Trask
2018-01-28, 03:16 AM
My attempt at creating an artifact level item for the Immortal King in the Caverns of Thracia adventure.
Fair warning, there is a bit of body horror descriptions in this item as I meant for it to be of a truly despicable and otherworldly nature. A fragment of an era of darkness that mankind was better to have forgotten. If you can watch movies like "The Thing" and "The Fly" you should be fine.
Staff of the Reptile King
This staff is solid white crystal, with 6 amethyst serpents wrapping around the length of the pole. At the very top a flat crystal disc supports 4 garnet crocodiles positioned mouth to tail around the edges of the circle. Inside the ring of crocodiles are 2 emerald yuan-ti abominations bowing to a roaring ruby dragon positioned in the middle. If pried off the staff these gems will be worth 10,000 gold but for if any gem is pried off, the staff will lose the power to transform into the corresponding creature.
This staff belonged to the Immortal King. The first King of all reptile-kind, in the days when man was slave and food to reptiles. The Immortal King's endless hunger for flesh and souls made him tyrant overlord of the entire world, before he was brought low for reasons lost to time. In his crypt he was remade into the likeness of death itself, a lich eternally trapped and held by magical wards and bonds placed eons ago.
Artifact Level Item
Any class can use
Requires Attunement
This staff can be wielded as a magic quarterstaff that grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it.
While you hold it, you gain a +2 bonus to Armor Class, Spell Save DC, and Spell Attack Rolls.
The staff begins with 1d20 charges and has no charge limit. Charges can be expended to use transformations as detailed below. Charges can only be gained by the blood sacrifice and ritual eating of flesh of sentient mortal mammals. Knowledge of such ancient and terrible blood magic will require extensive study and the acquiring of an ancient manuscript on the subject (DM discretion as befits your campaign). The sacrifices must be laid on a sacrificial table and have their still beating hearts exposed by cutting open their torso. This heart must then be consumed by the ritual master. Any race unused to the consumption of raw flesh and blood must make a DC 13 (+1 for every additional heart beyond the first) constitution check for each heart consumed. If at any point the ritual master fails this check, she vomits up what she has eaten and the ritual has failed and must be started again. Every time this ritual is successfully completed, the ritual master gains a +2 bonus on these checks. The staff, which must be placed on an altar to the old and terrible gods of the reptiles near the sacrifice, gains 3 charges for every civilian non-combatant person sacrificed to it, 5 for every warrior captured in battle, 11 for every virgin maid, and 13 for a personal friend or loved one. This ritual requires 1000 gold pieces in materials (magic inks, rare herbs, powdered gems ect) for every heart removed.
Transformations
At will - Giant Lizard
2 Charges - Giant Constrictor Snake
4 Charges - Giant Crocodile
7 Charges - Yuan-ti Abomination using the staff as its weapon
These transformations last 1 hour and when they end, access to this reptilian form is lost until the caster can can long rest. The form can be sustained however by using the same number of charges used to initiate the transformation again before it ends. All mental stats are unchanged.
Dragon Transformations
green 1-30, black 31-55, white 56-75, blue 76-90, red 91-100
5 Charges - Dragon Wyrmling with color type determined by the above values on a 1d100 roll
13 Charges - Young Dragon with color type determined by the above values on a 1d100 roll
39 Charges - Adult Dragon with color type determined by the above values on a 1d100 roll
117 Charges - Ancient Dragon with color type determined by the above values on a 1d100 roll
The transformation of a mortal body into an immortal, magical dragon is vastly more taxing on the power of mortal souls. Therefore the same transformation rules as above apply here, except the transformation time is 10 minutes for every charge value spent. All mental stats are also unchanged here.
If you are brought to 0 hitpoints while in a transformed state and the max hitpoints of the creature you were transformed into were a total greater than double your own normal max hitpoint total then you are slain, remaining in your transformed state. If resurrected there is a 50% chance that you are stuck in that form permanently.
Mutations
DONT TELL YOUR PLAYERS ABOUT THIS PART
The power of reptilian blood magic was never meant for smoothskins. Each time a sacrificial ritual is completed, there is a cumulative 5% chance that the DM will secretly roll on the table below. Once the table is rolled on the chance resets to 5%. The first time a number is rolled, the character gets power a, the second time power b. If a number is rolled a third time, the character will go into a feeding frenzy eating every source of meat she can find, even attacking friends to consume their flesh. This lasts until she has consumed 5 times her own body weight, swelling to a horrific and grotesque size, looking quite like a large round ball. In this state she is treated as being encumbered. She will then retreat to the safest place she can find to digest, which will take 24 hours of uninterrupted sleep. At this point her flesh will begin to fall away in chunks (like that scene in the end of "The Fly") revealing a reptilian/mammalian hybrid horror, slick and slimy, with humanoid, mammalian eyes, holes in the face for a nose and slits for ears, and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth as well as scales colored according to the last dragon she transformed into. If the dragon transformations were never used, the scales are gray. This hybrid has at will Telekinesis and a movement and climbing speed of 50 feet per round. I leave other specifics up to the DM as for powers conferred onto this horrible creature that should not exist. At this point the the player is an NPC and should be removed from play as a villain scheming the return of the glory of reptile kind. The hybrid should be extremely intelligent, fast, and strong and should have most of the beneficial powers on the table below. The hybrid will also retain the class skills it had during its time before the mutation.
