Reiki 481 of the Sapping Palm

by

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Lore

  • In the deep quarry pits and subterranean mining networks of Erlitou, excavation teams frequently suffered fatal cave-ins when high-explosive black powder ignited unstable pockets of geothermal gas.
  • Seeking a controllable method to clear blockages without lethal concussive blasts, a reincarnated civil engineer combined classical hand-placed bio-energetic techniques with harmonic resonance theory.
  • By crafting hand coverings from the tough hide of subterranean stone-burrowing pangolins and threading them with dense brass-alloy wires, the artisan adapted soothing palm techniques to interact directly with the mineral matrices of solid stone, mortar, and load-bearing timber.
  • Instead of gently relaxing the soft muscles and biological meridians of a living subject, the wraps channel micro-vibrational frequencies that soothe the internal tension of inorganic materials, systematically loosening microscopic crystalline bonds and causing dense stone to collapse into loose gravel with a soft touch.
  • Military sappers, siege engineers, and subterranean pathfinders adopted these wraps to silently breach fortified parapets, dismantle iron barricades, and clear collapsed mining shafts without generating sound or alert vibrations.
  • Municipal builders frequently requisition these bindings for controlled urban deconstruction, allowing workers to fell dangerous leaning towers and rotted wooden tenements safely without disturbing surrounding civilian dwellings.

Description

  • The item consists of a pair of heavy, fingerless palm wraps and forearm gauntlets made from the thick, interlocking dorsal scales and cured under-leather of an Erlitou quarry pangolin, colored in dusty earthen ochre and slate grey.
  • Thick, interwoven braids of heavy yellow brass wire crisscross the palms and dorsal surfaces, terminating at the palm heels in broad, flat impact studs stamped with concentric acoustic circle patterns.
  • The interior lining is stitched from thick, rough-woven mountain wool padded with compressed felt to absorb and dissipate destructive harmonic kickback from entering the wearer’s arm bones.
  • Across the knuckles sit three heavy, flat-cut weights made of dense magnetized lodestone that hum with a faint, low-frequency buzz whenever the hands close into fists.
  • When actively channeled, the brass wiring flares with a hot, vibrating amber-orange radiance, producing a deep, rhythmic acoustic thrumming that visibly shakes fine dust and loose grit off adjacent rock faces.

Detailed Stats

  • Item Tier: Tier 1 (Common)
  • Armor Check: +1 AC
  • Item Resilience: 12
  • Item Health Points: Avatar Maximum Health Points plus 12 (Item HP = Avatar Max HP + 12)
  • Weight: 2 pounds
  • Activation Type: Handheld or Slotted (Requires 1 minute of attunement to synchronize somatic channels with the avatar’s gear limits)
  • Conduit Type: Somatic focus utilizing palm pressure, resonant vibrations, and kinetic transfer to shatter structural integrity
  • Material Composition: Cured quarry-pangolin scale hide, braided brass wire, heavy lodestone knuckle slabs, felt-padded wool lining, brass impact plates

Passive Magic

  • Structural Flaw Detection: When the avatar places a bare palm against any non-magical structure, door, masonry wall, or worked stone, the wraps interface directly with the Mind’s Eye, highlighting the exact structural stress lines, hollow points, and load-bearing vectors in glowing orange lines, granting advantage on all checks made to find weak points or collapse architecture.
  • Siege Sapping: The avatar’s unarmed strikes and touch-based abilities deal double damage (the Siege trait) against non-magical objects, structures, fortifications, reinforced doors, and constructs.
  • Harmonic Grip: The resonant micro-vibrations emitted through the brass studs continuously adjust to stone and mineral surfaces, providing a sure, non-slip grip that grants the avatar a climbing speed equal to their normal walking speed across masonry, solid stone walls, and rocky cliff faces.

Activable Magic

  • Sapping Palm: As an action costing one combat action, the avatar presses both glowing palms against a non-magical stone, brick, mortar, or wooden surface of up to 5 feet in thickness and discharges a sustained pulse of disruptive frequencies. The targeted 5-foot cube of material immediately loses all cohesion, crumbling into harmless, non-explosive dust and fine gravel over 3 seconds without producing any loud concussive boom. This ability can be used three times per day, regaining all expended uses each morning at Helios sunrise (06:00).
  • Diagnostic Mending: As an action costing one combat action, the avatar reverses the energetic polarity of the wraps and places an open palm upon an injured living ally or an inorganic construct. Channelling soothing restorative ki, the avatar repairs torn flesh or re-bonds fractured stone, restoring 1d4 health points plus the avatar’s Tier 1 die (1d4). This ability can be used three times per day, sharing its charge pool with the destructive functions and resetting at dawn.
  • Seismic Back-Pulse: As a reaction triggered when struck by a melee attack made with a non-magical metal or stone weapon, the avatar slaps an open brass stud against the incoming weapon shaft. The attacker must make an opposed DC 12 Strength save; on a failure, the vibration travels through the weapon into the attacker’s joints, forcing them to drop the weapon immediately while suffering the weapon’s base damage in structural vibration shock. This ability has 2 charges and recovers 1 charge after a full twenty-two-hour day has passed.

Specific Slot

  • Hand Slot (Left and Right Hands/Forearms)

Tags

  • Hands, Forearms, Healing, Reiki, Demolition, Sapping, Siege, Pangolin Hide, Brass Wire, Lodestone, Tier 1, Common, Structural, Mind’s Eye, Reaction, Harmonic Vibration, Wall Breaching, Excavation, Infiltration, Disarm, Lodestone Knuckles, Mineral Dissolution, Acoustic Pulse, Siege Engineer, Fortification Collapse, Erlitou Quarry Craft

