Do You Have An Ioun Stone?

[Maldin]

My namesake has a +1 caster level (yup, he started out as a 1E character, was converted to 2E, and there he, and my campaign, still sit). He rarely uses it though, only to boost spell casting when he needs it during tough battles, and when the enemy has already learned the hard way that he's carrying some pretty potent magic. An orbiting ioun stone isn't gonna reveal anything new at that point.

Denis, aka "Maldin"
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com

 

[Gez]

Apart from dull grey stones with continual flame cast on them (hand-free torch!), never got one of them.

I like them. Yeah, it's dorky to have gems orbiting your head. But that's precisely the point. They're a status symbol for powerful and arrogant wizards.

I guess they're more popular among people who've read Jack Vance's Dying Earth series. Also, I think I'll do like Vance and make them natural. You can't craft these items. You have to find them, or mine them yourself -- knowing they're only naturally found in the heart of dead stars...

 

[hong]

I guess they're more popular among people who've read Jack Vance's Dying Earth series. Also, I think I'll do like Vance and make them natural. You can't craft these items. You have to find them, or mine them yourself -- knowing they're only naturally found in the heart of dead stars...

MARILYN!!!!*



* Not Elvis, because he's, like, not dead, y'know

 

[Gez]

MARILYN!!!!*

When I saw you replied just after me, I knew what you had posted.

 

[hong]

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who post straight lines, and those who take advantage of them.

 

[hong]

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who post straight lines, and those who take advantage of them.

If you know what I mean, and I think you do.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Are ioun stones very ubiquitous? It sounds like they are, but when I read stat blocks... they don't look very ubiquitous.

Do you have an ioun stone? Your character, I mean.

What colour, how many, and how did you get them?

At one point in Piratecat's storyhour, the defenders of daybreak rescued a timetrapped 'Congenio Ioun' - the inventor of the Ioun stone in that reality. When Emporer Ioun appeared in public he was typically orbited by a cloud of extra-powerful ioun stones...

You can see 21 of these ioun stones in this thread here http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2393014&postcount=1142 - but remember, this is Piratecats secret 'challenge my players' thread, so please don't post anything from that thread in this one. Thanks!

 

[Theron]

Yes, with a "But," because it's not your average Ioun Stone. It's a campaign-specific item, possibly one of a kind we've nicknamed the "Ioun Bludger." It's a fist-sized lead gray ball of metal that imparts a single +5 melee attack against an adjacent target doing 1d10+1 bludgeoning damage. Since my PC is a grappling specialist, it's pretty handy, but since we're in a setting where overt magic is illegal, he only puts it "in orbit" when a fight is imminent and the authorities aren't watching.

 

[sniffles]

Never had a character who had one. Never that I can recall played in a party with anybody who had one or DM'd for anybody who had one. In other words, in all my years of playing D&D I don't recall ever seeing one in play. However, having fairly recently read the Jack Vance story "Morreion," where they originate (and where fwiw they're consistently spelled in all caps -- IOUN stones) that may change -- not for typical/standard/low-mid level play, but I'm liking the visual of high level wizards with clouds of these things following them around.

As I recall the IOUN stones in Vance didn't orbit the head of the user. I'll have to go reread the story, though. Must go dig out my copy of the collected Dying Earth stories...

I like the idea of ioun stones because they're weird. I think some magic items should be weird. But I do think they're overly expensive in 3.5 for the benefits they grant, particularly if they only grant those benefits while in orbit. I don't recall if the description states that's how they work, but that's how my group has always handled it.

 

[Markn]

We houseruled a long time ago that as long as they were in your pocket, they worked. The whole rotating above your head things is soooooooooooooo goofy.