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ChrisDemilich
2009-07-09, 04:22 AM
So every player loves Artifacts, and every DM hates tossing them recklessly into their campaign. The only thing that breaks the game worse might be Epic spells.

But everyone knows that they can be an excellent tool to make the game interesting, and provide a wonderful Crowning Moment of Awesome for the players.

So, go ahead, and post any of your own artifacts. Also, what level did you intend for it to be acquired by the players, if at all?

This was one I designed, that never did manage to fall into the player's hands, but the NPC big baddie put it to good use.

Also, feel free to comment on people's artifact ideas. Just no blatant insults. That would be rude. And everyone knows that there is no rudeness on the internet:smallwink:!

Edit: Also, if your artifacts have interesting back-stories, post those too. Those are the best part of the artifact!

Epic Greater Artifact:

Rod of Supreme Spellcasting

This rod appears to be, and functions as a Rod of Excellent Magic, until the holder casts an epic spell requiring more then 2000 exp. At that moment, the caster becomes aware of the true nature of this item.

The Rod of Supreme Spellcasting is a powerful artifact which supplies the experience component for non-epic or epic spells, up 10 000 experience per day. The Rod contains an absolute limit of 100 000 experience which it can store and supply before being drained. Once drained, the Rod still functions as a Rod of Excellent Magic, usable once per day for 2000 XP.

The holder of the Rod of Supreme Spellcasting can use death knell at will, as cast by a 30th level caster.

Refilling the rod's experience store is possible by killing creatures with the death knell ability. The rod gains experience as a 30th level character, against the Challenge Rating of any creature thus killed, added to the experience store. This does not deprive the holder of the rod of experience gain for the encounter. Once the Rod of Supreme Spellcasting has absorbed the full 100 000 experience limit, the rod loses the death knell ability.

D-naras
2009-07-09, 07:01 AM
Mine was a set. The first part was an ivory case called the Arc of Whispers. At first it affected anyone sleeping 30 ft near it with a nightmare spell. But through a quest, the PCs were able to purify it and then everymorning they rolled 1d4, gaining bonuses based on the roll. Fluffwise, they dreamed of the ways to get the bonus. a 1 meant +1 caster leve, a 2 meant +2 AC and Saves, a 3 was +2 attack and damage rolls and 4 allowed you to pick your bonus.

The sexond part was a dark crystal sphere that needed to be placed inside the Arc. Then it gave a bonus feat to all who slept 30ft near it. If you had the prerequisites for the feat you could use it all day. If not just once exept if it was a static bonuses which you gained as an immediate action.

Offcourse the catch was that these were the Phylactery of the BBEG Rakshasa Lich, and now they have to face him...

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2009-07-09, 07:15 AM
I accidentally made one when I was rolling random loot for a high level Lich on a one-shot game. It was a composite longbow, it ended up something like +5 Holy, Unholy, Shock, Corrosive, Screaming, Bane x4. I rolled the first Bane and it was Evil Outsiders, so I just picked Good, Lawful, and Chaotic Outsiders for the other three and named it The Destroyer of Heaven and Hell. It was crafted from a demon's horn and the remains of a golden harp, and strung with a harp string. When they finally found it everyone thought it was awesome.

Kaiyanwang
2009-07-09, 07:51 AM
In my past epic campaing, I introduced a copypasted version of beherits (I guess people can recognize them this way, in the italian version they are Bejelit), the demon-calling eggshaped stones in Berserk.

Their purpose and functioning was similar, the campaign was set around fiends.


In the same campaign, the players had to discover a set of forges and magic stones (coupled, something like 20 couples) linked thematically to the main forces composing the multiverse (fire, water, earth, Negative and positive energy, and so on).

Thei purpose was to produce reagents for epic crafting and spellcasting (fixing equipment and epic spellcasting issues in a row and in game) and, together, craft other artifacts (adding the 5th Netherscroll) and fueling a planar ship as big as the Moon.


In my current campaing, I introduced a quest to rebuild an ancient Sword belonged to the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. A sword capable to dance in the wind, sharp like the blizzard, relentless like the hurricane, and powerful as a tempest.

The fragment gatered from the sword don't fall directly on the ground if left from the hand, but go down like a feather, and sing slightly when you move them quickly in the air. As an homage to a Wow Classic unforgettable artifact, i decided to call it Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker.

(Here, of course, the windseeker would not be an air elemental wielding a sword but an ancient Vaati. Not so dissimilar, anyway.

Indon
2009-07-09, 07:56 AM
I accidentally made one when I was rolling random loot for a high level Lich on a one-shot game. It was a composite longbow, it ended up something like +5 Holy, Unholy, Shock, Corrosive, Screaming, Bane x4. I rolled the first Bane and it was Evil Outsiders, so I just picked Good, Lawful, and Chaotic Outsiders for the other three and named it The Destroyer of Heaven and Hell. It was crafted from a demon's horn and the remains of a golden harp, and strung with a harp string. When they finally found it everyone thought it was awesome.

And honestly, that doesn't seem too game-breaking. After all, you get at least 1 negative level just by wielding the weapon.

Edit: I've only ever created high-power magic items in Exalted, where they tend to fit in a bit better, so, eh.

The Rose Dragon
2009-07-09, 08:02 AM
And honestly, that doesn't seem too game-breaking. After all, you get at least 1 negative level just by wielding the weapon

Unless you're Neutral, which is not that hard to be.

Vorpal word
2009-07-09, 08:27 AM
I've never actually made this, but I will if my players ever get to the appropriate levels. So it's just an idea for now.

The Sunset Flame

This item appears for all purposes to be a simple everburning torch. It is however, a powerful relic of hope and healing, to be used in a time of need.

The Sunset Flame will counter any nonepic despair- or fear-based effect used on the wielder or any ally within 100 feet. It will continue shining through any nonepic darkness-based spell or effect. It can sustain the wielder without food, water, or air indefinitely. Its wielder heals twice the usual amount of hp from resting, and any healing spell cast on or used by the wielder heals double the normal amount of hp.

The Sunset Flame doubles the damage of any damaging Fire or Light spell cast by the wielder, and acts as a fire shield (the wielder can switch from warm to cold shield at will as a free action) when used. It allows the wielder to turn undead as a 20th level Cleric. It can cast searing light or fireball (CL 20th) at will. Three times per day it may use each of the following: flame strike, meteor swarm, delayed blast fireball, fire storm, sunbeam, and sunburst (CL 20th). It also allows the wielder to banish nonepic evil outsiders at will.

The Sunset Flame will not work for an evil wielder. It instantly banishes an evil outsider wielding it, and deals 20d6 damage per round to any other evil wielder. If used by a Good wielder who falls below 0 hp, the Flame acts as though the character had the Diehard feat. The first time on any day that this character would be killed, the Flame allows him to use a wish spell for any purpose, then heals him 1/2 his maximum health if he is still in the negatives. If the wielder is killed again, the Flame stores his soul until necessary, allowing him to be restored without penalty by any spell (even raise dead) after an indefinite amount of time. The wielder's soul only leaves if the Flame is destroyed.

Finally, the Sunset Flame may be used in melee as a +7 flaming holy heavy mace, though for all purposes it still appears to be an everburning torch.


Sorry about the long post, but what do you think: Too powerful, or too weak for a major artifact?

Kaiyanwang
2009-07-09, 08:32 AM
Sorry about the long post, but what do you think: Too powerful, or too weak for a major artifact?

Baatezu, Salamanders, Red Dragons.. no. Powerful but it's an artifact, after all.

Maybe the fireball and the banishment at will, but that' all.

