Soul Stuff

October 8th, 2015

Today marks the end of Shadespawn week, and while none of these items are specifically tied to shadespawn, I think it will be plain to see how each of them ties into the sorts of themes that we’ve been exploring with this race all week, especially the swaddling of stolen lives. Enjoy!

AUROR’S GLASSES PRICE 3,000 gp

Slot eyes; CL 5th; Weight —
Aura faint divination

These spectacles typically have large, perfectly circular red-tinted lenses and thin gold frames. If the wearer is able to use the read aura occult skill unlock, he gains a +4 bonus on skill checks made to read auras in this way, and can attempt to read auras one additional time per day. If the wearer is not otherwise able to use the read aura occult skill unlock, he gains the ability to do so once per day (even if he is not a psychic spellcaster and is not trained in Perception).

The magic of a pair of auror’s glasses is strongly affected by its own wearer’s aura. Once a given creature has worn a pair of auror’s glasses, they will not function for any other creature until 24 hours have passed without any creature wearing them.

Construction Requirements Cost 1,500 gp

Craft Wondrous Item, analyze aura (OA)

SOULBOND ARMOR PRICE 79,350 gp

Slot armor; CL 9th; Weight 30 lbs.
Aura moderate necromancy

These suits of +4 ghost touch breastplates bear a single gem in the middle of the breastplate, usually an emerald or a ruby. Some bear engravings of spectral knights vigilantly performing their duties after death, while others are adorned with evil-looking skulls, and many have no special decorations related to their function at all.

Each suit of soulbond armor contains a spirit that was trapped—sometimes willingly, and sometimes not—within the gem on the front of the breastplate. This causes the soulbond armor to function as an intelligent suit of armor, with mental ability scores of 16, 14, and 12 (assigned according to the spirit trapped within the armor), senses to a range of 60 feet, and the ability to telepathically communicate with the creature wearing it (but no one else). The soulbond armor’s alignment matches that of the creature whose spirit is imprisoned within it. Unlike most intelligent items, a suit of soulbond armor does not have an ego score, and cannot fight its wearer for control.

Any attempt to read the wearer’s aura (including with detect evil) provides results about the soulbond armor’s aura, instead, as though the wearer were constantly under the effects of a misdirection spell, targeting the soulbond armor. Additionally, if the wearer would ever be slain outright or reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by a death effect, he can choose to redirect that death effect to the soulbond armor; doing so destroys the gem on the front of the armor and frees the entrapped soul, rendering the soulbond armor a standard suit of +4 ghost touch breastplate.

None of a soulbond armor’sunique abilities count as an enhancement bonus equivalent, and it is treated as a +7-equivalent armor for the purposes of the cost of further improving its magical abilities.

Construction Requirements Cost 39,850 gp

Craft Magic Arms and Armor, entrap soul (OA), creator must trap the soul of a disembodied spirit with entrap soul, or similar

SWADDLING OF STOLEN LIFE PRICE 40,000 gp

Slot none; CL 17th; Weight 2 lbs.
Aura strong necromancy

The lining of this black child-sized blanket is stitched in an eldritch pattern, with threads forming strange and dark runes. It is always cold to the touch, and seems to shimmer in any sort of light, giving the impression of an ink blot or an oil slick.

If the swaddling of stolen life is wrapped around a child that has not yet had its first birthday, and that child is left in the light of a full moon for at least 8 hours along with the likeness of a deceased individual, the swaddling of stolen life grants the deceased creature’s spirit a chance to return to the world and inhabit the body of the child. The creature’s spirit must be willing and able to return, and understands that doing so will rob the child of its life, an inherently evil act.

If the deceased creature is willing to return, he must make an opposed Charisma check against the child (the deceased creature uses the Charisma score he had when he died; most children young enough for this spell have a Charisma score of 10). If the child succeeds, the attempt fails. Otherwise, the deceased creature’s soul inhabits the body. The body retains the race of the child, but has the ability scores of the deceased creature. The deceased creature loses all memory of its previous life, as well as all class levels, feats, skill ranks, and so on, but regains them at a rate of one level per year, beginning at age 7, until he has regained all of his levels, feats, and skill ranks that he had when he died. His memories return at roughly the same rate, beginning with occasional flashes and visions, and slowly expanding until, when he has regained all of his previous levels, he has full memory of his previous life, up until the time that he died.

The child’s soul is consumed in this process, and can only be restored via a wish or miracle spell (a separate spell would be needed to restore the child to life).

Construction Requirements Cost 20,000 gp

Craft Wondrous Item, call spirit (OA), soul bind and either reincarnate or true resurrection