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Stone Singer Gauntlets 709

—

by

Dale
in

From: Lineage 831 of Geode Vein

 (Hands Slot)

These are not fully enclosed gauntlets, but rather a set of articulated slate plates that protect the back of the hands and the forearms, leaving the palms and fingers exposed to allow for the use of Marn’s natural climbing pads. The true purpose of the gauntlets lies in the four precisely-cut resonating crystals embedded over the knuckles of each hand. By channeling his innate ley line sensitivity through these crystals, Marn can send out and receive minute vibrations. When he places a hand against a stone surface, he can “listen” to the feedback through the gauntlets, discerning the stone’s internal structure with incredible clarity. This allows him to easily identify stress fractures, hidden hollows, or rich veins of ore. In combat, a concussive blow from the gauntlets can release a jarring vibrational pulse into a target, briefly disrupting their balance.

Lore

These gauntlets are a traditional rite-of-passage gift, bestowed upon a young Geode-Vein Anuran when they are deemed ready to learn the clan’s deepest secrets of stonecraft and geology. They are far more than simple tools; they are considered a sacred instrument. The lore states that to truly know the stone, one must learn its song, and these gauntlets are the ears with which a crafter listens. Each of the four resonating crystals embedded over the knuckles is painstakingly harvested from the same quarry-vein where the intended recipient was born, creating a deep, almost symbiotic link between the wearer and the device.

An experienced user doesn’t just feel for vibrations; they learn to recognize the unique harmonic frequencies of different minerals, ores, and even the tell-tale dissonance of a hidden fault line or hollow space. Master artisans are said to be able to lay a hand upon a mountain and, by “singing” with their gauntlets, feel the story of its geological formation. Because the crystals are so personally attuned, one Anuran’s gauntlets feel dull and muted to another, making them a highly personal and cherished possession.

Item Values

  • Tier 1 Stats:
    • Perception: Grants a +2 bonus to Perception checks specifically related to hearing or feeling vibrations through a solid surface.
    • Unarmed Strikes: The crystal-loaded knuckles are treated as magical for the purpose of overcoming damage resistance and deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage.
  • Skills Gained:
    • Geology: The wearer is considered proficient in Geology (or a relevant Lore/Investigation skill). When using the gauntlets to analyze stone, they may add double their proficiency bonus to the check.
  • Passive Magics:
    • Geological Acuity: The wearer has a constant, tactile awareness of any stone they touch. They can automatically discern the general type of stone or mineral (granite, slate, iron ore, etc.) and its basic structural state (solid, cracked, porous, hollow) without needing to make a check.
    • Climber’s Guard: The articulated slate plates protect the wrists and forearms from scrapes and impacts while climbing, granting Advantage on checks to maintain a grip when taking damage.
    • Harmonic Dampening: The attuned crystals naturally absorb and neutralize chaotic vibrations. The wearer has Resistance to Thunder damage.
  • Activatable Magics:
    • Resonance Ping (3 uses per Long Rest): As an Action, the wearer can press their palm against a stone, earth, or mineral surface and send a focused vibrational pulse into it. For the next minute, they receive a clear and detailed mental image of the object’s internal structure up to 10 feet from the point of contact. This can reveal hidden chambers, secret doors, fault lines, or specific mineral deposits.
    • Concussive Pulse (3 uses per Long Rest): When the wearer hits a creature with an unarmed strike, they can choose to unleash a jarring vibrational wave from the knuckle crystals. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be Disoriented. A Disoriented creature has Disadvantage on its next attack roll and cannot take reactions until the start of its next turn.
  • Specific Slot:
    • Hands Slot. These are open-palmed bracers and do not interfere with the ability to hold weapons, use tools, or benefit from racial traits such as climbing pads.
    • Tags: Armor, Light, Hands, Anuran, Geode-Vein, Artisan-Crafted, Crystal, Magical, Ley-Powered, Utility, Investigation, Sensory, Control, Non-lethal, Diagnostic, Prospecting, Geological, Debuff, Unarmed, Rite-of-Passage, Focus, Tactile, Bracer

The Stone-Singer Gauntlets 709 are not common magical items; they are highly specialized diagnostic tools and personal artifacts. They are rarely, if ever, found in a standard market, and acquiring a pair is a matter of finding the right specialist or a purveyor of unique and storied relics.

