Someonelse
2014-07-13, 12:41 AM
I'm writing an adventure right now that involves a magical fountain pen. The pen is important to the story, but when this adventure is done the PCs will recover the pen from the BBEG's loot. My problem is that if they decide to sell it I have no idea what it's worth. Nor can I decide if this should be a minor artifact or just a regular magic item. And finally, I have a little concern that the players will use the pen to break D&D as they have in the past when I was less careful in creating unique items. So, I'm just going to copy paste everything I wrote about the pen in my notes and ask you to review it. Is it an artifact? If not, what's it worth? And, most importantly, how bad can it be abused?
from my notes: The PCs find a magical fountain pen. The pen never runs out of ink. Furthermore, if the pen is ever used by someone to sign a contract of their own free will the pen will hold them to it as with a Dominate Monster spell, forcing their obedience to both the spirit and the letter of the contract (this effect functions even on subjects who are otherwise immune to mind affecting effects because this magical function of the pen is based on the fact that the subject signed the contract of their own free will, thus accepting the spell willingly and negating any opportunity to resist). If the subject is coerced into signing something against their will (note that coercion is different from reluctance), they get a DC15 will save vs mind affecting effects (creatures immune to MAEs are thus immune to this function) to resist, if they fail they may be entitled to further saves as detailed in the Dominate Monster spell description. A subject who did not know the pen was magical who had no intention of disregarding the contract would remain completely unaware of the compulsion, however, someone who intended to ignore the contract would be surprised to find themselves compelled to obey.
from my notes: The PCs find a magical fountain pen. The pen never runs out of ink. Furthermore, if the pen is ever used by someone to sign a contract of their own free will the pen will hold them to it as with a Dominate Monster spell, forcing their obedience to both the spirit and the letter of the contract (this effect functions even on subjects who are otherwise immune to mind affecting effects because this magical function of the pen is based on the fact that the subject signed the contract of their own free will, thus accepting the spell willingly and negating any opportunity to resist). If the subject is coerced into signing something against their will (note that coercion is different from reluctance), they get a DC15 will save vs mind affecting effects (creatures immune to MAEs are thus immune to this function) to resist, if they fail they may be entitled to further saves as detailed in the Dominate Monster spell description. A subject who did not know the pen was magical who had no intention of disregarding the contract would remain completely unaware of the compulsion, however, someone who intended to ignore the contract would be surprised to find themselves compelled to obey.