E6 3.5/PF Artifacts

[BowStreetRunner]

I am working on building an E6 campaign with a mix of 3.5 and Pathfinder material in which the world once had ECL 20 characters and creatures but the place kept getting trashed whenever the heroes failed a quest to 'save the world'. After the last failure caused more destruction than all of the previous cataclysms combined, the Creator of the world imposed an effective level-cap that established the preset E6 rules on the world. So basically it's an E6 game in a formerly standard 20-level world.

One of the things I'd like to include are remnants of the prior civilization (something along the lines of a highly advanced Golarion-meets-Eberron civilization) which would be considered artifact-level to an E6 society. I'm particularly interested in effectively immovable effects tied to sites that would become key plot-hooks in the campaign. However, I want to avoid anything that will seriously break the power-level of the game. So for instance, although Teleportation Circle (with Permanency) would be 9th level magic in a world where 3rd level magic was the normal maximum, the fact that it goes only one place and the PCs would not be able to alter that keeps it manageable.

So what might be some fun and interesting items or sites that would be found in a 7th-20th level world which I could use as artifacts in a capped 6th level world without breaking the game?

EDIT: I think that there is one aspect of this that I had in mind when I posted this, but didn't make clear. I am looking for things that are not practical for PCs to use during encounters. So anything that makes them more powerful in combat or helps them overcome traps, puzzles, or social encounters that they couldn't normally overcome at their level would not be desirable.

I want these thing to be primarily plot devices or part of the setting. I'd like to avoid the kind of artifacts that easily become party property and are then used to overcome encounters with a higher CR.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

The Draconomicon has lair wards starting on page 84. This is likely exactly the type of thing you're looking for.

Anything that can be made permanent in an area via Permanency (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/permanency.htm). For example, a Wall of Fire, especially down the length of one side of a hallway. Bonus points if there are fire-immune opponents or even an iron golem guarding the way.

[BowStreetRunner]

The Draconomicon has lair wards starting on page 84. This is likely exactly the type of thing you're looking for.

Anything that can be made permanent in an area via Permanency (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/permanency.htm). For example, a Wall of Fire, especially down the length of one side of a hallway. Bonus points if there are fire-immune opponents or even an iron golem guarding the way.Lair Wards (Draconomicon page 84) look fantastic. The fact that dragons have a special place in the history of this world ties in with these even better! I especially like how Black Luminary interacts differently agaist 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level light spells - the three tiers of E6 spells. But really, these are all just about the right power level for what I was looking for too.

As for Permanency, I've already considered the area spells mentioned in the 3.5 and PF SRDs and may have a use for some of them, but am still trying to dig out an old list I recall that had all of the eligible 3.5 spells not mentioned in the SRD.

[lylsyly]

The fact that dragons have a special place in the history of this world ties in with these even better!

In an E6 campaign you might be interested in the dragons I am doing for my SRD- Rules set. Can I attach a short word doc (if you use Word, or I can make a google doc or RTF out of it if you prefer) to a PM?.

[BowStreetRunner]

In an E6 campaign you might be interested in the dragons I am doing for my SRD- Rules set. Can I attach a short word doc (if you use Word, or I can make a google doc or RTF out of it if you prefer) to a PM?.Sure. Although the great dragons from the setting's history would all be dead and gone, their legacy would remain in a variety of other races descended from them.

[Fizban]

Any form of extradimensional storage: despite their ridiculously low prices they still all require Secret Chest, which is a 5th level spell. Unless you rewrite the items to function off of Shrink Item/allow Shrink Item to shrink filled containers, transportation is back to basics.

Any form of serious long-range communication, unless you've already taken note of Whispering Sand and Forest Voice (Sandstorm and Complete Champion), but those don't go inter-planar. Sending and Scrying are both out of range.

Any form of shorter range teleportation, depending once again on what you're already using. There are printed very short range teleports below 4th, and if those are being used then Dim Door represents a startling range increase without any real new capability.

Any form of serious fast travel- depending on how you run Phantom Steed. Long duration flight is another obvious one.

Neutralize Poison, Stone to Flesh/Break Enchantment, Death Ward, Delay Death, Freedom of Movement, Heal, Regenerate.

