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DontEatRawHagis
2011-05-21, 03:38 PM
Recently I have been on the NanoWriMo boards and noticed that they have an adoption section. Also recently I got back into Paranoia, which has a laundry list a mile long of devices to keep players busy, amused, or annoyed.

So this thread is a place where you can post your own devices and take ideas of other users. Not necessarily tied to a specific game.

Rules:
If your taking someone else's idea quote their post and say thank them for putting it up and allowing you to use it. This is not necessary but will probably boost the creator's self-esteem.


Leaving:

Answer Orb(Magic 8 Ball) - A device that only answers yes or no questions. I used this to great effect in the Paranoia one-shot I did. Simply used a Magic 8 Ball response chart found on wikipedia and rolled a d20 for the result.

Deity Slayer's Sword - A sword that can only damage Gods and Goddesses. I was going to use this in my Dark Sun Campaign as one of the first metal weapons they find, since there are no Gods on Athas this weapon would be virtually useless.

Torch/Light - Looks like a wand/device designed to emit light. In actuality it sends out a stream of fire.

Detection Sensor - A stone/device that glows when something comes near. Think of it like Sting, but will turn activate if anything gets close. So your friend is getting back from hunting, stone is activated. A horde of Orcs coming down the hill, activated. Sensitivity is based on cost; the higher the cost the less sensitive it is, ie. a cheap one will detect ants because its not calibrated properly.

Rainbow Wand - Used in a 3.5 campaign I played, changes the color of objects. If Crit fail turns the object multicolored(like a rainbow or tie dye).

Please leave more devices/artifacts. Thank You.

Solaris
2011-05-23, 10:55 AM
Answer Orb(Magic 8 Ball) - A device that only answers yes or no questions. I used this to great effect in the Paranoia one-shot I did. Simply used a Magic 8 Ball response chart found on wikipedia and rolled a d20 for the result.

The Magic 8-Balls I've seen use d12s. Just sayin'.

Here's a couple I've made:


Meerion's Blade (Major Artifact): This powerful magic item is an ornately-wrought golden sword hilt. The grip is some strange black scaly leather, the pommel shaped like a draconic claw grasping a ring. Several thin mithril chains depend from this ring, their links so fine that the chains almost appear to be ribbons. They have draconic runes etched on them describing the weapon's activation and powers. Anyone with the Iron Will feat can activate the weapon as a move action, generating an effect roughly similar to the flame blade spell. It creates a 3-foot-long, blazing beam of white-hot fire. The wielder can use the weapon as though it were a longsword, though monks treat it as though it were a monk's special weapon and can use it for their flurry of blows and other such class features. A proficient wielder can deliver touch attacks with the Blade, such as Quivering Palm, the paladin's lay on hands ability, and touch spells. Attacks with Meerion's Blade are melee touch attacks. It deals 1d8 fire damage on a successful hit with a critical threat range of 19-20 and dealing double damage on a critical hit. The wielder can add his Wisdom modifier as a bonus to the damage, but not his Strength - the blade is immaterial, making forceful attacks similarly immaterial. Meerion's Blade has a +3 enhancement bonus to attacks and damage. It ignores damage reduction, but fire resistance will reduce its damage dealt accordingly.
Meerion's Blade can ignite combustible materials such as parchment, straw, dry sticks, and cloth. Meerion's Blade does not function underwater.
What's more is this weapon is an intelligent magical item. Admittedly barely sapient, it can only communicate through empathy. It transmits urges and sometimes emotions that encourage or discourage courses of action depending upon whether or not the actions would cause harm or chaos. It serves the cause of honor and justice, and most of its powers make it exceedingly useful for its preferred users, good monks and paladins of honor. The weapon's most famous wielder was Sir Draco Meerion, a powerful paladin-monk in service of Pelor. Legend has it that there were once many blades such as this, though they have all been lost to time.
Meerion's Blade: +3 flame blade; AL LG; Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 10; Empathy, 30 ft. vision and hearing; Ego score 7.
Lesser Power: Faerie fire 3/day.


