This entry is part 4 in the series Some Arcane Assembly Required
Ask the gamemasters

I’m in the process of answering a question from GM Roy, who wrote:

“I need some inspiration to create cool names for spell components.

I have 5 [scales of rarity = Mike]:

  • Common (flesh, breath, water, dust)
  • Uncommon (earth from a cemetery, humanoid blood)
  • Rare (head of a Medusa, Minotaur’s horn, black dragon blood)
  • very Rare (Essence of the ghost of a mass murderer, Adamantium armor forged in hell by a celestial), and
  • Unique (The Tear of the ancient God of death, Essence of the Terrasque).

I need a lot of these, Where can I find some?”

Series Logo ATGMs 32 Some Assembly Required

In fact, I rather hope that I have answered it already. I discovered the reasons why GMs should care about Material Components for spells and how to make them practical from a game-play standpoint. In part two, I used the lessons learned to derive a process for generating more entries in each category. In part three I listed five exotic substances that I created using that process, which can also serve as MacGuffins even if you don’t employ arcane components in your campaign. It was supposed to be ten, but through time lost to medical issues, didn’t get them all done in time. This concluding part will deal with the remaining strange materials.

Contributors

IanG Avatar In writing these articles, I have relied heavily on past discussions regarding D&D/PFRPG with Ian Gray; D&D and the Zenith-3 campaign with Nick Deane; and in general with Graham McDonald, many years ago. Ian’s contributions were a major element of Part 1 of this series, and Nick and Graham (unknowingly at the time) contributed to a number of elements of part 2. I have drawn on inspiration from all three in this part, though these three made indirect contributions. Nick-Avatar

ATGMs-Mike

Format Reminder

The following details are provided for each of the exotic substances:

  • Illustration – click on the thumbnail for a larger version that can be reduced to get a high-resolution image for printing.
  • Description – What does it look like? What are its physical properties? What can be added the description that you can’t see in the illustration?
  • Found – If the material exists naturally, this is where you’ll find it. If it doesn’t, this will be blank. There may be multiple potential locations for some of the materials.
  • Created – If the material doesn’t exist naturally, this is where you have to go in order to create it. If it does, this will be blank, unless there is some form of refinement required before the material is actually available that can or must be performed in a location other than the “created” location (ie a two-step process, finding and refining).
  • Qualities – What does the material symbolize? This will be an incomplete list but will give some idea of the sort of spells that the material is suitable for.
  • Process – What do you have to do to get/create it? How is it created – according to best knowledge?
  • Dangers – What are the dangers involved in getting/creating it? What are the dangers (if any) of having it around? What precautions can a character take against these dangers?
  • Rating – The suggested rating on the rarity scale. Subject to revision by the GM, even mid-campaign if the circumstances are right.
  • Comments – Anything else about the material.
  • Other Uses – What else can be done with it? Why else might someone want it?