[Silva Stormrage]

A starmantle cloak would be freaking devastating in an E6 setting. However, it probably wouldn't be gamebreaking if acquired at level 6 (Since most relevant enemies will have magic weapons at that point)

Ring of the Solar (180ft Perfect Flight Speed), Ring of Freedom of Movement, Third eye Conceal.

Really any expensive item that grants a buff effect would probably be a pretty good item for this purpose.

[BowStreetRunner]

Those are all interesting and useful items, to be sure. But I'm looking for things I can write a story around. The original Artifacts were not just magic items the party could use, but also plot devices around which the DM could focus the story.

Extra-dimensional storage may be useful, but making it into an Artifact is a bit harder. The TARDIS ("It's bigger on the inside!") might qualify. But a Handy Haversack, not so much.

Long-range communication isn't much easier to work with. Maybe something along the lines of the Palantíri from Lord of the Rings might work.

As for teleportation, something like the eponymous Stargate from the movie might work.

With regard to other travel, I'm already considering some sort of vessel like a Starjammer.

All of the healing/curse removing/spell-breaking items might make for the heart of a temple of healing. I could likewise see a divination item serving as the oracle for another temple.

Starmantle cloak and the rest really don't have the feel I'm looking for. Sure, they would be potent magic items. But they still feel just too personal for my uses. I'm looking for things with truly epic story potential by themselves.

[Lotheb]

For location locked magic maybe check out the stronghold builders guide

[Lapak]

Both the Cube of Force and the various Figurines of Wondrous Power are items that would be very potent (but not game-breaking) in an e6 environment, and are plenty flavorful to build stories around.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Those are all interesting and useful items, to be sure. But I'm looking for things I can write a story around. The original Artifacts were not just magic items the party could use, but also plot devices around which the DM could focus the story.

Extra-dimensional storage may be useful, but making it into an Artifact is a bit harder. The TARDIS ("It's bigger on the inside!") might qualify. But a Handy Haversack, not so much.

Long-range communication isn't much easier to work with. Maybe something along the lines of the Palantíri from Lord of the Rings might work.

As for teleportation, something like the eponymous Stargate from the movie might work.

With regard to other travel, I'm already considering some sort of vessel like a Starjammer.

All of the healing/curse removing/spell-breaking items might make for the heart of a temple of healing. I could likewise see a divination item serving as the oracle for another temple.

Starmantle cloak and the rest really don't have the feel I'm looking for. Sure, they would be potent magic items. But they still feel just too personal for my uses. I'm looking for things with truly epic story potential by themselves.

You’re looking at these items wrong imo. Sure, if you just tell the players what the item is (metagaming) then they’ll know it’s a normal item, but why would you when these items *are* of legendary power in e6? Remember, the One Ring was pretty much just a Ring of Invisibility with fluff attached.

Take the Starmantle Cloak: The wearer is utterly invulnerable to most weapons, to the point of casually disintegrating them on contact, and shrouded in falling stars. It doesn’t sound like it’s even obvious that the wearer has a cloak on! So you’ve got this antagonist who shows up wreathed in starlight and seems totally invincible, then the PCs find out this power is derived from this mantle of stars that only powerful enchanted weapons can pierce!

[Andor13]

Well, Atonement is a 5th level spell and thus out of reach. So a site, an ancient temple say, which has an item/altar/statue in it that can cast atonement would probably be a big deal to Paladins/Druids/etc. Certainly seems plot worthy.

Several other high level remove affliction/condition spells would also qualify.

A Gate would obviously be a big deal.

[Fizban]

Extra-dimensional storage may be useful, but making it into an Artifact is a bit harder. The TARDIS ("It's bigger on the inside!") might qualify. But a Handy Haversack, not so much.
Doesn't save the world, but you can bet certain powerful people would just love to get their hands on it.

Long-range communication isn't much easier to work with. Maybe something along the lines of the Palantíri from Lord of the Rings might work.
Those seemed pretty crap to me honestly, all they seemed to do was let the bad guy read your mind. Were they supposed to be like Crystal Balls or something? Which are also above 3rd for all but a specific domain I believe. Personally, if the DM handed me an "artifact" that was all "hey make a bunch of will saves or else be mind controlled by the evil king/dragon/whatever," I wouldn't be much pleased no matter what spell it could produce.

