Brainstorming abilities for an artifact [3.5]

[true_shinken]

My players will soon find an artifact. Armor crafted by a dread god from the remains of a fiendish dragon. This will be dragoncrafted (black) hide armor +6. I want extra effects, but I'm really drawing a blank here. The item is supposed to be used by the party's Rogue/Invisible Blade (dragoncrafted armor counts as light) and it was crafted by Tharizdun (Domains: Chaos, Destruction, Dream, Evil, Force, Knowledge, Madness, Rune).

[Waker]

There are any number of effects that one could throw on armor, but since you associated it with Tharizdun and the crafted remains of a Fiendish Black Dragon, that does help narrow it down a tad.
Well, given that Tharizdun is the God ultimately destined to destroy reality at the end of time, you could give the armor a few destructive or prophetic powers. Let it generate a shard of entropy (Entropomancer) 1/day or disintegrate or Mordenkanen's Disjuction or something of that nature. Your mad certainly could allow you to glimpse between the folds of the world and see the future, granting you Foresight 1/day. Like the chained god, you cannot be held against your will, granting you immunity to compulsion effects and giving you Freedom of Movement. The Elemental Princes of Evil owe their fealty to your master, giving this armor access to several elemental spells (fireball, melf's acid arrow, blah blah.)

[true_shinken]

I'm thinking about making the armor intelligent. I also want to give it 3/day teleport. Other than that... I really dunno. disintegrate is a good suggestion, though.
I think all make the use of any of the armor's abilities give the user 1 point of taint.

[Waker]

If you are running taint in your game, it would stand to reason that using the armor would result in that. Have you given much thought as to the purpose of the armor in the campaign? Will the armor attempt to guide the player on a path to aid a cult of Tharizdun or some other powerful agent? Will the player be corrupted into a champion of the god?

[true_shinken]

If you are running taint in your game, it would stand to reason that using the armor would result in that. Have you given much thought as to the purpose of the armor in the campaign? Will the armor attempt to guide the player on a path to aid a cult of Tharizdun or some other powerful agent? Will the player be corrupted into a champion of the god?

Yes, Tharizdun wants the player to become his champion. He also wants the player to kill the BBEG, because said BBEG wants to destroy the world, but only Tharizdun is allowed to destroy the world.
The teleport bit is because the character in question is very far from his hometown and just learned all of his family will be executed.

[Waker]

So the player is meant to become a champion eh? Well, I would think teleport would work (fluff it to make it sound like he's ripping through reality) and disintegrate obviously works just fine. Bear in mind though that this is an artifact, you can give it powers that you wouldn't put in a normal magical item. Give him a touch similar to Rusting Grasp, but it can work on any solid object and call it Decaying Touch. An entropic god hates the attempts to heal or reinforce, so let him prevent restorative magic or let him ignore hardness/DR. Of course if you think some of these powers are too much, follow the path of legacy weapons and make it so some abilities only come into play as the character levels up.

[true_shinken]

So the player is meant to become a champion eh? Well, I would think teleport would work (fluff it to make it sound like he's ripping through reality) and disintegrate obviously works just fine. Bear in mind though that this is an artifact, you can give it powers that you wouldn't put in a normal magical item. Give him a touch similar to Rusting Grasp, but it can work on any solid object and call it Decaying Touch. An entropic god hates the attempts to heal or reinforce, so let him prevent restorative magic or let him ignore hardness/DR. Of course if you think some of these powers are too much, follow the path of legacy weapons and make it so some abilities only come into play as the character levels up.

The campaign will be ending in a few sessions (six or something), so a legacy item wouldn't work, probably. I like the 'wounds can't heal' thing. Maybe a debuffing aura as well.

[icefractal]

Since he's a Rogue, maybe leverage the "Dream" part of the portfolio as some kind of "Nightmare Form" ability. For instance, when in Nightmare Form, he's so hideous to look at that it works like a gaze attack - anybody looking at him becomes Shaken / Frightened / Panicked on subsequent rounds. Of course, they can close their eyes or look away, but then they're flat-footed - perfect for sneak attacking.

Maybe let people who've experienced it before have some resistance to it, so he doesn't zap the rest of the party. Or not - it is an evil artifact, after all.

