PDA

View Full Version : (Artifact) The star of life and death.



Maryring
2007-01-24, 01:57 PM
The Star of life and death:

Sought by many, seen by few, owned by one. The Star of life and death is one of the most powerful artifacts that exsist. How it was created and for what purpose has been lost to the ravages of time, but it is rumoured that it at one time served as a guide in the tower of time. A different theory says that it is the crystalline remains of an ancient gods soul. Others again believe it to be a highly advanced living being, older than Dragons and Gods. No one can really explains its powers though, and those who own the star usually find themselves targetted by others who seek the powers of the star. The star itself never presents itself before someone powerful, but seems to seek out otherwise unremarable beings to act as it's host.

This major artifact takes the shape of a five pointed star, each point being coloured in different colours. When a creature touches it, the star will attach itself to the soul of the creature, and meld into his or her body, granting the owner a permanent guidance effect. Upon melding, the forehead of the creature will flare a bright light, and the relief of a star will appear. The colour of this relief will usually reflect the alignment of the current owner, however when one of the five powers in the star is called on, the star will glow in that powers designated colour (shedding coloured light as the light spell). The user can simply will a power to summon forth the tool used to activate it, however only one tool can be active at a time, and calling on a power more than once a day causes one point of ability burn to all abilities. Upon binding, the host of the star will finds it difficult to mislead, bestowing upon her a -4 penalty on bluff checks when trying to actively mislead someone else. She also becomes quite suspectible to divinations and suffer a -4 penalty to saves against spells from the school of Divination. Moving the tool around will cause coloured lines of power to trail from the tips of the tool. The five powers of the star are...

Yes. It drains me greatly. But to think, that I can hold the power of life through the will of my mind alone. I don't really understand the powers that I have been given, but they are great. Returning life to the dead, undo the thing hardest undone, it is a magnificent feeling, and I wouldn't trade that gift for anything in the world.

White: This is the power of life. When called upon, a diamond will appear before the user. The user can then use the diamond to draw a five pointed star on the body of a dead creature. Drawing the star takes five minutes, as once the user begins to draw the star, the diamond will fix itself to a magical track determined by the dead body. Once the star is drawn, the target will burn with a white flame and be restored to life as if the spell true ressurection has been cast on it. This power is not dependant on the body being intact, but requires some sort of remains. The remains of a disintegrate are suitable for this power. This power can only be used once per week. Trying to use it before a week has passed causes the user to immediately take wisdom damage equal to her current wisdom score. There is no save against this damage.

It seemed like all hope was lost. The Dragon Lord and his army was marching straight towards the castle, and all of our best knights had died at the hands of the invading army. The remaining guards tried to valiantly defend our last stronghold, but there was no way that they could win. Just as all hope seemed lost, the king had been captured, his army was broken and his people enslaved, when THAT happened. A hero suddenly appeared on the roof of the local town smith. A strange star shone from the head of this person, and a sword appeared. The Dragon Lord charged against this individual, however it drew a star in the air using the sword, and suddenly the Dragon Lord fell over with a thunderous crash, dead. And once their leader was gone, the rest of his army quickly fell. However the one who saved us disappeared during the fight. What happened, no one really knows. We only know that we were saved by that strange power.

Black: This is the power of death. When called upon, a sword will appear before the user. The user can wield the sword and use it to draw a star in the air. Drawing the star takes five rounds, and during those five rounds, the user can not move, otherwise the effect will be broken. Once the star has been drawn, it will glow with a black glow and kill one target, giving no save. The user must be able to see the target at all times while drawing the star. The target will realize that something bad is about to happen to him once the user begins to draw the star, but he will not necessarily realize exactly what will happen to him, why, and what causes this. This power has no effect on gods with a higher divine rank than you have.

We were at the limit of our abilities. Our healer had been knocked out. The sorceress had run out of spells, and I could barely take the blows from the rogues who had assaulted us. That was when the bard threw her hand into the air, and a staff appeared. She drew a strange shape, and suddenly we were all healed and full of vigour again. The Lich and his undead minions would quickly fall after that.

Blue: This is the power to heal. When called upon, a staff will appear before the user. By wielding the staff, the user can use a standard action to draw a star in the air above her and cause a radiance of power that heal those nearby. All friends and foes within a 30 feet radius of the user is healed of a total of 1 point of ability damage or drain, one drained level and up to 10 points of damage for each hitdie the user possess. This healing is not caused by positive energy and thus has no effect on undead. This power can only be used once every ten minutes. Attempting to use it more often than that causes the user to immediately fall over unconcious and stay that way until the ten minutes have passed.

I... really don't understand it. He was only a small caravan with only a simple boy as the guard. It was that red glow. Somehow it managed to knock all of us out. Just thinking of what happened that day freaks me out.

Red: This is the power to harm. When called upon, a dagger will appear before the user. By wielding the dagger, the user can use a standard action to carve a star into her own flesh. Doing this causes 2 points of damage plus half your constitution modifier for each hitdie you possess. When the star is completed, it will glow an angry red, and everyone, friend or foe, will take 10 points of damage for each hitdie the user possess. A will save halves this damage. The user can decide wether targets brought below -10 hp die or are brought to -9 hp and are stabilized. All targets brought between -1 and -9 hp are automatically stabilized.

When I swore allegiance to my lord, I swore to protect him with all my power. That doesn't mean I don't have the ability to protect myself should the need arise.