Permanice Frost

  • Description: Permanice is indistinguishable to the eye from any other ice. And it’s cold to the touch, and made up mostly of water, just like any other ice.
        That’s where the similarities end. Permanice itself would qualify as an exotic material, but is utterly impossible to work with, as explained below. Fortunately, the qualities that make Permanice of interest can be accessed in diluted form through the principle of contagion, by scraping off some of the frost that forms whenever Permanice falls into shadow. This is, therefore, a cold, wet, semi-transparent white powder with slight hints of gray and blue.
  • Found: The Plane Of Water
  • Created: –
  • Qualities: Cold, Water, Strength, Brittleness, Darkness.
  • Process: While nothing needs to be done to create it, collectors of this unusual material need to make special efforts to preserve it, as it is destroyed by sunlight, and subjects anything subjected to its chilly temperatures to extremely cold temperatures. An adamantium flask with metal stopper solves problem number one (any lesser metal becomes too fragile) and multiple layers of fur wrapping from a creature adapted to the cold, bound by leather straps made from a similar creature, solves the second. Note that the furs must be thoroughly treated by an expert to prevent mould forming.
  • Dangers: Permanice is an anomaly within the plane of water, where everything is fluid and shifting (by definition), and as such it is worshiped as divine by some sentient Water Elementals. They will fight to the death to preserve and protect it from violation by “unbelievers” and “solids”. These have to be overcome unless you are lucky enough to find an undiscovered pocket of the material, which happens exceptionally infrequently.
        Part of the reason for this infrequency is that Water Elementals can sense the thermal differences between different currents, and worshipers of the Permanice will follow any distinctly colder thermals in case they lead to an undiscovered pocket of Permanice.
        The task is, however, made easier by the effect of such cold temperatures on the Water Elementals themselves, who behave as though subjected to a “Slow” spell, halving their movement rates and reducing both their ability to attack and react.
        The second difficulty to be overcome is scraping off some of the Permanice Frost. The act of collection must be performed in a completely dark environment; any form of light will destroy what the collector aims to obtain. As noted, only Adamantium is strong enough to use, and it will lose any edge and become useless as a weapon/tool afterwards, needing to be reforged. Furthermore, sufficient cold is conducted by the metal that unprotected hands are subject to extreme frostbite – unless some form of healing is provided within 3 rounds of extracting the Permanice Frost, the hands of the collector will need immediate amputation.
        The act of collection effectively subjects the collector to a Cone Of Cold (12th level caster) per round, which may kill the collector outright; using an adamantium collection tool to obtain the Frost constitutes a second exposure to this effect, also per round. Each layer of fur-lined gloves reduces this combined attack – 1 layer, -1d6, 2 layers -3d6, 3 layers -6d6, 4 layers -10d6, 5 layers -15d6, 6 layers -21d6, 7 layers -27d6, and so on – but each layer after the first reduces the DEX of the collector by 3. Each stage of the collection process (as described below) requires a DC20 DEX check, or it will fail and the entire process may have to be restarted from scratch. Also note that saving throws may prevent half this cold damage at best (GM’s discretion, depending on the justification for the save), because far from trying to dodge a “ray”, you are immersed in, and working in, an environment; the “Cone Of Cold” is simply being used to simulate that environment with as little in the way of additional game mechanics as possible.
        One round to scrape off enough Permanice Frost*, one round to fill the container*, one round to save your hands, one round to stopper the container**, one to wrap the container in furs. Rounds marked with an asterisk subject the collector to a second cold attack as noted previously. The double asterisk indicates that if you can forgo taking action to “save your hands” (by having someone else casting Healing spells on you, for example) no extra attacks take place in the round. That’s eight, possibly nine 12th-level “cone of cold” attacks – if you succeed at every check despite the clumsiness created by the heavy layers of fur.
        “Aha!” think the overly-clever. “There are spells that protect from the elements! I can just use one of those and go without all those heavy layers of fur. Easy!” Alas, no. This cold is far beyond the capacity of such spells. If the GM is feeling generous, he may count this as being “one additional layer of fur with no DEX penalties” – that’s as good as it is going to get.
        Whole expeditions of high-level characters have been lost attempting to obtain Permanice Frost.
  • Rating: Exotic.
