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Ledger Bite Filigree

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by

Dale
in

The Ledger-Bite Filigree is a set of delicate, gold-plated sleeves designed to slide over an avatar’s canine teeth. These sleeves are etched with microscopic legal shorthand and connected by a gossamer-thin chain of “Truth-Glass” beads that rests against the lower lip. When the avatar speaks of debts, the filigree glows with a soft, amber light; when they bite, they do not just draw blood—they extract data.

Lore

In the metropolitan skyscrapers of the 73 islands, the “Blood-Accountants” of the Iron-Grip Syndicate serve as the ultimate auditors. They believe that a creature’s life-force is simply a biological currency. The Ledger-Bite was created to allow these auditors to “sample” the biological wealth of a client. By taking a microscopic prick of blood through the filigree, the accountant can see the target’s literal “value” to the world, including hidden debts, physical health, and the worth of their soul-contract.

Tier 1 Statistics

  • Slot: Fangs (Teeth).
  • Tier: 1 (Common Rarity).
  • Material: Gold-washed Alchemical Brass, Truth-Glass beads.
  • Weight: 0.01 lbs (Negligible).

Skills Gained (When Openly Worn)

  • Forensic Auditing: The avatar gains a +2 bonus to any check made to find discrepancies in financial documents or magic-circuit ledgers.
  • Intimidating Negotiation: While the filigree is visible, the avatar may use their Intelligence modifier instead of Charisma for Intimidation checks, as the sight of gold-plated fangs suggests a very “hands-on” approach to debt collection.

Passive Magic

  • The Auditor’s Taste: When the avatar’s fangs penetrate a surface (living or mechanical), they instantly learn the “Market Value” of the object or the “Bounty Value” of the creature.
  • Debt-Sense: The filigree vibrates with a low hum when the avatar is within 10 feet of a person who owes a significant debt to a recognized guild or trade house.

Active Magic

  • Liquidate Assets (Normal Casting): (Duration: Instant) Upon a successful bite attack, the avatar can choose to “tax” the target. The target suffers a small amount of additional necrotic damage, and the avatar recovers a number of Mana points equal to the damage dealt. Cannot be used more than once per long rest.
  • Verify Contract (Silent Casting): (Duration: 1 Minute) By clicking the teeth together three times, the avatar activates a “Truth-Field.” For one minute, any creature the avatar is speaking to must succeed on a mental save or find it physically impossible to lie about financial matters or contractual obligations.

Additional Information

  • Maintenance: The filigree must be polished with alchemical ink once a week to maintain its “Debt-Sense.”
  • Social Context: In high-society skyscrapers, wearing the Ledger-Bite is seen as a sign of extreme professional dedication. In the lower industrial slums, it is viewed with terror, marking the wearer as a “Debt-Collector.”

Tags: Predatory, Administrative, Gold, Data-Driven, Tier 1, Precision, Contractual, Metropolitan, Fiscal, Truth-Glass, Liquidator, Tally, Golden-Bite, Risk-Assessor, Circuit-Linked, Currency-Sensitive, Syndicate-Issue, Analytical, Non-Combustive, Forensic, Amber-Glow, Tooth-Gear

In the rigid, data-driven society of Saṃsāra, the Ledger-Bite Filigree is a badge of office for those who manage the “blood-economy.” It is a specialized tool that bridges the gap between predatory instinct and industrial accounting.

Methods of Acquisition

  • Guild Induction: Most avatars obtain this item upon being sworn into a merchant guild or a debt-collection syndicate. It is often “issued” as standard corporate equipment. However, these sets are usually soul-bound to the guild’s central ledger; if the employee leaves without returning them, their own life-force is flagged as a “Delinquent Asset.”
  • The “Final Audit” Scavenge: In the industrial slums, an avatar might find a Ledger-Bite on the remains of a “Liquidator” who met an untimely end. These “unlinked” sets are highly prized because they do not report data back to a corporate headquarters, though they often require a technician to recalibrate the Truth-Glass beads.
  • Academic Achievement: Promising actuarial students at the Great Metropolitan Universities are sometimes gifted a set upon graduation. It is considered a “Tool of the Trade” meant to help them literally taste the difference between a sound investment and a fiscal liability.

