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View Full Version : The most ordinary...Or the most extraordinary? [Major Artifacts]



TheLogman
2008-05-12, 12:18 PM
One of the most interesting things about Artifacts is that everyone expect them to be so extravagant and amazing, to display their power in a, well, painfully obvious way. This leads adventurers to seek out the shiniest sword, the biggest book, and the glowiest orb in hopes of finding an artifact.

The next few items are a very violent subversion of that particular ideal. They are not shiny, they are not obvious, they are not extraordinary in appearance.

But they are the most powerful items in the world.

Holy Post-it Note

"You see the warrior bound towards you. He is surrounded by a holy glowing light, and he seems to shrug off even the most powerful of spells and attacks that come his way. Interestingly enough, there seems to be a small piece of parchment stuck to his chest."

The Holy Post-it Note is one of the most unassuming and powerful artifacts of them all. When a one applies to it to their person, the note affixes itself to their armor, clothing, or skin. Only the person that it is stuck to can remove it, and it only comes off when the wearer wills it. For the powers below to work, the person in question must wear the note prominently, in full view for all to see. The Holy Post-it Note grants the following powers to its wearer:

+5 Holy (Stacks with Sacred) Bonus to AC
+7 Holy bonus to Will and Fortitude Saves
+7 Holy bonus to Diplomacy and Intimidate checks
(5) Uses of the Daylight spell per day, CL 20
(3) Uses of Holy Smite per day, CL 20
(2) Uses of Resurrection per year, CL 20

If a creature of the Evil alignment touches the Holy Post-it Note, it gains 10 negative levels. If this number exceeds its levels, it dies. These levels CAN result in actual level loss. If a Neutral creature touches the Holy Post-it Note, it gains 1 negative level, which cannot result in actual level loss.

Supreme Britches of Fortitude

"There was once a common woman, a peasant woman, but she became the greatest peasant of them all, the highest of the low. Still today, her knitting skills are heralded as the greatest of them all, and her works are sought for their supreme power."

A woman whose name has been lost to time was once the greatest commoner of them all. Her exploits are still celebrated today, and even adventurers look up to her. She was the only commoner to reach her level of power, the level of EPIC commoner. Her knitting is looked upon as the greatest pieces of knitting ever made, particularly one pair of simple Britches.

The Britches appear to be a simple, if well made pair of britches, fit only for the lowest of poor commoners. The Supreme Britches of Fortitude grant the following powers to its wearer:

Expeditious Retreat- At all times, suppressing this power is a free action.
Endure Elements- At all times, suppressing this power is a free action.
Bear's Endurance: 3 Times per day, CL 15
Grants SR 10+Character Level
Grants DR 10+Character Level


The Spectacles of Blasting

"Ferdinand was just like any other Wizard at Wizard Collage, except he had a funnier name, so the bullies hurt him a little extra. One day, Ferdinand was pushed over the edge. He was a wizard, he shouldn't have to put up with this kind of thing! For the next 20 years, he sat in his lab, constructing a pair of eyeglasses that were indestructible, aiding in his casting of destructive magic, and make him look cool."

The glasses were lost to time when Ferdinand discarded them for looking "dorky", but little did he know, he succeeded in the other two goals quite nicely. The Spectacles of Blasting are immune to all damage, and are Indestructible and Invincible in every single way, there is really NO way to destroy them. In addition, they have powers of their own, and aid spellcasters that are interested in doing damage. They do however, have drawbacks. The Spectacles of Blasting have the following effects:

+5 Nerd Bonus to Spellcraft checks
-10 Nerd Penalty to all Charisma-based skill checks
-2 Nerd Penalty to Strength and Constitution (This cannot bring either stat to 0 or below)
-True Seeing- At all times suppressing this power is a free action.
-Arcane Eye 3/day, CL 15
- Eyebite 1/day, CL 15
-If an Arcane spellcaster casts a spell that deals hit point damage while wearing these Spectacles, three times per day, the wearer may chose for the amount of damage for that spell to be doubled. The choice must be made while casting the spell.

Any other ideas? I need some inspiration for others.

