Magical Items & Wondrous Artifacts
5th Edition has quite the array of magical items for adventurers to discover and use. And of course, Level Up: Advanced 5E has, too! We have over 500 magic items in the core rulebook, including approximately 300 items you know and love from original 5E (O5E) and some 200 more. Except for artifacts (which are unique, and priceless) every magic item in Level Up has a price and a unique crafting component, so (if your Narrator allows you to!) you can spend your hard-won gold on them, or attempt to craft them. Here’s an example of an item you’ll recognize from O5E!
Pipes of Haunting
Wondrous item, uncommon (cost 500 gp)
Crafting Components: Hollowed bones of a deposed or exiled ruler
Using these pipes requires proficiency with wind instruments. You can use an action and expend 1 charge to play them and create an eerie, spellbinding tune. Each creature within 30 feet that hears you play makes a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or becomes frightened of you for 1 minute. You may choose for nonhostile creatures in the area to automatically succeed on the saving throw. A frightened creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. A creature that succeeds on its saving throw is immune to these pipes of haunting for 24 hours. The pipes have 3 charges and regain 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn.
Artifacts
Artifacts come in many shapes and sizes such as the Ancient Broom, Crafter’s Codex, Dread Caduceus, Orb of Dragonkind, or the Serverus War Engine. In this article we’ll take a look at the properties of artifacts in general, and then preview one particular artifact, the Raiment of the Devouring King.
Artifact Properties
Artifacts have properties like other magical items, but these are of a greater magnitude than what the average adventurer will come across in their lifetime. In addition to their inherent abilities, artifacts may have other properties that can be either beneficial or detrimental, either chosen by the Narrator from the following tables or randomly determined. Properties such as these often shift each time an artifact appears and are not permanent. Narrators are also encouraged to create new properties.
Artifact properties are either benefits or detriments and have one of two intensities (lesser or greater). An artifact can only have a maximum of four lesser benefits and two greater benefits, and no more than four lesser detriments and two greater detriments.
Unless otherwise noted, the following properties apply when you have attuned to an artifact and are wielding it or have it on your person. Any cantrips or spells granted by an artifact are chosen by the Narrator.
Table: Lesser Artifact Benefits
d100 Property
1–20 Sage. The artifact lends you knowledge. You gain one skill proficiency (chosen by the Narrator).
21–30 Panacea. The artifact’s presence is a panacea to the body and soul. You gain immunity to diseases.
31–40 Mind’s Bastion. The artifact strengthens your mind against fear and manipulation. You gain immunity to the charmed and frightened conditions.
41–50 Bulwark. The artifact prevents certain types of damage. You gain resistance to one damage type (chosen by the Narrator).
51–60 Minor Magic. The power of a single minor manifestation of magic radiates within the artifact. You can use an action to cast a cantrip from the artifact.
61–70 Spell Weaver (Basic). The artifact allows you to cast a simple spell. You can use an action to cast one 1st-level spell from it. Once a spell is cast, roll 1d6. On any result but 6, you cannot cast this spell again until the next dawn.
71–80 Spell Weaver (Advanced). The artifact allows you to cast a spell of light complexity. You can use an action to cast one 2nd-level spell from it. Once a spell is cast, roll 1d6. On any result but 6, you cannot cast this spell again until the next dawn.
81–90 Spell Weaver (Mastery). The artifact allows you to cast a spell of moderate complexity. You can use an action to cast one 3rd-level spell from it. Once a spell is cast, roll 1d6. On any result but 6, you cannot cast this spell again until the next dawn.
91–100 Aegis. The artifact shields you from harm, granting you a +1 bonus to Armor Class.
Table: Greater Artifact Benefits
d100 Property
1–20 Perfectionist. The artifact seeks to enhance and elevate its user to greater heights. One of your ability scores (chosen by the Narrator) increases by 2, to a max of 24.
21–30 Healer. The artifact continually reinforces your lifeforce. As long as you have at least 1 hit point, you regain 1d6 hit points at the start of each of your turns.
31–40 Warrior. The artifact thrives in battle. When you hit with a weapon attack, the target takes an extra 1d6 damage of the same weapon type.
41–50 Strider. The artifact makes your movement lighter and easier. Your Speed increases by 10 feet.
51–60 Magus Magic (Basic). The artifact allows you to cast a spell of some power. You can use an action to cast one 4th-level spell from the artifact. Once a spell is cast, roll 1d6. On any result but 6, you cannot cast this spell again until the next dawn.
61–70 Magus Magic (Advanced). The artifact allows you to cast an impressive spell. You can use an action to cast one 5th-level spell from it. Once a spell is cast, roll 1d6. On any result but 6, you cannot cast this spell again until the next dawn.