Acquisition, Valuation, and Commerce of Reiki 481 of the Sapping Palm

  • Mining Guild Depots and Quarry Quartermasters Situated at the mouths of massive stone excavations, slate open-pits, and deep geothermal shaft networks, these industrial outposts supply professional excavation crews, tunneleers, and rock-splitters. The wraps hang on heavy iron racks behind reinforced timber grilles, kept in greasecloth sacks next to hydraulic jack-levers, chisels, and canary cages. Avatars presenting a certified Guild Sapper permit or municipal blasting token can purchase the wraps directly from the master quarryman for 75 to 95 silver pieces, with the option to pay in pure unprocessed copper ore or rough-cut granite blocks. When selling a set to a mining depot, the quartermaster will inspect the brass impact plates for hairline stress fractures and verify the scale articulation on the pangolin hide, paying a steady bulk salvage price of 60 to 70 silver coins into a trade ledger.
  • Military Sapper Arsenals and Siege Guild Armories Found within fortified border citadels, royal legion compounds, and forward siege supply encampments, these arsenals outfit combat engineers, trench sappers, and gate-breaching specialists. The item is secured in greased, iron-banded ammunition chests alongside trench picks, grappling hooks, and portable barricade braces. Soldiers, mercenary contractors, or avatars carrying a sanctioned military commission can acquire the wraps for 110 to 140 silver coins (or 11 to 14 gold coins), often deducting the sum from royal muster-pay or service bounties. If an avatar brings a recovered pair to a frontline siege armory, the ordnance officer will strike an anvil with the palm studs to confirm the acoustic resonance, purchasing battlefield salvage for 85 to 100 silver coins in clean legion coinage without asking questions regarding origin.
  • Demolition Salvage Yards and Scrapper Conduits Located on the dusty outskirts of expanding boomtowns, urban slum margins, and canal re-dredging districts where condemned tenements and shattered ruins are processed, these vast open yards trade in brute architectural scrap. The shop operates out of a corrugated tin shed surrounded by heaps of reclaimed masonry, bent iron girders, and cracked millstones. Buyers can discover the wraps lying tangled among heavy lifting chains and iron pry-bars, offered by a proprietor who views them primarily as mundane masonry demolition tools rather than specialized Reiki gear. The yard master sells them cheaply for 55 to 80 silver pieces, readily accepting haggling or mixed barter such as scrap lead, wagon axles, or heavy dray beasts. When liquidating a worn pair here, the yard scrapper will test the magnetic pull of the lodestone knuckles and offer an immediate cash buyout of 35 to 50 silver pieces.
  • Subterranean Smuggler Bazaars and Rogue Delver Dens Hidden within flooded storm sewer vaults, abandoned aqueducts, and deep under-city black markets beneath major island ports, these clandestine stalls cater to tomb-robbers, tunnel infiltrators, and lockbox crackers. The wraps are displayed upon raw slate slabs beneath dim tallow lanterns, pitched explicitly as silent, vibration-free infiltration tools capable of bypassing prison walls, vault mortises, and heavy stone treasury lintels. The fence charges a steep illicit markup, pricing them between 130 and 180 silver coins (or 13 to 18 gold coins), demanding untraceable bullion, raw gems, or forged transit permits. When selling a set to an underworld broker, the fence verifies that the lodestone studs have not lost their natural polarity, paying out 70 to 90 silver pieces in melted coin or offering equal value in illicit gate keys and poison vials.

Environmental Roleplay: Tactical Sapping in Defense and Offense

  • Subterranean Mines, Collapsed Shafts, and Volcanic Tunnels Deep beneath the island crust in unstable shaft networks and suffocating geothermal drift-mines, physical combat and structural survival are inextricably linked. Defensively, when a tremor or runaway mine-cart triggers a sudden ceiling collapse that threatens to bury the expedition beneath tons of granite boulders, the avatar does not waste time frantically digging with iron picks. Planting both palms against the descending rock mass, the avatar channels Sapping Palm; the crushing slab loses its crystalline cohesion within three heartbeats, dissolving into a harmless, soft shower of loose gravel and fine sand that slides harmlessly around the party’s boots. Offensively, when hostile cave-dwelling beasts or rival tunneling gangs push down a narrow drift, the avatar uses the Mind’s Eye and Structural Flaw Detection to trace the glowing orange fault lines along the ceiling brackets above the attackers. Stepping forward with a sudden Seismic Back-Pulse, the avatar slaps the natural stone pillar anchoring the gallery ceiling, causing the structural lintel above the enemies to give way instantly, trapping or crushing the hostile advance under a localized cave-in while the adventuring party remains secure behind the reinforced threshold.
  • Fortified Castles, Masonry Gates, and Siege Lines Along the outer ring-walls, parapets, and reinforced gates of contested mountain citadels, brute force meets unyielding stone. Defensively, when enemy sappers roll forward an iron-tipped battering ram to smash through the courtyard gate, the avatar rushes to the barred threshold. Reversing the polarity of the wraps to Diagnostic Mending, the avatar places glowing hands over the splintering wooden crossbeams and fracturing stone jambs, feeding restorative ki into the mineral and timber grain to re-bond microscopic fractures and double the gate’s structural resilience in real-time under the assault. Offensively, while the siege engines draw fire toward the central gate, the avatar approaches a forgotten flanking curtain wall in the dead of night. Utilizing Harmonic Grip, the avatar scales the vertical masonry with the speed and silence of a climbing lizard, reaching the parapet completely unnoticed. Once atop the wall, the avatar presses both palms to the stone flooring beneath the defensive ballista platform, silently crumbling a five-foot foundation section into powder and sending the heavy siege weapon tumbling into the moat below without sounding a single concussive alarm.
  • Urban Alleyways, Slum Tenements, and Narrow Cobblestone Streets Within densely packed metropolitan districts, leaning timber tenements, and narrow brick back-alleys where city guards or underworld syndicates stage tight ambushes, space is painfully constricted. Defensively, when trapped inside an unyielding dead-end by a phalanx of shield-bearing enforcers or crossbowmen leveling bolts at point-blank range, the avatar does not attempt a suicidal frontal charge. Turning to the blank brick wall at their back, the avatar discharges Sapping Palm directly into the masonry. The five-foot expanse of brick turns to loose dust in three seconds, creating an instant escape aperture that allows the party to dive through into an adjoining interior parlor or cellar, leaving the pursuers firing their volley into empty space. Offensively, during a running street skirmish against heavily armored shock troops bearing tower shields and iron warhammers, the avatar engages directly in close quarters. As a shock trooper brings down an overhead warhammer strike, the avatar triggers Seismic Back-Pulse, slapping the flat of an open brass stud against the incoming iron shaft. The violent harmonic vibration shatters the attacker’s grip, wrenching the hammer from their fingers and sending concussive shock reverberating up their arm bones to leave them defenseless before the party’s vanguard.
  • Ancient Tombs, Submerged Catacombs, and Forgotten Stone Vaults Inside prehistoric necropolises, sealed vault chambers, and drowned temple complexes guarded by tireless inorganic guardians and mechanical traps, traditional weapons often fail to bite. Defensively, when the adventuring party is trapped inside an airtight burial chamber by a descending stone portcullis or crushing ceiling-plate mechanism, the avatar quickly scans the perimeter using Structural Flaw Detection. Spotting the primary mechanical pivot hidden behind the masonry, the avatar delivers an open-palm strike directly to the load-bearing stone tooth, shattering the lever and arresting the trap mechanism before the ceiling can descend. Offensively, when confronting ancient stone golems, animated sarcophagus guardians, or heavy iron constructs that shrug off mundane arrows and slashing blades, the avatar acts as the frontline breacher. Exploiting the inherent Siege property of the wraps, the avatar delivers a flurry of resonant palm strikes directly into the automaton’s structural joints. Each impact bypasses the construct’s dense exterior plating, loosening the ancient mortar and internal gears with harmonic disruption, causing the animated guardian’s limbs to seize and shatter into fractured stone rubble with every strike.

