Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos novels are absolutely delightful and frequently brilliant fantasy series which starts as a simply marvelous urban fantasy and then remarkably transforms itself into something completely different and utterly thrilling. I’ve previously reviewed the first eight volumes in the series:
This is the first installment of our kitchen sinking series, where I’ll be using Brust’s stories as an inspiration for brainstorming for a variety of unique magic items.
RUBYGAZER: A rubygazer takes the form of a tube that can fit snugly into one hand. Each end of the tube is fitted with a lens crafted from ruby crystal. If one places the tube against a wall no more than 10 feet in width, they can look through the tube as if their eye were placed upon the opposite side of the wall. The properties of the rubygazer distort both depth perception and, for reasons of complicated arcane geometry, a sense of proper scale. This imposes a -5 penalty to Perception checks while using the rubygazer and prevents the use of magically or supernaturally enhanced senses, although the view is still generally clear enough to teleport safely.
Moderate divination; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, clairvoyance; Price 7,500 gp
GAZELENS: A gazelens can be fitted to a pair of spectacles or designed to be set directly into the user’s eye. In either case, the gazelens can be used in concert with a rubygazer that is within 600 feet, allowing the wearer of the gazelens to look through the rubygazer as if it were in their possession. A gazelens is essentially useless (although very pretty) without a gazer to use it with.
Moderate divination; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, clairvoyance; Price 7,500 gp
FLASHSTONES: A flashstone can be thrown as a ranged attack with a range increment of 20 feet. (Since you don’t need to hit a specific target, you can simply aim at a particular 5-foot square.) When the flashstone strikes a hard surface (or is struck hard) it triggers the spell effect stored within it.
Creation: Flashstones are created by alchemically infusing them with brewed potions. As such they require the Brew Potion feat. Unlike a potion, there is no limit to the level of spell which can be infused into a flashstone, but only spells which affect an area can be usefully triggered. Flashstones have a base price of the spell level x caster level x 50 gp.
CANTRIP STICKS: The name “cantrip stick” is something of a misnomer because these items are not limited to containing merely cantrips. A cantrip stick is essentially a cheap, single-use wand (except that they use a command word activation and can be used even by non-spellcasters). Their cheap, easy construction makes cantrip sticks somewhat unreliable, however, and there is a 1 in 20 chance when they’re used that they will simply fail to trigger. (If this happens, there is an additional 1 in 20 chance that the cantrip stick will suffer a backlash: The cantrip stick explodes causing 1d6 points of damage per spell level to the character holding it (Reflex save, DC 15 + spell level, for half damage) and expending the stick’s charge to no effect.)
Cantrip sticks are often used by armies. In the military, it is customary to snap a cantrip stick in half once it has been expelled (because otherwise someone else might assume that there was still a charge in it).
Creation: A cantrip stick requires the Craft Wand feat and can contain any spell of 4th level or lower. Cantrip sticks have a base price of the spell level x caster level x 25 gp.
LEYRIPPER: These spiral, fluted, hollow tubes – often carved from ebony – are designed to latch onto the ley signatures in magical items and disrupt them (literally ripping them out of the item). As an attack action, leyrippers can be targeted at any potion, wand, staff, or other item which has charges within 120 feet. On a successful ranged touch attack, the targeted item (or its wielder) must succeed on a Will save (DC 18) or lose 1d6 charges. In addition, these charges are unstable and cause a micro-explosion inflicting 1d6 points of damage per charge lost to the item’s wielder. An item cannot lose more charges than it currently has. Potions are considered to have a single charge.
Strong abjuration; CL 12th; Craft Wondrous Item, greater dispel magic; Price 72,000 gp
LIGHTROPE: A lightrope is a six-inch length of cord which, when twirled slowly in the hand, illuminates. The amount of illumination provided by the lightrope can be very carefully controlled by the speed of the twirling. During combat, the amount of effort required to twirl the lightrope at varying speeds is represented by the type of action used to twirl it (see table.
As a full action, the lightrope can create an intense burst of light which will slowly fade over the course of five rounds (as shown on the table).
