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[Let's Read] The Star-Shaman's Song of Planegea: Dungeons & Dragons, Prehistoric Style
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9256933" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/7XKhZnK.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>Chapter 12: Treasures</strong></p><p></p><p>Besides Dungeons, Dragons, and leveling up, treasure is the other nigh-universal constant of DnD settings. A rather short chapter, most of it is detailed by new and converted magic items but starts out by talking about the other kinds of loot. First off, the lack of coins and fiat currency means that such treasure more often takes the form of high-quality goods and harvested materials. Names and scars are two new treasure types, which basically serve as kinds of “permanent wealth” where a particular name or scar earned during an adventure has an approximate value. A PC doesn’t have to barter for items below the combined value of their names and scars. Names, however, are limited in that word can carry only so far, and PCs are less likely to be known the farther away they are from where they earned a name. This is reflected in the rules by provoking History checks from NPCs to see if they heard of the characters. The book also encourages DMs to be a bit metagamey in communicating the value of a name or scar: much like how in a typical setting a quest-giver may say “I can pay you 500 gold for dealing with this troll,” so too should a Planegean DM tell players stuff like “should you attain the title of Hydra’s Bane in the Slumbering Forest, you will not have to barter for anything less than 250 salt portions and its History DC is 16.”</p><p></p><p>As for scars, they are more universally recognized than names, which can make them more valuable. The DM is encouraged to talk with players ahead of time, as permanent alteration of a PC’s body/appearance may not be what one gamer has in mind for their character. And it also brings up the inevitable question of a PC beginning play with scars having “extra starting wealth.” It does not for balance reasons.</p><p></p><p>As for harvested parts, the book suggests against assigning universal prices to particular creature parts, as PCs may try to exploit the economy this way. To better guard against this, the book’s best suggestion is that traders can only buy so much of a given item or only want and can carry so much. Otherwise we get brief descriptions of such materials and their common uses.</p><p></p><p>As for magical items, the line between what is magic and mundane is a lot blurrier in Planegea to the point that most people presume that everything has at least a little bit of magic. For example, weather and fire are considered magical in the same way a Gust of Wind or Fireball spell would be, and as mentioned a while ago names are believed to have magical properties. This is more of a subjective perception in-universe vs an objective rules change, as spells such as Dispel Magic work the same. But even in such cases, magical items with obvious features and powers still evoke the same fears and desires from people as they do in other settings.</p><p></p><p>In Planegea, magical items can come from a variety of sources: among the PC races, shamans, spellskins, and gnomes are the most common sources of make magic items. Gods are also a common sources, with hallows serving more or less as “magic item shops” where people bearing gifts and providing services to the gods are given such treasures in return. The Giant Empires’ items tend to be oversized with advanced geometric designs, items taken from aberrant vaults are weird bio-organic materials, and genie-crafted items have artistic features that are downright impossible. Some magic items aren’t even artificially created, but can spring up out of the natural world. Such items might be dreamt up in Nod, formed from the elements such as lightning strikes and winds, or musical light contained in a more solid form from the Sea of Stars. Magic items reliant upon the written word are reflavored, such as books becoming chants recited by the “writer” countless times to solidify them in a user’s mind, and spell scrolls become talismans unraveled to cast a spell as they disintegrate into dust. Noncasters must make a DC 10 Intelligence check in order to use a talisman’s magic when unraveled, or else it’s wasted, and a natural 1 causes the spell to target the non-caster. Which funnily enough can be a good thing if the talisman had a beneficial spell such as Cure Wounds.</p><p></p><p><strong>Magic Masks</strong> provides us a new magic item type, of 18 such masks ranging from Uncommon to Legendary rarity. Masks are imbued with the powers of their creature’s likenesses and must be worn in order to use their powers. Like staffs they have a limited number of charges, 5 being the universal number, and regain expended charges every dawn and risk losing their powers forever if the last charge is expended.