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Monday, November 9, 2009

Magic Missile!

No, not that Magic Missile. Arrows and quarrels often get the short end of the stick when it comes to magical properties, usually stuck with a simple accuracy or damage enhancement. Here are a few unique missiles for your reading pleasure. All missiles share the following characteristics:
  •  Each missile radiates Good alteration or evocation magic.
  •  A Good test of divination magic will reveal the missile's power and command word, which must be spoken when the missile is fired.
  •  Each missile can be activated once per day, recharging each morning at sunrise. Missiles fired without activating them perform as normal weapons. Missiles activated before firing gain a Good bonus to accuracy.
  •  Missiles are almost unbreakable (Superb toughness) and immune to most forms of elemental or magical damage (Superb resistance).
The Missiles:
  • Iron Fist - This missile has a broad iron point, shaped to resemble a closed fist. Its shaft is made from polished black oak, and it is fletched with eagle feathers. When its power is invoked this missile does normal damage and knocks the target back five feet along the flight path.
  • Needle's Point - This missile has a slim, silver point fitted to a blue-dyed ash shaft. It is fletched with the feathers of a stirge. When its power is invoked this missile pierces the target, doing maximum damage, then continues its flight, striking additional targets and doing maximum damage. Needle's Point can strike up to six targets in this fashion before it loses its enchantment.
  • Splinter - This missile is tipped with a razor sharp obsidian point fitted to a shaft of polished bamboo fletched with hummingbird wings. When it's power is activated it splits into six individual missiles, each targeting a separate foe, beginning with those nearest the original target. Each missile does normal damage. Duplicate missiles fade after striking, leaving only the original Splinter intact.

2 comments:

Adam Dickstein said...

These are neat but still largely about damage. In my campaign we've had numerous unusual magic arrows prompting one of our Rangers to resemble The Green Arrow more then Robin Hood.

Among his collection are an arrow that casts a web spell centered on where it strikes, an arrow that does no damage but causes the target to speak only gibberish (a bane to magic users) and an arrow that explodes into a cloud of thick, icy fog (good for slowing opponents, serving as a smoke screen or putting out fires).

Mark Thomas said...

Nice ideas! I really like the gibberish arrow, consider it stolen! :)