Help me decide what this artifact does, please!

[Buttercup]

Today I went to the local Gem & Mineral Society's annual show and sale. I bought a beautiful 3" diamater sphere of dark blue stone with silver & gold sparkles in it. It looks like the Milky Way on a perfectly clear summer night. I bought it because as soon as I saw it, I realized it would make a great prop. It's totally mysterious and magical looking. In fact, I spent a good 5 minutes just staring at it.

So what uses can all of you brilliant D&D players come up with for my new sphere? I'd like to see some ideas from both the player and the DM point of view.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

1 - It doesn't just look like the milky way. There is an whole galaxy in there! (Yeah, yeah, I know. MIB.)

2 - It is the headstone of a powerful scepter long thought to be lost. What scepter? Err... the Imperial scpeter. Yep. He who wields the Imperial scepter has a legitimate claim to the vacant imperial throne. Of course, first you need to find the rest of the scepter. 'Cause atthe moment all you have is a pretty gem that makes you a tempting target.

 

[Seyrn Lerramir]

An Orb of Stars. A divination item. Allows a mystical type/clerical type/wizard type character/npc to divine a 'horoscope'... With a certain % chance of the things it foretells to be true?
Or use it like the robe of stars, except have it fire its own lil missles

OR!

... Lich Phylactery ...

*grins*

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Ooooh, here is another one;

As the campaign begins, the world is all messed up and has been for several generations. Laws of physics are screwed up. Powerful sorcerers seem to be able to rend reality at will. Unearthly creature roams the land. Etc.

The reason? Some mad wizard captured the spirit of the Universe (Some kind of Overgod figure) and emprisoned it in a gem.

That gem is in the hands of one of the PCs right at the beginning of the campaign. It's presented as an heirlom. It grants some minor boons unless you learn to master it. To avoid PCs suspicion you grant similar items to other players and explain it out as a metagaming ploy to keep low level characters viable in a very dangerous campaign world. They'll buy it. Especially if the campaign is indeed very dangerous right from the start.

How did the gem fall in the end of the PCs family? Well, as soon as the PCs realize that many powerful entities are searching for it (around level 5), they'll have to investigate the past to find their answers.

Once the PC realize his heirlom is incredibly powerful, he'll insist on being able to unlock its secrets. Tell him that he needs item creation feats and he has to spend gold and XP as normal except all the effect will stack on the gem.

 

[Buttercup]

Mal, you're a regular idea factory!

I love the idea of one of the PCs getting it as an inheritance, and having to figure out why so many powerful sorts are on his tail. I also like the scepter idea.

And Seyrn, I never would have thought of it being a phylactery. I suppose I could actually combine both ideas.

I was thinking that the players could find it in a dungeon, and not be able to find anyone to identify it. They would have to travel far and wide looking for a wizard powerful enough to recognize the orb. In the meantime, perhaps it could grant certain benefits which would change, or stack, as they players gained levels? Hmm.

Any other ideas out there?

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

I've got the notion in my head that it could be the dying tear of a god, Celestial, or Ancient dragon. Preferably, IMO, one that sacrificied its life for something or had a burning unfulfilled desire that would be epitomized by the artifact's powers. The tear fell to earth and became a jewel of great power. I suppose you could either have the stone form as a sphere originally, or perhaps it's an ancient artifact, and has been polished by its users. Perhaps to enhance one of its properties.

Sorry this is sparse on details. The idea hasn't really come together in my head yet. Maybe you can still make something of it, though.

 

[Ruavel]

God of Evening & Dreams

The orb is the petrified of a long dead god of Night &/or Dreams... (a little bit Vecna, I know...)

the discovery of the orb was pre-ordained and as they advance in levels, the power still contained in the orb transforms the PCs into 'lesser avatars' by granting each character minor special abilities at each level and eventually (unbeknownst to the players) they become Outsiders that can freely enter the dreams of people around them.

The orb has infact been preparing the PCs to protect the dream realm and the people of their world from ancient evil that is returning... a former enemy (or maybe one-time ally) of the god of the orb seeks to control the world by using minions to take control of people while the sleep & dream...

The world and it's people depend on the Dream Orb Champions...



or something like that...

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

How about a map to the Astral plane. Maybe a gateway as well. That would be an Artifact in power, but not a game killer.

 

[Deadguy]

Hmmm... lots of good ideas already.

One that comes to me is that the Orb is the game world! That is, plan that the 'real' adventures take place inside the Orb. Perhaps a place of eternal night, or a great star-spanning empire (if you fancy something a bit different).

And then let events within the Orb begin to affect the world outside of it. Perhaps that's the Orb's real purpose - a created world to allow some very powerful being to amass the power and forces to overhtrow the 'real' world.

(Confession: that idea is actually based on one of the first D&D campaigns I ever ran. )

 

[Celebrim]

a) It's not an artifact. It is the egg of a creature of such power that it is easily mistaken for a artifact. Fed to much (or enough depending on your perspective) magical energy/life force/wealth and it hatches. What will arrise from it?

b) It's not an artifact. It's is someone's soul. A legendary hero was slain eons ago by a legendary villian. Before the battle, he took the percaution of locking his soul away in a priceless gem. During the battle he was slain, but he also slew his enemy. If a body is provided for the stone, and the proper ritual performed, a great good will be released back into the world. Unfortunately, so will a great evil...

c) It's not an artifact, it is prison of a fallen angel.

d) It is an Artifact. It is the Propylaeum Revephaktory. This artifact unlocks the way between the real world, and the world of possibilities, dreams, and illusion. It is rumored to have some or all of the following powers, and these are probably but a tiny portion of its powers in the hands of a wizard who has studied its potential: Ghost Sound (at will), Augury (at will), Contact Other Plane (once per hour, but always contacts equivalent of astral planar or higher level being), Disintegrate (once per day), Gate (once per day, called creatures always have the Paranormal template (not the ELH one!)), Wish (once per week), Maze (three times per day), Minor Creation (at will), Mirage Arcana (once per day), Nightmare (once per day), Phantasmal Killer (three times per day), and Shades (three times per day). But mortals best beware the awesome power of the stone, for its keepers seldom survive long enough to impart its secrets to others. They have a chilling habit of simply disappearing never to be seen again. (Object turns its powers randomly against whoever remains in proximity to it, as well as other more esoteric complications).

e) It is an Artifact. It is the Orb of the Everwell. This artifact is sacred to the Marids, and is said to contain the pure primal essence of water locked safely beneath its imprenetrable surfuse. Should an evil being find a way to release it, he might also find a way to control and shape this essence to better suit his wishes - resulting in water throughout the multiverse becoming a tainted thing of evil rather than the blessing it normally is. The bearer of the stone has the fulls powers of a Ring of Elemental Command, and gains other powers as it is mastered. But there are likely to be complications for carrying around something with greater influence over the nature of the cosmos than most deities.

f) It is an Artifact. It is the Heart of the World. This artifact is (in modern terms) the central processing unit governing the motion of an entire world (either the earth or its moon or some other planet conveinent to the setting). It has the following known powers, and likely many other powers besides: Triple Widened Earthquake (at will, but always centered on and effecting bearer unless a spellcraft DC 80 check is made), Reverse Gravity (at will, but always centered on and effecting bearer unless a spellcraft DC 90 check is made), Control Winds (at will, as above, DC 60), Control Weather (at will, as above, DC 70), Control Water (at will, as above, DC 40). Don't drop it...