Great Library of Loac
Major Artifact
This massive, sprawling campus of dozens of buildings houses the largest library in existence. A powerful magic binds the buildings, assisting anyone undertaking a research project with the head librarian's blessing. The Great Library's head librarian is, of course, none other than the Archivist herself. The library's books are always in perfect condition, even those that date back thousands of years. Anyone within the Great Library can read anything within it - to include minds. Even those normally illiterate can read the texts inside the Great Library. To help facilitate research and discussion, spoken languages are also translated by the very air of the Great Library itself. Spectral clerks and apprentice wizards alike work in the Great Library, and the campus is so huge that many visitors never encounter anyone beyond one or two mildly-annoyed specters who begrudgingly assist them.
Everyone inside the Great Library of Loac receives telepathy with a range of 100 feet are under the effects a comprehend languages spell so long as they remain inside. As Loac has little interest in putting magic in the hands of those who haven't worked for it, it doesn't put a read magic effect on them. Each day someone spends researching in the Great Library after receiving permission from Loac, they get a cumulative +5 competence bonus to any Knowledge checks made that day. No Knowledge check DC is higher than 20, and almost any fact ever known can be found in the Great Library's tomes.


Orb of Selyune
Major Artifact
This sphere, about sixteen inches in diameter, is a flawless transparent crystal ball. Inside swirls clouds and blue sky, with a tiny glowing sun in the center of it. The Orb is set in a wrought-silver pedestal three feet tall and a foot across at the base that incorporates six small waterfalls cascading down the sides of it. These waterfalls continue to fall down to their receptacles in defiance of gravity even if the pedestal is knocked over. The level of craftsmanship is exquisite, and the jewels alone set in the pedestal make it worth at least ten thousand gold while the whole could be worth in excess of five hundred thousand on craftsmanship alone. No known power can separate the two components.
The Orb of Selune holds great power over the weather. The weather within fifty miles of its position is the mildest seasonally and regionally possible, and if the Orb is ever in the same location for a year and a day it transforms the weather into a perpetual springtime, temperatures ranging between sixty and seventy-five degrees and weather never worse than a gentle rainshower. This never has an adverse affect on the local ecosystem; plants will run through their yearly cycle of bloom, grow, wither, then die, and animals will always breed at the appropriate time. Plants within this range act as though under the effects of the enrichment mode of the plant growth spell. In addition, someone standing next to the Orb who has placed his hands on its surface can cast control weather and call lightning at will and storm of vengeance 1/hour, able to cast the spells on any location within the Orb's 50-mile area of effect. The caster level is 20, and the save DCs are Wisdom-based. Activating these spell-like abilities requires gaining control over the Orb, a task requiring four uninterrupted hours with the Orb and a DC 30 Will save.
The Orb currently resides in the Silver Palace and is responsible for that kingdom's idyllic weather. By tradition of the Silver Kingdom the Princess of cannot assume her throne until she has demonstrated mastery over the Orb, leading to the throne being empty for the past eighty-four years.


Font of Alchemy
Major Artifact
A Font of Alchemy is a stone pool about four feet across and two feet deep with a collection of brass pipes that pour out into numerous faucets rising up in the center. It has a complex control panel of brass and crystal, one that takes a DC 20 Use Magic Device check to operate each time a user wishes to activate it unless the user has cast legend lore on the font and an Intelligence score of 21 or greater... or discovers the compartment hidden beneath the panel (DC 10 Search check) that holds the instruction manual (written in Draconic). The control panel allows the user to manipulate the flow of reagents and eldritch energies flowing into the pool. With an Alchemy check, the user can create any kind of potion, oil, poison, or alchemical compound. Unlike normal potions, the Font of Alchemy's potions and oils can be of any spell up to 9th level and have a caster level of 20. If the spell is normally one that cannot be a potion (such as a spell that targets an enemy), the drinker instead gains it as a spell-like ability usable once, expiring within 1 hour if not used. The Font does negate experience point costs, but by increasing the Alchemy check by +1 per 100 XP a user can reduce them or even eliminate experience point costs entirely. Creating something with the Font, no matter how potent, only takes 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the Font can only work for eight out of twenty-four hours before its reserves are depleted and it needs to 'rest'.
In addition, the Font can be used to create special 'additives' to alter a potion's effects. Making a potion or oil last for 24 hours requires a DC 20 Alchemy check. Making a potion or oil permanent requires a DC 30+spell level Alchemy check. Combining two potions into one requires a DC 25 Alchemy check; failure requires a roll on the table below while success indicates the combined potion acts as normal for both of them. As with all Alchemy checks, the DM should make these in secret.

