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Kabbalah 72 of the Microbic Lens

—

by

Dale
in

Lore:

  • Originally devised by an eccentric scholar who spent decades mapping the unseen micro-realities of Saṃsāra, this item bridges sacred numerology with microscopic observation.
  • Mystics discovered that tiny cellular organisms, spores, and bacteria mirror the complex pathways of creation found across the ten Sephiroth.
  • By viewing microscopic life through the lens, the user perceives invisible bacterial colonies as geometric constellations, understanding their precise energetic makeup.
  • The device became essential gear for field doctors, plague wardens, and bio-scholars seeking to diagnose or isolate biological hazards before they manifest visually.
  • Legend holds that the original brass frame was bathed in holy water and etched during an eclipse to grant the user total mastery over microscopic vectors.

Description:

  • A compact, handheld brass monocular set with a focal rim crafted from polished electrum and inlaid with fine silver filigree.
  • Ten tiny, amber-colored garnets are mounted in a circular array along the exterior housing, illuminating when invisible pathogens or spores are near.
  • The central glass lens is exceptionally thick, ground from pure quartz, and faintly etched with miniature Hebrew characters around its outer circumference.
  • The device is attached to a supple leather neck strap, keeping it easily accessible for rapid deployment during field examinations.
  • When held to the eye, the lens emits a soft, pale emerald glow that renders microscopic lifeforms as shimmering, distinct geometric patterns.

Detailed Stats:

  • Item Tier: Tier 1 (Common)
  • Armor Check: +0
  • Resilience: 10
  • Item Health Points: Maximum avatar health points plus 10 (Resilience 10 multiplied by Tier 1)
  • Weight: 0.5 pounds
  • Attunement Requirement: Instantaneous handheld attunement upon being held in an active hand
  • Skill Requirement: Medicine or Survival training
  • Gear Slot: Hand Slot (Left or Right) or Neck Slot
  • Market Value: Variable based on local availability, regional merchant pricing, and medical supply demand

Multiple Passives Magic:

  • Path of Tiferet: Grants the wielder a +1 bonus to all skill checks involving Medicine, Survival, Nature, and identifying airborne or surface-borne pathogens.
  • Microscopic Sight: While looking through the lens, the wielder passively perceives invisible spores, bacterial colonies, and airborne toxic vapors within 30 feet as glowing emerald clouds through their Mind’s Eye.
  • Sterile Barrier: The lens projects a passive 1-foot radius energy bubble around itself that neutralizes ambient airborne bacteria, keeping delicate medical samples from spoiling.

Multiple Activable Magics:

  • Microbial Gematria (Active Action): The user spends one action analyzing a contaminated surface, liquid, or diseased host. The lens calculates the pathogen’s cellular structure, revealing its exact vector, incubation period, and primary cure or weakness.
  • Spore Neutralization (Active Action): The user channels arcane power through the ten amber garnets, projecting a 10-foot cone of pale emerald light that purifies non-magical airborne bacteria, spores, and toxic vapors instantly.
  • Chanted Isolation of Hod (Active Action – Silent Chanting): By concentrating on a specific bacterial sample viewed through the lens, the wielder seals it in an energy stasis field, preventing the bacteria from multiplying or spreading for 1 hour.

Tags: Kabbalah, Bacteriology, Tier 1, Common, Lens, Monocular, Medicine, Pathogens, Sephiroth, Tool, Hand Slot, Neck Slot, Pathology, Cellular, Diagnosis, Germs, Quartz, Electrum, Sterilization, Analysis, Tiferet, Contagion, Inspection

