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Aural Lenses of the Still Waters 113

—

by

Dale
in

From: Lineage 813 of the Tide Forged Scholarchs

These are not pauldrons in the traditional sense, but a pair of custom-fitted devices that cup the back of Lyra-Vael’s large, fan-like ears. Carved from water-resistant ironwood and adorned with silver filigree, they are designed to filter and focus sound. The silver is etched with subtle Vo-Run glyphs for “silence” and “clarity.” The ear pauldrons don’t amplify all noise, but instead dampen distracting ambient sounds, allowing the wearer to more easily pick up on subtle sonic details, like the faint hum of a distant steam engine or the magical resonance of a ley line.

Lore

The Aural Lenses were not a gift of mentorship like the harness, but a tool born from a collaboration between friends. During her tenure at the Great Library of Dreamtide, Lyra-Vael was constantly frustrated. Her sensitive Nga-Tara hearing, a gift in the silent archives, became a curse amidst the city’s constant thrum of steam engines, the clang of shipyards, and the chatter of thousands of avatars. This cacophony made it nearly impossible for her to discern the faint, magical resonances of the artifacts she studied.

She brought this problem to her old university colleague, an Anuran artisan named Cora. Cora was a renowned Whisper-Smith, a master of delicate silverwork and acoustic engineering. Understanding Lyra-Vael’s unique auditory needs, Cora designed the Lenses. The ironwood was sourced from the Sunken Jungles, where ancient trees grow in near-total silence and absorb the quiet of the deep earth. The silver filigree was not merely decorative but was shaped into a complex acoustic circuit, designed to resonate with and cancel out the common frequencies of industrial machinery. Cora spent weeks attuning the Lenses to Lyra-Vael’s specific hearing, making them a perfect extension of her natural senses. They are a testament to a friendship built on shared intellectual pursuits and a solution crafted for a unique problem.

Item Values

  • Tier One Stats:
    • Grants a +1 bonus to all Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.
    • Grants a +1 bonus to all Constitution saving throws made to maintain concentration on a spell or effect.
  • Skills Gained:
    • Focused Inquiry: The Lenses attune the wearer to subtle details. The wearer gains proficiency in the Investigation skill. If the wearer is already proficient, they can add double their proficiency bonus to any Investigation check that involves discerning patterns or clues from sound.
  • Passive Magics:
    • Sonic Filter: The Vo-Run glyphs for “silence” actively dampen distracting ambient noise. The wearer is immune to the deafened condition from non-magical sources and does not have disadvantage on Perception checks made in loud environments.
    • Resonance Sense: The silver filigree is attuned to the flow of magic. The wearer can faintly perceive the presence of active magical effects, enchantments, or ley lines within 30 feet as a low, clear hum, though this does not reveal the nature or school of the magic.
    • Quiet Mind: The glyphs for “clarity” help shield the mind from auditory intrusion. The wearer has advantage on saving throws against spells or effects that rely on sound, such as a harpy’s song or magical commands spoken aloud.
  • Activatable Magics:
    • Pinpoint Hearing: As an Action, you can focus the Lenses on a specific point you can see within 120 feet. For the next minute, you can clearly hear any sounds originating from that point as if you were standing there, provided there is an unobstructed path for the sound to travel. While this ability is active, you are deaf to your immediate surroundings. This ability can be used a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all uses after a long rest.
    • Vibrational Analysis: As an Action, you can analyze a specific, ongoing sound (such as the clicking of a mechanical lock, the rhythm of an engine, or the structural groan of a collapsing ruin). Make an Investigation check. On a success, you learn a crucial, actionable detail about the sound’s source, such as the number of tumblers in the lock, the specific component that is failing in the engine, or the weakest point in the structure.
  • Specific Slot:
    • Ear Pauldrons (This item occupies the unique ear slots of a Nga-Tara).
  • Tags:
    • Nga-Tara, Ear Pauldrons, Magical, Wearable, Utility, Investigation, Perception, Artisan-Crafted, Vo-Run, Aural, Focusing, Clarity, Sensory-Enhancement, Eavesdropping, Diagnostic, Anuran-Made, Ironwood, Silver-Filigree, Rare

An item as specialized and custom-fitted as the Aural Lenses of the Still Waters 113 would not be found on the shelf of any common magic shop or market stall. Its acquisition is a matter of seeking out master artisans or navigating niche, exclusive circles where unique tools are exchanged.

