Presto2112
Explorer
This is a legacy item that I've introduced into my homebrew. It's actually the third one I've brought in, but the first one that a PC has shown any interest in.
Staff of Ornan
The Staff of Ornan is a neutral grey quarterstaff, made from some unknown type of extremely durable alien wood. The shaft of the staff is unadorned and perfectly cylindrical, and each end is capped with a perfect geometrical shape: a tetrahedron on one end, and a sphere on the other.
Nonlegacy Statistics: masterwork / +1 quarterstaff. The sphere end is the end with the magical enhancement. Cost 3000 gp. When holding the Staff of Ornan, you can reroll any random effect that isn’t an attack or damage roll, a saving throw, or an ability or skill check, and choose whichever result is more advantageous.
Omen: If left standing on either end, the Staff of Ornan will stand perfectly erect, requiring at least a strong wind or a DC 5 Strength Check to knock it over.
History
Ornan was an influential monk, and one of the mysterious race known as the githzerai who dwell on the Plane of Limbo. The people of his monastic order bore the same sufferable fate as the rest of his race – to find solace and inner peace, inhabiting a plane of utter chaos. Ornan’s githzerai were beset on all sides by slaadi and other denizens of the plane, as well as their millennia-old enemy, the githyanki. (DC 15)
In addition, Ornan was always onset by the swirling chaos that was Limbo itself, forever surrounding him with the purest essence of chaos, calling out to him; the Plane spoke to him in his waking hours, screaming words of chaos. Limbo screamed at him in his dreams, projecting swirling colours and random, nonsensical images of madness into his mind’s eye. It took everything his will could muster, but he managed to beat back the mental onslaughts of his people’s adopted homeland. Some, however, lacked the mental fortitude and succumbed to the surrounding madness. After his own brother underwent such a drastic fall, Ornan decided to do something that no one else would have thought possible. He intended to bring order and harmony where none could exist. (DC 18: Adhere to Law)
Ornan instructed nine of the order’s most powerful clerics and sorcerers to travel to the Plane of Mechanus and create an artifact called the Cogs of Order, which would be constructed from the very cogs of Mechanus. The cogs of this artifact would turn and crank, and ideally generate a massive aura of pure law, effectively emulating the Plane that the cogs were extracted from. Anywhere else, this aura would span for leagues. However, when the man-sized artifact was finally completed, eleven years after Ornan commissioned it, the githzerai of Limbo discovered that even generating at full capacity, the aura generated by the Cogs of Order reached no farther than a radius of one-half mile within that infinite span of chaos. Ornan was disappointed but pragmatic about the results of the grand construction. A mile-wide bubble of sanctuary in the heart of anarchy was better than nothing at all, and so Ornan’s Order, as it came to be known, dwelled within this bubble of Law, maintain the Cogs of Order and rarely venturing outside. (DC 25: Law Within Chaos)
Like a candle in the dark, the artifact’s actual influence spread only very little, but it shone like a beacon for leagues across the Plane of Limbo. Powerful natives of the plane soon discovered the source of the alien sensation and were incensed by what they found. The slaadi, chaos beasts, and other creatures native to the realm quickly became determined to eradicate what they considered an affront to their home. Ornan was taken aback by the reaction of the emissaries from beyond the Bubble, who insisted that the Cogs of Order be destroyed, but he refused, insisting that the githzerai had the right to exist in comfort as much as the slaadi and others did. Incensed, the chaotic natives figured the only recourse was to launch an assault on the bubble and destroy the artifact themselves. The slaadi recruited from the Abyss to help eradicate the githzerai, and very quickly and without warning lay siege to the Bubble. Many of the lesser within the ranks were immensely uncomfortable entering the small sanctuary of Law, and at the start it made the siege almost ineffective, but the death salads and greater demons which commanded the forces managed to bully them into the monastery, where the steadfast githzerai valiantly fought off their entropic foes. Ornan himself was instrumental in the fight, keeping the githzerai in formations that were able to separate their enemies and dispatch of them in large numbers, until Ornan was confronted by a massive balor. The demon and Ornan fought all across the Bubble, the balor cutting deep into Ornan’s flesh, and Ornan scoring thunderous blows with his thick quarterstaff. It was at the foot of the Cogs of Order itself where the balor stabbed deeply at Ornan and forced him to his knees. Facing his doom, but unwilling to acquiesce what he’d worked so hard for, Ornan tapped the end of his staff to the Cogs of Order, and the staff acted as a conduit of pure lawful energy that focused into a beam which fatally struck the balor. Its death throes killed Ornan instantly, as well as every fighting githzerai, slaad, and demon nearby, and those surviving enemies saw what Ornan and the Cogs did to their most powerful general, and quickly decided to flee. When Ornan’s followers went to find out what happened to their leader, they found only the dead balor and Ornan’s staff, which was now standing on one end, as if it was standing as a guardian of the Cogs of Order. (DC 31: Eradicate Chaos)
Legacy Rituals
Three rituals are required to unlock all the abilities of the Staff of Ornan.