Acquisition and Commerce of the Microbic Lens

  • Apothecaries, Alchemy Shops, and Herbalist Guilds
    • Location and Atmosphere: Situated in bustling urban markets, university districts, or temple quarters. These shops smell strongly of dried herbs, pungent ointments, and bubbling glass retorts, featuring shelves packed with glass jars, pestles, and medical texts.
    • Purchasing Conditions: Field doctors, apothecaries, and bio-scholars acquire the lens as an essential diagnostic tool. Vetting is minimal, though merchants often request proof of basic medical or survival training before completing high-value sales.
    • Selling Conditions: Shopkeepers eagerly purchase these lenses from adventurers or scavengers, using their own diagnostic spells to ensure the central quartz lens and amber garnets are free from fractures or corrupting residue.
    • Transaction Cost: Purchases typically cost between 90 and 120 Silver pieces (or 9 to 12 Gold coins) depending on local plague levels and demand for medical gear. Direct sales to an apothecary yield roughly 50% to 60% of its market value in raw coin.
  • High-End Optical Toolmakers and Scientific Instrument Instrumentmakers
    • Location and Atmosphere: Located within wealthy artisan districts, university guilds, or high-tech trade hubs near capital city centers. These establishments feature polished brass fixtures, velvet-lined display cases, and precision calibration workbenches.
    • Purchasing Conditions: Licensed physicians, guild researchers, and military medical officers buy the lens as a standardized piece of diagnostic equipment. The sale includes a velvet-lined case and official calibration certificates.
    • Selling Conditions: Precision artisans only buy lenses that show pristine silver filigree and undamaged electrum frames. They perform a thorough Mind’s Eye check to verify the internal magic conduits before making an offer.
    • Transaction Cost: Outright purchases from a certified instrument maker cost between 120 and 160 Silver pieces. Selling a clean lens to these shops yields a deposit directly into the seller’s World Bank account minus a 10% appraisal fee.
  • Underground Quarantine Fences and Smuggler Outposts
    • Location and Atmosphere: Hidden within plague-quarantined slum borders, sewer trade alcoves, or remote coastal coves where contraband medical supplies are traded away from government oversight.
    • Purchasing Conditions: Outlaw physicians, rogue alchemists, and survivalists purchase these tools off-the-books to diagnose bio-weapons or contaminated water sources without alerting municipal health wardens.
    • Selling Conditions: Fences buy the item quickly during active outbreaks, knowing its stasis and purification capabilities make it extremely easy to flip to desperate buyers.
    • Transaction Cost: Prices fluctuate wildly based on local contamination levels; during a local outbreak, buying a lens can cost upwards of 250 to 300 Silver pieces (25 to 30 Gold). Selling a lens during a crisis can net the seller 150 Silver pieces in physical, unrecorded currency.

Tactical Roleplay and Environmental Application

  • Contaminated Slums and Quarantine Districts
    • Offensive Roleplay: In disease-ridden alleyways or active plague zones, the wielder uses the lens to locate dense, unseen airborne bacterial clouds or contaminated water supplies. The player roleplays bringing the monocular to their eye, watching the ten amber garnets flare as the quartz lens illuminates toxic spores as glowing emerald constellations. Utilizing Microscopic Sight and Microbial Gematria, the user identifies a pathogen’s structural vector, then uses that information offensively to isolate the source, flush out hostile bio-cultists, or direct targeted anti-microbial strikes against infected host creatures.
    • Defensive Roleplay: When navigating through a heavily infected slum, the user relies on the device to avoid unseen biological hazards. The player roleplays holding the lens up while walking through a narrow corridor, watching for ambient emerald clouds through their Mind’s Eye. When an airborne spore burst is triggered, the user activates Spore Neutralization, projecting a 10-foot cone of pale emerald light from the garnets to instantly purify the air, protecting themselves and their companions from breathing in deadly pathogens.
  • Alchemical Laboratories and Sealed Vaults
    • Offensive Roleplay: Inside an enemy alchemist’s workshop or a bio-weapons facility, the wielder uses the lens to turn the environment against its creators. The player roleplays inspecting glass retorts and storage vats, using Microbial Gematria to calculate the exact composition of experimental bacterial strains. By identifying weak points in the containment vessels or the bacteria’s physical structure, the user can selectively break or neutralize specific culture samples, crippling the enemy’s production or weaponizing an isolated strain against hostile guards.
    • Defensive Roleplay: If a containment vial shatters or an enemy releases a biological trap during a raid, the user acts as a living shield for the party. The player roleplays stepping forward and bringing the brass monocular to bear, utilizing Sterile Barrier and Chanted Isolation of Hod. By silently chanting, the wielder locks the escaping pathogen in a 1-foot stasis field, freezing the cellular multiplication process in mid-air and granting the party time to escape or safely re-contain the sample.
  • Wilderness Swamps and Overgrown Jungle Canopy
    • Offensive Roleplay: While tracking hostile beasts or rival factions through festering marshlands, the wielder uses the device to track biological footprints. The player roleplays scanning swamp water and rotting vegetation through the lens, looking for micro-organism disruptions left behind by wading creatures. By identifying the specific bacterial flora disrupted by a passing target, the user tracks enemies through complete concealment and prepares targeted remedies or anti-toxins before initiating a surprise attack.
    • Defensive Roleplay: When ambushed by swamp creatures or poisonous flora, the user uses the lens to inspect food, water, and incoming spore attacks. The player roleplays scanning local water sources before drinking or using Spore Neutralization to clear a path through toxic fungal clouds. This allows the party to establish a safe camp in hostile, parasite-infested terrain without suffering debilitating diseases or poison conditions.

