Have you ever created an artifact? Please share!

[Patlin]

I had a campaign going once in which the inteneded BBEG (we never actually got this far...) was a Paragon Goblin. This son of Malaglubliyet was preparing to take over the world, and the gods wanted there champions to oppose them. To this end, Kord himself fashioned a weapon of great power: a +3 Golblindread Spiked Chain. The catch: the champions needed to come to Kords home in the outer plains to get it.

While this is an epic magic item rather than an artifact, the difference to the characters (about level 8 at the start of the plane spanning quest) was a bit academic. When last seen, they were in Svartalfheim trying to aquire the 3 rings of major fire resistance they would need to survive the next stage of their trip. The Svartalfheim Drow were interesting NPCs, too.

 

[grodog]

Before I even read your thread, for some inexplicable reasons one thing came to my mind: from the old movie "The Goonies", the organ made of bones and skulls on which they have to play the correct tunes in order to open the secret door and flee, and every wrong note triggers a trap. Then I thought, what a nice artifact it would make if it had some wondrous properties of rallying undead to your command or something, but only if you play it correctly.

Sounds like it could be a variant on Heward's Mystical Organ from Eldritch Wizardry and the 1e DMG