52 Weeks of Magic - 3 of 52 - Emulous Cursed Sword

Emulous is a cursed gladius (short sword) with dangerous powers. This +2 gladius is neutral evil, speaks, has telepathy along with several other magical powers. As implied by it's name, it invokes jealousy through control of the wielder.

Its primary abilities are fairly useful, detecting magic and good or evil at 1" at will.

Emulous has two extraordinary powers, clairaudience and clarvoyance. Since the sword is intelligent and uses telepathy, these two powers are far more dangerous to the wielder than useful. Emulous is able to present these powers, meaning that the sword can force them unbidden on the victim and opportunistically "reveal" information to that person about allies in an effort to drive the wielder to subvert them. The holder of the sword will notice that the effects of these two powers are about a round each, but the sword is able to speak over the images and sounds to work it's evil intentions. It is the king of context shifting.

If the wielder invokes these powers willingly, it is far less likely that Emulous will be able to spin the effects to it's own advantage.

Emulous has an Ego of 11 and intelligence of 17.

Under great duress, Emulous will detect food and water for the wielder and his allies. Only the sword can decide to use this power and food and water are the only objects it can detect. It provides a direction but not a distance. The price of this power is the loss of all other powers including speech and telepathy while retaining the +2 to strike and damage for 24 hours. During this time, Emulous is deaf and dumb to what is happening around it. Its intelligence drops to 3 and ego drops to 2, meaning most healthy people can set the sword aside. Obviously, it is more likely to take this gamble when the wielder is weakened by hunger and thirst.

The sword usually communicates using the common language or telepathy in that language. It rarely uses it's ability to speak neutral evil. It does not like having detection spells cast at it and will hold a caster in disdain if it notices. On the first encounter with the party, the sword will strike up a conversation and offer knowledge of all of it's powers except detect food and water. It will deflect questions of alignment, but will not lie to do so.

While Emulous is evil, it is intelligently so. It will not willingly strike at other player characters during combat with hostile forces. It desires the wielder to take the lead position in the party and will assist in this endeavor. It never requests that the wielder divest him or herself of other magics and will compel the the holder to have defensive magic and good equipment. It is cagey around animals, especially magical animal companions (familiars warhorses, etc.), choosing not to speak aloud in front of them if it can be helped. It views animals as rival intelligences, no matter how low their actual intelligence or paltry their skills are.

Emulous does not view killing animal companions as a particularly good idea as it invokes fear in humanoids and causes them to raise their defenses. Additionally, it does not like to kill children or women unless they are a viable physical threat. It will refuse to strike if it feels justified and will attempt to move to another, more civilized person as soon as possible. Again, while evil, it is not chaotic. It may engineer a heroic and forlorn fight to do in such a vile creature. Of course, it will do so in front of witnesses so that it's fame increases and someone more pliable will take up the sword.

To a degree, it will evaluate equipment and magic items found and try to direct them to the person in the party it feels is the best match, including hirelings and retainers not normally allowed a choice of equipment. It will use oration over out and out demands to do this as only the wielder can be compelled. The sword seeks to dominate the whole party, not just the holder. It desires to be come a legendary sword in the hands of a legendary hero, at nearly any cost.

If granted a quiet moment, it will attempt to eliminate all those who are critical of it's owner or itself, either by revealing information that diminishes them in the eyes of others or more rarely, by murder. It will only engage in murderous ploys once the owner is subverted to its will for a couple of weeks, perhaps months.

Navigation

Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item
1	Magic Lamps	2	The Rat Bag	3	Emulous Cursed Sword	4	The Cloak of Peaceful Repose
5	The Cowl of Death	6	Scimitar of Smiting	7	The Symbol of Sol Invictus	8	The Equi Phalera
9	Libertatem	10	Sorrow	11	Aemilla Carna	12	The Obice Cardeam
13	The Gnollish Rattlebone	14	Bands of Roland	15	Shape of Memory	16	Defender's Boss
17	Missile Mirror	18	Stone Horse	19	Staff of Eyes	20	Helm of Aware Airs
21	Potion of the Lionhearted	22	The Unnamed Potion	23	Whispering Wings	24	Monk's Bane
25	Token of Infi	26	Coming Soon	27	Coming Soon	28	Coming Soon

Now, the commercial. I have a little book called Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners, over at DrivethruRPG. I am obviously thinking of writing another and Gnolls might be the subject. Please let me know what you think in the comments. 

