Ioun Stones

[ulgulanoth]

Not a rules question but a fluff one; what is up with Ioun stones? their the wierdest of all the magica items out there, what are they supposed to be? where did they originate from? why do they float around on people's heads? ect?

[Drejk]

ulgulanoth wrote:

Not a rules question but a fluff one; what is up with Ioun stones? their the wierdest of all the magica items out there, what are they supposed to be? where did they originate from? why do they float around on people's heads? ect?

Ioun stones come, like many other D&D things come from Jack Vance's Dying Earth series. If I remember correctly they were created at the hearts of dying stars or came from far away parts of the universe and were such potent magic items that wizards fought for them between themselves.

It was adopted by D&D early and remained part of the game: Ioun Stones history.

[ulgulanoth]

Ah thanks

[Lincoln Hills]

I haven't much to add, since Drejk provided that very handy link - except a funny story.

The same book that introduced the stones introduced time stop (the previous book had already introduced the prototype for imprisonement.) There's a hilarious scene in which all of Earth's greatest wizards are vying for ownership of a deceased colleague's ioun stones, and - being an essentially conniving and craven lot - they decide to avoid all-out battle by drawing lots to see who'll receive the stones. One of them wins... and then the mediator notices that all the slips of paper in the jar have the winner's name on them. He'd come with a pocket full of slips of paper bearing his name and a time stop memorized. There are many entirely-correct but hotly-denied accusations, and they try it again. Different wizard, same result.. They take wilder and wilder precautions and there are more and more variations on the gag.

Vance had by that time developed a real gift for characters with the mix of sophistication, pettiness, shamelessness, and greed that I associate with most player characters. Seemed like everybody on the Dying Earth was a con-man (although most of them weren't very good at it.) Go find Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel's Saga and Rhialto the Marvelous - or the omnibus collection Tales of the Dying Earth. They're fun.

[donaldsangry]

In Seeker of Secrets they discuss Ioun Stones and how they fit in to Golarion. Also has quite a few new stones.

Seeker of Secrets:

Basically they're Azlanti items that were unearthed by The Pathfinder Society.

iirc