Midnight Cyphers (Effigy) (d20)

1

Beast tongue braid

Level: 1d6 + 2(Roll on "1d6+2")

Form: Effigy made from dried animal tongues twisted together.

Effect: To activate the cypher, the user must succeed on an Intellect attack against a beast whose level does not exceed the cypher’s level. If successful, the beast immediately becomes calm. The beast awaits the user’s commands and carries out all orders to the best of its ability. The target remains so enslaved for a number of hours equal to the cypher’s level minus the target’s level. (If the result is 0, the target is enslaved for only one minute.) The beast could attack or defend, a dog could follow a scent or retrieve an object, a badger could dig a hole, and so on.

The cypher doesn’t give the user any special ability to understand the target or perceive through its senses. For example, the user can command an eagle to fly above a group of enemies, but the eagle can’t describe what it sees and the user can’t look through its eyes.

2

Cursed gift

Level: 1d6 + 1(Roll on "1d6+1")

Form: A small bone inlaid with arcane symbols formed from gold wire.

Effect: The cypher can be activated when given to an individual who doesn’t realize its significance. The next time the victim attempts an important task when the cypher is in their possession, the task is hindered by three steps.

3

Hungry ear

Level: 1d6 + 2(Roll on "1d6+2")

Form: Leathery pointed ear tied to a chain made from links of braided hair.

Effect: Draws all sound within long range into the effigy for one round per cypher level. Within the affected area, no sound can be heard.

4

Patchwork man

Level: 1d6 + 1(Roll on "1d6+1")

Form: Humanoid doll made from patches of dried flesh sewn together with sinew.

Effect: To activate this cypher, you must add a few fresh drops of your blood (inflicting 1 point of Might damage to you) and leave it alone for one day. It becomes a full sized creature called a doppleganger; it vaguely resembles you and serves you for one day per cypher level before dissolving into useless goo. Each time you give it an order, you must make an Intellect defense roll against it; if you fail, it becomes free to ignore your commands (but might pretend to be obedient so it can plot against you).

5

Deductive Ioun

Level: 1d6(Roll on "1d6")

Form: Fingernail sized petrified brain wrapped in silver wire.

Effect: All of the user’s tasks involving intelligent deduction—such as playing chess, inferring a connection between clues, solving a mathematical problem, finding a bug in computer code, and so on—are eased by two steps for one hour. In the subsequent hour, the strain hinders the same tasks by two steps.

6

Collar of celerity

Level: 1d6 + 4(Roll on "1d6+4")

Form: Collar made from braided ropes of dried intestine filled with ground bone.

Effect: If used on a beast whose level is less than the cypher level, this enhances connections in the beast’s brain so it attains near-human intelligence and sapience, and gains a basic understanding of one specific language keyed to the cypher. The beast remembers its prior, simpler existence and understands that it has been made smarter. This transformation lasts for one day per cypher level, and then the beast reverts to its normal self slowly over the same number of days, often with violent and erratic outbreaks. For example, if the beast becomes smarter for five days, it loses intelligence gradually over days 6 through 9 and is back to normal on day 10. Additional uses of the cypher tend to have diminishing returns.

7

Face stealer

Level: 1d6 + 2(Roll on "1d6+2")

Form: Leather mask made of human skin with arcane symbols painted in black blood.

Effect: For the next ten minutes per cypher level, the user’s features become almost identical to those of one designated person they have previously interacted with, easing by two steps attempts to disguise the user as that person. Once designated, the user cannot shift the effect to look like another person, though they can remove the module to look like themselves again before the end of the duration.

8

Homonculus

Level: 1d6 + 1(Roll on "1d6+1")

Form: Humanoid figure made from petrified blackwood, held together with blood soaked rope.

Effect: To activate this cypher, you must add a few fresh drops of your blood (inflicting 1 point of Might damage to you) and leave it alone for one day. It becomes a hand sized creature called a homunculus; it vaguely resembles you and serves you for one day per cypher level before dissolving into useless goo. Each time you give it an order, you must make an Intellect defense roll against it; if you fail, it becomes free to ignore your commands (but might pretend to be obedient so it can plot against you).

