Tuesday Magic Item – Agent’s Seal

Voddick caught Gollaon’s elbow and led him away from the new arrival.  “Not a conquest to pursue,” Voddick said quietly, “an Agent of the Imperium.”

“Indeed?” said Gollaon glancing back. “They are rare.”

“And dangerous.”

“Good point.  Perhaps we should go and get a drink?”

Agent’s Seal

These seals serve both as identification and a way to secure communications for agents of a power, they are standardized within each organization and follow a pattern: made of a hard material, usually metal, sometime carved stone or wood, showing the symbol of the organization, inscribed with the name of the bearer and set with a crystal or gem.

These items are attuned through arcane ritual and magic to their bearer, when they announce their name and station, the gem ignites with a unique glow.  The bearer has a general sense of where their seal is in relation to them as they will.  If the attuned bearer is slain, the gem cracks and the badge ages, making it difficult to steal and use.

Presenting the seal and announcing one’s position is a clear invocation of authority providing a +5 circumstance bonus to Intimidation checks and to Diplomacy check with those that are aligned with the authority, however, it causes a -5 circumstance penalty to Diplomacy checks to those opposed to the power the seal represents.

Used to seal official correspondence, it arcane locks the correspondence and makes it obvious if the seal is broken or the correspondence tampered with except by someone with the proper key.

[Magic items creation information to come.]

For D&D 5E:

Wondrous item (seal), uncommon (requires attunement, see below)

First paragraph as above.

These items are attuned through arcane ritual and magic to their bearer (though it does not require an attunement slot), when they announce their name and station, the gem ignites with a unique glow.  The bearer has a general sense of where their seal is in relation to them as they will.  If the attuned bearer is slain, the gem cracks and the badge ages, making it difficult to steal and use.

Presenting the seal and announcing one’s position is a clear invocation of authority providing advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) rolls and to Charisma (Persuasion) check with those that are aligned with the authority, however, it causes a disadvantage with Charisma (Persuasion) checks to those opposed to the power the seal represents.

Used to seal official correspondence, it arcane locks the correspondence and makes it obvious if the seal is broken or the correspondence tampered with except by someone with the proper key.

Notes: Inspired partly by the two FBI agents in uniform I saw today and party on a half-remembered sequence from Randall Garrett’s Lord Darcy series (available here, there are a good read, link is an affiliate link).

Image “Badge (probably Mounting from Horse Harness)” by Spanish via The Metropolitan Museum of Art is licensed under CC0 1.0