Faint Evocation [light]; CL 6th; Craft Wondrous Item, daylight; Price 8,000 gp
| Action | Bright | Shadowy |
|---|---|---|
| Free (Burst 5th Round) | n/a | 5 ft. |
| Free (Burst 4th Round) | 15 ft. | 30 ft. |
| Move (Burst 3rd Round) | 30 ft. | 60 ft. |
| Standard (Burst 2nd Round) | 60 ft. | 120 ft. |
| Full (Burst) | 120 ft. | 240 ft. |
LIGHTROPE, BLACKLIGHT: A blacklight lightrope operates in a fashion similar to a lightrope (requiring a free action to twirl each round), but instead of casting illumination it creates an emanation of blacklight in a 20 ft. radius. The area is filled with total darkness which is impenetrable to normal vision and darkvision, but which the person twirling the blacklight lightrope can see through normally.
Faint Evocation [darkness]; CL 6th, Craft Wondrous Item, blacklight; Price 36,000 gp
WEB ROPE: Crafted from the thick strands of giant spider web and alchemically stabilized for durability and long-lasting use, web rope is tacky to the touch and possesses an uncanny grip. It grants a +4 circumstance bonus to Use Rope checks and a +2 circumstance bonus to Climb checks. It can also be used as a grappling hook (with the sticky end of the rope attaching itself securely to exposed surfaces). This requires greater skill (DC 15, +2 feet per 10 feet of distance thrown), but has the benefit of weighing less and creating less noise in its use.
Cost: 50 gp (50 ft.); Weight: 2 lbs. (50 ft.)
FORM-FITTING BOOTS: Footwear modified to become form-fitting magically adjusts its size and fit to the wearer’s foot. (This is a physical process which can be felt by the wearer, often with the first boot adjusting itself even as they don the second.) This is mostly a matter of comfort and styling, but such footwear does make things a little easier on the feet, reducing the damage from forced marches by 1 point (minimum 1).
Cost: This minor effect can be placed on any footwear for 25 gp.
TELEPORTATION KEYSTONES: A teleportation keystone allows its carrier to teleport into the area affected by a teleport block spell. (If multiple characters are teleporting at the same time, only one of them needs to carry a teleportation keystone in order for the entire group to successfully penetrate the block.)
Each keystone is linked to a specific casting of the teleport block spell and has no effect on other teleport block spells. Before the teleport block spell is cast, the keystone (or keystones) that are going to be associated with it must be prepared. This requires ten minutes of work per keystone and a Spellcraft check (DC 15, preparer can Take 10). When the teleport block spell is cast, the caster can make a Spellcraft check (DC 10 + 2 per additional keystone) to associate a teleportation keystone to the teleport block. If the check fails, the teleportation keystone doesn’t function.
A single teleportation keystone can be associated with multiple teleport block spells. It only needs to be prepared once, but a separate Spellcraft check must be during each casting of teleport block.
If a teleport block is made permanent, the teleportation keystones associated with it can be simultaneously made permanent by expending an additional 50 XP per keystone.
The physical form of a keystone can be almost anything (although small, smooth, oval stones marked with runes are common).
TELEPORT BLOCK
Abjuration
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 full round
Range: 0 ft.
Area: One 10-ft. cube/level
Duration: 1 hour/level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
You create an area in which no teleportation spell will work, either coming in or going out.
Material Component: 10 gp worth of gold dust.
This material is covered under the Open Game License.
Ooo, these look interesting. As another fan of Brust’s work, I can see some of the inspirations, and really approve of the adaptations. One thing I’m curious about – did you intend a Gazelens to be tied to a specific Rubygazer? Or can it be used with any ‘active’ device in range? And if the second, does it require knowledge on the user’s part, or just the presense of a gazer?
It seems clear that the items would be crafted and ‘intended’ to work in concert, used by the same person to peek clandestinely by hiding a Rubygazer against a wall, and operating it innocuously nearby. But it also makes me picture a concerned (or paranoid) party putting on a Gazelens to check a room before meeting, to see if anyone _else_ is looking in by seeing if they get a vision of themselves. This counter-espionage possibility seems interesting enough to me that I would want it to work that way, whether or not it was obvious to a casual user.
(I’m undecided on whether or not it’d be more interesting to have interference if multiple gazers were in the same 600 ft radius, or if one could switch between views…) Anyway, thanks, these are fun!
Intention was for the gazelens to work with any rubygazer. Had not given sufficient thought to the use of multiple rubygazers.
What I’d say is that you can only look through one rubygazer within range at a time, and you have to “tune” the gazelens to the correct rubygazer. This is trivial if you’ve had the specific rubygazer in hand, but if you’re just scanning for available gazelens I think I’d require a moderate Spellcraft check.
I am in the middle of Jhereg now based on your recommendation. As a fan of Glen Cook and Jim Butcher, these are right up my alley. Thanks for bringing them to my attention!