Tuesday Magic Item – Mage Killer Rod

The day had come, years of preparation and hundreds of lives lost, to put all of the pieces in place for the rebellion, the rebellion that would end the tyranny of the sorcerer-king.

Mage Killer Rod

The bravest and strongest took the special rods, built with layers upon layers of prayer and faith, they knew that using them w

ould consume their mortal flesh but would protect their fellows.  The other took the weapons that has be collected, made and smuggled in over the years.

As dawn lightened the skies, the rebels struck.   The sorcerer-kings soldiers fell quickly, the survivors retreating to the citadel where the king’s pawns, sorcerer in their own right were prepared to strike the rebel down with thunder and fire.  But their magics failed them, the rodsmen shatter their spells as they were formed and the citadel fell as the servants inside turned on their hated masters.

Dozen of brave men, new ones taking up the rods as the wielders, spent their lives to guard their friends and family.  The sorcerer-king fought to the last, when his magic could not be countered, it torn through the ranks of the rebels but most of his magics died, as the sorcerer-king did as well.

Mage Killer Rod

These rods were created by a religious sect to battle against the sorcerer-king who oppressed their people and their faith.  These were the items they created to defend the leaders of the uprising, made of intricately carved wood bearing line after line of prayers and protective script, capped with silver, a holy symbol on one end, the mark of death on the other.  The rod is heavier that its construction would imply and any sound made by striking it against something seem muted and hollow.

The Mage Killer Rod can be used as a +1 light mace.  It also provides its owner with a +4 enhancement bonus to the Initiative and to Spellcraft checks.  The primary ability of the rod is its ability to use the life force of the bearer to counter magic, it can do this in two ways:

• When the rod hits a target, the bearer may take 1 point of Strength and Constitution damage to use a targeted dispel (as dispel magic) on the target of the attack (free action).
• The bearer may counterspell a spell as though using dispel magic, to do this the bearer takes an amount of Constitution damage equal to half the spell level (rounded up) and one point of Strength damage if the spell is 4th level or higher (standard action).

For the caster level checks, the bearer uses her own level (with a minimum effective level of 5) and may add the higher of their Charisma or Wisdom modifier to the caster level check, they may also take additional Strength damage for a +1 bonus to the caster level check for each point of damage taken.

Aura strong abjuration; CL 11th
Slot none; Price 37,500; Weight 6 lbs
Construction
Requirements Craft Rod, cat’s grace, death knell, greater dispel magic, geas; Cost 18,750 (+1,500 xp for D&D)

Notes: I wanted to create a way for non-spellcasters to counterspell offensive magic but at a price.

Image adapted from one by Carl Malamud (for public.resource.org) and used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic  license.