Author: Skull Azure

A black, lit candle that shines radiant light.

Fast Travel Unlocked

The nobles of Lost Babylon had their way to cross the Pale Sands. These candles have been smuggled and lost for centuries. They are a rare find but they carry with them the weight of a forgotten faraway land.

Starlight Travel: The Black Babylon Candle has 2d10 charges when found. As an Action, a creature can light the Candle to teleport themself and any other creature that is also touching the candle to a location they are thinking of. The creature must have seen the location, even in a dream or vision.

The creatures become engulfed in a sphere of light that rockets to the sky, even passing through solid objects, like ceilings or earth. The sphere travels through the sky and lands violently within 24 miles of the desired location. For every 24 miles traveled (or 1 Hex), the Candle loses a charge, and its size is reduced accordingly. If the candle runs out of charges mid-journey, the creatures land as far as the candle has taken them. The voyage itself lasts only a minute per charge consumed.

Each creature engulfed in the sphere of light must CON13, on a failure they drop unconscious for 1d4 hours at the landing location, otherwise they feel strong nausea for the next hour.

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Radical Antigravity

A wide greatshield, surprisingly lightweight and balanced in the middle. When released it starts vibrating and hovering, defying gravity. A constant hum signals its weird and unstable nature.

+1 Greatshield: This heavy shield grants you a +3 bonus to AC.

Recall: Bonus Action. You extend your arm, if you are not holding anything in that hand and the shield is still within 10ft of you, it is automatically picked up and equipped.

Follow: Action.You drop the Drift Shield and it starts hovering horizontally a few inches from the ground surface. In this position it can hold your equipment and up to a creature of medium size. The Shield follows you slowly, keeping within 10ft of you. 

Stay Put: Action. You drop the Drift Shield and it starts hovering vertically in front of you. Until you use the Recall ability, the Drift Shield can’t be moved and confers Heavy Cover (+5 to AC) to one creature standing right behind it.

Slide: 1/Short Rest. Action. You drop the shield in front of you and ride it as it flies forward. Move 60ft without provoking opportunity attacks. Any creature in your path must DEX13 or take 1d6 bludgeoning damage and fall Prone. 

During your movement you can choose one medium creature in your path, they don’t have to roll and are instead picked up and move with you on the shield, falling Prone within 5ft of you when the slide ends. 

At any point during the movement you can drop out of the shield, if you do so the shield continues moving in a straight line.

At the end of the movement the Drift Shield stops hovering and falls to the ground, inactive until you use the Recall ability.

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A glacial whip wraps around a flaming massive sword

A Combo of Ice and Fire

A whip was manifested from the tremendous storms on the highest glacial peaks, its name translated to Hail, made of linked ice daggers. In that instant, in the depths of Hël, an ever-flaming sword erupted from the fire itself: the whip counterpart, Ember.  

Hail, +2 Whip: This Whip gives you a bonus of +2 to attack and damage rolls and has the Finesse, Light and Reach tags.

Hail Drag: 3/Long Rest. Bonus Action. After you hit a creature with Hail, you can move them 10ft in any direction. A creature moved this way also takes additional 2d4 cold damage.

Ember, +2 Longsword: This Longsword gives you a bonus of +2 to attack and damage rolls and has the Finesse, Versatile and Light tags.

Ember Seal: 3/Long Rest. Action. You thrust Ember in an unoccupied space within 5ft of you, leaving a searing circular seal on the ground. When a creature steps on the seal it must CON15 or take 6d6 fire damage, half on a success. On a failure the creature is also on fire, taking 1d6 fire damage at the start of their turn, Save End.

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A Wizard's hat in a rough sharpie style.

So, that happened

I have been silent for some time, as I was trying to navigate the perilous waters of our new hobby scene. I don’t really want to reiterate on the events, it was a wild ride. We collectively remembered that the Wizard that has bought the skin of our hobby is actually more kin to the Hoarding Dragon that gives it its name. The community was louder than normal, and many were able to look beyond their overpriced books and realize that our hobby has never been this diverse and widespread. 

Others rallied under the flag of new giants, companies that were born out of the Main Game, and that finally had an occasion to say something about the game that fed them. I am particularly interested in MCDM’s Tactical RPG and Kobold Press’s Black Flag. I also fell in love with the presentation of Shadowdark. I think this day was long overdue, the Wizard, like the villains of our stories, created the very weapon that will bring its downfall by acting upon its worst instincts. At the end of this whole debacle I think we grew stronger as a community. It was a cataclysmic event that revealed a whole new world of uncharted lands to be explored.

And then there’s me: a shy creator that had to have a life crisis to start publishing silly fantasy weapons on the web. I stopped posting, as I have often done in the past, but most importantly I stopped believing my ideas in the ttrpg space mattered. Well, that sucks and was pretty over dramatic of me, but the good news is that I am here to ramble a bit and process all of this. I hope my words will find another lost creator one day and inspire them.

But, Did we ever Need the Wizard?
…

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Draconic Power at Your Feet

These red-scaled heavy boots have an intricate wing pattern designed on the ankles. They are surprisingly lightweight and keep your feet warm even in the coldest climates.

Dragon Glide: Bonus Action. The wings on the boots open and let you glide. You gain a flying speed of 15ft until the end of your turn. You must end your turn touching the ground.