Perception of Activation:

  • Visual Perception (The Sense of Sight) Under the user’s perspective, the instant somatic intent shifts toward deconstruction, the thick braided brass wiring flares with an intense, molten amber-orange radiance. Concentric shock-rings of warm light pulse rhythmically outward from the palm-heel studs, illuminating hairline cracks and porous voids within target surfaces. Through the Mind’s Eye, structural stress lines flare across stone and timber in blazing neon-gold vectors. Under the observer’s perspective, onlookers see the sapper’s ochre wraps heat to an incandescent bronze glow, casting harsh, pulsating shadows across the floor. As the palms press against a target, tiny ribbons of orange harmonic energy spiderweb across the rock face, causing fine stone dust, flakes, and dried mortar to visibly dance and leap off the surface before the material slumps into loose gravel. The positive aspect is clear real-time structural targeting; hidden fault lines, load-bearing joints, and hollow wall chambers are rendered glaringly visible to the naked eye. The negative aspect is the high-visibility flare; the radiant orange luminescence pierces pitch darkness like a signal beacon, rendering covert excavation impossible without immediate visual detection by nearby sentries.
  • Auditory Perception (The Sense of Hearing) Under the user’s perspective, activation produces a deep, bone-rattling bass thrum that resonates directly within the inner ear, bypassing standard acoustic pathways. As the lodestone weights harmonize with the brass circuits, the hum shifts into a hollow, localized droning pitch that deadens ambient airborne sounds, replacing distant footsteps and wind with a steady acoustic frequency calibrated to the mineral matrix of the target. Under the observer’s perspective, bystanders hear a low, rhythmic vibration similar to a massive subterranean tuning fork or a distant milling wheel grinding thick grain. When stone crumbles, there is no thunderous detonation or explosive crack; the material dissolves with a soft, dry hiss resembling a heavy bag of dried peas spilling onto a stone floor. The positive aspect is acoustic suppression; heavy fortifications and masonry can be brought down without generating concussive, echoing booms that alert entire garrisons or dungeon levels. The negative aspect is infrasonic ear fatigue; prolonged exposure to the deep resonant hum leaves the user and nearby allies with dulled hearing and an annoying, persistent ringing in the ears for several minutes.
  • Tactile Perception (The Sense of Touch) Under the user’s perspective, the thick felt lining compresses tightly against the wrists as the brass studs transmit a fierce, micro-oscillating kickback into the palms. The user feels their forearms buzz with rapid, high-frequency tremors, yet the felt padding absorbs the brunt of the kinetic violence, leaving the hands feeling warm, grounded, and immovable. When contacting stone, the hard mineral plane suddenly feels like shifting, dry sand beneath the palms as the internal cohesion yields. Under the observer’s perspective, anyone standing on the same continuous flagstone, wall, or bedrock floor feels a sharp, rhythmic tremor travel up through their boot soles, accompanied by an intense localized prickle of static charge that lifts the fine hairs along their arms. The positive aspect is total mechanical grip and stability; the resonant vibrations anchor the hands securely to sheer mineral faces, granting infallible traction on vertical climbs. The negative aspect is cumulative joint numbness; sustained demolition runs exhaust the wrist and elbow joints, causing mild hand stiffness and reduced fine motor control immediately following activation.
  • Olfactory Perception (The Sense of Smell) Under the user’s perspective, the energetic friction of the brass coils heats the pangolin scales, releasing a distinct, dry odor of hot clay, scorched copper wire, and pulverized limestone dust. As the target material dissolves, an unmistakable earthy scent fills the nasal passages, smelling like freshly turned topsoil, dried shale, and pulverized slate. Under the observer’s perspective, witnesses smell a sharp burst of warm, ionized mineral grit and dry brick dust, reminiscent of a stonecutter’s workshop or an iron foundry floor during casting. The positive aspect is instant atmospheric analysis; the burning mineral scent allows the user to detect subterranean damp, hidden sulfur pockets, or pocketed toxic coal gases before an excavation breaches them. The negative aspect is respiratory irritation; the sudden release of fine, dry rock dust and hot metallic scent tickles the throat, provoking involuntary dry coughing if the user does not wear a dust scarf or cloth respirator.
  • Gustatory Perception (The Sense of Taste) Under the user’s perspective, the powerful magnetic field generated by the lodestone knuckles produces a sharp, alkaline tang of raw copper and dry chalk along the back of the tongue. Breathing in the fine pulverized air leaves a gritty, powdery texture across the teeth and gums. Under the observer’s perspective, if an ally stands close enough to breathe the immediate atmospheric displacement of the collapse, they notice a dry, gritty taste of pulverized silt and chalk that immediately dries out the mouth. The positive aspect is quick mineral verification; the distinctive alkaline galvanic taste allows an experienced sapper to identify the presence of metal veins or dense iron reinforcements inside a wall. The negative aspect is lingering dry mouth; the chalky, metallic taste coats the palate, creating immediate thirst and requiring ample fresh water to rinse away the gritty residue.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception: Mind’s Eye Structural Flaw Detection Under the user’s perspective, the avatar perceives inorganic matter not as solid, impenetrable mass, but as an interconnected web of crystalline tension lines. Masonry blocks, mortar joints, and wooden beams glow with internal yellow-and-orange stress lines, exposing the single keystone or foundation point holding the entire assembly upright. Under the observer’s perspective, creatures capable of detecting mana or aura signatures see a jagged, geometric corona of orange kinetic pressure radiating from the sapper’s hands, latching onto the target’s physical anchors and dissolving its internal magical or material cohesion. The positive aspect is surgical precision; the user can bring down a targeted wall, door, or battlement with minimal force by striking only the single load-bearing failure point. The negative aspect is structural cognitive fixation; calculating mechanical stress vectors consumes the avatar’s full spatial focus, temporarily dulling their awareness to biological threats or stealthy enemy ambushes approaching outside their line of sight.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception: Kinetic Inversion Wave Under the user’s perspective, when Seismic Back-Pulse is triggered against an incoming blow, the user senses the kinetic force of the enemy’s metal or stone weapon as an incoming river of dense momentum. Slapping the brass plate against the weapon feels like catching an acoustic wave and violently reversing its direction, watching the energy surge back through the weapon handle into the attacker’s skeleton. Under the observer’s perspective, witnesses watch an incoming heavy warhammer or broadsword strike suddenly halt dead in mid-swing with a loud, metallic ring, followed by a visible circular shockwave running back up the weapon shaft that forcibly violently wrenches the weapon from the attacker’s spasming fingers. The positive aspect is total offensive neutralization; incoming heavy melee strikes are not merely dodged, but actively stripped from the opponent while turning their own momentum into physical shock. The negative aspect is weapon composition dependence; the inversion wave relies on dense inorganic conductors—it is completely useless against purely wooden cudgels, bone daggers, or unarmed biological strikes.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception: Molecular Cohesion Mending Under the user’s perspective, when reversing the energetic flow into Diagnostic Mending, the violent, disruptive hum of the brass studs softens into a gentle, warm rhythmic pulse. Placing hands over broken stone or torn flesh, the user visualizes the microscopic bonds drawing together, feeling fractured rock knit or cellular tissue seal like stitching a heavy quilt. Under the observer’s perspective, onlookers watch crumbled mortar and cracked stonework draw together beneath a soothing, steady amber glow, erasing cracks without leaving marks, while wounded flesh knits with thick, sturdy scar tissue. The positive aspect is dual-purpose operational versatility; the wraps serve as both an unyielding siege implement and an emergency repair tool for damaged constructs, stone defenses, or wounded comrades. The negative aspect is the shared charge reservoir; using restorative energy to mend an ally or seal a cracked barricade permanently expends charges needed for tactical breaching, forcing the sapper to balance triage against offensive momentum.