52 Weeks of Magic - 17 of 52 - Missile Mirror

The Missile Mirror is a handy defensive item for spell casters, although any character can benefit a little from it.

The mirror is about 4" in diameter and has a rune of a satyr in a sun on the back. The front is concave and silvered. Used as is, the reflected image is distorted. It is intended that the user "black" the silvered surface over a candle, place it on a tabletop and fill it with water. This produces a crystal clear reflection. The device reveals some of it's magic by repulsing the candle black on command. The black residue forms a small pellet and can be dumped out. It can be used to make paints, inks, dyes or cosmetics. The pellet will have a value of one copper, so it is not a good source of money but will replace a candle or few.

Possession of the Missile Mirror will improve the owner's AC by 1. Anyone can benefit from this. Holding the Mirror out towards missile fire will improve a spell caster's AC by 3 (total). Additionally, spell casters will have a 40% magic resistance to magical missiles AND if successful at foiling such an attack, it has a 20% chance of reflecting the spell back on the caster.

Foiling magical missile attacks uses one charge. Reflecting magical missile attacks uses two charges. The Missile Mirror has 16 charges. The rays of the sun are a visual indicator of these charges and will pit and dent when a charge is used. If all of the charges are used up, the Missile Mirror will still provide a -1 to AC for simply having it and will still be a useful mirror.

The Missile Mirror can be recharged by a silversmith of great ability. By repairing the pits and dents on the rays, they are restoring a charge. While the mirror can be damaged by abuse, an attempt at recharging it will never damage it. Failure to restore a charge causes the smith's patch to bubble and hiss before being absorbed into the mirror's structure. The materials needed to repair each ray is 20 silver pieces or a like-sized slug, bar or ingot. The makeup of such repair materials doesn't matter, only the size or volume counts. Some people use spoons.

Navigation

Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item
1	Magic Lamps	2	The Rat Bag	3	Emulous Cursed Sword	4	The Cloak of Peaceful Repose
5	The Cowl of Death	6	Scimitar of Smiting	7	The Symbol of Sol Invictus	8	The Equi Phalera
9	Libertatem	10	Sorrow	11	Aemilla Carna	12	The Obice Cardeam
13	The Gnollish Rattlebone	14	Bands of Roland	15	Shape of Memory	16	Defender's Boss
17	Missile Mirror	18	Stone Horse	19	Staff of Eyes	20	Helm of Aware Airs
21	Potion of the Lionhearted	22	The Unnamed Potion	23	Whispering Wings	24	Monk's Bane
25	Token of Infi	26	Coming Soon	27	Coming Soon	28	Coming Soon

Now, the commercial. I have a little book called Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners, over at DrivethruRPG. I am obviously thinking of writing another and Gnolls might be the subject. Please let me know what you think in the comments. 

52 Weeks of Magic - 16 of 52 - Defender's Boss

The Defender's Boss is an unusual magic item. When found, it is approximately 4 inches around. It has an image of a lion painted on it and has a loop on the back as if it belongs on a chain or necklace. If worn in this fashion, it will improve the wear's AC by 1. If the wearer is a fighting type (ranger, paladin, cleric, etc.) who can normally use a shield, the Defender's Boss can be willed to grow to a maximum of 4 feet in size and it will act as a +1 shield. This is in addition the previous benefit of 1, for a total of two.

If the boss is used correctly and placed in the center of a shield, it will fuse to it and that shield will now be +3 and always magical. The shield will have the same ability to grow or shirnk as a the boss does.

If the shield is destroyed either by magic or a massive force, the Boss in entitled to it's own saving throw and if it succeeds, it will pop off the destroyed shield and be ready for use again in one day. If a smith or armorer attempts to remove it, it will respond to their desires and come off in their hands. No tools required nor will it lose it's powers.  

If this device is used by an assassin class character, it will not confer the bonus to AC for mere possession nor will it operate as a normal shield. When an assassin attempts to use it as a shield, it will grow to a full five feet in diameter forcing them to hold it with both hands or drop it. If held in this fashion, it will provide cover AND a +2 to AC. While recalcitrant to use by assassins, it will shrink or grow on command. 