Instantaneous long-range communication is huge, changed pretty much literally everything. A room that lets you talk back and forth to anyone anywhere in the world, whatever spell it's duping, is a massive, ludicrous advantage to any kingdom smart enough to use it.

As for teleportation, something like the eponymous Stargate from the movie might work.
I mean, you've already said you're fine having Teleportation Circles around. Sure, variable destination portal works too. But that would be an "artifact" tier find in any game. Same with a flying ship that can Plane Shift around, no one but 20th level characters can seriously buy those.


Speaking of healing, Restoration- there is neither the ability to prevent nor restore negative levels in any way. Which makes mooks like Wights and Vampire Spawn far more terrifying if they get close. let alone the possibility of a Spectre, unless the E6 flyer addresses that already.

It sounds more like what you want are special magical locations, not abused magic items/architecture/etc. The temple of healing wouldn't put their thing that heals anything at-will somewhere hard to get to, they'd build it into the town square so that literally the entire population can access it easily and wipe out all disease etc.

I mean, if you really want to focus on immovable effects, permanent Wall of Fire is the industrial revolution. Unlimited thermal energy equals steel production and steam power. Need a magic item with some folding to put it on a train, but since there's no price for a mundane train you might be better off with just the airship, (or groundship, since Earth Keels are less expensive), or mobile stronghold. Portals crush anything for transporting creatures, but cargo requires either Planar Ring Gates or physical transport.

[BowStreetRunner]

I think that there is one aspect of this that I had in mind when I posted this, but didn't make clear. I am looking for things that are not practical for PCs to use during encounters. So anything that makes them more powerful in combat or helps them overcome traps, puzzles, or social encounters that they couldn't normally overcome at their level would not be desirable.

I want these thing to be primarily plot devices or part of the setting. I'd like to avoid the kind of artifacts that easily become party property and are then used to overcome encounters with a higher CR.


For location locked magic maybe check out the stronghold builders guideThere are a number of items of wondrous architecture here that would be suitable for my purposes. Thanks.


Those seemed pretty crap to me honestly, all they seemed to do was let the bad guy read your mind. Were they supposed to be like Crystal Balls or something? Which are also above 3rd for all but a specific domain I believe. Personally, if the DM handed me an "artifact" that was all "hey make a bunch of will saves or else be mind controlled by the evil king/dragon/whatever," I wouldn't be much pleased no matter what spell it could produce.

Instantaneous long-range communication is huge, changed pretty much literally everything. A room that lets you talk back and forth to anyone anywhere in the world, whatever spell it's duping, is a massive, ludicrous advantage to any kingdom smart enough to use it.Basically what the Palantíri were was instant long-range communication devices that were part of a network. The orbs themselves didn't corrupt your mind. The fact that Sauron was on the other end of the call exerting his will against yours did tend to mess with you a bit.


I mean, if you really want to focus on immovable effects, permanent Wall of Fire is the industrial revolution. Unlimited thermal energy equals steel production and steam power. Need a magic item with some folding to put it on a train, but since there's no price for a mundane train you might be better off with just the airship, (or groundship, since Earth Keels are less expensive), or mobile stronghold. Portals crush anything for transporting creatures, but cargo requires either Planar Ring Gates or physical transport.I really like the idea of a permanent fire effect like Wall of Fire at the core of someone's metal works. As for the transportation modes, airship would be preferable because the world is broken into pieces scattered throughout the transitive planes and neither the ground nor the water is always going to be connected. So you need something that you can travel around the local region, but then when you cross the transitive planes (astral, ethereal, shadow) to the next region it has to be able to handle the terrain there as well. An airship is going to be much more flexible.

[Gullintanni]

One of the more interesting item sets in E6 are Sovereign Glue and Universal Solvent.

Sovereign Glue permanently binds two objects together and is craftable by E6 characters, but Universal Solvent requires Disintegrate to craft.

A quest to find and mix reagents that produce Universal Solvent might be fun, especially if the solvent was used to open an adamantine vault that had been glued shut.

Bonus points for sticking a horrendous monster inside that guards all the Eridium. :smalltongue:

[Andor13]

Well, plot devices work best when you know what plot you want.