Crafting Recipe: Assembly of the Sapping Gauntlets

Materials Needed

  • 1 pelt of cured subterranean quarry-pangolin hide, measuring two feet in length and four inches in width, carefully harvested to preserve the thick, interlocking dorsal scales and heavy ventral leather.
  • 1 Coin-sized Tier 1 Magic Crystal, serving as the resonant kinetic battery to store, modulate, and release harmonic deconstruction waves.
  • 14 feet of heavy yellow-brass wire, drawn into sturdy braided cords to conduct high-vibration kinetic energy through the palm and wrist channels.
  • 2 circular brass impact plates, two inches in diameter and stamped with concentric acoustic resonance rings, to be mounted directly over the heel of each palm.
  • 6 flat-cut slabs of natural magnetized lodestone, polished smooth and sized to sit across the dorsal knuckle joints as kinetic stabilizing weights.
  • 1 square foot of dense mountain wool, backed by a layer of half-inch compressed felt, to form the shock-dampening interior lining.
  • 2 fluid ounces of heavy pine-rosin pitch, melted to serve as an insulating, high-friction adhesive for anchoring internal brass conduits.

Tools Required

  • 1 Heavy Leatherworking Shears and Diamond Awl, required to cut, trim, and puncture the tough, calcified scales of the pangolin hide.
  • 1 Small Anvil and Brass Ball-Peen Hammer, used to shape the palm impact plates and bend the braided brass wire into form.
  • 1 Lapidary Grinding Wheel and Diamond File, needed to shape and chamfer the edges of the lodestone knuckle weights.
  • 1 Soldering Iron and Charcoal Brazier, used to solder the brass wire terminals to the palm impact plates.
  • 1 Agate Mortar and Pestle, necessary for pulverizing the magic crystal catalyst into fine resonant grit.

Skill Requirements

  • Leatherworking: Level 5 or higher, essential for working the dense, mineralized pangolin hide without cracking the structural plates.
  • Metalsmithing and Wirework: Level 5 or higher, required to anneal, braid, and cold-forge the brass conduits without leaving brittle stress points.
  • Arcane Crafting: Level 6 or higher (a baseline of level 5 plus 1 for the Tier 1 item), necessary to harmonize the crystal catalyst with the lodestones without causing a premature acoustic blowout.
  • Structural Engineering or Geology: Level 5 or higher, required to properly calibrate the concentric resonance rings to the harmonic frequencies of worked masonry and stone.

Crafting Steps

  • Prepare the Armored Pangolin Foundation and Dampening Core
    • Lay the cured quarry-pangolin hide flat on an ironwood bench, slicing it with the heavy leatherworking shears into two matching fingerless forearm-and-palm gauntlet patterns.
    • Chamfer the scale edges along the carpal flex points to allow free wrist movement while maintaining continuous plate overlap.
    • Cut two matching lining pieces from the felt-backed mountain wool, testing the padding thickness to ensure it absorbs kinetic vibration while leaving enough interior clearance for the wearer’s hands.
    • Using the diamond awl, punch heavy needle holes along the perimeter margins of both the hide and the felt lining.
  • Shape and Mount the Acoustic Impact Plates and Lodestones
    • Cold-hammer the two circular brass impact plates on the small anvil, raising a slight dish curve and burnishing the concentric stamped resonance rings until bright.
    • Drill four mounting holes around the perimeter of each impact plate, positioning one plate directly at the heel of each palm wrap on the exterior scale face.
    • Shape the six lodestone slabs on the lapidary wheel into flat rectangular bars, filing smooth bevels on all corners to prevent snagging.
    • Fit the lodestone weights into reinforced scale pockets across the three knuckle bands of each gauntlet, ensuring their magnetic poles face downward toward the palm.
  • Braid and Lay the Resonant Brass Meridians
    • Twist the heavy brass wire into tight, four-strand braided cords to maximize kinetic conductivity.
    • Route the braided cords in a serpentine lattice across the dorsal side of the hide, weaving the strands directly underneath the lodestone pockets and leading them down to the palm heel.
    • Heat the soldering iron over the charcoal brazier and fuse the trailing ends of the brass braids directly to the inner face of the brass impact plates.
    • Heat the pine-rosin pitch and brush a heavy layer over the exposed interior wiring, cementing the cords in place and providing an insulated, high-friction backing against the felt lining.
  • Catalyst Integration and Harmonic Harmonization
    • Grind the coin-sized Tier 1 magic crystal into coarse, uniform granules using the agate mortar, taking care not to crush it into dust so that its crystalline lattice retains its acoustic structure.
    • Blend the granulated crystal into a dollop of warm pitch and seat the mixture directly into a hollow recess carved into the underside of each brass palm plate.
    • Place both forearms into the curing wraps, resting the brass palm studs flat against a solid block of granite.
    • Focus mental discipline through the Mind’s Eye, channeling somatic intent into the brass coils to synchronize the vibration of the crystal grains with the magnetic fields of the lodestones.
    • Roll a d20 to test the energetic cohesion of the circuit: a roll of 2 through 20 successfully sets the permanent deconstruction frequency into the wraps, whereas a roll of 1 indicates an acoustic shockwave that shatters the lodestone knuckles, splits the brass plates, and ruins the raw components.
  • Final Assembly and Fastening
    • Align the felt-padded wool lining against the interior of the wired pangolin hide, matching the perimeter needle holes.
    • Double-stitch the margins using heavy waxed cord, fully sealing the brass braids, pitch insulation, and impact assemblies between the felt and outer scales.
    • Install reinforced hide lacing cords through heavy brass eyelets along the inner forearm, testing the finished wraps to confirm that the palm impact studs seat firmly against the heel of the hand and that the wrist flexes freely without binding.

Heavy Arm of Quarry-Hole and Soft Wall of King’s Nephew

Look upon the split sheep-bone where the black grease was rubbed with a thumb before the mountain split its throat and spat red mud into the copper-works. In that circle of years, the world was very stiff, and the King of the island called Erlitou was building a high house upon the high rock so the sea-crabs could not climb into his beer-tubs.

The King had a nephew whose belly was like a wet sheep-bladder filled with curdled milk, and his name was Prince Two-Hammers. Prince Two-Hammers was the chief master of the deep digging where the slaves broke the yellow slate to make walls for the granary. He was an angry man whose mouth was always open like the gate of a goose-pen. Whenever a stone would not break with three blows of the iron wedge, Prince Two-Hammers would take the skin-whip and strike the back of the diggers until their meat was red like a salt-fish.

Among the diggers in the bottom pit was a man who had no grandfather in the town book. His name upon the salt-tablet was marked as Four-Sacks-of-Grit, because when he fell down through the cloud-basket during the Great Hum, he had no shoes, no wife, and only four small bags of gravel tied to his kilt. The old men who blow the smelter pipes called him The One Who Shakes the Plank, because he never swung the big sledge-hammer like an honest smith, but sat upon his heels and put his ears against the mountain-side as if he were listening to a fat pig snoring inside a clay pen.

Four-Sacks-of-Grit had two arm-covers that he had taken from the skin of the great earth-beast that rolls into an iron ball when the dogs bark. The leather was thick with hard yellow tiles that smelled of mountain-grease. Through the tiles he had run heavy cords of yellow copper-brass that he had twisted with two stones, and over the heel of his thumbs he had fastened two round brass plates beaten out of an old soup-skillet. Across the knuckle-bones he had tied three heavy black pebbles that make iron nails stick to their faces, which the digging-men call the stones that sleep with the north star.