If the boss is rammed into an opening smaller than it's diameter when fully deployed, the shield will squirm so that the boss is facing the character. If the shield is destroyed trying to expand, the boss will fall off the holder's hands. It does not want to be lost. Doing this will cause the item to lose it's magic for 7 days. 

If the lion symbol is painted over, any damage to the shield or boss will cause the paint to blow off, reveling the lion. 

Navigation

Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item
1	Magic Lamps	2	The Rat Bag	3	Emulous Cursed Sword	4	The Cloak of Peaceful Repose
5	The Cowl of Death	6	Scimitar of Smiting	7	The Symbol of Sol Invictus	8	The Equi Phalera
9	Libertatem	10	Sorrow	11	Aemilla Carna	12	The Obice Cardeam
13	The Gnollish Rattlebone	14	Bands of Roland	15	Shape of Memory	16	Defender's Boss
17	Missile Mirror	18	Stone Horse	19	Staff of Eyes	20	Helm of Aware Airs
21	Potion of the Lionhearted	22	The Unnamed Potion	23	Whispering Wings	24	Monk's Bane
25	Token of Infi	26	Coming Soon	27	Coming Soon	28	Coming Soon

Now, the commercial. I have a little book called Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners, over at DrivethruRPG. I am obviously thinking of writing another and Gnolls might be the subject. Please let me know what you think in the comments. 

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 001

"Duke" Springer is a child of the future...
 of the children of the 80s. Nice shirt, "Duke" 

Happy New Year!

Having reviewed the game Star Smuggler, I wanted relive my past and play it. If you aren't familiar with the game, you can read the review here or download the whole game there.

Anyway, what I am doing for my 2020 series? Last year was 52 Weeks of Magic. 2020 brings Strictly (Duke) Springer. This series will be a day-by-day play through of the classic game Star Smuggler from the point of view of the fictional hero, "Duke". I'm not sure what his first name is, but it has to be better than the one in the quotation marks.

Here are the general rules for this series. "Strictly", means I won't flub rolls one way or another. Second, all commentary on the game itself will be in bold. Third, if Duke dies before all 52 weeks are up, I will simply carry on with a henchman designated as Duke's Heir. If there are no henchmen, I will start over.

Here we go.

Dear Diary,

It's day one of my criminal career. I'm not really good at this. I have an Antelope class starship, starship's guns, a 2 cubic unit status pod, a side arm, a ship's boat called a hopper, 15 fuel units and passion for trouble. I also have 750 secs, which is good because I owe 120,000 secs. for the ship. The interest only payment is 300 secs. A week. It was a better deal than college.

Obviously, I'm at the Spaceport, so I'm going to spend a few hours looking for hirelings... er, employees. My first four hours are wasted, but after that, I manage to hire a few people.

First, I hired on an Pilot/Navigator. I'm a pilot/navigator like her, but unlike her, I can fire the ship's guns. The two of us together can defend the ship. Her weekly pay is 25 secs., but she'll cut me a deal at 15 secs. because the cockpit is equipped with a status unit. She also needed a sign-on bonus of 20 secs., which wasn't too unreasonable. She... she... she...

"Are you looking at a book of baby names?" she asked.
"No, that would be totally demeaning... Emily?" I said.
"My name isn't Em... Ugh. Whatever, 'Duke'. "

With that all settled, I also hired an Engineer I named Ratchet and medic I'll be calling "Doc".

Doc looked sheepish. "I'm really not a doctor, I just have some battlefield experience..."
"Do you want the sign on bonus or what?" I asked. According to the rules, Medics don't get signing bonuses. Oops. 
"You're the boss," he said.

Ok. Having invested some good time with my new associates, I managed to waste most the rest of the day. I did purchase 25 repair units, which are instrumental to my plans. In the 9th hour, I made a 300 secs. interest payment on the ship early, so I don't have much to worry about for a while. The rules don't specify a specific payday except by the last day of week, so I accept early payment within the same week as acceptable. 

We take off and set course for the Ruins of Regari, just an hour away.

At the end of the 10 hour day, we're beat. Here are financials, crew status and assets at the end of day one:

1 Antelope starship,
1 Hopper with 15 units of fuel,
1 Stasis pod 2 CU in size,
25 Repair units,
and the ship is fully fueled with 6 hypercharges.