Indon
2009-07-09, 08:35 AM
Unless you're Neutral, which is not that hard to be.

Oh, hey, I thought the negative levels applied to non-good or non-evil, good to know.

mikej
2009-07-09, 08:56 AM
Philosopher's Stone ( not the DMG version )

It's pretty cliche, but I was watching a lot of Full-Metal Alchemist. I can't recall all what it did though. It's creation was similiar to how it was formed in the show.

Anxe
2009-07-09, 10:56 AM
I created an improved version of the Deck of Many Things with more cards that were specific to my campaign. I made a physical deck to give my players out of Magic cards. I glued new illustrations to them. It was pretty cool. My players ended up buying some slaves and dominating them to draw cards and hand the wealth over. I screwed them though. The player, Mage, had been buying two slaves a day from one merchant, always requesting the weakest ones.

The merchant thought something was up, so he hired an assassin to see what the Mage was doing with the slaves. I rolled randomly to see if the assassin which pair of slaves he would pop up in. The Mage was planning on having 25 pairs of slaves draw. The random roll put the assassin as the 49th slave, the 1st one in the last pair. The assassin pretended to be dominated and then drew. He got the wish card and then used it to cast an antimagic field on the Mage. He then proceeded to grapple the Mage and steal everything he had on him. Stole all his wealth.

They did catch up with the assassin later on and get some of the wealth back, but not all of it.

I've only used one other artifact so far. Called it the Chain of Dire Flame. It enhanced all fire effects in the area and gave benefits to giant types. The players had a quest to destroy it which they succeeded at without a hitch.

I've created a couple other artifacts that the BBEG uses. Don't want to detail them though in case my players are reading this. They've been known to do that in the past.

Magicus
2009-07-09, 11:54 AM
The Wheel of Fate
It's an Artifact created by my homebrew god of madness, Cyronis. It's shaped like an enormous, upright wheel with countless symbols on it. If anyone straps himself into it and goes for a spin, random and fun things happen. It basically functions as an extremely upgraded Rod of Wonder - including such things as "Caster gets three draws from the Deck of Many Things", "Caster" is erased from time - only Wish or Miracle can bring him back", or "Target gains the ability to speak Gnomish", and so on. It had a 50/50 chance of affecting the caster or the target, and a 50/50 chance of getting a good or bad result.

The Demon Dust
The result of hundreds of years of study by a Yugoloth in the service of Nerull, this fabulous concoction, when sprinkled liberally with the blood of sacrifices on one specific evening, can be used to open countless gates to the Abyss in a 20-mile radius! The protective magics on the dust will even prevent your summoned allies from leaving the area, and ensure that they all return to their homes when the portals close with the rising sun. A must-have for any would-be conqueror or cultist.

The Rod of Cloudkill
Also an Artifact of Nerull, this rod takes several expensive rituals over a few weeks to set up, and needs to be highly elevated to be effective. Once erected, however, it becomes a key defense for any kingdom; the ability to drop a larger-than-normal Cloudkill spell anywhere within a mile of your keep at will is a defender's greatest dream. One of my players (who had previously declared himself the Dragon King of a city he had won) acquired this item, and used it to make his base of operations almost impenetrable... At least, until he came into conflict with a powerful family of mages, but that's a different story.

PrismaticPIA
2009-07-09, 01:58 PM
Epic Rod of Wonder
Like a Greater Rod of Wonder, but fires three times per activation.

Farslayer

Farslayer howls across the world
For thy heart , for thy heart "Who hast wronged me?"
Vengance is his who casts the blade
Be will in the end no triumph see.

First time I ran a campaign, it was loosely based a trilogy of books about twelve swords made by the gods. My table managed (much to my later dismay) to get their hands on this one. A person wielding Farslayer need only to speak the incantation (written in a dead language on the sword's hilt) and the real name of his/her foe and Farslayer will fly off to kill them....no save, No SR, no defense. The only protection was another one of the twelve swords.

PairO'Dice Lost
2009-07-09, 02:00 PM
The Husk of Infinite Worlds was my latest one. I took the basic description from Magic of Eberron and turned it into a full-fledged item, complete with 1d% random results (good and bad, ranging from the simple "you constantly glow blue, and this light goes through solid objects and basically makes it impossible not to detect you" to horribly transforming you) and 2 1d12 tables of results for if you roll the same ability twice--the first is a really good table to reward you for a double bad trait, and the second is a really bad table with such gems as "the Husk turns inside-out and starts absorbing the Prime into the Far Realm" (which no one got) and "the Husk gains sapience as a psionically powerful, pissed off, Very Chaotic Evil creature" (which, I'm glad to say, they did).

subject42
2009-07-09, 02:14 PM
The last artifact that I introduced was the face of a dead god that was wearable as a mask.

When worn, it granted:

an untyped AC bonus (+3)
damage reduction (2/-)
the equivalent of the die hard feat
immunity to fear and death effects

Also, anyone viewing the wearer who had been below 0 hit points in their life had to make a will save to avoid running away from the wearer in a panic.

The mask did have some downsides, however. When worn, the wearer could not be magically healed. In addition, if the wearer ever dropped to single digit hit-points, he would fly into a rage (as barbarian) until all living things within sight were dead, the wearer was dead, or until the mask was removed.

When attempting to remove the mask, it would fuse with the wearer's skin, causing 1d6 per day worn damage if you were able to do so.



When I introduced it, one of my players immediately put it on. One of the other party members (having been below 0 hitpoints) panicked and ran blindly into a spike trap. The mask wearer jumped down to help him and went into single-digit hitpoints, thus triggering the berserker effect. The rest of the party had to pin him to the ground and pull the mask off.

The only thing that was missing was Yackety Sax.

Lapak
2009-07-09, 04:37 PM
Farslayer
First time I ran a campaign, it was loosely based a trilogy of books about twelve swords made by the gods. My table managed (much to my later dismay) to get their hands on this one. A person wielding Farslayer need only to speak the incantation (written in a dead language on the sword's hilt) and the real name of his/her foe and Farslayer will fly off to kill them....no save, No SR, no defense. The only protection was another one of the twelve swords.
The most profound reason not to use Farslayer, of course, is that the sword ends up embedded in the corpse of the person you name, wherever in the world they are. If one of their friends happens to be closer to the body than you are, you've just handed them a major artifact.

I'm putting together a plot-driving artifact that may end up being introduced in my campaign, for a variety of possible reasons.

The Axis of the World
This six-foot-long staff-spear is crafted of an unknown metal, utterly black and completely non-reflective. One end of the weapon comes to a sharp point, and the other ends is capped with a fist-sized sphere. It is generally regarded as a fearsome artifact of Law, and observers making a DC 20 Knowledge: Religion or Arcana check will identify its basic purpose. Determining how it is triggered requires a check at DC 40.

When wielded as a weapon, the sharp end of the Axis serves as an adamantine axiomatic spear +1; the blunt end can be used as a Rod of Cancellation three times per day.

These features are incidental, however; the true power of the Axis becomes evident if the sharp end of the staff is ever driven at least six inches into the earth such that the staff is standing upright. The Axis immediately reaches out to drain chaos from the world in the form of magical energy, producing a field somewhat similar to that created by Antimagic Field that increases by one foot in radius each round. This field differs from a typical Antimagic Field in several important respects.

Spells contacting the field are not merely suppressed, as is typical, but dispelled. Charged magical items are rendered nonmagical upon contact with the field, and permanent magical items are suppressed for 24 hours. Similarly, creatures with inherent supernatural abilities that attempt to use them while in the field lose the ability for 24 hours following the attempt. If the items or creatures are in the field when the 24 hours expires, they are immediately drained for another 24 hours. Spellcasters with unused or prepared spell slots lose them immediately upon entering the field as if they had been spent, but can recover them normally outside the field.