  • Comments: Because the focus of attention above has been on obtaining the Frost from Permanice, I skipped lightly over the natural process that creates Permanice in the first place. It is possible that sufficiently well-prepared mages may be able to replicate this process by magic, thereby possibly substituting one difficulty (the Elemental Worshipers) for another (the Permanice Creation) – but remember the notes on Elemental thermal sensitivity! – so I need to now describe that process.
        The Elemental Planes of Heat and Water are generally viewed as antagonistic – heat turns water into steam, water puts out fires.This illustrates the traditionally accepted Cosmology of the inner planes (not shown are the Positive and Negative planes), showing the Ethereal and Astral planes as co-existent. Note that the trio of planes running top-left to bottom-right appear to separate the Water and Fire planes. Click on the image for a larger version. This is not actually the case; The Plane of Fire warms all planes equally, both inner and outer, and the Plane of Water experiences internal currents and circulation as a result.
        It is implied by the premise of dimensional boundary fluctuations and the presumption that the energy within a plane of existence is constant that there are times when they expand and times when they contract, concentrating their unique properties. Most of the time, this would be a phenomenon observable only in the abstract, so minute that it is noticeable only at the boundary by the shifts and changes within that transition from one reality to another. But no matter how small the variability, there remains a finite chance of exceeding the normal degree of transformation by a considerable margin, and it possible for one of the other planes to interpose itself between the two for a brief time, occluding the flow of heat to the plane of water. The result is a slight contraction of the liquid that “is” the Plane without a corresponding alteration in the boundary.
        If this occurs when the Plane of Water is in an compressing state, the compression simply continues, and – aside from a slight pressure increase – there is no noticeable impact on the Plane. If, however, the Plane is in an expansionist state, it leaves a gap of diminishing pressure around the edge. This low-pressure “wrapper” around the entire plane grows more and more intense until it exceeds the cohesion of the Water that constitutes the plane, which rushes out to fill the near-vacuum. This generates a booming shockwave that can be heard throughout the plane. If it happens suddenly enough, there will be a rebounding effect that will put the exact center of the plane at that precise instant under immense pressure. At the same time, the plane is beginning to freeze up from the lack of heat, a phenomenon that also proceeds from the center out (simply because it’s farthest from the heat source); the plane’s own constituency blocks the heat from getting that far.
        Permanice is an approximately spherical ball of ice of unusual characteristics. When water gets cold enough, it freezes, becoming ice. Ice formed under unusual temperatures and pressures can have unusual properties. And of these unusual ice variants, the most unusual is Permanice. Permanice only forms within a narrow range of pressures, temperatures, and the exact right freezing rate – stronger than steel, unable to melt (if exposed to too much heat it sublimates directly into steam), cold enough that if it ever drifts into a region without strong currents, it freezes the water instantly (once back in the currents, this ice-coating will slowly erode away – that’s how it comes about that there are Permanice deposits out there still to be found, even if it has been centuries since the last Permanice creation period.
  • Other Uses: If Permanice Frost was more easily accessed, it would enable perpetual refrigeration throughout the game world, because while sealed away from light, it remains perpetually very cold and will not melt. As things stand, it is so difficult to obtain that only the very richest, or most powerful mages, are likely to have it.
        In addition, there are many alchemists who believe that the cooling of alchemic ingredients and compounds holds the key to any number of useful reactions, including, perhaps, lead to gold.
        Permanice Frost is an offensive weapon. The Adamantium bottles are as breakable (due to the extreme cold) as any other glass potion bottle. Throw one to the ground or against an armored foe and it will shatter and splash intense cold the equal of one of the “Cones Of Cold” in a 10′ radius, lasting for 12 rounds, losing one dice (highest first) from the damage total rolled per round after the first. If that weren’t enough, the brittleness of the adamantium bottles has any number of people interested in creating a spell of similarity that would transfer the effect to an enemy’s suit of adamantium armor. Of course, an equal number of people are equally interested in making sure this doesn’t happen. Any mage known to be in possession of Permanice Frost will be closely watched, and at the first sign of commencing spell research – on any spell – is liable to come under concerted attack, masterminded by both some very direct and violent people and other very sneaky and subtle people.

