My name is Death, and the end is here... (Artifacts, PEACH)

Just a quick project of mine, I'll be creating three artifacts all concerning the personification of Death. I intend on giving each it's own legend. The first two (Death's Ring and Death's Scythe) are based on their portrayals in Supernatural. The final one, the Elder Wand, will be a special wand with infinite charges found in Harry Potter.

Death’s Ring
Death comes in many forms. Legends from all over describe him as wildly different things. Some call him a black dog that prowls the night. Others describe him as a skeletal figure wrapped in a black cloak. Yet others refer to talk about him as though he is an older human male. Whatever he is described as, they all seem to have one thing in common: a ring. The ring is cold to the touch, and has a large, pale stone embedded in it.

It is said that while it does not hold Death's true potential, it houses a lot of power. As a result, it almost never leaves his hand. There are legends, though, that tell an interesting story about the ring. The ring is part of a set of four, each with its own unique powers. It is said that when combined, they act as a key to the cage of an Elder Evil.

Another legend states that, though a rare happenstance, one may actually make a wager with Death to gain the services of the mighty power. Generally, this wager deals with having to wear the ring for twenty four hours straight. While wearing the ring, the person sees first hand the horrors that Death must deal with every day. Those who can muddle through it get their wish.

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Death’s Ring is a magical ring that gives the wearer (usually Death) many necromantic powers. The two most obvious effects are:

Natural Invisibility (Sp): This ability is constant, allowing the wearer of the ring to remain invisible even when attacking. This ability is inherent and not subject to the invisibility purge spell.

Incorporeal Subtype: The wearer becomes incorporeal on all Planes of Existence. See the Incorporeal subtype for more information.

In addition, those who control Death’s ring have the following powers:

Raise Dead (Su): The ring can raise 50 HD worth of creatures from the dead per week, but this is powered by negative energy. Although for the first week, they act as they normally would when they were alive, these creatures gain the Fast* Bloodthirsty* Zombie templates. Before this brutal transformation, they have the same creature type as they had during life, making them excellent sleeper cells.
* Templates can be found in Libris Mortis

Spell-like Abilities (Sp): At will- Chill Touch, Blight, Finger of Death. 3/day- Enervation, Energy Drain, Greater Teleport, Plane Shift. Caster Level 30th.

Overwhelming Necromancy; Caster Level 30th

Death’s Scythe
Death's Scythe is said to be an extension of Death himself. It is a weapon of unimaginable power, one capable of ending the life of anything that has ever walked upon any of the planes of existence (even its owner). Few things are as terrifying as this certain doom, which glows white hot when in the presence of its masters. The deities themselves are said to fear it. This weapon appears to be engraved with writings from all major planar languages.

Death's Scythe is a highly sought after weapon, especially by those who already have power over death.

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Death’s scythe is a major artifact, and primary weapon of Death himself. It functions as a +3 Bane Keen Wounding Vorpal Scythe, with an additional ability. Five times a day, Death’s Scythe can kill any living creature it strikes that fails a fortitude save (DC 30 + damage dealt). Creatures who are usually immune to death effects are still effected. Even deities (provided they are divine rank 20 or lower) are affected. It deals 2d4 damage per hit. The critical range for Death’s Scythe is 19-20, and upon a successful hit, the targets head is severed, killing it instantly. If a severed head would not be fatal, the target instead multiplies the damage by four. Every time it hits a target, the target loses a point of constitution from a loss of blood from the wound. This weapon acts as a bane weapon against all creatures, dealing an additional 2d6 damage. It also has a special property. When within 30 ft. of Death, it begins to burn. At a distance of thirty feet, this deals 1d6 untyped damage to both the wielder and whoever the wielder attacks, but with every 5 ft. closer it comes, another die of damage is added (2d6 at 35 ft., 3d6 at 30 ft., etc), to a maximum of 6d6. The wielder (if the wielder is someone other than Death) also takes this damage every round. Death is immune to it.

Overwhelming Necromacy; Caster level 30th; Weight 10 lb.

Elder Wand
Long ago, there was a group of three brothers. They were all wizards, and they came across deadly river. They simply conjured a bridge to get across. Death, who was not used to anyone surviving the crossing. He decided to reward each brother with an item of their choice. The eldest brother, wanting to humiliate Death further, asked for a wand that made him unbeatable, and thus unkillable. Death only smiled, and brought he what he had asked for.

The brother went to the nearest town and showed off his magical might. He stated that as long as he continued to wield it, he would be unbeatable. Eventually, he was murdered in his sleep by a rival spellcaster who wanted the power for his own. And so, the soul of the elder brother came to Death.

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The Elder Wand is a special wand because it never runs out of charges. Instead, it can be used to cast a certain number of spells per day, which than instantly recharges the following day. The Elder Wand also isn't limited to any spell at all. It can cast any spell on the Sorcerer spell list. The wand allows the wielder to cast spells as a 20th level Wizard with no bonus spells. A wielder of the Elder Wand can cast spells from barred schools (if any), and need not make a use magic device check when using it (as long as the wielder is a spellcaster; those who cannot cast arcane spells must still make the DC 20 check). In addition, they can apply any metamagic feat they have to the spells, and they are treated as having the Improved Counterspell feat when wielding it. Any spell of the evocation school also is automatically treated as though the Fell Drain feat has been applied to it, though the spells do not increase by two levels (so a fell drain magic missile would still count as a 1st level spell, as opposed to a 3rd level spell).

