Tuesday Magic Item – Negation Seal (A to Z, N)

Gollaon sauntered around the corner, turned on his heel and came back.  “We have to go,” he said to Voddick.”

“Why?” asked Voddick.

“Imperial Auditor,” Gollaon shot back.

“Oh?  Oh!” said Voddick and hurried to catch up.  “That cannot be good.”

“Indeed not.  I think we should not stick around to see the inevitable conclusion.”

“We can steal horses.”

Negation Seal

These seals bear the mark of their issuing power, by that empress, queen or high priestess, decorated in enamels or colored precious metal and are made from hard metal, often platinum, with the seal itself usually an equally hard stone.  The bearer must take an oath to serve and uphold the law of the issuing power and the seal only work as long as they maintain that oath.

Tuesday Magic Item – Heart Crystal Armor (A to Z, H)

Voddick watched the squad of dwarven warriors troop by, the sunlight glinting on the crystal encasing their bodies.  He gave them a salute as they vanished around the corner.

“It is rare to see so many who have taken the crystal at once,” commented Gollaon.  “I hope it is not a warning of danger to come.”

“Given the symbolism of their arms, I suspect they are part of the sovereign guard of the Ruby hierarchy,” said Voddick.  “Possibly a high level trade meeting.”

“If that is the case, we should see about getting ourselves a cut of the action.”

“Indeed,” said Voddick as they set out to follow the dwarves.

Heart Crystal Armor

This magic armor is rare due to the physical and psychological cost of wearing it, as unlike normal armor, the heart crystal armor is magically and spiritually bonded to the wearer.  It is made up of plates of living crystal that are embedded inside the wearer’s body along the long muscles.  Drawing upon the magic of the character’s blood the crystals to grow until the crystals covers the wearer’s skin, solid plates over muscle and geometric scales over the joints.

Tuesday Magic Item – Bloodline Chain (A to Z, B)

“I see the House’s Matriarch keeps a tight rein on her scions,” said Gollaon.

Voddick nodded.  “I noticed the chains marked with the the house seal as well.  Effective tools of control but not something a free man should wear.”

“Which is only one of a thousand reasons we will never be asked to wear one.”

“Thank the stars for that.”

“Truth.”

Bloodline Chain

This come in a variety of styles, chains worn around the neck, the wrist, ankle, upper arm or even the waist, in all cases though they are masterfully made and decorated with precious metals and even gems.  A mark, usually a seal, of the house they were made for is almost always incorporated into the design.

Airships, Alchemical and Otherwise, in the Sea of Stars (A to Z, A)

Travel and trade between the islands that compose the Sea of Stars is primarily through starships and skyship some people (and groups) try to find other ways to move safely between the islands that is not reliant on rare woods or magic.

The dwarves in particular have sought our other methods of aerial travel to replace their expensive gemburners and crystal ships.  While the Sen’tek seek to use ways to travel that the dragons will not sense.  Others simply seek new innovations and the excitement of air travel.

Various sorts of hot air balloons and semi-rigid airship with lift provided by heated air have been tried but their limited carrying capacity and range have made them impractical for anything beside short range transportation but they are popular at fairs and for aerial surveys.

Use of gasses, such as hydrogen or helium, alchemically refined from natural gas (or other sources) has been tried but both the difficulty of refining and working with such gasses, combined with the flammability of hydrogen, have limited the ability to develop these technologies very far.  Purely alchemical lifting gasses, such a purified air or elemental infused smoke, have had greater success but move into magic adjacent territory which is not the aim of all of the practitioners, but several of the dwarven holds have managed airships carried by such gasbags which are viable if ungainly forms of local air transport.

Notes: Image from the Wellcome Collection and used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Tuesday Magic Item – Stone Smashing Gloves

“Of the many ways to besiege a castle,” said Voddick, holding his shield above his head, “I did not expect to be part of a unit punching their way inside.”

Gollaon nodded, waiting for the smashing sounds to subside.  “It is unexpected but so far efficient.”  He raised his shield to deflect a stone thrown from above.

“How much longer?  The defenders are getting organized.”

“A minute?  They were sure this is the thinnest point of the wall.”

Voddick raised his crossbow and took a shot around his shield.  “Going to be a long minute.”

Stone Smashing Gloves

These gloves range from heavily reinforced leather to fully articulated steel gauntlets, but in all cases the striking surface is made of metal and strongly built.  Runes and magical sigil are inscribed one and around the striking surface and never seems to become illegible no matter how worn the gloves as a whole become.  Supposedly developed for mining, their use quickly shifted to the military field.