</p><p></p><p>Quite a number of masks have the likenesses of mundane creatures, being the Uncommon and some Rare ones, such as Mask of the Eagle spending a charge to gain a fly speed for one turn or Mask of the Ape letting the wearer create and throw boulders that have the same properties as a Giant Ape’s Rock weapon. The Rare and higher ones correspond to particular monsters, such as Mask of the Duergar that enlarges the wearer for 1 minute like that creature’s trait, Mask of the Wraith which expends a charge to become incorporeal for one turn, or Mask of the Mimic that lets one take on the form of an ordinary object while remaining still. There’s a sidebar at the end talking about creating new magic masks, with some guidelines for balance purposes: creatures with per-day uses of an ability cost a charge that typically lasts until the start of the mask-wearer’s next turn, while for damaging effects their average damage per round determines its rarity.</p><p></p><p><strong>Magic Item Descriptions</strong> gives us 68 new magic items of all kinds and rarities. Obviously I am not going to cover each of them, but there’s quite a number of neat ones here.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/GDo5fqJ.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><em>Apparatus of the Hawk</em> is a legendary vehicle that takes the form of a cylinder when inactive, but if someone finds a hidden catch and panel to enter, they will find 10 levels which if used allows the cylinder to take the form of a giant mechanical hawk. Each of the ten levels can be used to operate the apparatus, from opening and closing the pilot window to flying and turning in midair to making attacks with wings and talons. <em>Apparatus of the Mammoth</em> is a similar legendary vehicle with 10 levers allowing for a variety of actions and attacks, but is cobbled out of various objects, bones, stones, and other things to resemble a mammoth even when inactive. The Mammoth is a lot sturdier with a nigh-untouchable 30 AC and 400 hit points, but unlike the Hawk (20 AC, 200 hit points, 60 foot fly speed) it can only move an average 30 feet or 10 foot swim speed.</p><p></p><p><em>Asp of Perfection</em> is a legendary armlet once worn by the Air Empress who was obsessed with proving to others that she’s a perfect being without flaws. A character who is attuned to the Asp treats any attack, save, or ability check besides a natural 1 as a natural 20. But should the wearer roll a natural 1, they drop to 0 hit points, automatically fail 2 death saving throws, and have disadvantage on their next death save which the Asp’s properties will not convert into a natural 20. In spite of this Achilles Heel, this is the most overpowered item in this book, and cannot see any sane DM allowing it to fall into the PCs’ hands.</p><p></p><p><em>Blood Siphon</em> is a magic item that comes in a pair of small ruby discs which both require attunement, one bearing the image of a leech and the other bearing the image of a flower. Both can be attached to the skin of humanoid creatures, and the person bearing the flower disc can choose one of six ability scores to gain advantage on attacks, saves, and ability checks with, and the leech-bearer suffers disadvantage regarding that same score. Every 24 hours the leech-bearer must have a Constitution save or suffer one level of exhaustion, and the leech disc is a cursed item that if the wearer fails a separate Constitution save cannot be removed save by Remove Curse and similar magic. The ability scores cannot be changed unless both discs are unattached and reattached.</p><p></p><p><em>Blinding Weapon</em> is a rare weapon property that requires attunement. Any creature hit with this weapon must make a DC 13 Constitution save or be blinded until the end of that creature’s turn. The text states that this only triggers “the first time you hit a creature with this weapon,” which is rather vague. To me it sounds like a literal first time, meaning that once struck the creature is forever immune from being affected in such a way again. But I can also see another person reading “first time” as for their turn, meaning it can trigger multiple times but never more than once per round.</p><p></p><p><em>Deepstone</em> is a legendary item that was* one of the most valuable creations of the Stone Empire. Those who attune to and touch it can cast a variety of earth-themed spells at will with a range of 1 mile, ranging from Mold Earth, Transmute Rock, and even the mighty Earthquake. The attuned also can cast Clairvoyance once per day up to 1 mile out, and gain the constant benefit of the Investiture of Stone spell. While Legendary is the highest rarity an item can have, based on sheer power it feels more appropriate as an artifact. Then again, as the giants aren’t exactly gods in the traditional D&D sense, legendary may be more in line with being “lore-accurate.”