Gifts of the Roamstone Grove (I)

"Aye, we've hit roamstone, lad - the rarest metal in the world. Best shore up and move out now..."

- Unknown Dwarf

Dwarves all over speak in hushed tones of Roamstone. So-called stone, actually metal, buried deep beaneath the earth, a blue-grey cobalt colour. It's rare, ductile, malleable, light, an excellent working material, and utterly, utterly useless.

Roamstone is stone cursed or blessed as many things of nature are, with its own strange form of magic. Mines that are found with roamstone within are usually disgustedly shored up solidly, then abandoned, until the mood to travel next siezes the stone. And then, one day, out of the blue, vast slabs of earth will be shaken as fist-sized stones of Roamstone emerge from the earth, forcing their way through dirt and stone with the same inexorable force that can drive a mushroom through a pavingstone.

It's rare to be found in any kind of quantity. Dwarven children are occasionally given little pet rocks of roamstone, pebbles about the size of a human finger. The only real thing that keeps these rocks from being ferociously expensive is that the stone can't be put to any kind of ready use.

However, there has been one instance of a truly massive slab of Roamstone, nearly a full kilometer across, buried a good half-mile deep, in forests. This one slab may once have been a different creature, but now it is the basis of the Roamstone Grove.

The Roamstone Grove is a large druid's grove, a rough circle that's approximately a kilometer at its widest point. Situated in its center is the great Tree, which is said to be fed by the roamstone's strange energies. Fey of various kinds dwell in the grove, and great Treants guard the grove from outsiders when it lands. However, these are not the true treasures of this strange mobile edifice. Rather, this randomly relocating island of forest is renowned for the men and women that live there.

Celledyn Moon, the young wizard artificer, lives there, along with his companion, Meylar Bleakwinter. Along with these two live the strange family they acquired when they took upon themselves the defense of the grove, and guarding the grove under their command is their collective small army. Were it in Meylar, the master of the grove's, mind to do so, the grove could quite easily be turned to evil means. However,the group spend their days in quiet contemplation, item creation, and spell research, trusting in the grove to lead them to places they need to be.

Celledyn has created various items for those who live on the grove, and often gives or sells the designs to those who seek the grove. In fact, the grove's denizens possess a wide variety of magic, both divine and arcane, and as such, often find themselves sought out by interested young students of both...

One of the first denizens of the grove, if only by dint of birth order, was Kheleb Cravat. This old cleric of a little-known goddess of truth and justice had long since established himself as a Church Inquisitor before he joined with the other denizens of the grove. Not a young man by any stretch, Kheleb nonetheless took it upon himself to construct (with some aid) a waterslide, reminding those around him that even the sternest of Inquisitors likes a slide occasionally.

Celledyn crafted four items for Kheleb. He enhanced the Inquisitor's Shield, Armour, and Mace, and provided him with a pair of gauntlets that would further his aims to seek out lies and injustice.

Occasionally, Kheleb departs from the grove for a time, travelling to some place ordained by his goddess. The grove's other citizens do not mind this absence, nor do they object overmuch to the older man's demeanour.

Cravat's Bulwark: One of Celledyn Moon's first works, Cravat's Bulwark was actually already quite magical when the inquisitive young wizard got his hands on it. However, he was able to confer upon the Inquisitor Kheleb Cravat's +1 Absorbing Mithral Full Plate armour the ability to harness the positive energy that Kheleb could occasionally channel.

The unforseen problem with this was that when Kheleb wore the armour in question, his ability to turn undead was greatly muted, reducing it to complete ineffectiveness, and instead, the low-level bleed of constant positive energy channeled through the armour into the wielder's weaponry. Cravat took this in his stride, being less concerned with the undead than he was with the living.

Cravat's Bulwark is a suit of +2 Absorbing Mithral Full Plate that has the additional benefit that whenever worn by a character capable of channelling positinve energy, it charges any weapon its wearer wields with positive energy, which crackles into numbing force upon impact with living creatures. This sudden shock deals an additional 1d4 points of subdual damage to living creatures, and an additional 1d8 points of damage to the undead.

Caster Level: 15th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Cure Light Wounds. Market Price: 38,450 gp; Weight: 30lb.

Pricing: First things first, Mithral Full Plate is 9,000+1,500+150. This gives us a base price of 10,650 gp.

The +2 Absorbing attribute makes it +5, so the basic magical ability is a total of 25,000 gp.