Once placed, the field continues to expand at one foot per round - about 2.75 miles per day - until one of two things occurs: someone withdraws the Axis from the earth, or the Axis drains a total of 1000 'charges'. (For the purposes of this item, a spell slot is worth charges equal to its level, a magical item worth charges equal to its caster level, and a creature whose supernatural abilities are drained is worth charges equal to its Hit Dice each time this occurs.)

If the staff is withdrawn prematurely, an explosion occurs - treat this as a retributive strike from a staff of power, but with the full charges that have been accumulated by the Axis. The chance for the person who disturbs the staff to be teleported to another plane remains 50%.

If the Axis accumulates the full number of charges, it expends them in order to create a zone of perfect stasis which covers the entire area covered by the field at that moment. A sphere of impenetrable force encompasses the area, and anything within the field at that moment is utterly locked in space and time, forever. No known magic is capable of extracting any object or being from within the stasis field once the effect is triggered, though some theorize that destroying the Axis would unlock the field.

It is unknown whether the Axis is a singular artifact or if each recorded example of its appearance was actually a separate device; the fact that there are existing fields and that the Axis was presumably at the center of each as it was created has caused this to be a matter of some debate among scholars and theologians.

The Axis has no intelligence, no direct mental effect on a wielder, and no particular association with any being or upper plane. It is simply a device, but one of immense power.

[It's got 1001 uses! Trap a BBEG in it if he's too tough or unkillable, use it as a terror weapon by planting it near a city or kingdom and letting the field do its thing, seal away an ancient god of destruction, or just poke people with the sharp end! On the flip side, go on a quest to destroy it to recover some critically important OTHER legendary thing that was trapped in a field before, or go on a quest to stop someone else from destroying it and unlocking something terrible. The number of charges required to trigger the field should be adjusted to be appropriate to the power of a campaign and how common magic is within it. Also good at parties, as people who don't know what it is might accidentally set it going just by leaning on it and it rapidly becomes harder and more dangerous to get at and disrupt it once it gets going.

Alternatively, people who don't realize what it is will see it as a good poking-stick with an antimagic button at the other end, but will come under attack by the forces of law and chaos as soon as rumors start to spread.]

PrismaticPIA
2009-07-09, 06:17 PM
The most profound reason not to use Farslayer, of course, is that the sword ends up embedded in the corpse of the person you name, wherever in the world they are. If one of their friends happens to be closer to the body than you are, you've just handed them a major artifact.

They also found Wound-healer too.

shadzar
2009-07-09, 08:24 PM
Prometheus' Box of Lighting.

This box when the lid is opened reveals a wheel. Rolling the wheel will create a small flame. This flame acts as natural fire. Closing the lid will extinguish the flame.

Charges: Unlimited


Yes. I created an infinite Zippo for D&D. Got tired of players fumbling around trying to make fire. There will ever only be one in a game. It cannot be destroyed or duplicated.

Deastorm
2009-07-09, 08:36 PM
When I introduced it, one of my players immediately put it on. One of the other party members (having been below 0 hitpoints) panicked and ran blindly into a spike trap. The mask wearer jumped down to help him and went into single-digit hitpoints, thus triggering the berserker effect. The rest of the party had to pin him to the ground and pull the mask off.

The only thing that was missing was Yackety Sax.

That's beautiful.

DragonBaneDM
2009-07-09, 09:09 PM
I've got a lot, actually.

The Wings of Io
TerrorEdge-Erek Hus's Adamant Greataxe
Excelsius-The Bastard Sword used by the founder of the Nerath Empire.
The Shroud of the Raven Queen-Orcus and Vecna gank the ho.
The Bloodspear-An ancestral weapon used by a Half Orc NPC.

A lich in my campaign has split personalities. His phylactery acts as such as well, effectively giving it two concordances.

Fishy
2009-07-09, 09:21 PM
They also found Wound-healer too.

Surely you mean the healing shiv? (http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/07/23/episode-580-sea-gods-are-*******/)

herrhauptmann
2009-07-09, 09:27 PM
Not an artifact, but nice nonetheless.
Staff of the truemage: This staff opens up to an extradimensional storage space. Within the space, you can place 2 magic staves, or 6 magic rods, or 12 magic wands.
While the staves, rods and/or wands are within the staff of the truemage, they can be activated as if held in the wielders hand without the need to switch from one to the other. (minor, pretty much duplicates bracelet of wand and wahtnot)
Furthermore, there is a 75% chance that when activated, the staff/rod/wand does not use one of it's charges. Metamagic rods, eternal wands, and other such items with X/day use, have a 75% chance for that activation to not count against a daily use of of the item.


Another:
Written before I really understood the game.
Bring this +5 shield into an area of magical darkness, and it automatically dispels the darkness, and follows it up with a caster level 20 of Daylight. If the caster of darkness was in line of effect, he would be struck with a maximized searinglight spell.

SirKazum
2009-07-09, 09:29 PM
I've created a few artifacts in my day, but one I've been particularly pleased with (and which had a central role in the latest campaign I DM'd... darn, that was too long ago) is actually a minor artifact, which means there are several of them around the world. It's the Amulet of the Phoenix, and it's actually associated with a deity I came up with for my homebrew world, called simply "The Phoenix", the goddess of ressurrection, redemption and second chances.

Basically, the Amulet's main function was that, when its wearer died, he or she would be immediately immolated in a pillar of flame that would cause some fire damage to everyone within 5' of the wearer, and leave behind nothing but a pile of ashes. Then, exactly one year and one day later, the wearer would be True Ressurrected, rising from the ashes (along with all the equipment he or she had at the time of death and which got cremated as well). I also put in a restriction that the amulet had to be continually worn for a year and a day before the immolation/True Res power kicked in. There were also some minor powers to make it feel useful the rest of the time, such as Protection vs. Evil, resistance to fire, and CLW 3/day, and the artifact was Neutral Good.

Kairamek
2009-07-09, 09:30 PM
Regretably I've not had the chance to run or play much, but I do have alot of ideas I like to play with (some will be posted soon). In this vein let me tell you about one of these thought experaments that never finished.

Dragoon Armor. These are sets of 8 seemingly standard magic items which, when equipped together, grant the user the ability to use the matching color's breath weapon three times per day with the range/damage/etc of a half dragon. Each of the ten sets was themed to one of the core classes, wizards and sorcerers sharing Red.

I created a few effects for this plan, such as
Offhand Might: allows the weilder to us his full strength bonus on offhand attacts made with the weapon. When weilded in the main hand this has enchant has no effect. Equivilant to a +2 bonus.


But the thing I'm proudest of is from the Wizard/Sorcerer themed Red Dragon Set. It had a Pearl of Power, the two spell version, and this staff.

"Staff of the Red Dragon
This staff is 4 ½ feet of crimson wood with an empty dragon’s claw at one end. It functions as a +2 quarterstaff. The following spells use one charge:
Light
Magic missile (5 missiles)
Fireball (10d6 dam, DC 13)
Lighting Bolt (10d6, DC 13)
Ice Storm
Hold Portal
Knock

The following require two charges:
Dispel Magic
Globe of Invulnerability
Wall of Fire

When the staff runs out of charges it still functions as a +2 quarterstaff. When the wielder of the staff also holds the Pearl of Power in the Red Dragon Set the claws open expectantly. Placing the Pearl of Power in the dragon’s claw gives the staff extra powers. The Complete Staff of the Red Dragon is able to cast light and detect magic free of charge. When the staff is completely drained of charges it still functions as a +2 quarterstaff and can cast light on itself. Sacrificing the energy of the Pearl of Power can also recharge the staff. Though it is not intelligent, the staff gives its wielder an empathic urge to channel the energy of the pearl into it when the staff falls below 5 charges. Doing so the first time requires a concentration check (DC: 15) after which it can be done as a standard action. When this is done, the pearl of power is drained for the day as if it had been used to recall spells and staff regains 5 charges to a max of 50. The wielder doesn’t know how many charges the staff has, unless it is fully charged and attempts to recharge it are rejected."

