Friday, July 6, 2012

Magic Item: Corpselife Ring

Corpselife Ring:  Known in some circles as Daviane's Ring for the minor magister that -- supposedly -- crafted the first known example, corpselife rings vary widely in size, design and ornamentation.  The only trait which any given rings have in common is their composition: a corpselife ring is made up of filaments of bone and black iron of various thicknesses, twisted together in a strange mottled composite.  All known corpselife rings have been finger-rings, though tales suggest at least one bangle has been crafted with the same enchantment.

A corpselife ring initially grants a simple magical effect, usually a +1 bonus to Armour Class and saves in a similar manner to a low-powered ring of protection.  It is when the bearer of a ring is killed that its true purpose asserts itself -- 1-4 rounds after death, the bearer of a corpselife ring "resurrects" as a free-willed undead creature, gaining the following traits:

- Alignment immediately shifts to Chaotic, if applicable.

- Curative magic no longer functions, but bearer may "heal" themselves by consuming living flesh and blood, regaining hit points on a 1:1 ratio of damage dealt.  50% of bearers gain a paralysis ability similar to that of a ghoul.

- Bearer gains subsceptibility to turning, etc using level +2 as Hit Dice.


- If the undead bearer is destroyed, their soul is dissipated with no chance for resurrection.

Rare examples of the corpselife ring additionally grant an immunity to nonmagical weapons to the undead transformation.

5 comments:

HappyFunNorm said...

I can't tell if that's a desired effect or if this is more like a cursed item...

As always, really thought provoking. I almost like the color behind your items than the items themselves! I'd love to see a more narrative description (or even a module!) for the world where all your items and creatures originate.

Each item is like a really short story with tantalizing hints of the wider world swirling in the background. Just amazing. I don't know how you do it :)

taichara said...

@HappyFunNorm:

Whether it's desired or a curse would depend on the individual, of course *evilgrin*

Sometimes I've considered making a little mini-setting based on some of the ideas around my stuff -- I don't have one consolidated campaign, so pulling in everything would be tricky -- but it never seems to manage to happen. Woe.

Thank ye very much for the kind words :3

taichara said...

@mwschmeer:

Thank ye :3

Jeremy Deram said...

I put this in my game a few weeks back, expecting it to take some time to see the fruits of it. The Hobbit that put it on was amazingly killed about 5 minutes later, so I now have a Hobbit-Ghoul PC in the game, which I must say is pretty damn awesome.

taichara said...

@Aplus:

Glad it worked out awesome for you :D