Duke of URL
2007-07-12, 09:39 AM
From my entry in the "Library Lovers" design contest, the winner of the award for the best single item. I'm posting this in the main forum for folks to enjoy and/or use...
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Roster Of The Legends [Major Artifact]
This seemingly normal appearing scroll contains a brief story regarding an epic hero or villain. However, the scroll is far more than it appears. The possessor of the scroll, if she spends one hour studying it, will gain the ability to temporarily transform into the legendary personage; this transformation must occur before dawn the next day and may last for up to one hour, at which time the user will be fatigued. If the legend's ECL is higher than her character level, the user of the transformation ability must attempt a Will save with a DC equal to the difference between the effective character level of the legend that she transformed into and her own character level; on a failed save, the transformation fails, and her personality is instead taken over by the personality of the legend for one hour. Otherwise, the transformation will be complete; the user will gain all of the abilities, skills, feats, and even favored equipment of the legendary person, in place of her own -- only the personality of the user remains.
Should dawn occur before the hour is up, the transformation ends at dawn, with no difference in the fatigued effect. At dawn, the scroll erases itself and is rewritten with a story about a random different legend. Legends may repeat eventually, but it will never be the same hero or villain two days in a row.
Any time the transformation ability is used, the user must attempt an additional Will save, with the DC of the save being the effective character level of the legend that she transformed into. If the save is unsuccessful, the user is compelled to read the scroll the next day -- to the point of total distraction if she is unable to do so.
Each day the scroll is read, either by choice or by being compelled as above, the reader must make a Will save against DC 15 plus the number of consecutive days the scroll has been read. On each failed save, the user becomes slightly more obsessed with the idea of becoming legendary enough to be worthy of inclusion in the roster and the DC resets to 15 for the next day. At first, this will just result in an exaggeration of her personality, for example, a incautious character may start to become reckless or an ambitious character may demand more and more acknowledgment and accolades for her contributions. Over time, this could result in significant personality changes.
After having studied the scroll for the first time, the possessor will never willingly part with it. Immunity to mind-affecting spells and abilities provides no benefit in resisting any of this item's properties.
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Roster Of The Legends [Major Artifact]
This seemingly normal appearing scroll contains a brief story regarding an epic hero or villain. However, the scroll is far more than it appears. The possessor of the scroll, if she spends one hour studying it, will gain the ability to temporarily transform into the legendary personage; this transformation must occur before dawn the next day and may last for up to one hour, at which time the user will be fatigued. If the legend's ECL is higher than her character level, the user of the transformation ability must attempt a Will save with a DC equal to the difference between the effective character level of the legend that she transformed into and her own character level; on a failed save, the transformation fails, and her personality is instead taken over by the personality of the legend for one hour. Otherwise, the transformation will be complete; the user will gain all of the abilities, skills, feats, and even favored equipment of the legendary person, in place of her own -- only the personality of the user remains.
Should dawn occur before the hour is up, the transformation ends at dawn, with no difference in the fatigued effect. At dawn, the scroll erases itself and is rewritten with a story about a random different legend. Legends may repeat eventually, but it will never be the same hero or villain two days in a row.
Any time the transformation ability is used, the user must attempt an additional Will save, with the DC of the save being the effective character level of the legend that she transformed into. If the save is unsuccessful, the user is compelled to read the scroll the next day -- to the point of total distraction if she is unable to do so.
Each day the scroll is read, either by choice or by being compelled as above, the reader must make a Will save against DC 15 plus the number of consecutive days the scroll has been read. On each failed save, the user becomes slightly more obsessed with the idea of becoming legendary enough to be worthy of inclusion in the roster and the DC resets to 15 for the next day. At first, this will just result in an exaggeration of her personality, for example, a incautious character may start to become reckless or an ambitious character may demand more and more acknowledgment and accolades for her contributions. Over time, this could result in significant personality changes.
After having studied the scroll for the first time, the possessor will never willingly part with it. Immunity to mind-affecting spells and abilities provides no benefit in resisting any of this item's properties.