An Artifact in Pieces

[Christopher K.]

So, a while back, one of my players (a Half-orc Monk) and I were talking about his backstory, and eventually came up with a cult of demon-worshippers called the Order of the Crimson King, who are trying to reassemble the Crimson King's crown. The catch, though, is that the crown's jewels have been scattered across the world and used throughout history to build other artifacts.

Now, I don't want the players to simply collect these items for the sake of keeping them out of the bad guys' hands, and I don't want to pull the cheap trick where even having all the pieces together would summon the Crimson King. To this end, I want to make an artifact music box, which uses the jewels from the crown to play various notes, possibly a hymn to Erathis, who supposedly was the patron deity to the adventurers who originally sealed the Crimson King away.

As-is, the monk in the party uses a piece of the Crown as a Ki Focus(not knowing in-character what it is), and has recently decided to visit his old monastery in hopes of finding another piece of it.

So the two things I have to ask are: What should the music box do(it's essentially supposed to be a good paragon-level artifact counterpart to the evil Crown) and what sort of magical items could the other pieces be a part of? (There are 13 pieces, and if need be, the crown itself could be in another 4) I'd like to do a full set of equipment, but it could be a cliche.

[Sipex]

Have it, when played, destroy itself (and the crown) permenantly. The creators of the box never got to use it and it's been passed down from generation to generation in hopes of one day destroying the crown.

[Gryffon]

It seems like the crown and the music box should be opposed.

Does the crown by itself have powers? Does it go up in power based off the number of gems that are returned to it?

If the music box is dedicated to Erathis, it should have powers reminiscent of her domains and ideals.

Also, for some ideas, you can also take a look at the Rod of Seven Parts from the DMG 2.

[Christopher K.]

Have it, when played, destroy itself (and the crown) permenantly. The creators of the box never got to use it and it's been passed down from generation to generation in hopes of one day destroying the crown.


I dunno if having the music box destroy itself would be a good idea - it IS the Monk's main means of magical bonuses, and I was hoping the music box would provide some form of power(either in or out of combat)


It seems like the crown and the music box should be opposed.

Does the crown by itself have powers? Does it go up in power based off the number of gems that are returned to it?

If the music box is dedicated to Erathis, it should have powers reminiscent of her domains and ideals.

Also, for some ideas, you can also take a look at the Rod of Seven Parts from the DMG 2.

The crown by itself, when worn by someone performing the appropriate ritual, makes the wearer the new body for the Crimson King. This only is doable with all thirteen jewels.

[Rockphed]

The music box is a focus or implement for any magical art. Starts out as a +3 implement of the appropriate type. When you make it happy, it gains an elemental property. When it gets really happy, it goes up to +4. When you make it too sad it drops to +2.

It will leave the party shortly after it is used to shatter the crown, though the crown will arise again in a dozen generations.

It likes destroying demons.

It doesn't like being the target of arcane power, especially not bards.

It really likes being wielded by a bard.

Sound like a good start to an artifact?

Other artifacts: A sword with a jewel in the pommel. Or a mace where the head IS the jewel. I like the second better, but it depends on what your party uses.

A pair of glasses with two of the gems as lenses. Allows the user to pierce magical concealment(a daily power granting either a bonus to attack or an encounter long ability to see in darkness/invisible/whatever)

[Strormer]

I'm picturing, since it's a music box, that is has some bard-related powers, like Rock said. Perhaps a little more aggressive, granting a daily banishment-type power against any demon.

I would also allow to music box to act as the Bard feature "Song of Rest."

On the subject of other artifacts...

A journal that can create summons when written in, jewel inlaid in the cover.

The sentient staff of a powerful mage.

The figurehead of a large pirate galleon is holding a gem close to her heart. At night the figurehead transports the unwitting ship and its crew to the shadowfell. The captain has learned of this and is using a second artifact, a cutlass with a magic rod in the hilt, to control the shift so that he can make his ship appear and disappear as he wills.

my last idea: a small child was the experiment of a necromancer using a gem. The gem was magically attached to the child's ribcage right over the heart. The child has extraordinary powers of recovery and will resurrect in three days if he is killed and the gem is not removed. The necromancer is still out there, somewhere, studying his project to create a living lich and would be most displeased to find someone snooping around his creation. The child, for the most part, doesn't understand why he can't die and wanders around the world trying to form a warlock pact, but no power will take him due to his condition.