Monday, September 5, 2011

Ull Magic (Old Skool Edition)

For those who know my writing resume or have seen my articles section on Greyhawkery, I am the mad scribe of Ull whose mania for developing that smudge of land far exceeds any who came before. After these long years, a brave soul named Braggi has finally stepped forward to adapt my generally editionless articles into useful statted entries for use with 1st/2nd edition AD&D. I know Braggi through Canonfire! and Greychat, and others may remember him from Harvester's Heroes and elsewhere. I am honored that he is working with my material for his own campaign initially and hopefully for the community at large. So far what I've seen he is making a masterful document based on the anthology Wonders of Ull and the Ull Gazetteer. Braggi has certainly piqued my interest to do more Ull work. I have an unpublished Ulakand Gaz to put out there and with any luck I might even do the Kester Gaz someday. Until then, here is a sneak preview of a couple Ull magic items, one by me and another new one by Braggi that fits perfectly with the Ull theme. Enjoy!

Robe of Incabulos
“It’s your funeral.”
- A bodyguard, moments before his master puts on the robe for the first time.

This vile robe was created by an evil devotee of the Dark Rider. While he is said to have perished decades ago, the robe still remains somewhere in the vicinity of Ull. It has been blamed for the deaths of many hapless souls and is even listed by Rary of the Circle of Eight as a profane item that should be destroyed on sight. The robe of Incabulos nonetheless has changed hands many times and has proved worth the risk to possess. Writings relate that it is a typical hooded robe, charcoal grey in color with frayed edges. It appears in every respect to be a robe of eyes when identified, but its latent powers cannot be unlocked until it is donned by its owner for the first (and possibly last) time. After putting on the robe, the wearer is afflicted with a fast acting magical disease, which may not be cured save by a wish spell or the intervention of an artifact or relic of great healing power. Furthermore, the robe cannot possibly be removed during the initial stages of the disease, which onlookers have described as a disturbing nightmarish sleep-state where the wearer screams, thrashes and manifests bodily sores.
If the wearer manages to live through the initial trials inflicted by the robe, he or she awakens fully healthy, albeit mentally weakened (permanent -1 to saving throws versus mind-influencing spells and effects) and is thereafter free to remove and put the robe back on without further risk. In addition to powers of a robe of eyes it is said the successful wearer of the robe of Incabulos is also granted immunity to all diseases and poisons, a property that many in Ull (or beyond) would and have killed for.
X.P. Value: 5,200
G.P. Value: 53,000 

Uli Salve
“ Uli healing works. Just don’t plan on attracting anything other then flies for the next few days…”
- Overheard from an adventurer in Ull

This thick, dark-grey unguent is composed of powdered herbs and roots suspended in a goat’s fat base. When applied to a wound the salve has both healing and astringent properties. The salve will restore hit points at a rate of 1d4+1 per application. Two applications of the unguent have a powerful astringent property, allowing bleeding wounds to close (c.f. sword of sharpness) in addition to its healing properties.
1d6 applications of the salve will be found in small, goatskin-wrapped clay containers. Due to the tendency of the goats fat to curdle, Uli salve is not highly sought after outside of Ull since it tends to have a terrible stench. Amongst the Uli, the salve is used as a cure-all.
XP Value: 300
GP Value: 200 
 
Update 4/19/2021: I did eventually do an Ulakand Gaz, the Kester one is still up in the air.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice Mort. I enjoy "finding" unique magical items and I'm sure I can find a use for these two.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Braggi does with your work and seeing what other Ull goodies flow from your own pen.

Mystic Scholar

Argon said...

Mort,
That Incabulos robe would fit nicely on my Eyes of Possession. Can I get some goat fat salve talk about teen spirit.

Later

Argon

Mike Bridges said...

Mystic: Easier said than done. It's all in my head, just have to get the obsession to let it out.

Argon: Shopping at the Ull store eh? Another satisfied customer!

Braggi said...

Thanks for letting me do the adaptation. I really appreciate your work and creativity. I'm looking forward to your Ulakand Gaz down the road - Greyhawkery indeed!

(Oh and belatedly - happy birthday.)

PhaseStar said...

Hi,

These sound interesting, but the download links no longer work. Are these still available somewhere?