9

Touch of the ungods

Level: 1d6(Roll on "1d6")

Form: Clawed dried finger with rings of carved bone around both knuckles.

Effect: Eases the user’s next action taken by three steps.

10

Goblin claw

Level: 1d6 + 2(Roll on "1d6+2")

Form: Small withered black hand with three clawed fingers and a pale white eye in the palm.

Effect: The user selects a point within long range, and the minds of all thinking creatures within immediate range of that point are attacked. Victims are dazed and take no action for a round, and they have no memory of the preceding hour.

11

Diabolic mirror

Level: 1d6 + 2(Roll on "1d6+2")

Form: Cracked hand mirror framed with finger bones.

Effect: The user attempts to swap minds with a creature within short range that is no larger than a human. The target can make an Intellect defense roll to resist. If the swap is successful, the user gains control of the creature’s body (and vice versa). Physical abilities remain with the body, but mental abilities go with the mind; for example, an Adept with Onslaught (a mental ability) could take over the body of a Warrior with Swipe (a physical ability), and could use either of these while controlling the Warrior’s body. All actions of both creatures are hindered while the swap is in effect, although long-term practice in a mind-swapped body eventually overcomes this penalty. The swap lasts for one hour per cypher level, after which the two minds return to their previous bodies.

12

Demon horn

Level: 1d6 + 3(Roll on "1d6+3")

Form: Small curved horn ending in a sticky blood red nub.

Effect: The user gains a horn in the center of their forehead. The horn is deadly sharp and strong, and it spirals down to a solid base where it fuses with their flesh and bone. The user is specialized in making melee attacks with the horn, which is considered a medium weapon. The horn lasts for a number of hours equal to the cypher’s level.

13

All seeing eye

Level: 1d6 + 2(Roll on "1d6+2")

Form: Looking glass with no lens, a blood red eye with a slitted pupil is fitted into the end instead.

Effect: Grants the user a heightened ability to see disguised people and creatures for what they really are. Tasks to see through conventional disguises (makeup, prosthetics, wigs, and so on) are eased by three steps. If the disguise is instead a comprehensive change like a full-body illusion, mental projection, or hologram, the user automatically sees through it if the disguise’s level is lower than the cypher’s level. The cypher lasts for one hour.

14

Body brush

Level: 1d6 + 2(Roll on "1d6+2")

Form: Shrunken head on a wooden stick, the hair sticks straight out like a brush and is always wet with black ichor.

Effect: Restores a number of points equal to the cypher’s level to one random stat Pool. Pool: Roll on "Rejuvenate pool"

15

Emplaced watcher

Level: 1d6(Roll on "1d6")

Form: Eye encased with thin bone plates, the nerve stalk is still attached.

Effect: For one hour per cypher level, the user can see everything going on in the vicinity of the cypher, regardless of the distance between them.

16

Brave breaker

Level: 1d6 + 2(Roll on "1d6+2")

Form: Withered black lips, sewn into a horrifying grin and fused to a thin metal plate.

Effect: Allows the user to project a ray up to long range (very long range if the cypher is level 6 or higher) that causes the target to flee in terror for one minute.

17

Invasive wyrm

Level: 1d6 + 1(Roll on "1d6+1")

Form: Bracelet made from living blood red wyrms sewn together with demon sinew.

Effect: The user can read the surface thoughts of a creature within short range that they can see, even if the target doesn’t want them to. Once the user has established contact, they can read the target’s thoughts for up to one minute per cypher level.

18

Malicious mouthpiece

Level: 1d6 + 2(Roll on "1d6+2")

Form: Muzzle with pale leather straps and bars formed from petrified blackwood.

Effect: For one hour, the device enables long-range mental communication with anyone the user can see.

19

Broken spirit

Level: 1d6 + 3(Roll on "1d6+3")

Form: Bone wand with a screaming faces carved across its surface.

Effect: The user can immediately end one ongoing effect within long range that is produced by an artifact, cypher, or special ability.

20

Blood tongue

Level: 1d6(Roll on "1d6")

Form: Withered forked tongue, the thin tips are tied together into an ouroboros.

Effect: For twenty-four hours per cypher level, translates everything said by the user into a language that anyone can understand.

1

Might Pool.

2

Speed Pool.

3

Intellect Pool.