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The Vorpal Tribble
2007-04-01, 04:36 PM
Diamond of Defeat
Major Artifact

Many thousands of years ago an army was so thoroughly defeated, having given up all hope, that no man was left standing. In despair they cursed the gods, and were slaughtered, barely lifting their swords to defend themselves in their despondency. Their souls were sucked down into the gray wastes of Hades. This army gained special interest by the overfiends of the plane and were marched to the entrance of a volcano used for smelting and were forced within. The volcano was then collapsed and the souls themselves were destroyed by the hellfire. Their remains came together and for millenia crystallized in the unearthly pressure and heat, forming a single massive diamond, formed of the essence of ultimate defeat. The mountain was then cracked open and the diamond gathered. Many lives were spent, even the greater demons falling into despair and slaying themselves after its holding. Eventually it cooled and those that were strong of will were able to direct the affects of the diamond onto another.

Those that wield the diamond must succeed on a DC 30 will save every day or attempt to slay themselves. If they succeed on the save however they are able to tap into the power of the diamond and sew defeat. Each day a mishap listed below is suffered.


1 You die of despair and your soul, regardless of alignment or outlook, is taken to Hades.
2-10 1/4 opposing army be taken down with Crushing Despair.
11-20 All ranged attacks of the opposing army are at a -10 penalty. This includes anything from throwing rocks to the launches of trebuchets and ranged spells.
21-30 1d4 of the highest leveled individuals of the opposing army must succeed on a DC 30 will save or kill themselves.
31-40 All mounts are taken lame and cannot be ridden.
41-49 Half the food of those that oppose you spoils beyond edibility.
50 A natural disaster strikes the opposing army. Roll a 1d4.
1 - A storm appears, producing a tornado that sets down in the midst of the enemy encampment.
2 - A storm appears and rains heavily, producing flash-floods in the midst of the enemy encampment.
3 - A meteor swarm (as the spell) falls upon the enemy encampment.
4 - An earthquake (as the spell) appears amidst the enemy encampment.
51-60 1/10th of the opposing army turns on one another to fight to the death.
61-70 Worms and rot sets into the non-magical wood of the opposing army. They all break into uselessness. This includes weapons with wooden components.
81-90 Half of all non-magical metal of the opposing army rusts into uselessness.
91-99 All men of the opposing side that die this day rise as skeletons or zombie to fight for you.
100 All men on your side that die this day are temporarily brought back to life once as if the recipient of the True Resurrection spell. By dawn of the next morning however they die again, this time for good unless another 100 is rolled.

Weight: 20 lbs.

martyboy74
2007-04-01, 05:26 PM
2-10 says: "1/4 of opposing army be taken down with Crushing Despair",. What's that mean?

Earthstar_Fungus
2007-04-01, 06:06 PM
20 lbs! That's a heavy diamond. When all mounts are taken lame, does it meant that everyone fighting in the war is affected?

Demented
2007-04-01, 07:33 PM
In the sense that you can't ride anyone, probably.
Though that doesn't mean much unless you're a pixie wizard with a half-orc barbarian as a mount.

Edit: Oh wait, I totally misinterpreted what you meant. <_<

The Vorpal Tribble
2007-04-01, 07:37 PM
2-10 says: "1/4 of opposing army be taken down with Crushing Despair",. What's that mean?
They are affected by the Crushing Despair spell.


When all mounts are taken lame, does it meant that everyone fighting in the war is affected?
All those of the opposing side that relied on horses and the like.

henebry
2007-04-01, 08:21 PM
It's April Fools Day, VT! You've donned a fool's cap! And yet the artifact you propose on this holy day is a diamond of despair?

Allow me to add this addendum to your otherwise excellent entry:

Tub of Diogenes minor artifact
Good people, most illustrious drinkers, and you, thrice precious gouty
gentlemen, did you ever see Diogenes, the cynic philosopher? If you have
seen him, you must have your eyes in your head, or I am very much out
a fool. If you have not seen him, as I am easily induced to believe that
you have not, at least you have heard some talk of him and the tub in
which he passed all his days, perfectly content.

When Philip, King of Macedon, enterprised the siege and ruin of Corinth,
the Corinthians were all most terribly afraid; and therefore set about
to do everything they could to put themselves in a fit posture to resist his
hostile approach and defend their own city.

Some brought from the fields into the fortified city their movables,
animals, corn, wine, fruit, victuals, and other necessary provision.

