ZEITGEIST NPC Rings (Spoilers)

[mdusty]

Is there a list anywhere of the rings that each of the named individuals of the Obscurati wear and what each ring says? I'm trying to find out what a very prominent member of the Obscurati has for their ring and I can't find where they even have a ring. My players have pretty much broken the ring code (still don't know what the different metals mean) thanks to one player's near obsession with them from the beginning. He's playing a super genius investigator puzzle solver type character. They are near the end of Book 5.

 

[arkwright]

Nah, there's only a smattering of ring descriptions.

If you get any good ideas for how Ob operatives can practically identify each other by flashing their ring insides without being obvious, do let me know.

The triumvirate have rings made out of Methian stone, per Book 8.

 

[mdusty]

That's what I figured. So, I'm stuck with trying to figure out something. During the treaty dinner party in Book 5, Brakken is able to read the surface thoughts of Han and Lya. But if they are wearing their rings, he shouldn't be able to do that, right? Or are they not wearing their rings to the dinner? I can't find anything about that.

 

[arkwright]

Well, going by:

The rites of the Obscurati magically separate a person’s normal identity
from their role as an officer of the conspiracy. Magic that attempts to
determine the identity of a conspirator wearing his ring fails outright, as
if such a person did not exist. Likewise, attempts to determine whether a
given person is affiliated with the Obscurati will fail.

Divinations that do not relate to his involvement with the conspiracy
can function, but have a chance of yielding useless, innocuous results.
Whenever a character attempts to use magic to divine an Obscurati officer’s
location, thoughts, status, or the like, that character must make an
Arcana check (DC 34). If he fails, the magic reports something deceptive,
usually in a way to lessen suspicions.

I'd say Brakken got lucky on his roll.

 

[RangerWickett]

The adventure was devised with me and Thurston Hillman working in both 4e and Pathfinder, and in 4e there wasn't any sort of spell to detect thoughts. I sorta chalked up Brakken's telepathy as being not quite divination magic. It's less 'cast a spell to learn a thing' and more 'intuitively hear stuff that leaks out of brains.' I honestly didn't think about the Ob ring defenses at the time.

But yeah, arkwright's idea works. He was listening all evening. He was bound to roll a nat 20 at some point.

 

[Tormyr]

I have a Zeitgeist player who is DMing WotBS and posts the play reports here. Would it be okay to remove one of the words in the title for spoiler reasons?

Edit: Cheers

 

[Meigeall]

When attempting to identify another Ob officer...
NPC1: Excuse me, I noticed your ring, and I think mine might have been made by the same craftsman. Does your's have an inscription too? I think it's Draconic, but I haven't bothered to get it translated.
NPC2: Why, I happen to know a smattering of Draconic, would you like me to take a look?

 

[RangerWickett]

Or in Saxby's case, "Wait, you arrested who?! Okay, let me talk to him alone for a bit." comes out 2 minutes later "He's free to go."

 

[arkwright]

"...hey Jed"
"Yeah?"
"You seeing this?"
"The guy flashing the inside of his ring to everyone in the train station one by one?"
"Yeah"
"Yeah. Might be some vekeshi thing, who knows."
"Oh"

 

[RangerWickett]

I'm going to now test for a day what happens if I ask everyone I meet if they want to see the inside of my wedding ring. (It's blank, but still.)