In the eighth moon of the great sweat, the diggers came upon the Great Blue Rib. The Great Blue Rib was a rock as high as four wagons standing upon each other’s wheels, hard like the tooth of a sea-bull and blue like the sky before the storm-wind. It sat directly across the mouth of the road that goes to the Queen’s water-trough.

Prince Two-Hammers came down the ladder with twelve soldiers carrying ash-poles. His nose was red from plum-wine, and he had three iron mallets hanging from his girdle. “Break this blue bone before the sun Helios goes into the water!” screamed the Prince, “or twenty of you shall be thrown into the lime-pit to make mortar for my pig-house!”

The strongest digger, whose name was Iron-Knee, took a sledge that weighed two talents of lead and struck the blue stone upon its middle. The sledge made a loud ringing like an iron pot falling on a cellar floor, but the hammer-head flew off the ash-haft and broke Iron-Knee’s thigh-bone, while the rock spat only one small spark and did not crack the thickness of a barley-grain.

Prince Two-Hammers took his whip from his belt and raised his arm to strike the broken man.

Four-Sacks-of-Grit stood up from the gravel. His knees made the noise of dry reeds when the marsh dries out. He did not have an iron pick and he did not carry a sledge. He stepped between the whip and the fallen man, holding up his two hands so the sun Helios could shine upon the yellow scales of the burrowing beast.

The Prince laughed with a mouth full of sour onions: “What will you do with your yellow hide-gloves, turnip-head? Will you wipe the stone’s nose with your sleeve?”

Four-Sacks-of-Grit did not speak words of the high market. He made a low buzzing in the back of his neck, like the fat brown hornets that live in the mud-walls when the plum-trees drop their fruit: O-ro-su-no-te-ma-ri.

The yellow brass cords upon his forearms began to burn with a dull, hot light like the embers in a charcoal-trench when the wind is stopped. The three black pebbles upon his knuckles began to hum with a voice that was very deep, so that the dust upon the floor of the pit began to hop like sand-fleas upon the beach.

He did not strike the blue stone with a heavy blow. He laid his two palms flat against the middle of the rock, where the blue color was dark like an old bruised cabbage.

The Prince shouted to his soldiers: “Stick the pig-hook through his ribs! He is idling while the water-road is stopped!”

A soldier stepped forward with a long lance of tempered ash, but before the point could touch the man’s smock, the sound of the world in the bottom of the quarry died away. It was not a silence like the night when the sheep are sleeping; it was a thick, heavy quiet, like when a man dives into a vat of cold honey and cannot hear the dogs barking upon the bank.

Through the eye that lives inside his forehead, which the ancients call the Mind’s Eye, Four-Sacks-of-Grit did not see a hard wall of blue stone. He saw forty thousand threads of cold salt holding the stone together, all pulled tight like the cords of a war-bow. He pushed his two brass palm-plates against the center of the web. He did not use the meat of his back; he sent a small, trembling wave through the brass wire, sweet and gentle, like an old woman shaking the wrinkles out of a linen apron.

The rock gave a long, tired sigh. It was not a crack like thunder, and it was not a boom like the Queen’s sea-tubes. It was the sound of dry meal falling through the holes of a willow basket.

The great blue stone, which had turned twelve sledge-hammers and four iron wedges, did not burst into sharp flying knives. Its middle became soft like dried barley-paste. Then the top fell into the middle, and the sides sloughed away like ditch-mud when the spring thaw comes down from the hills. In three heartbeats, the great boulder was nothing but a heap of grey sand and small pebbles that an old woman could move with a wooden hoe.

Prince Two-Hammers dropped his whip into the dirt. His eyes were wide and round like two copper half-pennies, and the grease upon his chin was shaking. “This man is an earth-witch!” howled the Prince. “He has brought the underground snake to eat the King’s quarry! Seize his wrists and bind his thumbs with wire, for if he touches the gate of the citadel, the towers will slide into the ditch like rotten turnip-skins!”

The twelve soldiers ran with their iron spears, but the man who was called Four-Sacks-of-Grit did not turn to run toward the wooden ladders. He turned to the wall of the quarry behind him, which was ninety feet high and straight like the chimney of a smelter.

He reached up with his two palms and clapped the brass impact plates against the bare slate of the cliff. The micro-vibrations inside the brass cords ran into the mineral grain, and the stone became sticky under his thumbs, catching his palms like a tree-frog clinging to a wet banana leaf.

He climbed the straight stone with the speed of an ash-lizard when the sun is noon-high. His feet barely touched the ledges; his hands pulled him upward with a rhythmic thrum-thrum-thrum that left small puffs of yellow flour-dust hanging in the air where his thumbs had rested.

Prince Two-Hammers took an iron-headed javelin from a soldier and flung it with all the meat of his shoulder. The javelin flew straight, its heavy head whistling like a hawk diving upon a field-vole.

Four-Sacks-of-Grit did not turn his head, but as the iron point reached his heel, he dropped his left hand from the rock face and struck the shaft of the weapon with the flat of his palm-heel stud.

The vibration from the lodestones went through the iron rod like lightning running through a copper rain-chain. The spear did not break, but the kinetic pulse ran back into the air with such violence that the iron javelin leaped forty paces straight back down into the dirt, burying itself through the toe of Prince Two-Hammers’ ox-hide boot and pinning his foot to the floor of the quarry.

The Prince gave a great shriek that made the goats run across the high pasture, but Four-Sacks-of-Grit was already over the lip of the quarry-rim. He walked through the high heather where the shepherds keep the black sheep, his hands tucked into his armpits to cool the hot brass wires that smelled of scorched pitch and mountain-dust.

The King’s horsemen rode for three days along the sea-roads looking for a man with yellow scales upon his wrists, but they found only empty stone-sheds and old fishing-huts. The Prince remained with a crooked toe for all his days, and whenever a thunderstorm walked over the Erlitou mountains, his foot would shake like a dog’s tail, remembering the cold hum that melted the Great Blue Rib.

The scribes who wrote this story upon the sheep-bone could not understand how a soft hand could break what a heavy sledge could not crack, so they wrote that the stone had turned to water because the earth-god had spit upon the quarry out of pity for the man with no shoes.

Moral of the Story: The fool strikes the rock with a thousand pounds of iron and breaks his own bones, but the man who knows the secret hum inside the stone can turn a mountain to sand with the palm of his thumb while the master with the whip is left pinned to the mud by his own spear.

