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Affliction of Interest

September 6th, 2017

Alex Riggs

Magic Market Archive

Normally, if you want to protect yourself from afflictions, you get a cloak of resistance. But today’s magic items are all potent defenses against curses, diseases, and poisons, but they do so in a way that also allows you to turn those afflictions against your foes, mixing offense and defense into potent magic gear.

 

PLAGUE MAIL                                            PRICE 20,300 gp
Slot armor; CL 7th; Weight 40 lbs.
Aura moderate necromancy

These suits of +3 chainmail are made from blackened and rusty metal. They are generally decorated with a motif of exaggerated bird faces with incredibly long beaks, reminiscent of a plague doctor’s mask, and the metal itself slowly oozes a brownish-red ichor that drips wherever the wearer goes (although it does so only when worn, and the ichor fades to nothingness after an hour).

The wearer gains a bonus equal to the armor’s enhancement bonus on saving throws made to resist diseases. Additionally, whenever a critical hit is scored against the wearer, or the wearer is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, the armor releases a cloud of disease in a 10-foot-radius burst, affecting each creature in the area as though with the spell contagion. For each point of enhancement bonus the armor possesses, the saving throw DC to resist the contagion effect is increased by +1.

None of a suit of plague mail’sunique abilities count as an enhancement bonus equivalent, and it is treated as a +3-equivalent suit of armor for the purposes of the cost of further improving its magical abilities.

Construction Requirements                                   Cost 10,300 gp

Craft Magic Arms and Armor, contagion

 

POISON PLATE                                            PRICE 66,650 gp
Slot armor; CL 7th; Weight 50 lbs.
Aura moderate necromancy

These suits of +5 full plate are typically lacquered a bright green color, with gold trim and embossing, and often feature images of serpents, spiders, scorpions, and other venomous creatures. As long as the armor is worn, the wearer gains the benefits of the spell delay poison. Additionally, three times per day, the wearer can lob a ball of pure venom from the armor. Treat this as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet. If the attack hits, the target is affected as though by the spell poison. The armor’s enhancement bonus is added to the DC of the poison effect (for a final DC of 21).

None of a suit of poison plate’sunique abilities count as an enhancement bonus equivalent, and it is treated as a +5-equivalent suit of armor for the purposes of the cost of further improving its magical abilities.

Construction Requirements                                   Cost 34,150 gp

Craft Magic Arms and Armor, delay poison, poison

 

SHIELD OF CURSES                                         PRICE 65,170 gp
Slot shield; CL 13th; Weight 15 lbs.
Aura strong abjuration

These +5 heavy steel shields are typically engraved with dire warnings written on the front, such as, “Woe to he who fells me,” or, “Strike me down, and I shall doom you from beyond the grave.” Whenever the wearer of a shield of curses is targeted by a curse or a spell with the curse descriptor, there is a 50% chance that that curse is directed back at its source, and has no effect on the wearer. This chance is determined before the wearer makes any saving throws or applies spell resistance.

Additionally, if the shield’s wearer is slain, the creature that dealt the killing blow is affected as though by the spell bestow curse, regardless of their distance from the shield’s wearer. The shield’s enhancement bonus is added to the DC of the bestow curse effect (for a final DC of 21).

Some of a shield of curses’sunique abilities count as an enhancement bonus equivalent, and it is treated as a +6-equivalent shield for the purposes of the cost of further improving its magical abilities.

Construction Requirements                                   Cost 32,670 gp

Craft Magic Arms and Armor, bestow curse, spell turning