Nightmare Spinner

  • Description: This appears to glossy black spiderweb – though that’s a little like describing Niagara Falls as a small watercourse, or the Himalayas as a group of small hills. Small flecks of “web” an inch or two long at best drift here and there through the Negative Energy Plane until they meet another of their own kind, and bond together. Two then become four, and four eight, through the same process. That’s when strange things begin to happen from time to time (see below). Eventually, the eight become sixteen and then thirty-two, and so on, until a vast net of sticky black webbing drifts through a completely black environment, lurking, waiting for its next victim.
  • Found: Native to the Negative Energy Plane, but occasionally escapes to other planes. Which is a much bigger problem than you might imagine at this point.
  • Created: Don’t even think about it.
  • Qualities: Night, Darkness, Stickiness, Lightness, Evil, Death, Webbing, Spiders.
  • Process: As soon as it is removed from the Negative Energy Plane, Nightmare Spinner ceases to have material substance unless it is wrapped around something, it is in its alternate form (refer below), or it wants to stay with you. That makes it harder to keep than it is to obtain. However, uncorking an empty silver jar or bottle in the Negative Energy Plane and then resealing it seems to trap a small portion of “Negative Space”; put your piece of Nightmare Spinner inside and all will be well – unless it doesn’t want to stay. In which case, you have bigger problems.
  • Dangers: There is a type of malevolent spirit that is native to the Negative Energy Plane and lusts greedily for life and freedom from the realm it inhabits, because that native environment confines and restricts it, preventing it from indulging its thirst for destruction and evil. However, they are an insubstantial phantasm most of the time, incapable of doing more than imparting nightmares and bad dreams to the occasional passerby when the boundaries between planes weaken a little, such as at night.
        There is only one way for these malevolent spirits, sometimes referred to as Dreameaters, and sometimes as Antihopes, to exert their full capacities for evil, and that is by possessing a sufficiently large mass of Nightmare Spinner. The black cobwebs themselves animate into a physical semblance of a spider under the control of a Dreameater. Any sufficiently large mass of Nightmare Spinner can be inhabited by a Dreameater regardless of the plane of existence the Nightmare Spinner happens to occupy.
        Dreameaters, when possessing Nightmare Spinner, are incredibly resilient because the “physical form” remains in the Negative Energy Plane, mostly removed from harm’s way, while their “bodies” consist of insubstantial nothingness that radiates a form of Negative Energy that destroys hopes and aspirations, replacing them with hopelessness, depression, and the vague sense that someone else is responsible. Further, their touch is life-sapping (1 negative level); being wrapped in Nightmare Spinner is the equivalent, in terms of effects on the victim, of being within the Negative Energy Plane.
        While Nightmare Spinners are so inhabited, they have a limited capacity to spin more Nightmare Spinner on their own, but each energy Level that they consume enables them to spin enough Nightmare Spinner for another Dreameater to occupy. One becomes two, two become four, four become eight… Any level so converted (which takes three rounds per level) is permanently lost, consumed by the Nightmare Spinner.
        Nevertheless, only a small fraction of Nightmare Spinner ever escapes from its native realm, usually attached to the clothes of travelers as an unnoticed passenger. As soon as it leaves its native plane of existence, it becomes insubstantial and begins to drift through whatever Plane the traveler has journeyed to, seeking to bond with more of its kind, until finally enough is present to create a “host” for a Dreameater. Since there is so much less of the substance within the plane in question, this is relatively unlikely to occur. The greater the frequency of travel to the Negative Plane, the greater the risk of Dreameater infestation.
        Even without consuming character levels, Nightmare Spinner will slowly grow of its own accord, feeding on the nightmares and depression that it imparts upon vulnerable minds. A growth rate of 1 inch per year is normal; in a heavily-populated urban environment, this might rise to as much as 1″ per month, but the likelihood of detection is much greater.
        Dreameaters are not unintelligent, and are not only capable of coordinated tactics without communications that are perceptible outside of the Negative Plane, they are capable of reaching accords with potential victims when this furthers the Dreameater’s objectives. They are quite prepared to bide their time until the right opportunity presents itself. It is sometimes speculated that all Dreameaters are in fact part of a larger sentience of still greater malevolence. They even have the capacity to selectively spare individuals from the emotional impact that they radiate.
        Possession of Nightmare Spinner is usually considered a hostile act by many beings, including the avatars and servants of Deities, who can sense its presence whenever it is host to a Dreameater. All attempts to imbue lesser servants of same with this sense, or with a spell that replicates this awareness, have failed miserably. The reasons for this failure have so far eluded understanding.
    The smaller the quantity of Nightmare Spinner, the smaller the “Spider”:

    • 8-16″ length = v. small = 9-12HD + size modifiers.
    • 16-64″ length= small = 13-16HD + size modifiers.
    • 64-250″ length = medium = 17-20HD.
    • 250-1000″ = large = 21-24HD + size modifiers.
    • 1k-4k = huge = 25-28HD + size modifiers.
    • 4k-8k = gargantuan = 29-32HD + size modifiers.
    • 8k+ = colossal = 33-44HD, +size modifiers.

        Note however that sizes greater than small are rare, and greater lengths have a tendency to become a greater number of small “Spiders” rather than one larger creature. Negative Levels per round and other properties increase with each size step. It takes Nightmare Spinner of one size smaller to fully wrap around a humanoid of any given size – so a “Small” Nightmare Spinner is just enough to wrap itself around a medium humanoid to create the pseudo-“Negative Plane” effect.
        Fortunately, a sufficient concentration of positive energy will destroy Nightmare Spinner, as will enough physical damage. Healing spells inflict double-effect in damage to it. This is just enough to keep it in check and preventing it from overrunning every other plane of existence.