Now, the extra damage and subdual damage is really a bit of a thorny case. On one hand, you shouldn't have magic items that confer an instantaneous-duration spell at will unless you're limiting it massively. However, it's only an extra 1d4 damage, and it's subdual; by the same score, the psionic force enhancement is an extra 1d4 force damage. Only constructs and undead are immune to subdual damage, so it may as well be real damage. The extra damage to undead is less than Bane would provide, and doesn't confer any kind of bonus to enhancement. As such, it's roughly tantamount to a +1 weapon enhancement bonus. So we'd price it as such; 2,000 gp.

Now, the ability can't be used by someone who can't channel positive energy so that's Paladins and Clerics of certain alignments, and it removes their ability to turn undead. So we're looking at probably a fair enough reduction consideration here 30%. Now, we have to double the cost because it's the secondary property on the armour, and we're looking at a net price of 2,800 gp.

Add them all together and we get 38,450. Nice and easy, right?

The Emblem of Truth: This +2 light fortification shield, engineered by Celledyn Moon as part of his work for Kheleb Cravat, was made with careful consideration. Kheleb was a fine cleric and inquisitor of St. Belenna, whose strictures consider rooting out evil amongst the good to be of prime importance.

For this purpose, he ensorcelled the shield to be constantly detecting magic. This information, however, cannot be adequately processed by someone who lacks the spell-like ability to detect evil. Furthermore, if the wielder spends ten minutes in contemplation and designates an individual, particular, single foe, with his weapon in hand, the next blow struck by that weapon upon that target gainst a +5 enhancement bonus to hit and damage. This effect is discharged once the target is struck, but is otherwhise permanent until discharged. This ability, however, was attuned to Kheleb himself; only one of a lawful neutral alignment may activate this effect. A weapon so blessed does not have to be wielded by the person who wields the shield.

Caster Level: 8th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, detect magic, cure serious wounds, true strike. Market Price: 13,370 gp; Weight: 15 lb.

Pricing: This one's so easy I can do it in one paragraph. A Masterworked Large Steel Shield is 20 gold pieces. Masterworked it's 170. +2 Light Fortification is a total +3 bonus, giving a magic price of 9,000 gp. Detect Magic at Will is .5*1*2,000*2, or, 2000 gp, and the weapon blessing ability is actually a spell swiped from Oriental Adventures, Weapon Bless, which is 1st level. 1*1*2,000*2 gets us 4,000 gp. Both the Detect Magic and the Weapon Bless require usually mutually exclusive things, so the market price is going to be reduced, at least for those two things. So, that's an extra 4,200 gp. Total price, then, is 13,370.

Kheleb's Despite: This +2 lawful flaming heavy mace was Kheleb's primary weapon. Enhanced to a point of excellence by the young Abilen craftsman Celledyn Moon, this weapon is charged with the power of an inquisitor, despising lies and mistruth. When wielded by a character of lawful alignment who has not lied for twenty-four hours, this mace emits a constant zone of truth effect (DC 13), and once a day can be called upon to dispel magic on a target or object struck as a 10th-level caster. The Inquisition Domain's granted ability (+4 to Dispel checks) applies to this ability. Furthermore, this weapon completely ignores the damage reduction of Evil Outsiders, as a blessed weapon.

Caster Level: 10th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, flamestrike, continual flame, order's wrath, bless weapon, zone of truth, dispel magic, creation must be sanctioned by a church inquisitor. Market Price: 94,312 gp; Weight: 12 lb.

Pricing: Lords but this one's expensive. Ultimately, this weapon teaches a lesson to all item creators; anything more than once-a-day is too much to afford for a spell above about second level. Exceptions exist, but generally, you don't get enough bang for your buck without the item being hideously, hideously overpowered (Hat Of Quickened Magic Missile, for example) or utterly crap (Boots of Energy Drain).

For a start, let's go whole hog. The weapon's a +2 Lawful Flaming heavy mace; that's a +5 weapon right there. 5*5*2000 nets us a cost of 50,000 gold pieces. And it gets worse from here.

The Zone of Truth affect requires a pretty strict adherance to a code of conduct, and completely screws quite a lot of strategies hell, it may be more of a kick in the butt than you think, and the saving throw DC is low. However, it's still a 2nd-level spell, so it gets a 2nd-level spell pricing, of 2*3*2,000*2. The saving throw DC is as the minimum stat required to cast the spell which would be a handy 12. DC 10+2+1. Reducing the price by 30% because of its limitation nets us a cost of 16,800 gp.