71–80 Magus Magic (Mastery). The artifact allows you to cast a spell of considerable complexity and power. You can use an action to cast one 6th-level spell from it. Once a spell is cast, roll 1d6. On any result but 6, you cannot cast this spell again until the next dawn.
81–90 Magus Magic (Epic). The artifact allows you to cast an impressively potent spell. You can use an action to cast one 7th-level spell from it. Once a spell is cast, roll 1d6. On any result but 6, you cannot cast this spell again until the next dawn.
91–100 Pure Body. The artifact protects against most afflictions of the body. You gain immunity to the blinded, deafened, petrified, and stunned conditions.
Table: Lesser Artifact Detriments
d100 Property
1–5 Magic Magnet. You’re highly susceptible to magic and have disadvantage on saving throws against spells.
6–10 Ruin. You ruin gems and jewelry, reducing the value of any gem or jewel you touch by half. A gem or jewel can only be ruined in this way once.
11–15 Obscured Sight. When you are separated from the artifact by more than 10 feet you become blinded.
16–20 Bad Reaction. You have disadvantage on saving throws made to resist poison.
21–30 Foul. Your scent becomes nearly unbearable and is noticeable from 10 feet away.
31–35 Desecrate. You contaminate holy water within 10 feet of you, instantly destroying it.
36–40 Unwell. You become physically sick. You have disadvantage on Strength and Constitution ability checks and saving throws.
41–45 Swollen. You gain 1d4 × 10 pounds in weight.
46–50 Shapeshift. Your appearance changes. The Narrator determines details of your new appearance.
51–55 Stolen Sound. When you are separated from the artifact by more than 10 feet, you are deafened.
56–60 Malnourished. Your weight drops 1d4 × 10 pounds.
61–65 Anosmia. You lose your sense of smell.
66–70 Ill Wind. Nonmagical flames within 30 feet of you are snuffed out.
71–80 Insomnia. Creatures within 300 feet of you cannot take short or long rests.
81–85 Flora Bane. Plants that aren’t creatures take 1d6 necrotic damage from your touch.
86–90 Unnatural Presence. Your presence causes animals within 30 feet to become hostile towards you.
91–95 Gluttony. Each day you must consume 6 times your normal needs of food and drink.
96–100 Flawed. Your flaws are exacerbated. The Narrator determines how this manifests.
Table: Greater Artifact Detriments
d100 Property
1–5 Atrophic Affliction. Your body slowly rots. At the end of the first day, you lose your hair. By the end of the second day you lose your finger and toe tips. On the third day’s end your lips and nose are lost. Finally your ears rot away at the end of the fourth day, and the rotting finally stops. You may restore your lost body parts through the use of the regenerate spell.
6–10 Wandering Worldview. You gain a different alignment trait each dawn. Roll a 1d4: 1—chaotic, 2—evil, 3—good, 4—lawful.
11–15 Quest Giver. You are given a quest determined by the Narrator, which you must complete as if you were under the effects of the geas spell. This effect occurs the first time you attune to the artifact and once the quest is completed, you are no longer affected by this property.
16–20 Possessive. A formless entity is imprisoned within the artifact. When you use an action to utilize an artifact’s properties, there’s a 50% chance the entity tries to possess you instead of the item. Make a DC 20 Charisma saving throw. On a failure, the entity claims your body as its own. You become an NPC under the Narrator’s control. The entity can be banished through the use of the dispel evil and good spell.
21–25 Deadly Aura. Plants and creatures of Challenge Rating 0 drop to 0 hit points when they are within 10 feet of the artifact.
26–30 Eldritch Prison. A forgotten god is imprisoned within the artifact and struggles for freedom. When you use an action to activate one of the artifact’s properties there’s a 10% chance it breaks free, appearing within 15 feet of you and attacking you.
31–35 Bearer of Hatred. The Narrator chooses a creature type (other than humanoid). Creatures of that type have an unnatural aggression towards you and are always hostile towards you.
36–40 Potion Thinner. Magical potions within 10 feet of the artifact are instantly diluted and lose their magical properties.
41–45 Ink Eater. Magic scrolls within 10 feet of the artifact are instantly erased.
46–50 Vampiric Desire. In order to use an action and activate one of this artifact’s properties, you must first satiate its bloodlust by using a bonus action to draw blood from yourself, a willing supplicant, or an incapacitated victim. To do so the creature must be within your reach and you must use a slashing or piercing weapon to draw blood (dealing 1d4 damage).
51–60 Maddening. Insanity overwhelms you. You gain a long-term mental stress effect (page @@).
61–65 Psychic Scream. The mental feedback from this artifact deals 4d10 psychic damage after you attune to it.