The Specialist’s Workshop

  • Type of Shop: This is the most direct way to acquire a new, perfectly fitted set. It’s not a retail store but a private atelier, like a “Whisper-Smith’s Workshop” or an “Acoustic Artificer’s Studio.” These are rare and often located in districts known for high-end, specialized crafting or within communities renowned for that skill (like an Anuran settlement known for its delicate metalwork).
  • How it’s Bought/Sold: You don’t buy this item; you commission it. The process is personal and lengthy.
    1. Consultation: The client must first secure an appointment, often through a referral, to discuss their specific needs with the master artisan.
    2. Fitting: The artisan takes incredibly detailed measurements of the client’s ears. For a Nga-Tara, this is a complex process involving calipers, wax molds, and sometimes magical scans to map their unique auditory cartilage structure.
    3. Crafting: The artisan then spends weeks or even months crafting the device from rare materials and performing the delicate enchantments. Selling such an item back to its creator would fetch a very low price, as they would likely only be interested in reclaiming the rare materials.
  • Estimated Cost: 700 Gold Pieces (GP). This high price reflects the master’s unique skill, the cost of rare components like ironwood and enchanted silver, and the time-consuming custom-fitting process.

The Espionage & Infiltration Outfitter

  • Type of Shop: A clandestine or “grey market” establishment, often hidden in the underbelly of a major metropolis like Dreamtide. Known by names like “The Gilded Ear” or “The Silent Syndicate,” these shops cater to spies, investigators, and information brokers.
  • How it’s Bought/Sold: Transactions are discreet and trust is paramount. An item like the Aural Lenses might be available here if it was stolen or salvaged. The biggest issue for a buyer is the fit. Since it was custom-made for someone else, it will be uncomfortable and its abilities may be less effective. The shopkeeper will sell it with this caveat, often offering the services of an on-call (and expensive) artificer who can attempt to refit it. Selling the item here is quick but nets a poor return, as the outfitter takes a large cut for the risk and effort of finding a new, correctly-shaped buyer.
  • Estimated Cost:
    • To Buy: 950 GP. The premium is for its immediate availability and its immense value in espionage. This price does not include the additional 200-300 GP it would cost for a risky refitting.
    • To Sell: An outfitter would likely only offer 350 GP, citing the difficulty of reselling such a personalized item.

The University or Guild Exchange

  • Type of Shop: Not a shop for coin, but a place for professional exchange, such as “The Grand Confluence University’s Department of Antiquities” or “The Artificer’s Guild Depository.” These institutions trade in knowledge and function, not profit.
  • How it’s Bought/Sold: Items here are not for public sale. To acquire the Lenses, one must be a member in good standing (a tenured Scholarch or a master Artificer) and submit a formal request proving a legitimate academic or professional need. The transaction is almost always a trade. The university might grant the Lenses in exchange for a detailed, accurate survey of a newly discovered ruin, the recovery of a lost historical text, or a service rendered to the institution. They value what the item can discover more than the item itself.
  • Estimated Cost: Monetary Value: 1,000 GP. However, it is almost exclusively available via trade for a service, an artifact, or a piece of knowledge of equivalent value.

The Aural Lenses of the Still Waters 113 are not weapons, but sophisticated tools for investigation and perception. Their role in conflict is entirely indirect, focusing on information warfare, tactical support, and negating sensory threats. Roleplaying their use is about describing a shift in perception, turning a cacophony into a library of secrets.

Environment 1: A Bustling, Noisy Street in Dreamtide

In the constant clamor of a steam-powered metropolis, the Aural Lenses are an unparalleled tool for espionage and awareness.

Defensive Roleplay (Maintaining Awareness)

You are tailing a suspicious contact through the main forge district. The air is filled with the deafening roar of steam-hammers, the shriek of grinding gears, and the shouts of workers—a perfect environment for an ambush.

  • Roleplay: As you enter the district, you describe the overwhelming wall of sound. Then, you describe the Sonic Filter passive activating. The cacophony doesn’t vanish, but it recedes into a dull, manageable hum at the edge of your hearing. You can now clearly pick out the distinct sounds of footsteps behind you that don’t match the rhythm of the workers, or the tell-tale click of a hidden crossbow being armed. Your defense is not a shield, but the preservation of your situational awareness in an environment designed to destroy it. You might say, “The noise is a shield for them, but these lenses make it a window for me.”

Offensive Roleplay (Espionage)

Your target meets their contact inside the very forge you were tailing them through, believing their conversation is safely masked by the industrial noise. You are on a catwalk 80 feet above them.