Roll 1d6
1. a. as an action, stare into the eyes of a creature within 30 feet. That creature must make a DC 18 wisdom save or become charmed by you. The creature has advantage if its allies are fighting you.
b. same as above except now the creature is dominated.
2. a. grow razor sharp talons, unarmed melee attacks deal d8 damage.
b. any creature struck by your talons must make a DC 18 constitution save or become sickened.
3. a. grow a forked tongue. your original tongue falls out. You have advantage on all perception checks based on smell.
b. you can smell the fear of your prey. all intimidation, persuasion, and insight checks are made with proficiency and advantage.
4. a. all your body hair falls off and your flesh becomes tender and soft. You gain vulnerability to all physical damage.
b. anyone attacking you with a melee attack must make a DC 18 dexterity saving throw or be splashed with your acid blood. Save for half of 5d6 acid damage.
5. a. You swell to enormous size. You become large, although most of it is fat. Your flesh is gray and swollen and you lose 10 feet of movement. you gain the ability to unhinge your jaw and swallow creatures of small size or smaller as per "swallow whole"
b. if the creature you have swallowed dies in your stomach, you can, as an action, vomit up the corpse in a 10 foot cone in front of you. Every creature must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 bludgeoning damage and 3d6 acid damage.
6. a. you gain a projectile tongue attack, launching your sticky tongue from your mouth. Make an attack roll on a creature within 30 feet. If the attack hits they must make a DC 18 strength save or be pulled 10 feet towards you every round. As an action the creature can attempt to free itself. If in possession of power 5b, a small or smaller creature pulled within 5 feet is automatically swallowed, no saving throw.
b. you gain the ability to change the color of your skin in accordance with your surroundings. Advantage on stealth checks based on sight.
Fair warning, there is a bit of body horror descriptions in this item as I meant for it to be of a truly despicable and otherworldly nature. A fragment of an era of darkness that mankind was better to have forgotten. If you can watch movies like "The Thing" and "The Fly" you should be fine.
Staff of the Reptile King
This staff is solid white crystal, with 6 amethyst serpents wrapping around the length of the pole. At the very top a flat crystal disc supports 4 garnet crocodiles positioned mouth to tail around the edges of the circle. Inside the ring of crocodiles are 2 emerald yuan-ti abominations bowing to a roaring ruby dragon positioned in the middle. If pried off the staff these gems will be worth 10,000 gold but for if any gem is pried off, the staff will lose the power to transform into the corresponding creature.
This staff belonged to the Immortal King. The first King of all reptile-kind, in the days when man was slave and food to reptiles. The Immortal King's endless hunger for flesh and souls made him tyrant overlord of the entire world, before he was brought low for reasons lost to time. In his crypt he was remade into the likeness of death itself, a lich eternally trapped and held by magical wards and bonds placed eons ago.
Artifact Level Item
Any class can use
Requires Attunement
This staff can be wielded as a magic quarterstaff that grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it.
While you hold it, you gain a +2 bonus to Armor Class, Spell Save DC, and Spell Attack Rolls.
The staff begins with 1d20 charges and has no charge limit. Charges can be expended to use transformations as detailed below. Charges can only be gained by the blood sacrifice and ritual eating of flesh of sentient mortal mammals. Knowledge of such ancient and terrible blood magic will require extensive study and the acquiring of an ancient manuscript on the subject (DM discretion as befits your campaign). The sacrifices must be laid on a sacrificial table and have their still beating hearts exposed by cutting open their torso. This heart must then be consumed by the ritual master. Any race unused to the consumption of raw flesh and blood must make a DC 13 (+1 for every additional heart beyond the first) constitution check for each heart consumed. If at any point the ritual master fails this check, she vomits up what she has eaten and the ritual has failed and must be started again. Every time this ritual is successfully completed, the ritual master gains a +2 bonus on these checks. The staff, which must be placed on an altar to the old and terrible gods of the reptiles near the sacrifice, gains 3 charges for every civilian non-combatant person sacrificed to it, 5 for every warrior captured in battle, 11 for every virgin maid, and 13 for a personal friend or loved one. This ritual requires 1000 gold pieces in materials (magic inks, rare herbs, powdered gems ect) for every heart removed.