</p><p></p><p>*The past tense implies that they lost it.</p><p></p><p><em>Direstaff</em> is the most famous magic item type of the people of the Dire Grazelands. It’s a common quarterstaff that can double in length as a bonus action, gaining the Reach property and can be shrunk the same way. Attacks made with it have disadvantage when so extended, limiting its usefulness in comparison to traditional polearms.</p><p></p><p><em>Dowsing Rod</em> is a common item that is used to detect sources of drinkable water, where the wielder is aware if they’re moving closer or further from such a source while traveling.</p><p></p><p><em>Gnomeknack Crossbow</em> is an uncommon weapon which when activated via command word as a bonus action can take the form of any of the three crossbow types.</p><p></p><p><em>Horn of the Herd-Lord</em> is a very rare item requiring attunement. When blown, it can expend anywhere from 4 to all of its 7 charges to cast Dominate Beast, whose spell level is determined by the number of charges expended.</p><p></p><p><em>Lance of the Lodge</em> is a legendary weapon offered as a prize to Venomguard’s newest leaders after their annual contests. It is a lance with 10 charges that can be used to cast Find Steed (automatically wearing bone armor granting it +1 AC) or Conjure Animals (can only be cast again once all the summoned animals die or disappear), and can cast Find Familiar with no charges but only summons creatures with a fly speed and the telepathy range is 500 feet.</p><p></p><p><em>Midnight Star</em> is a legendary +3 morningstar that deals 2d8 bonus thunder damage. It requires attunement and was once wielded by the Sea Emperor. The attuned wielder and up to 6 creatures they choose within line of sight gain truesight up to 60 feet, and the wielder can cast Foresight as an action once every 24 hours.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/rBIBaXR.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><em>Monstertooth Clubs</em> are uncommon clubs bearing the teeth of particular monsters. It deals 1d4 bonus damage whose type is dependent on the nature of the original tooth-bearers. We have a d8 table of sample types and corresponding monsters: for example, aberration and fey teeth might deal psychic damage, dragon and fiend teeth may deal fire damage, and beast and plant teeth might deal poison damage.</p><p></p><p><em>Obsidian Armor</em> is a broad type that can apply to any armor. It grants +1 AC on top of the base armor’s value as well as resistance to fire damage.</p><p></p><p><em>Pipe of Smoke-Summoning</em> is a rare item that can cast Conjure Minor Elementals as an action once per day, and can be cast at higher levels when smoked with rare ingredients whose salt portion value determines the spell slot.</p><p></p><p><em>Rumbleglow Paint</em> is a common magic item taking the form of a clay pot full of paint. Once dried out on a surface (the pot has a total of 1,000 square feet worth), it glows in intensity and with various colors in response to different types of vibrations. A good means of detecting tremors and burrowing monsters.</p><p></p><p><em>Scouting Hoops</em> are common magical hoops that act like binoculars, as anything viewed through it is magnified to twice the normal size. Nightwatch versions are uncommon items that grant the viewer darkvision when looking through the hoop.</p><p></p><p><em>Sickle of Sacrifice</em> is a very rare weapon made by spellskins of evil disposition. If it deals a critical hit against a humanoid with at least one hand, that hand is severed and reanimates as a Crawling Claw loyal to the caster. Rings and other attuned magic items worn on that hand have their attunement end.</p><p></p><p><em>Stonearrow</em> is a rare ammunition type fashioned by the Stone Empire, that of an arrow that transforms into a boulder mid-flight. It thus deals 4d10 bludgeoning damage to the struck target and knocks them prone, and affects targets within 10 feet in the same manner but who instead must make a Strength saving throw.</p><p></p><p><em>Sunglobes</em> are uncommon magic items that cast the Daylight spell for 1 hour via command word. The light is considered actual sunlight unlike the spell, and is commonly used by dreas as a food source when they’re exploring dungeons or underground areas for prolonged periods. The book does mention that they can be used against vampires and other sunlight-weak beings, which is their other common use.