New Greyhawk Magic: Dusts of Abi-Dalzim

Welcome Greyhawk faithful! Today I bring to you some original magic items done in 5E style. I don't often design crunch stuff like this, but I remembered how in my old campaigns, a certain evil wizard had a certain flair for using earth and sand spells. At any rate, I present to you...

The Dusts of Abi Dalzim

In the Baklunish West, the name Abi-Dalzim is spoken with a mixture of superstitious fear and awe often reserved for the deadliest of fiends. Even though the “father of droughts” is supposedly long deceased, his windswept tower in the foothills of Ull continues to stir with enough evil menace to keep locals away. Employing a grim combination of elemental and necromantic power, Abi-Dalzim was responsible for many atrocities done in the name of his patron Incabulos, god of diseases, droughts and nightmares; his worst being the creation of the life destroying spell Horrid Wilting. Among his lesser known legacies was the invention and distribution of new magical dusts and powders with devastatingly evil effects. If you should ever happen to find one of the following dust containers in some desert-buried ruin, be mindful of the dark destiny that draws you closer to bringing back Abi-Dalzim.


Dust of Horrid Wilting
Wondrous item, rare

Found in a small container, this powder resembles very fine white sand. There is enough of it for one use. When you use an action to throw the dust, you draw the moisture from every creature within a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. Constructs and undead aren’t affected, and plants and water elementals make this saving throw with disadvantage. A creature takes 10d8 necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Nonmagical plants in the area that aren’t creatures, such as trees and shrubs, wither and die instantly.

Dust of Withering
Wondrous item, rare

Found in a small container, this powder resembles very fine brown sand. There is enough of it for one use. When you use an action to throw the dust, you rend flesh and shrivel bodies from every creature within a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area takes 4d10 necrotic damage. Constructs and undead aren’t affected. In addition, each target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or have disadvantage for 1 hour on any ability check or saving throw that uses Strength or Constitution.

Nonmagical plants in the area that aren’t creatures, such as trees and shrubs, wither and die instantly.


Powder of Pestilence
Wondrous item, rare

Found in a small container, this powder resembles very fine yellow sand. There is enough of it for one use. When you use an action to throw the dust, you inflict a flesh rotting disease on every creature within a 15-foot cone. Each creature in the area is poisoned. At the end of each of the poisoned target's turns, the target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. If the target succeeds on three of these saves, it is no longer poisoned, and the effect ends. If the target fails three of these saves, the target is no longer poisoned, but instead develops a Flesh Rot disease. 

The creature’s flesh decays. The creature has disadvantage on Charisma checks and vulnerability to all damage for 7 days. Since the powder induces a natural disease in a target, any effect that removes a disease or otherwise ameliorates a disease’s effects apply to it.

Dust of Nightmares
Wondrous item, rare

Found in a small container, this powder resembles very fine gray sand. There is enough of it for one use. When you use an action to throw the dust, you inflict waking illusory nightmares on every creature within a 15-foot cone. For six rounds, the target becomes frightened. At the start of each of the target’s turns before the effect ends, the target must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or take 4d10 psychic damage. On a successful save, the effect ends. Creatures that do not require sleep are unaffected.


Powder of Undeath
Wondrous item, rare

This small packet contains 1d6+4 pinches of black dust. You can use an action to sprinkle a pinch of it over a pile of bones or a corpse of a Medium or Small humanoid. The dust imbues the target, raising it as an undead creature under your control for 24 hours. The target becomes a skeleton if you choose bones or a zombie if you chose a corpse. Undead created are commanded as if you cast the animate dead spell.