Yellow: This is the power to protect. When called upon, a shield will appear before the user. By wielding the shield, the user can use five full round actions to carve a star into the ground beneath her. Once completed, several magical protections will spring up around her. The magical effects are Prismatic Sphere, Greater Spell Immunity, Stoneskin, Spell Resistance, Mind Blank and Protection from Arrows. The spells have a caster level equal to the hitdie of the user, and she can only protect herself. If the user moves out of the Primsmatic Sphere, the protections are broken.

Should the one who the star melded with die because of an act of violence (con damage not from disease or poison, hp damage, etc.), the star will break out in an explosion of prismatic light, which completely consumes the body of the user. Everyone standing five feet from the user will have the effect of all prismatic layers visited upon them. Those standing ten feet away from the user will have the effect of all layers from red to indigo visited upon them. Those standing fifteen feet away will feel the layers from red to blue and so on. The star will then teleport to a random plane and a random location. If the star is touched by a soulless being, or a being that is possessed by a soul not its own, the star will explode as if a host died and destroy the being while spreading out the prismatic layers. It will then teleport to a different plane and a random location. Roll a d100 to determine which plane it is sent to.

A roll of 01-50 will move it to a plane with an opposite alignment of the last host.
A roll of 51-75 will move it to a plane with the same alignment as the last host.
A roll of 76-85 will move it to any other outer plane.
A roll of 86-95 will move it to an elemental plane.
A roll of 96-100 will move it to the etheral plane, the material plane, or the plane of shadows.

Finally, if the one who has melded with the stars die peacefully, the star will gently appear hovering over the chest of the dead one for a short time before it travels to it's next destination. If someone grabs the star within 1 round of the death, the star will recognize that person as the new host and meld. If not, it will travel to a random plane and location. Roll a 1d100 to determine which plane it travels too.

a roll of 01-70 will make it stay on the same plane that the death occured.
a roll of 71-90 will make it travel to a plane in the same circle. (Inner planes, elemental planes or outer planes)
A roll of 91-100 will make it travel to a plane in a different circle.

Fredderf
2007-01-24, 04:32 PM
I like the idea, but it is really powerful. Perhaps the person suffers some sort of downside when bonded? You also made typos on the white and blue tools that appear. They say one thing, and then switch to another. It could also use some fluff. I am interested in seeing how this turns out.

Stormcrow
2007-01-24, 05:48 PM
We have stolen the plans of the "Life and Death Star" doesn't have the same ring to it as "Death Star". Nice Concept though.

Maryring
2007-01-25, 04:32 PM
Added some fluff and fixed some typos. I think it became better now. Anything else I forgot?

Mewtarthio
2007-01-25, 05:07 PM
The user can simply will a power to summon forth the tool used to activate it, however only one tool can be active at a time, and calling on a power more than once a day causes 1 point of damage to all ability scores for each time a power is reactivated with no save to avoid the damage. This damage can't be removed by any means other than waiting, and recovers at a rate of one point per day. In addition, the host of the star will finds it difficult to lie and mislead, granting her a -4 penalty on bluff and intimidate checks. She also becomes quite suspectible to divinations and gains a -4 penalty to all spells from the school of Divination.

A) It's far simpler to say "...once a day causes one point of ability burn to all abilities." Ability Burn is simply damage that cannot be healed by magic.

B) You don't "grant" penalties. "Grant" is good. You "bestow" penalties, or "inflict" penalties, or "cause [victim] to suffer" penalties.

C) You probably shouldn't "gain" a penalty, either. You "suffer" or "recieve" penalties.

D) Also, you don't suffer penalties to spells. You suffer penalties to saves against spells.

E) Does the host of the Star suffer the skill and save penalties all the time, or only after overusing the Star's power? The way you have it worded right now, it appears to be the latter, but you should make it more clear.

F) If the latter, why those particular penalties? The Star doesn't seem like it has any truth-related fluff or powers. It's not even expressly good-aligned or lawful-aligned.

G) Not in the quoted section, but is there any particular reason you made it so rare for the Star to arrive in the Material Plane?

Other than that, I like the artifact. Nice variety of powers, plus we can always use more unique artifacts.

Maryring
2007-01-26, 04:07 PM
A) Thanks for the suggestion. I'll modify it at once.

B) This is what I get for writing it while being overtired. I will redo it at once.

C) Refer to B.

D) And this is what I get for editting while still being overtired. Consider it fixed.

E) It was intended to be all the time. I'll try to make it a bit clearer.

F) No, it is not. However, it is supposed to be a "guide" of sorts. (Refering to the permanent guidance effect.) And a guide who misleads is a bad guide. However, rethinking that, it makes no sense for the penalty to intimidation. I will remove that. The Divination is because once the star has melded with your soul, your soul gains an incredible amount of power which is much easier to detect.

G) Yes. I had. The star is very easily influenced by souls, and the soul of the host will act as a magnet. Meaning it will either push it away as the soul travels to the afterlife, or pull you along. Only rarely will the "magnetism" fail to either completely repel or attract the Star. I do have an idea to change that though, since I didn't intend for it to be THAT hard to find on the innermost planes. It should be done soon.

Thank you very much for your constructive critisism. I hope I can use it to make the Artifact better.

Ivius
2007-01-26, 04:59 PM
It seems pretty good. I can just imagine giving it to a hostile NPC :belkar:.