THE ITEMS Akashic items are deeply connected to the Akashic Records, widely sought after by technicians and other seekers of mysteries. Ambitious characters can ever craft their own. Akashic items grant abilities to a character that she could never otherwise have or complement her existing capabilities in uncanny ways. Some akashic items are intelligent---a few dangerously so.
Chapter 7 of the
Dungeon Master's Guide describe the many sorts of magic items that enhance a campaign. Akashic items are likewise classified into categories:
magatama, gohei, ofuda, and esoteric items. A few akashic items are of such rarity and power that they belong to a category of their own: artifacts. Artifacts may be minor (extremely rare but not one-of-a-kind items) or major (each one is unique and extremely potent).
Magatama: A
magatama resembles a comma-shaped stone, often with a hole through the middle for usage on a necklace or other piece of jewelry. It stores tama that can be used later by any technician or akashic creature.
Gohei: A gohei is a long wooden wand with two paper streamers tied to the end. All gohei contain a technique within, and a small pool of tama to power it.
Ofuda: An ofuda is a slip of paper covered in akashic symbols. An ofuda contains a single technique, and just enough energy to use that technique once. Unlike
magatama and gohei, ofuda are cheap, mass-producible, and require little in the way of akashic talents to use.
Esoteric Items: This catchall category includes jewelry, tools, masks, clothing, and many more.
USING ITEMS To use an akashic item, it must be activated, although sometimes activation is accomplished simply by putting it on (such as a pair of boots or a mask). Some items, once they are carried or worn, function constantly. In most cases, using an item requires a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Activating an akashic items is a standard action unless the item description indicated otherwise. The usage time of a technique is the time requires to activate the same technique in an item, unless the item description specifically states otherwise.
Technique Trigger: This is the activation method for gohei. It requires the special knowledge of technique usage that a character of the appropriate class would know, and the formation of the appropriate command thought. Any technician can use a technique trigger item. The user must still determine what technique is stored in the item before she can activate it.
Command Thought: If no activation method is suggested either in the akashic item description or by the nature of the item, assume that a command thought is needed to activate it. Command thought activation means that a character mentally projects a thought, and the item activates. No other special knowledge is needed.
Sometimes the command thought to activate an item is mentally imprinted within it and is whispered into the mind of a creature who picks it up. Other items are silent, but a Knowledge (akasha) or Knowledge (history) check might be useful in helping to identify command thoughts. A successful DC 30 check is needed to come up with the command thought in this case.
The technique
analysis identification reveals command thoughts.
Techniques stored in command thought items are usually not augmented, because the technician level of such an item is assumed to be the minimum possible to use the stored technique. However, certain items may specify a higher technician level than necessary. With such items, the technique stored is assumed to be augmented to the maximum allowed by the technique and technician level.
Use-Activated: This type of akashic item simply has to be used to activate. Use activation is generally straightforward and self-explanatory.
Many use-activated items are objects that a character wears. Items that one wears are practically always continually functioning items. A few can only be activated after the wearer meets some condition while the item is being worn.
Unless stated otherwise, activating a use-activated akashic item is either a standard action or not an action at all and does not provoke attacks of opportunity, unless the use involves performing an action that provokes attacks of opportunity in itself. If the use of the item takes time before an akashic effect occurs, then use-activation is a standard action. If the item's activation is subsumed in its use and takes no extra time, use-activation is not an action at all.
Use activation doesn't mean that if you use an item, you automatically know what it can do. You must know (or at least guess) what the item can do and then use the item to activate it.
Techniques stored in use-activated items are usually not augmented, because the technician level of such an item is assumed to be the minimum possible to use the stored technique.
Saving Throws Against Akashic Item Techniques Akashic items produce akashic techniques. The DC of a saving throw against a technique from an akashic items is always 10 + the converted level of the technique or effect + the ability modifier of the minimum ability score needed to use that level of technique. For example, a technique with converted level 3rd's save DC would be 10 + 3 (for having a converted level of 3rd) + 1 (for needed at least 13 in a relevant ability score to use a technique with converted level 3rd), for a total of 14. Another way to figure the same number is to multiply the technique's converted level by 1-1/2 and add 10 to the result.
Most item descriptions give saving throw DCs for various effects, particularly when the effect has no exact technique equivalent (making its converted level otherwise difficult to quickly determine).
Damaging Akashic Items An akashic item doesn't need to make a saving throw unless it is unattended, it is specifically targeted by the effect, or its wielder rolls a natural 1 on her saving throw. Akashic items should always get a save against techniques or spells that might deal damage to them---even against attacks from which a mundane item would normally get no chance to save. All types of akashic item saves---Fortitude, Reflex, and Will---are calculated the same way: the item's saving throw bonus equal 2 + 1/2 its technician level (round down). The only expection to this rule are intelligent akashic items, which make Will saves based on their own Wisdom scores.
An akashic item, unless otherwise noted, takes damage as a normal item of the same type. A damaged akashic item continues to function, but if it is destroyed, all its akashic power is lost.