Now, the Dispel Magic affect. Dispel Magic requires a 5th-level caster, but this is as a 10th-level caster. So we get a formula of 10*3*2000*2, or 120,000. A bit pricey. So we cut that down by making it once-per-day. Divide by 5. 24,000. Still freaking huge, but not as bad as At Will.

The final cost is Bless Weapon. I didn't give it the full affect of Bless Weapon (the ability to strike incorporeal creatures, or the instant confirmation of crits) because, quite frankly, the former's a joke on a +2 weapon, and the latter was to drive down the price. 1*1*2000*2*.8 gets us a final 3,200 gp.

Putting it together, we get 50,000 gp plus 16,800 gp, plus 24,000 gp, plus 3,200 gp, plus the cost of the mace, which is 312 gp. The sum of which is 94,312 gp. Nice toy if you can get it.

Kheleb's Purge: This fine pair of metal gauntlets was another side project for Kheleb Cravat that Celledyn Moon undertook. The Inquisitor, skilled as he was at the art of dispelling magic, required something to let him take this action more readily. At will, these gauntlets can allow the wearer to spell trigger dispel magic as cast by a 8th-level caster. The gauntlets refuse to function, however, for one of an unlawful alignment. Furthermore, if the wearer of these gloves tells a knowing mistruth, the gloves are rendered completely unfunctional for twenty-four hours.

Caster Level: 8th. Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, Dispel Magic. Market Price: 25,200 gp; Weight: 5lb.

Pricing: Well, okay, this one's another case for 'way too expensive'. Considering that a wand will see about as much use and costs a fair bit less, the only real merit here is that, well, yeah, you can stop keeping track of charges. But... we must be thorough.

The effect is spell-trigger. So that's a cost of 3*8*1500. 36,000 gold pieces. The stricture against lying reduces that by 30% (though, in all fairness, the weapon and the gauntlets holding the same prerequisites is really a bit of a gyp, and since they synnergise well, it's not unlikely a Paladin multiclass would don them both). So, we get 25,200 gp.

Celledyn may well be the cause of these items, but he would never have found the grove had he not been studying magic and nature - particularly a combination of both. In these things, he found Meylar Bleakwinter. Meylar was extremely young for his capabilities. A vagabond who began life as an aimless wanderer in the woods, youngest son of two, Meylar was raised by parents blessed with familiarity with the woodlands. It was not long before a short, sharp series of incidents found him as a defender of the forests. Despite his thoughts on the subject, he was in fact not a druid, but rather a cleric. However, he never stopped using his favoured weaponry, namely a pair of shortswords, and he eventually claimed the Grove as his home.

The Verdant's Guard: Crafted by Celledyn Moon for the Verdant Lord Meylar Bleakwinter, this fine studded leather armour was made, rather than from leather, from fine-spun cheesecloth. The fabric of the cloth was woven from carefully spun tendriculous fibers, and is as tough and hardy as leather could be. The 'studs' are rather tightly-tied knots of plant matter woven between the layers of the armour's substance, and all told, the armour looks more or less like a fairly ornate suit of cloth. Any seasoned warrior, however, can tell by the way its wearer stands and carries their movement, that the armour is exactly that - its plant substance means little.

The Verdant's Guard is a suit of +2 Studded Leather that is slightly alive. If a disarm attempt is made against its wearer, vines swiftly coil down the wearer's arm to the weapon and hold it fast, granting a +10 to opposed disarm checks to avoid being disarmed (this does not stack with locked gauntlets). At any time the wearer of the Verdant Guard is in a heavily forested area, the armour can cause an Entangle effect centered on the wearer of the Guard. Furthermore, the wearer of the Verdant Guard can Pass Without Trace, as the spell. Any animals the Verdant Guard's wearer passes consider the Guard's wearer to be a nonthreat and allow him to pass completely unmolested unless provoked, much like the spell Invisibility to Animals.

Given Meylar's position regarding evil outsiders and mind-affecting spells, the guard was further enchanted so that any summoned evil or lawful creatures are unable to engender bodily contact with the wearer of the Guard; this is broken if the wearer attempts to contact the summoned creature in question or attacks. Also, no form of possession (such as by a magic jar attack) or mental control (such as Dominate Person) can work on the wearer of the Guard. Excepting the saving throw and AC bonuses, this works as the spell Protection from Evil and Protection from Law.

Caster Level 8th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Entangle, Protection from Evil, Protection from Law, Pass Without Trace, Invisibility to Animals, creator must be chaotic good. Market Price: 24,308 gp; Weight: 1 lb.