Perception of Activation:

  • User’s Perspective
    • Sight: The central thick quartz lens ignites with a pulsing, pale emerald luminescence. The ten amber garnets mounted on the exterior rim flare with a warm, steady glow. Looking through the lens reveals invisible bacterial colonies, fungal spores, and toxic vapors within 30 feet as glowing emerald geometric constellations through the Mind’s Eye.
    • Hearing: A quiet, rhythmic, high-pitched mechanical whirring sound emanates from within the brass housing, sounding like a finely balanced clockwork mechanism shifting into place.
    • Touch: The polished brass and electrum housing becomes noticeably cool to the touch, while the central quartz lens retains a mild warmth. A subtle, cold vibration pulses through the grip, matching the internal flow of arcane energy.
    • Smell: A crisp, sterilized ozone scent fills the user’s nostrils, cutting through ambient environmental odors like the air immediately following a lightning storm.
    • Taste: A clean, slightly acidic metallic tang touches the back of the throat, comparable to a mild electric current or consuming distilled, purified water.
    • Extra-Sensory Perception: Through the Mind’s Eye, the wielder gains Microbial Gematria Insight. An overlaid visual lattice reveals translucent green numerical coordinates mapping the DNA matrix, cellular structure, and vector pathways of any pathogen inspected, instantly highlighting its primary biological vulnerability.
  • Observer’s Perspective
    • Sight: Onlookers see the brass monocular become traced with a flowing, pale emerald light along the silver filigree paths. The central quartz lens glows with green fire, while the ten circular amber garnets focus ambient light into ten distinct points of warm illumination.
    • Hearing: Observers within a few feet hear a soft, pleasant harmonic chime followed by a barely audible, low-frequency hum that conveys great precision and focused energy.
    • Touch: Individuals standing adjacent to the user feel a sudden, localized drop in ambient temperature and a faint anti-static pull on their hair or clothing as the Sterile Barrier expands.
    • Smell: Observers catch a fleeting, clean ozone scent, resembling a freshly sanitized medical chamber or rain-washed stone.
    • Taste: Observers do not experience a direct taste, though highly sensitive individuals nearby may notice a mild, dry sensation in their throat as ambient airborne particles are purified.
    • Extra-Sensory Perception: Magic-wielding observers or those using True Sight perceive a concentrated halo of pale green and warm amber magic surrounding the lens, radiating brightest from the central glass and amber nodes. Empathic individuals experience a sudden sensation of calm focus, cleanliness, and biological relief in the immediate area.
  • Positives
    • The distinct sensory feedback confirms that the magical analysis conduits are calibrated, ensuring exact diagnostic results for airborne or surface pathogens.
    • The absolute purification provided by Spore Neutralization allows the user and their party to safely navigate through infected quarantine zones or biological traps without inhaling toxic spores.
    • The Microbial Gematria Insight allows field doctors and bio-scholars to bypass time-consuming laboratory testing, instantly identifying hidden biological threats and directing targeted remedies.
  • Negatives
    • The bright emerald glow and warm amber illumination eliminate all stealth or concealment, instantly revealing the user’s location to anyone with line of sight.
    • The localized surge of ozone and ultraviolet energy can be easily detected by hostile magical entities or creatures sensitive to energy shifts.
    • Extended active usage of Microbial Gematria Insight causes minor eye strain and leaves a lingering copper-ozone taste in the wielder’s mouth, requiring brief periods of rest between deep examinations.

Crafting Recipe: The Microbic Lens

  • Materials Needed
    • Tier 1 Magic Crystal: Quantity of 1 (approximate size of a small geode, serving as the core energy regulator and light amplifier).
    • High-Purity Quartz Glass Stock: 1 pound of flawless quartz, to be ground for the main thick lens.
    • Forged Brass Stock: 2 pounds of hardened brass for the main monocular body and structural housing.
    • Electrum Ingot: 4 ounces of electrum alloy for the focal rim and filigree inlay.
    • Raw Silver Wire: 1 ounce of fine silver wire for the Sephirotic pathway engravings.
    • Flawless Amber Garnets: Quantity of 10 matched, cabochon garnets (to be set in the circular array).
    • Alchemically Treated Leather: 1 strip of supple, sterile leather (for the neck strap and grip padding).
  • Tools Required
    • Lens Grinding and Polishing Rig: Precision lapidary tools and polishing compounds for shaping the main quartz lens.
    • Fine-Point Engraving Tools: Chisels and scribes for etching Hebrew characters and the complex Tree of Life pattern.
    • Jeweler’s Soldering Torch: A precise torch for soldering electrum and silver components and setting the garnet bezels.
    • Alchemical Flux (Purifying Variant): 1 vial of specialized flux used to fuse electrum to brass and stabilize the internal crystal.
    • Item Focusing Workbench: A stabilized workstation equipped with magic flow conduits to isolate the crafting space from wild magic interference.
  • Skill Requirements
    • Gemcutting / Lapidary Skill: Level 4 or higher (required for flawless lens grinding).
    • Weaponsmithing or Tinker (T2) Skill: Level 5 or higher (required for working brass, electrum, and silver).
    • Medicine or Survival Skill: Level 2 or higher (to correctly align the bacteriological diagnostic pathways).
    • Mind’s Eye Proficiency: Ability to actively view and adjust internal magic flow pathways during assembly.
  • Crafting Steps
    • Step 1 – Forging and Engraving the Brass Body: Hammer and shape the brass stock into the main monocular barrel. Use the fine engraving tools to etch Hebrew characters around the interior and exterior circumference, mapping the Paths of Creation.
    • Step 2 – Grinding and Polishing the Quartz Lens: Grind the raw quartz stock into an exceptionally thick, perfectly clear central lens. Use the engraving scribes to etch miniature Hebrew characters around the outer edge before final polishing.
    • Step 3 – Crafting the Electrum Focal Rim: Forge the electrum ingot into a circular focal rim. Hand-drill ten precisely spaced sockets for the amber garnets and engrave the complex Tree of Life filigree pattern along its face.
    • Step 4 – Embedding and Chanting the Core Crystal: Machine an internal alignment chamber inside the brass barrel. Insert the Tier 1 Magic Crystal into the chamber and stabilize it, ensuring it aligns perfectly with the engraved paths.
    • Step 5 – Setting the Amber Garnets and Silver Filigree: Lay the silver wire filigree into the Sephirotic channels on the electrum rim, securing them with the jeweler’s torch. Then, set the ten flawless amber garnets into their sockets.
    • Step 6 – Final Assembly and Lens Calibration: Fit the quartz lens into the brass body and secure it with the completed electrum focal rim. Seal the assembly using the specialized purifying alchemical flux.
    • Step 7 – Alignment of the Bacteriological Insight: Place the monocular onto the item focusing workbench. Activate your Mind’s Eye to observe the magic flow. Use an active sample of non-lethal airborne pathogens and adjust the internal conduits until the garnets flare amber and the invisible pathogens manifest as shimmering, distinct geometric patterns.