Others did fortify their walls, set up little fortresses, bastions, squared
ravelins, digged trenches, cleansed countermines, fenced themselves
with gabions, contrived platforms, emptied casemates, barricaded
the false brays, erected the cavaliers, repaired the counterscarps,
plastered the curtains, lengthened ravelins, stopped parapets, morticed
barbacans, assured the portcullises, fastened the herses, sarasinesques,
and cataracts, placed their sentries, and doubled their patrol. Everyone
did watch and ward, and not one was exempted from carrying the basket.
Some polished corslets, varnished backs and breasts, cleaned the
headpieces, mail-coats, brigandines, salads, helmets, morions, jacks,
gushets, gorgets, hoguines, brassars, and cuissars, corslets, haubergeons,
shields, bucklers, targets, greaves, gauntlets, and spurs. Others made
ready bows, slings, crossbows, pellets, catapults, migrains or fire-balls,
firebrands, balists, scorpions, and other such warlike engines expugnatory
and destructive to the Hellepolides. They sharpened and prepared spears,
staves, pikes, brown bills, halberds, long hooks, lances, zagayes,
quarterstaves, eelspears, partisans, troutstaves, clubs, battle-axes,
maces, darts, dartlets, glaives, javelins, javelots, and truncheons. They
set edges upon scimitars, cutlasses, badelairs, backswords, tucks, rapiers,
bayonets, arrow-heads, dags, daggers, mandousians, poniards, whinyards,
knives, skeans, shables, chipping knives, and raillons.

Every man exercised his weapon, every man scoured off the rust from his
natural hanger; nor was there a woman amongst them, though never so
reserved or old, who failed to polish her armor; for, as you know,
the Corinthian women of old were reputed very courageous combatants.

Diogenes, seeing them all so warm at work and himself not employed by
the magistrates in any business whatsoever, he did very seriously, for
many days together, without speaking one word, consider and contemplate
the behavior of his fellow-citizens.

Then on a sudden, as if he had been roused up and inspired by a martial
spirit, he girded his cloak scarfwise about his left arm, tucked up his
sleeves to the elbow, trussed himself like a clown gathering apples, and,
giving to an old acquaintance his wallet, books, and opistographs,
away went he out of town towards a little hill or promontory of Corinth
called (the) Cranie; and there on the strand, a pretty level place, did he
roll his jolly tub, which served him for a house to shelter him from the
injuries of the weather: there, I say, in a great vehemency of spirit, did
he turn it, veer it, wheel it, whirl it, frisk it, jumble it, shuffle it,
huddle it, tumble it, hurry it, jolt it, justle it, overthrow it, evert it,
invert it, subvert it, overturn it, beat it, thwack it, bump it, batter it,
knock it, thrust it, push it, jerk it, shock it, shake it, toss it, throw
it, overthrow it, upside down, topsy-turvy, arsiturvy, tread it, trample
it, stamp it, tap it, ting it, ring it, tingle it, towl it, sound it,
resound it, stop it, shut it, unbung it, close it, unstopple it. And then
again in a mighty bustle he bandied it, slubbered it, hacked it, whittled
it, wayed it, darted it, hurled it, staggered it, reeled it, swinged it,
brangled it, tottered it, lifted it, heaved it, transformed it,
transfigured it, transposed it, transplaced it, reared it, raised it,
hoised it, washed it, dighted it, cleansed it, rinsed it, nailed it,
settled it, fastened it, shackled it, fettered it, levelled it, blocked it,
tugged it, tewed it, carried it, bedashed it, bewrayed it, parched it,
mounted it, broached it, nicked it, notched it, bespattered it, decked it,
adorned it, trimmed it, garnished it, gauged it, furnished it, bored it,
pierced it, trapped it, rumbled it, slid it down the hill, and precipitated
it from the very height of the Cranie; then from the foot to the top (like
another Sisyphus with his stone) bore it up again, and every way so banged
it and belaboured it that it was ten thousand to one he had not struck the
bottom of it out.

Which when one of his friends had seen, and asked him why he did so toil
his body, perplex his spirit, and torment his tub, the philosopher's answer
was that, not being employed in any other charge by the Republic, he
thought it expedient to thunder and storm it so tempestuously upon his tub,
that amongst a people so fervently busy and earnest at work he alone
might not seem a loitering slug and lazy fellow.

If he could do thus in the face of bellicose Mars, imagine what exploits
Diogenes accomplished when Mars passed through Corinth, attended, as
always by his his daughters Rapine and Despair.

(The powers and affinities of Diogenes' tub to follow; these, I promise, will be no less heavily plagiarized than the foregoing.)

Mewtarthio
2007-04-01, 08:31 PM
Do the victims of the diamond get Will saves? If there are any important NPCs, do you roll a d% to see if they get affected (eg The 1/4 Crushing Despair affect hits them on a 25 or less), or just assume they don't?