Suggested conversions to other systems:


Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

The Sapper’s Pangolin Bracers

  • Classification: Minor Enchanted Artifact / Breacher’s Focus
  • Form: Heavy gauntlets made of cured subterranean pangolin scales and brass wiring, fitted with brass palm-heel studs and lodestone weights across the knuckles.
  • Sanity Cost: 0 Sanity to wear; 1 Sanity point when actively crumbling a massive structural barrier or collapsing a ceiling above living beings.
  • Siege Resonance & Demolition: The user spends 4 Magic Points and presses both palms against an unworked or worked stone, brick, concrete, or mortar barrier up to 5 feet thick. The user attempts an Art/Craft (Demolition), Operate Heavy Machinery, or Strength roll. On a Regular success, the targeted 5-foot section loses its crystalline cohesion, disintegrating into harmless gravel and fine dust over 3 combat rounds without generating a concussive blast.
  • Structural Flaw Detection: While examining a building, foundation, mine drift, or vault, the wearer gains one bonus die on Spot Hidden, Archaeology, and Science (Engineering or Geology) rolls to identify load-bearing points, structural weaknesses, or concealed chambers.
  • Harmonic Grip: The wearer gains one bonus die on Climb rolls across natural stone, masonry, brick, or sheer rock faces.
  • Kinetic Back-Pulse: When targeted by a melee attack using a stone, metal, or inorganic weapon, the user may spend 2 Magic Points as a reaction to attempt an opposed Fighting (Brawl) roll against the attacker’s roll. On a success, the strike is parried at the weapon head, dealing 0 damage, and the attacker must pass an Extreme STR roll or drop the weapon immediately from violent harmonic vibration.
  • Reversible Mending: The user can spend 3 Magic Points to touch a damaged inanimate structure, stone construct, or living subject while making a First Aid or Mechanical Repair roll. On a success, the target repairs 1D4+1 Hit Points or equivalent structural points.
  • Backfire Hazard: Fumbling an activation roll (96–100, or 100 if skill is below 50) causes the lodestone knuckle weights to violently detonate an acoustic feedback loop, inflicting 1D6 points of kinetic damage directly to the user’s arms and deafening the user for 1D10 minutes.

Blades in the Dark

The Sapper’s Harmonic Gauntlets

  • Item Classification: Arcane Implement / Demolition Implement (Load: 2, heavy worn forearm wraps)
  • Visual Profile: Dusty ochre pangolin scales bound with heavy braided brass wiring, flat lodestone slabs over the knuckles, and circular brass percussion studs at the heel of each palm.
  • Quality Level: Tier I Quality (Fine Demolition / Infiltration Gear)
  • System Rules:
    • Silent Breach: Spend 1 Stress and place both palms against a stone wall, brick partition, or reinforced masonry lintel. Roll Wreck or Tinker (Position: Risky, Effect: Great). On a standard success, you silently crumble a human-sized breach through up to 5 feet of solid mineral material into fine sand and gravel over a few seconds, generating zero concussive detonation or noise.
    • Structural Awareness: When gathering information on architecture, subterranean shafts, or vault fortifications, gain +1 Effect on Survey or Study rolls to identify structural keystones, hidden hollows, or catastrophic collapse points.
    • Wall-Climber’s Resonance: Gain +1 Potency to Prowl rolls made to scale sheer vertical stonework, brick walls, or natural rock cliffs without climbing gear.
    • Shockwave Disarm: When an enemy attacks you in close quarters with a metal or stone melee weapon, spend 1 Stress to execute a kinetic counter with Skirmish. On a 4/5 or 6, you turn the weapon’s momentum back through its shaft, disarming the attacker and putting them in a Vulnerable position.
    • Mending Polarity: Spend 1 Stress while touching a damaged vehicle, reinforced portal, or allied companion to roll Tinker or Physick (Standard Effect). A successful action mends 1 segment of structural damage or temporarily stabilizes a Level 1 or Level 2 physical Harm.
    • Demolition Hazard: On a 1–3 or 4/5 with a devil’s bargain, the harmonic dust cloud blinds the crew or weakens unintended surrounding masonry, ticking a clock titled Structural Cave-In or Detected by Perimeter Guards.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Reiki Bracers of the Sapping Palm

  • Wondrous Item, uncommon (requires attunement)
  • Armor Class Bonus: While wearing these wraps and not wearing heavy armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
  • Siege Demolition: Your unarmed strikes and touch abilities deal double damage to non-magical objects, stone structures, and constructs. Additionally, you gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed across non-magical stone, masonry, and rock surfaces.
  • Structural Insight: You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks made to detect structural flaws, hidden compartments in stone, or load-bearing failure points in architecture.
  • Charges & Recovery: The bracers have 3 charges and regain 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn.
    • Sapping Palm: As an action, you can expend 1 charge and touch a non-magical stone, brick, mortar, or wooden surface up to 5 feet thick. The touched 5-foot cube of material crumbles into non-explosive dust and loose gravel over 3 seconds.
    • Diagnostic Mending: As an action, you can expend 1 charge to reverse the vibrational polarity and touch an injured creature or construct. The target regains 1d4 + your Wisdom modifier in hit points.
    • Seismic Back-Pulse: When you are hit by a melee weapon attack made with a manufactured metal or stone weapon, you can use your reaction to expend 1 charge to slap the incoming strike. The attacker must make a DC 12 Strength saving throw. On a failed save, the attack deals no damage, the weapon is dropped at the attacker’s feet, and the attacker takes force damage equal to the weapon’s base damage die.

Knave (2nd Edition)

The Pangolin Sapper Gauntlets

  • Item Slots: 2 item slots (heavy armored gauntlets worn on forearms and hands)
  • Armor Value: +1 Armor
  • Quality: 12 / 12 Quality points (loses 1 Quality whenever the wearer takes a critical hit; breaks into fractured brass and loose scales at 0 Quality).
  • Hands Required: 2 hands must be empty to align the brass impact plates and focus harmonic deconstruction.
  • Item Properties:
    • Siege Touch: The wearer’s physical strikes deal double damage against doors, masonry walls, portcullises, and constructs.
    • Resonant Sapping: Once per exploration turn (10 minutes), the wearer may press both palms against a non-magical stone or brick wall up to 5 feet thick. The material dissolves into soft sand and loose rubble over 3 combat rounds without making an echoing boom.
    • Harmonic Wall-Walk: The wearer can scale vertical stone walls, cliff faces, and brick structures at full movement speed without rolling an Athletics check.
    • Structural Eye: Automatically detects the weak point, load-bearing keystone, or secret hollow space in any stone chamber or masonry wall upon touching it for 1 round.
    • Kinetic Deflection Reaction: Once per combat encounter, when struck by a melee attack using a metal or stone weapon, the wearer may attempt an immediate Strength or Dexterity check against the attacker’s damage roll. On a success, the strike is parried, dealing 0 damage, and the attacker drops their weapon.
    • Polarity Mending: The wearer may touch a damaged construct, stone door, or living companion to restore 1d4+1 Hit Points (or equivalent structural integrity). This ability can be used three times per day.
    • Physical Fatigue Hazard: Activating the Sapping Palm to dissolve stone more than twice in an exploration period requires a Constitution save against Difficulty 15; on a failure, the user gains 1 Fatigue.

