Unintended uses for a minor artifact

[Quoz]

My party recently acquired a minor artefact, an amulet-sized portal to the elemental plane of fire designed as an unlimited power source for an airship. My Dragon sorcerer is tempted by all things with great power and wants to try and attuned to it as a spellcasting focus. Assuming this doesn't explode or kill me outright, what kind of mechanical effects could it grant and what challenges, if any, should I be forced to undergo to bend it to my will?

[Unoriginal]

What makes you think it can be used as a spell focus at all? Did your DM tell you?

[Davrix]

What level is the Sorc?

If they are below 10th advice EXTREME DANGER as in death is a real risk.

If they are above still empathizes the posiblity of dieing but maybe not to the extreme.

I would say its a combination of a Con Sv and a Char based save being how well can they focus the power and how much power can there body take.

So First I would have them make a Char sv the DC probably 20 to 25 which will decide the DC of the Con sv after. If they Roll a 1 its insta death. Power goes out of control and he goes Nova and anyone near takes probably 25D6 fire damage Dex sv vs half.

The If they actually make the Char sv then the Con save becomes lower. In my mind atm I'm also leaning towards a Con sv of 20 and it goes down to a 10 or 15 if they actually make the Char sv and if they fail the Char sv by 5 or more the DC of the Con save goes up by 5 or 10.

The value of the DC is up to you but the process of the mage trying to harness and control the power and how well his body adapts to it is your underlying process here. Where and at what point they can die is up to you as well.

What does he get?

I'd probably go being able to double your Char modifier for any fire spell, immune to fire damage and once per day you can deal max damage from any fire spell of your choice below 6th level while you are attuned and that you have to re-make the DC's if you ever un-attune and try to re-attune the item.


If you want to go the safer route however just simply say if he attunes to the item he gets a once per day max 3rd level fireball that has a spell DC of 20. But it deals half damage to him when he uses it or something along those lines.

[DeadMech]

Depending on how it works... like say the burner on a hot air balloon. Then you have yourself burning hands at will. And if it's adjustable then it's perfect for using as a lighter to light fires or a torch to act as a permanent light source. Basically it sounds like the sort of thing I like to throw at my parties for free but just a bit upscaled. A mundane everyday modern object but in a fantasy setting and magic.

Give it to a tiny creature to use as a makeshift jetpack. What could go wrong?

If it's drawing fire out of the plane of fire you could point it at a baddie, open it up and roll a 1d10,000 to see if a fire elemental gets sucked through accidentally and shot at them. They can fit through nearly anything. Then you just need to fight whatever survives when one of them dies. Alternatively if you get creative it's a portable portal you can use to enter the plane of fire... just need to make yourself able to fit through it... on top of making yourself immune to fire so that you can actually adventure on the other side and not just immediately cook. Also prop it open so that you can get out the way you came instead of getting stuck there.

I'm sure if you break it, fun will result. And by fun I mean the equivalent of a retributive strike from a staff of power or a staff of the magi. You could use it as an ingredient to make a staff of fire maybe. Or perhaps to make a flame tongue sword lightsaber. Maybe it could make deliberately summoning fire elementals easier with the appropriate spells. Or be made into a brazer of commanding fire elementals.