Emily, weekly pay 15 secs. Sign-on bonus of 20. Death pay to the family is 200. Let's not die, ok?
Ratchet, weekly pay 15 secs. Sign-on bonus of 15. Death pay is 120.
Doc, weekly pay 10. No bonus which feels weird and death payment to family is 80.

Designated Heir: None, but I know it'll be Emily.

Death payments are meant to be a money drain, but there are light consequences for not paying it. 

I still owe 120,000 secs. in principal on the ship, but paid 300 in interest early, which gives me almost 2 ten day weeks until the next payment. I have 350 secs in my pocket, which is only enough to cover basic expenses for another 29 days. At that point, the crew will walk unless I can use some cunning plus the ship will be up for repo. Cunning is a stat that only Duke has, it allows him to roll a die to trick people into doing things. I have a rating of 4 out of six, so I could theoretically keep the crew without pay so long as my luck holds out. 

52 Weeks of Magic - 7 of 52 - The Symbol of Sol Invictus.

The Symbol of Sol Invictus appears as a simple brass device, perhaps an ornate hairpin or some sort of clasp for a cloak. The device is actually much more than it seems. To be functional, the Symbol may be accompanied with a loop of metal, a leather strap or some other means of use. This secondary item is non-magical and does not effect the power of the device in any way.

In the early history of the Peninsula of Plenty, worship of the sun or Sol as a god was very common. Sol was not personified as in other religions but was viewed as an all-powerful beneficial force for good and order. In the third century of the Empire, the title "Incivtus" was bestowed upon the Emperor after his victory over a particularly vicious series raids by the Northern Tribes. The Emperor had been truly "unconquered" on the field of battle, but he resisted the title to defer to the gods he worshiped. It became common for people to add the honorific to heroic, beneficial, lawful and good deities, including Sol.


Priests of any sect may use this object as long as they meet the alignment requirements and the deity of the priest is not strongly opposed to healing or sunlight. For example, a lawful evil god of darkness will oppose using a Symbol of Sol Invictus while a lawful evil god of power and war will not have a problem with it. The priest in question may start referring to their god with the post-title "Invictus". The Symbol of Sol Invictus is merely inoperable for people of certain alignments, it will not harm them to handle the object.

An unadorned Symbol has three magic powers. First, it will heal 1d6 hit points once per day in the hands of a good or lawful person. It will heal any creature of any alignment, except undead. The recipient of this healing will be struck by a beam of light, which means the device's power is line of sight. To trigger this effect the holder must think of good or beneficial thoughts of or for the recipient.

The second power is to smite Undead. They will suffer 1d6+2 points of damage from this "healing" beam. In the case of undead the beneficial thought is a desire for final peace, freedom or resolution.

Once either effect is triggered, the symbol will glow with the strength of a torch until the next sun set. This effect could last hours depending on when the power is used. It may be covered, not extinguished.

The symbol can be used to heal one person and smite one undead creature once per day. The Symbol has no charges, only the daily limits on each power. The glow is either active or not based on the usage of the other powers.

All of these of these symbols have 3 rough, bar shaped impressions on the rim. If a diamond worth more than 10 GP is placed in any of these slots, the device becomes much more powerful. Placing the gem only requires contact, it does not require a jeweler or skill. The gem will assume the shape of a bar. For each diamond added, the Symbol will heal and smite one more time per day for a maximum of four times each. Additionally, the brightness of the symbol will increase from the hazy fire of a torch. One diamond will flood an area 20 feet in radius with light. Two will cause the symbol to glow with a rich yellow light for 40 feet. 3 diamonds cause it shine as full daylight out to 120 feet.

An odd side effect of this Symbol's power is, if the holder attempts to heal someone who does not need healing or attempts to smite a non-undead creature, it will still glow. This glow will attract injured people of lawful or good alignments for a radius of 1 league, if any. As soon as the injured person moves into the line of sight of the Symbol, they will be healed instantly. The beam of this power will reveal the recipient and they will be compelled to thank the holder, so long as there is no dire threat preventing it. The device desires to be used for good and order, but will not compel a person to risk themselves or others to pay thanks to it's holder.

While the device's primary purpose is healing humans and demi humans, it can be used on any creature such as animals, natural or supernatural. The glow of the device never attracts such beings.

