The Armourer's Retreat

Contents

The Gauntlets of Rewdan Treecutter

The Gauntlets of Vladimir

Slegov's Helm of Invincibility (humourous)

Gauntlets of the Bear

Armour of the Crocodile

Armour of the Turtle

Helmet of the Bull

 


The Gauntlets of Rewdan Treecutter

by Rick Underwood

The famed mithril gauntlets of this heroic ranger were obtained when his adventuring party encountered a lich in a trapped and guarded tomb in the Stonelands. Their original name and maker are not known. Rewdan is now retired, but two years ago he lent his gauntlets to a ranger who died on the road to Waterdeep. Rewdan is naturally anxious to hear of the whereabouts of the gauntlets he still considers his own.

They confer the following powers:

  1. Strength of a stone giant (= to Str 20, +3 to hit, +8 damage) in arms, shoulders and hands.
  2. Detect evil 60 foot radius when wearer concentrates to detect such. Alignments cannot be detected.
  3. Wearer is immune to fear inducing magic.
  4. Wearer's hair turns white permanantly.


The Gauntlets of Vladimir

by Rick Underwood

Vladimir of Talos, an infamous half-elf fighter/cleric who worships the deity of destruction and chaos, owned these sentient and evil gauntlets. How Vladimir came to lose the gauntlets is not known for sure, but his usual adventuring party have not been seen since their sojourn to Tethyr. It is suspected they encountered a being far more powerful than themselves, and Vladimir had to bargain for his life after the rest of his group were killed.

The gauntlets were originally handed down to Vladimir by a High Priest of Talos retiring from adventuring. Vladimir himself went on to become a successful adventurer, infamous for his cruelty and acts of wanton destruction ("Just doing my job!" he says amiably). Vladimir has a price on his head/capture in several cities on the Sword Coast, including Waterdeep.

Vladimir himself, as well as any priest of Talos, would be keen to hear of anyone finding these black metal gauntlets with gems around the cuffs, and large spikes on the knuckles.

The gauntlets bestow the following bonus' and abilities:

  1. 1d6+3 points of damage from a single blow, plus strength bonus (if any). They act as +3 weapons if used in this way, and require cestus proficiency (see Fighters Handbook page 96) to use without penalty. If the target is not affected by piercing weapons, the damage is only 1-3+3.
  2. Detect good 60' radius when wearer concentrates. This does not detect alignments.
  3. Summon random tanar'ri once per month. The tanar'ri must be rewarded appropriately for its service, which can last no longer than 24 hours. The tanar'ri, and any other tanar'ri summoned by the original can only remain on the prime material plane for 24 hours, or on death/dispelling of the original summoned tanar'ri. See side effects no.1.
  4. Storm giant strength in arms, shoulders and hands (+6 to hit, +12 damage) for two turns, once per day.
  5. Thunderclap - when wearer claps his hands in a special way, the thunder-like sound knocks over all small and man-sized creatures within 50 feet, with a 5% chance per foot over 6 foot for each creature sized L and greater not to be knocked flat/bowled over. Victims must make a saving throw vs death or be deafened for 1-6 turns. This ability can only be used once per week.

The gauntlets also infer the following side effects:

  1. A human, demi-human, or intelligent life form must be sacrificed with full ceremony to enable the summoning of the tanar'ri. This means the power is able to be used once at any time after the sacrifice. After the summoning, a month must pass before the summoning can be tried again, and during this time another sacrifice must be made.
  2. Touch of possessor kills ordinary (ie non-monster) green plants. This side effect wears off one month after gauntlets were last worn.
  3. 10% chance of alignment becoming chaotic evil whenever any power is used, and 20% chance each time tanar'ri summoning power is used.
  4. Gauntlets have an intelligence of 15 and an ego of 12, for a personality score of 27. If gauntlets take control they will force wearer to slay everything in sight, good aligned creatures first.


Slegov's Helm Of Invincibility

By Rowan Williams

Legend Lore suggests that this item from Slegov's Hoard has become one of the rarest items in antiquity: Not because it is of such value, but rather, because of the fact that the wearer doesn't live long enough to pass on the Helm to future generations!!!

The latest known wearer of the helm was Sir Roderick the Dubious, who gallantly wore Slegov's Helm into the famous Chickenstomping battle of Slackbladder Vale. The Paladin was promptly surrounded and murdered by a hoard of savage and elitely trained killer hens.

The Helm appears to be of no significant style, fashion or appearance other than the three inch metal skewer with twin blade rotating propeller mounted atop the helm. Any failure in attempting to identify the Helm will result in the caster believing that this is a fabulously powerful artifact that has the ability to make the wearer virtually invincible.

