I'm gonna go ahead and post the item. I have enough other crazy ideas I may not use this one, but I'd like to reward those who posted their thoughts.
Enjoy! (And if you can find a way to make this description shorter, please let me know.)
Yladrin's Hammer (legendary, requires attunement)
I am Yladrin, with my mighty hammer!
This warhammer radiates abjuration, evocation, illusion, and transmutation magic.
It has several magical powers, many which function even when you are not attuned to it.
While holding or wielding this warhammer you appear as Yladrin and receive a +1 to attack and damage rolls with it. Your appearance as Yladrin is an illusion, readily revealed by True Seeing, Witch Sight, and similar abilities.
When drawn, the warhammer loudly proclaims, "Glory to Yladrin, with his mighty hammer!" This proclamation can be clearly heard by any creature within 120 feet that is capable of hearing, and sensed by any creature with a tremorsense radius overlapping that area. Roll d10 each minute it is held or each round it is wielded. On a roll of 1, the hammer repeats this proclamation.
Becoming Yladrin
If you are not already Yladrin, it takes time to become Yladrin. You do not need to be attuned to the warhammer for the transformation to progress. To transport Yladrin's hammer without risking transformation it must be packed away securely and never handled for the entire day (touching it to cast Identify does not trigger the transformative effects).
Each day it is otherwise worn, held, or wielded, the warhammer gradually induces a physical change in you so you can become Yladrin. When you experience such a change on a given day, you also suffer corresponding temporary, non-cumulative penalties . If you already share physical qualities with Yladrin, the transformation process skips to the next day, shortening the total transformation time.
- Day 1: Hair color and style, and behavioral quirks, -2 on all CHA ability checks
- Day 2: Weight/build, -2 on all STR ability checks and attack rolls (except with the hammer)
- Day 3: Height, -2 on all DEX ability checks and ranged attack rolls (except with the hammer)
- Day 4: Voice, -2 on all CHA ability checks involving verbal communication as well as your DC for all spells with a verbal component
- Day 5: Gender, -2 on CHA, WIS, and CON ability checks. Also, attunements to magic items break if the items have a gender requirement
- Day 6: Race, -2 on all saving throws. Lose all previous racial features and gain relevant new ones. You do not gain or lose ability bonuses. You do not gain or lose languages or skill proficiencies due to race. You do not gain non-specific features, such as the feat for being a variant human (if Yladrin is a variant human in your world). Also, all attunements to magic items (other than Yladrin's Hammer) break and no new attunements may be started on this day
- Day 7: Facial features, distinguishing marks and character class, no penalties
After a long rest, any completed stages of transformation become permanent and the penalties dissipate, even if you lose the hammer or break your attunement. A Wish spell can revert one stage of a permanent transformation.
A Remove Curse will undo any transformation(s) if it is cast on you before you take your long rest for that day. However, the penalty for the transformation (trauma) remains for the day.
You resume an interrupted or reverted transformation process where it left off if you continue to carry or wield the hammer.
Attunement and Yladrin
After all 7 stages of transformation are complete, you are Yladrin. If you are attuned to the hammer as Yladrin, it grants you several additional abilities when held or wielded:
- +1 to any two abilities, chosen when you attune, but no ability gaining this benefit may exceed 20. If your attunement is broken and re-established, the abilities affected remain the same.
- +1 to AC
- Additional +1 to attack and damage rolls (total +2)
- Additional Extra Attack with the warhammer, which stacks with any existing Extra Attack feature
- When you successfully strike something with the warhammer, you may, as a bonus action, cast Shatter 3x/day as a 4th-level spell. You are NOT inherently immune to the resultant damage. All uses recharge after a long rest.
What is Yladrin like?
Yladrin's description may be tuned to your game world.
Yladrin is definitively a male human fighter (champion), single-classed.
He generally leans to the grandiose, with style and flair to spare. He is 6'2", 220 pounds and has a long, flowing, dark blond mane. He is a classically handsome, with a strong jaw, Roman nose, and high cheekbones. Wide, expressive eyes, broad shoulders and fair, sun-bronzed skin with little body hair introduce a definitively-muscled frame that turns the heads of both men and women.
His dulcet voice can ramp up to a booming volume as is draws deep from his chest. It carries a thick accent that softens harder consonants without slurring or ambiguous pronunciation.
Yladrin tends to absent-mindedly preen and toss his hair back, usually when being emphatic.
Hammer Time
Most of the time, Yladrin takes on the boisterous, confident personality exemplified by his hammer.
In any given town, you might find a Yladrin who has lost his hammer. Yladrin may be morose and withdrawn, drinking his pain away in an inn, or rabidly aggressive, challenging passersby for news of his hammer. Flyers might be posted describing him as a villain in one town, or a hero in another, or offering a reward for the lost hammer.
You might encounter several dead Yladrins throughout your travels, the result of two Yladrins battling for supremacy, or simply a newer Yladrin clearing the area of imposters, posers, and potential threats.
In rare cases, you might even find a gang of (backstabbing) Yladrins out to get the hammer, no matter what it costs them -- after all, only one of them may attune to it. In extremely rare situations, you might have a Cult or Society of Yladrin, commissioned to search for and recover the hammer, or vindictively destroy it (yeah, right).