Fate (Fate Condensed / Fate Core)

Wraps of the Resonant Sapper

  • Aspects:
    • High Concept: Pangolin-Scaled Reiki Sapper Gauntlets
    • Trouble: High-Vibration Joint Fatigue and Loud Acoustic Resonance
    • Invocation: Finding and Shattering Structural Keystones
  • Stunts:
    • Silent Deconstruction: Once per scene, you may spend a Fate Point and place both palms against a non-magical masonry wall, reinforced portal, or natural rock face. You immediately overcome an obstacle related to breaching, tunneling, or demolition using Crafts or Physique without making a skill roll. The targeted barrier crumbles into loose gravel without generating an audible blast.
    • Siege Touch: You gain a +2 bonus to Crafts or Physique when creating advantages or overcoming obstacles targeting inorganic objects, vehicles, stone fortifications, and constructs.
    • Seismic Counter-Pulse: When defending against an incoming melee Fight attack made with a manufactured metal or stone weapon, you may roll Physique instead of Athletics or Fight. If you succeed with style, you inflict no physical stress; instead, you disarm the opponent, sending the weapon flying and placing the situation aspect Weaponless and Jolted on the attacker with two free invokes.
    • Harmonic Wall-Climber: You may scale sheer masonry, stone walls, and rocky surfaces with Athletics at your full movement speed without rolling or taking additional actions.
  • Flaw Hazard: If an opponent invokes your Trouble aspect, the brass coils overheat and produce a concussive micro-recoil, placing the temporary situational aspect Numbed Fingers and Ringing Ears on your character.

Numenera & Cypher System

Harmonic Sapper Bracers

  • Form: Heavy gauntlets made of cured subterranean pangolin scales laced with thick yellow-brass wire, terminating in circular brass heel-plates and lodestone knuckle slabs.
  • Level: 3 (Artifact)
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d10 (roll after deploying the Sapping Palm or Seismic Back-Pulse)
  • Armor Value: +1 to Armor (protects wrists and forearms against concussive impacts)
  • Effect:
    • Primary Function (Sapping Palm): As an action, the user places both palms against a non-magical stone, masonry, concrete, or wooden barrier up to 5 feet thick and spends 3 points from their Might Pool. The barrier loses its crystalline matrix, dissolving into loose rubble and dust over 3 rounds without producing an explosive sound.
    • Secondary Function (Diagnostic Mending): The user spends 2 points from their Intellect Pool and touches a damaged construct, inorganic structure, or living ally. The target recovers points equal to the Artifact Level (3 points) to their Might or Speed Pool, or repairs 3 points of structural integrity.
    • Tertiary Function (Seismic Back-Pulse): As a reaction when hit by an enemy using a metal or stone melee weapon, the user expends 2 points from their Speed Pool to attempt a Speed defense roll. On a success, the attack deals zero damage, and the violent vibration forces the attacker to drop the weapon.
    • Passive Structural Asset: The user gains an asset (one step of task difficulty reduction) on all Intellect rolls related to engineering, geology, finding structural weaknesses, or locating concealed chambers.
    • Passive Climbing Advantage: The user gains an asset on all Speed rolls made to climb natural stone, rock faces, and worked masonry walls.

Pathfinder (Second Edition)

Sapping Palm Handwraps

  • Item Level: 2 (Uncommon, Earth, Evocation, Transmutation)
  • Usage: Worn (Gloves / Gauntlets); Bulk: 1
  • Price: 35 gp
  • Description: Fashioned from the heavy, mineralized scales of an Erlitou quarry pangolin and threaded with braided brass conduits, these heavy wraps bear circular acoustic impact plates at the palm heels and lodestone slabs over the knuckles.
  • Armor Check Penalty: -; Dexterity Cap: -; Item Bonus: You gain a +1 item bonus to Athletics checks made to Climb stone or masonry walls, and a +1 item bonus to Perception and Crafting checks made to identify structural flaws or locate hidden hollows in masonry.
  • Traits: Siege (Your unarmed strikes deal double damage against non-magical objects, structures, and constructs).
  • Activate: 2 Actions (Manipulate); Frequency: Three times per day.
    • Effect (Sapping Palm): You place both palms against a non-magical stone, brick, mortar, or wooden surface up to 5 feet thick. The touched 5-foot cube of material crumbles into harmless, non-explosive dust and fine gravel over 3 rounds.
  • Activate: 2 Actions (Manipulate); Frequency: Shares the three daily activations with Sapping Palm.
    • Effect (Diagnostic Mending): You reverse the vibrational polarity and touch an adjacent living ally or construct. The target regains 1d8+2 Hit Points (or equivalent structural Hit Points).
  • Activate: Reaction (Manipulate); Frequency: Once per day; Trigger: An adjacent creature hits you with a melee strike using a manufactured metal or stone weapon.
    • Effect (Seismic Back-Pulse): You drive an open brass stud against the incoming weapon shaft. The triggering attack deals no damage, and the attacker must attempt a DC 18 Fortitude save. On a failure, the attacker drops the weapon; on a critical failure, the attacker drops the weapon and takes bludgeoning damage equal to the weapon’s base damage die.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)

Pangolin Sapper Gauntlets

  • Item Class: Minor Arcane Relic (Worn on Wrists/Hands)
  • Min Str: d6; Weight: 2 lbs; Cost: 500 dollars or trade equivalent
  • Armor Bonus: +1 Armor to the arms and hands against blunt kinetic impacts.
  • Relic Modifiers:
    • Siege Specialist: The wearer’s unarmed attacks and touch strikes deal double damage against inanimate objects, walls, doors, vehicles, and constructs.
    • Sure-Footed Climber: Grants a +2 bonus to Athletics rolls made to climb natural stone, rock, or masonry surfaces, moving at full Pace without penalty.
    • Structural Insight: Grants a +1 bonus to Notice and Common Knowledge rolls when analyzing architecture, subterranean stability, or finding hidden wall compartments.
  • Integrated Powers: The gauntlets hold 6 Power Points, recharging 1 point per hour of non-use. Powers are cast using an effective Arcane Skill of d6:
    • Sapping Palm (Havoc / Object Dissolution Variant): The user spends 1 action touching a non-magical stone, brick, or mortar wall up to 5 feet thick and expends 2 Power Points. On a success, a 5-foot section crumbles silently into loose gravel over 3 rounds without generating an explosive boom.
    • Diagnostic Mending (Healing / Repair): The user touches a damaged construct, fortification, or wounded ally and expends 2 Power Points. On a success, 1 Wound (or 1 level of vehicle/structural damage) is repaired.
    • Seismic Back-Pulse (Deflection / Disarm): As a reaction when struck by a melee Fighting attack with a metal or stone weapon, the user spends 1 Power Point to gain a +2 bonus to Parry. If the attack misses, the attacker must pass a Strength roll at -2 or drop their weapon immediately.
  • Critical Failure Hazard: A Critical Failure when activating any power overloads the lodestone weights, dealing 1 Fatigue to the user from joint-rattling acoustic kickback.

