Onyx Skull Magic Item

[DeanW]

One of the players in an upcoming campaign will be playing the necromancer described in this thread.

Sometime during the first encounter, the party may find the Onyx Skull, as detailed in Open Grave on page 58. Below is what I have come up with for this item.

Onyx Skull unattached
Property: At the start of each encounter, roll a d20. On a 1, a skeleton minion is raised, but not under your control. Any skeleton minion that isn’t raised under your control lasts until destroyed.

Onyx Skull attached
lvl 2
Enhancement: +1 attack rolls and damage rolls
Crit: +1d6 necrotic damage
Property: When you cast or attack with skeleton minion, you gain a +1 item bonus to attack rolls and a damage bonus equal to this (implement)’s enhancement bonus. On a critical hit, you deal +1d8 necrotic damage instead of +1d6 necrotic damage.
Property: At the start of each encounter, roll a d20. On a 19 or 20, summon a Skeleton Minion (Necromancer Attack at-will 1) under your control, but do not make an attack with it this turn. On a 1, a skeleton minion is raised, but not under your control. Any skeleton minion that isn’t raised under your control lasts until destroyed. Those raised under your control act as normal. At level 5, if you are a necromancer, a roll of 1 no longer raises a skeleton minion.

Skeleton Minion is a level one at-will for this class. It is on the second page of the class pdf.

This item has some similarities with the level 2 Wand of Magic Missile. I wasn't sure what level to make the item, it felt a tad stronger than Wand of Magic Missile, but also has a downside. Does everything feel balanced? Any ideas for changes? Should the level be changed? (For treasure parcel purposes)

Any recommended changes in wording?

I was also intending on requiring a ritual to attach the skull to the Necromancer's implement of choice. Someone at town will be able to do this for them. Any ideas on at what cost?

[malcolm_n]

From experience, I've had less replies on any posts I've started with PEACH. Try removing that from the title and seeing if you get more apt replies.

That aside, The item looks okay, but a little convoluted. Let me try my hand at cleaning it up and tell me if it still does what you want it to.

Onyx Skull
This dangerous looking skull can be attached to an implement and improve necromantic powers.
Lvl 1___+1___360 gp___Lvl 16___+4___45,000 gp
Lvl 6___+2___1,800 gp___Lvl 21___+5___225,000 gp
Lvl 11___+3___9,000 gp___Lvl 26___+6___1,125,000 gp
Item Slot: Implement (augment)
Property:When this augment is not bound to an implement, roll 1d20 at the beginning of each encounter. On a natural 1, you summon an uncontrolled skeletal minion in an adjacent square which is considered an enemy by you and your allies. The minion lasts until destroyed. You gain no other benefit of this augment unless it is bound to an implement.
Binding to an Implement: During a short rest, you can bind or unbind (but not both) this augment to an implement in your possession. You can only bind it to an implement of its own level or higher. The enhancement bonus of the bound implement becomes this item's enhancement bonus instead. You also gain the following property and power.
___Property: When bound, you add your implement enhancement bonus to the attacks and damage of any skeletal minion you summon. If your skeletal minion scores a critical hit, it deals 1d8 extra damage per plus of the implement.
___Power (Encounter * Necromancy, Summoning):No action. At the beginning of each encounter, roll a d20. When you roll a natural 19 or 20, you summon a skeletal minion under your control in an unoccupied square adjacent to you. This minion lasts until the end of your next turn. On a natural 1, you instead summon an uncontrolled skeletal minion in the same square, which counts as an enemy to you and you allies and lasts until destroyed.
___Level 6 and Higher: If you are a necromancer of 5th level or higher, a natural 1 does not summon an uncrontrolled skeletal minion.

Usually at-will attacks only keep something around until the end of your next turn at best, so that's why I included it. This also handles the issue of attaching it to something and clears up when you can use certain powers/properties. Finally, keeping the skull's enhancement bonus instead of the implement's provides reason to upgrade the skull later instead of buying it once and forgetting about it.

I hope it helps .