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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Grand Armor of the Ancient Archons (Legendary Cursed Item)



KittenMagician
2018-08-23, 01:00 AM
had this idea for a fight where the players cant actually kill (or even harm) the creature they are fighting but they are trying through a show of arms trying to earn his/her respect but i needed a way to show how they cant do anything to him. they can convince him to give up the armor but he decided thousands of years ago to carry the burden of this cursed armor (high DC check). but this is it
this was just an idea and i dont know if i will implement it

Grand Armor of the Ancient Archons
Legendary Item, Cursed

AC 15, Stealth -10

This is a set of 9 suits of very heavy armor connected to each other magically. They render the wearer invulnerable to all damage, being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, incapacitated, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, or stunned. The creature can also not be healed. The wearer may, as a bonus action, teleport between any of the suits of armor, but can only occupy and operate one of them at a time.

Once donned the armor cannot be taken off again unless both the wearer and another creature that can wear the armor agree to switch places in which case one suit that is not occupied will open allowing the new creature to enter. After the new creature is sealed in the the armor the original wearer is in will open, allowing it to leave. This exchange can only occur once every hundred years and during it the armor's teleportation powers are deactivated. Air can still get into the armor (for breathing) and it is not water tight. The face is completely covered while wearing the armor. Each day at dawn the armor sucks 1 hit point from the wearer. If the wearer dies their soul is trapped within the armor becoming a ghost that can still operate the armor.

DM note: the curse can be broken if 9 willing creatures that aren't undead occupy all the suits and all of them successfully make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, this saving throw is made again every day at dawn until all nine creatures succeed. When all 9 creatures successfully make the saving throw on the same day, all of the suits crumble to dust.

JeenLeen
2018-08-27, 09:49 AM
Is it purposeful that the armor-wearing can drown? It sounds like 'yes', but want to make sure.

Mechanically, you might need to state something about the ghost still being bound inside the armor and the armor still impacting the ghost. I'm not sure of the 5e rules for ghosts using physical stuff.
You might also want to add a bonus to Turn/Destroy undead, lest the ghost be dispersed via such means. And can't spells that hurt undead still hurt it?

Beyond the mechanics, I think for this fight to be perceived as fair by your players, they need some way to know what's up before the fight happens. We don't have the context, so maybe you have this, but if they go in thinking it's a normal fight and find out nothing works... that feels cheap & confusing.

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Also, if a ghost is 'wearing' the armor, does that prevent another living person from wearing it and getting cursed? Can a ghost move on to its proper resting place by letting someone else take on the burden?

KittenMagician
2018-08-27, 08:03 PM
Is it purposeful that the armor-wearing can drown? It sounds like 'yes', but want to make sure.

Mechanically, you might need to state something about the ghost still being bound inside the armor and the armor still impacting the ghost. I'm not sure of the 5e rules for ghosts using physical stuff.
You might also want to add a bonus to Turn/Destroy undead, lest the ghost be dispersed via such means. And can't spells that hurt undead still hurt it?

Beyond the mechanics, I think for this fight to be perceived as fair by your players, they need some way to know what's up before the fight happens. We don't have the context, so maybe you have this, but if they go in thinking it's a normal fight and find out nothing works... that feels cheap & confusing.

---
Also, if a ghost is 'wearing' the armor, does that prevent another living person from wearing it and getting cursed? Can a ghost move on to its proper resting place by letting someone else take on the burden?

so the idea is that this long forgotten hero from millennia ago acquired much fame and tons of magical gear and even took on curses and cursed item on purpose to protect people from them. the armor binds him and keeps him within the physical realm. maybe ghost is the wrong creature to put here but i did forget to put an immunity to turning for undead. there is a chance the party could could convince him to give them the armor. if they do then whoever takes it can still die but not to normal damage (drowning or suffocation or the armor's somewhat vampiric nature). this forgotten hero is pure good and the fight is more of a challenge of skill than a "kill the boss" fight. the way to end it successfully is to land a crit (nat 20) or deal a certain amount of damage in one turn. upon winning the hero heals them (as if it were a long rest (there is a bit of a dungeon leading up to this)) and then each suit has magical weapons that he equipped to the suits which he allows each party member to take one and give them some other random stuff like potions.