  • Rating: Exotic, for rarity outside the Negative Energy Plane and Danger if found and removed from that plane.
  • Comments: This stuff is scary, intentionally so. GMs may wish to tone it down. There are three easy ways of doing so:
    • Enabling clerics to learn the “Detect” spell implied above.
    • Halving the number of HD.
    • The observant will note that I have very carefully not stated how common the material is, even within the Negative Energy Plane; though there are several indications that it is “relatively” common, i.e. Uncommonly encountered, this could easily be reduced to “rare”.
  • Other Uses: Necromancers, high-level undead, and the like, love Nightmare Spinner because it provides a permanent conduit for Negative Energy which they can employ to cancel out or reduce the penalty for applying metamagics to their spells, adds an extra dice of damage to any supernatural attack by them provided they are harmed by positive energy, and gives them 1d6/round of regeneration (same proviso), Per segment length of Nightmare Spinner (i.e. 1-2″ = x1, 4″=x2, and so on, to a maximum of x5). If the Nightmare Spinner is of sufficient quantity to be possessed by a Dreameater, these “gifts” are within the ability to grant or refuse of the possessing spirit, but this is all or nothing.
        It is rumored that Drow have a means to render Nightmare Spinner solid, enabling it to be woven like any other spider-silk, and will often incorporate it into “gifts” of clothing, pillows, and the like, especially as compensation for failed hostile actions against the surface. Hence the popular saying, “Beware the Drow that surrenders” – if it did not further their agenda, such fanatics (it is believed) would fight on unto the death. Others view such acts of “recompense” as a way of salvaging face, and future advantage, from what would otherwise be a failed campaign against the surface.

Oil Of Cholic

  • Description: This appears to be an aromatic bright blue oil that darkens toward black as it gets thinner. Its surface shimmers with all colors of the rainbow when illuminated, and if the light source is held motionless, the patches of rainbow coloring will shift and migrate internally. A faint glow may also be noticeable. It has a very high internal cohesion – cut or divide it, and it will flow back together rather than forming separate pools. The odor is similar to that of a Rose, but is known to have side-effects that make this inadvisable in most cases.
  • Found: Plane Of Earth.
  • Created: Must be refined before use, refer below.
  • Qualities: Anger, Slipperiness, Heat, Love, Passion, Escape, Resistance to Planar Movement
  • Process: Oil Of Cholic occurs as a thick sludge in isolated pockets within the Plane of Earth. Before it can be used, it must be purified of impurities. While it is well known that filtering the sludge through a filter of charcoal after heating it to the point where it almost bubbles is the first step in processing the material, and that there are four steps to the refinement process in total, the other steps are not common knowledge even amongst expert alchemists.
  • Dangers: Oil of Cholic has been known to induce fits of homicidal rage (Will Save vs DC 10, +1 to DC per teaspoon of oil). These effects last for d6+4 hours. Contact with the skin increases the dangers (Save DC required doubles). At body temperatures, Oil Of Cholic is almost as slippery as Oil Of Slipperiness, and is able to slowly escape any container, no matter how well sealed. It resists absorption by cotton or rags of any sort.
        Earth Elementals are particularly sensitive to the odor of Oil Of Cholic, being able to smell it through a sealed container from 500′ away. It functions as alcohol to them, inducing drunken behavior and loss of inhibitions. The larger the Elemental, the less resistance to this effect.