Fhaolan
2009-07-10, 01:24 AM
I'm a little reluctant to post this here, as the game with this... object is still technically going on, and it's entirely possible my players are reading this. So I'll be vague.

The players were exploring a *really* ancient tomb, one that has been buried for several turns of the cosmic wheel, from before humans, elves, and their ilk were created by the gods. There were several creatures that had been preserved via a form of suspended animation, and one of the minor encounters was a ghoul-like thing wearing a porcelain mask. Oddly, despite the fact that every creature they ran into down here was reptilian or insectal, this creature was human-like, yet still long undead. They kept the mask as a trophy, and came to the conclusion that this was a previous explorer who was caught by the mistress of the tomb (a powerful naga-like creature that was pretending to be a Goddess for the local lizard-man tribe) and was turned into some unique form of undead.

After a few days, the mask started to whisper to them in their dreams. Slowly, so slowly it integrated itself into their sleeping minds over weeks and weeks. Offering to make these dreams real, if only they would put on the mask. It would show them such wonders, give them such knowledge, grant them such power... Just put on the mask.

The mask changed shape, going blank or taking the shape of something from one of the dreams, depending on the exact temptation being offered. They've discovered that it's not actually porcelain, but some form of opaque crystal. Which worries them because crystal-based magic (psionics) is something from that pre-history age that nobody in the current world really understands, and according to the myths it was this style of magic that caused the gods to wipe out that age and replace it with the human/elf/dwarf/etc. world that currently exists. [Not technically true, but the party doesn't know that.]

They don't know what it is, they don't know what it can really do, but they do know it is intelligent, and it is Evil with a capital E. They've had *conversations* with it, none of which went as well as the party had hoped. They've seen what happens when someone gets close to being tempted by it (the capital city of the country the party started in is missing the quarter where the wizard college was located, due to an explosion; the mask manipulated one party member into starting an orcish slave revolution in another country and *almost* got another party member to put the mask on in order to stop the revolution; and it has been working on the elvish twins for the last little while to do *something* but the party hasn't actually figured that bit out yet.) The worst thing is, the party have convinced themselves (which they're just figuring out might be the *mask* convincing them) that no-one else can be trusted with it, but they have no idea how to destroy it. Everything they've tried hasn't even scratched it, and dumping it somewhere like a volcano or the deepest ocean won't help as it's already proven that it can somehow find a way out of that.

And it's really, really patient. If it can't tempt these people, it will wait until they die of old age and someone else finds it. Eventually, someone living will put it on.

Skorj
2009-07-10, 01:54 AM
I love adding artifacts to games, inventing arbitrarily powerful ones wholecloth. I've even used that as a key element of a fantasy world (lots of artifacts, power shifting between rulers and factions as new ones were discovered). But I've never added an artifact that players would want to use, except perhaps in extreme desparation. Where would the fun in that be?

I believe that artifacts should seem like nukes: very powerful, but you never want to use one, because the side effects (and repercussions if other power reailze you have artifact they might be able to take from you) are just that nasty. And using one that you found without first completely understanding it would be reckless indeed (and the difficulty of research required means at least on powerful group will end up knowning you have it).

Here's one of simple description: an elegantly carved large wooden bowl that at first magical inspection seems to be a weather control device of great power. However, it's purely a weapon of mass destruction, for it will summon a rainstorm of mercury, over an area of a few square miles (which is not something a few cure poison spells are going to fix).

What makes this sort of thing fun (to me) is that, while epic spells may be of similar power to artifacts in some campaigns, powerful artifacts can be taken by force or trickery, and very powerful groups would be motivated to do so. Being an epic spellcaster OTOH tends to reduce the number of people eager to pick a fight with you.

potatocubed
2009-07-10, 05:32 AM
Vengeance Be My Guide

VBMG was a +7 greatsword with the special purpose of enacting oaths of vengeance. It was intelligent, but its only real desire was to take revenge on people.

Against the target of a specially sworn oath of vengeance, VBMG could not be denied. Every attack would hit, regardless of AC, cover or concealment - even hard cover, like solid walls, offered no protection. All forms of DR were meaningless against it.

The catch? After your oath of vengeance was completed, VBMG would vanish - and find its way into the hands of someone who would swear an oath of vengeance against you. Given the lives of most adventurers (and the bloodthirsty vengeance quest you've just finished), that's not a tall order. So if you use the sword, you'd better be prepared to find it coming back at you when you're done.

My players never picked up VBMG, but they did interact with it on several occasions and attempt to find a way to break the cycle.

Farlion
2009-07-10, 05:45 AM
Canned Crushs Club

+4 one handed Club

Lore: Crush was a Barbarian like you find them in the books. Impulsiv, wild, agressiv and always drinking when he wasn't fighting. Mockers say he was never seen without a horn of met in his left hand, which is why Crush never wielded two handed weapons. Crush was known to deliver devestating blows, mostly when he was drunk, although his accuracy was not at all heroic in that state.

Special abilities: Canned Crushs Club appears to be a normal +4 wooden club with some simple carvings, mostly of drinking men and women. If the wielder becomes drunk, Canned Crushs Club unleashes his whole power. All damage done with Canned Crushs Club while drunk is concidered a critical hit and the critical modifier increases to x4. On the other hand, each foe attacked by the drunken wielder is considered to have full cover (50% miss chance). This miss chance can not be bypassed by anything.


Well, as you see, I like to make artifacts which do not only have positive effects, but all comes at some price.

I once made a really neat sword which slowly drained the life out of the wielder, but I don't remember the exact stats and such.

Cheers,
Farlion

Satyr
2009-07-10, 06:25 AM
In most campaigns I run, magical items are usually minor, unique artifacts and not the dull, run of the mill standard fare, so I have quite a few artefacts, which are mostly rather weak. It's just more fun that way.

The Quicksilver Key
Despite the name, the quicksilver key in it standard form is a small marble made out of dull, silver-grey metal. If you know the secret words to avake the key, it takes the form of a cylinder.
If this cylinder is pressed against any lock, it becomes fluid and flows into the lock, slowly filling it out, until it fits into the mechanism. It is then very easy to open the lock, and let the key flow back out of the lock and return in its cylinder form.

The Cat's Brooch
This ornamental brooch shows the hghly stylised sillouette of a cat. It is not made out of expensive materials, but with a high degree of craftsmanship and with an eye for very fine details. When the brooch is worn, no dirt or wetness can touch the wearer. He stays dry in the middle of a rainstorm, he can fall into a bog hole and reappear without a smeer on his face, he doesn't even seem to sweat.

Coradin's Armor
This dull black scale armor was forged for the knight Coradin in times long past. The armor is unusually heavy and completely without of any form of decorations. In combination with its drab colors, the armor is remarkably ugly, but effective.
Coradin's armor is picky who wears it; it is not really sentient, but it feels it environment, and especially the motivations of its wearer. Any wearer who the armor depicts as unworthy (which includes practically everyone who relies on spellcasting), cannot use the special properties of the armor.
Those who are considered worthy by the armor can not only profit from its excellent protection against sword and arrow, bit also against invocation and spell: The wearer gains an Energy resistance against any form of magical damage equal to twice his level and a +4 bonus to all Saving throws against spells or other supernatural powers. The armor is otherwise an adamantine scale armor +4, but if the wearer casts a spell while wearing it, the armor loses all supernatural properties for him for at least 24 hours.