Adhere to the Law: You must resist at least three temptations to break the laws of the land in order to obtain gains of some kind, whether material, gains of power, or otherwise. Cost: 1,450 gp. Feat Granted: Least Legacy (Staff of Ornan).
Law Within Chaos: You must travel to the Plane of Limbo and seek out Ornan’s Bubble. You must request from the monastic order that dwells within to allow you to stay within the bubble for nine days; while within the Bubble, you are subject to all that the githzerai would request of you, to the best of your ability, and when not in service, you must spend your time in meditation. Cost: 11,000 gp. Feat Granted: Lesser Legacy (Staff of Ornan).
Eradicate Chaos: You must use the Staff of Ornan to defeat a creature with the Chaotic subtype with a CR equal to or greater than your level (maximum CR 20). Cost: 36,400 gp. Feat Granted: Greater Legacy (Staff or Ornan).
Wielder Requirements
Monks would most benefit from the Staff of Ornan, but any character proficient in the quarterstaff who reveres a lawful cause might find the weapon’s abilities useful.
Staff of Ornan Wielder Requirements
Any non-chaotic alignment
Base Will Save +3
Legacy Item Abilities
All the following are legacy abilities of the Staff of Ornan.
Root Out Chaos (Su): Beginning at 5th level, while holding or wielding the Staff of Ornan, you can detect any creature with the Chaotic subtype within 60 feet, but you must concentrate (a standard action) to do so. You ignore any damage reduction of these creatures when attacking them.
Judge: at 7th level, you gain a +2 enhancement bonus to your Wisdom score.
Obedient Wind (Su): At 8th level, you enjoy the continual benefit of an unseen servant, as the spell. If dissipated by 6 or more points of damage from an area attack, or if it ceases to exist by moving more than 35 feet away from you, the servant re-forms 1 round later in any square adjacent to you.
Axiomatic Emergence: Upon attaining 10th level, the spirit of the Githzerai Ornan becomes awakened within the Staff of Ornan, and it becomes a sentient and intelligent item. It can communicate with you telepathically and speaks common and the language of the githzerai, as well as Celestial and Infernal. The staff can hear and see out to 60 feet using darkvision. It gains an Intelligence and Wisdom of 16 and a Charisma of 10. Its alignment is lawful neutral, has 10 ranks in Decipher Script, Sense Motive, and Knowledge (the planes). The item’s ego score is 13 at this stage, but increases as more legacy abilities are unlocked. At 11th level, the ego score increases to 16, at 16th level, it increases to 17, and at 17th level, its Ego score is 18.
Jury: At 13th level, the enhance bonus to Wisdom bestowed by the Staff of Ornan is increased to +4.
No Escape From the Law (Sp): At 14th level, once per day, when you issue the command word and gesture with the tetrahedron end of the Staff of Ornan, you can use dimensional anchor as the spell.
Executioner (Sp): At 18th level, once per day, when you use the command word and gesture with the spherical end of the Staff of Ornan, you can kill one living creature, as the finger of death spell. The save DC is 20, or 17+ your charisma modifier, whichever is higher.
Blind Obedience (Sp): At 19th level, two times per day, when you issue the command word and gesture with the tetrahedron end of the Staff of Ornan, you can use dominate person as the spell. The save DC is 17, or 15 + your Charisma modifier, whichever is higher.
Lawful Protection (Sp): At 20th level, once per day, when you issue the command word and gesture with the spherical end of the Staff of Ornan, you gain the ability to reflect spells back at a foe, as the spell turning spell.