        It does not need to be ingested to have its intoxicating effects on such elementals, contact is sufficient. While on the Plane Of Earth, any Elemental within 100′ will be aware of the Oil, even in its raw, unprocessed form, and will fight to the death to posses it; this makes it extremely dangerous to retrieve.
        It is nevertheless a popularly-smuggled substance by cross-planar smugglers even though it is illegal everywhere (refer Other Uses) because it is quite valuable in the right markets.
  • Rating: Exotic.
  • Comments:
  • Other Uses: Swallowing a teaspoon’s worth of Oil Of Cholic guarantees the homicidal anger described above, with a chance of lasting insanity. But it also adds 2d6 STR to the imbiber for 1d6 rounds, in the course of which the imbiber will self-inflict damage each round through muscle sprains and tears – 1d6 in the first round, 2d6 in the second, 3d6 in the third, 4d6 in the fourth, 6d6 in the fifth, and 10d6 in the sixth and final round. The base DC for the check against permanent insanity is 10 plus the strength gain rolled. It takes 6 weeks to recover fully from such effects even with the aid of a healing spell that repairs all the physical damage; each dose previously imbibed within that time-span adds 2d6 to each of these self-harm rolls and 4 to the DC check against lasting insanity.
        Used in conjunction with a contained release for the anger, Oil Of Cholic is highly cathartic, and wealthy individuals have been known to employ it as a drug for that benefit.
        The Oil is highly-prized for the lubrication of complex mechanical devices and is safe to so use provided that the proper precautions are taken (especially keeping it a long way away from Earth Elementals). This is because it resists dripping, continually coating and lubricating the moving parts, unlike most other lubricants which need periodic replenishment.
        Barbarians and others who can Rage are immune to the homicidal anger effect, and mix the oil with bright pigments to form a war-paint, which must be used within 24 hours of mixing/application. (Some suggest that there was once an analogous substance on the Prime Material Plane which is the origin of the warpaint practice). This mixture is sometimes known as Rouge Of Cholic (even though it’s not necessarily red in color). At will, the Barbarian so marked can activate the Oil’s Strength bonus, which also extends his ability to Rage by a number of rounds equal to the added Strength, and extends that additional strength for the duration of the Rage. The price to be paid for doing so is even more severe, however; when the Rage ends, the Barbarian’s STR and CON are reduced by the amount by which the STR was temporarily increased, and the self-harm rolls continue for longer: after 10d6, the total increases 2d6 per round. Furthermore, this “enhanced Rage” cannot be ended early, it must continue until the maximum duration is reached, unless the Barbarian dies in the meantime. The temporary stat loss is restored at the rate of 1 point every 2 hours, alternating between STR and CON. This recovery cannot be hastened by any magic or healing drought short of a Miracle or Wish. Such a Rage consumes the oil in the warpaint; to employ the effect again, it must be reapplied (and note that the re-use penalties still apply if it is reapplied within a six-week time period).
        These effects make the oil especially valuable to any military command which does not mind throwing lives away to achieve its goals. And that is why it is illegal, and highly lucrative for those willing to smuggle it.
        Such individuals rarely accept potential rival distributors and aren’t the type to take chances on good intentions, so possession of Oil Of Cholic is likely to attract the wrong sort of attention even if law-enforcement don’t discover its presence. In general, Oil Of Cholic is difficult and dangerous to obtain, and far more dangerous to keep in your possession.
Based on “Ilex aquifolium fluy 80 05052007 3” by Olivier Pichard, Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Razorleaf