Pricing: Well, this one's actually fairly easy, despite the various spell affects on it. To start with, we get the base of the armour itself, which is 2*2*1000 gp, or 4,000 gp. The vines is cosmetically funky but fundamentally just Locked Gauntlets, which cost 8 gp. Anyone with any martial training (for the sake of argument, anyone with a Base Attack Bonus of +1 or better) can tell it's armour, so it's not going to be qualifying as glamered armour.

Now, the spell effects. Entangle is a first level spell, so that's 1*1*2000, for 2000 gp. Pass Without Trace, same dealie, so we get another 2000 gp. And Invisibility to Animals - also 2000 gp. 6000 gp so far.

The mental protection is kinda like an always on Protection from Evil or Law spell, but it doesn't provide the AC and Saving throw bonuses, so one is tempted to reduce the price. If we included those, it'd be basically better than a Ring of Protection +2 (8,000 gp) and a Cloak of Resistance +2 (4,000 gp). So, no. Instead, we'll jus get the full cost of a 2000 gp spell (while it's two different spells, the main mental affect is only one spell, and the summoned creatures clause should be subsumed by our not having reduced the cost based on the AC and Resistance bonuses), so we have 8,000 gp.

Double the lot, and get 16,000 gp. Add the armour, and we have 16,000+8,000+150+8. The cost of Studded Leather is 25 gp, but this one's really nice and purty, so we'll go for a bit more. 16,000+8,000+150+8+150 gets us 24,308 gp.

Scald and Shatter: Scald and Shatter were Meylar's shortswords, and originally, only a pair of +1 Frost/+1 Flaming shortswords. Scald and Shatter were eventually empowered by Celledyn Moon upon meeting Meylar, as a gift to celebrate the extremely young boy's ascension to a state of being a Verdant Lord, channeling into them the poisons of the woodlands and foxfire's light.

Scald and Shatter are a pair of +1 flaming/+1 frost shortswords, and any target struck by them is affected as if by Faerie Fire for one minute. Furthermore, any target struck by one of the shortswords must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 11) or take 1d3 points of Constitution damage. This poisoning effect only takes place if the shortswords are dual-wielded.

Caster Level: 1st. Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Faerie Fire, Poison. Market Price: 15,110gp each; Weight: 3 lb.

Pricing: Okay, a +2 weapon is 8,000 gp. The extra affects are Faerie Fire (level 1 spell, level 1 caster), and Breath of the Cobra (level 1 spell, level 1 caster). Both are 2,000 gp, both are doubled, to get 4,000 gp each. However, the Breath of the Cobra affect isn't like the spell description; it's normally a Cone (which is much, much nicer than a normal attack), and the weapons have to be dual-wielded or it won't work. As such, we reduce the second 4,000 by 30% to get 2800 gp, instead.

We add all these together to get 14,800 gp. A Masterworked shortsword costs 310 gp, so we get a total price of 15,110 gp.

The Verdant Bind: At first glance, this whispy woven string of dried grasses looks more like the dessicated remains of a bored child's afternoon activities. However, in the hands of a nonevil character with 5 or more ranks in Wilderness Lore, the power of nature can be felt in it. The Verdant Bind is a common tool of Verdant Lords, and they are mostly responsible for their creation.

The Bind can be worn on any part of a character's body - around an ankle, wrist, or even tied around a finger. When worn in this way, the Bind grants a +5 circumstance bonus to Profession (Herbalist) and Wilderness Lore checks.

Caster Level: 3rd. Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, creator must have 5 or more ranks in Wilderness Lore. Market Price: 2,000 gp; Weight: 1 lb.

Pricing: Piss-easy, this one. It's a +5 to two skills item, and they're related, so I won't double the prices based on that. 5*5*20 is 500 gp, and two of them is 1,000. It doesn't take up an item slot, so we get 2,000 gp.

The Grip Of The Woodlands: This intricately woven torc can be worn around the neck in place of an amulet, or around the wrist in the place of a glove or bracer. As a standard action, this torc can be used to summon a sphere of glowing, constantly moving, entangling vines. This knotted mass can then be thrown as a grenadelike weapon. Upon impact with a creature (as a ranged touch attack), the vines burst into life and grow rapidly, entangling the target. An entangled creature suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls and a -4 penalty to effective Dexterity. The entangled character must make a Reflex save (DC 11) or be bound to the ground, unable to move. Even with a successful save, it can only move at half speed as it shakes off the vines.