Navigation

Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item
1	Magic Lamps	2	The Rat Bag	3	Emulous Cursed Sword	4	The Cloak of Peaceful Repose
5	The Cowl of Death	6	Scimitar of Smiting	7	The Symbol of Sol Invictus	8	The Equi Phalera
9	Libertatem	10	Sorrow	11	Aemilla Carna	12	The Obice Cardeam
13	The Gnollish Rattlebone	14	Bands of Roland	15	Shape of Memory	16	Defender's Boss
17	Missile Mirror	18	Stone Horse	19	Staff of Eyes	20	Helm of Aware Airs
21	Potion of the Lionhearted	22	The Unnamed Potion	23	Whispering Wings	24	Monk's Bane
25	Token of Infi	26	Coming Soon	27	Coming Soon	28	Coming Soon

Now, the commercial. I have a little book called Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners, over at DrivethruRPG. I am obviously thinking of writing another and Gnolls might be the subject. Please let me know what you think in the comments. 

52 Weeks of Magic - Item 30 - Elven Firebeads

In my very first post for this series, Magic Lamps, I introduced the idea every day problems caused by magic. A magic lamp or a light spell doesn't throw heat. Back when we all lived in caves, we probably needed light more than heat. However, knowing you can make both is great.

This magic item is very common in the elven lands in the Peninsula of Plenty campaign. The first elves in the land were unwilling to cut down trees and as a consequence, used magic for lighting. This was not helpful when they were hit by particularly cool monsoons. The Peninsula doesn't often receive snow outside of the mountains, so when it started falling right after the cold monsoon season, the elves were in trouble. If they had wanted to collect wood, it was too late to identify the best wood and proper kindling. The first attempt at a colony on the Peninsula retreated across the sea because of the lack of fire.

Thus the need for Firebeads were born. Firebeads look very much like prayer beads. To make them function, the user pulls a bead off the end, cups it in their hands like an ember and blows on it. The bead will warm, then burn like kindling for two hours. The beads have an affinity for earth and ash. They will roll up to 3 feet towards earth and ash, even up hill. A typical set of firebeads will have 52 beads with one large bead or toggle at the end to serve as a handle.

Empire to the left, Elven lands to the right.

In the elven lands, every household and every traveler will have one of these sets. In the human lands, they are highly prized treasures as they have not found a way to reproduce the magic. Creating such an item requires both a magic user and a cleric working in tandem.

Firebeads are interesting in the fact that they are a magical consumer product. They can burn homes down and they can inflict a point of damage, but only in highly contrived scenarios. For the most part, they are totally safe.

While totally common in the elven lands, they are a novel and highly prized commodity in the Empire. Most Elven-Human treaties involve the trade of Firebeads for Verbena, a powerful healing herb. These products are used to seal deals because they cannot be used as a weapon.

52 Weeks of Magic - 2 of 52 - The Rat Bag

The first magical item created by the sacerdos of Tabletop was "The Rations Bag". The sailors call them "Rat Bags", a name that all clerics hate universally. (See World Building Vignette #1.)

The Rat Bag is an oilcloth belt pouch with a tie down at the knee, much like a holster. In fact, the exterior of the bag has a large flat sheath for a knife or small dagger.  Typical closed dimensions are 12" x 2" x 5", however many different sizes are available based on the size of the recipient. The bag tri-folds, and when opened completely is 12" x 15" x 2". It has three small pockets, two are the size of a deck of cards and the third is approximately the size of a thumb. One pocket is empty for personal goods, the second contains a piece of hardtack and the third holds a spool of fishing line and three hooks. Two loops hold a flask of water and a vial of oil, wine or brandy. The flask is 8 oz. and the vial holds about 1/2 of an ounce.

The magical properties of the Ration Bag are not evident on inspection. Three times a day, the bag will produce one piece of hardtack wrapped in an edible paper-like seaweed, refill the flask with water and the vial with water, wine, brandy or oil. The vial will produce one of these fluids at the request of the holder, at the time of pouring. No item placed within the bag will rot or rust, including the knife or dagger.

Hooks, knives, daggers, and line are not replaced by the magic of this device. They are merely preserved against rust and rot. Sailors have obviously noticed that the device may be used to supplement the ship's stores and it is common to decant liquids into a common pool for emergencies. The hardtack is not often pooled in this fashion as it is not packaged against spoilage or rot.