Shop Descriptions and Atmosphere

The establishments that deal in dental-slot administrative gear are highly specific, blending the clinical sterile nature of a medical facility with the opulent security of a high-end bank.

The Gilded Ledger (High-Tier Boutique) Located in the upper spires of skyscrapers, these boutiques are accessible only by steam-elevators requiring a financial clearance pass.

  • Atmosphere: The air is temperature-controlled and smells faintly of mint and ozone. The interior is lined with white marble and velvet-lined display cases.
  • The Experience: The shopkeeper is usually an avatar with a high-level Mind’s Eye who treats the sale like a surgical fitting. They use precision calipers to measure your jaw pressure and magic-circuit conductivity to ensure the filigree doesn’t “reject” your mana flow.

Industrial Reclamation Centers (Mid-Tier Exchange) Located in the middle-tiers where the fog of the factories begins to settle, these shops deal in “pre-owned” or refurbished guild equipment.

  • Atmosphere: These shops are dusty, transactional, and crowded with crates of mechanical parts.
  • The Experience: Here, the filigree is sold in small wooden boxes. The buyer is responsible for checking the Truth-Glass beads for cracks. It is a “Buyer Beware” environment where the history of the item—and who might still be looking for it—is often obscured.

Buying and Selling Process

Buying a Ledger-Bite involves more than just a currency exchange; it requires a Background Audit.

  1. Identity Verification: The seller will use a magic-circuit scanner to ensure the buyer has no outstanding bankruptcies. Selling a Ledger-Bite to a “Defaulted” avatar is a crime in most island countries, as it gives a criminal the tools to siphon corporate mana.
  2. Calibration Fitting: The item is not “one size fits all.” A jeweler-actuary must use micro-lathes to adjust the gold sleeves to the specific curve of the avatar’s fangs.
  3. The “Dry Bite” Test: The buyer is asked to bite down on a sample mana-crystal. If the filigree correctly displays the crystal’s market value in the avatar’s Mind’s Eye, the sale is finalized and the item is registered to the avatar’s biometric signature.

Estimated Costs

In the world of Saṃsāra, the value of the Ledger-Bite reflects the complexity of its alchemical components.

  • Silver Pieces: 35 to 60 Silver. This is the standard rate for a new, guild-certified set.
  • Electrum Pieces: 7 to 12 Electrum. This is the preferred currency in the High Spires for these items.
  • Gold Pieces: 0.35 to 0.60 Gold. Only used for high-end, custom-etched filigree.
  • The “Black Market” Premium: An “unlocked” or “Ghost” set (with guild-tracking removed) often costs double the market price (up to 120 Silver) because of the anonymity it provides.

Tactical Liquidation and Fiscal Dominance of the Ledger-Bite

Roleplaying with the Ledger-Bite Filigree requires a mindset of cold, predatory professionalism. You are not just a fighter or a caster; you are a cosmic debt-collector. Your fangs are no longer mere weapons of hunger; they are instruments of the Great Audit. In every environment, your roleplay should emphasize that “The Price Must Be Paid.”

Metropolitan Skyscraper Districts

  • Offense: Within the polished halls of corporate power, you use the “Verify Contract” truth-field to strip away the “Social Armor” of rivals. Roleplay leaning in close during a tense board meeting, the amber glow of your fangs reflecting in a corrupt executive’s eyes. You don’t need to strike; the mere threat of a “Fiscal Audit” of their soul-contract forces them to concede.
  • Defense: In these high-security zones, your “Debt-Sense” acts as a social early-warning system. Roleplay the filigree vibrating against your lip as you enter a gala, signaling that the “Generous Host” is actually drowning in hidden arrears. This allows you to position yourself near the most “Liquid” exits before an ambush occurs.

