Swamp Things

March 8th, 2018

Today’s article contains a variety of swampy items, dredged up from the muck and here to fill your adventuring needs. Don’t be afraid to get a little dirty with these terrain-themed items.

FIGURINE OF WONDROUS POWER (ALEXANDRITE CROCODILE) PRICE 24,000 gp
Slot —; CL 11th; Weight 1 lb.
Aura moderate transmutation

This miniature sculpture of a crocodile stands roughly an inch high, and a little over six inches long, and has been sculpted with loving and lifelike detail to resemble a crocodile with tiny rubies for eyes. Like other figurines of wondrous power, an alexandrite crocodile can be activated by tossing it down and speaking the command word, causing it to grow in size and serve the user faithfully.

While active, the figurine has statistics identical to those of a dire crocodile, except that it also gains the freeze universal monster ability, allowing it to pose as a log while floating in water, and it gains a +10 bonus on Disguise checks made to disguise itself as a log in this way.

An alexandrite crocodile figurine of wondrous power can be activated once per week. It remains active for up to 8 hours of time remaining still with its freeze ability, or for up to 1 hour of any other activity: whichever comes first. Any creature currently swallowed by the figurine when it returns to its normal form is deposited harmlessly on the ground in the figurine’s space.

Construction Requirements Cost 12,000 gp

Craft Wondrous Item, animate objects, tree shape

QUAGMIRE CLOAK PRICE 48,000 gp
Slot shoulders; CL 11th; Weight 1 lb.
Aura moderate transmutation

This drab cloak is a mottled mix of olive, brown, and grey shades. At a glance, the fabric appears to be heavily stained, and patches of mold and fungus seem to be growing on it, though close examination reveals this is merely a trick of the coloration. The cloak always feels damp and slick to the touch to anyone not currently wearing it.

The cloak’s wearer is immune to diseases and poisons of all kinds, and can move uninhibited through swamp water and quicksand as though with a freedom of movement spell. This has no effect on moving through other types of water, and does not grant any other benefits of freedom of movement. Additionally, three times per day, as a standard action, the cloak’s wearer can transform into one of the following creatures: crocodile, giant frog, or parrot. This functions as beast shape IV, except that the effect lasts up to 10 minutes.

Finally, once per day, the cloak’s wearer can issue a command word that causes it to melt off of his body like so much swamp muck, and spread out across the ground, transforming all terrain in a 60-foot-radius area into deep bog. This functions even underground or within buildings, but through the magic of the cloak, does not damage any structures whose foundations might be transformed in this way. During this time, the cloak cannot be worn. It reforms after 10 minutes, or when another command word is spoken, after which it must be collected and donned once more.

Construction Requirements Cost 24,000 gp

Craft Wondrous Item, beast shape IV, freedom of movement, neutralize poison, remove disease, transmute rock to mud

RAFT SHIELD PRICE 4,680 gp
Slot shield; CL 15th; Weight 45 lbs.
Aura strong transmutation

This +1 tower shield appears crude and simplistic, being made of several round vertical wooden poles, with holes drilled through them in matching places and steel wire tied through them to bind them together. While many liken the overall effect to a wooden rampart or palisade, the shield is actually intended to resemble a raft.

A raft shield floats, and does not impose any armor check penalty on most Swim checks, and instead provides a +4 bonus on such checks, provided it is gripped with both hands. The armor check penalty applies normally on Swim checks made specifically to move beneath the surface of the water, or to avoid rising to the water’s surface. As a standard action, the shield can be placed on a body of water and a command word spoken, and the shield transforms into a wooden raft capable of carrying four Medium creatures. The shield returns to its normal form with another command word.

None of a raft shield’sunique abilities count as an enhancement bonus equivalent, and it is treated as a +1-equivalent shield for the purposes of the cost of further improving its magical abilities.

Construction Requirements Cost 2,430 gp

Craft Magic Arms and Armor, polymorph any object

STAFF OF THE MIRE PRICE 9,800 gp
Slot none; CL 9th; Weight 4 lbs.
Aura moderate transmutation

This +1 quarterstaff is made of carefully polished cypress wood, and is particularly gnarled and serpentine in shape. Faint images have been etched up and down the staff’s circumference, forming two or three vertical rows, each of which shows a different type of creature encountering a patch of quicksand, and then slowly sinking into it over the course of three or four depictions, finally disappearing beneath the surface in the final image, near the bottom. The staff is always cool and damp to the touch.

As a standard action, the wielder of a staff of the mire can slam it forcefully into the ground in his square. If he does so, the staff begins to transform the ground around it into quicksand. At the end of the round in which it was activated, the staff of the mire transforms the ground in its square to quicksand. At the end of the next round, it transforms each adjacent square (including diagonally) to quicksand. At the end of the third round, it transforms each square in a 20-foot radius to quicksand. The staff remains in place, and does not sink into the quicksand. Removing the staff from its position requires a DC 15 Strength check, and returns all creatures and objects sinking in the quicksand safely to the surface, although any creature that suffocated before the ground was restored remains dead. See the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook for more information about quicksand.

None of a staff of the mire’sunique abilities count as an enhancement bonus equivalent, and it is treated as a +1-equivalent weapon for the purposes of the cost of further improving its magical abilities.

Construction Requirements Cost 5,050 gp

Craft Magic Arms and Armor, transmute rock to mud