Standard magical effects that work well as desirable but non-portable things include scrying, communication, healing, cursing, curse breaking, transformation, and dispells.

Non-standard magical effects that are plot worthy are infinite, but require a desired plot. A throne enchanted to make the real idea that the King is the Land and the Land is the King, for example. A spring which when drunk gives one the gift of rhyme. A cursed sanctuary which kills the love of anyone who keeps a vigil there. A statue of a werewolf lord which can grant the curse of lycanthropy to anyone who puts their hand in it's mouth and gets 'bitten'.

[the_david]

This is only slightly on topic, and unless your players are the kind to optimize weird stuff (Spellcraft.) it's not likely to come up during a game, or at least it won't cause much trouble, but...

In Pathfinder you can get around level when making magic items. Sure, it will impose a penalty of sorts, but a character with an item creation feat can have a lower caster level than that of the items he can make. He can also ignore the prerequisite spells, skills and feats necessary. (Though this is limited for spells.)

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a character to optimize...

Edit: On second thought, this means that rods, rings and staves can no longer be created in your world, right? You can't get access to those feats. That means that those items could be artifacts in their own right in your setting.

[BowStreetRunner]

Well, plot devices work best when you know what plot you want.I tend to run sandbox-style campaigns, so what I usually end up doing is creating situations for the PCs to which they then respond however they like. The plots kind of write themselves this way. So offering a wide variety of potential plot-hooks doesn't necessarily require me to know what the plot is going to be, and in fact I'm often as surprised as the players with what turns out.


...this means that rods, rings and staves can no longer be created in your world, right? You can't get access to those feats. That means that those items could be artifacts in their own right in your setting.Many of the higher level feats and class abilities are now available in this setting as Epic feats that can be taken after 6th level. There is usually some sort of quest involved to learn them, but they aren't removed from the game entirely.

[Fizban]

As for the transportation modes, airship would be preferable because the world is broken into pieces scattered throughout the transitive planes and neither the ground nor the water is always going to be connected. So you need something that you can travel around the local region, but then when you cross the transitive planes (astral, ethereal, shadow) to the next region it has to be able to handle the terrain there as well. An airship is going to be much more flexible.

Since by my research, no society with the cash to make a serious number of airships would bother with using them as personnel transport (since portals or Wind Walk platforms are better), that would mean any airships would be of the extremely large high-cargo variety, not the high speed/half the mechanics contradict the others Eberron kind. The Halruuan Skyship doesn't specify cargo and thus is presumably the normal amount, but is far more expensive and is specifically a Sailing Ship. A Cloud Keel from AaEG both has a fixed speed that either isn't any or isn't much better than a normal ship (depending on if you read it literally or double it because of the Stormwrack rules change), and the ability to be attached to other ships. Which is useful both in the ancient society, so the ships themselves aren't as expensive to repair, and for the current world where people can plot to move them to warships, and also for balancing, because if the ship carried the magic they'd make it hard as nails to crack but since it's a specific part the rest of the ship can be destructible by simple means. The Cloud Keel also doesn't explicitly give hovering or a good landing on the ground, so you need rotating crew and a landing spot.

[noob]

A rod of wonder could be an e6 artefact.

[Lapak]

Plot-related things that are out of e6 range and can't become personal property, hm? My first through was similar to the Atonement suggestion - I was thinking a druidic holy site with an altar that can cast Reincarnation provided you supply the oils and unguents as material components. Maybe 1/day, or 1/week. If it is the only place/thing in the campaign that can restore the dead, it would be a plot-worthy element even with Reincarnate's limitations.

[Silva Stormrage]

Greater Platform of Jaunting would be interesting. It allows the party to teleport anywhere as greater teleport but only while standing on the platform. So it only allows 1 way travel. Plus it can't be moved so they would have to either hide or defend that location after discovery. It's from stronghold builder's guide.

[Fizban]

The funny thing about the Platform of Jaunting (Greater) is how its price compares to a one-way Portal (unlimited use)- actually less, before PGtF rolled Portals into Craft Wondrous for free and then made the Portal Master feat for half price (except that doesn't actually change their market price).