Industrial Slums and Steam-Pipes

  • Offense: Against the desperate gangs of the lower tiers, you use “The Auditor’s Taste” to identify the “Cost of Failure.” Roleplay biting down on a rusted steam-pipe to “hear” the pressure levels, or nipping at an enemy’s armor to find the specific rivet that is out of warranty. Your strikes are surgical, aimed at the “Cheap” spots that cannot withstand the pressure.
  • Defense: When cornered in the fog-filled alleys, you use “Liquidate Assets” to stay in the fight. Roleplay the sensation of siphoning the “Biological Capital” from a thug who tried to grapple you. As their mana drains into your gold-plated fangs, you grow stronger, treating their health pool as a temporary line of credit for your own survival.

High-Altitude Airships and Floating Docks

  • Offense: During an aerial boarding action, you act as a “Salvage-Prioritizer.” Roleplay your tally-overlay highlighting which enemy combatants are carrying the most expensive gear. You ignore the low-value grunts and lunge for the captain, shouting that their “Life-Policy is over-leveraged” as you sink your teeth into their mana-veins.
  • Defense: If the ship’s engine begins to fail, your mechanical intuition allows for a “Emergency Stabilization.” Roleplay biting into a flickering magic-circuit board to “Audit the Flow” of mana, using your own body as a temporary bridge to keep the ship aloft through sheer administrative will.

Ancient Ruins and Backwood Jungles

  • Offense: Against primal beasts that know nothing of money, you roleplay the “Forensic Auditor.” You treat the monster as an unorganized resource. By sampling its blood, you identify the most valuable organ or essence. Your offense becomes a harvest; you aren’t just killing a beast; you are “Optimizing the Asset.”
  • Defense: In “Deathly” zones where standard protection fails, your “Causal-Risk Perception” allows you to navigate the “Invisible Debts” of the ancient world. Roleplay avoiding a trap not because you saw the pressure plate, but because the filigree hummed with the “Probability of a High-Cost Accident.”

Trade Docks and Market Squares

  • Offense: Roleplay “Aggressive Appraisal.” You walk through the stalls, your fangs glowing as you call out the true value of every “Rare Artifact.” By exposing the merchants’ lies, you deflate the local economy to your advantage, securing Tier 1 gear for a fraction of the cost through “Mandatory Price Correction.”
  • Defense: Against magical pickpockets or “Contractual Thieves,” your filigree provides a “Liar’s Ward.” Anyone attempting to magically influence your mind regarding a trade finds their spell “Defaulted” as the Truth-Glass beads flare with a bright, warning light, protecting your mental assets.

Perception of Activation:

The activation of the Ledger-Bite Filigree marks a shift from organic hunger to an exacting, administrative hunger. The avatar ceases to see flesh and bone, perceiving instead a world of biological equity and siphoned assets.