Moonstone amulett
These amuletts were forged in the Amazon kingdom. They are very simple, take the form of a highly detailed female stature, often resembling the moon goddess. As long as the amulett is worn, the wearer can completely control her fertility. The amulet can both make a conception impossible or can guarantee a pregnancy. The amulet also allows the wearer to determine the sex of her child and protects both the child and the mother during the pregnany and the birth. The amulett has no effect at all when worn by a man.

The skull helmet
This large helmet was formed out of the skull of a large monster, but apart from being a really impressive (and scary) helemt, it has the unfortunate affect that the monster's soul is still bound to the bones and slowly affect the wearer. The monster's ghost is not strong enough to fully possess the wearer, but the constant subconscious whispers drive even headstrongand righteous people into the state of callousness the helmet seems to love.
Those who are willingly or unwillingly affected by the skull helmet become callous and filed with a cold bloodlust in a combat. This state grants a +4 bonus to all Will saves, and if the wearer enters a state of rage, he does not lose his ability of clear thought or spellcasting. The complete ambivalence the wearer starts to show is also highly iritating and grants a -2 penalty to all social skill rolls except intimidation.

adanedhel9
2009-07-10, 07:34 AM
I'm currently running a game where a collection of minor artifacts is very important. I know at least one of my players lurks on here, so I can't give away all the details, but:


Unforgettable Amulet: This amulet has one bearer; the only way to stop being the bearer is to die. After the previous bearer dies, the next person to touch the amulet becomes the new bearer. The bearer of the Unforgettable Amulet has perfect recall, and also always knows in which direction the amulet is. However, whenever the bearer does not have the amulet on him, he becomes sick; if he goes long enough without the amulet, he could die.

Pen of Souls: Write down a living person's name using the pen, and that person is teleported to a space about 20 ft. in front of you (but not into an obviously dangerout situation, such as over a cliff's edge). After 30 seconds, the person teleports back to wherever he was previously. Only works once per person.

Nameless Band: Basically a slightly-altered hat of disguise, this headband creates a perfect (though uncontrollable) disguise. Once put on, the wearer cannot take it off until he has had a full night's rest.

Lover's Rings: A pair of rings, each worn by one person. Whatever effects affect one person, whether good, bad, or indifferent, also effect the other person.

Telonius
2009-07-10, 08:13 AM
Reposted from way back...

I had a set of artifacts for a "Demon/Devil invasion" campaign. The Bell, the Book, and the Candle. They were game-breakingly powerful, but they needed to be. The players were going to fight Asmodeus (they'd be about level 25) at the end. The Bell dealt ridiculous sonic damage, and had a continuous Freedom of Movement effect on it. The Book was an intelligent spellbook with every spell in the game written in it, and gave +20 to all Knowledge checks. The Candle had a continuous Zone of Truth and Hallow effect on it. Upon command, it would change into a Vorpal Holy Avenger. They had resonance effects as well. And if all three of them were activated at once, it would automatically destroy (or send back to their native plane) all Evil Outsiders within a 1000-mile radius. (Usable only once).

Sadly, the campaign never got off the gound.

Indon
2009-07-10, 08:52 AM
Farslayer

Farslayer howls across the world
For thy heart , for thy heart "Who hast wronged me?"
Vengance is his who casts the blade
Be will in the end no triumph see.

Actually, reading this reminds me that yes, I have put the Twelve Swords into an AD&D campaign before.

The party had a lot of fun when they stumbled upon the Mindsword.

Master_Rahl22
2009-07-10, 09:05 AM
A friend of mine came up with a really cool campaign world and an artifact to go with it for our first ever game. The Dragonlords had ruled the world thousands of years ago and created all the other races as slaves, but eventually the young races banded together and with the help of what would become this world's gods were able to overthrow them.

In a particular tomb, there was a spear leftover from the Dragonlords' time. It was a +5 Returning spear, and I'm pretty sure it had other enchantments too like flaming, etc. Any non-Dragonlord that wielded it took Constitution damage every day, and would eventually become undead if they held it long enough.

It was also intelligent, and had mental stats so high that it was almost guaranteed to dominate anybody that wasn't lvl20 or higher. Once it dominated a person, it refused to let them put it down, and when they were undead it gave them a special purpose: Kill all living sentient creatures. :)

SirKazum
2009-07-10, 09:35 AM
Ooh! Here's one I came up with, but never got to use in-game: the Zephyr Bow. Basically, it's a magic composite longbow that gives you the ability to see anywhere in the world, even in a different continent or across the planet, as long as you have direct line-of-sight (however, this LOS can be either a straight line or a parabolic line, at the wielder's discretion). You can basically "zoom in" as much as you want, while you're aiming on the bow. Then, when you fire an arrow, it will be carried all the way to where you're aiming, regardless of distance, and without distance penalties to the attack roll. However, the bow doesn't have enhancement bonuses, and this "zooming" / limitless distance power works only with nonmagical arrows. When thinking about it, I nicknamed the bow "Google Kyrdan" (since Kyrdan was the name of the world in my campaign setting).

EDIT: Come to think of it, the thing was actually that I was planning on the PCs gaining special abilities because of some plot stuff, and I was planning for the elf archer to gain the "Google Kyrdan" zooming ability, and sometime later the ability to create the Zephyr Bow, which could be used together with it.

Muz
2009-07-10, 11:36 AM
So every player loves Artifacts, and every DM hates tossing them recklessly into their campaign.

Actually, as a DM I can hardly resist them, but a player of mine absolutely hates them for the havok they cause with their very presence in the campaign (not to mention the problems inherent with the likely need to either destroy said artifact or safeguard it from the legions of Doom(tm) that will surely be coming after it...and the possible character-warping consequences of just carrying the thing). :smallbiggrin:

I've made a few, but my favorite would have to be the (somewhat derivative) Gemstone of Cestus, which was essentially vampire crack that made the one holding it immune to sunlight, greatly enhanced numerous other powers, and (naturally) gradually turned its keeper evil, vampiric or not. It was created long ago by the cult of a vampiric demigod, lost to a silver dragon, then spent a number of centuries kicking around in assorted dragon hordes until it was recovered by a heroic elven bladesinger. Unable to destroy it (there's only a window of opportunity every 6 centuries, and her timing was bad), she sealed it away in a pyramid designed specifically to keep vampires away. Of course, the party was tricked into recovering it, then had to destroy it. :smallbiggrin:

And if you're REALLY curious, below is the Gemstone's entry from our campaign wiki...
Gemstone of Cestus
The Gemstone was an artifact created by a cult of the vampiric demigod Cestus. It was able to greatly empower vampires who held it, amplifying their strengths and blunting their weaknesses.

Description
A golfball-sized ruby, incredibly well-cut and deep crimson in color.

History
Apparently the gem was created a very long time ago, as research was done on it in Itruscan times. This research was able to determine that it was forged in the Circle of Traal during a conjunction of the dark stars Deimos and Phobos, a celestial event occurring only for six months every 650 years. As the final conjunction approached, the location of the gemstone was unknown to the sages of the world.

First, the gem was taken from the cult of Cestus by a silver dragon. This dragon guarded the gem as part of its hoard, keeping it safely away from vampiric reach. This dragon eventually fell to one of its evil chromatic cousins, however, who was in turn slain by Celindra.

