The Shroud of old Souls
A seemingly unremarkable burial shroud woven of coarse white fibres. If the shroud is held close a faint susurration can be heard.
If the Shroud of Old Souls is laid over the body of any dead creature of medium-size or smaller, the essence of that creature is imprinted into the fabric. The outline of the creature's body is faintly visible on the inside of the shroud. Once imprinted, the shroud can be used instead of a body for the purposes of raise dead and similar magic.
The amount of time a creature has been dead has no effect on the power of the Shroud. Any attempt to raise or resurrect an imprinted creature will succeed regardless of the length of time the creature has been dead, as long as the deceased is willing.
The Shroud of Old Souls can only contain one imprinted creature at any time. If the dead creature is resurrected by another means before the shroud can be used, then the imprinted image fades from the shroud and item can be used again.
Moderate necromancy; CL 9th; Craft Wondrous Item, gentle repose, raise dead; Price 36,000 gp; Weight 1 lb
Wow. I think that is a really really neat item. That is a wondrous item. Limited, focused, tight theme, doesnt try to do it all but what it does do is unique and useful. That is a great solution to a pretty common (in my game anyway, mooohaaaahaaaahahaaaha!) situation--PC death and the problem getting the body out. I like the text, it is well written. The mechanics are good. And I like the creation and costing info.
I vote keep.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Yeah, I really like this one as well. The idea of the dead character's face showing up on the shroud is creepy, and I like how there's a faint wind sound when you hold it up to your ear, as it makes the creepiness a little more unsettling. And that's almost always a good thing.
It's headed for the Keep folder.
I like this kind of item for the sort of campaign it implies. Lots of RP hidden deep in something like this.
This has so many cool aspects to it. It is almost like a DNA collection/cloning tool -- but it is creepy and sinister at the same time. Almost makes you wonder what sorts of powers you are dealing with in order to get an imprint of a person's body like that???? Love the flavor and the writing for this one.
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This has so many cool aspects to it. It is almost like a DNA collection/cloning tool -- but it is creepy and sinister at the same time. Almost makes you wonder what sorts of powers you are dealing with in order to get an imprint of a person's body like that???? Love the flavor and the writing for this one.
I could see my PCs finding it at levels 10+ imprinting the dead fighter, and then raising him later, but forgeting to take his gear with them... then they raise him from the shoud to find him sitting there ,naked....
I love the Shroud of Turin flavor to this item. The flavor is cool and its ability is really useful. I enjoy the fact that you can lay this over your friend, give him a decent burial, and then fold up the cloth and get him raised. It's much more dignified then having to heft a gory body over your shoulder and hoof back to town. It's nicely creepy, but with kindova' ambiguous holy aire to it. I could imagine angelic whispery voices as easily as ghostly ones.
The one problem I have with it is that it does away with time limits on raising the fallen character. That seems a little too powerful. You could put this over a mummy from Osirion, take it to the cleric, have raise dead cast on it and poof! Good as new guy from 10,000 years ago.
I would argue that perhaps a good amendment would be that you can drape it over a person before they die, and it would still work, hence what to do about folks who are disintegrated or buried in cave-ins and cannot be shrouded after the fact. I also think it would be neat if the Shroud could be used as the flesh "sample" for spells like Clone. That would be cool.
I would still say though, one way or the other, that the time from imprint to raise attempt would be dealt with exactly as though it were an actual dead body, rather than making the corpse-impression timeless.
The one problem I have with it is that it does away with time limits on raising the fallen character. That seems a little too powerful. You could put this over a mummy from Osirion, take it to the cleric, have raise dead cast on it and poof! Good as new guy from 10,000 years ago.
I personally like this aspect of it from a DM plot hook standpoint. "Oh no," says city leader, "we're under attack from evil forces we cannot hope to defeat! You adventurers must A) find magical shroud, B) take it to the tomb of Long-Dead Mythical Hero, and C) resurrect him so he can save us!"
But another way around it might be to say the shroud has to be placed on the body soon after death, but once that's done you can resurrect whoever is imprinted in the shroud 1000 years later if you want to.
I just love this item. It brings back memories of a similar one I designed for a campaign I ran a few years back, only in my version you put the body in the shroud and poof! it vanished without a trace. You needed another command word (and folding the shroud in a different way) to get the body to reappear, at which point you could bring the person back to life.