  • Description: Razorleaf is one of the most exotic plant species ever to exist. Also known as the Janus Plant as the Yin-Yang, it features pure white flowers with a green center, bright red berries, and leaves that are white on the outside becoming black and purple towards the stem. The veins of the plant are bright white in color when the plant is mature. The leaves feature sharp spinal points and the stem is covered in thorns.
  • Found: Razorleaf exists in both the positive and energy planes simultaneously, bridging the divide between these two mutually-contradictory states of nature. It can only be removed if retrieved from both planes simultaneously. It is not possible to harvest just the leaves, or the berries, or the flowers, or the stems; all four elements must be removed intact from a single plant in order for the plant not to wither away within 24 hours.
  • Created:
  • Qualities: Life, Growth, Sharpness, Duality, Death, Purification, Poison, Resistance To Poison, Balance.
  • Process:
  • Dangers: There are those who believe that the plant binds the two planes together, preventing them from flying apart out of mutual revulsion or annihilation, and making possible the Prime Material Plane. Usually high-level Monks and Druids, with support from philosophically-inclined individuals of other class, the Keepers Of The Balance build great fortresses in both Positive and Negative planes to guard the plants zealously whenever they are discovered. Lawfully-aligned creatures of both Good and Evil co-operate in this endeavor, even if they can agree on very little else. Should someone penetrate these fortresses and steal a piece of the plant, both members of the Keepers Of The Balance (direct action) and hired assassins (indirect action) will be undertaken to recover it. A sub-order of this group believe that the plants are natural purifiers, maintaining the integrity of both positive and energy planes despite the occasional leakage between the two.
        Razorleaf is also inherently dangerous. The leaves are razor sharp and equivalent to a +2 Axiomatic Dagger per spine. Attempting to harvest the plant inflicts an attack by these “weapons” (2 per leaf, 3-5 leaves per plant segment), each with the same attack bonus as the creature attempting the harvest. Should three of these successfully hit the target, he will also suffer a Negative Level which cannot be restored so long as the plant segment exists. Note that the plant segment can be wielded as a weapon, but this will break the delicate bonds between stems and leaves, starting the 24-hour countdown to plant worthlessness. A more cautious attack using the plant (no extra attacks, only the primary) can restrict the damage to one leaf; provided that at least three leaves survive unused afterwards, the plant as a whole will survive this usage.
        The Thorns are poisonous to the touch, causing 1-3 rounds of Confusion, 7-12 days of Blindness, and 2d6 damage per day, cumulative, for the duration of the Blindness. Note that while the Blindness can be Cured, the damage will continue to accumulate and cannot be healed by any spell until the plant is destroyed. Rumor holds that anyone killed by the barbs of the thorns will have a new Razorleaf vine grow from their heart. For this reason, the bodies if those killed by Razorleaf are assiduously collected by the Keepers Of The Balance.
        The flowers bloom once every six months, approximately, releasing a burst of seed pollen. When this pollen falls upon a living body, they are absorbed into the skin and make their way through the blood to both heart and brain, causing both heart attacks and strokes. When the body dies, the spirit component that is normally taken to the afterlife is sucked into the Negative Energy Plane instead, while the Physical remains are drawn into the realm of Positive Energy simultaneously. The body is semi-reanimated by the environment of the Positive Plane, re-establishing the connection between body and spirit, and forming a “bed” from which a new Razorleaf will grow.
        The berries are explosive reservoirs of positive energy, including any life force extracted by the leaves. Should one be crushed, accidentally or deliberately, they will inflict 6d6 explosive damage on any creature within a 60′ radius (no save) followed by 12d6 of healing effect within a 30′ radius on anything that survived the explosion. The initial explosion will also trigger the explosive properties of any other berries on this particular length of stem (3-5 of them in total), each of which will have a like effect. These explosions will also release a blast of the Seed Pollen from the flowers, and begin the countdown to the death of the original plant. It is relatively easy to do this, as the berries are quite fragile (DC 15 DEX check to avoid crushing one each time the plant is handled).
        Finally, the plant’s cuttings are very popular with the wealthy and politically-powerful for the many positive properties they possess (see “other uses” below). Some will obtain cuttings unscrupulously or with violence if no other solution presents itself.
  • Rating: Exotic.
  • Comments:
  • Other Uses: Despite it’s strange nature and inherent danger, Razorleaf remains a plant with many uses. Druids who are not members of the Keepers Of The Balance like it because they can plant it in the heart of a hedge of holly surrounding a garden or private location and the Holly leaves will become less powerful (+1 not +2) versions of the leaves, enhancing the protection they can provide to the interiors. It is also inordinately useful in that such Holly Barriers can survive and thrive in any climate, drawing on the positive energy exuded by the flowers of the Razorleaf.
        Carefully stripped of its thorns and other accouterments, the stalk of the Razorleaf is capable of removing curses when eaten, while the sap when swallowed without eating the stem will cure most known poisons.
        Each petal of a flower is equivalent to a 5d6 Healing Potion, while a whole flower is the equivalent of a Heal, and provides sufficient nourishment for 24 hours. If baked into a cake using Elven techniques, this nourishment property can be extended to 48 hours provided that the effect is not diluted with other foodstuffs; it is best to fast first.
        The berries have the explosive-healing capabilities already mentioned, which can be a significant advantage when dealing with wounded foes or enemies in combat, especially undead. “Nibble the flowers before tossing the Berries” is a common folk saying that is bad advice when dealing with most other plants – so it is possible that Razorleaf was far more common on the prime material plane at one point.
        The Pollen, if collected by bees and transformed into Honey, provides an effective barrier against poison when eaten prior to a meal, though none know exactly how effective of for how long it lasts.
        There are those who suggest that cuts made using the leaves are often cleaner and less prone to infection and scarring than those made using other implements, enabling limbs to be saved that would otherwise be lost to gangrene and frostbite.
        Finally, it is rumored that both positive and negative plane inhabitants can use the plant as a doorway into other realms when the plant is removed, and will bring good luck to those who own the plants they use as passage, either by steering “misfortune” away from them and onto others (the Evil version), or by minor acts of charity, goodwill, and kindness (the Good version). These rumors have not been verified.