Obscurejones
2008-05-12, 04:18 PM
If I may suggest a simple looking brown cloth skull cap that grants the following.
Crunch
Immunity to Charm or Compulsion Effects
Immunity to Pain based Effects
Smite Evil as 20th level paladin 5/Day
Heal 10/Day
Fluff
This skull cap was worn by the first martyr in a crusade. He wore it devoutly and it left his head only in death. He was slain for refusing to deny his faith.

It's a little darker than most ideas but I think it fits the Powerfully Plain theme.

DracoDei
2008-05-12, 04:33 PM
Good idea. I like.
For the moment the only thing that comes to mind would be stating up the tititular object from "The Misenchanted Sword"...
A quick stab (Ha ha...) at it (spoilered for those who don't want the plot of the book ruined):

It is quite plain looking... MAYBE masterwork, but certainly merely a practical weapon without any ornamentation or fancy materials what-so-ever. Just simple steel.

Counts as Epic and Adaminitine for the purposes of penetrating DR.

Every time the owner draws it, it WILL kill a human (NEVER the person who drew it, half-humans only get its interest halfway, but will still satisfy it).

Can not be sheathed and is irremovable attached to the owner (but they can transfer it from one part of the body to the other easily) until it has killed a human(see below).

Wields it-self granting a total attack bonus of... oh say +30 if this is more than the wielders after all modifiers. Assume it has a BAB of 20 for purposes of number of attacks per round.

Only the wielder can draw it.

If separated from the owner by more than 50 feet, anyone picking it up will be subtly influenced to bring it to them, and a magical charge will build up that seeks to return the sword to the owner. Assume that it reaches the power level of a Wish after 3 months, with proportionally smaller effects sooner. For instance when buried by the owner it caused a minor local earthquake (flood?) that caused it to be flung onto his doorstep.

Can only be destroyed before it runs out of magic by Mordenkains Disjunction which still only has a 5% chance per casting of working and if successful utterly destroys everything within 200 feet of it. Creatures killed in this way can not be returned to life even by Miracle, Wish, or True Resurrection.

The owner can not die by any means even old age, after reaching the age that they would die of old age they take a -3 aging penalty to physical stats (This can reduce STR and DEX to 0, but CON only to 1) and -1 to all mental stats to a (minimum of 1 each), and this repeats every 10% of the age this happened at. Thus a human who would have died at 90 suffers these penalty at 90, 99, 108, 117, 126, 135, etc. They can still be maimed, driven insane, imprisoned, tortured, cursed (as if owning the sword , etc etc.

Has a certain number of charges for each owner (start it with 50+1d% maybe), after those run out they become the only person who can't draw it, and events conspire so that someone else WILL draw it soon there-after. The previous owner will immediately be the first victim to the new owner. For them it will have 1 less charge than it did for the last owner in the sequence. If this gives them only 1 charge (which they must use to kill the previous owner), then immediately afterwards they kill themselves with it.

Remember, this is just off the top of my head, but there you go.

ikrase
2008-05-12, 06:23 PM
Pen of Unlimited Writing

This looks like a fountain pen worth a few gp's.

It can be used to draw things as if using marvelous pigments. It can create valuble objects but only 2000 gp may be created per week.

It glamers text so as to give +20 Forgery and activates a Suggestion spell if glamer is removed similar to Illusory Text

Once per day, write Explosive Runes, Illusory Text, Arcane Mark, Invisible Text

Gives +10 on spellcraft checks for making scrolls, spellbooks, ect.


Armor of Timely Help

THis consists of a masterwork but unremarkable medium or heavy armor, 2h or greater melee weapon, and/or sheild. It normally gives no special bounus. When the wearer is hit for average 7 or more ability damage, or 20 or more HP damage in one round, he gains DR 40 /magic, SR 50, AC +50 ( works against touch attacks) and hardness 10. He gains +10 strenghth enhnacement as well. THese effects then after will only work on enemies with a CR higher than that of the wearer. THey are not accompanied by any light, strenght or anything else but very good luck.

lord of kobolds
2008-05-14, 03:27 PM
The breeches should give a bonus to profession and craft checks, and the DR/SR aren't going to be that useful for a peasant.