Glass Eye and Ten Small Amber Flies

In the very old years, when the great city-ship Saṃsāra was not yet standing upon the middle water, and the big rivers were filled with thick green mud, there lived a woman named Re-bek. She was not a queen who wore a high silver hat, nor was she a warrior who carried a long iron stick. She was a woman of the dry houses who picked small green herbs in the wet ditches behind the sheep yards.

In those far days, a great bad sickness came out of the warm water. It was not a sickness that came with loud thunder or big red fire; it was a small, silent sickness that no man could see with his two eyes. The people drank the water of the river and their skin became black like cold charcoal, and their breath left their mouths in a single night. The priests of the big stone temple struck their drums and burned the fat of fat goats, but the small sickness did not go away, for it was invisible to the iron spears and the loud noise of the drums.

Re-bek looked upon her three brothers whose eyes had turned into yellow salt, and her heart became very heavy, like a big stone in a deep hole. She said in her mouth: “The big priests look only at the sky-birds, but the death comes from the small things that walk upon the water when no man is looking.”

When the sun went down behind the mountain of dry sand, Re-bek went out to the old stone wall where the ancient well was dug by the first people. She sat down in the cold mud and opened her hands to the dark sky, calling upon the spirit-mother of the hidden circles, whom the old scrolls call Binah-of-the-Deep-Eye. She said: “O Mother who counts the small seeds in the dark earth, my eyes are dark like cloudy water. Give unto me a small window that I may see the little worms that eat the blood of my brothers.”

The spirit-mother heard the voice of the herb-woman. She reached her hand into the clear sky where the glass stars hang upon nothing, and she pulled down a small lump of clear rock that had no color. She dropped the clear rock into the apron of Re-bek, and beside it she placed ten small amber stones that looked like the dry eyes of honey-flies.

A voice came out from the deep well, sounding like wet sand falling upon a flat copper plate: “Take the clear stone of the high mountain. Grind its two faces until it becomes round like the moon when she is full. Wrap its rim in yellow copper and silver thread drawn from a clean cup. Set the ten amber flies into the outer ring. When thou holdest this glass before thy right eye, the small invisible death shall become like big green stars in a dark sky.”

Re-bek went into her small room and barred the door with a heavy wooden post. For fifty days she sat beside her stone wheel, grinding the clear rock with fine river sand and sweet oil. Her fingers became raw and red like fresh meat, but she did not stop her hand. She drew fine silver wire through a tiny hole in a stone block and wrapped it around the brass barrel, carving ancient letters around the edge of the clear stone. Then she set the ten amber stones into the yellow rim, one by one.

When the last amber fly was pushed into its copper bed, a soft green light came out of the stone, and the bad smell of the stagnant water in her room turned into the smell of fresh rain upon dry grass.

On the next morning, Re-bek walked to the middle fountain where all the people of the lower town came to fill their clay pots. The people were crying and throwing dust upon their heads, for three more men had fallen into the cold mud. Re-bek held the brass glass to her right eye and looked into the dark water of the fountain.

