Equipment: Living Items

Equipment: Living Items

Complete Scoundrel for D&D 3.5 introduces a new equipment type - living items. This is something akin to the biogadgets from GURPS Bio-Tech. However, if we look into the other books, we may find similar exceptional items in Stormwrack and Magic of Faerun.

Air Plant

This bizarre pond plant has a spongy structure that produces and stores air, keeping the plant buoyant so it can receive enough light. This mass remains alive and continues to produce air even after being cut from the plant, provided it is kept moist and well lit. When placed in the mouth, a fist-sized piece of this material can provide enough air to sustain a SM+0 air-breathing creature for 5 minutes. After that time, the submerged creature must begin holding its breath and risks drowning. The air plant dies after use and can’t be recharged. $50, 0.1 lb. LC4.

Darkberry

These small, purple berries grow deep in hidden clumps in the many forests. Darkberries actually contain shadowstuff within their skins. When a ripe darkberry is broken or crushed, it creates a hex of darkness impenetrable to normal vision and Infravision for 10 seconds. $10, - lb. LC4.

Fairy Dust

Fey creatures, such as sprites, make fairy dust from their own shed hair and skin and give it to those who please them. It cannot be created by any known alchemical process. Fairy dust has a soft, golden glow, visible only in darkness. It sparkles in normal light. An ounce of fairy dust serves as a general component for any illusion spell (see Simple Spell Components in Pyramid #3-113). $30, 0.05 lb. LC4.

Felsul Flower Oil

The felsul tree seems to favor cold and poor soil, and in many rocky places felsuls provide the only tree cover to be seen. They are gnarled, twisted trees whose wood crumbles to the touch and is of a dusty cinnamon brown to deep brown hue. When the trees flower in early spring (and not all trees flower every year), the crushed petals can be made into a fragrant perfume that adds a +1 to skill rolls made to persuade another (such as Fast-Talk, Diplomacy, or Intimidation) for 10 minutes. A single ounce of the oil provides 10 uses, and a typical tree provides 1d/2 (round down) ounces of perfume per year. $30, 0.05 lb. LC4.

Fog Rock

When dropped into fresh water, this rock produces mist that fills a 2-yard-radius area (imposing a -4 to Vision rolls made through it with normal vision, Infravision, and ladar), which dissipates normally and drifts with the wind. Salt water has  no special effect on them, but they lose their ability if not kept damp with brine. $5, 0.1 lb. LC4.

Green Air Bramble

This very hardy creeping vine is cultivated by many traveling druids and priests of nature deities. It sprouts clusters of red berries even in the harshest climes. However, this plant is very susceptible to poison - when exposed to a toxic, it turns yellow and dies. This can be used as an early warning tool. As long as you are carrying at least a 3-foot length of green air bramble in a visible location, such as coiled around a staff or on your person, you gain a +1 to HT rolls made to resist inhaled poisons and airborne sickening effects, such as stench created by a troglodyte or a giant cockroach. Long-lived as well as hardy, a green air bramble lasts indefinitely if planted in moist soil for 6 hours per week. $80, 0.5 lb. LC4.

Gut Mites

The pests called gut mites are the cause of a common, painful affliction among gigantic creatures. These flylike parasites, each no bigger than a human's thumbnail, lay their eggs in the preferred food of large predators. Once inside the predator, they hatch and feed on the liquefied food within, then turning onto the host's gut. Small swarms of these creatures are bottled and sold. A character who has been swallowed whole may open a flask of gut mites with a Ready maneuver, making the grubs burrow into the creature's tissues. The creature must make an HT-4 roll of vomit up the character immediately, after that suffering from nausea for margin of failure minutes. $50, 0.5 lb. LC4.