The effective gp cost of creation for both a 50k Portal Master'd one-way and a Permanent Teleportation Circle is basically the same (25k materials, 4500xp*5gp and change), and both create a permanent one-way trip. The Greater Platform of Jaunting is a hilarious example of an at-will formula based item: something flat out better than a dedicated item from the same book (remember, the Wondrous Architecture formula is just the DMG formula but cheaper). Except it's price is actually inflated, being 9th at 17th rather than 7th at 13th, as one would expect of Teleport Without Error/Greater Teleport.

And there's that little snag of being able to perfectly infiltrate basically anywhere that isn't warded against teleportation. All the problems of teleport bombing, at no cost to player spell slots and/or multiplied by an army. Not a good item to have existing at anything but the highest of levels if you ask me. It's actually cheap enough that a PC could just craft one to save on high level slots.

I prefer my Platform of Wind Walking. Again, using the formula price, we get a fairly low 33k, within Large City price range (but still a 6th level spell to make it an "artifact" under these conditions). This allows anyone who steps on it to gain 11 hours of travel at 60mph, setting down or taking off as needed. The range is massive, and will easily reach the next nearest city capable of having one, in addition to anywhere else you'd want to set down. You get a duality of air-lanes and land-lanes as people take the shortest route to the platform, then their destination, then back to the platform. You can have people attacked in transit, and have isolated rest stops miles from anywhere but sustained by a steady stream of Wind Walkers. All you gotta do is add a little line where the Gaseous Form of this version of Wind Walk doesn't allow you to slip through cracks, and you don't have any crazy infiltration problems. But, having one within range of an enemy city makes for a scary tactical situation where an entire army can air drop on top of you in hours- after which they're stranded with no supply line, oh the possibilities.

In fact, with an 11 hour duration, that's potentially enough time for a person to platform and wind walk as much as 60 miles home, sleep 8 hours, then wind walk back to the city with the platform for work, or just to tag the platform again before zooming out to the farm. You'd need to properly work out all the population density/town placements to see how many settlements could benefit in this way, but it'll still be absolutely huge compared to *medieval* standards.

A combination of Wind Walk platforms, circuits of one-way portals, and limited use portals to areas that must be connected but can't warrant more, are all involved in making the cheapest personal transportation network. "Discover an exploit ancient travel networks" seems done to death, except thinking of it I don't think I've ever actually seen it- just occasional video games having the player's group use them in a limited capacity.

The question of trying the same with 3rd level magic also intrigues me. Not much of a question of course, a Platform of Phantom Steedery gives out a speed of 10-20mph depending on DM ruling, which is still major but will naturally affect a much smaller radius and thus a drastically smaller area. Of course it's also less than the price of a +2 sword.

[tricktroller]

I love the idea of locations being centers of power/artifacts. You could also make them leylines/loci/etc.

You could have different ones do different things, like in some areas arcane magic/divine is more potent.

Locations like;
An ancient forge that allows the character to make a +3 weapon instead of a +2 weapon, once per year/decade/century.
A massive wall of runes that allows the character to learn a single fourth level spell they can use once a week/month/year.
A well that cures anyone who drinks from it directly, of all ailments.
An ancient laboratory that allows a character to make one item with 9th caster level one per year/decade/century
A library that contains each type of manual of +1 inherent stat bonus, but can only benefit one stat per character. (So three people could gain strength but none of them could get +1 to two stats.)
A hidden portal that allows a character to travel to another plane.
A grove of trees that allows someone who completes the ritual to take on a single large animal form if they have wildshape.
An ancient horde of dragon treasure that cannot be moved as it is one massive melted pile of gold that gives someone who performs a ritual there to breathe fire once per week/month/ year.


All of these things could break the game if able to be done more often, but with a large amount of time for recharge, or limiting factors, the locations can be sought after/hoarded/etc but not change the overall scope of the entire world.

[Ruethgar]

A quest to find and mix reagents that produce Universal Solvent might be fun, especially if the solvent was used to open an adamantine vault that had been glued shut.

Along these lines I might suggest Stones of Anihilation from the Negative Energy Plane. Alchemically diluting the powdered stone into the solvent, assuming you are creative enough to handle the stones safely in the first place.

Edit: Also should be noted that Dim Door/Teleport/Plane Shift are available in E6 via Martial Monk 2/Jaunter 4. While they probably won’t be able to make them themselves, they could grant a crafter access, IIRC.