  • Visual Perception
    • Description: The world takes on a sepia-toned, archival hue. Living creatures are overlaid with translucent “Asset Tags” that display their current HP as a numerical ledger and their estimated market bounty. The Truth-Glass beads between the fangs begin to glow with a flickering amber light that reflects off every reflective surface.
    • Positives: Provides total clarity on a target’s physical and financial state; illusions often flicker or fail to display “data,” making them easy to identify as counterfeit.
    • Negatives: The bright amber glow makes stealth nearly impossible, and the data-heavy overlay can obscure environmental beauty or subtle non-verbal cues unrelated to “value.”
  • Auditory Perception
    • Description: A sound like a high-speed ticker-tape machine or a frantic abacus echoes within the avatar’s jaw. When a “debt” is detected nearby, a sharp, metallic ping sounds, similar to a cash register drawer opening.
    • Positives: Acts as a high-precision proximity alarm for high-value targets or hidden traps; the rhythm of the clicking can help the avatar time their strikes perfectly.
    • Negatives: The constant internal “noise” can lead to sensory fatigue and makes it difficult to hear whispers or the quiet sounds of approaching nature.
  • Tactile Perception
    • Description: A localized, numbing cold spreads from the fangs across the jawline, accompanied by a sensation of “pressure” as if the avatar is biting down on a thick stack of parchment.
    • Positives: The numbing effect provides a minor resistance to pain in the facial area; the pressure sensation serves as a mental anchor, keeping the avatar focused on the “task” at hand.
    • Negatives: Makes speech feel heavy and sluggish; the avatar may accidentally bite their own lip or cheek without realizing it due to the localized anesthesia.
  • Olfactory and Gustatory Perception
    • Description: The avatar experiences a strong, metallic taste of copper and “old book” scent—the smell of dusty paper, vellum, and iron-gall ink.
    • Positives: The scent of “ink” becomes a tracking tool; the avatar can literally “smell” a forgery or a hidden contract from several feet away.
    • Negatives: Overpowers the taste of food or drink, making restorative meals unpleasant; the copper taste can cause mild nausea if the filigree is active for too long.
  • Extra-Sensory: Debt-Resonance
    • Description: The avatar perceives a “pull” or tension in the air, manifesting as invisible threads connecting debtors to their creditors.
    • Positives: Allows the avatar to navigate social hierarchies instantly, identifying who in a room is actually in charge based on “Ownership.”
    • Negatives: Feeling the immense, crushing weight of global debt can cause a sense of profound cynicism or fatalism in the avatar.
  • Extra-Sensory: Mechanical Empathy (The “Audit Pulse”)
    • Description: A rhythmic pulse that mirrors the internal workings of nearby machines. The avatar can “feel” the stress on a gear or the pressure in a pipe as if it were their own heartbeat.
    • Positives: Enables the avatar to predict mechanical failures or explosions seconds before they happen, allowing for perfect defensive positioning.
    • Negatives: Catastrophic mechanical failures nearby can cause a “sympathetic shock,” briefly stunning the avatar with phantom pain.
  • Extra-Sensory: Truth-Frequency
    • Description: A vibration in the Truth-Glass beads that turns into a discordant screech in the mind whenever a lie regarding a transaction or contract is spoken.
    • Positives: Makes the avatar a perfect lie detector in financial negotiations; it is impossible to be swindled while the filigree is active.
    • Negatives: The screeching is physically painful if the lie is significant, causing the avatar to flinch or lose focus during a conversation.

Blueprint for the Fabrication of the Ledger-Bite Filigree

The construction of this dental focus is a masterclass in micro-metallurgy and contractual enchantment. It requires the artisan to bind the concept of “Legal Truth” into physical matter, ensuring the gold sleeves can withstand the crushing force of a predatory jaw while maintaining the delicate resonance of a calculator.

Materials Needed

  • Alchemical Brass (0.5 oz): A highly conductive base metal that has been treated with acid to accept complex magic-circuitry.
  • Still-Water Silver (1 Meter): Used for the gossamer-link chain; this silver is harvested from subterranean pools and vibrates in the presence of lies.
  • Truth-Glass Shards (4 units): Raw crystalline fragments from the 12th Island that naturally shift color based on the vibrational frequency of a speaker’s intent.
  • 24k Gold-Wash Solution: An alchemical liquid used to coat the brass, signifying guild authority and preventing biological corrosion.
  • Iron-Gall Mana-Ink: A permanent, magically-conductive ink used to “prime” the etchings within the sleeves.

Tools Required

  • Precision Jeweler’s Lathe: A micro-lathe used to turn the brass into hollow, form-fitting sleeves that match the avatar’s specific fang geometry.
  • Diamond-Point Etching Stylus: For engraving the microscopic “812 Laws of Recovery” shorthand into the interior and exterior of the brass.
  • Calibration Mandrel: A physical mold of the avatar’s dental arc used to ensure the filigree does not interfere with the natural bite.
  • Miniature Arc-Solder: A low-voltage tool used for bonding the silver wire to the Truth-Glass beads without cracking the crystal.
  • Analytical Tuning Fork: Used to set the “Debt-Sense” vibration to the standard commercial frequency of the 73 islands.

