Patient Thieves:

A patient thief looks for someone who owns a Ring of Mutual Exclusion. When she sees someone wearing a silver ring, she will slip on her own ring for a moment to see if the target disappears. Once she knows that someone owns a ring, she just has to wait outside his house while wearing her ring until she can't hear or see the target. She can then steal all she wants at her leisure, but if she takes too long, the target may notice items disappearing into thin air.

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I considered something along these lines. The magic of the rings only works because each ring is unique. If you were to craft two rings with the exact same hue, tone, and size, those two rings would not exclude each others while all other rings function properly. Go to Comment

It is possible for the chain sword to be extended without releasing the mercury, but the wielder have to swing very fast, and the sword certainly wouldn't retain the whip-like action.

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Update: I fixed the mercury quantity. 1 pound of mercury is 1.13 fluid ounces. Go to Comment

Cool thought! I chose mercury because it weighs a ton and because Mercurial is such an awesome word, but you could easily fill the container with poison to lace the blade, an acid, or even a flesh-eating bacteria. Kudos Go to Comment

Good point. I talk about "hands of a graceful warrior" and then say that it's a heavier than normal sword. The sword is actually heavy only while in sword form. In whip form, it should be much easier to fling about. Go to Comment

I couldn't work out how to make it a light and graceful weapon in longsword form. I imagine that it's a little clunky until unleashed. In whip form, it could be very quick and deadly. I do agree that it would take an exotic proficiency to adequately wield, and it probably would be much more painful to be struck by a 10 pound sword tip being whipped at you. Go to Comment

Good questions! The rub is that the writer of these logs didn't know the answers. Anyone could speculate that it would take even longer to teleport a human since the cat took so long to fully teleport. Since particles are reassembled in space relative to the particle scanning micromachines, maybe Alexi simply moved his head slightly during the scanning. Maybe the particle reassembly wasn't accurate enough. Maybe ... well I don't want to give away too much. I'm planning another sub to follow up. Go to Comment

Thanks for the encouragement, Scrasamax. I'm planning another submission to follow up on this one. Stay tuned. Go to Comment

Very clever weapon. I love how unique it is. The writing really does bring a cool flair to the item, but (like mentioned before) it's a little difficult to follow. How did such a wondrous item end up in a common marketplace? What became of Devorak and what did he do with the Forget-Me-Not once it was finished? It's a really intriguing item, and I can't help but want more info.

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I love the concept. I would imagine that the Falcon coin could avoid Magpies as easily as any other obstacle, but maybe the creator hated Magpie. Here is an intriguing thought: could someone put a contact poison on a Falcon coin to poison the recipient? Could a recipient put poison on a coin without accepting it so that it would return to and poison the sender?

I could see this being the "underground" way to make purchases-the "blood diamond" if you will. The authorities could build elaborate traps to try to discover the identify of the sender (build a long tunnel that is in the typical flight path of the coins and then close both exits when the coin passes through).

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The Lore of this item opens up a number of possible plot lines. Here are a few that I can think of:

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  1,000 years is up and the Destroyer has returned. Players must find Devdan's tomb and recover the Arbiter to fight Lord Brax.


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  Followers of Lord Brax have recovered the Arbiter and are attempting to destroy it. You must stop them to prevent future generations from enslavement (or you must try to destroy the Arbiter for an evil campaign)


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  Players find and must destroy the evil scythe (or they might need to recover it for an evil campaign).


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  Players must find the Arbiter and return Veysara home where other crystal dragons can restore his body.


• 
  The players are trying to recover the spell that Devdan discovered.

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Cheka Man, thank you for your input. I understand your point of view; too many system-specific details can detract from reading. Perhaps I should have left only the item's description and placed my system-specific stats into a comment or idea. To compromise, I have added a system agnostic description of the item's magical properties, but I have left the Pathfinder-specific stats for interested GMs. I hope this is a sufficient compromise.

Infested-jerk, thank you for the enabling and the advice. Being a GM from many systems, I always like to see specific stats to complete my understanding. This is my first post, and I appreciate the insight for making my subs more Citadel-friendly :) Go to Comment

Thanks Kassy. I look forward to frequently using the Citadel to enhance my game. While I do appreciate the vote, I value opinions higher. I feel that stats make an item most useful to a GM (even if they have to be converted to a different system), but I can also understand the value of not restricting an item to stats. It's the artist vs. engineer debate. This is my first submission, and I would love to hear if you have any suggestions for improvement. Go to Comment

Update: I am moving the system-specific details into a comment by popular request Go to Comment

Here are the specific game mechanics of the Arbiter using the Pathfinder Role Playing game system.