Celindra, unable to destroy the artifact due to matters of timing, built a special structure with the help of the gnomes of Great Kesh to protect it from the vampires who sought it. The Pyramid of the Sun was lined with holy symbols intolerable to vampires, warded against teleportation, full of tests of morality and worthiness, and located far off in the middle of a desert where it could not be reasonably reached by foot without enduring a great deal of sunlight. These precautions protected the gemstone from wicked hands for centuries to come as knowledge of it slowly slipped into distant legend.

Until Katrina. At some point, the vampire-magess and general all-around tricksy badass Katrina developed a desire to see a sunset once more, and began research into Apollo and how she might circumvent her vampiric allergy to suntan. This of course led her to the Gemstone of Cestus, and she had time enough to discover where it was kept. For all her power she was unable to overcome the Pyramid's defenses herself, so she concocted an elaborate scheme involving Fiera (who, it seems, is practically the spitting image of dear old Celindra).

Fiera and party were approached by Katrina in the guise of a poor servant girl with a sick mother. The story was that this gem might be able to cure Katrina's mother of her (vampric-seeming) illness, and between desire to do a good deed and desire to get a look at Katrina's demonstrated teleportation spell, Fiera and party were hooked. They were able to penetrate the tests and defenses of the pyramid, but the anti-vampiric nature of the place was enough to give them pause.

The party lingered in the pyramid, asking questions of Minerva and studying the gemstone for any sign that it could do the things that Katrina had said it could. As the gem's many disturbing facets (below) made themselves known, it was realized that no one could particularly remember seeing Katrina in the daytime (which, despite a good cover story on her part, becomes suspicious when dealing with artifacts of this nature).

The gem was ultimately left in the pyramid, but Katrina appeared during the trek back to civilization wanting a status report. After a close encounter with some garlic, Katrina proved a mite too strong for Rhianon, Nakor, and Fiera together, and managed to kidnap Nakor and eventually geas him to bring the gemstone to her. He was then returned to Fiera and Rhianon, but some research revealed a chance at destroying the gemstone, a chance Celindra had never had. It was also determined that the Geas would fail if there no longer was any gemstone to deliver to Katrina, so finally there was a long and harrowing quest with an angry vampiress pitting herself against the party (resting by day, traveling on the back of a dragon by night). Heating the gemstone in a Forge of Vulcan went almost without incident, but many small skirmishes were fought on the way to the Circle of Traal.

At the Circle of Traal there was a large melee between the party, the local covey of hags, the hags' giant and ogre servants, Katrina, Terrek (who started as an ally of the party but spent half the exchange charmed), Haltar, and the gnome known as Kesh. The gem was finally destroyed after displaying one final, unforetold aspect, the One Ring-like "But I'm too pretty to destroy!" effect. Fiera was able to overcome, and the Gemstone of Cestus met its end... poetically, under Nakor's mace.

Powers
As a minor artifact, the Gemstone of Cestus had a great many powers, some of which were discovered by the party:

Most of these powers applied only to vampires. Vampires in posession of the gemstone would be unaffected by garlic, enjoy twice their normal regeneration, enhanced charming abilities, and would resist staking and be able to expel a stake when staked. Any vampire carrying the stone would become resistant to magic, completely immune to sunlight or immersion in running water, and would be able to destroy any offending holy symbols within 20 feet.

Additionally, anyone carrying the gem would become physically stronger, but goodhearted persons would find their luck decreasing, and anyone not already evil would find themselves sliding toward it just from the gem's corruption.

As a final "power," the gem itself was near-indestructible. It would withstand and self-repair any damage done to it unless it was first heated to cracking in a Forge of Vulcan and then shattered only at the Circle of Traal where it was made... and all of this only possible during a conjunction of Deimos and Phobos.

JeenLeen
2009-07-10, 11:57 AM
I found out recently that an NPC (potential enemy or ally) has an Artifact sword. All I know so far about it is that it can penetrate any hardness (it sliced through a wall of hardened paper), is Vorpal, and can penetrate Heavy Fortification and maybe all immunity to crits. Probably +6 or higher.

There's also a set of three sentient weapons which can be corrupted to evil. All have a lot of powers we aren't aware of.
At least one of them grows in power in purifying the energy of evil people it kills and drawing it into themselves. (The people can be revived and are still evil, so it doesn't drain their soul. Might make them lose some levels.) They're more plot than power oriented, though.

Vorpal word
2009-07-10, 12:28 PM
One of my friends is a bit of a pyromaniac, so he made this artifact for one of his early campaigns. Surprisingly, we had to deal with it at around 5th level.

Forget what it was called, but it was basically a magnifying glass. If you brought it to the top of a tall mountain (at least one mile high), and then used the control weather spell to clear all clouds from the sky and make an area of strong sunlight, and then kept it up for three days...everything within several miles of the place would be annihilated by a gigantic fire storm effect (CL at 20).

An evil warrior (I think Fighter5/Blackguard2-3) got his hands on it and hired an evil mage who had some scrolls of control weather. After that it was pretty obvious...since he wasn't actually at the level you'd expect artifact wielders to be we kicked his but, then either shattered or hid the artifact (I forgot).

Of course, he was supposed to come back later, at around level 13. But we never got that far.

Drogorn
2009-07-10, 12:33 PM
I made a staff named Conservator

Conservator absorbs the soul of those the wielder attacks with a coup de gras action, but does not kill them. Instead, it leaves them alive and aware, even though their soul is in the staff.

The wielder can remove any soul from the staff and use it to give themself xp, or use it to power spells. Using a soul in this fashion destroys it and kills the person it is attached to as well.

The staff also allows the wielder to place a given soul into a creature or plant, with the effect of an Awaken spell(if the creature is not already sapient). If this ability is used to place the soul in an existing sapient creature, it swaps that soul with the new soul.

Additionally, the wielder can ask any question of the souls in the staff and get a truthful answer.

Wizzardman
2009-07-10, 12:48 PM
I've only ever actually added artifacts into one game that I've run; most of the time, the plots I set up rarely involve artifacts, or other inherently overpowered items that might stumble into the PCs possession. The only time I did add artifacts into a game, the artifacts were part of a set (a modified version of the Regalia of Evil, allowing those with control over the whole set to eventually reshape the world in whatever way they wished), and finding the artifacts before their competition could was the whole point of the game.

Said artifacts consisted of:

Fractal Edge, The Sword of Chaos
An aptly named semi-intelligent sword with a tendency towards odd or irrational behavior. While the sword could not communicate its intentions in words, it could "suggest" certain emotions or thought patterns to its wielder and those around him/her. While normally appearing in the form of a longsword, with oddly jagged edges, the sword could (and frequently did) change shape, color, or style, either to blend in with its environment, or just because it could. When last the PCs went after it, it was embedded inside the stomach of the Tarrasque.

The sword functioned as a fairly normal +3 Axiomatic Flaming/Acidic/Shocking/Frost Longsword, with the exception that, on critical hits, the sword would enact a random effect (from a really long table I drew up). This effects ranged from "change target to a creature" (animal to Tarrasque) to "change wielder to creature" (animal to Tarrasque) to slightly more Rod-of-Wonder-esque notions, such as "bag of gold appears in target's stomach" or "wielder and target are now green." The last quarter or so of the 100-place random table consisted of world modifying effects, such as "laser beam hits planet at wielder's position, vaporizing wielder and causing X damage to planet" or "game type changes to Call of Cthulhu." No effect could be used twice; as such, once an effect was used, it was automatically replaced with something similar.