  • Roleplay: You kneel down, steadying yourself against a railing. You describe focusing your will and activating Pinpoint Hearing. Your own world falls into absolute silence. The roar of the forge, the workers, your own breathing—it all vanishes. Instead, the hushed, conspiratorial voices of the two figures below become perfectly clear, as if they were standing next to you. You hear the secret location, the name of the traitor, the time of the illicit exchange. Your “attack” is silent and unseen; you have gathered the intelligence needed to dismantle their entire operation without ever drawing a weapon.

Environment 2: An Ancient, Unstable Ruin

Within a crumbling, forgotten structure, the Lenses are an instrument of analysis and survival, allowing you to listen to the ruin’s secrets and warnings.

Defensive Roleplay (Negating a Sonic Trap)

Your party enters a chamber where a magical trap is triggered. A ghostly, multi-toned wail erupts from resonant crystals in the walls, designed to disorient, paralyze with fear, and shatter concentration.

  • Roleplay: As your companions cry out and stagger, clutching their heads, you remain focused. You describe the Quiet Mind passive activating as a feeling of “cool silence” enveloping your thoughts. The magical wail becomes a complex but harmless melody that your Lenses analyze rather than succumb to. Making your saving throw with advantage, you can identify the source of the sound. You call out, your voice a calm anchor in the sonic storm, “It’s a harmonic trap! The large crystal on the east wall is the primary resonator—shatter it!” Your defense is your clarity, making you the bulwark your party can rally around.

Offensive Roleplay (Identifying a Structural Weakness)

A massive, sealed stone door blocks your path. A faint grinding and clicking can be heard from within its complex internal mechanism. Brute force is failing.

  • Roleplay: You press your ear to the cold stone door, closing your eyes and activating Vibrational Analysis. You describe the internal sounds of the lock not as noise, but as a complex schematic unfolding in your mind. After a moment of intense concentration and a successful Investigation check, you open your eyes. “The sequence is wrong,” you state. “The third locking bar is retracting a fraction of a second too early. We need to strike the doorframe here,” you point, “at the exact moment the fourth bar begins to move. It should jar the entire sequence and force it open.” You haven’t attacked the door, but you have found its weakness, allowing your allies to strike with precision.

Environment 3: An Ambush in a Dense Jungle

When hunted by unseen predators, the Aural Lenses turn the user from prey into the ultimate lookout.

Defensive Roleplay (Early Warning)

Your party is being stalked by a creature known for its perfect camouflage. It moves through the dense undergrowth, preparing for a surprise attack.

  • Roleplay: While your allies scan the canopy with their eyes, you stand perfectly still, head tilted. Using the Sonic Filter, you tune out the overwhelming buzz of insects and the rustle of wind. You focus on what shouldn’t be there. You describe hearing the faint snap of a twig under a heavy foot, the unnatural silence in a patch of jungle where the birds have stopped chirping, and finally, the soft, rhythmic sound of breathing. “There,” you whisper, pointing with certainty. “Forty feet, low in the ferns. I hear its heart.” Your defense is to completely deny the enemy their advantage of surprise.

Offensive Roleplay (Targeting a Weakness)

The party is engaged with a monstrous, chitin-plated beast. Your warrior’s attacks keep glancing off its thick, natural armor.

  • Roleplay: As your ally’s axe rings out with another failed strike, you focus intently on the sound of the impact. You activate Vibrational Analysis. You don’t just hear a clang; you hear the resonance as it travels through the creature’s body. “Its armor isn’t uniform!” you shout over the din of battle. “I can hear a dissonant vibration from the plates under its right foreleg! The chitin is thinner there—a developmental flaw! Aim for the right leg!” You have become a spotter, using your unique senses to identify a critical vulnerability and direct your party’s offensive efforts for maximum effect.

Perception of Activation:

This describes the sensory experience when the Aural Lenses of the Still Waters 113‘s primary information-gathering ability, Pinpoint Hearing, is activated by the user.

User’s Perspective (Lyra-Vael)

