Sand Glass of Sleepless watch

[ClaytonCross]

Sand Glass of Sleepless watch
Uncommon, Wondrous
Commonly employed by city guards, this glass looks like and hour glass but the top has a dial with an arrow that can point to any number in a ring around it 1 through 12 and 8 small sharp pins that stick out that have numbers around the out side marking them 1 to 8. The dial is set to the number of hours for each shift and then participants prick their finger on the shift they intend to take for the day and the hour glass is turned over. The hour glass then sends a mental ping to all the people who selected the first pin. If no one selected the first pin it will move to the next pin until if finds one with participants. They will continue to get a mental ping for the duration of their watch which will cause the sensation of heightened alert and will prevent them from sleeping no matter how tired they are. When the groups watch is over it the mental ping will stop and any weariness will hit them 10 mins after that making anyone who would be tired likely to fall asleep quickly. The next watch will start receive a slow mental ping 10 minutes before their watch which will accelerate to a full speed white noise as their watch begins. When all the watches are used up it will cycle back around until 24 hours has been reached or some turns the watch glass back over. While it is working it always appears to be pouring sand and when it is off it the sand all appears settled at the bottom.

 

[jaelis]

Seems like a cool world building item, but I wouldn’t expect it to have much practical significance in a typical game.

If you are playing a campaign where sleeping guards is an important issue, a simpler approach might be just a potion of wakefulness.

 

[ClaytonCross]

Seems like a cool world building item, but I wouldn’t expect it to have much practical significance in a typical game.

If you are playing a campaign where sleeping guards is an important issue, a simpler approach might be just a potion of wakefulness.

And anyone sneaking in might just mage had and turn over the watch glass. I totally agree. It really is more of a world building item but it is useful for adventurers if your GM likes to make you role to track time and stay awake, which I have run across before.