</p><p></p><p><em>Victory’s Cost</em> is a legendary item requiring attunement. The attuned is considered proficient, and takes the form of a regular crown made of bones and fangs that via command word cause a +3 longsword made of fire to appear in the wilder’s hands. The sword automatically ignites struck creatures and flammable objects, and radiates a constant AoE aura around the wielder dealing fire damage. The magic item is also cursed, where the wielder will not voluntarily part with it and the flaming sword cannot be dismissed until knocking out or killing a creature due to its bloodlust.</p><p></p><p><em>Whispershell</em> is a common seashell once inhabited by an aquatic fey creature. It can magically record up to one minute’s worth of conversation if a creature speaks into it, and other people can hear this message by holding it up to their ear.</p><p></p><p><em>Writhing Flail</em> is a very rare weapon made of barbed tendrils originally discovered in an aberrant vault. The wielder can choose to perform a free grapple attempt with the weapon against a target it strikes, and upon doing so a grappled creature is blinded and cannot breathe. The flail, should it maintain the grapple at the start of the wielder’s next turn, can attempt to extract a target’s brain, dealing 2d10 piercing damage (no action required) if the target fails a Constitution saving throw.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> Magic items are one of my favorite additions in new sourcebooks, and there’s quite a lot of nifty thematic treasures to be found here. The concept for names and scars is cool, albeit I feel that the section for harvesting plant and animal parts could’ve used more detail. As it stands, it’s very much DM Fiat. I cannot recall where I read it so I could be mistaken, but I do recall the author mentioning that other sourcebooks have already done this so he didn’t want to retread familiar ground.</p><p></p><p>As for the magic items themselves, the Masks are pretty cool, albeit some even of the same rarity type feel more useful than others. The Duergar mask and Wraith mask are both rare, but incorporeal movement is more broadly useful to various character concepts whereas Enlarge is more narrowly focused. While most weren’t particularly egregious, I did note that a few magic items had some wonky balance, like the Apparatus of the Mammoth’s extreme 30 AC or the Asp of Perfection triggering the best results possible 95% of the time. But those examples tended to be the highest rarity and for things like the Deepstone, which are heavily-implied plot devices. What I did like was how a lot of the more common rarities often reflected magical tools not just of use for combat or adventuring, but regular life or specialized tasks like the Rumbleglow Paint.</p><p></p><p><strong>Join us next time as we take a first look at some prehistoric wildlife in Chapter 13: Gods & Monsters!</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 9256933, member: 6750502"] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/7XKhZnK.png[/img] [b]Chapter 12: Treasures[/b][/center] Besides Dungeons, Dragons, and leveling up, treasure is the other nigh-universal constant of DnD settings. A rather short chapter, most of it is detailed by new and converted magic items but starts out by talking about the other kinds of loot. First off, the lack of coins and fiat currency means that such treasure more often takes the form of high-quality goods and harvested materials. Names and scars are two new treasure types, which basically serve as kinds of “permanent wealth” where a particular name or scar earned during an adventure has an approximate value. A PC doesn’t have to barter for items below the combined value of their names and scars. Names, however, are limited in that word can carry only so far, and PCs are less likely to be known the farther away they are from where they earned a name. This is reflected in the rules by provoking History checks from NPCs to see if they heard of the characters. The book also encourages DMs to be a bit metagamey in communicating the value of a name or scar: much like how in a typical setting a quest-giver may say “I can pay you 500 gold for dealing with this troll,” so too should a Planegean DM tell players stuff like “should you attain the title of Hydra’s Bane in the Slumbering Forest, you will not have to barter for anything less than 250 salt portions and its History DC is 16.” As for scars, they are more universally recognized than names, which can make them more valuable. The DM is encouraged to talk with players ahead of time, as permanent alteration of a PC’s body/appearance may not be what one gamer has in mind for their character. And it also brings up the inevitable question of a PC beginning play with scars having “extra starting wealth.” It does not for balance reasons. As for harvested parts, the book suggests against assigning universal prices to particular creature parts, as PCs may try to exploit the economy this way. To better guard against this, the book’s best suggestion is that