Pinecone Armour - A Cairn relic
Many inhabitants of the forest know the tale of the legendary Pinecone Armour, an artefact created at the behest of the ancient gods by the wood-gnome Seann Crahob: it is said that this woodsmith obtained the wooden scales by plundering the corpse of Crackle-Bitter, a towering tree-man who died fighting the fire giant Spitthetmugir. Seann Crahob loaded a still-smoking pine cone onto his cart and shut himself in a cave for 7 years working on the marvellous armour.
Pinecone Armour
- Wearing it grants Armour 3.
- The scales are blackened and tempered: fire damage is Impaired (it inflicts only d4 damage) against the wearer.
- The wearer may mark Fatigue to use one of the following powers: 1) cause stubborn roots to grow from their feet, anchoring them firmly to the ground; 2) step into the trunk of a tree and emerge from the trunk of another tree of the same species in the area (within the same hex, if you are running a hexcrawl); 3) assume the appearance of a conifer; 4) transform into a tree-man (see The Curse of the Pinecone Armour).
The Curse of the Pinecone Armour
The resentful spirit of the tree-man Crackle-Bitter still permeates the armour’s scales.
The wearer may transform into a mighty likeness of Crackle-Bitter, assuming the following characteristics: 8 HP, 3 Armour, 18 Strength, 6 Dexterity, Fists like battering rams (2d10 damage). They retain their own Will score.
During the transformation one is vulnerable to Crackle-Bitter’s attempts at possession. The player must succeed on a Will saving throw for each Turn spent in this form: if the saving throw succeeds, no problem; if it fails by 1–3 they immediately return to their original form and permanently lose 1d6 WILL (they fall prey to an arcane delirium and believe themselves to be the herald of the Age of Pine Cones or something of the sort); if it fails by 4 or more they are permanently transformed into an enormous talking fir tree, though unable to move.
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For the aesthetics of the Armour of Pine Cones have a look at this post on Red Shoes. Red Wine: Costuming a Loblolly Pine Witch
This is my contribution to the Vecchio Carnevale Blogghereccio of February, themed... ARMOUR! If you do not know what the Vecchio Carnevale Blogghereccio is, go immediately and read the announcement, please. This month it is hosted by Omnia Incommoda, Certitudo Nulla (you can find the presentation post here).