Overwhelming Universal; Caster level 21st; 1 oz.

Bag of Souls
Bags of Souls are minor artifacts, often carried by extremely powerful cosmic powers. While he was not the original creator, Death has popularized it among various other planar factions. Death uses these items to collect the souls of those who die and bring them to their final destination. Other creatures that have also been known to use them include Famine, Reapers, and Devils.

To use a Bag of Souls, one must open it above the body of a person who died no less than two hours ago. When opened, the soul of the creature becomes a visible source of pale light, and is immediately sucked into the bag, no save (unless the creature is at least Divine Rank 0, at which point they must make a Will save whose DC is equal to 80 minus their Divine Rank). The bags can hold 200 HD worth of creatures.

Petitioners, being souls in their most purified form, are also susceptible to this ability. When used on when opened in the presence of a petitioner, all petitioners within 30 ft. are absorbed into it, no save. Despite the fact that petitioners usually cannot leave their bonded plane, they remain inside of the bag until the holder of the bag wills them out while on an Outer Plane. At that point, any petitioners released become bound to the plane they are currently on, and any souls released reform as petitioners bound to the plane on which they were released. if they are willed out on a plane that is not an Outer Plane, they are automatically whisked away to the plane in which they were destined. Because of this unique ability, Devils often use these bags to kidnap Good-aligned souls from their destined paradise.

Since vermin, oozes, constructs, and some forms of undead do not have souls, they are not affected by this artifact. If used against an ensouled undead (this usually includes all incorporeal undead and some forms of corporeal undead, but the exact details are up to the DM), they are treated as having as many HD as they did when they were living creatures.

Overwhelming Conjuration; Caster Level 30th; 15 lb.

Awesome, I now have a goal for my Entropic Reaper//Ebon Initiate who has the delusion that he is an aspect of death itself.
Thank you so much for this. *wheeeee*

Glad you enjoy 'em. I decided to add one more, the bag of souls (based off of the suitcase of souls from Supernatural.

You sure Death's Ring isn't Hades' Helmet?

Death's Ring isn't actually based in any mythology, but purely from existing media (in this case, Supernatural). And Hades Helmet has stats in Deities and Demigods, I think.

You know this gave me a great idea, one of the pcs parents is on the brink of a visit from old D himself. When she finally breaths her last there is a sudden explosion, then a cabal of wizards battle death. After defeating him they turn on one another, giving the pcs an opportunity to escape. After this it runs like dawn of the dead. The pcs start off as just trying to survive while the surviving wizards wage war over the artifacts of death. Then eventually get some other artifacts of their own and reunite deaths hallows to resurrect him.

Sounds like a cool campaign arc. If you are using these, tell me how it goes.

Great work :) particularly Death's Scythe, with its Death power 5/day and the dreadful burning effect... might I suggest to make the damage to surpass any fire resistances or immunities?

Also love the fluff for Death's Ring. And the abilities are cool.

But the elder wand, though immensely powerful, I feel it lacking the fluff strength of the other two (particularly in its mechanical benefits... I mean, yes, its like having a powerful mage's soul in a wand, but the other two items are awesome besides powerful)*.

*EDIT: I mean, they offer multiple benefits and built-in options of ussage which are great. Of course the wand offers even more options of ussage, but they are options one is already familiar with, which does reduce its awesome factor.

Glad you like them. :smallbiggrin:

I'll see what else I can add to the Elder Wand.

Thing is, i've always seen Death as more like Thanatos than Hades. I'd always assumed that the control of corpses or souls would be the domain of the controller of the dead rather than the controller of Death itself.

Somehow I'd also more associate Slay Living with the ring rather than Finger of Death [which prevents resurrection], simply because death is a natural function when it is personified, rather than an annihilation of the soul...

Just my opinion, admittedly.

The Ring does not grant them the ability to control the undead, just to create them. Should I mention this?

I see the be missing something when I read through Finger of Death, where does it mention that the soul is destroyed?

My bad, it used to prevent ressurection in older editions. Don't usually use this level of magic.

It still feels more like "the icy touch of death" is more thematic than "a gaze that snuffs out your life"

Even without control, it still seems like somthing directly opposed to what the reaper actually does...

You could add that single-target hostile spells automatically receive the effects of the Fell Drain Spell metamagic feat, and that even when the wand runs out of spells for the day, using the wand as an additional focus component for any such spell the user casts normally will produce the same effect on his own spells, without increasing the level of the spell slot used. Also, any necromancy spell or [death] spell the user casts, whether from the wand's store of spells or the user's own daily spell slots, is at a +10 CL for the purpose of dispelling/counterspelling, and is treated as heightened to 10th level.

Where can I find that metamagic feat? Sounds interesting.

Its been a while, but I finally gotten around to making the Bag of Souls. Also, I made minor edits to the other artifacts.

Keep in mind that the Bag of Souls is mostly meant to be a villain's tool than a hero's.

The others should be fully usable by PCs, though.