BONUS MATERIAL

Sometimes, creativity doesn’t know when to stop! I have an eleventh material illustrated but beyond the name and a vague connection to Chaos in the back of my head, no clues as to what it is and where it might be found, etc. I only came up with Razorleaf because I was struggling with this particular idea, that simply wouldn’t cooperate!

So here, as a bonus for you creative GMs out there, is that unfinished idea, ready to become your own!

Mists Of Confusion

  • Description: A ball of gas circled continuously by a moving beam of light.
  • Found: ?
  • Created: ?
  • Qualities: Chaos.
  • Process: ?
  • Dangers: ?
  • Rating: Exotic.
  • Comments:
  • Other Uses: ?

Factory Assembly Complete

There were times when I doubted whether or not I would make deadline with this article, but in the end I got there with hours to spare! This brings to an end this series. I may or may not have changed people’s minds about Material Components, but even if not, it is reasonable to hope that the third and fourth parts will serve to enrich game worlds and GMs evil imaginations for many years to come! So it’s over to you, the readers…

About the contributors:

ATGMs-Mike
Mike:
Mike is the owner, editor, and principle author at Campaign Mastery, responsible for most of the words of wisdom (or lack thereof) that you can read here. You can find him on Twitter as gamewriterMike, and find out more about him from the “About” page above.

IanG Avatar
Ian Gray:
Ian Gray resides in Sydney Australia. He has been roleplaying for more than 25 years, usually on a weekly basis, and often in Mike Bourke’s campaigns. From time to time he GMs but is that rarest of breeds, a person who can GM but is a player at heart. He has played many systems over the years including Tales Of The Floating Vagabond, Legend Of The Five Rings, Star Wars, D&D, Hero System, Gurps, Traveller, Werewolf, Vampire, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and many, many more. Over the last couple of years he has been dirtying his hands with game design. He was a contributor to Assassin’s Amulet, the first time his name appeared in the credits of a real, live, RPG supplement. Recently he has taken to GMing more frequently, with more initial success than he was probably expecting, based on his prior experiences.

Nick-Avatar
Nick Deane:
Nick also lives in Sydney. He started roleplaying in the mid-1980s in high school with a couple of friends who got him into D&D. That group broke up a year later, but he was hooked. In late ’88 he found a few shops that specialized in RPGs, and a notice board advertising groups of gamers led him to his first long-term group. They started with AD&D, transferred that campaign to 2nd Ed when it came out, tinkered with various Palladium roleplaying games (Heroes Unlimited met Nick’s long-term fascination with Marvel’s X-Men, sparking his initial interest in superhero roleplaying), and eventually the Star Wars RPG by West End Games and Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Set. This also led to his first experiences with GMing – the less said about that first AD&D 2nd Ed campaign, the better (“so much railroading I should have sold tickets”). His second time around, things went better, and his Marvel campaign turned out “halfway decent”. That group broke up in 1995 when a number of members moved interstate. Three years later, Nick heard about what is now his regular group while at a science-fiction bookstore. He showed up at one of their regular gaming Saturdays, asked around and found himself signed up for an AD&D campaign due to start the next week. A couple of weeks later, He met Mike, and hasn’t looked back since. From ’98 he’s been a regular player in most of Mike’s campaigns. There’s also been some Traveller and the Adventurer’s Club (Pulp) campaign, amongst others. Lately he’s been dipping a tentative toe back into the GMing pool, and so far things have been going well.

Nick is unique amongst the GMs that Mike knows in that he has done some PbP (Play-by-post) gaming, something Mike neglected to include in an article on the evolution of RPGs and was quite rightly taken to task over (the article was updated within 24 hours to correct the omission).

“I’ve played spellcasters in a number of games and systems. In Mike’s original Fumanor campaign I played a cleric-monk hybrid and later a druid, while in the spin-off, Seeds of Empire, I have run a lawful good Orcish War-priest throughout the campaign. I’ve also played spellcasters in a couple of superhero games – a couple of Marvel campaigns from 1988-1995, and my modern-Norse spellcaster Runeweaver in Mike’s current Zenith-3 campaign for getting on for a decade. I mention this at Mike’s request because it, more than my GMing experience, is how I have been able to contribute to this topic.”



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