Fire Step: Action. Fire columns erupt from the ground as you step on it. When you take this action you can move through the space of other creatures. When you end your movement, fire columns, 10ft high, erupt from the ground you touched with the booths and they last until the end of your next turn. Creatures that start their turn in the columns or move into them must DEX15 or take 4d6 fire damage, half on a success. 

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For all your Critting Needs

A weapon of refined, blackened steel. When agitated it starts to vibrate, building up unstoppable tension that must be released in a dangerous impact.

Improving Critical: After you roll Initiative, at the start of your turn,  the Critical Range of this weapon improves by 1. This makes so on the first round of combat your attacks with this weapon crit on a natural 19 or 20; on the second round on a natural 18, 19 or 20 and so on.

When you exit combat or deal a critical hit with the Fatal Steel Greataxe, its Critical Range resets to 0 (you crit on a 20).

Momentum Strike: Bonus Action. After you hit a creature with a non-critical attack with the Fatal Steel Greataxe, you can add 1d6 to the damage for each point of Critical Range the weapon has accumulated. After the attack the Critical Range resets to 0.

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Escape the Rituals of the Bone-Melters!

You have looked deep enough into the black abyss. Traveled to libraries long erased from all maps. It’s finally yours. The Skull’s Atlas.

Welcome to this new section on the Skull Azure Blog, all about cool Locations, Plot Hooks and Adventures for your game! I will keep the focus on Magic Items, growing the Skull’s Trove, and you’ll still get the occasional Skull’s Insight, but the Atlas will provide you with playable content ready to be explored by your players!

Enough bookkeeping, it’s time to find our way out of the terrible cavern prison known as the Pits of Sheru. 

The Pits of Sheru are designed to be a challenge for characters level 2-4, a perfect starting adventure for level 3 characters that have been taken prisoner in a deep jungle. 

Stats are kept simple for easy reference and adaptability to other DND systems, and don’t require additional material.

Pits of Sheru Map

The Prison Temple of the Saurians

The Pits of Sheru is a sacred site located deep in the jungles of the South. Many Saurian folks live in these places, but one specific tribe makes this prison its church. The common folk call them the Bone-Melters, black-scaled reptilians, shunned by other tribes for their tyrannical ways and weird religious practices. The Bone-Melters are ruled by a shamanic order devoted to Ska, the Venom. Members of the cult regulate their diet and practice sacrificial rituals to grow large, bright-yellow sacks under their chin. These mutations allow the saurians to produce a potent acid, which they use to expand their diet, eating every part of their prey. It is virtuous for some to even eat humanoid prisoners, as well as other saurians.

Prisoners of the Pits of Sheru usually wait long weeks under the scorching sun, visible from the bottom of one of the cylindrical wells. Their only mistake was venturing too deep in the jungle. The lucky ones are picked first, and brought to the inner chambers, their screams will keep the others awake.

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Visions from Within

A simple tiara with a white gem embedded in a silver moon. Pendants resembling lost holy symbols hang from the crown, their movement causes a wary tingling.

Dream Sharing: When you sleep wearing this crown, sleeping creatures around you share your dreams and are independent actors in them. Creatures around you are also able to see mental images, visions and memories that appear in your mind.

Unconscious Visions: The Crown makes you aware of your subconscious and how it speaks to you in symbols. It can also store either a Vision or a Nightmare. Each time you complete a Long Rest, in which you slept, roll a d12. 

On a 12 you have a meaningful Vision, which is stored in the Crown. The DM can describe details of it and communicate events of the past, present or future. Roll a d20 and record the number rolled. You can spend the stored vision to substitute the rolled number to any d20 roll.

On a 1 you have a Nightmare, which is stored in the Crown. You determine the details of it. As a Bonus Action you can spend the stored Nightmare to make a creature relive it. A creature you can see within 30ft of you must WIS15, taking 3d6 psychic damage on a failure.

The Crown of Dreams can either contain one Vision or one Nightmare, if you have a new Vision or Nightmare, it removes the one currently stored.

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Boing

A lightweight leather belt of a silvery color. A blue line traces along its surface, tilting to constantly be parallel to the ground. The buckle resembles a holy symmetrical symbol of order.

Perfect Balance: You have Advantage on Saving Throws against effects that would knock you Prone. If you are Prone, you can stand up as a Bonus Action and, if you do so, you have Advantage on your next attack roll that turn. The Belt propels you forward in a springy motion, giving you momentum..

Balancing Bind: As an Action you can unbuckle the belt and try to wrap it around an enemy’s wrist or limb. Make an Attack Roll against a creature within 5ft of you, using your DEX, you are proficient with the belt. On a hit the belt swings around the target’s chosen limb, giving it Disadvantage on Attack Rolls made with it. The creature can spend an Action trying to free the limb, making a STR13.

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The Fleeting Blade

A ruined scabbard carries a dark blade. It is sealed air-tight with red wax, as if the air itself could instantly rust and ruin the steel. Maybe the protection is not to preserve the weapon itself, but the bearer.

Short-lived Lethality: This weapon is a +5 Dagger, giving you +5 to hit and damage rolls. Once the dagger is removed from its scabbard, breaking the wax seal, the weapon starts to dissolve in the air, becoming silvery smoke. The weapon lasts for 1d4 rounds.

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