  • Sight: There is no overt change to your vision of the world. However, if you catch your reflection, you might see the delicate silver filigree on the Lenses shimmer with a soft, cyan light for a moment. Your own eyes may feel unfocused as your brain radically shifts its sensory priority from sight to sound.
  • Sound: This is a profound and instantaneous shift. The world goes silent. The ambient noise, the rustle of your own clothing, your heartbeat, even the sound of your own breathing—it all vanishes completely. The sensation is like being plunged hundreds of feet into a deep, still body of water. Then, from the void, the targeted sound fades in, becoming preternaturally clear and intimate, as if the distant speaker were whispering directly into your ear.
  • Touch & Feeling: A distinct, cool tingling sensation spreads from the Lenses across your ears and scalp, lasting for a moment before fading. You may feel a brief, phantom pressure in your ears, similar to descending quickly in altitude, which then equalizes into a state of intense, focused calm.
  • Extra-Sensory (Magical): You feel a very subtle and focused thread of Divination magic extending from you towards your target. It doesn’t feel like casting a spell, but more like a precise tuning of your own senses, extending a fine, invisible probe of magical energy through the world.
  • Extra-Sensory (Mind’s Eye): For the duration of the effect, your Mind’s Eye registers a temporary status on yourself: [Aural Focus: Active]. You might also visualize the sound you are following as a thin, shimmering line of light stretching from you to the source, helping you maintain your focus.

Observer’s Perspective

  • Sight: The activation is extremely subtle to an observer. For a split second, the intricate silver filigree on the user’s ear-pieces might catch the light with a faint, cyan glow. The etched Vo-Run glyphs may become briefly visible as glowing characters before fading. The most noticeable sign is the user’s posture: they become unnaturally still, their expression intensely focused and distant.
  • Sound: A person standing very close to the user might hear a single, faint, high-pitched chime, like a tiny silver bell being struck once. Beyond a few feet, the activation is completely silent.
  • Touch & Feeling: An observer feels no physical sensation from the activation.
  • Extra-Sensory (Magical): A magically-attuned observer would perceive a brief, sharp, and highly directional pulse of Divination magic. It would feel precise and controlled, like the casting of a subtle scrying spell, clearly aimed at a specific point.
  • Extra-Sensory (Social): The most obvious and potentially unnerving effect is the user’s complete unresponsiveness. They will not hear their name being called, react to a sudden loud noise next to them, or participate in any conversation. They appear to be in a deep trance, utterly disconnected from their immediate surroundings.

Positives

  • Unparalleled Espionage: The primary benefit is the ability to eavesdrop from a safe distance with perfect clarity, gathering critical information without alerting the targets or putting oneself in danger.
  • Safe Analysis: It allows the user to listen to and diagnose a dangerous or unstable mechanism—such as a failing steam engine or a complex auditory trap—from a secure location.
  • Total Concentration: For a user with sensitive hearing, the ability to selectively block out all ambient noise is a powerful tool for intense focus, meditation, or concentration on a single, complex task.

Negatives

  • Complete Situational Unawareness: While the ability is active, the user is completely deaf to their immediate environment. They are exceptionally vulnerable to being ambushed, as they cannot hear an enemy approaching, a companion’s warning, or a looming environmental danger.
  • Mental Strain: The intense focus required to isolate and process a distant sound is mentally exhausting. Using the ability for its full duration or multiple times in succession can lead to headaches, dizziness, and a feeling of sensory disorientation afterward.
  • Subtle Magical Signature: While not as overt as a fireball, the activation still releases a distinct magical signature. Any magically aware entity nearby will know that a perception-based Divination spell has just been used, which could arouse suspicion.
  • Jarring Re-Acclimation: The sudden return of all ambient sound when the effect ends can be jarring and momentarily disorienting, especially if the user was focused on a quiet sound and returns to a loud environment.

Whisper-Smith’s Design: The Lenses of Acoustic Clarity

This design outlines the creation of a pair of enchanted aural devices, intended to filter sound and grant the wearer unparalleled auditory perception. The process demands extreme precision, a quiet hand, and a deep understanding of both magical resonance and acoustic science.

Materials Needed

  • Primary Component: A single, dense block of Heartwood from a Sunken Ironwood Tree.
  • Metal Components: 2 lbs. of Pure Silver Ingots.
  • Focal Component: A pair of matched, flawless Quartz Resonators.
  • Magical Reagents:
    • A flask of Alchemical Oil of Silence.
    • A vial of Water gathered from a place of absolute quiet (e.g., a deep cave pool or a magically silenced chamber).
  • Miscellaneous: Polishing compounds, fine carving waxes, and charcoal for sketching (estimated cost of 40 GP).

Tools Required

  • Masterwork Woodcarver’s Kit: For the initial shaping of the ironwood housings.
  • Masterwork Jeweler’s Tools: Essential for drawing the silver into fine filigree and setting the resonators.
  • Acoustic Tuning Forks: A set of magically calibrated forks used to attune the device to specific sonic frequencies.
  • Enchanter’s Focus or Altar: A dedicated space for performing the magical inscriptions and final enchantment.
  • Vo-Run Scribing Kit: A set of exceptionally fine needles for etching the glyphs into the silver filigree.