They are magical and provide the wearer with a +2 attack bonus and do at least 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage on a strike (the wearer may do more if a monk or has other abilities) and it inflicts an additional 1d6 points of sonic damage.  Against a rigid, non-living target, the sonic damage is increased by 1d6 and it ignores hardness and against stone the sonic damage is further increased to a total of 3d6.

While attacking with the gloves, the wearer has Resistance to Sonic damage of 5 + their Constitution modifier (minimum 0).

Aura moderate evocation; CL 9th
Slot none; Price 31,302; Weight 2 lbs
Construction Requirements
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, bull’s strength, shatter; Cost 15,500 + 302 for the gauntlets

For D&D 5E:

Weapon (glove), rare (requires attunement)

First paragraph as above.

They are magical and provide the wearer with a +2 bonus to attack roll and inflicts at least 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage on a strike (the wearer may do more if a monk or has other abilities) and it inflicts an additional 1d6 points of thunder damage.  Against a rigid, non-living target, the thunder damage is increased by 1d6 and it ignores resistance and against stone the sonic damage is further increased to a total of 3d6.

While attacking with the gloves, the wearer has Resistance to Thunder damage.

Notes: In meta-commentary, this is the companion piece to the Kidney Sling Stone, as I went in for Lithotripsy (which is Latin for stone crushing) on my kidney stone today.  Which seems to have gone well.  Also, I like the image of a dwarf punching through walls.

Gauntlet from the Victoria and Albert Museum and used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Tuesday Magic Item – Warrior’s Carnyx

Voddick had to nearly shout to be heard.  “They do like their horns this lot.”

“It would be unnerving if you were not use to such things,” replied Gollaon.

“Still, better than just standing around in silence, eh?”

“Better than the actual fighting part at least,” replied Gollaon with a grin.

Voddick nodded and grinned back.

Warrior’s Carnyx

The long horns are reinforced and made of metal, suitable for use both as a musical instrument and as a weapon.  They are prized by certain types of warrior-musicians who love both music and battle.

Tuesday Magic Item – Command Flag

Voddick wiped his brow and took a swig from his canteen.  “While I am happy to be working with professionals again, the constant drilling is getting tiresome.”

“Not all have your innate discipline, my friend,” said Gollaon with a grin.

“You seem to have found time away from the drill.”

“My talents are not well suited to walking in a straight line.”

Voddick snorted.  “You can say that.”

Command Flag

These flags come in a variety of styles and complexities from a single color marked with a character to complex designs in decorative threads.  However, they are always of a good size so they can be seen across a battlefield.

These flags convey orders even across the tumult of the battlefield, the orders must be simple, “wheel left” or “stand firm” the limit of complexity would be along the lines of “advance to the bridge and hold it.”  While acting on the order, the soldiers gain a +1 morale bonus to melee damage rolls and to saves against fear.

The flag can issue a magically empowered order as often as every five minutes.  However, the order can only be issued to recognized units of up to one hundred and twenty soldiers that have paraded in front of the flag and the commander.  A commander may have as many flags active as their Charisma modifier (minimum one).

Aura moderate enchantment; CL 9th
Slot none; Price 21,000; Weight 6+ lbs
Construction Requirements
Craft Wondrous Item, mass command or mass suggestion; Cost 10,500

For D&D 5E:

Wondrous item (flag), rare (requires attunment and see below)

First paragraph as above.

These flags convey orders even across the tumult of the battlefield, the orders must be simple, “wheel left” or “stand firm” the limit of complexity would be along the lines of “advance to the bridge and hold it.”  While acting on the order, the soldiers gain advantage on saving throws against fear.

The flag can issue a magically empowered order as often as every five minutes.  However, the order can only be issued to recognized units of up to one hundred and twenty soldiers that have paraded in front of the flag and the commander.  A commander may have as many flags attuned as their Charisma modifier (minimum one) counting all such flags attuned as only a single attunment.

Notes: Flags and banners are a common theme here, it seems like the sort of item that would be made in a magical world.  Not so useful for adventurers but very useful to governments and mercenaries.  Which can make them good targets for capture or destruction (or recovery from tombs) in a more politics and military themed campaign.

Flag of the “Black Flag Army” Musee de l’Armee, Paris, photo by PHGCOM found on Wikimedia Commons and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.