I would also make the modification of allowing a living person to be imprinted. Otherwise, it is just great! Congratulations!
It's not just a good way to bring back the ancient dead... it is a great way to have a "master tape" of a person. Say that Dude, 5th level fighter, is killed. His pals use the shroud, and Dude is back. Jump forward 15 levels, and Lord Dude is disintegrated by a villain. Now all the heroes have to do is resurrect him from the shroud.
The text says that it stops working only if the person is resurrected in some other way before the shroud is used.
Very evocative...It seems like it should play a major role in a Ravenloft novel....
It both seems too useful and not useful enough. which means maybe I am just hard to please. But I won't add this to my games.
I -might- add a one-shot artifiact that did this once, accidentally, to a major historical figure as a plot point. But never as a generic or recreatable item.
Well thought out item. This has come up in oh so many games I've been a part of. I could even see a use for those times when your rogue has been executed and you are given the right of burial. Place him in the crypt. Take the shroud home and poof, Mr. or Ms. Hand in the Cookie Jar is back!
I look forward to seeing your city. Good luck.
Darth Frodo
I would argue that perhaps a good amendment would be that you can drape it over a person before they die, and it would still work, hence what to do about folks who are disintegrated or buried in cave-ins and cannot be shrouded after the fact.
I'm going to have to disagree with you there. I see too many players saying "Yeah what the hell, I'll just run up to the dragon and kick it in the snout. After all, I have my guy "saved" in the shroud back at HQ."
But I do like the idea of extending the powers to clone.This is just the kind of thing that says to me "wonderous" item. Something that will come in handy in dire straits, but not really useful every day. The kind of thing you end up saying "Wow! Thank God we had that thing tucked away."
A winner! Heck, I can think of a neat complex plot where an assassin kills someone, shrouds them, destroys the body, leaves undetected, and "sells" the shroud back to the victim's family as a form of extortion...
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I like this item. I like the fact that you could, in theory (if there was a corpse) bring back a 10 000 year old dead guy. I wonder though, if there should be a disclaimer that the body must be mostly intact or something of that nature.
Or maybe that the body must have been killed in the last 24 hours?
Very creative and interesting item which I have been thinking about for a few days. IMO it is a little pricey for the utility for a party of adventureres. This seems more like a plot or quest driven item in most campaigns "Recover the shroud of the missing hero" from the bad guys so it would let the players be heroic. Seems like it would see the most use in a ECS campaign where there are so few clerics able to raise dead and lots of travel time trying to track one down.
Just a few thoughts but if it was based on Repose and the Reincarnation spell (which will make a random body normally) and the Shroud "could be" (not necessarily would be) consumed as the material component for the future Raise Dead spell or a House Jorasco ressurection altar in ECS the price could be dropped quite a bit more particularly if a very broad, very general 30% cost reduction mechanic was applied something like (Good, devoutee of a campaign pantheon like the SH in ECS, citizen of a certan nation).
Looking forward to seeing your country.
This one, while at its heart being a "utility" item, really does what a magic item should, which is, to feel like a magic item, and not just feel like a way around the standard rules. That's not to say that magic items shouldn't be about utility, or shouldn't help "bend" the rules, but the best items do this without clubbing you over the head with the idea that its all about mechanics.
It really does make me think of interesting ways to use the item in a campaign outside of the obvious, which I think is definitely a good thing.
..words fail me its that bloody good.
Couldn't have said it more aptly.
Now I can't decide whether I like this or Charts of the Shadow Voyage better...
Awesome item. I can't wait to read up on your country.
:-j(enni)
Now I can't decide whether I like this or Charts of the Shadow Voyage better...
After due consideration, I decided that the charts win me over a bit more so this ended up in the third position on my list of personal favourites.
And, as such I fully expect to see great things in your country submission Neil. :-D
:-j(enni)
This is a very creative and very interesting item and I am looking forward to the country submission.
I appear to be playing in comparatively low magic games and am curious at what levels it would normally start turning up as treasure in other player's games? Thanks.
Like a lot of other posters, I immediately conjured up thoughts of the Shroud of Turin as I read this. I agree with at least one other poster that this particular item might work best as a plot device. In any case, it's got a cool mysterious vibe. I dig it.
Chad