The Rod of Vecna
A tiny, needle-like rod commonly left in the wielder's arm, leg, or forehead. Like its counterparts, the rod could not directly communicate with its wielder, but it could provide some suggestions, or enhance/assist its wielder's activities, depending on its preference, and how close its wielder was to Neutral Evil. The rod enhanced spellcasting, and was inscribed with a small portion of Vecna's personal spellbook. Additionally, it caused its wielder's flesh to rot off, transforming him/her into a lich over the course of a few months (provided the wielder wasn't undead already, of course). Finally, it certain situations, it could temporarily provide the wielder with an epic magic effect--in game, this consisted of a superior form of invisibility, allowing the PCs the chance to sneak undetected into a angel-defended fortress on the edge of the top layer of the Nine Hells (where the Blood War was being fought). ...The fact that the PCs then used this invisibility to knock out a Solar in one sneak-attack filled round, beat a few other angels to death, utterly destroy an Angelic siege weapon, allow a horde of devils entrance into the fortress, and then promptly sell the bound and beaten Solar to a halfling alchemist waiting for them on the Prime Material plane (after turning a first level Paladin with more bravado than brains into a blind squirrel)... well, this fit the Rod's preferences quite nicely.

The Crown of Dominion
The Lawful Evil artifact of the set. Like its brothers, it could not communicate directly with its wielder; as a matter of fact, it didn't really do much communicating to speak of, and never directly influenced its wielder. Unfortunately, I don't remember its abilities, as they only got the item in the last session of the game, and I don't remember where I put my notes on it; however, I do remember that it was also serving as the phylactery for a Shadow Dragon dracolich, who happily lent it to the PCs in exchange for some measure of control over the changes they would make. Which, of course, she had; it was her phylactery, after all.

Fiery Justice
2009-07-10, 01:30 PM
Of my artifacts, the best one was probably this one:
Laughter (or Dwarven Equivalent thereof)
+1 Merciful Light Hammer, Intelligent (Alignment: LG, INT 16, WIS 18, CHA 18), Ego 15, Various Special Abilities Related To Its Dedicated Purpose
Laughter was crafted for the first dwarf children by Moradin and his wife as a gift. It is one of the oldest magical items in existence and has the wisdom that comes from thousands of years of experience. Moradin created Laughter as a guide and protector to his children when they were quite young and its personality is permanently child-like, filled with wonder, curiosity and joy. By and large its existence has been one of exploration or guidance and it is not often wielded as a weapon because of its reluctance to kill. It is capable of using Heal 3/day when it is drawn and, once a month, it can use True Resurrection on a dwarf.

However, whenever children (dwarf or otherwise) or dwarven homes are endangered, Laughter's special purpose comes into play and it becomes the image of Moradin's Wrath. It becomes a +5 Dancing Holy Warhammer and its personality becomes somber and distant, in this form it can use . It will fight until the threat is removed and then revert to its ordinary form. Laughter does not enjoy the transformation, which is part of its design (so the children wouldn't be running into danger).

Laughter prefers young, dwarf wielders but it will allow anyone to use it (even orcs or goblinoids, though that hasn't always been the case) if they are of just character (Lawful Good) and friendly to dwarves.
Not the most powerful artifact ever, I know, but one of which I am fond.

Thajocoth
2009-07-10, 02:09 PM
Mulvera Stone.

It speeds up ritual casting once per encounter. The holder of it has the stone begin casting a ritual using their stats as a minor (or free with quick draw). They can spend a move action to advance the stone one minute. An adjacent ally can spend a standard action to advance the stone one minute. The one who begins the casting doesn't need to continue to hold the stone. Anyone holding the stone can end the casting prematurely with a standard action. The initial caster must know the ritual, but they do not need to be a ritual caster. The stone will take the full casting time to cast if no one stops it or advances the stone, even if the initial caster falls unconscious.

Of course, that's all at the highest concordance... It's otherwise once per day... And where the party is right now, they don't even have the daily power. (The carrier understands Deep Speech and has a -2 to Will until the stone likes him better.) As the stone gains concordance, Deep Speech will change to Elven and the -2 penalty will vanish, as the power appears.

In another campaign, I have the stone locked at it's highest concordance, but with extras removed. So it's got only the encounter power. The soul of Mulvera left the stone at this point, so it just has some residual power from him.

PairO'Dice Lost
2009-07-10, 02:10 PM
Forget what it was called, but it was basically a magnifying glass. If you brought it to the top of a tall mountain (at least one mile high), and then used the control weather spell to clear all clouds from the sky and make an area of strong sunlight, and then kept it up for three days...everything within several miles of the place would be annihilated by a gigantic fire storm effect (CL at 20).

There's an artifact almost exactly identical to this in the DMG2, even causing the CL 20 fire storm; I forget its name, but the picture looks like Sauron's eye from the LotR movies.

Gnomo
2009-07-10, 02:39 PM
The first part was an ivory case called the Arc of Whispers. At first it affected anyone sleeping 30 ft near it with a nightmare spell. But through a quest, the PCs were able to purify it and then every morning they rolled 1d4, gaining bonuses based on the roll. Fluffwise, they dreamed of the ways to get the bonus.
Great idea for a short campaign! Everyone who sleeps near the Arc are trapped in the same hellish dream and have to find and face "The Nightmare" (BBEG Nightmare or Cauchemar with Monk levels) itself into the oniric realm to purify it.

Skorj
2009-07-10, 04:10 PM
Canned Crushs Club

...

Special abilities: Canned Crushs Club appears to be a normal +4 wooden club with some simple carvings, mostly of drinking men and women. If the wielder becomes drunk, Canned Crushs Club unleashes his whole power. All damage done with Canned Crushs Club while drunk is concidered a critical hit and the critical modifier increases to x4. On the other hand, each foe attacked by the drunken wielder is considered to have full cover (50% miss chance). This miss chance can not be bypassed by anything.


I love this one. But then, my gaming group has an occasional tradition of characters that fight drunk whenever possible. Always good for a laugh.


Great idea for a short campaign! Everyone who sleeps near the Arc are trapped in the same hellish dream and have to find and face "The Nightmare" (BBEG Nightmare or Cauchemar with Monk levels) itself into the oniric realm to purify it.

That's a really good adventure idea. Start with a village the party has a reason to care about already trapped, of course. I've tried "dream adventures" before, but it's hard to make the players care about such, as they so easily seem like some stupid diversion the DM sprung on them out of nowhere. This gives the players the ability to treat the sleeping village as a mystery to be solved, and the dream adventure as something they choose to undertake.

Obrysii
2009-07-10, 08:51 PM
Rage of Gigoth: This crystalline sphere was created when Gigoth, an Advanced Great Black Wyrm, wished to ascend to the afterlife in goodness. The only way for him to achieve this goal was to shed all of his rage, and when he did, it materialized as a small dragon’s eye-shaped orb, about the size of a human fist.

When just held, the Rage feels cold, and the pupil of the dragon’s eye remains wide, allowing the holder a continual effect of True Seeing except for when the Rage of Gigoth’s eye focuses on its other powers. It has two other powers.

The first power can only be harnessed if the holder has the Rage special ability. Twice per day, when the holder is thrown into their rage, it is augmented by a bonus +10 strength, +6 constitution, and their rage can be maintained for twice the normal amount. The orb’s eye narrows, but not completely.

The other power is far more awe-inspiring and useable by anyone. When the Rage of Gigoth is held out, and the holder commands it, its pupil closes tightly as it focuses on its internal energies. Out of a red aura that billows forth around the orb (which does not any effect on sight, it is merely a cosmetic appearance) flows a “shadow” Great Black Wyrm. It attacks one opponent that the holder has designated, going on an initiative set one below the user. It flows to the enemy, inciting no attack of opportunity, and deals a full attack action as if it were a Gargantuan dragon with a strength of 40 and a base attack bonus of +37 (thus its attack actions are: One bite +37 (4d6+15 damage); Four claws +32 (2d8+7 damage); Two wings +32 (2d6+7 damage); One tail slap +32 (2d8+22 damage)).