A character who is entangled can break free with a successful Strength check (DC 20) or by dealing 15 points of damage to the vines with a slashing weapon. A character trying to slice vines off himself, or another character assisting, does not need to make an attack roll; hitting the vines is automatic, after which the character who hit makes a damage roll to see how much of the vines he happened to scrape off. Once free, a character can move at half speed. A character capable of spellcasting who is bound by the vines must make a Concentration check (DC 15) to cast a spell. The vines wither and die after 10 minutes.

Caster Level: 6th. Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, Entangle, creator must have 5 or more ranks in Wilderness Lore. Market Price: 4,000 gp; Weight: 1 lb.

Pricing: This one's kind of like a Tanglefoot bag, but it's based off the spell Entangle. I basically soothed my conscience about this one by using the lower DC of a tanglefoot as opposed to Entangle. All told, it works out fairly well. Price-wise, since it doesn't take up a set slot, I doubled the price (again, being too harsh on this item by the formulae, but it's erring on the side of caution), so we get 1*1*2,000*2, to get us the 4,000 we have there.

Meylar was not an only child, however, and it was in fact his older sister, Azulia, with whom Celledyn was smitten. As such, he took it upon himself to craft her a masterwork, pooling all the resources the grove held to create a weapon truly deserving of the mighty barbarian.

Azulia's Gift: This +1 sure-striking spell-storing opposable greatsword was the weapon of Azulia Bleakwinter. Manufactured for her by her somewhat blushing admirer Celledyn Moon, this weapon has a fair few limiting factors Celledyn put in place to ensure none but Azulia could wield it - unless they were distinctly similar. When wielded by a Chaotic Good character, Azulia's Gift has its full properties revealed. When in the hands of a Chaotic Neutral or Neutral Good character, the weapon is a a +1 spell-storing opposable greatsword, and has no other special properties. In the hands of a character of any other alignment, the weapon is simply a +1 greatsword.

Azulia's Gift grants the wielder a pair of black bear companions, granted by nature, which the sword allows to understand the wielder with ease. These bears are loyal to the wielder only, refusing to consort with a wielder who is not Chaotic Good; in fact, if the bears observe the wielder to be unsatisfactory, they will do their best to take the weapon off the wielder - or the wielder's corpse, whichever is more within the bears' means. The bears themselves are neutral.

Whenever the bears are within 50 feet of Azulia's Gift, they receive a +1 morale bonus to attack rolls, and a +1 morale bonus to saving throws against fear, as per the spell bless. Furthermore, once per day, Azulia's Gift can cast bless weapon on the bears' natural weapons. If either bear is slain, the forces of nature conspire to send another one to the wielder of the weapon within a day, but only one bear per day (as it takes time for a bear of a suitable disposition to be found).

Caster Level: 9th. Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Animal Friendship, Bless, Bless Weapon, Imbue With Spell Ability, Polymorph Other, Bear's Heart, creator must be of a chaotic good alignment. Market Price: 51,950 gp; Weight: 15 lb.

Pricing: Heh, this one's been the center of some controversy. Anyway... the basic crux of it is as follows.

First, the normal weapon cost. Base weapon enhancement is +1, Spell-Storing is +1, Opposable's +1, and Sure-Striking is +1. The magic on this thing is a total of +4, for 4*4*2000, or 32,000 gp. The alignmental restrictions are, from Azulia's perspective, an advantage - not a disadvantage. So no discount there.

Now, the fun bit. The bears are effectively Animal Companions, and 6 hit dice worth of them. So, since they're adventuring, 6*.5*2,000*2, or 12,000 gp. They don't consort with a character who's not Chaotic Good, but that'd be fairly evenly balanced by the lack of need for training for the bears to know any basic tricks. They can only be bears, which is a limiting factor, but not a drastic one. Of course, for 6 hit dice, you could have a Polar Bear, so these bears aren't necessarily the best choice. In light of this, a 10% reduction should be okay. 10,800 gp.

The weapon emits a constant bless effect. So that's 1*1*2,000*2 gp, for 4,000 gp. It only affects the bears, so, well, that'd be fair enough to reduce by at least 10%, so let's be extravagent and go for 30%. 2,800 gp.

Once a day, Bless Weapon, on six weapons; that's 6*1*1*2,000*2/5 gp, for 4,800. That'd theoretically be limited, because they're only the bear's weapons. However, that's being pretty penny-pinchy, so I'll let it swing.

Now, just to be complete, a Masterworked Greatsword is 350 gp.

Putting the parts together gets us a pricing scheme of 32,000 + 10,800 + 4,000 + 4,800 + 350 gp, which is 51,950 gp.