[true_shinken]

Since he's a Rogue, maybe leverage the "Dream" part of the portfolio as some kind of "Nightmare Form" ability. For instance, when in Nightmare Form, he's so hideous to look at that it works like a gaze attack - anybody looking at him becomes Shaken / Frightened / Panicked on subsequent rounds. Of course, they can close their eyes or look away, but then they're flat-footed - perfect for sneak attacking.

Maybe let people who've experienced it before have some resistance to it, so he doesn't zap the rest of the party. Or not - it is an evil artifact, after all.

Hm, I wanted a debuffing ability. "Nightmare aura", how does it sound? Just being near enough makes you shiver in fear as your worst nightmares come to mind.

[Thespianus]

Hm, I wanted a debuffing ability. "Nightmare aura", how does it sound? Just being near enough makes you shiver in fear as your worst nightmares come to mind.

Combine it with a sleep effect? Not sure how to work it, but if you fail a save, you fall asleep, otherwise you're just terrified?

Make it a 3/day effect? If the Rogue in question is the sneaky kind, it would be kind of neat to give him the ability to make opponents fall asleep so he could waltz by them if he wanted.

And/Or use the black armor to give a Hide in Plain Sight-effect. He'll thank you later. ;)

I'm not really sure how much effect you can reasonably get from a +6 piece of armor.

Or, make the item a pseudo-caster. As an artifact, you can stuff it with fun stuff, giving the Rogue a ton of abilities. Make the intelligent armor a level 6 Beguiler, arguing with the Rogue. ;)

[true_shinken]

Combine it with a sleep effect? Not sure how to work it, but if you fail a save, you fall asleep, otherwise you're just terrified?

Make it a 3/day effect? If the Rogue in question is the sneaky kind, it would be kind of neat to give him the ability to make opponents fall asleep so he could waltz by them if he wanted.
Deep slumber, 3/day.


And/Or use the black armor to give a Hide in Plain Sight-effect. He'll thank you later. ;)
I like this as well.


I'm not really sure how much effect you can reasonably get from a +6 piece of armor.
It's just +6 enhancement bonus, I'm not counting the extras yet.


Or, make the item a pseudo-caster. As an artifact, you can stuff it with fun stuff, giving the Rogue a ton of abilities. Make the intelligent armor a level 6 Beguiler, arguing with the Rogue. ;)
Awesome, but I'm afraid it might take too much spotlight with the discussions. The Rogue is alreayd getting a very special snowflake, I don't want everyone else to be jealous.

[Thespianus]

It's just +6 enhancement bonus, I'm not counting the extras yet.
My level 9 Unseen Seer with a +1 Mithril Chain Shirt says "JUST?!"?? ;)


Awesome, but I'm afraid it might take too much spotlight with the discussions. The Rogue is alreayd getting a very special snowflake, I don't want everyone else to be jealous.
Ok, skip the yapping and give the suit of armor some Beguiler spellcasting, but include some kind of conflict between the Rogue and the armor, otherwise you're just giving the Rogue a ton of spells per day... ;)

[true_shinken]

Ok, skip the yapping and give the suit of armor some Beguiler spellcasting, but include some kind of conflict between the Rogue and the armor, otherwise you're just giving the Rogue a ton of spells per day... ;)
Everytime he uses the armor's abilities, he'll get more and more taint.

[Thespianus]

Everytime he uses the armor's abilities, he'll get more and more taint.

Hmmm... You don't want to make the item unusable, but..find a way to remove the accumulated taint after some days without using the armor's powers, and I think it would be awesome.

[true_shinken]

Hmmm... You don't want to make the item unusable, but..find a way to remove the accumulated taint after some days without using the armor's powers, and I think it would be awesome.
Actually, Tharizdun's goal is to make him completely tainted. But he could research for ways to get rid of taint on his own, I believe.

[Thespianus]

Actually, Tharizdun's goal is to make him completely tainted. But he could research for ways to get rid of taint on his own, I believe.
Yeah, it tends to make for a good sub-plot, at least. Tharizdun helped him to gain the powers, now why does he resist Tharizdun? Conflict within conflicts are fun, especially if they involve gods.

If he just caves in and becomes a powerful puppet for Tharizdun, well..where's the fun? :smallbiggrin:

[Jair Barik]

Seeing as its fiendish dragon armour perhaps give it the abilty to grow wings or some such in the manner that half fiends/half dragons can. Being able to fly is a major benefit for a character, especially a non caster (plus it would look cool)