Artifacts
- Thread starter demiurge1138
- Start date
Quasqueton
First Post
A golden human skull, with a small slot on the top of its cranium. Drop a gold coin in the slot (up to 3 times per day), ask a yes or no question, and get an answer. The PCs figured it was just using a simple commune spell, and they didn't give it a lot of use during the month or two they had it.
When they took it to the big city and had it officially identified (no PC had the spell), word of it got around to the Thieves' Guild. The TG then paid the PCs for the opportunity to ask the skull some questions. Under the supervision of the PCs, two thieves, posing as nobles, asked it some specific but seemingly mundane questions. "Did the widow Sophie kill her husband?" "Is my son in his room at our home?" Etc. The answers meant nothing to the PCs, but the TG realized the power of the item.
The skull answers with absolute accuracy, regardless of divination-interfering spells. For instance, the thieve's son sitting in his room at home was under several screen-type spells to prevent divinations and scryings, and there was an illusion of him elsewhere in public. But the gold skull answered correctly.
The skull would give one of four answers: Yes, No, Yes and No, Unknowable. It could only give factual-based answers. It could not predict the future ("unknowable"), but its knowledge of facts spanning all the world and all the universe and planes was perfect. To an adventuring party, the skull was not particularly powerful. But to a thieves' guild or a king's court or a sage guild, it was priceless. The TG was most interested in just keeping it out of the king's court. The PCs sold it in the end during a "campaign upheaval". Now the TG has it buried away in its secret vaults.
Quasqueton
When they took it to the big city and had it officially identified (no PC had the spell), word of it got around to the Thieves' Guild. The TG then paid the PCs for the opportunity to ask the skull some questions. Under the supervision of the PCs, two thieves, posing as nobles, asked it some specific but seemingly mundane questions. "Did the widow Sophie kill her husband?" "Is my son in his room at our home?" Etc. The answers meant nothing to the PCs, but the TG realized the power of the item.
The skull answers with absolute accuracy, regardless of divination-interfering spells. For instance, the thieve's son sitting in his room at home was under several screen-type spells to prevent divinations and scryings, and there was an illusion of him elsewhere in public. But the gold skull answered correctly.
The skull would give one of four answers: Yes, No, Yes and No, Unknowable. It could only give factual-based answers. It could not predict the future ("unknowable"), but its knowledge of facts spanning all the world and all the universe and planes was perfect. To an adventuring party, the skull was not particularly powerful. But to a thieves' guild or a king's court or a sage guild, it was priceless. The TG was most interested in just keeping it out of the king's court. The PCs sold it in the end during a "campaign upheaval". Now the TG has it buried away in its secret vaults.
Quasqueton
Psion
Adventurer
Anyaways, onto artifact stories.
Inspired by the Rhinegold myth, I made a cursed gold in my game called the faegold. Extremely potent magic, but cursed.
A fallen solar who fell because of his lust for gold was cursed by his god to never be able to near gold again... all gold in the vicinity turned to lead.
Except, you guessed it, the faegold.
So when some hapless PCs release him from his prison, he goes about gathering all the faegold (by means of geasing the PCs...).
Long story short, the PCs of the time manage to slay the solar (with the help of a sorceress with ulterior motives). But they never deal with the faegold.
Years later, a powerful wizard possessed by a lovecraftian entity gathers the faegold and forges it into a staff that can be used to cause cataclysms. A later group of PCs destroys the wizard in a cataclysm that causes destruction for hundreds of miles.
But, guess what - artifacts aren't easily destroyed, and the faegold staff is no exception. A third group of PCs stumble onto the fact that the staff has been recovered by an enemy empire, or rather, its leading priesthood. The head priest starts a ritual with the staff that will basically involve calling down a comet on the world, sacrificing the world so that his deity can shift a plane of frozen ancient (pre-baatezu) devils to his own and take control of them in his mad quest for power.
My intent at this point was that the PCs would have to seek out the one woman who could wield the one sword that can destroy the faegold staff to prevent the cataclysm.
But you can't really predict what PCs are going to do, can you. The PCs had a deck of cards that let them jaunt about a number of places, opening gates to other worlds. So they start chucking cards at the staff until it gets pulled into another plane, the elemental plane of water to be exact.
So the destruction of the world was abated, but it probably caused some cataclysms on the watery plane where it went. You can bet this is a bit of backstory that I have been waiting to use.