Skill Requirements

  • Craftsmanship: The crafter must have proficiency in both Woodcarving and Jeweler’s Tools.
  • Magical Aptitude: The crafter must have proficiency in the Arcana skill.
  • Specialized Knowledge: The crafter must be proficient with Acoustic Tuning Forks or have a similar professional knowledge of sound and resonance.
  • Experience: The delicacy and complexity of the enchantment requires a crafter of at least Character Tier 2 or higher.

Crafting Steps

The creation of the Lenses is a quiet, meditative process that requires a minimum of ten days of focused effort.

  1. Step 1: Carving the Housings (3 days): The artisan begins by meticulously carving the ironwood block into two perfectly symmetrical, ergonomic housings. This step is critical and requires precise measurements of the intended wearer’s ears, as a poor fit will ruin the acoustic properties.
  2. Step 2: Drawing the Filigree (4 days): This is the most labor-intensive step. The pure silver is melted down and painstakingly drawn through a jeweler’s press to create hair-thin wires. These wires are then woven into an intricate filigree pattern that serves as the device’s magical and acoustic circuitry.
  3. Step 3: Setting the Core (1 day): The matched Quartz Resonators are carefully set within the ironwood housings. The silver filigree is then wrapped around the resonators, and the Vo-Run glyphs for “silence” and “clarity” are delicately etched onto the silver surfaces.
  4. Step 4: The Silent Attunement (1 day): The assembled but still mundane Lenses are coated in the Oil of Silence and submerged in the vial of “silent water.” They are left in a place of absolute, magically enforced quiet for a full 24 hours to absorb the essence of tranquility.
  5. Step 5: The Final Resonance (1 day): The artisan takes the attuned Lenses to an Enchanter’s Focus. Using the Acoustic Tuning Forks, they perform a complex, eight-hour ritual. They must strike the forks in a precise sequence while channeling magical energy into the Quartz Resonators, “tuning” the device to filter sound and awaken its Divination properties. This final step requires a Difficult Arcana or Jeweler’s Tools check (DC 19).
    • On a success, the Lenses are created with all magical properties functioning perfectly.
    • On a failure, the attunement is flawed. The Lenses still function, but one of their properties is inverted or corrupted (e.g., instead of filtering noise, they amplify it; or the Pinpoint Hearing ability only targets random sounds). All magical components are lost and the process must begin again to fix the item.

Lyra and Silence-Stones

Hear now of Lyra, who was called the Singer-of-Stones in the old time. Her hands, they did speak to the great crystals in the deep-places of the earth, and the mountain would sing back. The music she made was not of string or of wind, but of the mountain’s own bones, a sound so pure it could make a Waterdreamer weep with visions. All the people of Aboriginal, the Nga-Vara, they knew her name and her songs.

But time is a river that wears down even the hardest stone. As Lyra grew old, her hearing grew thin. The world, it became loud. The city of Dreamtide, with its steam-hiss and hammer-clang, did build a wall of noise against her ears. When she went to the deep-place to play her stone-harp, the memory of the city-noise followed her. The pure notes of the great crystals were lost to her, buried under the shout of the world. Her heart-organ became heavy, for her song was leaving her.

She did travel then to the wet-lands, to the quiet house of Grolok the Anuran, the Whisper-Smith. Grolok, his fingers were webbed and wise, and he made things of quietness. He could shape silver without a hammer, and carve wood that made no sound.

Lyra did speak to him. “Grolok, my ears are full of false sounds. The song of the mountain is lost to me. Make for me a tool, that I may hear the true note again.”

Grolok looked at her with his great, bulbous eyes. He spoke with a voice like the plopping of water drops in a still cave. “To hear what is lost, a part of what is present must be given. The price for true hearing is a great silence. Do you agree to this price?”

Lyra, who loved her music more than the world, said, “I agree.”

So Grolok worked. He did not work in a loud forge. He worked in a room filled with water and moss. From the oldest, quietest tree in the Sunken Jungles, he did carve the ear-cups. With silver that was pulled like thread, not struck, he did make the leaf-patterns. He polished them not with cloth, but with the silence of his own thoughts. For the magic, he did not use fire. He placed the finished hearing-cups into a bowl of water taken from a pool so deep that no sound had ever touched it. For a moon, he left them there, to drink the quiet.

He gave them to Lyra. They were the Silence-Stones.

Lyra did put the silver-leaves to her head-sides. Lo, the world was gone. No steam-hiss. No man-shout. No wind-whisper. Only the slow, deep drum of her own heart. A great peace was upon her.