traders can only buy so much of a given item or only want and can carry so much. Otherwise we get brief descriptions of such materials and their common uses. As for magical items, the line between what is magic and mundane is a lot blurrier in Planegea to the point that most people presume that everything has at least a little bit of magic. For example, weather and fire are considered magical in the same way a Gust of Wind or Fireball spell would be, and as mentioned a while ago names are believed to have magical properties. This is more of a subjective perception in-universe vs an objective rules change, as spells such as Dispel Magic work the same. But even in such cases, magical items with obvious features and powers still evoke the same fears and desires from people as they do in other settings. In Planegea, magical items can come from a variety of sources: among the PC races, shamans, spellskins, and gnomes are the most common sources of make magic items. Gods are also a common sources, with hallows serving more or less as “magic item shops” where people bearing gifts and providing services to the gods are given such treasures in return. The Giant Empires’ items tend to be oversized with advanced geometric designs, items taken from aberrant vaults are weird bio-organic materials, and genie-crafted items have artistic features that are downright impossible. Some magic items aren’t even artificially created, but can spring up out of the natural world. Such items might be dreamt up in Nod, formed from the elements such as lightning strikes and winds, or musical light contained in a more solid form from the Sea of Stars. Magic items reliant upon the written word are reflavored, such as books becoming chants recited by the “writer” countless times to solidify them in a user’s mind, and spell scrolls become talismans unraveled to cast a spell as they disintegrate into dust. Noncasters must make a DC 10 Intelligence check in order to use a talisman’s magic when unraveled, or else it’s wasted, and a natural 1 causes the spell to target the non-caster. Which funnily enough can be a good thing if the talisman had a beneficial spell such as Cure Wounds. [b]Magic Masks[/b] provides us a new magic item type, of 18 such masks ranging from Uncommon to Legendary rarity. Masks are imbued with the powers of their creature’s likenesses and must be worn in order to use their powers. Like staffs they have a limited number of charges, 5 being the universal number, and regain expended charges every dawn and risk losing their powers forever if the last charge is expended. Quite a number of masks have the likenesses of mundane creatures, being the Uncommon and some Rare ones, such as Mask of the Eagle spending a charge to gain a fly speed for one turn or Mask of the Ape letting the wearer create and throw boulders that have the same properties as a Giant Ape’s Rock weapon. The Rare and higher ones correspond to particular monsters, such as Mask of the Duergar that enlarges the wearer for 1 minute like that creature’s trait, Mask of the Wraith which expends a charge to become incorporeal for one turn, or Mask of the Mimic that lets one take on the form of an ordinary object while remaining still. There’s a sidebar at the end talking about creating new magic masks, with some guidelines for balance purposes: creatures with per-day uses of an ability cost a charge that typically lasts until the start of the mask-wearer’s next turn, while for damaging effects their average damage per round determines its rarity. [b]Magic Item Descriptions[/b] gives us 68 new magic items of all kinds and rarities. Obviously I am not going to cover each of them, but there’s quite a number of neat ones here. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/GDo5fqJ.png[/img][/center] [i]Apparatus of the Hawk[/i] is a legendary vehicle that takes the form of a cylinder when inactive, but if someone finds a hidden catch and panel to enter, they will find 10 levels which if used allows the cylinder to take the form of a giant mechanical hawk. Each of the ten levels can be used to operate the apparatus, from opening and closing the pilot window to flying and turning in midair to making attacks with wings and talons. [i]Apparatus of the Mammoth[/i] is a similar legendary vehicle with 10 levers allowing for a variety of actions and attacks, but is cobbled out of various objects, bones, stones, and other things to resemble a mammoth even when inactive. The Mammoth is a lot sturdier with a nigh-untouchable 30 AC and 400 hit points, but unlike the Hawk (20 AC, 200 hit points, 60 foot fly speed) it can only move an average 30 feet or 10 foot swim speed. [i]Asp of Perfection[/i] is a legendary armlet once worn by the Air Empress who was obsessed with proving to others that she’s a perfect being without flaws. A character who is attuned to the