Staff of Ornan
The Staff of Ornan is a neutral grey quarterstaff, made from some unknown type of extremely durable alien wood. The shaft of the staff is unadorned and perfectly cylindrical, and each end is capped with a perfect geometrical shape: a tetrahedron on one end, and a sphere on the other.
Nonlegacy Statistics: masterwork / +1 quarterstaff. The sphere end is the end with the magical enhancement. Cost 3000 gp. When holding the Staff of Ornan, you can reroll any random effect that isn’t an attack or damage roll, a saving throw, or an ability or skill check, and choose whichever result is more advantageous.
Omen: If left standing on either end, the Staff of Ornan will stand perfectly erect, requiring at least a strong wind or a DC 5 Strength Check to knock it over.
History
Ornan was an influential monk, and one of the mysterious race known as the githzerai who dwell on the Plane of Limbo. The people of his monastic order bore the same sufferable fate as the rest of his race – to find solace and inner peace, inhabiting a plane of utter chaos. Ornan’s githzerai were beset on all sides by slaadi and other denizens of the plane, as well as their millennia-old enemy, the githyanki. (DC 15)
In addition, Ornan was always onset by the swirling chaos that was Limbo itself, forever surrounding him with the purest essence of chaos, calling out to him; the Plane spoke to him in his waking hours, screaming words of chaos. Limbo screamed at him in his dreams, projecting swirling colours and random, nonsensical images of madness into his mind’s eye. It took everything his will could muster, but he managed to beat back the mental onslaughts of his people’s adopted homeland. Some, however, lacked the mental fortitude and succumbed to the surrounding madness. After his own brother underwent such a drastic fall, Ornan decided to do something that no one else would have thought possible. He intended to bring order and harmony where none could exist. (DC 18: Adhere to Law)
Ornan instructed nine of the order’s most powerful clerics and sorcerers to travel to the Plane of Mechanus and create an artifact called the Cogs of Order, which would be constructed from the very cogs of Mechanus. The cogs of this artifact would turn and crank, and ideally generate a massive aura of pure law, effectively emulating the Plane that the cogs were extracted from. Anywhere else, this aura would span for leagues. However, when the man-sized artifact was finally completed, eleven years after Ornan commissioned it, the githzerai of Limbo discovered that even generating at full capacity, the aura generated by the Cogs of Order reached no farther than a radius of one-half mile within that infinite span of chaos. Ornan was disappointed but pragmatic about the results of the grand construction. A mile-wide bubble of sanctuary in the heart of anarchy was better than nothing at all, and so Ornan’s Order, as it came to be known, dwelled within this bubble of Law, maintain the Cogs of Order and rarely venturing outside. (DC 25: Law Within Chaos)
Like a candle in the dark, the artifact’s actual influence spread only very little, but it shone like a beacon for leagues across the Plane of Limbo. Powerful natives of the plane soon discovered the source of the alien sensation and were incensed by what they found. The slaadi, chaos beasts, and other creatures native to the realm quickly became determined to eradicate what they considered an affront to their home. Ornan was taken aback by the reaction of the emissaries from beyond the Bubble, who insisted that the Cogs of Order be destroyed, but he refused, insisting that the githzerai had the right to exist in comfort as much as the slaadi and others did. Incensed, the chaotic natives figured the only recourse was to launch an assault on the bubble and destroy the artifact themselves. The slaadi recruited from the Abyss to help eradicate the githzerai, and very quickly and without warning lay siege to the Bubble. Many of the lesser within the ranks were immensely uncomfortable entering the small sanctuary of Law, and at the start it made the siege almost ineffective, but the death salads and greater demons which commanded the forces managed to bully them into the monastery, where the steadfast githzerai valiantly fought off their entropic foes. Ornan himself was instrumental in the fight, keeping the githzerai in formations that were able to separate their enemies and dispatch of them in large numbers, until Ornan was confronted by a massive balor. The demon and Ornan fought all across the Bubble, the balor cutting deep into Ornan’s flesh, and Ornan scoring thunderous blows with his thick quarterstaff. It was at the foot of the Cogs of Order itself where the balor stabbed deeply at Ornan and forced him to his knees. Facing his doom, but unwilling to acquiesce what he’d worked so hard for, Ornan tapped the end of his staff to the Cogs of Order, and the staff acted as a conduit of pure lawful energy that focused into a beam which fatally struck the balor. Its death throes killed Ornan instantly, as well as every fighting githzerai, slaad, and demon nearby, and those surviving enemies saw what Ornan and the Cogs did to their most powerful general, and quickly decided to flee. When Ornan’s followers went to find out what happened to their leader, they found only the dead balor and Ornan’s staff, which was now standing on one end, as if it was standing as a guardian of the Cogs of Order. (DC 31: Eradicate Chaos)
Legacy Rituals
Three rituals are required to unlock all the abilities of the Staff of Ornan.
