This Hispanic Heritage Month, we thought it’d be fun to have some of our staff, freelancers, and members of the community write up some magic items inspired by their background and culture to put into your games!
We hope everyone enjoys these items and ¡échale ganas en tus juegos!
Background illustration by Olivier Bernard
Kazutal by Ksenia Kozhevnikova
Yllaldo Monk by Sammy Khalid
Joseph Blomquist
As a Nuyorican, my relationship to Puerto Rico was challenging at first. Whenever I went to PR, I was the only cousin that barely spoke any Spanish. A real connection came with food—especially once my grandmother introduced me to a tiny local fruit, the quenepa. Each island has a different name for quenepas, and it was extremely difficult to get back home in NY. It was a great start to a lifelong love of Puerto Rico and a reminder of an amazing woman that never knew how much her grandson cherished every moment we shared.
Would you like to know more? Follow me on twitter (@DoctorMono) or check out my recent Paizo releases: SFS Scenario #4-13: Hard Reset and PFS Scenario #4-02: Return to the Grave.
Glowberry — Level 1
Magic Item
Price 5 per bunch
Bulk L per bunch
Capacity 10; Usage 1/hour
A glowberry is a bioluminescent fruit that grows in tropical regions throughout Castrovel. The bright-orange fruit begins to glow immediately when the thin, green-brown peel is broken and the fruit is exposed. The flesh continues to glow even if cut into pieces or pulverized into a liquid. Glowberries grow in bunches on trees that can grow as tall as 100 feet, often bearing thousands of bunches every season. While the colloquial name glowberry is common for the popular fruit throughout the Pact Worlds, each individual Castrovellian culture has a different name for the fruit. When the fruit is exposed, a glowberry increases the light level by one step in a 10-foot radius for 1 hour.
Carlos Cabrera
Art in one form or another has always run in my father's side of the family. I have a younger sister who paints, my late father and one of my older brothers draw (cartoon art and comic book art, respectively), and I've been known to draw, write, and design games. I also have an uncle who can play Santana by ear, the musician by which I acquired my name. My father was a huge fan of Santana's music, and on my mother's side my grandfather's name was Charles, so they agreed. Over the years I've dabbled in music here and there, be it ukulele or electric bass, and most recently classic guitar.
I thought it would be a special idea to create a magical guitar: an instrument that not only played the piece of culture being performed but also granted a memory. This instrument can most often be found within the hands of a calaca, which I designed for the first edition of Pathfinder and Luis Loza brought into second edition here.
Memory Guitar – Item 4
Divination, Mental, Magical
Price 100 gp
Usage held in 2 hands; Bulk L This simple guitar appears worn and battered from use, but upon close observation, the damage seems to be intentional. From the correct angle, the guitar’s scratches and marks seem to form a simple picture, such as an environmental scene or a crude face.Activate [three-actions] Interact; Effect You play music with the guitar and the instrument’s power shares a memory with your audience. When sharing with an audience, you share a memory of yours with anyone within 30 feet. This has the effects of mindlink for anyone that can hear the music.
Activate [three-actions] Interact; Frequency once per month; Effect You play the guitar and the instrument attempts to help you recover a lost memory. You can either have a specific memory in mind, such as trying to remember a childhood event, or let the guitar find a memory for you. You recall the moment with perfect clarity and reestablish it permanently in your mind with the failure effects of modify memory.
Luigi Lizza González
When I was a kid, I joined my school's music club and discovered the cajón drum: a wooden, box-shaped percussion instrument primarily used in Criolla and Afro-Peruvian music. You play it by slapping the sides and corners to mark the beat and guide the dancers. At first glance, it doesn't look like it could generate a great variety of sounds, but you would be surprised. Also, that instrument helped me realize how much I enjoy working in tandem with others to create something beautiful (in this case, music).
As a person born and raised in Perú, the dream of entering the gaming industry seemed so distant and unattainable that, for a long time, I didn't even think of trying to accomplish it. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Pathfinder community is one of the most welcoming spaces to be part of. So, now, as a published author and a co-owner of Eldritch Osiris Games (@EldritchOsiris on Twitter), I can explore my most quirky sides and put my love for arts, philosophy, and storytelling to good use. If you want to see my silly face and know more about my work, you can find me on Twitter as @LuigiLizza.
Guiding Cajon Drum — Item 5
Enchantment, Magical
Price 160 gp
Usage held in 2 hands; Bulk 2
This wooden, box-shaped percussion instrument resonates with great power when struck. The drum is large enough that you can’t play it while holding it. Instead, you sit on the drum and play it with both hands. Sitting on or standing up from the drum requires an action, which has the move trait. You’re flat-footed while sitting on the drum, but you gain a +1 item bonus to Performance checks to play the drum. The drum is loud and creatures within 100 feet of the drum can hear its music, regardless of the ambient noise, though it can’t penetrate silence and similar magical effects.Activate [one-action] Interact (auditory, emotion, enchantment, mental); Frequency once per round; Effect You play the drum, unleashing a rhythm that gets other moving. Up to 2 allies that can hear the drum can use a reaction to Stride 5 feet.
Luis Loza
When I was little, I would see people playing with trompos—wooden tops that were spun by pulling on a string. People could perform cool tricks with them including scooping them up into their hands or guiding along the string in intricate manners. Trompo tricks are similar to yoyo tricks in how much coordination they require and how impressive they can be to watch. It was only much later in life that I learned that trompos weren’t exclusively a Mexican toy and were actually common throughout Latin America and even in other parts of the world. Even knowing that, trompos still feel like a Mexican thing to me, so I wanted to make a cool item that made use of one!
Tornado Trompo — Item 18
Air, Evocation, Magical
Price 19,000 gp
Usage held in 1 hand; Bulk L
Various runes are carved along the entirety of this wooden top. Spinning the top requires wrapping a thick string around its base and pulling the string in a vigorous motion. Wrapping a string and pulling the string each require an Interact action. The top’s magic is connected to the power of the wind, which becomes evident when placed on a surface as it hovers in place.Activate [two-actions] envision, Interact; Requirements A string is wrapped around the top and you have a hand free; Effect You lightly pull on the string and catch the top in your free hand. It spins in place, hovering over your open palm, sharing its power over the winds with you. You gain the effects of fly as long as you keep the top in your hand. You can Release the top at any time to end the effect.
Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Frequency once per day; Requirements A string is wrapped around the top; Effect You call upon the top’s power and give the string a powerful pull. The top travels across the ground in a 120-foot line. As it does, it unleashes a powerful vortex of winds, becoming a tornado temporarily. This tornado has the effects of whirlwind (Secrets of Magic 141) except that it’s not limited by being used outside or in a cramped space and can’t be sustained. Creatures in the tornado’s path must attempt a DC 38 Reflex save to determine the effects of the tornado. The tornado ends after traveling its full distance, causing any creatures that rose in the air due to a failed save to begin falling immediately.
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
Monday, October 3, 2022