Jabberweed

This ugly, tenacious root is native to the Windswept Depths of Pandemonium. It is riddled with countless tiny holes that constantly gasp and wheeze, creating a background noise. Sprouts of jabberweed are sold wrapped in moist cloth, where it creates no noise. Once unwrapped and exposed to air, it begins whispering, creating a low hissing audible out to 32 yards. The direction towards the source of the noise can be pinpointed with a Hearing roll; but regardless of that everyone within 32 yards takes a -4 penalty to Hearing rolls. If retrieved and repacked in moist cloth, jabberweed can be used multiple times while it lives. Jabberweed can survive for 1 week after being removed from its home plane. You can attempt a Herb Lore roll once per week to keep a sprout of jabberweed alive for that week. The plant dies 1 week after a failed check. $50, 0.1 lb. LC4.

Mule Pollen

A bright yellow flower, of the daisy variety, blooms in early spring in the grassy foothills of some  mountain ranges. When inhaled, the pollen restores 1d FP spent on physical exertion but inflicts a -1 penalty to his IQ. The effects last for 1d×5 minutes. Mule pollen is mildly addictive drug. $5, 0.05 lb. LC3.

Type: Stimulant.

Dependency: Physiological.

Disadvantage Cost: -5 (expensive, legal).

Planar Motes

Planar motes are wispy creatures native to the Outer Planes. They have some characteristics of plants and some of animals. These globules of plane-stuff are no bigger than a coin; their shape and coloration depends on their native plane - from dandelion seeds of Arcadia to barbed urchins of Baator. These largely harmless and seemingly unintelligent creatures are thought to be spontaneously generated by the planes themselves.

    Planar motes emit auras directly tied to the alignment of the plane they came from. A planar mote from Bytopia, for example, has an aura of good, while a mote from the Abyss has auras of both chaos and evil. If a character that does not possess an aura of his own carries a planar mote, he will gain the aura of the mote. Thus, a mundane character carrying a planar mote of chaos will be detected as a chaotic being with spells such as Sense Chaos. However, if the character does have an alignment aura of his own, it will overpower the aura of the mote.

    A planar mote is not a magic item; it does not take up space on the body or radiate magic. A planar mote functions only for the creature it is in closest contact with. Relying on its home plane for survival, a planar mote fades away and vanishes 1 week + 1d days after being taken from its native plane. A planar mote is destroyed if subjected to the spells Banish, Dispel Chaos/Evil/Good/Law (corresponding to the mote’s alignment), or Protection from Chaos/Evil/Good/Law (corresponding to the mote’s alignment). A planar mote can also be physically attacked. It does not actively defend, but it has HP 1 and SM-7.

    Planar motes fly at a speed of 1 yard per second. To gain one’s effect, a user must contain it in some manner or risk having it escape. A simple jar or box carried in the user’s pack often suffices.

    Much more rare are greater planar motes, which shed strong alignment auras that overpower even auras of characters that have alignment auras. These more potent motes last for 1 month + 2d days after removal from their home plane, but otherwise function in the same way as normal planar motes. $50, 0.1 lb. LC4. (Greater planar mote - $250, 0.1 lb. LC4).

Red Helmthorn Berry

Most berries of the helmthorn tree are tart in flavor and indigo in color. Rarely, however, a sprig of scarlet-hued berries sprout from a branch. A character who eats a red helmthorn berry gains a +1 to HT for the purpose of natural healing for one day. $2, - lb. LC4.

Rust Monster Wand

Little more than 1 inch long and bristling with underdeveloped armor and appendages, the larval young of the rust monster have the same rusting ability as mature rust monsters. These creatures can be helpful when carefully harnessed in a suitable container.

    Such a container, commonly called a rust monster wand, is a 1-foot-long piece of glass tubing about 4 inches in diameter that contains about a dozen rust monster larvae. One end of the tube is sealed shut, and the other one is fitted with a two-layer wooden cap. The outer layer of this top covers the wand’s end; when closed, it prevents the larvae from touching anything outside the wand. The inside layer is a thin latticework that keeps the larvae inside the tube but allows their antennae to extend through the holes in the lattice. Uncapping the solid cover and running the tip of the wand across a metal surface allows the hungry young to slowly but effectively eat through metal objects or barriers. The rust monster larvae in a wand deals 1 point of corrosion damage per second to metals. The wand is brittle and must be applied to a target rather delicately, so it cannot be used as a weapon.