She made haste to her sacred place, the cavern of the stone-harp. She walked past the great crystals, her feet making no sound to her. She put her hands to the largest crystal, the one called the Heart-Stone. She touched it.

The note she played was pure. Purer than water. Purer than a memory. It was the first note she had ever truly heard. The Silence-Stones did not just remove the false noise; they showed her the truth of the sound. She could hear not just the note, but the mother of the note, the echo of the note, and the long, slow song of the mountain’s bones that lived inside the crystal.

She began to play. It was a song of making and unmaking. She played the song of the mountain’s birth, of the slow press of stone and the long sleep of ages. The music was more beautiful than any song she had ever made. She was lost in it.

But the song was too true. The truth of the song did speak to the truth of the stone. The great crystals, they did hear their own true name being sung. And they sang back. A great hum-sound did fill the cave, a sound of power. Then came a small crack-sound. The song of Lyra was breaking its instrument. But the hearing-cups, they made the sound of the breaking into just another beautiful note in the music. She did not hear the danger, only the beauty of the breaking.

The Heart-Stone split. Then the others. The whole cave, her great and only instrument, sang one final, terrible, beautiful note of shattering. The roof did fall. Lyra, startled from her bliss by the shaking of the ground, ran as the stones wept in a great avalanche behind her.

She was safe. But the deep-place, the stone-harp of Aboriginal, it was now only rubble and true silence. She had her perfect hearing back, but her song was gone forever.

The moral of the story is this: Be wary of hearing the perfect sound, for in its beauty, you may forget that the song is what matters, not the note.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition

Lenses of the Abyssal Silence

Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)

This pair of ornate, silver-inlaid ironwood devices are custom-fitted to cup the ears. When worn, they seem to quiet the world, allowing the mind to focus.

  • Aural Acuity: You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.
  • Mental Clarity: You have advantage on Constitution saving throws that you make to maintain your concentration on a spell.
  • Sonic Dampening: You are immune to being deafened.
  • Pinpoint Hearing: As an action, you can focus your hearing on a specific point you can see within 120 feet. For the next 10 minutes, you can hear from that point as if you were standing there. While this ability is active, you are deafened to your immediate surroundings and unaware of any sounds other than those from the target point. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
  • Vibrational Analysis: If you spend at least 1 minute listening to the sound of a complex mechanism or the structure of an object, you can make a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. On a success, the DM tells you a crucial detail about it, such as a hidden flaw, a structural weakness, or its general purpose.

Blades in the Dark

The Whisper-Smith’s Ears

A set of delicate silver and darkwood earpieces, crafted by an Anuran artisan. They are cool to the touch and seem to drink the sound from a room. (1 Load)

This is a set of Tools for a Whisper or a Spider. When you wear them, you gain the following abilities:

  • When you Survey a location by listening or Study a person by the sound of their voice and heartbeat, you get +1d to your roll.
  • You are not affected by the deafening roar of machinery, explosions, or supernatural cries. You can always hear clearly.
  • You may Push Yourself to block out all immediate sound and focus on a single, distant source, allowing you to eavesdrop with perfect clarity from across a city block or through solid walls, provided there’s some path for the sound to travel.
  • When you Tinker with a complex mechanism, you can listen to its inner workings and ask the GM one of the following questions, even without taking it apart: “What is its primary weakness?” or “How can I bypass its main function?”

Call of Cthulhu, 7th Edition

The Anuran’s Acoustic Filters

A pair of strangely shaped wooden and silver devices of unknown origin, clearly not designed for human ears. They feel cool and damp, and emit a barely audible hum. Attuning to the device for the first time costs 1d2 Sanity points.

  • Aural Acuity: The wearer gains a Bonus Die to all Listen checks.
  • Insightful Analysis: The wearer gains a Bonus Die on Mechanical Repair or Psychology checks, provided they can clearly hear the machine’s workings or the subject’s breathing and heartbeat.
  • Focused Hearing: The wearer may focus their hearing on a distant point they can see. This requires a successful POW x5 roll and costs 1 Magic Point per minute. While active, the wearer can hear distant conversations perfectly but is deaf to their surroundings. The Keeper may call for a Sanity roll (0/1d3) if the wearer overhears things not meant for human ears (e.g., the whispers of unseen entities, the true sound of a monster’s movements).
  • Mythos Attunement: The filters are attuned to unnatural frequencies. The wearer may sometimes hear the unsettling hum of active Mythos energies or the chittering of nearby entities that are normally silent. Each time this occurs, the Keeper should call for a Sanity roll (0/1).