Shadowrun (Sixth World Edition)

Resonant Sapper Qi-Focus Bindings

  • Item Classification: Sustained Manipulation/Health Qi Focus / Telesma (Rating 2)
  • Essence Cost: 0 (Unaugmented Telesma); Requires Bond via Karma
  • Karma to Bond: 4 Karma
  • Concealability: +1 (Appears as heavy industrial demolition wraps or physical combat braces)
  • Defensive Rating Bonus: +1 to Defense Rating against physical melee attacks when worn on forearms and hands.
  • Awakened Properties:
    • Structural Deconstruction: By placing both palms against a non-magical brick, concrete, or stone barrier up to 1 meter thick and spending 1 Major Action and 1 Edge, the user channels harmonic vibrations. Make an Engineering + Logic or Magic + Intuition test against the barrier’s Object Resistance. On a success, the barrier dissolves into loose dust and gravel over 3 combat rounds without generating an acoustic explosion.
    • Siege Touch: The user’s Unarmed Combat strikes gain the Demolition trait, dealing double structural damage to barriers, vehicles, drones, and stationary fortifications.
    • Harmonic Wall-Climb: The user gains a +2 dice pool bonus on Athletics tests made to scale vertical stone, brick, or unworked masonry surfaces, moving at full running rate without specialized climbing spikes.
    • Seismic Inversion: When targeted by a melee attack using a manufactured metal or stone weapon, the user can spend an Immediate Action to roll Unarmed Combat + Reaction against the attacker’s roll. On a net success, the strike is parried at the impact stud: the attacker takes no physical damage, but must succeed on an Athletics + Strength test against a threshold of 3 or immediately drop the weapon.
    • Polarity Mending: The user may spend 1 Major Action and 1 Edge while touching a damaged drone, vehicle, or living ally to repair 2 boxes of Physical or Stun damage through cellular/molecular realignment.
    • Glitch Hazard: Rolling a glitch on an activation test triggers an acoustic feedback wave that inflicts 2 boxes of unsoakable Stun Drain directly to the user and temporarily renders the user deaf for 10 minutes.

Starfinder (Second Edition)

Resonant Sapper Mining Gauntlets

  • Item Level: 2 (Uncommon, Tech-Magical Wondrous Item, Transmutation)
  • Price: 1,100 Credits
  • Usage: Worn (Hands / Forearms); Bulk: 1
  • Hands: 2 (Both hands must be free of weapons or shields to align the palm plates and channel vibrations)
  • Capacity: 20 charges (Standard Battery or Arcane Cell); Usage: 2 charges per active pulse
  • Physical Profile: Thick quarry-pangolin hide laced with yellow-brass coils, fitted with stamped circular brass heel plates and dense lodestone knuckle slabs.
  • System Mechanics:
    • Resonant Demolition (2 Actions): You expend 2 charges and place both palms against a non-magical stone, masonry, concrete, or wooden surface up to 5 feet thick. The targeted 5-foot cube of material crumbles into non-explosive dust and fine gravel over 3 rounds.
    • Siege Touch: Your unarmed strikes and kinetic pulses deal double damage against inanimate objects, reinforced bulkheads, and mechanical constructs.
    • Harmonic Grip: While worn and powered, the gauntlets grant a climb speed equal to your base land speed across stone, brick, masonry, and mineral surfaces.
    • Seismic Back-Pulse (Reaction): Trigger: An adjacent creature hits you with a melee strike using a manufactured metal or stone weapon. You expend 2 charges and slap an impact stud against the weapon shaft. The triggering attack deals no damage, and the attacker must succeed on a DC 18 Reflex save or immediately drop the weapon.
    • Polarity Mending (2 Actions): You expend 2 charges to reverse vibrational polarity and touch an adjacent living ally or construct. The target regains 1d8 + 2 Hit Points (or equivalent structural Hit Points).
    • Passive Trait: While attuned, the gauntlets grant a +1 item bonus to Perception and Engineering checks made to identify structural stress points, locate concealed compartments, or detect subterranean instability.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Harmonic Sapper Induction Bracers

  • Tech Level: TL 14 (Biotechnical Implement / Psionic Implement)
  • Weight: 1.0 kg (Encumbrance: 1)
  • Armor Value: Armor +1 (Protects forearm and hand locations against kinetic impacts)
  • Power: Integral micro-capacitor (10 charges before requiring a 4-hour recharge cycle via ambient thermal or kinetic recovery).
  • Skill Prerequisites: Engineer (structures) 1, Athletics (climbing) 1, or Psionics (Telekinesis/Biokinesis) 1; untrained users require an Average (8+) Science (physics) check to operate the resonance studs safely.
  • Operational Mechanics:
    • Resonant Demolition: The user places both palms against a non-magical stone, masonry, concrete, or composite wall up to 1.5 meters thick, expending 1 charge. The material dissolves into fine rubble and sand over 3 combat rounds. The process is completely silent, generating 0 dB of concussive acoustic displacement.
    • Siege Trait: Physical melee strikes delivered using the brass palm studs deal double structural damage against hatches, bulkheads, masonry, and robotic constructs.
    • Magnetic Mineral Grip: Grants DM+2 to all Athletics (climbing) checks when scaling natural cliff faces, brick facades, or stone buildings, allowing the user to climb at their normal movement rate.
    • Seismic Inversion Disarm: When attacked in melee combat by an opponent wielding a metal or stone weapon, the user can spend 1 charge as an immediate reaction to execute an opposed Melee (unarmed) check. If successful, the strike deals 0 damage, and the attacker must pass an Average (8+) STR check or have the weapon violently wrenched from their grip.
    • Polarity Mending: By expending 1 charge and passing an Average (8+) Mechanic or Medic check, the user repairs structural damage on an inorganic frame or restores characteristic points to an ally’s damaged physical characteristics equal to the Effect of the check (minimum 1).

Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay (Wrath & Glory)

Gauntlets of the Seismic Breacher

  • Item Tier: Tier 1 (Rare Archeotech / Siege Implement)
  • Keywords: IMPERIUM, ADEPTUS MECHANICUS, ASTRA MILITARUM, ARCHEOTECH
  • Armor Rating: +1 AR (Arm hit locations only)
  • Encumbrance: 2 (Worn)
  • Weapon Profile (Palm Strike):
    • Damage: 4 + 1ED | AP: -1 | Range: Melee | Traits: Brutal, Force, Stun (1)
  • Relic Rules:
    • Structural Demolition: As a Combat Action, the user spends 1 Wrath or 1 Glory and places both palms against a stone, masonry, ferrocrete, or rockcrete barrier up to 2 meters thick. Make a Tech (Int) Test against DN 3. On a success, the targeted section crumbles into harmless gravel and fine silt over 3 rounds without producing a loud acoustic boom.
    • Siege Focus: The user’s melee strikes deal double structural damage against fortifications, barricades, bulkheads, and VEHICLE or CONSTRUCT targets.
    • Resonant Wall-Climb: The user gains +2 bonus dice on Athletics (S) Tests made to climb rockcrete walls, ruins, and stone facades, moving at full Speed without movement penalties.
    • Seismic Counter-Pulse: When targeted by a melee attack using a metallic or mineral weapon, the user may spend 1 Glory as an immediate reaction to slap the incoming strike. The user rolls an opposed Weapon Skill (Ini) Test against the attacker. On a success, the attack deals 0 damage, and the attacker must make a Strength Test (DN 3) or immediately drop the weapon.
    • Molecular Mending: As a Combat Action, the user can touch a damaged Servitor, construct, or living biological ally and make a Tech (Int) or Medicae (Int) Test against DN 3. On a success, the target recovers 1d3+1 Shock and 1 Wound (or structural equivalent).
    • Machine Spirit Disruption: The crude pangolin hide and unhallowed brass circuitry cause unrest among orthodox tech-priests. Any social interaction test with orthodox Adeptus Mechanicus characters suffers a +1 DN penalty unless the gauntlets bear an authorized Sanction of Reclamation.