Skill Requirements

  • Micro-Metallurgy (Tier 1): The ability to work with extremely small, delicate metal components without compromising structural integrity.
  • Contractual Infusion: A specialized form of enchantment that binds the wearer’s “Mind’s Eye” to the logical parameters of debt and value.
  • Gemological Setting: The steady hand required to drill and thread Truth-Glass without shattering the material.
  • Biological-Mechanical Interface: Knowledge of how to anchor magic-circuits to living tissue (the fangs) without causing mana-rejection or tissue death.

Crafting Steps

  1. Forming the Sleeves: Using the jeweler’s lathe and the Calibration Mandrel, shape the alchemical brass into two perfectly tapered cones. They must slide onto the fangs with a “vacuum-seal” fit.
  2. Circuit Engraving: With the diamond-point stylus, engrave the shorthand laws of the “Great Audit” onto the metal. These etchings act as the physical pathways for the “Auditor’s Taste” passive magic.
  3. The Amber Priming: Apply the Iron-Gall Mana-Ink into the engravings. The metal should begin to hum with a low, amber light as the ink settles into the grooves.
  4. The Gold-Wash Bath: Submerge the sleeves in the 24k Gold-Wash Solution. This step “seals” the magic and creates the prestigious golden finish required for open wear in skyscrapers.
  5. Bead Preparation: Drill microscopic holes through the four Truth-Glass shards. Thread the Still-Water Silver wire through them, ensuring each bead can rotate freely.
  6. Anchoring the Link: Solder the ends of the silver wire to the interior base of each golden sleeve. The chain must be long enough to rest comfortably against the lower lip but short enough to remain taut during a bite.
  7. Resonance Calibration: Strike the Analytical Tuning Fork and hold it against the filigree. Adjust the silver links until the Truth-Glass beads pulse in perfect unison with the fork.
  8. The First Audit: The creator must bite down on a standard Silver Piece. If the “Market Value” flashes correctly in the mind, the item is finalized and ready for soul-linking.

Mouth Swallowed Unpaid Shadow and Golden Teeth of Firmament

In the season when the Sky-Machine was yet shedding its iron scales, and the Seventy-Three Rocks were but moist clay in the palm of the First Artificer, there walked a Great counter-of-Steps named Oron-Zul. In the speech of the Deep-Dust, which the wind has since forgotten, Oron-Zul signifies “The One Who Eats the Numbers.”

Oron-Zul was a predator of the High-Glass Towers, where the air is filtered through the lungs of the Steam-Gods. He was born with fangs that were long and lonely, but he did not crave the meat of the forest. He craved the “Weight of the Owed.” To him, a man was not a spirit of breath, but a living list of what he had taken and what he had not yet returned.

“The world is a leaking vessel,” Oron-Zul whispered to the Gears of the Sun. “Every man drinks the mana, but few pay the coin to the roots of the earth. I shall be the one who balances the Great Book with my own jaw.”

He descended into the Throat of the 12th Island, where the Still-Water Silver sleeps in pools that have never seen a star. He gathered the Truth-Glass, which the ancients call “The Frozen Breath of the Honest,” and he bound these things with the Gold of the Lost Sun. He did not use a hammer of stone; he used the “Rhythm of the Final Demand.” He bit into the metal until the metal learned the shape of his hunger.

He placed the Filigree upon his long teeth, and the sepia-light of the “True-Value” filled his head. He walked into the Market of the Seven Winds, and he did not speak with his tongue. He spoke with the “Bite of the Audit.”

The translation of the clay shard becomes heavy with rust and confusion here. It says that Oron-Zul encountered a King who claimed to own the very air of the islands. The King’s pockets were filled with the dreams of the poor, and his ledgers were written in the ink of lies. Oron-Zul did not strike the King with a sword. He took a single, golden nip of the King’s shadow.

Through the Filigree, Oron-Zul tasted the King’s “Total Default.” He saw that the King’s soul was a borrowed thing, held together by the glue of stolen silver. At the touch of the gold-sleeves, the King’s riches turned to dry leaves, and his palace of steam became a cloud of smoke. Oron-Zul had “Liquidated the Lie.”