With her left eye, she saw only clean, clear water that looked good to drink. But with her right eye, through the glass of the ten amber flies, she saw millions of tiny, wriggling green stars swimming in the water, clustering together like angry bees in an old tree. She saw that the green stars came out of a dead dog that had fallen into the upper pipe three days before.

Re-bek cried out with a loud voice: “Do not drink the water of the stone fountain! The small green flies are thick within the clay, though your eyes see them not!”

The people laughed at her with bad words, saying: “Thou art a foolish herb-woman who has looked too long at the bright sun.” But the young men went up the hill and pulled the dead dog from the pipe, and they washed the stone channel with hot fire and clean sand.

On the next day, no more people fell into the black sickness, and those whose skin had turned dark became cold and well again.

For many years after that morning, Re-bek carried the brass glass upon a leather string around her neck. She looked into the milk pots of the mothers, the wine jars of the merchants, and the wounds of the fallen soldiers. Whenever the ten amber flies glowed with green fire, she knew that the invisible death was walking in the air, and she burned dry leaves of thyme and sulfur to drive the green stars away.

When Re-bek became very old, and her feet could no longer carry her to the wet ditches, she gave the brass glass to her youngest daughter, saying: “Keep this eye clean from grease and sand, for the greatest enemies of man are not the big kings with copper swords, but the tiny worms that walk in the dark where no man looks.”

It is written in the old broken books that the glass was carried across the salt sea to the city of Saṃsāra, where it was copied by the doctors of the high university, but the first glass made by the herb-woman still carries the mark of the ten amber flies upon its rim.

Moral of the Story: The greatest dangers to a community often dwell in the things too small or subtle for the proud to notice, and salvation comes not from grand strength, but from the patience to observe the hidden truths of the world.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

Name: The Microbic Lens of Tiferet

  • Item Type: Arcane Instrument / Scientific Artifact
  • Era & Setting: Modern / 1920s / Gaslight Adaptation (Originating from Saṃsāra)
  • Equipment Slot / Carrying: Handheld or Worn (Neck Slot; carried via a supple leather strap)
  • Skill Requirements: Science (Biology, Chemistry, or Pharmacy) (30% or higher) OR Medicine (30% or higher)
  • Physical Description: A brass monocular set with an electrum focal rim and silver filigree mapping Sephirotic pathways. Ten small amber garnets encircle the outer rim. When brought to the eye, the thick quartz lens illuminates invisible pathogens and spores in glowing pale-emerald light.
  • System Mechanics & Usage Syntax:
  • Passive Benefit – Path of Tiferet: While worn or held, the investigator receives One Bonus Die on all Medicine, Science (Biology), and Survival checks made to diagnose diseases, identify airborne toxins, or locate waterborne parasites.
  • Passive Benefit – Sterile Barrier: The lens maintains an active 1-foot radius ward that neutralizes non-magical airborne bacteria and spores, granting the wielder Advantage on resistance rolls against inhaled biological hazards.
  • Active Ability – Microbial Gematria: The investigator spends 10 minutes examining a contaminated sample, diseased subject, or hazardous surface through the lens and makes a Medicine or Science (Biology) check:
    • Success: Reveals the exact pathogen vector, incubation period, method of transmission, and grants One Bonus Die on future checks made to craft an antidote or treatment.
    • Extreme Success: In addition to normal success, instantly identifies any supernatural or alien origin of the biological agent, preventing 1 point of Sanity loss associated with sudden viral/bacterial mutations.
    • Fumble: The investigator misinterprets the cellular structure, accidentally exposing themselves to the pathogen if it is airborne.
  • Active Ability – Spore Neutralization (Cost: 2 Magic Points): The user channels energy through the ten garnets, projecting a 10-foot cone of pale emerald light that purifies non-magical airborne bacteria, spores, and toxic vapors instantly.

Blades in the Dark

Name: The Microbic Lens

  • Item Type: Fine Scientific Tool / Arcane Artifact
  • Load Value: 1 Load (Compact, Fine Quality)
  • Associated Actions: Study, Tinker, Doctor
  • Quality Rating: Tier +1 when diagnosing diseases, analyzing bio-hazards, or neutralizing airborne spores.
  • Physical Description: A brass-and-electrum monocular featuring ten amber stones and silver filigree. When peered through, unseen airborne spores, mold, and bacterial swarms illuminate as glowing green constellations.
  • System Mechanics & Usage Syntax:
  • Fine Tool Quality: Counts as a Fine item when performing a Study or Doctor action to examine biological samples, treat infected individuals, or analyze toxic environments, granting +1 Quality to the roll or improving overall Effect.
  • Active Ability – Microscopic Sight (Position Boost): When analyzing a dangerous biological hazard or inspecting a plague-ridden quarter, the scoundrel uses the lens to map vectors in real time. This improves the starting Position of a Doctor or Study roll from Desperate to Risky, or Risky to Controlled.
  • Special Activation – Microbial Analysis (Cost: 1 Stress): The scoundrel spends 1 Stress to analyze a pathogen’s structure through the lens. This improves the Effect of an action to cure, neutralize, or isolate a biological threat from Standard to Great (or Limited to Standard).
  • Special Activation – Spore Neutralization Cone (Cost: 2 Stress): The scoundrel activates the ten amber garnets to project a purifying wave. All non-magical toxic spores, airborne rot, or bacterial swarms within close reach (a few paces) are instantly cleansed and rendered inert.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Name: Microbic Lens of the Sephiroth