This dragon cannot be harmed in any way, and once it has dealt it’s attack, it disappears. This power can be used once per day, and requires a full round action to use. Afterward, the wielder is exhausted from the effort. While this is the only orb that Gigoth created, legends tell of other dragons doing the same, producing similar items . . .

Major Artifact; 5 pounds.

The Ring of the Desert: One of the legendary rings forged out of the desert sands, this ring allows the wearer to ignore the effects of prolonged exposure to hot environments as well as several other effects.

The wearer gains SR 15, an enhancement bonus of +2 to both constitution and wisdom, and the ability to cast three times per day the Heatstroke spell, twice per day the Sandform spell, and once per day the Blood Sirocco spell. The caster level for these spells is CL 15.

In addition to these effects, the wearer may, once per week, create a barrier around himself and those allies within 10ft of him. This barrier absorbs the first 10 points of damage from any energy attack (fire, cold, acid, electricity, or sonic) and grants the wearer while the barrier is up damage reduction 10/magic. The barrier lasts for 10 rounds before dissipating and requires a move-equivalent action to activate. Any allies who leave the 10ft area around the wearer looses the effects of the barrier.

Minor Artifact.

PrismaticPIA
2009-07-10, 09:59 PM
Actually, reading this reminds me that yes, I have put the Twelve Swords into an AD&D campaign before.

The party had a lot of fun when they stumbled upon the Mindsword.

Yea, mine too. "Oh it's a god? ::flashes Mindsword:: Hey, can I take you portfolios?"

The campaign ended when the party tried to figure out what power Soulcutter had.....

Zanatos777
2009-07-10, 10:56 PM
I had several appear in my last campaign.

The first one to appear actually was made up on the spot but had far reaching implications (which worked out very well). It was the "Light of Apollo". A magical orb of light which healed any injury/ailment. No person could die within its light. They took it to the temple of Apollo but returned there for some things (it would be too long to explain).

The second was a magic sword named Salathor. Salathor was actually an ancient red dragon trapped as a sword. He could only be freed from his prison by redeeming himself for creating the third artifact, the Soul Gem. Salathor was briefly in the possession of the players until they returned it to Crimson the NPC sorcereress who he had pledged loyalty too. Another long story.

Finally the Soul Gem, a deadly black crystal whose purpose was to ascend Salathor to godhood. The problem was he needed millions of souls to be collected within the crystal. If handled in its incomplete form it tried to draw out the holder's soul. The BBEG gained it and used its power to ascend. After his defeat there was an argument over who should rule the world as a god between the party and Crimson. It was cleared up by another sorcereress taking the gem and making herself a goddess. The world's reaction to these events is actually the subject of my next campaign.

TheCountAlucard
2009-07-11, 05:11 AM
I found out recently that an NPC (potential enemy or ally) has an Artifact sword. All I know so far about it is that it can penetrate any hardness (it sliced through a wall of hardened paper), is Vorpal, and can penetrate Heavy Fortification and maybe all immunity to crits. Probably +6 or higher.Sounds like the Angelwing Razor from BoVD, which is actually something I intend on using in a future game.

Zaggab
2009-07-11, 07:58 AM
The first arc of my current campaign was about retrieving the Cauldron of Legions. It's a large (about 5 ft across), black cauldron covered with mystical runes. It is one of a set of 5, all which had been thought lost until the party's employer found a lead to its location. According to the legends, they were crafted by an ancient god-king to ensure his armies would never lack food.

Its "basic" power, and the only one generally known, is to fill up with stew that seemingly never runs out, enough to feed about 100 000 men each day. Each of the cauldrons also had an additional power. However, the direction of the campaign changed before I decided which power this particular cauldron would have. Probably summon a huge locust swarm that consumed all foodstuffs within a radius of 200 km, or the power to spew forth and control stormclouds over a similar area.

Another artifact that currently plays a major role in the story is the Gauntlet of Embers, a powerful artifact that once it is attuned to gives the wearer immunity to fire, the ability to control all creatures with the fire subtype, no save, and the ability to make volcanoes erupt, among other things.

The party was dispatched to recover that artifact as well, but a powerful fire demon (custom cosmology) got hold of it first and subverted it's power to open a rift to hell, from which he called his allies from the Faction of Ruin (demons whose goal is to recreate the world. First step: Eradicate everything). Oops.

At the moment, the current MacGuffin of the campaign is the sword the Final Flame, a sword that normally acts like a +1 flaming burst longsword. It also grants immunity to fire, and has the power to extinguish all fires, and more relevant, to instantly kill every fire creature it touches. Like a certain demon overlord. The downside? The wielder suffers constitution damage equal to the hit dice of the creature destroyed, and once someone uses it against a fire creature, it can only be separated from the wielder upon his death.

To fully defeat the demons, they also have to find the Eternal Torment and the Tounge of the Winter of Endings, two blades with similar powers to the first blade, but against demons of suffering, and demons of ice, respectively.

RandomNPC
2009-07-11, 09:22 AM
remember the stones from Final fantasy tactics? (re-released on PSP as FFT:war of the lions)

theres thirteen in my game, one for each elemental plane, including positive and negative, (thats 6) and seven for creature types.

Each stone has some basic powers, other powers, and a transformation.

using other powers and transformations causes the stone to "sleep" for a year and a day, the basic powers can't be turned off, even when the stone is otherwise inactive.

heres the ones i've got outlined so far:

Humanoid/monsterous humaniod
Minor power: If holder is humanoid then when a monsterous humanoid sees them they see another member of their race. Thus all the dread pirates minotaur allies think he is the minotaur dread pirate Valentine. Centaurs see a centaur, and so on. the minotaurs can't stop metioning how little a minotaur he is and the player can't figure it out.
Major power: Nothing but the transformation to a minotaur. racial stats from the MM apply, size bonus and everything, plus they fly into a barbarians rage. This power activates on death and restores the holder 50 HP plus con bonus X 5. (as if the holder gained 5d10 hd and rolled max)

Construct:
Minor: appears as construct to constructs as monsterous above.
Major: cast nothing but repair spells as a 6th~7th level caster, if more than five spells are cast a day the stone falls into sleep.
Transform: A swarm of 50 tiny mecanical spiders that split into five groups and flee. the characters current HP is divided equally, if the character has less than 50 hp they get a spider per hp. when they reform any missing spiders mean lost hp equal to number missing X hp divinded per spider. (2 hp for a 100 hp swarm for example)

Fire:
Minor: instead of taking heat damage the holder is healed 1/3 what they would have taken. Also fears water. as in it will force a will save to take over and flee. this is fun when an unconcious holder is taken on a boat then the stone is taken from them. (the dread pirate almost clawed his way up the mast to the crows nest where the stone planned to curl up in the fetal position and scream for dryness.)
Major: casting fire spells as the construct stone casts repair spells.
Transform: Fire elemental form appropreate for character HP. when the form turns off there's a 25% chance the stone goes to sleep, still healing fire dammage, but leaving the characters flammable possessions on fire.

Positive:
Minor: +1 CL for good aligned cleric caster. (spells per day, saves, CL checks, everything) or cast as 1st level good cleric.
Major: Resurection spell, not true res.
Transform: basically a will-o-the-wisp that shoots healing beams (10 per transformation) 3d8+10hp or dammage to undead.

i think thats it. more later if i remember.