Inspired by the Rhinegold myth, I made a cursed gold in my game called the faegold. Extremely potent magic, but cursed.
A fallen solar who fell because of his lust for gold was cursed by his god to never be able to near gold again... all gold in the vicinity turned to lead.
Except, you guessed it, the faegold.
So when some hapless PCs release him from his prison, he goes about gathering all the faegold (by means of geasing the PCs...).
Long story short, the PCs of the time manage to slay the solar (with the help of a sorceress with ulterior motives). But they never deal with the faegold.
Years later, a powerful wizard possessed by a lovecraftian entity gathers the faegold and forges it into a staff that can be used to cause cataclysms. A later group of PCs destroys the wizard in a cataclysm that causes destruction for hundreds of miles.
But, guess what - artifacts aren't easily destroyed, and the faegold staff is no exception. A third group of PCs stumble onto the fact that the staff has been recovered by an enemy empire, or rather, its leading priesthood. The head priest starts a ritual with the staff that will basically involve calling down a comet on the world, sacrificing the world so that his deity can shift a plane of frozen ancient (pre-baatezu) devils to his own and take control of them in his mad quest for power.
My intent at this point was that the PCs would have to seek out the one woman who could wield the one sword that can destroy the faegold staff to prevent the cataclysm.
But you can't really predict what PCs are going to do, can you. The PCs had a deck of cards that let them jaunt about a number of places, opening gates to other worlds. So they start chucking cards at the staff until it gets pulled into another plane, the elemental plane of water to be exact.
So the destruction of the world was abated, but it probably caused some cataclysms on the watery plane where it went. You can bet this is a bit of backstory that I have been waiting to use.
demiurge1138
Inventor of Super-Toast
Psion said:
I agree. Most artifacts these days seem to mostly replicate spells (and they're easy to resist, DC wise). The best artifacts are still the old ones, like the Deck of Many Things. I wonder, has anyone been able to use this item and not derail a campaign? I put one into my campaign to see what would happen, lost five characters (another player drew the wishes card and used it to free the imprisioned ones and find where the voided one were kept) and the party dynamic, thanks to Balance, shifted from mostly Lawful Evil to mostly Chaotic Good.
And they lost the Item of Plot to a character who didn't get recovered.
I'm still working to get the campaign back on some track or other.
Demiurge out.
Aaron L
Hero
In my game I have the Black Sword Magnefarious, that bears the Eye of Abomination, and was formed when Abomination was chained to the dark side of the moon. It's wielder is always the Red Eyed One, an individual who stumbles onto the blade by a combination fate, choice, and random misfortune. Magnefarious must be weilded at least a few decades every few centuries in order to bleed off excess energies created by the chaining of Abomination, otherwise the buildup may free It. The constellation of the Eye will appear in the night sky whenever the time has come for the Red Eyed One to walk again.
The birght twin of Magnefarious is Xipherion, a holy avenger with the duty of guiding and protecting the Red Eyed One, and to limit his destruction as much as possible. It's wielder is termed the Black Knight, and a black suit of adamantine full plate armor goes with the office.
The Black Knight is almost always aided OR hindered by the White Hand, the wielder of a silver gauntlet that can harness the power of light and darkness. Sometimes they are fast friends, and sometimes archenemies.
These are the only artifacts I have detailed for my game so far.
Deck of Many Things comment: I was in a game a few months ago where the wood elf ranger (9 Int) chose to draw 3 cards, and then proceded to draw the Idiot card 3 times in a row. He ended up with a 4 Intelligence I believe.
The birght twin of Magnefarious is Xipherion, a holy avenger with the duty of guiding and protecting the Red Eyed One, and to limit his destruction as much as possible. It's wielder is termed the Black Knight, and a black suit of adamantine full plate armor goes with the office.
The Black Knight is almost always aided OR hindered by the White Hand, the wielder of a silver gauntlet that can harness the power of light and darkness. Sometimes they are fast friends, and sometimes archenemies.
These are the only artifacts I have detailed for my game so far.
Deck of Many Things comment: I was in a game a few months ago where the wood elf ranger (9 Int) chose to draw 3 cards, and then proceded to draw the Idiot card 3 times in a row. He ended up with a 4 Intelligence I believe.
Last edited:
Heretic Apostate
First Post
Deck of Many Things: Anyone use Sean Reynolds' version?
http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/magicitems/deckofpastandfuture.html
http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/magicitems/deckofpastandfuture.html