  • Item Type: Wondrous Item
  • Item Rarity: Common
  • Attunement: Requires Attunement by a creature proficient in Medicine, Nature, or Survival
  • Equipment Slot: Worn (Neck Slot) or Held (One Hand)
  • Physical Description: A thick quartz monocular encased in brass and electrum, rimmed with ten amber garnets. The lens sheds pale emerald dim light in a 5-foot radius only when active or near concentrated airborne pathogens.
  • System Mechanics & Usage Syntax:
  • Path of Tiferet & Microscopic Sight (Passive): While holding or wearing this lens, you gain a +1 bonus to Intelligence (Nature) and Wisdom (Medicine) checks. In addition, looking through the lens allows you to perceive invisible spores, toxic vapors, and disease vectors within 30 feet as glowing green mist.
  • Sterile Barrier (Passive): You have advantage on saving throws against contracting non-magical diseases and taking damage from airborne poison spores while wearing this item.
  • Microbial Gematria (Active Action – 1 Charge): As an action, you inspect a disease, poison, or infected creature within 5 feet. You instantly learn the vector, incubation period, and the specific material or spell needed to cure or neutralize it.
  • Spore Neutralization (Active Action – 1 Charge): As an action, you project a 10-foot cone of pale emerald light from the lens. All non-magical airborne spores, disease-causing bacteria, and toxic fogs within the cone are instantly purified and dissipated.
  • Charges & Recharge: The lens has 3 Charges. It regains 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn.

Knave (2nd Edition)

Name: The Microbic Lens

  • Item Type: Tool (Optical / Medical)
  • Slots Occupied: 1 Item Slot
  • Quality / Durability: 3 / 3
  • Associated Attribute: Wisdom / Intelligence
  • Physical Description: A heavy brass eye-piece set with a thick quartz lens, framed in electrum with ten small amber beads. It reveals invisible biological hazards as bright green glowing dust.
  • System Mechanics & Usage Syntax:
  • Diagnostic Inspection (Passive): Carrying this lens in an active item slot grants Advantage on all Wisdom or Intelligence checks made to diagnose illnesses, forage non-poisonous herbs, identify spoiled rations, or detect biological traps.
  • Spore Cleansing (Active Usage – Quality Cost): When exposed to a cloud of toxic spores, gas, or disease vectors, you may spend 1 point of Quality before rolling a save:
    • Success: The ten amber beads flash, purifying the immediate air around you and up to two adjacent allies, granting an automatic success on the hazard save.
    • Failure: The purification fails to fully trigger, but the lens’s Quality is still reduced by 1.
  • Pathogen Isolation (Active Action – Spend 1 Quality): You focus the lens on a diseased creature or contaminated water source and reduce the lens’s Quality by 1. You instantly determine if the contagion can be cured by standard rest, fire, or specific herbal remedies.
  • Refurbishing Quality: The lens’s Quality can be restored during downtime by spending 1 Tier 1 magic crystal or polishing oils worth 20 gold pieces to realign the amber conduits.

Fate Core System

Name: The Microbic Lens

  • Item Type: Extraordinary Gear / Diagnostic Stunt Focus
  • Permissions: Requires an Aspect related to medicine, scholarship, or biological study (e.g., Plague Warden of the Lower Rings, Scholar of Microscopic Patterns).
  • Invokable Aspect: Geometric Cellular Vision
  • Physical Description: A brass-and-electrum monocular rimmed with ten small amber garnets and silver filigree. When held to the eye, the thick quartz lens renders invisible spores, bacteria, and airborne toxins visible as glowing emerald constellations.
  • System Mechanics & Usage Syntax:
  • Stunt – Diagnostic Precision: You gain a +2 bonus to Crafts or Lore checks when diagnosing illnesses, identifying waterborne contaminants, or analyzing biological hazards.
  • Stunt – Microbial Gematria: Once per scene, when examining an infected target, spoiled ration, or biological trap, you may spend 1 Fate Point to immediately discover its cellular vector, incubation window, and primary weakness, creating a free boost such as Targeted Remedy.
  • Stunt – Spore Neutralization Cone: When targeted by airborne spores, toxic gases, or bacterial hazards, you can invoke Sterile Field to gain a +2 bonus to Notice or Physique rolls made to overcome or avoid the biological hazard.