But the story-ink turns to salt and bitterness in the final passages. It says that Oron-Zul became so efficient in his “Tasting of the Debt” that he eventually bit his own reflection in a mirror of Truth-Glass. He saw that he, too, was a debtor to the Universe for the air he breathed and the gold he wore. The Filigree vibrated with a sound so high and terrible that it turned Oron-Zul into a pile of golden coins and archival dust.

He had audited himself out of the ledger of the living, for no creature can truly pay the full price of its existence to the Sky.

  • The Moral of the Story: The one who seeks to extract the final copper from every soul will eventually find that his own life is the greatest debt of all, and the Great Auditor accepts no installments at the end.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

Artifact Name: The Incisors of the Inevitable Audit

These gold-washed sleeves are whispered to be the work of a cult of sorcerous bankers from a dimension where time and life are literally fungible assets.

  • Item Type: Artifact / Body Augmentation
  • Specific Mechanics:
    • Fiscal Insight: Grants a Bonus Die to all Accounting, Appraise, and Law skill checks.
    • The Auditor’s Taste: By spending 1 Magic Point and tasting a sample of blood or material, the user gains a Bonus Die to a Track or Spot Hidden roll to find the source of that material.
    • Active: Verify Contract: The user spends 1d4 Sanity to activate the Truth-Glass beads. For the duration of one conversation, the user may make a Hard Psychology roll to force a target to speak truthfully regarding financial obligations.
  • Sanity Cost: Initial bonding costs 1/1d4 Sanity. Viewing living beings as mere “assets” to be liquidated erodes the human spirit.
  • Syntax Note: Utilizes standard 7th Edition Bonus Die and Sanity/Magic Point expenditure rules.

Blades in the Dark

Item Name: Fine Liquidator’s Dental Filigree

This is Specialized Gear (Load: 0) often favored by Spiders who handle the coin for a Tier I or Tier II Crew.

  • Item Tier: I (Quality)
  • Mechanics:
    • Debt-Sense: When you Gather Information on a target’s financial status or a rival faction’s holdings, you gain +1 Effect.
    • Liquidate Assets: You may expend 1 Armor (Special Gear) to resist a social consequence during a negotiation. The filigree highlights a “default” in your opponent’s logic, allowing you to shut down their argument.
    • Verify Contract: When you use Sway or Consort to seal a deal, you may take 2 Stress to ensure the other party feels a physical “sting” if they even consider breaking the agreement. This provides +1d to any future rolls to enforce the deal.
  • Syntax Note: This item is “Fine” quality and provides benefits to Survey/Study and Resistance.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Item Name: Ledger-Bite Filigree

Wondrous item, common (requires attunement)

  • Item Description: These gold-plated dental sleeves hum with amber light when you discuss debts. While wearing them, you gain the following benefits:
  • Passive: Auditor’s Taste: You have advantage on Intelligence (Investigation) and Intelligence (History) checks made to appraise the value of treasure or analyze financial ledgers.
  • Active: Liquidate Assets: When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike using your fangs, the target takes an extra 1d4 necrotic damage. You regain a number of expended spell slots whose combined level is equal to or less than the necrotic damage dealt. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
  • Active: Verify Contract: As an action, you can force a creature within 10 feet to make a DC 13 Charisma saving throw. On a failure, the creature cannot tell a deliberate lie regarding money, debts, or contracts for 1 minute.
  • Syntax Note: Follows standard 5e action economy and attunement rules.

Knave (2nd Edition)

Item Name: Debt-Taker’s Teeth

In the grim world of Knave, these teeth allow an adventurer to see exactly what a monster or a merchant is “worth” before the first blow is struck.

