I'm making a very small adventure to GM for some new players - the gist is that an evil wizard has taken over a town and, unbeknown to the general population, gets most of his powers from a magical item he keeps hidden away. The goal is to find and destroy the item, weakening him enough to kill him.
The item needs to be able to:
. Provide him with the ability to cast high level/powerful spells, or just some sort of powerful abilities
. Be sentient - I'm thinking it is helping him to further its own agenda, and he's content to just do whatever it wants so he can live in luxury
. Be able to be destroyed by a party of level 2 characters
. Must be within a certain distance of the wizard to actually provide him with these powers
. Actually have some reason to be in the wizard's possession, who is most likely level 3 at most...
And preferably:
. Can communicate with the wizard telepathically
I'm not sure what the actual item should be yet. It's going to be hidden away underneath his castle with various methods of protection - it should probably be something quite large that would be unreasonable to simply, say, hide in his bedroom...
The obvious choice seems like some sort of giant crystal.
So can anyone tell me whether this should be a 'sentient item' or rather a spirit of some sort that is trapped in the item, or something else?
It really is only meant as a short, probably one-off, adventure but I do want to try and adhere to the rules.
Intelligent items are very expensive. It will throw WBL way off.
Powerful magics and low level don't mix.
"Possessed" works best. It can be powerful, linked to an item worn, and a simple "solving" of it's needs, causes it to be put to rest permanently. No WBL problems, and the BBEG looses power.
What if we dropped the sentiency aspect and it was just an item that gives the ability to cast higher level spells than the wizard should have access to? Is there a precedent for that? I know there's the Pearl Of Power, which I believes allows a spellcaster an extra slot of a certain level? Though that's not quite the same thing.
The Pearl of Power merely refreshes a used slot. It does not give any extra, and whatever was in that slot gets refreshed as well. Good if you need multiple copies of a given spell (invisibility, fly, ...) but not good for versatility.
The greater ioun stone gives effectively +1 level everything, but at 30,000 gp it is way too expensive.
I still think a possessed item works best. It allows you to overpower the spell load, without changing WBL, and also lets you have a weakness that shatters the wizards power. Some investigation, and the party solves the spirit's need, and poof, no more overpowered wizard.
An idol like Damien Dark in Arrow had. It corrupts anyone who uses it's death knell power. It has to be at a lei line nexus. If the gem is pried out it stops providing power.
It has no listed monetary value, but good and evil beings want it at any cost. The pathfinder society will gladly give the character boons so they can bury both parts in cement, 1000 miles apart.
If it's a one-shot adventure, don't worry about WBL and throwing things off if the PCs get ahold of a sentient item.
A Rod or Staff can allow for casting higher level spells. A chaos emerald or similarly-themed item also could work, but really what you're describing sounds like a minor artifact.
A minor artifact is just something that can't really be made anymore, it doesn't mean it's indestructible or requires a quest or fulfilling a prophecy to destroy.
Here's one:
The Crystal Coffin of the Blue Lady:
Lore:
Long ago, in a small kingdom, a beautiful woman (said to be a princess, a queen, a powerful wizard) ruled fairly and was beloved. One day, the kingdom was betrayed by one of its former, trusted guardians (a duke, a baron, a powerful member of the wizard council) and war threatened. A great battle occurred and many lives were lost. Arcane plagues and explosions decimated the land before the traitor was driven back, but not destroyed. Perhaps he became an undead or launched himself into an a dimensional portal to return at a later time or perhaps his powerful magicks sealed him away to return later. The Blue Lady (or her family) had a magic crystal coffin created and hidden away in a lost catacomb so that she would be revived if the evil one returned and thus save the land with a new band of heroes.
Turns out what few people really know is that the crystal coffin was an intelligent guardian that not only protected the life of the one inside it, but could actively defend itself with magic powers.
Unfortunately for those who might know a bit of the lore of such an item... most aren't aware of the fact that the crystal coffin actually worked. Everything went great, the prophecy occurred, heroes found the Blue Lady they stopped the evil, the kingdom was saved and all lived relatively happily ever after. This was centuries ago and far away.
History:
After serving its purpose, it seems no one really got around to retrieving the crystal coffin from the catacombs, what with the epic battle going on... and then afterwards with all the rebuilding of infrastructure and bureaucratic renovations in the kingdom. So the coffin sat around for quite some time. Being a mostly inanimate object, whose purpose was to basically keep someone safe for a long period of time... the coffin was okay with this for awhile, but this was different, since it had no real special purpose anymore and it wasn't really protecting anyone.
Once in a while, an adventure or archivist would walk by, find the coffin, even visit and chat, but this only lasted for a few months or so, since the coffin wasn't really great on current events or anything and since nobody really felt the need to climb into the coffin and sleep for some unknown period of time it really started to develop a sense of ennui and a questioning of its purpose for existing any longer.
Realizing everyone loved a good damsel in distress, the crystal coffin decided to spice things the next time it encountered an adventurer. It used some illusion magic to make it appear as though a beautiful woman were sleeping inside it. Then it spoke, claiming to be the spirit of the woman. Since the coffin doesn't have a mouth to see moving, it just took a bit of practice to get a feminine lilt to its voice. Luckily, it did have knowledge of the original Blue Lady from before and knew most of the things she did and about the kingdom of the time, so it was able to come up with reasonable and plausible answers and even some bits of wisdom.