Transformations
At will - Giant Lizard
2 Charges - Giant Constrictor Snake
4 Charges - Giant Crocodile
7 Charges - Yuan-ti Abomination using the staff as its weapon
These transformations last 1 hour and when they end, access to this reptilian form is lost until the caster can can long rest. The form can be sustained however by using the same number of charges used to initiate the transformation again before it ends. All mental stats are unchanged.
Dragon Transformations
green 1-30, black 31-55, white 56-75, blue 76-90, red 91-100
5 Charges - Dragon Wyrmling with color type determined by the above values on a 1d100 roll
13 Charges - Young Dragon with color type determined by the above values on a 1d100 roll
39 Charges - Adult Dragon with color type determined by the above values on a 1d100 roll
117 Charges - Ancient Dragon with color type determined by the above values on a 1d100 roll
The transformation of a mortal body into an immortal, magical dragon is vastly more taxing on the power of mortal souls. Therefore the same transformation rules as above apply here, except the transformation time is 10 minutes for every charge value spent. All mental stats are also unchanged here.
If you are brought to 0 hitpoints while in a transformed state and the max hitpoints of the creature you were transformed into were a total greater than double your own normal max hitpoint total then you are slain, remaining in your transformed state. If resurrected there is a 50% chance that you are stuck in that form permanently.
Mutations
DONT TELL YOUR PLAYERS ABOUT THIS PART
The power of reptilian blood magic was never meant for smoothskins. Each time a sacrificial ritual is completed, there is a cumulative 5% chance that the DM will secretly roll on the table below. Once the table is rolled on the chance resets to 5%. The first time a number is rolled, the character gets power a, the second time power b. If a number is rolled a third time, the character will go into a feeding frenzy eating every source of meat she can find, even attacking friends to consume their flesh. This lasts until she has consumed 5 times her own body weight, swelling to a horrific and grotesque size, looking quite like a large round ball. In this state she is treated as being encumbered. She will then retreat to the safest place she can find to digest, which will take 24 hours of uninterrupted sleep. At this point her flesh will begin to fall away in chunks (like that scene in the end of "The Fly") revealing a reptilian/mammalian hybrid horror, slick and slimy, with humanoid, mammalian eyes, holes in the face for a nose and slits for ears, and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth as well as scales colored according to the last dragon she transformed into. If the dragon transformations were never used, the scales are gray. This hybrid has at will Telekinesis and a movement and climbing speed of 50 feet per round. I leave other specifics up to the DM as for powers conferred onto this horrible creature that should not exist. At this point the the player is an NPC and should be removed from play as a villain scheming the return of the glory of reptile kind. The hybrid should be extremely intelligent, fast, and strong and should have most of the beneficial powers on the table below. The hybrid will also retain the class skills it had during its time before the mutation.
Roll 1d6
1. a. as an action, stare into the eyes of a creature within 30 feet. That creature must make a DC 18 wisdom save or become charmed by you. The creature has advantage if its allies are fighting you.
b. same as above except now the creature is dominated.
2. a. grow razor sharp talons, unarmed melee attacks deal d8 damage.
b. any creature struck by your talons must make a DC 18 constitution save or become sickened.
3. a. grow a forked tongue. your original tongue falls out. You have advantage on all perception checks based on smell.
b. you can smell the fear of your prey. all intimidation, persuasion, and insight checks are made with proficiency and advantage.
4. a. all your body hair falls off and your flesh becomes tender and soft. You gain vulnerability to all physical damage.
b. anyone attacking you with a melee attack must make a DC 18 dexterity saving throw or be splashed with your acid blood. Save for half of 5d6 acid damage.
5. a. You swell to enormous size. You become large, although most of it is fat. Your flesh is gray and swollen and you lose 10 feet of movement. you gain the ability to unhinge your jaw and swallow creatures of small size or smaller as per "swallow whole"
b. if the creature you have swallowed dies in your stomach, you can, as an action, vomit up the corpse in a 10 foot cone in front of you. Every creature must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 bludgeoning damage and 3d6 acid damage.
6. a. you gain a projectile tongue attack, launching your sticky tongue from your mouth. Make an attack roll on a creature within 30 feet. If the attack hits they must make a DC 18 strength save or be pulled 10 feet towards you every round. As an action the creature can attempt to free itself. If in possession of power 5b, a small or smaller creature pulled within 5 feet is automatically swallowed, no saving throw.
b. you gain the ability to change the color of your skin in accordance with your surroundings. Advantage on stealth checks based on sight.