Doom Turned Blessing
A shining piece of armor, once part of a full plate set, said to have belonged to a Saint. Legend tells that the Saint used to drop their armaments and charge the evil spawn with open arms, not fearing their infernal weapons.
Shining Breastplate: This armorpiece can be worn on top of normal clothes or a chain mail and confers the wearer a base AC of 17, it requires 15 STR to be used and gives disadvantage to Stealth(DEX) checks.
Divine Protection: When you’re hit by a critical hit, the Armor of the Saint glows with holy radiance and the attack is instead deflected. As a Reaction you can immediately spend any number of your Hit Dice. If you do so, roll the spent dice and you recover that many hp.
If you fully heal, any excess healing is converted into radiant damage, you can deal this damage to a creature within 5ft of you. It must CON15 or take the excess amount as radiant damage, taking half on a success.
Example: Victoria, a 6th level Paladin, has currently 45/52 hp. Jourmount, the Dark Knight, swings at her with a black sword: 20 to hit! Instead of taking damage Victoria uses her Reaction and spends all of her hit dice, she then rolls 6d10s: 34! She heals 7 hp, going back to 52/52, the excess 27 become radiant damage. Jourmount fails the CON15 saving throw and takes 27 radiant damages! He survives and it’s still his turn though, watch out!
Merciful Waiver: As an Action you can touch the Armor of the Saint and focus on a creature you can see. The creature gains the Divine Protection ability and you lose it until the end of your next turn.
The Worst Averted
This item gives a character an amazing power: transforming the worst thing it could happen to them into something amazing. This might seem a little too overpowered (if such a thing exists in this game) to a worried DM, but that’s the secret: it’s really not, but it feels that way in the hands of your players.
There are visible limitations to this power, and a veteran player can easily spot them. You have to use your Reaction, meaning you can’t make attacks of opportunity, or if you do, you forfeit the protection. You spend your Hit Dice, rarely used in most games, but that just means you’re healing in combat and without the CON bonus like you’d have during a short rest. Lastly, you have an AC of 17, maybe 19 with a Shield. That’s gonna be a downgrade to a well equipped knight! You’re probably gonna be hit more than before, but the more you get attacked the bigger chance of that sweet revenge damage. The players will shift from fearing nat 20s to fearing nat 19s!
I think the item, as all magic items, is always a tool or option the players can choose to ignore. The Armor of the Saint is really a gamble: a passive one when you wear it, and an active one when you use your Merciful Waiver. The active ability also gives more melee focussed characters something to do in their turn when they can’t just smash the enemy, and that’s always a plus.
Be careful, if your party has more than one heavily-armored melee fighter the Merciful Waiver could really make one of your combatants unstoppable, make sure to challenge them in ways other than weapon attacks. But in my experience no player renounces their Action for a mathematical advantage: they want to do stuff. That’s why it is a ‘waiver’ and not just a cool power. We DMs just want to encourage those epic renounce moments.
Hooks
The Armor of the Saint implies a Saint of some kind! If you want to lift this item as it is, try thinking about what this title means in your settings and who the previous owner of the armor was! Is it tied to some deity? Or is it just a power derived by one’s piousness?
Here are some ideas:
| d6 | Hook |
| 1 | The Armor is for sale by the once-great noble house at an open auction. The Saint ancestor’s name is now forgotten as the crest faded on the plate. |
| 2 | An Evil Paladin wears the Armor, contradicting the actions of the Saint, they don’t seem to be able to make it work. |
| 3 | The Armor is worn by the knight leader of the Sacred Order, formed by the Saint centuries ago. |
| 4 | The Armor traveled to this continent with an order of monks. A helpful member of the covenant thinks one of the characters should conserve it now. |
| 5 | The Armor lies deep in a holy crypt, removing it would be considered an unholy and profane act. |
| 6 | The Armor is on the uncorrupted body of the Paladin the party was seeking, the one who fell to the evil which is returned, but didn’t succumb to it. |
Variations
The Armor of the Saint is a holy relic, we can surely strip this aesthetic from the item and make it a more down-to-earth item. If we do, we should change the active part of the item accordingly:
| d6 | Name | Description | Action (Benefits lost until end of next round) |
| 1 | Black Sun’s Armor | A plate of black metal, with a golden sun engraved. | Reckless Swipe: Bonus Action. Lose benefits to gain advantage on your next attack. Next attack targeting you has Advantage. |
| 2 | Spaulders of the Saint | Once part of an intricate armor, one shines white, while the other is golden and depicts a lion. | Shining Gold: Action. Lose benefits but all foes that attack you take 1d6 radiant damage for each attack they make that hits you until the end of your next turn. Both pauldrons become golden. |
| 3 | Fiery Heart | The plate depicts a crimson bleeding heart wrapped in orange flames. | Open Heart: Bonus Action Lose benefits to grant a weapon you’re holding or within 5ft of you +1d4 fire damage until the end of your next turn. |
| 4 | Crown-Helm of the Lost King | A golden helmet and jeweled crown, engraved with the symbol of the royal family which once ruled over these lands. | Compelling Order: Action. Lose benefits, a creature you can see must CHA15 or kneel, becoming prone. |
| 5 | Copperer’s Deflectioner | A bronze-colored invention, with metal tubes connected to an electric blue backpack. | Discharge: Action. Lose benefits to deal 3d6 lightning damage to creatures within 5ft. |
| 6 | The Dark Mantle | A pitch-black cape, it swirls around the wearer when the threat is lethal. | Vanish: Bonus Action. Lose benefits to become swift and silent, increasing speed by 15ft and losing the Disadvantage on Stealth(DEX) rolls until your next turn. |