WEAPON ABILITIES:

(Please note that these stats were designed specifically for a Pathfinder game. Feel free to edit for your game and power level)

The Arbiter functions as a +3 Thundering Axiomatic two-bladed sword (both blades carry the same enhancements). Any lawful character wielding the Arbiter is automatically proficient with it. A spellcraft check (DC 24) will reveal the following abilities; a spellcraft check (DC 29) will reveal that the item is intelligent and lawful-neutral and will reveal the item's powers (but not its dedicated powers). A non-lawful creature will suffer 3 negative levels while wielding this weapon, and a chaotic creature will suffer 5 negative levels.

Brilliant Wall (Ex): The wielder gains the Two Weapon Defense feat.

Crystal Grace (Ex): If the wielder is lawful, he gains 5' enhancement bonus to his base speed, and he may take one additional 5' step at the end of his turn (that doesn't provoke an Attack of Opportunity) provided this doesn't exceed his total movement (this would allow a character to take two successive 5' steps without provoking Attacks of Opportunity or move, attack, and then take a 5' step).

Glassteel (Ex): The Arbiter is made of a mixture of crystal and metal that gives the blades a semi-transparent look, but the blades count as adamantine for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

INTELLIGENT ITEM STATS:

(Please note that these stats were designed specifically for a Pathfinder game. Feel free to edit for your game and power level)

Alignment: Lawful neutral

Intelligence: 14; Wisdom: 18; Charisma: 14

Languages: Celestial, Common, Draconic

Senses (60ft.): Sight/sound, Blindsense; Communication: Empathy; Caster Level: 20th

Item Power: (These are the powers that the wielder can use) Item can fly, as per the spell, at a speed of 30 feet; Magic Circle Against Chaos 3/day; Dragon's Breath 1/day (Crystal dragon: 30' cone of sonic)

Special Purpose: Defeat chaotic creatures (The Arbiter will only use its Dedicated Powers to fulfill its Special Purpose. The wielder cannot access these powers; the Arbiter decides when and how to use them.)

Dedicated Powers: Item can detect any chaotic foes within 60 feet; Wielder gets +2 luck bonus on attacks, saves, and checks; Cast Mark of Justice at will; Cast Form of the Dragon II at will (Crystal dragon: 40' cone of sonic, resist sonic 30, burrow 30 ft., climb 30 ft.)

Ego: 34

Arbiter's Total Value: 523,200gp

Guardian (Su): If the wielder is reduced to 0 or fewer hp, the Arbiter gains the Dancing enhancement and is considered loosed by the wielder for 4 rounds.

DESTRUCTION:

The Arbiter can only be damaged by a roll of a natural 20 on a sunder attempt with a Vorpal weapon. Even then, the Arbiter has a hardness of 25 and 50 hp. It cannot be repaired be any means.

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Thank you Agar. It's always nice to hear when a description paints a good visual image. Also, thanks for the suggestion on the stats. I'd hate to deny stats to those who may benefit from them, but at the same time, I'm beginning to feel like I've offended the Citadel by posting more info than necessary. I've moved my stats down to a comment. Thanks for the recommendation. On your final note, you're right. It is the exact cost using the available rules, but it's so much that it's a little silly. Go to Comment

Thanks for the detailed comment. I'm always fascinated by intelligent items, and how they can break the balance of the game. Unlike normal artifacts, an intelligent item can choose to suppress its powers, avoid attacking, turn on the wielder, and in rare cases even possess the wielder. Unfortunately, it was the stats and rules that say that the wielder cannot turn herself into a dragon. The Arbiter must do that, and it will only do so in rare circumstances. While the Arbiter could easily unbalance a campaign, a clever GM could hide the item's true powers and potential or (as Dossta suggested) have the item leave the player's possession for a while.

A limiting clause would have been very helpful for the item's lore, but alas, I put the limiting clause in the rules. I will be mindful to more adequately describe special abilities like that in the future.

Finally, I was hard-pressed to find the proper wording throughout the lore to describe that Veysara asked for the power to defeat Lord Brax, but through hard bargaining was instead granted the power that-with Devdan's help-could defeat Lord Brax. Again, my poor attention to detail had scattered that fact across the lore instead of stating it clearly. Thanks for the input and the greetings. Go to Comment

Thanks MysticMoon. This is the clearest (and friendliest) presentation of the Citidel's preference for avoiding stats that I have yet seen. For future submissions, I will be sure to leave the stats out of the item descriptions and (if I have any) put all stats into an idea or comment. Thanks again for the masterful clarification. Go to Comment

Thank you for the compliments. I tend to share your caution about uber powerful items. I created it for a high-level game that is currently in progress. I expect the players to find it within the next couple sessions. I was particularly proud of this item because it is intelligent and can therefore refuse to turn its wielder into a dragon except in the most dire circumstances. In fact, if you use this item, feel free to have it attack the wielder every time she allows a crime to be committed. That will make the players think twice about using it. However, like I told EchoMirage, I should have worked in more of the item's drawbacks into the sub instead of making them obscure and hiding the drawbacks in the stat block. Go to Comment