A Score Of Malevolent Special Abilities.pdf

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Athenaeum Arcane:

A Score of Malevolent Special Abilities

Introduction

In the end, no matter how benev-

olent a weapon’s special abilities

seem, all are intended for a single

purpose: aiding the weapon’s owner

in the destruction of his enemies.

That said, there are certain special

abilities which are much more

vicious, more destructive, and yes,

more outright evil than others. The

dozen new special abilities intro-

duced here definitely fall within that

latter category. Not all of the abili-

ties introduced here are evil, though

some most definitely are, but all

twelve of these new special abilities

are uniformly vicious and palpably,

viscerally destructive.

R OLEPLAYING

N OTES

The new special abilities presented here

are useful for any campaign, and will serve to

add a grim, somewhat savage tone to combat.

While very few of these new abilities are

specifically designed for evil weapons and

their wielders, all are especially well suited

for villains and anti-heroes, and will give

them a powerful edge in combat, as well as

provide you with the means to put a little bit

of fear into the player’s, and their character’s,

hearts.

Armor and shield

Special abilities

C ORRUPTED I CHOR

Corrupted ichor armor transforms the

wearer’s blood to pure, boiling acid when

worn, punishing all those who would dare

strike him with a rain of corrosive fluid.

Each time the wearer is struck by a melee

attack that inflicts piercing or slashing dam-

age, an eruption of acid sprays out from the

wound. The being who wounded the cor-

rupted ichor armor’s wearer is automatical-

ly struck, suffering acid damage equal to _

the amount of damage his attack inflicted;

with a successful Reflex save against DC

13, the damage is reduced to _. The acid

spray has a maximum range of 10 ft., mean-

ing attackers outside that range suffer no

damage. The magic of the corrupted ichor

spray is such that it avoids cover entirely, so

only those outside its range are safe from

danger. Creatures that are immune to acid

are likewise immune to the effects of cor-

rupted ichor.

Moderate transmutation; CL 10 th ; Craft

Magic Arms and Armor, acid arrow ; Price

+3 bonus.

I RON M AIDEN

Armor augmented with this exceptional-

ly dangerous special ability is painful to its

wielder and lethal to his enemies. On com-

mand, as a free action, the armor can be

commanded to erupt forth with thick, iron

spikes. The spikes, which are needle sharp

and long as a dagger, pierce both the inside

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Athenaeum Arcane:

A Score of Malevolent Special Abilities

and outside of the armor; the wearer suffers

1d4 points of damage from the spikes,

while any being in direct contact with him

– such as those attempting to grapple him,

or those constricting him – suffer 2d4 + the

armor’s enhancement bonus points of dam-

age. The spikes extend and retract in the

blink of an eye, and may be used once each

round.

Faint transmutation; CL 8 th ; Craft

Magic Arms and Armor, greater magic

weapon ; Price +2 bonus.

melee attacks to a range of 10 feet as easily

as he attacks adjacent squares. Spider arm’s

armor can extend the wearer’s arms for a

total of 10 rounds each day – these rounds

need not be consecutive, and the armor can

be activated and deactivated as a free

action.

Moderate transmutation; CL 10 th ; Craft

Magic Arms and Armor, polymorph ; Price

+2 bonus.

S TRANGLER

Armor with this special ability is espe-

cially dangerous in close combat, for it

grants its wearer great prowess in the art of

grappling. When engaged in a grapple, the

wearer gains a bonus to all grapple checks

equal to the armor’s enhancement bonus,

and can inflict lethal unarmed damage dur-

ing a grapple without the normal –4 penal-

ty. In addition, when dealing unarmed dam-

age, the wearer gains a bonus to damage

equal to the armor’s enhancement bonus.

This bonus applies only to unarmed attacks

dealing lethal damage, as the armor hungers

for the pleasure of the kill.

Faint transmutation; CL 8 th ; Craft

Magic Arms and Armor, bull’s strength;

Price +1 bonus.

O OZE S HEATH

When an owner of ooze sheath armor

dons his suit, his body undergoes a horrific

transformation, becoming a writhing,

clumping mass of gelatinous ooze. While

so transformed, he gains damage reduction

2/- against bludgeoning attacks and a bonus

equal to the armor’s enhancement bonus to

Escape Artist checks to break free of a grap-

ple. In addition, for a total of 10 rounds

each day, he can take on a purely gelatinous

form, allowing him to ooze through even

the tiniest cracks as though by the gaseous

form spell. While so transformed, the bonus

to Escape Artist skill checks granted by

ooze sheath is doubled. The wearer can

transform his body as a free action, and

need not use the ooze form on consecutive

rounds.

Strong transmutation; CL 15 th ; Craft

Magic Arms and Armor, polymorph,

gaseous form ; Price +4 bonus.

V OID

A shield augmented by this special abil-

ity appears as an infinite black void, shot

through with motes of greasy light, like

stars seen through a greasy lens. Those who

dare approach the shield can hear a faint

howling issuing forth, like the cry of a dis-

tant, terrified child, or perhaps the whisper

of artic air skimming glacial mountains.