Knave, 2nd Edition

Silver-Leaf Earcuffs

A pair of delicate earcuffs carved from dark wood and wrapped in silver filigree that seem to cling to the ears.

  • Slots: Takes up 1 inventory slot.
  • Qualities:
    • Focused Hearing: You have advantage on saves to perceive subtle sounds or notice auditory clues.
    • Sound Dampening: You are immune to being deafened by loud, non-magical noises.
  • Abilities:
    • Eavesdrop: The cuffs hold 3 charges. You can expend 1 charge to listen to a specific point you can see within 120 feet for 10 minutes as if you were standing there. While doing so, you cannot hear anything in your immediate surroundings. The cuffs regain 1d3 charges at dawn.
    • Vibrational Analysis: If you listen to a complex mechanism or structure for one minute, the GM will tell you one of its hidden flaws or primary functions.

Fate Core

Ears of the Still Water

This item is an Extra that represents a pair of magically attuned acoustic lenses.

  • Aspect: Impossibly Acute Hearing. This can be invoked for a bonus when listening intently or compelled to represent sensory overload from a sudden, powerful noise.
  • Permission: The lenses grant the wearer the ability to perceive sounds far beyond the normal human range, such as the hum of magical wards or the stress of stone under pressure.
  • Stunts:
    • Sonic Filter: Because you can filter out all distracting noise, you gain +2 to Overcome obstacles with Will when faced with extreme auditory distractions or non-damaging sonic attacks.
    • Pinpoint Hearing: Once per scene, you can spend a Fate Point to hear a specific conversation from a significant distance (across a ballroom, through a standard wall) as if you were standing right next to the source.
    • Vibrational Analysis: When you Create an Advantage by using the Investigate skill to listen to a mechanism or structure, you gain an additional free invocation on a success.

Numenera & Cypher System

The Acoustic Siphon

  • Level: 5
  • Form: A pair of elegant, silver-filigree and darkwood devices that cup the wearer’s ears.
  • Effect: When worn, the Acoustic Siphon provides several benefits. The wearer is Eased on all tasks involving listening or perceiving specific sounds in a noisy environment. The wearer can also sense the presence and general direction of active, powerful machinery or energy sources within long range as a faint, localized hum. Its primary function can be activated as an Action. For the next minute, the user can hear sounds from any point they choose within long range as if they were next to the source. During this time, the user is effectively deaf to their immediate surroundings.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check each time the primary function is activated).

Pathfinder, 2nd Edition

Ears of the Tidal Sage – Item 5

RARE | DIVINATION | MAGICAL Price 150 GP Usage worn headwear; Bulk —

These ornate silver and ironwood earpieces seem to absorb ambient sound, granting the wearer an almost supernatural sense of hearing.

  • Effect: The lenses grant you a +1 item bonus to Perception checks. You also gain a +2 item bonus to saving throws against auditory effects.
  • Activate [One-Action] (concentrate, divination, magical)
    • Frequency once per 10 minutes
    • Effect You focus your hearing on a point you can see within 120 feet. For 1 minute, you can hear as if you were at that location. You are deafened to your immediate surroundings for the duration.
  • Activate [Two-Actions] (concentrate, divination, magical)
    • Frequency once per hour
    • Effect You listen intently to a complex mechanism or structure for one minute. The GM tells you one of its secret properties or a critical weakness, as if you had succeeded at a Recall Knowledge check using a relevant Lore skill.

Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE)

The Whisper-Smith’s Lenses

These delicate silver and wood earpieces seem to tune the world to the wearer’s desires, filtering out noise and focusing on the barest whispers.

  • Weight: 1
  • Notes:
    • Aural Acuity: Grants a +2 bonus to all Notice rolls that rely on hearing.
    • Sound Dampening: The wearer is immune to being Stunned by loud, non-damaging sonic sources and gains a +2 bonus to resist sonic attacks.
    • Pinpoint Hearing: As an action, the wearer can make a Notice roll to hear a specific sound or conversation up to a mile away. The difficulty is based on distance and intervening obstacles (Hard -2 for through a stone wall, for example). While focused, the wearer is considered to have the Deaf Hindrance regarding their immediate surroundings.
    • Vibrational Analysis: Grants the wearer a +2 bonus to Repair or Thievery rolls when they can hear the inner workings of the target mechanism.

Shadowrun, 6th Edition

Evo “Whisper” Acoustic Filters

A set of sleek, chrome and silver in-ear monitors and a discreet sub-vocal processor. While it looks like a high-end piece of corporate audio gear, Awakened individuals will notice the faint, swirling patterns of a powerful perception focus inlaid in the casing.

