Tuesday Magic Item – Doll Death Rod

Voddick swung his crossbow towards the sound echoing through the abandoned manor.  “I know we are skilled in hunting dangerous sorcerers and warlocks,” he said quietly.  “But why can they not hide in someplace pleasant for once.”

“Dabblers in evil magic do not like witnesses?” ventured Gollaon in reply.

“Well, there is that,” admitted Voddick.

Doll Death Rod

These rods are rare as the magic that powers them is widely considered evil and unpleasant, they are short heavy and -inevitably- a dark color, usually black, with minimal adornment.  It is so named because it leaves the bodies of its victims shrunk to doll-like size.

Even without demonstating its power, the Doll Death Rod has a menacing prescence and if openly displayed, the bearer gains a +5 competence bonus to Intimidation checks.

The power of the rod strikes out to 60′ feet causing the following effect:

• An animate being takes 150 hp of damage, reduced to 3d6+15 hp of damage with a successful Fortitude save (DC 23).  If this kills the being, they and all non-magical gear they wear are reduced to one tenth of its initial size.  If it does not, they are wracked in pain, suffering a -4 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks for 1d6+1 rounds (one round if the Fortitute save was successful).
• Inanimate material, up to 1,500 cubic feet of non-magical material is reduced to one tenth its original size.

The rod has ten charges, but if it kills a being, roll 2d12 and if the total of the roll is less than the HD of the being, it regains one charge.

Aura strong necrourgy; CL 15th
Slot none; Price 60,000; Weight 1 lb
Construction Requirements
Craft Rod, finger of death, polymorph; Cost 30,000

For D&D 5E:

Wondrous item (rod), legendary (requires attunement)

First paragraph as above.

Even without demonstating its power, the Doll Death Rod has a menacing prescence and if openly displayed, the bearer gains advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) rolls.

The power of the rod strikes out to 60′ feet causing the following effect:

• An animate being takes 12d10 hp of necrotic damage, which ignores resistance and immunity is treated as resistance, this damage is reduced to half with a successful Constitution save (DC 19).  If this kills the being, they and all non-magical gear they wear are reduced to one tenth of its initial size.  If it does not, they are wracked in pain, suffering a level of exhaustion.
• Inanimate material, up to 1,500 cubic feet of non-magical material is reduced to one tenth its original size.

The rod has ten charges, but if it kills a being, roll 3d10 and if the total of the roll is less than the HD of the being, it regains one charge.

Notes: Today is the anniversary of the first broadcast of Doctor Who!  So, I wanted to do something Doctor Who themed, this is -of course- a call back to the Master’s Tissure Compression Eliminator. which he used to kill people and leave their miniturized bodies as calling cards.

Image The Master’s TCE found on the TARDIS Data Core, image owned by the BBC but should be fair use.