As well as Azulia, Meylar's best friend lives in the grove, Cayden Willowby. After finding the criminal responsible for burning down his home, the Paladin of Yondalla decided to take stock and rest in the grove, coming to terms with his life and the calling his god had sent to him.

Willowby Shortsword: This +1 shortsword, when wielded by a halfling who also wields a shield, confers a +2 enhancement bonus to the shield.

Caster Level: 3rd. Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, creator must be a halfling. Market Price: 10,312 gp; Weight: 1 lb.

Pricing: Easy to price. A +1 shortsword is 2,312 gp. A +2 shield is 4,000 gp. Double the price because it's a secondary property and we get 8,000+2,132, or 10,312.

Yondalla's Gift: First owned by the Paladin of Yondalla, Cayden Willowby, this shield was a gift from his mentor, the dwarven paladin known only to history as the Badger. Broad-armed and strong, the Badger felt that Cayden would need quite a bit more protection than he himself had had when he had adventured. The shield is shaped like a large cornucopia, and decorated with the symbol of Yondalla.

Yondalla's Gift is a +3 Sure-Striking Large Steel Shield of Bashing, which has been ensorcelled to deal 2d8 damage, rather than 1d6. Celledyn Moon also took the advice of his friend Meylar, and enhanced the weapon to deal double damage against inherently evil outsiders (and triple on a critical). However, when wielded against a non-evil creature, its enhancement bonus drops to a mere +1. Furthermore, Yondalla's Gift is good-aligned, and only functions as anything more than a +1 shield for a halfling who worships Yondalla.

Caster Level: 9th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Protection from Evil, True Strike. Market Price: 44,515 gp; Weight: 15 lb.

Pricing: Aren't Shields of Bashing fun to price? The basic costs of this item are 170 gp, for the shield. Then we add on the 25,000 gp for being a +5 shield. Now, we get to the thorny bit (as we usually do).

The extra damage and weapon enhancements are lifted from the Sun Blade. Subtracting the cost of the masterworked bastard sword and all the other bits results in roughly 19,345 gp of unexplained finance. So, we'll tack that onto the 25,000 gp we have as a base, and change the bonus from Undead (being able to crit undead as opposed to doing more damage against something you can crit otherwhise... fair). That gives us the price of 44,515 we see.

Just to make sure we're not being mean, we make the weapon only a +1 against nonevil creatures, and we should be fine, right?

Finally, the grove owned to two more periodic denizens. Melkor Malhavoc and the chip on his shoulder. The dark, broody, sorcerous grey elf occasionally drops in on the grove, as he seeks the reason behind his spellcasting ability.

Havocbringer: This +1 Keen Flaming Sure-Striking Fullblade was most recently wielded by the grey-elven spellsword Melkor Malhavoc, on his quest to find from whence his magic energy stemmed. He claimed it from the den of a great ogre-magi, who he slew in personal combat, before the awakening of his magic prowess. The Havocbringer's origin is still unknown, but it can be traced back towards Melkor's sorcerous heritage.

When in the hands of a character in whom the subtle traces of dragon's blood flows (sorcerors and bards), the weapon draws out their racial heritage, bestowing a +1 natural armour bonus, a +2 enhancement bonus to strength and charisma, and a +4 bonus to saving throws against sleep and paralysis. This power was not fully unleashed, however, by Melkor first wielding the weapon, as the Ogre-Magi from whom he had stolen it was attempting to break its limiting factor, turning the Ogre-magi himself into a half-dragon.

Caster Level: 18th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Craft Wondrous Item, bull's strength, eagle's splendour, keen edge, fireball, barkskin. Market Price: 46,380 gp; Weight: 23 lbs.

Pricing: +1, Keen, and Sure Striking are all +1s, so we get a total of 3*3*2000 for the weapon itself. 18,000 gp, and the cost of the Masterworked Fullblade (380 gp).

The +2 enhancement bonus to strength and charisma is a simple formula; 2*2*1000. 4,000 gp, times two for two stats, 8,000 gp, doubled for being a secondary property, 16,000 gp. The bonus to saving throws is 4*4*250, or another 4,000 which turns into another 8,000. And the natural armour bonus is a 1*1*2000*2, for 4,000 gp. That's 28,000 gold pieces, plus the cost of the weapon. In theory, the fact that it requires draconic blood should be a limiting factor for the extra magic, but comparing this to the various stat-pumping items, it's probably best to just let it slide this time.