Claiming to be kept in a state of suspension until the proper time, the coffin, in the guise of the 'Blue Lady', convinced an adventuring group that she had to be taken to a distant land across the sea to her home. The coffin really just wanted to see the world. It worked, the heroes took the coffin with them and sailed to new shores.
Once in a new land, the coffin cautioned the group about revealing its existence, claiming if the forces of evil knew it was around they might step up their plans or destroy 'her', 'The Blue Lady' before she could revive and reward them. So the coffin was hidden away, but learned some information about the land and gathered local intelligence from the party in the guise of being centuries out of touch and needing to reacquaint with the political climate.
Learning of local troubles, the coffin sent the party to a few trouble spots, local dungeons, and bandit towers in the guise of acquiring special resources. One such cleared dungeon seemed like a good place to set up shop and so the coffin asked to be 'hidden' there until 'the time was right'. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, the adventuring group be slain on an adventure into a dungeon of goblins which turned out to have will o' wisps as allies.
During a long period of sitting around in a dungeon with nothing to do, the coffin came to realize that if it wasn't serving its purpose, it was pretty much just useless. So what it needed to do was find a new princess or beloved person to protect and keep safe. It just so turns out that a local kingdom has a beautiful, beloved princess who is adored and soon to be wed to a handsome prince.
Current events: The bad guy wizard was exploring the dungeon containing the crystal coffin, looking for magic items, lore, minions, etc. Finding the object, the coffin managed to convince him that the Blue Lady was a trapped sorceress and was destined to love the one who freed her. Being a bit of a nerd who could never get a date, which is why he turned to wizardry, the bad guy fell hard for the Blue Lady. The crystal coffin, having been around wizards and other powerful enchanters at times, did have a few pointers and even a couple magic items laying around that it had gathered or been gifted with from smitten/tricked adventurers.
Convincing the wizard that the handsome foreign prince is really an evil cultist planning to assassinate the princess, the coffin insists that Blue Lady can be freed if the wizard only temporarily places the princess inside it, at which point the Blue Lady can be free long enough to end the evil, and also reward the wizard for his valor and bravery with her magical lore and her love.
The wizard has the coffin hidden beneath his tower and has been harassing the prince's town and...
You know what? This is too complicated... nevermind...
The item is a marble statue of a muscled, nude man holding a water urn over his shoulder, tilted forward with water trickling endlessly from the opening of the urn. The statue detects as magic because it basically functions as a decanter of endless water. The actual 'artifact' is a noble imp, a devil from the Nine Hells sent to screw with people.
The imp, while invisible, managed to convince the evil wizard that it was an oracular artifact and could help him achieve power. Using its augury and commune abilities to help the wizard strategize against the local town's heroes and government, the wizard his become quite the pain in the arse.
Being a rare, noble imp, it has telepathy and can communicate at a distance with the wizard if needed (the wizard keeps the statue under his lair, since it's basically a really heavy statue, which means it's a pain to move... and also it continually flows with water... which can be another real annoyance when it's in your bedroom and soaking your carpets and scrolls.
Sometimes, when the wizard needs help, the imp plays the part of a spider familiar (the wizard has an arcane bonded item, but the 'oracle' has convinced him that he has a familiar too.)
The imp occasionally invisibly poisons enemies of the wizard in their sleep or makes the occasional desired event occur for the wizard as though by luck itself. Possibly it has stolen some higher-level scrolls or a rod or staff from a nearby wizard (who has called the PCs to help locate the items.)
If the wizard finds out the party if after him, he will ask the 'oracle' about them and with the imp's divination powers, should be able to know of their intended plans, what they might be afraid of, or where they will be. This should make him seem far more powerful than otherwise indicated.
In reality, the imp is just causing trouble and if he can get the wizard to create enough evil (not necessarily chaos) he may be rewarded at the end.
A CR 2 imp should be a reasonable challenge for the party if the defeat the wizard. Exploring beneath his lair they may find the statue, at which point the imp, if it hasn't been revealed, may try to trick them as well. The imp knows the statue's command word, so if a fight breaks out it may command the a geyser-like cannon of water to blast the party and wash some out of the room briefly while it tries to sting or poison some of them.
One thing to remember: An intelligent item may have a listed price, but it's also an NPC. Similar to other NPCs, it has its own goals and agenda.
For example, in my campaign, the order of Iomedae who maintain an eternal watch around a portal to the Abyss is led by an intelligent Holy Avenger. As an item this thing would destroy any kind of wealth by level balance, but there's no way any of the characters would be able to sell it and it would refuse to be used by anyone outside its order as well. Thus, it's fine, since it's acting as an NPC/magical macguffin rather than a piece of loot.
It could be a Kami - they're tied to whatever they've decided their "ward" is, and might be coerced into cooperation by a wizard who holds their ward "hostage".
If you are not dead set on it being a wizard you could have the baddie be a blade bound Magus. They have a sentient weapon. It could have a history and everything but still not be dramatically over powered.
Make it a glass sphere filled with seething colours. Your characters do not have to know what it is or how it powers your wizard, to them it need only be something magical that can be destroyed by breaking the glass sphere.
If YOU need to understand what it is (rather than have it as some un-named and unspecified item) then it is a glass ball that holds the essence of your Wizard's Ancestors - providing extra magic and advice. It doesn't work for anyone who is not harmful to anyone trying to bond with it who is not in that very specific bloodline. Just pick a fairly minor curse and apply it :)
The whole point of magic (and beginning adventures) is that this is all one marvellously wonderful world - and we don't actually understand how every little part of it works yet :)