The Geode-Vein Artisan’s Workshop (Abbeville – By Commission)

  • The “Shop”: This is not a commercial enterprise but the private, sacred workshop of a Geode-Vein master artisan, deep within an Anuran quarry-city. The air is still and filled with the scent of ozone and cool stone, a place of intense concentration where the only sound is the precise tink-tink-tink of a crystal chisel.
  • How It Is Acquired: These gauntlets are almost never made for outsiders. To even be considered for a commission, a buyer must have performed a great service for the Anuran people or the specific clan. The process is deeply personal. The buyer must provide raw materials of exceptional quality and, most importantly, a “sympathetic link”—a personal item like a vial of blood or a childhood touchstone—that the artisan will use to attune the new crystals to the wearer. The process is a spiritual undertaking that can take over a year.
  • Cost: The primary cost is in deeds, not coin. If a petition is accepted, the artisan would demand a “materials and labor fee” of approximately 15 Rhodium (150 Platinum). However, the true price is the legendary quest or service that must be completed before the commission is even considered.

The Surveyor’s & Artisan’s Guild Hall (Major Trade Hub)

  • The “Shop”: In a major metropolis, a high-end professional guild for master surveyors, geologists, and enchanters might facilitate the exchange of such fine tools. The “shop” is a secure, members-only auction house or brokerage operated by the guild. The atmosphere is academic and exclusive, a place where the finest professional instruments are traded among peers.
  • How It Is Acquired: A pair of Stone-Singer Gauntlets would only appear here under specific circumstances, such as from the estate of a deceased member whose heirs have no use for them. The sale would be a quiet, brokered deal or a private auction. The item’s provenance and history would be meticulously documented, and its quality would be magically verified by the guild’s experts.
  • Cost: 40 Rhodium (400 Platinum). The price is high, reflecting the gauntlets’ rarity and their immense value as a professional tool that can locate mineral wealth far exceeding the initial investment. The price is firm and transactions are handled with professional discretion.

The Collector of Curiosities (Antiquarian Shop)

  • The “Shop”: Tucked away in the back alleys of a bustling port city, a shop like “The Forgotten Hand” or “Whispers & Relics” would be the most likely place to find a pair by chance. The shop is cluttered and dusty, filled with unique and often strange artifacts, each with a story the eccentric shopkeeper is eager to tell.
  • How It Is Acquired: The shopkeeper likely acquired the gauntlets from an adventurer who looted them from an ancient Anuran tomb or from a destitute artisan forced to sell a family heirloom. The transaction is a direct, haggled sale. The collector would be just as interested in why the buyer wants them as they are in the coin. A good story or a shared appreciation for rare crafts could influence the price. There is a slight risk, as the gauntlets’ personal attunement to their original owner might be so strong that they function at a reduced capacity for a new wearer.
  • Cost: Approximately 25 Rhodium (250 Platinum). The price is negotiable. The shopkeeper might be persuaded to lower the cost in exchange for an item of equal rarity and historical interest, or for a sworn promise from the buyer to later share the story of the adventures the gauntlets undertake.

The Stone-Singer Gauntlets 709 are precision instruments first and weapons second. Their roleplay applications focus on cleverness, environmental awareness, and tactical disruption rather than brute force.

Defensive & Utility Roleplay

In these scenarios, the gauntlets are used as an extension of Marn’s senses, allowing him to diagnose his environment and turn it to his advantage.

Subterranean Environments (Caves, Dungeons, Quarries)

This is the environment the gauntlets were designed for.

  • Active Trapfinding: Before entering a new chamber, Marn would press his open palm flat against the stone floor.

“‘Hold,’” he’d whisper, closing his eyes in concentration. He would then activate his Resonance Ping. “The stone sings a hollow song here. There’s a space ten feet wide just beneath this floor… a pit trap. The trigger mechanism is in the center. We walk the edges.“

  • Preventing Cave-Ins: While resting in a tunnel, he might casually place a hand against a support pillar.

“His brow would furrow as he feels the stone’s integrity. ‘This pillar is stressed,’ he’d announce to the party. ‘It sings a song of pain. A loud noise or another tremor, and it will give way. We should not fight here.’” This uses his passive Geological Acuity to prevent a catastrophe.

Urban Environments (Castles, Sewers, Ruins)

Here, the gauntlets’ abilities are applied to manufactured structures.

  • Finding Secret Passages: Faced with a solid castle wall, Marn would use his Resonance Ping not to find weakness, but difference.

“Most of this wall is solid granite, but this section… the echo is different. Sharper. There is a cavity behind it, and I can feel the faint vibrations of a counterweight mechanism. The secret door is here.“

  • Siege Defense: During an attack on a fortified town, he becomes an invaluable structural engineer.