Adhere to the Law: You must resist at least three temptations to break the laws of the land in order to obtain gains of some kind, whether material, gains of power, or otherwise. Cost: 1,450 gp. Feat Granted: Least Legacy (Staff of Ornan).
Law Within Chaos: You must travel to the Plane of Limbo and seek out Ornan’s Bubble. You must request from the monastic order that dwells within to allow you to stay within the bubble for nine days; while within the Bubble, you are subject to all that the githzerai would request of you, to the best of your ability, and when not in service, you must spend your time in meditation. Cost: 11,000 gp. Feat Granted: Lesser Legacy (Staff of Ornan).
Eradicate Chaos: You must use the Staff of Ornan to defeat a creature with the Chaotic subtype with a CR equal to or greater than your level (maximum CR 20). Cost: 36,400 gp. Feat Granted: Greater Legacy (Staff or Ornan).
Wielder Requirements
Monks would most benefit from the Staff of Ornan, but any character proficient in the quarterstaff who reveres a lawful cause might find the weapon’s abilities useful.
Staff of Ornan Wielder Requirements
Any non-chaotic alignment
Base Will Save +3
Legacy Item Abilities
All the following are legacy abilities of the Staff of Ornan.
Root Out Chaos (Su): Beginning at 5th level, while holding or wielding the Staff of Ornan, you can detect any creature with the Chaotic subtype within 60 feet, but you must concentrate (a standard action) to do so. You ignore any damage reduction of these creatures when attacking them.
Judge: at 7th level, you gain a +2 enhancement bonus to your Wisdom score.
Obedient Wind (Su): At 8th level, you enjoy the continual benefit of an unseen servant, as the spell. If dissipated by 6 or more points of damage from an area attack, or if it ceases to exist by moving more than 35 feet away from you, the servant re-forms 1 round later in any square adjacent to you.
Axiomatic Emergence: Upon attaining 10th level, the spirit of the Githzerai Ornan becomes awakened within the Staff of Ornan, and it becomes a sentient and intelligent item. It can communicate with you telepathically and speaks common and the language of the githzerai, as well as Celestial and Infernal. The staff can hear and see out to 60 feet using darkvision. It gains an Intelligence and Wisdom of 16 and a Charisma of 10. Its alignment is lawful neutral, has 10 ranks in Decipher Script, Sense Motive, and Knowledge (the planes). The item’s ego score is 13 at this stage, but increases as more legacy abilities are unlocked. At 11th level, the ego score increases to 16, at 16th level, it increases to 17, and at 17th level, its Ego score is 18.
Jury: At 13th level, the enhance bonus to Wisdom bestowed by the Staff of Ornan is increased to +4.
No Escape From the Law (Sp): At 14th level, once per day, when you issue the command word and gesture with the tetrahedron end of the Staff of Ornan, you can use dimensional anchor as the spell.
Executioner (Sp): At 18th level, once per day, when you use the command word and gesture with the spherical end of the Staff of Ornan, you can kill one living creature, as the finger of death spell. The save DC is 20, or 17+ your charisma modifier, whichever is higher.
Blind Obedience (Sp): At 19th level, two times per day, when you issue the command word and gesture with the tetrahedron end of the Staff of Ornan, you can use dominate person as the spell. The save DC is 17, or 15 + your Charisma modifier, whichever is higher.
Lawful Protection (Sp): At 20th level, once per day, when you issue the command word and gesture with the spherical end of the Staff of Ornan, you gain the ability to reflect spells back at a foe, as the spell turning spell.
