Legendary items are those that are picked up by the untested adventurers who eventually become heroes of the ages. Unlike traditional magical items, legendary items grow with the wielder, becoming more advanced as new abilities are unlocked over time. In this installment of the Psionic Items of Legend series is Severis, the Scourge Slayer, an axe which grants the wielder the enhanced abilities to fight the phrenic scourge menace.
Within this short book you will find the history of Severis, the requirements to attune a character to it, and the abilities of it, including a new weapon special ability—scourgebane. In addition, the rules of legendary items are detailed.
Psionic Items of Legend is based upon the Legendary Treasures series of products by Purple Duck Games.
The latest addition to the psionic items of legend-series is 5 pages long, 1/2 page editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 3.5 pages of content for Severis, so what is this one about?
After the obligatory introduction that explain what legendary items are (and if you don't know by now and deem yourself a good PFRPG-DM, go and buy the Purple Duck Games-series. All of them.), we delve right into the background of Severis.
Phrenic Scourges are the new Illithids and as such, the tale of the axe called Severis is one of woe - the axe, while superbly suited to cull the ranks of the tentacled beings (gaining the new scourgebane property) is also a burden - the Scourges seek the axe. Whether it is true that the key to unlocking vast power for the scourges lies in the axe or not, it is a potent weapon against their devious machinations, being able to locate the presence of them, but also being a mental beacon for the scourges..
Wielders of Severis gain new fortitude saves every round to kill off phrenic scourge larvae to keep them from reaching the wielder's brain, psi-like abilities etc., culminating in a capstone ability that allows a wielder of Severis to hit a thrall of the scourge without damaging the person, redirecting all inflicted damage on the controlling scourge, even if far away.
The term "Phenc Scourge Ilk" is also defined in the pdf for purposes of clarifying the new phrenic scourge property, which also is fully detailed.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to DSP's no-frills b/w-2-column standard and the artwork of Severis is nice, though not too exciting when e.g. compared to LPJr Design's Treasures of NeoExodus line. The pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Severis is a cool weapon with a nice and exciting background, some heretofore unseen qualities and a cool new property - what more to ask for in a legendary weapon? Final verdict: 5 stars + seal of approval. Now does this axe show up in the Third Dawn AP? It would fit...