These bags are produced in pairs for each sailor under the tribune's command and the sailors are required to have them when shipboard. One bag will always have a knife and the other a small dagger. Stealing the bag or it's contents from a sailor is a capital offence as they are so important for the safety of the ship's crew.

Items within the bag are not magical in nature. For example the flask can be replaced with another, as can the vial. However, there must be a flask or vial present to refill. Each ship has it's own design for vials, daggers, knives and flasks but sometimes the sailors swap them for personalized items. They do keep the original items. As a consequence, many sailors have a small, flat box which holds the replaced items as a memento of past ship assignments.

These items are treated as service badges to particular voyages and are passed to next of kin. While not technically illegal, it is taboo to sell these items. In times of hardship the tribune or various religious institutions will pay sailors for the privilege public of display of these trophies. Payment is in wine and grain, in one year allotments. At the end of the year, the items are returned to the sailor or his next of kin. This is an important governmental control on the economy. Generally, next of kin do not receive this privilege, however, exceptions have been made usually based on the outcome of a particular voyage or on the basis of food scarcity in town.

3.5 Craft Item Requirements:
Price: 1,000 gp (per pair)
Caster Level: 7th
Aura: Conjuration
Activation: Open bag, except the vial which requires a verbal command of Oil, Brandy or Wine in any language.
Weight: 2 lbs each
Spells: Create Food and Water, Mending or Make Whole, Dimension Door.
By tradition, the interior of the pockets are lined with either frog skin or fish scales, however inclusion is not mandatory.

If you are interested, I have a small book called Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners which includes sailors as a class. Priced at pay what you want, every download no matter the price, supports me as an author.

Navigation

Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item
1	Magic Lamps	2	The Rat Bag	3	Emulous Cursed Sword	4	The Cloak of Peaceful Repose
5	The Cowl of Death	6	Scimitar of Smiting	7	The Symbol of Sol Invictus	8	The Equi Phalera
9	Libertatem	10	Sorrow	11	Aemilla Carna	12	The Obice Cardeam
13	The Gnollish Rattlebone	14	Bands of Roland	15	Shape of Memory	16	Defender's Boss
17	Missile Mirror	18	Stone Horse	19	Staff of Eyes	20	Helm of Aware Airs
21	Potion of the Lionhearted	22	The Unnamed Potion	23	Whispering Wings	24	Monk's Bane
25	Token of Infi	26	Coming Soon	27	Coming Soon	28	Coming Soon

52 Weeks of Magic - 4 of 52 - The Cloak of Peaceful Repose

Last week, we saw an evil weapon. This week, a more pleasant items is available.

The Cloak of Peaceful Repose will cast Feign Death on the wearer under two conditions:

1) the wearer is rendered unconscious by any mechanism except natural or magical sleep,
2) the wearer invokes the command, "Pardon" or "mihi pace".

In the case of being rendered unconscious, this cloak operates differently. The spell lasts 24 hours and the wearer is given the illusion that they've been laid out in a loving fashion. Scavengers will not interpret the wearer as food and intelligent creatures will be loathe to disturb the body. If invoked by the command words, the spell lasts but a single hour. In both cases, the wearer will have one hit point restored.

If the character is moved to a location that would cause actual death, The Cloak of Peaceful Repose sacrifices itself to rouse the wearer. The wearer will be granted all of the hit points they would naturally regain in 24 hours and they will rouse before they are buried, burned, etc. The cloak will disintegrate into a glowing white dust cloud, which will seem miraculous. The risk of death must be eminent, such as being placed in grave or set on on pyre mound.

Being buried at sea or in water provokes a violent response. The wearer will wake immediately and break for the surface with no hesitation. If the wearer loses a hit point to drowning damage, the cloak sacrifices itself by encasing the person in a glowing sphere which pushes them to the surface in a single round while also restoring a number of hit points equal to 48 hours of healing. Any weights, rope or chain wrapped around the character will fall off, undamaged. In this case, the cloak loses all magic but is not destroyed completely. The cloak changes to the color of wet slate and will remain so permanently. It will it will not accept dyes and is not affected by any normal bleaching agents or processes. It is subject to all other forms of damage.

The cloak has 20 charges if invoked by the keywords but functions any number of times unbidden. Obviously, if the cloak turns to dust, it is gone.