66–70 Path of Filth. Slime collects in a trail behind you. Creatures have advantage on checks made to track you.
71–75 Fickle Fate. The first time you attune to this item, an enemy of the Narrator’s choice experiences a substantial stroke of good fortune. This can be the recruitment of a new unexpected ally, an upgrade of their forces, or even the surprise advancement of one of their goals. The Narrator is encouraged to let you know exactly how your attunement has advanced the goals of your enemy.
76–80 Ability Drain. One of your ability scores is reduced by 2. Roll 1d6 to determine the ability score: 1—Strength, 2—Dexterity, 3—Constitution, 4—Intelligence, 5—Wisdom, 6—Charisma. This decrease to your ability score can be restored through the use of a greater restoration spell.
81–85 Double Trouble. A nearly perfect duplicate of you appears within 90 feet. Your duplicate has the singular goal of killing you to permanently claim your existence in the world. The Narrator uses your statistics for the duplicate (as well as any tricks or tactics you commonly employ), though it may take days or weeks for it to gather the resources to attack.
86–90 Stolen Voice. You lose the ability to speak.
91–95 Weakness. The artifact weakens your body and mind. You become vulnerable to all types of damage.
96–100 Divine Reclamation. When you attune to this artifact there is a 10% chance that you attract the attention of a divine authority who sends an avatar to take it from you. The avatar vanishes with the artifact if it is successful in reclaiming it.
Destroying an Artifact
The very heart of legends rests in the hands of the adventurers, yet they could well seek to destroy it—such a task might not be folly but absolutely necessary. The destruction of such a powerful magical item is a matter of a campaign’s plot, and otherwise artifacts are indestructible. Despite the enormous power they wield however, every artifact has its own weakness (though finding and utilizing such a vulnerability may be a quest in itself, as can stopping a villain from destroying an artifact).
While the Narrator decides how a particular artifact can be destroyed, here are some suggestions:
Fulfill an ancient prophecy—or defy one.
Return it to its place of origin or creator to make it vulnerable to damage.
Ritual that takes place at a sacred site in an opposite aligned plane.
Thrown into a specific volcano tied to its power.
If sentient, it may desire an appropriate ritual or location to create a body of its own, leaving the artifact to dissipate into dust.
Raiment of the Devouring King
Wondrous items, artifacts (requires attunement)
Crafting Components: Unique (uncraftable)
Ancient beyond meaning, the Devouring King known as Nyth’Zerogg spreads across the multiverse, infecting a plane with a portion of himself before consuming it. Whether summoned or drawn by hunger, the mind-bending entity crosses black seas of infinity to gorge upon mortal civilizations and gods alike.
Rarely in the uncounted eons of his existence, the spore of the Devouring King is denied. In this reality primordial powers drove him back before he took root, destroying him almost completely. Of his titanic form only a piece of skull, a fragment of wing membrane, and a piece of its strange heart survived. Nyth'zerogg's might was such that even these pieces contain terrible power, housing a fragment of his essence and a shard of his alien psyche.
Since Nyth’Zerogg’s destruction pieces of the raiment have shown up throughout history, ultimately destroying their bearers and causing untold devastation. The destruction that they have wrought is insignificant compared to the danger that they pose however, as these artifacts hold the key to restoring the spore of Nyth’Zerogg so that he may consume all reality.
The Raiment of the Devouring King consists of three pieces: a cloak, a crown, and an orb. To attune to a piece, you must awaken it by pouring the blood of a recently sacrificed sapient creature onto it, allowing you to graft it to your body in a process that takes a minute, during which you are incapacitated by agony. Once attuned, pieces can only be removed if you are killed.
Artifact Properties
While you are attuned to any piece of the Raiment of the Devouring King, you are subject to Malignant Influence (see below) and gain the following benefits:
You cease aging and become immune to poison and disease.
You gain a pool of 8 charges that can be spent to fuel the Raiment of the Devouring King’s magical properties (save DC 19, +11 to hit with spell attacks). You regain 1d4+1 charges each dusk.
A Complete Set
Because of their powerful desire to be together, no matter how many pieces of the Raiment of the Devouring King you wear they count as a single magic item for the purposes of attunement. For each additional piece of the Raiment of the Devouring King that you acquire, you gain the following benefits:
Two Pieces. Your pool of charges increases to 12. You can use an action to regain 1 expended charge by messily devouring an incapacitated or unconscious creature within your reach, killing it in the process. Creatures slain in this manner can only be returned to life by means of a wish or true resurrection.
Three Pieces. Your pool of charges increases to 16. When you take a short rest, you can extend tendrils into the ground and regain 1d4+1 charges by consuming natural energy within a 1-mile radius. All plant life in the area dies and beasts become poisoned while in the area. This property can only be used in an area once per decade, after which it cannot support life for the next 10 years.