    The larvae within a rust monster wand can survive for about 2 months if given air (by opening the outer layer of the end cap) and fed the equivalent of five coins of metal (or more) per day.

    If removed from the wand, individual larvae do not have the size or ability to do appreciable harm to metal equipment. One of these creatures by itself has HP 1 and SM-8. $250, 0.5 lb. LC2.

Shadowtop Torch

The wood of the shadowtop tree burns more slowly (and cleanly) than normal wood. A torch of shadowtop wood burns for 2 hours and gives off very little smoke. $5, 1 lb. LC4.

Silverbark Sap

The sap of the silverbark tree is clear and slightly sticky. It acts as a (minor) natural antitoxin, granting anyone who consumes at least one ounce a +1 to HT rolls to resist poison for 1 hour. A typical silverbark tree can be harvested of 1d+1 ounces of sap per year. $20, 0.05 lb. LC4.

Sleepweed Pod

The pods of the sleepweed plant, which appear similar to those of milkweed plants, contain a sleep-inducing mold within them. When a dried sleepweed pod bursts or is broken open (when thrown, for example), it releases these spores in a 1-yard-hex. A target that inhales sleepweed spores must make a Will roll or fall into a slumber for 1 minute. $100, 0.05 lb. LC3.

Torch Bug Paste

The sluggish torch bug that lives in plains and savannas looks like a bloated firefly. When agitated, or during their lengthy mating season, their abdomens the size of a child's fist glow with a warm, yellow light.

    The luminescent chemicals are sold in bladders made from severed torch bug abdomens. Each contains one application of the luminescent slime known as torch bug paste. These bladders do not shed light, and the paste within does not begin glowing until exposed to air.

    Torch bug paste can be applied to any surface. One bladder contains enough paste to paint up to a 2-yard-radius area; ten seconds are required for each hex. A treated area glows for 1 hour and sheds as much light as a torch. Torch bug paste makes a painted object highly visible, and it is often used as a temporary decoration or to mark targets in the dark. It can be used to write short words or simple symbols, but these marks must be rather large, since the paste’s glow obscures details. It can also be thrown, breakinkg upon contact with a firm surface. This can be used to mark targets in the dark.

    This effect is not magical and cannot be dispelled. Torch bug paste can be washed away from a creature or a hex with five consecutive Ready maneuvers but requires at least 1 gallon of water. $30, 0.5 lb. LC4.

Torch Bug Tube

The sluggish torch bug that lives in plains and savannas looks like a bloated firefly. When agitated, or during their lengthy mating season, their abdomens the size of a child's fist glow with a warm, yellow light.

    A torch bug tube is a 1-foot-long, sealed glass cylinder with ends capable of being unscrewed. Inside dwells a single adult torch bug. When the tube is shaken (a Ready maneuver for any creature holding it), the insect inside becomes irritated and begins glowing. This glow sheds as much light as a torch. The light begins to dim as the bug calms down and goes out after 3 minutes unless the tube is shaken again. A torch bug tube can be taken underwater without being extinguished and does not emanate a magical aura.

    A torch bug can glow for up to 1 hour a day, after which it must eat and rest; torch bugs must be fed daily (they eat mostly smaller insects), or they grow too weak to shed light and eventually die. In addition, the tube end must be unscrewed once per day to replenish the insect’s air supply. $30, 0.5 lb. LC4.

Weirwood

These rare trees are actively protected by dryads, treants, druids, and rangers. If undisturbed, they grow into huge, many-branched forest giants that resemble oaks with dual-colored leaves (brown with a silver sheen on top, velvety black underneath). Weirwood is favored for lutes, harps, birdpipes, and longhorns because of the unmistakable warm, clear sound it gives to such instruments. Any weirwood (or item created of weirwood) within an area illuminated by a magical light source (such as Light, or Continual Flame) emits a gentle magical glow equivalent to a candle for 1dx5 seconds after leaving the area of illumination. Living weirwood has DR 20 against fire, though no one has ever discovered a method of preserving this quality after the wood is harvested. +1 CF.