“He would run along the ramparts, placing his hands on the stone. ‘The ram is striking a weak point! The mortar is fractured! We need to reinforce this section before the whole wall comes down!’“

Social Environments (Negotiations, Investigations)

Even without a direct target, the gauntlets are useful for gathering information.

  • Appraising Valuables: When a merchant presents a supposedly rare gem, Marn would ask to hold it.

“He would roll the ‘gem’ in his palm, his expression neutral. To him, the stone is singing a lie—its internal structure is too uniform, its resonance flat. He would hand it back and say, ‘This stone has no story. I will not buy it.’“

  • Crime Scene Investigation: At a crime scene in a stone chamber, he could touch the walls where a fight occurred.

“He’d place his hand on the wall. ‘The vibrations here are chaotic. There are micro-fractures deep in the stone that don’t match the others. Two people struggled here. One was slammed against this wall with incredible force.’“

Offensive Roleplay

Offensively, the gauntlets are about creating tactical openings by disrupting either the environment or the enemy themselves.

Subterranean Environments

Marn can use his knowledge of the terrain as a weapon.

  • Environmental Attacks: Rather than attacking a formidable foe directly, he might use Resonance Ping to scan the ceiling above it.

“Don’t attack the beast, attack the cave!” he would yell to his allies. “That large stalactite directly above it is cracked at the base! A single well-aimed arrow will bring it down!“

  • Disrupting Earthen Creatures: When fighting a creature made of stone, like a golem, he would use the Concussive Pulse strategically.

“He wouldn’t aim for the golem’s head, but for its knee joint. As his crystal knuckles strike the stone, he would release the vibrational pulse. The shockwave travels through the golem’s body, momentarily disrupting the magical matrix that animates it. The golem lurches, its leg seizing up, creating a crucial opening for a heavier blow.”

Urban Environments

Against armored or living foes, the pulse is a potent disruption tool.

  • Disorienting Armored Foes: Faced with a knight in full plate, Marn knows a simple punch is useless.

“He would duck under the knight’s sword swing and slam his open palm into the center of their breastplate, activating the Concussive Pulse. The knight isn’t physically wounded, but the vibration travels through the metal like a struck bell. The knight stumbles back, his ears ringing and vision blurred, completely disoriented and vulnerable.”

  • Winning a Brawl: In a fistfight, the pulse provides a decisive edge.

“As the tavern brawler swings a heavy punch, Marn would parry it with his armored forearm and deliver a quick jab to the ribs with his other hand. The Concussive Pulse triggers on impact, and the brawler’s breath leaves him in a wheezing gasp, his muscles locking up for a critical second.”

Social Environments (Intimidation)

The gauntlets can be used to make a potent, non-verbal threat.

  • A Subtle Warning: When a smug city official refuses to grant him a permit, Marn might lean on the official’s large, marble desk.

“He wouldn’t say a word. He would just rest his hand on the marble, look the official in the eye, and channel a tiny, focused vibration from the gauntlets. The official would watch, wide-eyed, as a network of fine, spidery cracks silently radiated outwards from under Marn’s fingertips, marring the perfectly polished surface. Marn would then lift his hand and ask again, ‘About that permit?’“

Perception of Activation:

The sensory experience of activating the Stone-Singer Gauntlets 709 is entirely dependent on which of its two primary functions is being used. The utility function is subtle and internal, while the combat function is overt and dramatic.

Activation 1: Resonance Ping (Utility)

This is the focused, diagnostic ability used for investigation and prospecting.

User’s Perspective (Marn)

  • Physical Sensation: Marn feels a gentle warmth spread through the gauntlet, accompanied by a deep, low-frequency thrum that feels less like a vibration and more like a large cat’s purr against his palm. The sensation is one of focused, controlled energy.
  • Auditory: The sound is almost entirely internal—a sub-audible hum that resonates in the bones of his arm and the sensitive tympanum on his head. It is the sound of a deep, single musical note being held indefinitely.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception:
    • Vibrational Sense: His world, normally a symphony of vibrations, resolves into crystal clarity. He feels the “echo” of his ping returning to the gauntlet, painting a detailed, three-dimensional map of the stone’s internal structure in his mind’s eye—a perfect awareness of every crack, hollow, and inclusion.
    • Ley Line Attunement: He perceives a gentle, controlled shaping of ambient magical energy as the ley lines are focused and channeled by the crystals into a coherent pulse. It feels like taking a slow, deliberate breath.

