Afgncaap5
2016-10-04, 02:23 PM
A weird side character that I'm whipping up for an Eberron game/encounter today. I don't know much about creating Intelligent Items (and there's a few places where I intentionally went away from what the rules about them said), but I liked the result and thought I'd share.
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Shumov the Chess Shield
Masterwork Heavy Steel Shield, +2 Shield Bonus (no magical enhancement bonuses to its score), AL LG, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 16, Speech (Common and Goblin), 60 ft. Darkvision and hearing (sight and hearing as good as a typical human's in regular light), Ego Score: 6?
Lesser Power: 10 ranks in Knowledge (History)
Appearance & Personality: Shumov is absolutely convinced, in spite of personally witnessing evidence to the contrary, that it is the finest shield of all time. Designed in a nearly-square diamond shape with a number of tessellated rhombuses that resemble 64 black and white squares, Shumov can also double as a chess board when laid flat on the ground or other sufficient surface. With two squares slightly larger than others (and with black dots in the middle), he appears to have actual eyes, and an entire row of oddly shaped squares moves as he speaks, acting as an effective mouth (though even something as small as a dagger wouldn't fit well if he held it there.) Some have even suggested that two lines of squares between the eyes and mouth are shaped to resemble a dashing mustache, but others can't see it. Shumov believes that warfare is glorious and noble, but only when pursued with a strict adherence to codes of honor and, strangely enough, sportsmanship, and he always believes that nonviolent solutions should be considered, even if they are ultimately discarded. (For a board that appears to be designed specifically for Chess, Shumov also holds a high opinion of the similar game, Conquer.)
History: Shumov was never "enchanted" that anyone recalls, but seems to have been borne of the spirit of good will and glorious warfare that filled two armies during a seemingly hopeless situation. When a week had passed for two armies that were staring each other down with no orders and no supplies, the generals of the human and goblin forces met and decided to settle the dispute without wasting a single troop: every day a game of chess would be played on the front line between the two armies, and the winner would get to place a stone on the ground, or upon a stone from a previous day. If either general reached a point where their stack of rocks was three rocks higher, they would declare their army victorious, and allow the other army to retreat. As the weeks passed and the continued lack of orders from either commanding force came their way, the daily spectacle of the chess game became a highlight for the soldiers who all gathered as near as they could to watch the endeavor. The eased tensions even allowed brief moments of sport and festivity to come to pass, usually in the nature of arm-wrestling competitions, quick jousting matches, or even the occasional friendly sword duel.
Eventually, word came from the front lines that some terrible calamity had ended the war and the soldiers were to head home. The camps broke and the question rose about which general should take home the shield they'd played upon, and no one could definitively say which army the shield had first belonged to as it didn't look like either army's standard gear (though the symbols on some Goblin shields looked closer.) The generals finished their game, and the humans general, Lord Rolaben ir'Dalta, took the shield home.
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There's also going to be a swarm of chess pieces (basically using the stats for a swarm of rats, but replacing their "half damage from slashing and piercing" with "immunity to piercing", and replacing their disease with a special attack called Castling, that forces a creature to pass a Reflex save or be knocked prone.) I think the swarm of chess pieces would be a CR 2 or 3 challenge, and the shield is clearly a *lot* more valuable than a standard CR 2 or 3 treasure, but... I dunno. I really like the character, and I doubt the +10 to History checks will really be unbalancing.
Anyway... thoughts? Things I should change?
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Shumov the Chess Shield
Masterwork Heavy Steel Shield, +2 Shield Bonus (no magical enhancement bonuses to its score), AL LG, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 16, Speech (Common and Goblin), 60 ft. Darkvision and hearing (sight and hearing as good as a typical human's in regular light), Ego Score: 6?
Lesser Power: 10 ranks in Knowledge (History)
Appearance & Personality: Shumov is absolutely convinced, in spite of personally witnessing evidence to the contrary, that it is the finest shield of all time. Designed in a nearly-square diamond shape with a number of tessellated rhombuses that resemble 64 black and white squares, Shumov can also double as a chess board when laid flat on the ground or other sufficient surface. With two squares slightly larger than others (and with black dots in the middle), he appears to have actual eyes, and an entire row of oddly shaped squares moves as he speaks, acting as an effective mouth (though even something as small as a dagger wouldn't fit well if he held it there.) Some have even suggested that two lines of squares between the eyes and mouth are shaped to resemble a dashing mustache, but others can't see it. Shumov believes that warfare is glorious and noble, but only when pursued with a strict adherence to codes of honor and, strangely enough, sportsmanship, and he always believes that nonviolent solutions should be considered, even if they are ultimately discarded. (For a board that appears to be designed specifically for Chess, Shumov also holds a high opinion of the similar game, Conquer.)
History: Shumov was never "enchanted" that anyone recalls, but seems to have been borne of the spirit of good will and glorious warfare that filled two armies during a seemingly hopeless situation. When a week had passed for two armies that were staring each other down with no orders and no supplies, the generals of the human and goblin forces met and decided to settle the dispute without wasting a single troop: every day a game of chess would be played on the front line between the two armies, and the winner would get to place a stone on the ground, or upon a stone from a previous day. If either general reached a point where their stack of rocks was three rocks higher, they would declare their army victorious, and allow the other army to retreat. As the weeks passed and the continued lack of orders from either commanding force came their way, the daily spectacle of the chess game became a highlight for the soldiers who all gathered as near as they could to watch the endeavor. The eased tensions even allowed brief moments of sport and festivity to come to pass, usually in the nature of arm-wrestling competitions, quick jousting matches, or even the occasional friendly sword duel.
Eventually, word came from the front lines that some terrible calamity had ended the war and the soldiers were to head home. The camps broke and the question rose about which general should take home the shield they'd played upon, and no one could definitively say which army the shield had first belonged to as it didn't look like either army's standard gear (though the symbols on some Goblin shields looked closer.) The generals finished their game, and the humans general, Lord Rolaben ir'Dalta, took the shield home.
------
There's also going to be a swarm of chess pieces (basically using the stats for a swarm of rats, but replacing their "half damage from slashing and piercing" with "immunity to piercing", and replacing their disease with a special attack called Castling, that forces a creature to pass a Reflex save or be knocked prone.) I think the swarm of chess pieces would be a CR 2 or 3 challenge, and the shield is clearly a *lot* more valuable than a standard CR 2 or 3 treasure, but... I dunno. I really like the character, and I doubt the +10 to History checks will really be unbalancing.
Anyway... thoughts? Things I should change?