The power of the helm, however lies in it's arcane properties as follows;

In the event of any possible danger, the helm may react without warning (based on secretly rolled Intelligence Check with a +10 modifier by the DM). The Helm reacts by immediately dropping a blackened visor over the facial grate and a projection of a delightful meadow complete with butterflies, chirping finches and the occasional gerbil is all the wearer can see until the danger has passed on or subsided (usually after the wearer has been killed). Simultaneously, the propeller blades will rotate thereby releasing a shrill tone that is likely to scare the bejesus out of any monster of 1 hit die or less!

The creator of the Helm, Slegov, believed in the devastatatingly simple logic of "what you can't see won't hurt you..."!!

In addition to the meadow illusion, the wearer will be deluded into thinking that they are not going to be physically injured whilst wearing the helm and accordingly receive an additional 1d4 hit points during the encounter.

This helm also falls into the category of potentially lethal when the wearer is the unfortunate recipient of the Powerword "Vomit" spell.

Rowan's profile is here


Gauntlets of the Bear

by Rick Underwood

These strong, leather gauntlets are covered with coarse hair, and tipped with long claws. They fit any size hands from halfling to human. The long claws preclude any handling of weapons, items, or shields, or even opening doors and similar activities.

The gauntlets must be taken as a proficiency if they are to be used without penalty. Proficiency with a cestus (Fighter's Handbook page 96) counts as a related weapon (see Players Handbook chapter 5). Proficiency may be self taught, provided at least seven hours per week are spent attempting to use the gauntlets in practice, for a duration of one month. A proficiency slot must also be available. Specialisation requires three months. Proficiency in ambidexterity and two weapon style will negate all penalties.

The Gauntlets of the Bear confer the following abilities and bonus'.

  1. Acts as a +2 weapon to hit.
  2. A wearers base attack rate is as if wielding two weapons.
  3. Damage is 1d8+2 for each gauntlet.
  4. If both attacks hit, a being of same size or smaller may be hugged for an additional 2d8 points of damage (the wearer chooses if he/she wants to make that attack. Hugging a spectre is not a good idea.)
  5. The wearer can fight even after reaching 0 to -8 hit points. The number of rounds is equal to half the wearer's constitution score. If reduced to minus hit points the wearer loses one hit point per round automatically until first aid applied, and collapses if -9 is reached or the time has expired.


Armour of the Crocodile

by Rick Underwood

Equivalent to leather armour in weight/encumbrance, this armour is made from the hide of a giant crocodile.

It imparts an armour class of 4, and the following bonus' and penalties:

  1. When the wearer is immersed in water, he/she and all carried equipment is involuntarily polymorphed into a crocodile, with the same movement and attacks as a crocodile. There is a flat 5% chance per polymorph that the wearer will transform into a crocodile permanently, with the same chance of mentally becoming one as if hit by the fourth level wizard spell polymorph other.
  2. The wearer becomes increasingly lizard-like, staying still if not talking, rarely blinking, and tending to be quiet. The voice becomes sibilant, and the wearer's skin becomes leathery, with a greenish-brown tinge. The DM should feel free to add any other features, including any which result in a loss of charisma. If the armour is removed and not worn at all, these changes disappear at a rate one per month.


Armour of the Turtle

by Rick Underwood

Appearing as an empty man-sized snapping turtle shell, this light armour (15 lb weight) becomes tight-fitting when worn. It gives an armour class of 0 on chest, back and abdomen. Other armour must be worn to protect head, arms and legs (overall armour class will be 5 with no other protection, 3 with leather, 1 with chain, and 0 with plate equivalent).

When worn, the following bonus' are gained:

  1. When desired the wearers limbs may be changed into those of a turtle, giving a movement rate of 3 on land and 12 in water.
  2. The wearer may hold his/her breath underwater for 20 minutes, plus one minute per point of constitution.


Helmet of the Bull

by Rick Underwood

This great helm has forward curving horns, when worn it confers the following bonus' and penalties:

  1. +1 on armour class.
  2. When attacking with a charging manoeuvre (Players Handbook chapter 9), the horns do 2d8+1 points of damage to victim, attacking as a +1 weapon.
  3. Strength and constitution are increased by one point while helm is worn, and intelligence and wisdom lose one point each.
  4. Movement rate is considered as 15 while charging.
  5. Wearer becomes hot-tempered, and in any disagreement, argument, or stress situation, there is a cumulative 10% chance per round he/she will charge to attack. This may bring some interesting alignment conflicts.