Numenera & Cypher System

Name: Microbic Lens of Tiferet

  • Item Type: Artifact
  • Level: 1d6
  • Form: A handheld brass-and-electrum monocular featuring a thick quartz lens encircled by ten amber nodules.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d10 (check after using an active ability)
  • Physical Description: An ancient diagnostic relic designed to render unseen biological micro-structures visible. When brought to the user’s eye, the central lens glows with a soft pale-emerald light while filtering out ambient airborne contaminants.
  • System Mechanics & Usage Syntax:
  • Passive Benefit – Microscopic Sight: While wearing or holding the artifact, the user gains an asset (lowers the difficulty by 1 step) on all Intellect-based tasks involving Healing, Identification, and Analyzing biological organisms or environmental toxins.
  • Active Ability – Microbial Gematria (Cost: 2 Intellect Points): The user spends one action analyzing a diseased host, contaminated fluid, or toxic sample through the lens. The difficulty of the task to synthesize a cure, antidote, or neutralizing agent is reduced by 2 steps.
  • Active Ability – Spore Neutralization (Cost: 2 Might Points): The user activates the ten amber garnets to emit a 10-foot cone of emerald light. All non-magical airborne bacteria, spores, and toxic vapors in the area are instantly purified and rendered harmless.
  • Depletion Roll: Roll 1d10 when using Spore Neutralization. On a roll of 1, the amber garnets lose their glow, reducing the artifact to a standard non-magical magnifying lens until recharged.

Pathfinder (2nd Edition)

Name: Microbic Lens

  • Item Type: Item 2 (Magical, Divination)
  • Price: 30 gp
  • Usage: Worn (Neck Slot) or Held in 1 hand; Bulk: L
  • Access Requirements: Trained in Medicine or Nature
  • Physical Description: A brass monocular set with an electrum focal rim, silver filigree, and ten small amber garnets. When held to the eye, it projects a pale emerald aura that illuminates microscopic pathogens and airborne spores.
  • System Mechanics & Usage Syntax:
  • Item Bonus (Passive): You gain a +1 item bonus to Medicine checks to Treat Disease or Treat Poison, as well as Nature checks to identify biological hazards or toxic plants.
  • Microbial Gematria [Single Action] (Concentrate, Divination, Manipulation): You inspect a disease, poison, or infected creature within 5 feet through the lens. You instantly determine the pathogen’s vector, incubation period, and any non-magical substance or condition required to treat it.
  • Sterile Barrier [Free Action] (Trigger: You make a saving throw against an airborne disease, spore, or toxic gas): Effect: The ten amber garnets flare, purifying the air around you. You gain a +2 item bonus to the triggering saving throw.
  • Spore Neutralization [Two Actions] (Frequency: Once per day) (Abjuration, Light): Effect: You channel energy through the quartz lens, projecting a 10-foot cone of pale emerald light. All non-magical airborne spores, disease-causing bacteria, and toxic fogs within the area are instantly purified and dissipated.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)

Name: Microbic Lens of the Sephiroth

  • Item Type: Weird Science Device / Magic Artifact
  • Weight: 0.5 lbs
  • Arcane Supply: 10 Power Points (Recharges 1 PP per hour)
  • Physical Description: A heavy brass monocular bound with silver thread and set with ten amber garnets along its electrum rim. When peered through, invisible biological vectors appear as glowing green geometric patterns.
  • System Mechanics & Usage Syntax:
  • Path of Tiferet (Passive): Holding or wearing the lens grants a +1 bonus to Healing rolls and Survival rolls made to detect or diagnose biological hazards, spoiled food, or contaminated water.
  • Microbial Analysis (Active Action – Cost: 1 Power Point): The wielder spends one action inspecting a pathogen or infected subject through the lens. On a successful Healing or Notice roll, the wielder gains a +2 bonus on all subsequent rolls made to treat, cure, or craft an antidote for that specific disease or toxin.
  • Spore Neutralization Cone (Active Action – Cost: 2 Power Points): As an action, the user projects a Cone Template of pale emerald light from the garnets. All non-magical airborne toxins, biological spores, and disease-causing swarms within the template are instantly cleansed.
    • Raise: Affected allies inside or adjacent to the template gain a +2 bonus to vigor checks to resist remaining biological effects for 1 hour.