Repairing Items Some akashic items may take damage over the course of an adventure. It costs no more to repair an akashic item with the Craft skill that it does to repair its nonakashic counterpart. The
re:assemble technique can repair a damaged---but not completely broken---akashic item.
Intelligent Items Some akashic items have an intelligence all their own. Only permanent akashic items (as opposed to those that are single-use items) can be intelligent.
Akashic items that have intelligence tend to have been intentionally created with intelligence, and are often members of a set of similar intelligent items.
See Intelligent Items on page 268 of the
Dungeon Master's Guide for more information.
Cursed Items ome akashic items are cursed. Cursed items might be particularly dangerous to the user, or they might be normal items with a minor flaw, an inconvenient requirement, or an unpredictable nature. Akashic items are rarely cursed on accident.
See Cursed Items on page 272 of the
Dungeon Master's Guide for more information.
Charges and Multiple Uses Some items are limited in the amount of tama they contain. Unlike magic or psionic items, all tama-containing items slowly recharge their tama. As such, such items are rarely found missing tama.
As a side-effect of this, akashic items containing tama have the same market value no matter how much tama they have remaining. Only the very desperate or pressed for time will ask about tama remaining when purchasing an akashic item.
Some items, such as ofuda are single-use and expendable. Such items can often be found in sets or groups. For example, it's very common to come across a clip with more than one ofuda.
AKASHIC ITEM DESCRIPTIONS In the following sections, each type of akashic item, such as
magatama or ofuda, has a general description, followed by the descriptions of specific items.
General descriptions include notes on activation and other information. The Armor Class, hardness, hit points, and break DC are given for typical examples of some types of akashic items. The Armor Class assumes that the item is unattended and includes a -5 penalty for the item's effective Dexterity of 0. If a creature holds an item, use the creature's Dexterity modifier as an adjustment to Armor Class in place of the -5 penalty.
Some individual items, notably those that simply store techniques, don't get full-blown descriptions. Simply reference the technique's description in
The Techniques. Assume that the technique is used at the minimum level required to use it, unless you choose to make the technician level higher for some reason. Doing so increases the cost of the item; see Table 7--33: Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Value, page 285 of the
Dungeon Master's Guide, substituting "spell" for "technique" and "caster level" for "technician level" as appropriate. The main reason to make the technician level higher, of course, would be to increase the potency of the technique.
Items with full descriptions have their abilities detailed, and each of the following aspects of these items is summarized at the end of the description.
Aura: Most of the time, a
see the supernatural technique will reveal the icon associated with an akashic item and the strength of the aura an item emits. This information (when applicable) is given at the beginning of the item's notational entry in the form of a phrase such as "Strong meteor." See the
see the supernatural technique description for more information.
Technician Level: The next entry in the summary indicated the level of the creator (or the technician level of the techniques placed within the item, if this level is lower than the actual level of the creator). The technician level provides the item's saving throw bonus, as well as range and other level-dependent aspects of the techniques of the item (if variable). It also determined the level that must be contended with should the item come under the effect of an
analysis disassemble technique or a similar situation. This information is given in the form "TL x," where "TL" is an abbreviation for technician level and "x" is an ordinal number representing the technician level itself.
For gohei and ofuda, the creator can set the technician level of an item at any number high enough to use the stored technique and not higher than her own technician level. For other akashic items, the item itself determines the technician level. In this case, the creator's technician level must be as high as the item's technician level (and prerequisites may effectively put a higher minimum on the creator's level).
Prerequisites: Certain requirements must be met in order for a character to create an akashic item. These include feats, techniques, and miscellaneous requirements such as level. The prerequisites for creation of an item are given in the summary immediately following the item's technician level.
A technique prerequisite can be provided by a character who knows the technique, or through the use of a a technique-like ability that produces the desired technique effect.
It is possible for more than one character to cooperate in the creation of an item, with each participant providing one or more of the prerequisites. In some cases, cooperation may even be necessary, such as if one character knows some of the techniques necessary to create an item and another character knows the rest.
If two or more characters cooperate to create an item, they must agree among themselves who will be considered the creator for the purpose of determinations where the creator's level must be known. (It's sensible, although not mandatory, for the highest-level character involved to be considered the creator.) The character designated as the creator pays the experience points required to make the item.
Typically, a list of prerequisites includes one feat and one or more techniques (or some other requirement in addition to the feat). When two techniques at the end of a list are separated by "or," one of those techniques is required in addition to every other technique mentioned prior to the last two.
Market Price: The gold piece value, given in the summary following the word "Price," represents the price someone should expect to pay to buy the item. The market price of an item that can be constructed with an akashic item creation feat is usually equal to the base price + the price for any components (special materials or experience point expenditure).
Weight: The notational entry for many items ends with a value for the item's weight. when a weight figure is not given, the item has no weight worth noting (for the purpose of determining how much of a load a character can carry).
Akashic Item Names Technique-storing items---gohei and ofuda---have names that simply reflect the technique stored within them, such as a
gohei of vector blade or a
ofuda of re:storation. In the game world, these can be replaces with more sophisticated or evocative names.