  • Item Slots: 1 (Worn)
  • Quality: 3
  • Mechanics:
    • Auditor’s Taste: The wearer can determine the exact resale value of any item or the bounty on any creature simply by biting a piece of it (or its equipment).
    • Debt-Sense: The wearer has Advantage on saves against being cheated, swindled, or magically coerced during a trade.
    • Liquidate Assets: Once per day, after a successful bite attack, the wearer may restore 1 spent “Usage” on a piece of gear (like an oil flask or a quiver) as they siphon the target’s “potential.”
  • Syntax Note: Fits in one gear slot and utilizes Knave’s Advantage/Usage mechanics.

Fate (Core/Condensed)

Name: The Auditor’s Gilded Grip

  • Type: Extra (Requires an Aspect related to predatory nature or bureaucratic authority)
  • Functional Aspect: Gold-Plated Truth-Glass Fangs
  • Stunts:
    • The Auditor’s Taste: Because I have the Auditor’s Gilded Grip, I get a +2 to Investigate or Lore rolls when I am assessing the monetary value of an object or the “biological worth” of a creature I have tasted.
    • Liquidate Assets: Once per session, when I successfully attack a target with my fangs and create an advantage, I can also clear my lowest-level physical Stress box as I siphon their “causal equity.”
    • Verify Contract: I can spend a Fate Point to force a target to be unable to lie about financial matters or contractual obligations for the remainder of the scene.
  • Cost: 1 Refresh.

Numenera & Cypher System

Name: Fiscal Extraction Artifact

  • Level: 1d6 (Level 3 typical)
  • Form: Gold-plated dental sleeves with micro-etched logic circuits.
  • Effect:
    • Metadata Intuition: The wearer is Trained in all tasks involving negotiation, asset valuation, and identifying the “health” of a financial contract or machine.
    • Depletion: — (Passive) / 1 in 1d10 (Active)
    • Active: Liquidate Assets: Upon a successful bite attack, the wearer can choose to siphon energy. The wearer restores 2 points to their Intellect Pool. If this brings the pool above its maximum, the excess is lost. Roll for depletion.
    • Active: Verify Contract: The wearer focuses their amber glow on a target. For one minute, the target’s Difficulty for any task involving deception or hiding financial information is increased by two steps. Roll for depletion.

Pathfinder (2nd Edition)

Name: Ledger-Bite Filigree

  • Item Level: 1
  • Price: 15 Silver Pieces
  • Usage: Worn (Fangs); Bulk: —
  • Description: These gold-washed sleeves wrap around your natural fangs, allowing you to extract data as easily as blood.
  • Traits: Divination, Investigation, Magical.
  • Mechanics:
    • Auditor’s Insight: You gain a +1 item bonus to Perception checks to Sense Motive and a +1 item bonus to Society checks to determine the market value of items or the legal standing of a contract.
    • Active: Liquidate Assets (One Action): Requirement: You have dealt damage with a fangs Strike this turn. Effect: You attempt to “Tax” the target’s life-force. Make an Industrial Lore or Society check against the target’s Fortitude DC. On a success, you regain 1 Focus Point (if you have them) or gain temporary Hit Points equal to the damage dealt. You cannot use this again for 1 hour.
    • Active: Verify Contract (Two Actions): (Envision, Linguistic, Mental) You pulse the Truth-Glass beads. A creature within 30 feet must attempt a DC 15 Will save. On a failure, it is under the effects of a Zone of Truth, but only regarding debts and commerce, for 1 minute.
  • Syntax Note: This item uses standard 2e traits and action economy.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)

Name: The Accountant’s Incisors

  • Type: Personal Gear (Fangs/Teeth Slot)
  • Weight: —
  • Mechanics:
    • Auditor’s Insight: The wearer gains a +2 bonus to Notice and Persuasion rolls when the subject involves money, contracts, or assessing the value of treasure.
    • Debt-Sense: The wearer gains the Danger Sense Edge, but it only triggers for financial traps, ambushes by creditors, or social “double-crosses.”
    • Active: Liquidate Assets: When the wearer successfully deals at least one Wound with a bite attack, they may spend a Bennie to automatically soak one Wound they currently have, as they “balance their health” using the target’s life-force.
    • Active: Verify Contract: As a limited free action, the wearer may force a target to make a Spirit roll at -2. On a failure, the target cannot knowingly speak a lie regarding financial obligations for the next five minutes.
  • Syntax Note: Considered “Enchanted Gear” that requires an appropriate Background Edge to utilize active powers.