Navigation

Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item
1	Magic Lamps	2	The Rat Bag	3	Emulous Cursed Sword	4	The Cloak of Peaceful Repose
5	The Cowl of Death	6	Scimitar of Smiting	7	The Symbol of Sol Invictus	8	The Equi Phalera
9	Libertatem	10	Sorrow	11	Aemilla Carna	12	The Obice Cardeam
13	The Gnollish Rattlebone	14	Bands of Roland	15	Shape of Memory	16	Defender's Boss
17	Missile Mirror	18	Stone Horse	19	Staff of Eyes	20	Helm of Aware Airs
21	Potion of the Lionhearted	22	The Unnamed Potion	23	Whispering Wings	24	Monk's Bane
25	Token of Infi	26	Coming Soon	27	Coming Soon	28	Coming Soon

Now, the commercial. I have a little book called Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners, over at DrivethruRPG. I am obviously thinking of writing another and Gnolls might be the subject. Please let me know what you think in the comments. 

52 Weeks of Magic - Week 19 - Staff of Eyes

The Staff of Eyes grants the user infravision and ultravision when held like a torch. Additionally, the user's eyes will glow like a cat's eyes while using the staff in this fashion. The device emits no light. This effect takes some time to get used to so the wielder will be at a -2 to hit the first 3 times they experience this effect. Since the effect requires no charges, the wielder will probably do this long before going into combat. Once the user becomes used to the device, they will crave this type of vision. To stop using the effect, the wielder must save vs. magic to stop. One attempt per day can be made, usually first thing in the morning.

The wielder is able to cast a light spell at the cost of one charge, however the staff will not allow this spell to target creatures eyes. For two charges, the user can cause a flare-like missile to shoot from the staff into the sky. The effect lasts three rounds and is as bright as daylight.

The flare does no damage if it hits something or if fired inside of building, cave, etc. If fired indoors, the light bounces around in a very nonsensical way and the swaying shadows and light causes all people within the area of effect to suffer a -2 to hit with melee weapons and a -4 for missile weapons. This even affects the wielder.

The staff also has a defensive nature, it will absorb spells targeting the casters eyes, such as blindness, light, dark, power word blind, etc. This consumption of spells restores charges to the staff at a rate of one per level of the spell cast. If the staff absorbs more charges that it normally holds, the orb and the caster's eyes appear to burst into flames for one hour per charge over 50. This is uncomfortable, but not damaging to the holder.

It is not possible for the person holding the staff to recharge it by casting spells at themselves. Any attempt to do so will give the user a bad feeling and if the caster persists, the effect of the spell cast will be permanent until "remove curse" is cast on them.

This staff is rather light weight but can be used as a weapon. It is +1 and will do 1d4 +1 if held one handed and 1d6+1 if swung two handed.

The orb at the top of the staff will take on the color of the holder's eyes. The staff normally holds 50 charges. As the charges are used, the orb and the wielder's eyes become milky white which is only a cosmetic effect, it does not impact the user. The staff remains a +1 weapons without any charges, but all other effects end immediately. Once all of the charges have been used, it cannot be recharged by absorbing magic spells.

Navigation

Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item
1	Magic Lamps	2	The Rat Bag	3	Emulous Cursed Sword	4	The Cloak of Peaceful Repose
5	The Cowl of Death	6	Scimitar of Smiting	7	The Symbol of Sol Invictus	8	The Equi Phalera
9	Libertatem	10	Sorrow	11	Aemilla Carna	12	The Obice Cardeam
13	The Gnollish Rattlebone	14	Bands of Roland	15	Shape of Memory	16	Defender's Boss
17	Missile Mirror	18	Stone Horse	19	Staff of Eyes	20	Helm of Aware Airs
21	Potion of the Lionhearted	22	The Unnamed Potion	23	Whispering Wings	24	Monk's Bane
25	Token of Infi	25b	Device of Defense	26	Shield of Force	27	Coming Soon

Now, the commercial. I have a little book called Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners, over at DrivethruRPG. Also on Drivethru is my custom character sheet for AD&D and Unearthed Arcana.

I am obviously thinking of writing another and Gnolls might be the subject. Please let me know what you think in the comments. 