When the shield is grasped firmly, it

becomes a portal to a distant plane. When

an attack directed at the wielder misses by

a number equal to, or less than the shield’s

S PIDER A RMS

Armor with this powerful special ability

can be commanded to extend the wearer’s

limbs, twisting and sculpting them into

spindly arms grotesquely reminiscent of a

spider’s. While extended, the wielder is

considered to have reach, and can make

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Athenaeum Arcane:

A Score of Malevolent Special Abilities

enhancement bonus, the void yawns open

and sucks the weapon used in the attack

into its endless depths. Non-magical

weapons are absorbed with no chance of a

saving throw, while magic weapons gain a

save against a DC equal to 12 + the shield’s

enhancement bonus; the weapon gains a +1

bonus to the save for every point of magical

enhancement it possesses. Magic weapons

that fail to save are sucked into the void and

lost, while those that successfully save fall

to the ground, if they are ranged weapons,

or remain in their wielder’s hand if they are

not. Items equal in power to an artifact can-

not be lost to a void shield.

The power of a void shield is such that it

can also damage those who strike it while

making unarmed attacks, or when using

natural weapons. When such an attack

misses as described above, the attacker

takes 1d6 + the shield’s enhancement bonus

in cold damage. Creatures that are immune

to cold or negative energy do not suffer

damage when striking a void shield.

Strong conjuration; CL 16 th ; Craft

Magic Arms and Armor, teleport object ;

Price +5 bonus.

weapon

Special abilities

B LOOD B ERSERKER

A weapon with this deadly special abili-

ty thirsts for the taste of blood, and is driv-

en into frenzy when immersed in its crim-

son flow. When a blood berserker weapon

inflicts a successful critical hit, it attunes

itself to the victim’s body, increasing its

critical multiplier by one step in the follow-

ing round, from x2 to x3 for example, but

only if the weapon is used against the same

target. If another critical hit is inflicted

against the attuned being during the follow-

ing round, the critical multiplier increases

by another step; increases to the critical

multiplier are cumulative, but all increases

disappearing if the weapon does not inflict

a critical hit on the specified target creature

in the subsequent round. Critical multiplier

increases also disappear when the targeted

creature is slain, or otherwise leaves the

combat. Once a blood berserker weapon

becomes attuned to a specific target, it

remains attuned until the victim is slain, or

until it is flees the combat –the weapon is

considered attuned even if its critical multi-

plier is not currently increased.

Once a blood berserker has tasted a vic-

tim’s blood, it is loathe to attack other tar-

gets until the attuned victim is slain, and

resentful of its wielder if forced to do so.

While attuned to a specific target, the

weapon’s critical multiplier is reduced to x1

when used to attack another being.

Creatures that are immune to critical

hits, or those which do not bleed, such as

constructs, oozes and plants, cannot be the

subject of a blood berserker’s attunement,

and may be attacked while the weapon is

attuned to another target without penalty.

Only weapons that inflict slashing or

piercing damage can be augmented with

this special ability.

Moderate transmutation; CL 8 th ; Craft

Magic Arms and Armor, rage ; Price +1

bonus.

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B ONE B REAKER

Bone breaker weapons strike with the

force of a thunderbolt, splintering and snap-

ping bone with the ease of a child snapping

a twig. On a successful critical hit, a

weapon with this special ability forces the

victim to succeed at a Fortitude save

against DC 15; if the save succeeds, dam-

age is inflicted as normal, but if the save is

failed, bones shatter and the victim suffers

penalties as though disabled. He retains his

hit points, minus those inflicted by the crit-

ical hit, but is restricted to either a move

action or standard action each round, and

suffers 1 point of damage each time he per-

forms a standard action. The victim remains

effectively disabled until, through natural

or magical healing, he regains hit points

equal to the damage inflicted by the critical

hit.

Only weapons that inflict bludgeoning

damage can be augmented with the bone

breaker special ability.

Strong necromancy; CL 14 th ; Craft

Magic Arms and Armor, harm; Price +3

bonus.

C ORPSE E ATER

A weapon with this sinister special abil-

ity has a ferocious appetite for dead flesh,

and when allowed to gorge itself, it floods

its wielder’s spirit with power. If the wield-

er plunges the corpse eater into the flesh of

a dead being for one full round, the weapon

absorbs the corpse’s lingering soul energy

and redirects it, granting the wielder 1d8 hit

points, as by the death knell spell. If the

dead being was directly slain by the corpse

eater weapon, then the wielder also gains a

+2 temporary bonus to his strength, as by

the death knell spell, and the weapon’s

hardness is temporarily increased by 2

points as well. Bonuses to strength and

weapon hardness are not cumulative, and

the wielder cannot use the corpse eater to

gain additional temporary hit points until

the originals have faded, or have been oth-

erwise lost. A corpse eater can only feed on

a single body once, and it cannot be used to

draw soul energy from undead, or from

non-living creatures, such as constructs.

Only melee weapons can be augmented

with the corpse eater special ability.

Faint necromancy; CL 8 th ; Craft Magic

Arms and Armor, death knell ; Price +1

bonus.

Once a victim’s bones have been shat-

tered by this weapon special ability, he need

not attempt further saves against subse-

quent critical hits, unless he is healed.

However, if reduced to 0 hit points or less

while his bones are shattered, he is auto-

matically slain.

Creatures without bones, such as crea-

tures of the plant type or ooze type, or cer-

tain other monsters, are immune to the

effects of this special ability. When used

against constructs, skeletons, or other, sim-

ilar undead, roll to confirm critical hits as

normal; on a successful hit, the being must

attempt a Fortitude save as above, or be

destroyed instantly. Note that the roll to

confirm the critical is made only to see

whether the being must save versus

destruction, and that the bone breaker abil-

ity does not confer the ability to inflict crit-

ical hits on beings that are normally

immune to them.

D EATH D EALER

Weapons with this deadly special ability

are much favored by assassins, for they

inflict immense harm on the unwary. A

death dealer weapon can be used to per-

form a coup de grace against a helpless

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