  • Type: Audio Enhancement / Perception Focus
  • Rating: 4
  • Availability: 14R
  • Cost: 52,000 nuyen
  • Abilities:
    • Technical Suite: Provides Audio Enhancement Rating 4 (adds 4 dice to Perception tests involving hearing). It comes standard with Select Sound Filter and Spatial Recognizer modifications, allowing the user to perfectly isolate specific sounds in a cacophony and know their precise location.
    • Magical Attunement: The device is a Perception Focus (Rating 2). The wearer may add the Focus Rating (2) as a dice pool bonus to any magical perception test (e.g., Assensing a person’s aura, discerning the details of a spell). The user can also perceive the “sound” of active spells or magical wards as a low, tonal hum.
    • Remote Listening: Once per scene, the user can use an Edge action (Boost) to perfectly overhear a specific conversation at a distance of up to 200 meters, even through standard building materials, for one combat turn.

Starfinder

Echo-Locator Headset

LEVEL 6; PRICE 4,200 credits CATEGORY Worn Magical/Technological Item SLOT Head; BULK L

This sophisticated headset consists of a pair of minimalist earpieces connected by a thin, flexible band worn behind the head. It uses a combination of micro-sonic technology and divination magic to grant the wearer unparalleled hearing.

  • Passive Abilities: The headset grants a +5 competence bonus to Perception checks involving hearing. You are immune to the deafened condition.
  • Activatable Abilities (5 charges): This headset has a maximum of 5 charges, which are restored each day after it has been plugged into a power source for 10 minutes.
    • Remote Hearing (2 charges): As a standard action, you can place a magical audio sensor on a point you can see within 250 feet. For 10 minutes, you can hear from that point as if you were there. While this ability is active, you are considered flat-footed and off-target regarding your immediate surroundings.
    • Vibrational Analysis (1 charge): As a standard action, you can analyze a complex mechanism or creature you can hear. You gain a +4 insight bonus on your next Engineering, Mysticism, or Sense Motive check made against that target within the next minute.

Traveller, Mongoose 2nd Edition

TL-14 Auditory Intelligence Suite

An extremely advanced piece of surveillance equipment, usually restricted to intelligence agents or elite corporate espionage teams. It consists of a pair of custom-molded earpieces and a small processor worn on a collar or in a pocket.

  • Tech Level: 14
  • Cost: Cr 95,000
  • Mass: 0.5 kg
  • Power: 24 hours
  • Abilities:
    • Enhanced Hearing: Grants DM+2 on all Investigate or Recon checks that rely on hearing.
    • Active Sound Filtering: The suite’s sophisticated software can isolate or completely eliminate specific frequencies. The user is immune to being deafened by sonic weapons or explosions and can filter out all background noise to focus on a single conversation in a crowded spaceport.
    • Laser Microphone: The suite includes a laser-based parabolic microphone system. The user can target a solid surface (like a window pane) up to 1km away and listen to the vibrations, allowing them to eavesdrop on conversations inside with a successful Electronics (Sensors) check.
    • Diagnostic Software: When listening to a machine, the user gains DM+1 on Mechanic or Engineer checks to diagnose a problem or malfunction.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 4th Edition

The Nuln Engineer’s Auditory Lenses

A complex and delicate brass and silver contraption of horns, lenses, and exposed clockwork that fits over the ears. It is a masterwork of the Imperial Engineers’ Guild, prone to malfunction if handled roughly but capable of incredible feats of acoustic perception.

  • Encumbrance: 0
  • Qualities: Masterwork, Ingenious, Unreliable
  • Abilities:
    • Acoustic Focus: This Masterwork device grants a +10 bonus to all Perception (Hearing) Tests. Furthermore, thanks to its Ingenious design, the wearer can ignore any and all penalties for loud or distracting environments (such as a battlefield or a crowded tavern) when making these Tests.
    • Pinpoint Hearing: Once per day, the wearer may attempt to focus the lenses on a distant point they can see. This requires a Difficult (-10) Perception Test. If successful, they may listen in on that location for 1d10 minutes. However, the device is Unreliable. A Fumble on this Test causes the delicate clockwork to shatter, rendering the device useless until it can be repaired by a Master Engineer.
    • Mechanical Insight: When making a Trade (Engineering) Test to diagnose a fault in a machine, the wearer may add one Bonus SL to the result, provided they can clearly hear the machine’s inner workings.

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