52 Weeks of Magic - 5 of 52 - The Cowl of Death

The Cowl of Death is a magical monk's habit with hood. The cowl is imbued with the spell Feign Death like last week's Cloak of Peaceful Repose. It will immediately affect the wearer under one of two conditions:

1) the wearer is rendered unconscious by any means other than normal or magical sleep,
2) the user pulls up the hood and invokes the words, "memento mori".

If either of these two conditions are met, the wearer will collapse to the ground, seemingly dead as per the spell description.

The cowl has two other features. Over a period of an hour, the wearer will seem to rot while actually regaining one hit point (if any had been lost). Normally, the spell would prevent the recovery of hit points, but this item is designed to protect the wearer. The illusion of rot will prevent all but the most hungry scavengers from attacking the wearer. Intelligent creatures are allowed a saving throw vs. magic to ignore the illusion and the resulting implication that something was horribly wrong with the person before being struck down.

The Cowl of Death normally has 20 charges, but charges are only used when the command word is used. Invocation of the command can be verbal or mental. Being knocked unconscious does not use a charge.

Navigation

Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item
1	Magic Lamps	2	The Rat Bag	3	Emulous Cursed Sword	4	The Cloak of Peaceful Repose
5	The Cowl of Death	6	Scimitar of Smiting	7	The Symbol of Sol Invictus	8	The Equi Phalera
9	Libertatem	10	Sorrow	11	Aemilla Carna	12	The Obice Cardeam
13	The Gnollish Rattlebone	14	Bands of Roland	15	Shape of Memory	16	Defender's Boss
17	Missile Mirror	18	Stone Horse	19	Staff of Eyes	20	Helm of Aware Airs
21	Potion of the Lionhearted	22	The Unnamed Potion	23	Whispering Wings	24	Monk's Bane
25	Token of Infi	26	Coming Soon	27	Coming Soon	28	Coming Soon

Now, the commercial. I have a little book called Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners, over at DrivethruRPG. I am obviously thinking of writing another and Gnolls might be the subject. Please let me know what you think in the comments. 

Weeks of Updates!

Lately, updates have fallen by the wayside. This has happened for a couple of reasons. I have taken on some new responsibilities at work, I've begun working overnights in a group home in addition to filling in for a teacher out for training this week.

How does he know he lost anything?
His tent looks like his room.

My son has been working a camp in Wyoming county and managed to lose a whole backpack of critical supplies for his work week. Between stints at work, I've been ferrying camping supplies to him at random because he doesn't know what he lost until he needs it.

I am bone tired.

Let me give you the updates for the past couple of weeks.

In the middle of July, I put the 52 Weeks of Magic of series on hiatus. That will be back at the end of August. I have also decommissioned three other blogs and imported their data to These Old Games. I am still in the process of vetting data from that process, some posts will be completely deleted while others will be adapted for here.

To this end, should now see some new tabs above: Short Stories and Hardware. "Short Stories" is exactly as labeled, some fictional and some from real life. "Hardware" is comprised of a series of links to computer support issues that I have run across while maintaining old hardware, usually for this site.

On July 15th, I launched The Compass Rose Minisetting title on DriveThruRPG. On July 28th, I launched a similar title called Kobold's Folly. Based on the feedback I have received, I separated the maps from the books, causing me to relaunch Compass Rose to match the style of Kobold's Folly. These are ruleset agnostic titles and are merely maps and descriptions for quick plug and play into your campaign. Sort of like a travel guide for DMs.

Zero to Hero and the Character Sheet continue to do well on Drive Thru. Thank you for downloading them.

Compass Rose follows the lives of the von Landskeep family and I have always intended to expand this title and align it to D&D and AD&D. Look for that in late August. I intended Kobold's Folly to be a one shot with no expansion, but King Minwan and his sister Hermin are so interesting, it may receive the same treatment as Compass Rose. When? Not sure. Maybe September.

The final update was to the Tek Tab, with new data for July being added.

Upcoming changes to website are based off of my experience from this round of updates. Right now, the Gemstone IV tab, Maps tab and Pregenerated characters are all static pages. It is more logical to break them down by subject and recreate them as individual post. The tab feature can pull up a chronological list of posts by subject. This makes far more sense, as my web stats do not include static pages.

One last item is, it has recently come to my attention that I will be going to Disney in November.

Thank you for being so patience with all of these updates and changes as I get everything in order to present more content to all of you. I couldn't and wouldn't do it without you.