Tuesday Magic Item – Intelligencer’s Hive

Voddick shooed a bee away from his drink.  “The bees are particularly busy today.”

“Price you pay for good mead,” replied Gollaon with a smile.

“Truth.”  Voddick nodded.

“But it does seem a bit late in the season,” mused Gollaon.  “And it is a little odd to see them around so many people.”

Voddick frowned.  “It is magic, isn’t it?  It is always magic.”

Intelligencer’s Hive

This magic item consists of two components, a piece of jewelry (usually a broach) emblazoned with a bee, hive or hexagon pattern and a gold disc with a matching pattern.  The disc must be placed in a bee hive to function.

The wearer of the jewelry gains a sense of what is going on, in a rather vague way, in the areas to bees travel through in their daily tasks, and the wearer can nudge them toward certain areas as well.  This translates to a +4 competence bonus to gather information checks anywhere the bees can observe as the wearer has a sense of the ebb and flow of the social scene.

Unfortunately, bees are not very good at recognizing people or understanding sentient communication.  But if the wearer eats honey from the hive, they can gain insight into a person the bees have seen, this can be done up to once a day and gives the wearer a +4 insight bonus on one Charisma or Wisdom based skill check against them.  The honey can also be made into mead, this requires seven days worth of honey and six months of fermentation, the use of mead requires the use of the jewelry’s magic for the day and allows the wearer to see through the eyes of the bees (only slightly disorienting) for 5d6 minutes.

Additionally, the wearer  gains a +4 resistance bonus to Fortitude saves against insect venom.

Aura faint divination; CL 5th
Slot neck; Price 4,500; Weight –
Construction Requirements
Craft Wondrous Item, clairvoyance, summon swarm; Cost 2,250

For D&D 5E:

Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)

First paragraph as above.

The wearer of the jewelry gains a sense of what is going on, in a rather vague way, in the areas to bees travel through in their daily tasks, and the wearer can nudge them toward certain areas as well.  This translates to advantage on any rolls to gather information anywhere the bees can observe as the wearer has a sense of the ebb and flow of the social scene.

Unfortunately, bees are not very good at recognizing people or understanding sentient communication.  If the wearer eats honey from the hive, they can gain insight into a person the bees have seen, this can be done up to once a day and gives the wearer advantage on one Charisma or Wisdom roll against them.  The honey can also be made into mead, this requires seven days worth of honey and six months of fermentation, the use of mead requires the use of the jewelry’s magic for the day and allows the wearer to see through the eyes of the bees (only slightly disorienting) for 5d6 minutes.

Additionally, the wearer  gains advantage on saving throws against insect venom.

Notes: A useful if odd magic item and I like bees. Obviously, much more useful in a warmer climate.

Photo “Bees in hive” by Jess Pac is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Edit: New notes: It looks like bees in the US are bouncing back and it is a fascination industry.

Save

Save

Save

Save