Shadowrun (6th World)

Name: The Microbic Lens

  • Item Type: Diagnostic Focus / Optical Sensor Attachment
  • Availability: 3 (R)
  • Cost: 3,200 nuyen
  • Wireless Bonus: The lens streams cellular diagnostic data directly to your PAN/AR display in real time, granting an additional +1 bonus to Biotech tests when identifying biological warfare agents or viral vectors.
  • Physical Description: A hand-held brass-and-electrum monocular featuring silver filigree, ten amber garnets, and a thick quartz lens. Designed to map micro-biological structures, it renders invisible bacterial colonies and airborne spores as glowing emerald constellations.
  • System Mechanics & Usage Syntax:
  • Passive Benefit – Path of Tiferet: While holding or wearing the lens, the user receives a +1 dice pool bonus to Biotech (Biomedicine) and Survival (Toxic Environments) tests.
  • Active Ability – Microbial Gematria (Minor Action): By spending a Minor Action to scan an infected subject, water source, or air sample through the lens, the user calculates the pathogen’s cellular matrix. This reduces the threshold of any subsequent test made to treat, cure, or neutralize the bio-hazard by 1.
  • Active Ability – Spore Neutralization (Major Action): The user activates the ten amber garnets to emit a 2-meter cone of purifying emerald light. All non-magical/non-cybernetic airborne spores, toxic vapors, and bacteria in the area are instantly rendered inert.

Starfinder (2nd Edition)

Name: Microbic Lens of Tiferet

  • Item Level: Level 2
  • Price: 220 credits
  • Hands: 1 or Worn (Neck); Bulk: L
  • Category: Tech / Arcane Hybrid Diagnostic Tool
  • Physical Description: A brass-encased monocular set with an electrum focal rim, silver filigree, and ten small amber garnets. When held to the eye, its thick quartz optic detects invisible biological hazards, rendering airborne spores and pathogens visible in glowing green light.
  • System Mechanics & Usage Syntax:
  • Tool Bonus (Passive): You gain a +1 item bonus to Medicine checks made to Treat Disease or Treat Poison, as well as Life Science checks made to analyze micro-biological organisms or environmental toxins.
  • Microbial Gematria [Single Action] (Arcane, Tech, Divination): You inspect an infected creature, hazardous liquid, or airborne spore sample within 5 feet. On a success, you instantly determine the pathogen’s primary vector, incubation period, and its vulnerability to specific antitoxins or medical treatments.
  • Spore Neutralization [Two Actions] (Arcane, Tech, Abjuration): You activate the amber garnets to project a 10-foot cone of pale emerald light. All non-magical airborne spores, disease vectors, and toxic gases in the cone are instantly purified and dissipated.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Name: Field Microbic Lens

  • Tech Level: TL 11 (Special / Hybrid Origin)
  • Weight: 0.2 kg
  • Price: Cr1,800
  • Skill Requirement: Science (biology) 1 or Medic 1
  • Physical Description: A brass optical analyzer inlaid with silver circuits and ten amber sensors surrounding a thick quartz lens. It amplifies microscopic structures and isolates airborne bio-hazards by projecting a localized purifying energy field.
  • System Mechanics & Usage Syntax:
  • Passive Skill Augmentation: When carried or worn around the neck, the user receives a +1 DM to all Medic and Science (biology) checks made to diagnose viral outbreaks, analyze alien spores, or inspect water supplies.
  • Active Analysis – Microbial Gematria (Exploration Action): A traveler spends 1 minute examining a sample through the lens and makes a Medic check (DM +1 from the item):
    • Effect 0+: The traveler identifies the pathogen’s vector, incubation period, and primary chemical or temperature vulnerability.
    • Effect 6+: The traveler synthesizes an immediate field treatment, granting a +2 DM to all subsequent rolls made to cure or decontaminate infected crew members.
  • Purification Cone (Combat Action): The traveler can expend the lens’s stored charge to project a 3-meter cone of purifying emerald energy. All airborne toxins, biological spores, and disease swarms in the area are instantly neutralized.

Warhammer (40,000 Roleplay – Rogue Trader / Dark Heresy / Wrath & Glory)

Name: The Microbic Lens of Tiferet

  • Item Tier / Value: Tier 1 / Uncommon
  • Keywords: IMPERIUM, ADEPTUS MECHANICUS, ROGUE TRADER, ARTIFACT
  • Physical Description: A brass and electrum ocular glass engraved with sacred silver runes and set with ten amber garnets. Preserved by chirurgeons and bio-scryers, its thick quartz lens illuminates microscopic rot, viral clouds, and Nurgle-spawned spores as glowing emerald constellations.
  • System Mechanics & Usage Syntax:
  • Passive Blessing – Path of Tiferet: A character wearing or wielding the lens gains +1 bonus die (or +10% to Medicae Skill Checks in d100 systems) when performing tests using Medicae, Scholastic Lore (Chirurgery), or Survival to diagnose toxins, treat diseases, or inspect hazardous environments.
  • Sterile Barrier (Passive): The lens projects an active purifying ward in a 1-meter radius around the user, granting +1 Resilience (or +10% to Resistance Tests) against airborne poisons, toxic gases, and biological spores.
  • Spore Neutralization (Combat Action): The user channels energy through the ten amber garnets. Make a Medicae Test:
    • Success: The user projects a 3-meter cone of pale emerald light. All non-magical airborne spores, disease-causing swarms, and toxic gases within the area are instantly cleansed and purged from the environment.