Shadowrun (6th World Edition)

Name: Liquidator’s Fang-Sleeves (Qi Focus)

In the sprawl of Saṃsāra, these gold-plated sleeves serve as a specialized focus for Adepts who handle “hostile takeovers” and debt collection for the megacorps.

  • Item Type: Qi Focus (Rating 1)
  • Availability: 4(I)
  • Cost: 6,500¥
  • Mechanics:
    • Forensic Auditing: While the focus is active, the user gains a +1 dice pool bonus to Influence and Perception tests when the goal is to identify a target’s financial assets or social leverage.
    • Audit the Flow: When the user inflicts damage with a Natural Weapon (Bite) attack, they gain 1 temporary Edge that must be spent immediately on a Social or Technical test against that same target.
    • Liquidate Assets: If the user kills or knocks out a target with a bite attack, they may immediately clear 1 box of Stun Stress as they siphon the “unpaid potential” of the victim.
  • Syntax Note: Requires Bonding Karma equal to (Rating x 2).

Starfinder (2nd Edition / Playtest)

Name: Actuarial Ledger-Bite

This hybrid device uses alchemical gold to bridge the gap between biological predatory traits and high-speed financial processing.

  • Level: 1
  • Price: 250 Credits
  • Hands: 0 (Worn)
  • Bulk: —
  • Mechanics:
    • The Auditor’s Taste: You gain a +1 item bonus to Perception checks to Sense Motive. Additionally, when you deal damage with a fangs Strike, you learn the target’s current Hit Point total and its AC.
    • Active: Verify Contract (One Action): (Envision, Linguistic, Mental, Prediction) You pulse the Truth-Glass beads. One creature within 30 feet must attempt a DC 15 Will save. On a failure, it cannot tell a deliberate lie regarding money or contracts for 1 minute.
    • Active: Liquidate Assets (Reaction): Trigger: You reduce a creature to 0 HP with a fangs Strike. Effect: You gain a number of temporary Hit Points equal to your level. These HP last for 1 minute.
  • Syntax Note: This item has the Magical and Tech traits.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Name: TL 5 Debt-Collector’s Dental Filigree

  • Tech Level: 5
  • Weight: —
  • Cost: Cr 800
  • Mechanics:
    • Fiscal Intuition: The wearer receives a DM+1 to any Broker, Deception, or Persuade check when negotiating debts, ship mortgages, or salvage rights.
    • Debt-Sense: The filigree vibrates when within 5 meters of an item or person with a “bounty” value exceeding Cr 5,000.
    • Active: Liquidate Assets: After a successful melee attack with fangs, the user may make an immediate INT check (Difficulty 8+). If successful, the user recovers 1 point of STR or DEX characteristic damage previously suffered in this encounter.
  • Syntax Note: This is treated as “Personal Gear” and does not consume an inventory slot.

Warhammer (Age of Sigmar: Soulbound)

Name: Gilded Debt-Taster’s Fangs

Common among the high-ranking administrators of Chamon who view every battle as a balance sheet that must be settled.

  • Availability: Rare
  • Cost: 450 Drops
  • Mechanics:
    • Forensic Auditing: You have Advantage on Mind (Determination) and Mind (Guile) Tests made to identify corruption, hidden wealth, or breaches of contract.
    • The Auditor’s Taste: When you deal Damage to a creature with your fangs, you learn their current Toughness and any Weaknesses they possess.
    • Active: Liquidate Assets: Once per turn, when you use the Help action after damaging a foe with your fangs, the ally you assist gains an additional +1d6 to their damage roll as you highlight the target’s “financial instability.”
  • Syntax Note: This item is an Adornment (Teeth/Fangs slot).