Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Magic Item: Hyuu's Eyes

Hyuu's Eyes: This collection of painstakingly polished lenses -- of crystal, amber and other more rarified things, mounted in thin rings of cinnabar and orichalcum -- is commonly found in one of two forms. Both versions of Hyuu's Eyes mount the bevy of lenses on delicate articulated arms, to be swung before the wearer's eye as needed; but one carries them on reinforced brass and cinnabar spectacles, where the other mounts the arms and their lenses to a smooth metal ovoid that attaches to the owner's temple with the sacrifice of a drop of blood.

The various combinations of lenses in Hyuu's Eyes produce different unworldly enhancements to vision. Most versions have 2-6 different functions, each usable once per day, though arcanesmiths do love to customize; for skinmounted arrays, for example, further functions may sometimes be fueled by the sacrifice of hit points.

Some possible functions include:

1. Detect magic, as the spell
2. Read magic, as the spell
3. Sense the weakness: gain a +1 to to-hit rolls after studying a target for 1 round
4. Detect alignment of single target
5. Identify substance after 1-4 rounds of study
6. Fatal flaw: gain a +2 bonus to damage against a construct or object after studying for 1 round
8. Sharpened awareness: gain a +1 to rolls for finding secret or hidden doors for 1-10 turns

Hyuu's Eyes are named for the secretive young magic-user Hyuu Thunderwing, who was the first to create such an artifact. There is a certain amount of gentle irony in the fact that, even years after Thunderwing's disappearance in the Splintered Peaks, tales circulate that he never required the Eyes to begin with and may not have even been mortal.

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