May Contest: Awe-inspiring Items
Thanks to all of you who submitted entries to our April contest, Dastardly Denizens. We’re happy to announce May’s contest, Awe-inspiring Items.
Write up your favorite item with a description of its origin, magical (or non-magical) effects, price, construction costs in materials, skills, and (if appropriate) time and experience. Artifacts are also welcome, as they are physical items wielded in much the same way as any other item.
“Post”mark your entries (to clawclawbite ATE gmail.com) by the end of May to be considered for the contest. Winners will appear in CCB 19 this summer.
By submitting an entry, you allow us to post the content of your entry, and reuse the entry for Claw/Claw/Bite magazine.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged contest, wondrous item by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Lyre of Pansafyre
This magical instrument, when played by a bard as someone speaks, will cause the speaker to catch on fire if they utter a lie, dealing 1d6 damage per lie. If the bard stops playing the lyre, the magic flames will immediately cease and no more damage will be taken by the liar.
The lyre was built by a famous woodworker named Geppetto, who had a wooden friend who told too many lies, so he built this instrument to convince him to tell the truth through song. A valuable lesson indeed, especially if you are made of wood! Pansafyre is the name of the pixie that enchanted the item, without Geppetto’s permission, and one time he played it while the boy lied, and he burnt up, sending Geppetto into a deep depression.
Be careful what you wish for!
Moderate divination and evocation; Craft Wondrous Item, detect thoughts, burning hands; 35,000 gold
Posted in Magic Item and tagged instrument, wondrous item 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.
Breeches of Hulking
Faint transmutation; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, enlarge person; Price 1,080 gold; Weight 3 lb.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged waist, wondrous item by Adam A. Thompson with 1 comment.
Cloak of Shadows
Faint illusion; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, invisibility; Price 2,500 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Cloak of Shadows: as above, and also can project no light as the spell at will. In a 20 ft. radius around the wearer no natural light can penetrate, and so all in the area gain total concealment. The area looks as though it is cloaked in deepest shadow. Magical light illuminates this area normally, and darkvision operates normally in this area.
Faint illusion and conjuration; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, invisibility, darkness; Price 4,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Faint illusion and moderate conjuration; CL 7th; Craft Wondrous Item, invisibility, darkness, black tentacles; Price 14,080 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged cloak, wondrous item by Adam A. Thompson with 1 comment.
Phantasmal Pommel
Created by Terin Goldwrit the dwarven artifacer for the use of his companion Galenados the elven knight, this pommel summons a phontom steed for up to 9 hours a day. These hours do not have to be continuous, but it takes 10 minutes for the steed to coalesce out of slowly gathering mists. Once summoned, it is quite useful for a full day’s travel or for riding into battle.
The ghostly horse has the following stats:
- AC of 18 (-1 size, +4 natural armor, +5 Dex)
- 16 hit points: If it loses all its hit points, the phantom steed disappears.
- Speed of 180 feet. The mount can ride over sandy, muddy, or even swampy ground without difficulty or decrease in speed.
- The horse cannot attack.
- It can bear its rider’s weight plus up to 90 pounds
Moderate conjuration; craft wonderous item, phantom steed; CL 9th; 1 lbs, 9,720 gold
Posted in Magic Item and tagged saddle, wondrous item by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Magedust
The invention of Nazur Tscheryn, the original version of this spell component can be added to many spells to extend their duration. It can also have other, stranger, properties when used with certain spells, similar to wild effects. For the most part this has the effect of extending the spell cast as though the caster had used the Extend Spell feat, thereby doubling the duration of the spell cast.
When using magedust, spells take a full round to cast, unless the spell’s casting time is longer than a standard action, in which case the spell’s casting time is unchanged.
The idea of supplementing material components has spread throughout the arcane community, leading to much experimentation. For the original version, mages tend to mix magedust using equal parts saltpeter, magnesium, sulfurous ash, though there are countless variations, some of which have other metamagical effects, such as extending the range and area of effect.
For a gram of magedust, it usually costs 100 gold coins, or 50 gold coins to make it yourself, depending on the individual recipe. The search is on to find cheaper alternatives to bring about the same effects. In all cases, craft alchemy checks can be used to create magedust for half the market prices listed below.
Enough magedust to extend up to a 3rd level spell costs 100 gold to buy. To extend up to a 6th level spell, 250 gold worth of mage dust must be used. And to extend up to a ninth level spell, 500 gold worth of magedust must be used.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged spell component, wondrous item by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Mage Hand of Athenetos
This hand belonged to Athenetos of the Spider-Priests, a drow wizard of great power. When he was slain by Barael his daemonic familiar whisked his corpse to safety and eventually sold it to Oxceros, an yugoloth arcanaloth. Oxceros pried all the secrets he could from the body via necromantic magic, and then used the left hand to create this Mage Hand. He used it for some time before trading it to Belo Adukar, a dwarven mage along with knowledge of some powerful spells in exchange for a pledge of service and devotion. On Belo’s death it passed out of history into the mortal world. DC 40 knowledge arcana, history or planes reveals this history.
The mage hand is in a glass and crystal requilary, which is inscribed with the name Athenetos. When held it functions as a rod of maxamizing metamagic allowing the wielder to spontaneously maximize up to three spells of up to sixth level each day. Additionally it can be used to cast spectral hand 1/day and a maximized touch of idiocy 3 / day. These effects are at caster level 17, 3 and 9 respectively.
This mage hand is worth 104,760 gold. It and it’s box weigh 8 pounds.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged mage hand, relic, wondrous item by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Mage hand
A preserved hand of a mage, usually presented in a box with a glass top.
Each hand bestows its own powers, usually indicative of the powers of the hand’s original owner when alive. Sample powers are equivalent to standard metamagic feats, without having to memorize the spells at higher levels. Other effects include not needing one of the three components: V, S, M. Still more effects are equivalent to wands.
These items are very rare, as they require a sufficiently powerful mage to die and for someone to remove his or her hand and preserve its magic.
Mage hands preserved with rings upon them usually are embodied with the power of the ring. This adds to their power and value.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged artifact, mage hand, wondrous item by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Deep Purse
This enchanted purse can carry much more wealth than would physically fit inside it, due to enchantments. In many ways similar to a bag of holding, it cannot be used to store anything larger than an inch or two in diameter. In addition, the wearer of this purse can retrieve desired items from it quickly without having to rummage through it. As a move action the wearer can simply pull out the desired coins or gem.
The purse can carry up to 200 pounds of coin and gems, or approximately 10,000 individual coins. No matter how much coin is in it it always appears to weigh 5 pounds, unless it is empty.
This enchantment is often combined with other purse enchantments, such as the Serpentward Purse.
Moderate conjuration; CL 9th; Craft Wondrous Item, secret chest; Price 2,000 gold.
Posted in Magic Item and tagged purse, wondrous item by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.