d% Roll
1-10: Lethal Poison. The drinker must make a DC 30 Fortitude save or die.
11-20: Necromantic Draught. The drinker must make a DC 30 Fortitude save or immediately suffer 4d6 points of Constitution drain. When he dies, whether from this draught or from other causes, his body will reanimate within 1d4 rounds of death as a vampire (or vampire spawn if less than 5 HD).
21-30: Random Effect. Roll on the Minor Potions table for the potion's effect on the drinker.
31-40: Random Effect. Roll on the Medium Potions table for the potion's effect on the drinker.
41-50: Random Effect. Roll on the Major Potions table for the potion's effect on the drinker.
51-60: Diminished Effect. Randomly determine one of the potions. It affects the drinker, but all numerical values are halved.
61-70: Transmutation. The drinker is subject to a polymorph any object spell. The drinker's new form is up to the DM.
71-80: Petrification. The drinker is petrified unless he succeeds at a DC 30 Fortitude save.
81-90: Explosion. The potion explodes when drunk, dealing 20d6 points of fire damage and 20d6 points of acid damage to everything within 30 feet (Reflex save DC 15 for half). The drinker gets no saving throw and the damage is applied directly to his wound points. A cloud of toxic gas lingers in the area until dispersed, forcing everyone within to make a DC 30 Fortitude save or suffer 2d6 points of Constitution damage (both initial and secondary).
91-00: No Effect. The combined potions have no effect on the drinker aside from leaving a funny aftertaste.

Most impressively of all, a character can create a Philosopher's Stone with the Font of Alchemy. Doing so requires eight hours. The character attempting to create a Philosopher's Stone makes an Alchemy check every hour against a DC of 30; he needs five successes in order to create a functional Stone. If he gets eight successes, the magical quicksilver is depleted after one month, not one day, and can transmute the listed amounts of base metal daily. (See the Philosopher's Stone, DMG, for details).
While the Font weighs somewhere around three hundred pounds empty, it is nigh-indestructible and can thus be transported reasonably well.


Blastguns
Minor Artifacts
Relics of an ancient, warlike empire that once ruled the world. They're rare now, with few functional, and are all highly prized as weapons.

Lightning Musket
Cost: 500 gp.
Damage - Critical: 4d6 - x3.
Rate of Fire: Single.
Range Increment: 150 ft.
Ammo: 1 int.
Size: Two-Handed Ranged Weapon.
Weight: 10 lbs.
Damage Type: Electricity.
A lightning musket discharges a bolt of electricity when its trigger is pulled, emitting a spectacular crash of thunder and burst of ozone as the lightning streaks towards its target. The lightning musket can fire only once every 1d4+1 rounds, as it requires time to recharge itself in between blasts. It can only fire a maximum of 5 times in an hour.
Proficiencies: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Blastgun).

Lightning Pistol
Cost: 250 gp.
Damage - Critical: 3d6 - x3.
Rate of Fire: Single.
Range Increment: 50 ft.
Ammo: 1 int.
Size: One-Handed Ranged Weapon.
Weight: 3 lb.
Damage Type: Electricity.
A lightning pistol discharges a bolt of electricity when its trigger is pulled, emitting a spectacular crash of thunder and burst of ozone as the lightning streaks towards its target. The lightning pistol can fire only once every 1d4+1 rounds, as it requires time to recharge itself in between blasts. It can only fire a maximum of 3 times in an hour.
Proficiencies: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Blastgun).

DontEatRawHagis
2011-05-26, 01:08 PM
Melta Gun - Used when playing with players who like 40k. Gun in fact melts when used. Or just send a wave of heat that is used to melt cheese.