You cannot be permanently killed unless each piece of the raiment is cut from your body in conjunction with a carefully worded wish spell. Instead, you return to life 1d3 days later.
Cloak of the Devouring King
This deep jade cloak resembles a large piece of torn wing membrane. When attuned, it grafts to your back, reweaving muscle and bone and turning into a single leathery wing that grants a portion of Nyth’zerogg’s vitality.
While attuned to the Cloak of the Devouring King, you gain the following benefits:
Your Constitution score is increased to 20. This property has no effect if your Constitution is equal to or greater than 20.
You gain a fly speed equal to your Speed.
You regain 1d8 hit points at the beginning of each of your turns if you have at least 1 hit point. If you lose a body part, you regrow the missing part within 1d6 days.
You may expend one or more charges to cast the following spells: longstrider (1 charge), misty step (2 charges), blink (3 charges), dimension door (4 charges), plane shift (5 charges), or teleport (5 charges)
Crown of the Devouring King
The alabaster crown resembles a jagged piece of flat bone affixed to a crude iron band. When worn, it settles so that a single spoke of bone extends above the wearer's eye. When you attune to the skull, it grafts with your bone and grants a portion of Nyth’zerogg’s strength.
While attuned to the Crown of the Devouring King, you gain the following benefits:
Your Strength score is increased to 20. This property has no effect if your Strength is equal to or greater than 20.
Your body transforms, turning a rubbery gray green as chitinous bone plates emerge from your skin. This counts as a suit of +1 leather if you are proficient with light armor, a suit of +1 breastplate if you are proficient with medium armor, or a suit of +1 full plate if you are proficient with heavy armor. This armor does not impose disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.
You can use an action to spend 1 charge to shape chitin and bone from your body into a +1 weapon. You may only have two such weapons in existence at a time. Any ammunition needed is created as the weapon is fired. You may spend 1 charge as part of an action to deliver touch spells through a weapon created in this manner by making a single weapon attack as a part of that action. A weapon created in this manner crumbles to dust a round after it leaves your person.
You may expend one or more charges to cast the following spells: shield (1 charge), enlarge/reduce (2 charges), protection from energy (self only; 2 charges), stoneskin (self only; 3 charges).
Orb of the Devouring King
This crimson orb resembles a massive, calcified heart suspended on a crude chain. When the orb returns to life, hooked tendrils extend and burrow into your chest, lodging it there where it grants a portion of the god’s mind and knowledge.
While attuned to the Orb of the Devouring King, you gain the following benefits:
Choose Intelligence or Charisma. The chosen ability score is increased to 20. This property has no effect if the chosen ability score is equal to or greater than 20.
You gain a 1d10 expertise die on Intelligence checks.
When you take a short rest, you can recover an expended spell slot of 6th-level or higher by spending a number of charges equal to the level of the spell slot recovered.
You may expend one or more charges to cast the following spells: detect thoughts (1 charge), suggestion (2 charges), black tentacles (3 charges), telekinesis (4 charges), dominate monster (5 charges).
Malignant Influence
Each piece of the Raiment of the Devouring King longs to be united with the others so that Nyth’Zerogg may live again. While attuned to a piece of the artifact, you must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw once per month or gain a level of Malignant Influence, which cannot be removed while you are attuned to the Raiment of the Devouring King. With two pieces of the artifact attuned, you repeat the saving throw once per week, and when all three pieces of the artifact are attuned, you repeat the saving throw once per day.
Level 1. You become obsessed with acquiring the other pieces of the Raiment of the Devouring King and devote all of the time and resources at your disposal to the task.
Level 2. You become ravenous and must consume one living sapient being each day or gain a level of fatigue that persists until you consume such a creature.
Level 3. You fall entirely under the sway of the Raiment of the Devouring King. You gain the Chaotic and Evil alignment traits, and you will stop at nothing to see Nyth’Zerogg reborn. You immediately become an NPC under the Narrator’s control.
Awakening Nyth’Zerogg
If all three pieces of the Raiment of the Devouring King graft to a single host and they acquire three levels of Malignant Influence, the host’s mind and soul are devoured as fuel for Nyth’zerogg’s reawakening. The exact consequences of such a reawakening are left to the Narrator but likely pose an extinction level threat to mortals and gods alike.
Destruction
Many attempts have been made to destroy pieces of the Raiment of the Devouring King, yet they always reform. Some believe that they can only be destroyed by plunging a creature with all three pieces of the artifact grafted to its body into the heart of a star or a true flame in the center of the Elemental Plane of Fire—though even this is just a theory.