Tuesday Magic Item – Soldier Box

“I had hoped for more support when we were assigned to this outpost,” said Voddick.  “It is a good little fort but our numbers are few and the army said to be marching towards us is not.”

“I think we are being used as bait for a trap,” said Gollaon.  “Have you not noticed the boxes placed carefully around the fort?”

“I had, I was thinking they were ammunition.  But . . .” Voddick pondered.  “Soldier boxes?”

Gollaon nodded.  “I think so.  The small garrison can be suddendly expanded but anyone watching will just have seen supplies being brought in.”

“Clever, though I am not happying being the worm used to bait the hook.”

Soldier Box

These boxes are not large, usually, and are sometimes battered having survived being dragged from battlefield to battle field, others are decorated and well cared for, often the possessions of nobles.  It all cases, it is what they contain that make them useful.

The vast majority of these boxes hold one soldier, a much smaller number hold two, and a very rare handful hold more (and are known as Army Boxes).

The soldier inside, which is usually about a foot (30cm) tall, when marked with a drop of blood costing the user 1d4+1 hit points, which cannot be healed until the soldier is deactivated or destroyed.  The soldier grows to full sized ceramic soldier for one hour, following the order of the person who marked it.  If the soldier is destroyed during this time, the person who activated the soldier takes an additional 1d4+1 hit points of damage.

Once the soldier deactivates it, shrinks back down to its original size.  Placed back inside the box, it will heal five hit points each day it is left unactivated.  If the soldier is destroyed and more that half of its pieces can be recovered and placed back in the box with some of the owner’s blood (3d4 hit points worth) and it was start to rebuilt itself taking 5D6 days.

Aura strong transmutation; CL 9th
Slot none; Price 2,500 per place for a soldier + the cost of the ceramic soldier; Weight 5+ lb
Construction Requirements
Craft wondrous item, mending, shrink item; Cost 1,250 per place for a soldier + the cost of the ceramic soldier

For D&D 5E:

Wondrous item (box), uncommon (single soldier box), rare (two soldier box), very rare (army box)

First paragraph as above.

The soldier inside, which is usually about a foot (30cm) tall, when marked with a drop of blood costing the user 1d4+1 hit points, which reduce the user’s hit point maximum by the same amount until the soldier is deactivated or destroyed.  The soldier grows to full sized ceramic soldier for one hour, following the order of the person who marked it.  If the soldier is destroyed during this time, the person who activated the soldier takes an additional 1d4+1 hit points of damage.

Once the soldier deactivates it, shrinks back down to its original size.  Placed back inside the box, it will heal seven hit points each day it is left unactivated.  If the soldier is destroyed and more that half of its pieces can be recovered and placed back in the box with some of the owner’s blood (3d4 hit points worth) and it was start to rebuilt itself taking 5D6 days.

Notes: Another item that sort of has to do with soldiers to end the month on and today is the anniversary of the discover of the Terracotta Army so it just fell together nicely.

Image photo by ·˙·ChinaUli2010·.· found on WikiMedia Commons and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.