Asp treats any attack, save, or ability check besides a natural 1 as a natural 20. But should the wearer roll a natural 1, they drop to 0 hit points, automatically fail 2 death saving throws, and have disadvantage on their next death save which the Asp’s properties will not convert into a natural 20. In spite of this Achilles Heel, this is the most overpowered item in this book, and cannot see any sane DM allowing it to fall into the PCs’ hands. [i]Blood Siphon[/i] is a magic item that comes in a pair of small ruby discs which both require attunement, one bearing the image of a leech and the other bearing the image of a flower. Both can be attached to the skin of humanoid creatures, and the person bearing the flower disc can choose one of six ability scores to gain advantage on attacks, saves, and ability checks with, and the leech-bearer suffers disadvantage regarding that same score. Every 24 hours the leech-bearer must have a Constitution save or suffer one level of exhaustion, and the leech disc is a cursed item that if the wearer fails a separate Constitution save cannot be removed save by Remove Curse and similar magic. The ability scores cannot be changed unless both discs are unattached and reattached. [i]Blinding Weapon[/i] is a rare weapon property that requires attunement. Any creature hit with this weapon must make a DC 13 Constitution save or be blinded until the end of that creature’s turn. The text states that this only triggers “the first time you hit a creature with this weapon,” which is rather vague. To me it sounds like a literal first time, meaning that once struck the creature is forever immune from being affected in such a way again. But I can also see another person reading “first time” as for their turn, meaning it can trigger multiple times but never more than once per round. [i]Deepstone[/i] is a legendary item that was* one of the most valuable creations of the Stone Empire. Those who attune to and touch it can cast a variety of earth-themed spells at will with a range of 1 mile, ranging from Mold Earth, Transmute Rock, and even the mighty Earthquake. The attuned also can cast Clairvoyance once per day up to 1 mile out, and gain the constant benefit of the Investiture of Stone spell. While Legendary is the highest rarity an item can have, based on sheer power it feels more appropriate as an artifact. Then again, as the giants aren’t exactly gods in the traditional D&D sense, legendary may be more in line with being “lore-accurate.” *The past tense implies that they lost it. [i]Direstaff[/i] is the most famous magic item type of the people of the Dire Grazelands. It’s a common quarterstaff that can double in length as a bonus action, gaining the Reach property and can be shrunk the same way. Attacks made with it have disadvantage when so extended, limiting its usefulness in comparison to traditional polearms. [i]Dowsing Rod[/i] is a common item that is used to detect sources of drinkable water, where the wielder is aware if they’re moving closer or further from such a source while traveling. [i]Gnomeknack Crossbow[/i] is an uncommon weapon which when activated via command word as a bonus action can take the form of any of the three crossbow types. [i]Horn of the Herd-Lord[/i] is a very rare item requiring attunement. When blown, it can expend anywhere from 4 to all of its 7 charges to cast Dominate Beast, whose spell level is determined by the number of charges expended. [i]Lance of the Lodge[/i] is a legendary weapon offered as a prize to Venomguard’s newest leaders after their annual contests. It is a lance with 10 charges that can be used to cast Find Steed (automatically wearing bone armor granting it +1 AC) or Conjure Animals (can only be cast again once all the summoned animals die or disappear), and can cast Find Familiar with no charges but only summons creatures with a fly speed and the telepathy range is 500 feet. [i]Midnight Star[/i] is a legendary +3 morningstar that deals 2d8 bonus thunder damage. It requires attunement and was once wielded by the Sea Emperor. The attuned wielder and up to 6 creatures they choose within line of sight gain truesight up to 60 feet, and the wielder can cast Foresight as an action once every 24 hours. