Tuesday Magic Item – War Chieftain’s Carnyx

Voddick winced as the war horns sounded again.  “I know they are effective at signally, but I do not like them.”

“Well, our employers do, so we are stuck listening to them,” said Gollaon flexing his swordhand and wrist.  “If we can win here, we will only need to hear them again in the victory celebration.”

“Good enough motive for me,” replied Voddick adjusting his helm.

War Chieftain’s Carnyx

These large horns are usually made of metal shaped and decorated into the form of fantastic animals.  They are usually quite heavy and solidly constructed.

The primary magic of the carnyx is simple, it can be clearly heard up to two miles (3.2km) away even through the din of battle, making it extremely useful for battle field signaling.

If the person sounding the horn has 3 or more ranks of Perform (wind instrument), once a day it can give all allies within 30′ a +2 morale bonus to Constitution and to saves against fear, the increases to Constitution grant the allies one hit point per Hit Dice, but these disappear when the effect ends and are not lost first like temporary hit points.  The bonus last for one minute per rank of perform skill of the sounder, if they are also a Bard, they increase the duration by a number of minutes equal to their Charisma modifier and the morale bonus stacks with that given from rage.

Lastly, sounded by a Bard, they are treated as two levels higher for and when using the Dirge of Doom bardic performance.

Aura moderate transmutation; CL 10th
Slot none; Price 7,500; Weight 4 lbs
Construction Requirements
Craft Wondrous Item, crushing despair, good hope, shout, creator must be a bard; Cost 3,750

Notes: Inspired by the Celtic (mostly) carnyx.  Edit: Made the morale bonuses stack with that provided from rage if the one sounding the carnyx is a bard.

Photo by Kabuto 7 found on wikimedia commons and used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

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