Magic Item Challenge

[Guest Confusinator]

I want to plant a plot device in my group. I want to play off the weaknesses of one of my PC's, who is obsessed with magic. So I am going to present them with an item that they clearly should have nothing to do with, and see if their greed gets the better of them.

 

The item is going to be a small crystal ball that's obvious power is giving a power boost to magic based powers, say 40AP's worth. The inobvious power is that it will be a reverse scrying stone, that is, the villian that gifted the item can use it as a spy tool, AND as a memorized teleport point. T

 

The bad part needs to be invisible to detect magic, but there should probably be some way for them to figure out what it does at some point in the future. Or at least confirm their suspicions that they are being spyed upon.

 

Since I am on the road for a couple of days, and don't have any reference material with me, I turn it over to you wise sages.

 

BTW, this is for a 1920's Pulp game that has low to medium magic.

[AnotherSkip]

add a 19- disguise roll, only to conceal second set of powers?

 

perhaps make it a Multipower, (Thus giving clues as when his magical powers suddenly drop for no apparent reason)

[Alcamtar]

For the secondary power, just give the villain a spell that tracks the stone. No need to put the power in the stone itself. Maybe the stone is *both* an independent item, and a non-universal focus for the villain's scry spell.

 

For example,

 

Scrying Spell: Clairsentience to 1000 km, invisible power effects (+1/2), indirect (+1/4), IAF crystal ball (-1/2), Fixed perception point: crystal ball (-1)

 

The crystal ball is an inobvious focus for the scrying spell, but an obvious focus for the "power boost". Indirect means that the spy-power still works even through magical anti-scry or anti-magic barriers, unless they are hardened... this ability to bypass defenses when voluntarily carried is a classic feature of a "bug" device. Since the spell is invisible, the focus inobvious, and the power itself not embedded in the item, the PC is going to have a very hard time tracing it to the crystal ball.

 

If you really want to throw them off, give the crystal ball some sort of persistent, area effect anti-scrying suppress power... with personal immunity. Since the watching wizard made it, he's immune to its effect! The PCs will likely puzzle over what "personal immunity" means but will probably conclude that it lets them cast scrying spells out of the field. Whatever they conclude, let it work, to maintain the illusion. (Alternately the GM could rule that since the enemy Scry is indirect, targeted directly at the ball, and the suppress is not hardened, it works anyway without personal immunity.) Anyway once the PCs suspect they're being watched, the crystal ball will be their prize possession for it's "cloaking field".

 

Alternately, you could just give the crystal ball something like: Watched (PC is easy to find, 14-, only watching). This is a purely plot-device type magic. The disadvantage could mean the wizard can always easily locate the PC and keep tabs on him, and has a 90% chance of actually watching him at any given time.

 

Another idea: make the crystal ball an intelligent automaton. The enemy wizard can communicate with it via a Mind Link. The PCs could perhaps summon the "Servant of the Crystal" (and it would behave as an obedient "invisible servant") but in reality it serves the enemy wizard. Either it is unaware of its Mind Link, or it has a Total Psych Lim of loyalty to the enemy wizard. To disarm the PCs, build the thing into the crystal as a Summon Devoted Servant... they won't have the character sheet, but they'll assume the obvious. This is a sneaky sort of monitoring that will slip right past suppresses targeted at clairsentience, or even telepathy. The wizard could also have it perform sneaky tasks for him, like subtly sabotaging things or leaving clues that implicate the PCs in nefarious deeds.

 

Great concept, have fun with it!

 

Mike

[Lord Liaden]

Alcamtar has some great suggestions on how to build this effect, but the other half of the concept is of course the players eventually discovering the spying capacity of the crystal. This is implicit in the "Inobvious" part of the focus; by definition the fact that the spying ability is Focussed in the crystal should be identifiable in some way, but that way can vary widely depending on concept.

 

My suggestion, which I think would be in genre, would be to have the characters who have experienced the power boost effect of the crystal start to experience the feeling of being watched. Perhaps once per game session you could (secretly) roll for Perception for each such character to see if they have the sensation of being under observation. To make it more obvious that the crystal is involved, let them notice something unusual about it at these times, like an odd momentary flicker or flash.

 

Alternatively these characters could have recurring dreams of a watching eye, which would be good for creating a "pulpish" suspense. I'd suggest giving these clues in handwritten note form to the players at the beginning of the session - the players would have to think to compare experiences to realize that they're all having the same one, and that what they have in common is being affected by the crystal.

[lensman]

The "I" in OIF

 

Here my 2 cents

 

Have a property of the focus material ie th e"crystall"

such that when light is directed through it, the directed light shows an image of the "scrying" individual.

 

What image is displayed, if any, when the scry power is not in use may benothing or the user at the time.

 

Only when the scry power is being used and the light is directed through the crystall ball, then the enemy wizard would show up.

[Guest Confusinator]

Thanks!

 

I like the way you fellas think! I'm not sure yet which one of these I will use, but I will use one of them, starting this weekend.

 

I kinda like the feeling watched angle, especially since the player that most likely use this device already has a only watching hunted described as unknown beings watching from the shadow world. He will most likely think it is them.

[SuperGuy]

That's a pretty powerful object for fantasy hero. I think you should punish the user a little more for using it.

 

Say a SE( xd6 STUN drain, gradual effect 1 day) At a 4d6 (40 AP) 12 points of stun are lost for the day (say 1 every 2 hours)... no big deal. The user will notice the 1 point of stun and may feel inclined to use the object multiple times (let's say 4 more). That will be 60 STUN lost for the day, and in normal fanstasy about 30 stun, the character will fall unconscious after 12 hours and won't wake until a little more than another 12 hours (24 hours after the power was used first, the PC will recover the first 12 then another 12 after the second use... and so on until the character has STUN to be conscious)

 

I suppose they could use magical healing to wake him, but I would institue a fade rate because the object is still effecting him. So, if he has lost 10 STUN before he gets worried, the cleric heals him up to full. He'll loses 5 points at the end of the turn and another the next turn. Like with poison, you have to remove it. I'd say if the crystal ball is more than 4" away for 2 hours, he'll recover normally. Also a dispel magic could work, if cast on the crystal ball... to turn it off. But leave all that for them to figure out.

 

None of this is particularly bad, but would be motivation enough to think twice in using it. As for the scrying stuff, maybe give the one unconscious the feeling of being watched when unconscious due to the effects of the crystal ball. I doubt it will happen often, but I'm sure it will.

 

I'd change the object too. Crystal ball screams, I'm scrying on you. How about a crystal wand?

[GreyGuardian]

Hmm another genra way to figure it out would be to find an obscure reference book that mentions the properties of the stone.