Magic Item: Contract

[Lysander]

This is a continuation of my project to think up new types of charged magical items, as alternatives to wands and staves. So far I've written up the Sigil Card that is sight activiated, a Stylus that allows recasting a spell from any distance, and a Grail that basically acts like a rechargeable potion. This one is the contract, a document that casts a spell on the signer but creates risk for those who use it.

Contract

A Contract is a piece of parchment that contains fifty charges of a single spell. There are two rows of twenty-five lines each and one charge is used whenever someone signs their true name on a line. Signing a false name spends a charge but doesn't cast a spell.

The spell must be one that targets a single person (the signer), and you must sign in ink or blood. Whatever substance is used becomes permanent and unerasable by any means that doesn't destroy the parchment itself, including magic. Once all fifty lines are signed a Contract becomes an ordinary piece of parchment.

Destruction of a Contract
If a Contract is destroyed before every charge is used each person who signed it is dealt 1d6 damage for each time they signed. If this damage would reduce them below 0 hp there is a DC15 fortitude check to just be left at 0 hp. Otherwise it could prove fatal.

A Contract is considered destroyed if one of the signatures or blank signing lines is ripped, cut, or burned beyond the point of recognition. Minor damage doesn't destroy parchment. Water will not destroy it immediately, but it may rot to the point of destruction if not dried for many days.

Once all fifty lines are signed a parchment is unmagical, and can be destroyed without harming the signers.

[The Mentalist]

I think this one is a bit weak flavor wise, maybe a contract for area of effect spells, the signers all get benefits.

[Lysander]

I think this one is a bit weak flavor wise, maybe a contract for area of effect spells, the signers all get benefits.

This could use a bit more backstory and explanation.

My general idea is that it captures a small part of the signer's soul each time they use it, and only releases those fragments once its magic ends.

So a person could use this fifty times and be free of it without a problem. But the more they use it, the more cautious they would have to be to not let this thing they've bound so much of themselves in come to harm.

The idea is to give players a choice. Should they use a contract sparingly, to avoid risk? Use it heavily but as quickly as possible, almost wastefully, to limit how long they're bound to it? Or just use it at a normal pace without reservation, but be really really careful nothing happens to the parchment? That's not really flavor I suppose, but it is a dilemma players have to figure out.

[Rainbownaga]

This could use a bit more backstory and explanation.

My general idea is that it captures a small part of the signer's soul each time they use it, and only releases those fragments once its magic ends.

So a person could use this fifty times and be free of it without a problem. But the more they use it, the more cautious they would have to be to not let this thing they've bound so much of themselves in come to harm.

The idea is to give players a choice. Should they use a contract sparingly, to avoid risk? Use it heavily but as quickly as possible, almost wastefully, to limit how long they're bound to it? Or just use it at a normal pace without reservation, but be really really careful nothing happens to the parchment? That's not really flavor I suppose, but it is a dilemma players have to figure out.

I'm just imagining how annoyed someone would be if a monster sundered it just as they were about to cast the 50th spell.

[Lysander]

I'm just imagining how annoyed someone would be if a monster sundered it just as they were about to cast the 50th spell.

Yeah, an almost full Contract is not something you would want to take out in the middle of a battle. Not only because of the risk of it being damaged but also because it'd be difficult to have a free moment and free hand to sign it. I imagine most Contracts would be safely kept rolled up in a sealed container during fights, or inside a bag of holding.

Also, a contract being destroyed might not be that bad if its uses were carefully divided up among many people so no one person faces an amount of damage likely to be lethal.