, sentinels near his ancestor stone receive a +2 bonus to spot and listen checks.
Posted in Character, Magic Item and tagged wondrous item by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Quiver’n’Boots
These masterwork leather boots are also serve as quivers, with a capacity of 20 arrows apiece.
They also imbue the arrows placed within with the power of fear. Foes successfully hit by an arrow stored in the quiver must make a DC 15 Willpower save or be affected by the equivalent of a cause fear spell.
Faint transmutation & necromancy; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, cause fear; Price 2,500 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged footwear by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.