Altar Stone - Item Set 1
The most recent addition we’ve made to our Altar Stone videos is adding a homebrewed, on theme, item to the end of the video. This has been a fun creative challenge and our first attempt at bundling more “worth” into the video projects. These are the first 3 we've shared.
We are basing the items off of 5e (2014) for now. Might be fun to revisit the mechanics if we personally branch out to other systems in this golden age of new TTRPG releases.
Abyssal Harp
Wondrous item, instrument, very rare (requires attunement by a bard), 5lbs
An instrument of the submerged Eighth College, this harp takes the form of a series of interconnected tubes mounted on a frame of coral. When moved through water in a precise and fluid motion, the harp creates sound vibrations and subtle changes in water pressure that are perceived as ethereal music by the listener.
While you are fully immersed in water and holding this harp, the current adds its voice to yours when you cast spells. You gain a +1 bonus to the saving throw DC of your bard spells and a +1 bonus to Constitution saving throws made to maintain concentration on a spell.
While you are holding this harp, you can cast prestidigitation as an action. Illusions created with this spell take on a watery character: visual illusions shimmer and waver, while auditory illusions are deep and sonorous. Once per day, as an action, you can use the harp to cast create or destroy water as a 5th level spell. This property recharges at dawn, whether or not the sun is visible at your current depth.
The harp can only be played underwater. The vibrations and pressure changes it generates are imperceptible in air or empty space. When affixed to an underwater surface in an area with strong currents, the harp will seemingly play itself as water flows through it, allowing the ocean to speak with a gentler voice and for the patient listener to hear the musings of its queen.
Rod of Reanimation
Wondrous item, rod, very rare (requires attunement by a wizard, warlock, or sorcerer), 10lbs
This rod of crystal and steel is topped with a transparent sphere, inside which arc and sputter streams of blue and purple lightning. Adventurers are advised not to spend undue time considering the origin of the fluid that circulates within the handle.
The rod has 3 charges. While you hold it, you can use an action and consume a charge to cast one of the following spells from it: animate dead or lightning bolt. As charges are consumed, the fluid within the handle depletes proportionately. The charges (and the fluid) return at dawn.
Creatures reanimated by the Rod have the property Came Back Wrong. At the beginning of the creature’s turn, roll a ten-sided die.
| Roll | Condition |
|---|---|
| 1 | The creature cannot act this turn. If the creature was capable of speech in life, it begs for death from the nearest creature. Otherwise, it howls in wordless agony. |
| 2-3 | The creature goes into a wild rage, screaming and attacking the nearest creature with all its strength. It makes a melee attack roll with an additional +2 to hit and a 1d6 bonus to damage. |
| 4-10 | The creature behaves normally this turn. |
Glass of Sands
Wondrous item, legendary, 5lbs
Within the hourglass, discovered in the outstretched hand of a withered corpse, the sands swirl without cease as if scattered by eternal sirocco. When you pick it up, you feel as though you can hear the wind inside, the susurrus of a thousand thousand imprisoned in dust.
Once a week, as an action, you may cast any one spell of 8th level or less on your class’s spell list by turning the glass upside down and reciting the incantation inscribed along its edges. While the sand is flowing, time is paused for the user as the hourglass draws power from within the core of their soul to assemble the energies necessary for the spell. Consult the table below to determine how much your character ages as a result of using this feature.
| Spell level | Duration |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 month |
| 2 | 2 months |
| 3 | 3 months |
| 4 | 5 months |
| 5 | 8 months |
| 6 | 1 year |
| 7 | 2 years |
| 8 | 3 years |
While time is paused, the hourglass’s holder cannot act, and only the sand within the hourglass moves. The rest of the world is held in suspension. The subjective duration of the time freeze for both the user and those in the vicinity is left to the GM.
If the hourglass is shattered, the soul-dust within is freed, and each fleck will spend the remainder of its existence attempting to locate and re-incorporate with the soul that shed it.
Conclusion
Next week is back to regular WAP posting. I may have chosen an anatomy challenge that’s too complicated but we’ll see if it can be done without learning the anatomy of horses…
I ended up downloading Resprite on the iPad so I’ve been poking around at pixel art a bit. Hoping to try out animating in a few weeks when I look up a tutorial on how to properly use the app. But also a bunch of my Clippy points were going to expire so I went on a big Clip Studio Paint spending spree and now have a bunch of new brushes I want to experiment with. And Swordtember is still going on!!