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/rBIBaXR.png[/img][/center] [i]Monstertooth Clubs[/i] are uncommon clubs bearing the teeth of particular monsters. It deals 1d4 bonus damage whose type is dependent on the nature of the original tooth-bearers. We have a d8 table of sample types and corresponding monsters: for example, aberration and fey teeth might deal psychic damage, dragon and fiend teeth may deal fire damage, and beast and plant teeth might deal poison damage. [i]Obsidian Armor[/i] is a broad type that can apply to any armor. It grants +1 AC on top of the base armor’s value as well as resistance to fire damage. [i]Pipe of Smoke-Summoning[/i] is a rare item that can cast Conjure Minor Elementals as an action once per day, and can be cast at higher levels when smoked with rare ingredients whose salt portion value determines the spell slot. [i]Rumbleglow Paint[/i] is a common magic item taking the form of a clay pot full of paint. Once dried out on a surface (the pot has a total of 1,000 square feet worth), it glows in intensity and with various colors in response to different types of vibrations. A good means of detecting tremors and burrowing monsters. [i]Scouting Hoops[/i] are common magical hoops that act like binoculars, as anything viewed through it is magnified to twice the normal size. Nightwatch versions are uncommon items that grant the viewer darkvision when looking through the hoop. [i]Sickle of Sacrifice[/i] is a very rare weapon made by spellskins of evil disposition. If it deals a critical hit against a humanoid with at least one hand, that hand is severed and reanimates as a Crawling Claw loyal to the caster. Rings and other attuned magic items worn on that hand have their attunement end. [i]Stonearrow[/i] is a rare ammunition type fashioned by the Stone Empire, that of an arrow that transforms into a boulder mid-flight. It thus deals 4d10 bludgeoning damage to the struck target and knocks them prone, and affects targets within 10 feet in the same manner but who instead must make a Strength saving throw. [i]Sunglobes[/i] are uncommon magic items that cast the Daylight spell for 1 hour via command word. The light is considered actual sunlight unlike the spell, and is commonly used by dreas as a food source when they’re exploring dungeons or underground areas for prolonged periods. The book does mention that they can be used against vampires and other sunlight-weak beings, which is their other common use. [i]Victory’s Cost[/i] is a legendary item requiring attunement. The attuned is considered proficient, and takes the form of a regular crown made of bones and fangs that via command word cause a +3 longsword made of fire to appear in the wilder’s hands. The sword automatically ignites struck creatures and flammable objects, and radiates a constant AoE aura around the wielder dealing fire damage. The magic item is also cursed, where the wielder will not voluntarily part with it and the flaming sword cannot be dismissed until knocking out or killing a creature due to its bloodlust. [i]Whispershell[/i] is a common seashell once inhabited by an aquatic fey creature. It can magically record up to one minute’s worth of conversation if a creature speaks into it, and other people can hear this message by holding it up to their ear. [i]Writhing Flail[/i] is a very rare weapon made of barbed tendrils originally discovered in an aberrant vault. The wielder can choose to perform a free grapple attempt with the weapon against a target it strikes, and upon doing so a grappled creature is blinded and cannot breathe. The flail, should it maintain the grapple at the start of the wielder’s next turn, can attempt to extract a target’s brain, dealing 2d10 piercing damage (no action required) if the target fails a Constitution saving throw. [b]Thoughts So Far:[/b] Magic items are one of my favorite additions in new sourcebooks, and there’s quite a lot of nifty thematic treasures to be found here. The concept for names and scars is cool, albeit I feel that the section for harvesting plant and animal parts could’ve used more detail. As it stands, it’s very much DM Fiat. I cannot recall where I read it so I could be mistaken, but I do recall the author mentioning that other sourcebooks have already done this so he didn’t want to retread familiar ground. As for the magic items themselves, the Masks are pretty cool, albeit some even of the same rarity type feel more useful than others. The Duergar mask and Wraith mask are both rare, but incorporeal movement is more broadly useful to various character concepts whereas Enlarge is more narrowly focused. While most weren’t particularly egregious, I did note that a few magic items had some wonky balance, like the Apparatus of the Mammoth’s extreme 30 AC or the Asp of Perfection triggering the best results possible 95% of the time. But those examples tended to be the highest rarity and for things like the Deepstone, which are heavily-implied plot devices. What I did like was how a lot of the more common rarities often reflected magical tools not just of use for combat or adventuring, but regular life or specialized tasks like the Rumbleglow Paint. [b]Join us next time as we take a first look at some prehistoric wildlife in Chapter 13: Gods & Monsters![/b] [/QUOTE]
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[Let's Read] The Star-Shaman's Song of Planegea: Dungeons & Dragons, Prehistoric Style
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