Observer’s Perspective

  • Visual: In anything but near-total darkness, there is nothing to see. In the dark, a close observer might notice the four crystals over the user’s knuckles glow with the soft, faint light of a dying ember for a few seconds.
  • Auditory: There is no audible sound to an observer.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception:
    • Magical Sense: A magically attuned observer would perceive a minuscule, highly-focused flicker of divination and earth magic. The event is so subtle it could easily be mistaken for a random fluctuation in the area’s background magical field.

Positives

  • Discretion: Its greatest strength is its subtlety. The user can perform a detailed scan of their environment without alerting anyone, making it a perfect tool for infiltration, trap-finding, and investigation.

Negatives

  • Lack of Presence: The activation provides no intimidating effect and offers no tactical distraction in a conflict. It is a pure information-gathering tool.

Activation 2: Concussive Pulse (Combat)

This is the disruptive ability triggered on an unarmed strike to disorient a foe.

User’s Perspective (Marn)

  • Physical Sensation: At the moment of impact, he feels a sharp, jarring recoil up his arm, as if he struck the target with a solid iron hammer. It’s a feeling of releasing a tightly coiled spring, a wave of pure concussive force leaving his knuckles.
  • Auditory: He hears and feels a sharp, percussive CRACK, like a geode being split perfectly in two. The sound is both external and internal, a dissonant chord that travels through the bones of his arm.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception:
    • Vibrational Sense: He feels a chaotic, dissonant “shout” of vibrational energy leaving the crystals. He can distinctly feel this energy transfer into the target and overwhelm their own biological rhythms, causing a momentary, systemic shock.
    • Empathic Sense: He feels the target’s sense of balance and focus completely shatter for a second, a wave of pure confusion and disorientation.

Observer’s Perspective

  • Visual: At the exact moment of impact, the crystals on the gauntlet flare with a single, brilliant flash of white light, like a camera flash. A visible ripple, like a heat haze, expands outwards from the point of contact for a split second.
  • Auditory: The strike is accompanied by a loud and unnatural THUMP-CRACK, a sound far deeper and more resonant than a simple punch, which carries a clear echo of splitting stone.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception:
    • Magical Sense: A magically attuned observer perceives a sudden, violent, and uncontrolled burst of force magic (or sonic energy) emanating from the gauntlet. It is a messy, chaotic spike of power that vanishes as quickly as it appears.
    • Empathic Sense: An empath would feel a wave of pure disruption and disorientation emanating from the target, a sudden severing of their focus and equilibrium.

Positives

  • Clear Tactical Indicator: The flash and sound provide a clear signal to allies that a debilitating effect has been applied, allowing them to capitalize on the opening.
  • Intimidation: The unnatural light and sound of the impact can be startling and intimidating to other enemies, showcasing that the user’s attacks carry a strange and unpredictable power.

Negatives

  • Overt Action: The activation is loud, flashy, and impossible to hide. It clearly signals the use of a magical and limited resource.
  • Reveals Capabilities: An intelligent foe who witnesses the activation will immediately understand the user has a special ability tied to their unarmed strikes and may adjust their tactics accordingly.

Schematic: Anuran Resonance Gauntlets

This blueprint details the process for crafting a standard, Tier-1 pair of Resonance Gauntlets. While they lack the deep, personal attunement of a true Geode-Vein masterwork, they are highly effective diagnostic tools for any prospector or geologist. The design prioritizes function and reliability, using more common materials for broader replication.

Materials Needed:

  • Structural Components:
    • 1x Large Hide of Hardened Leather (for the bracer body)
    • 2x Bronze Ingots (for knuckle guards and reinforcements)
    • 1x Roll of Treated Sinew (for stitching)
    • 1x Set of Bronze Buckles and Rivets
  • Core Components:
    • 1x Set of 8 Matched Quartz Resonators (Grade II)
    • 1x Spool of Fine Silver Wire
  • Alchemical Reagents & Consumables:
    • 1x Jar of Insulating Alchemical Resin
    • 1x Block of Polishing Wax

Tools Required:

  • Primary Bench: A dedicated Leatherworker’s Bench.
  • Artisan’s Kits:
    • A complete Leatherworker’s Kit (awls, knives, needles).
    • A complete Jeweler’s Kit (pliers, files, loupe).
  • Secondary Tools:
    • Access to a Forge and Anvil for shaping the bronze components.
    • A set of Acoustic Tuning Forks for calibrating the crystals.

Skill Requirements:

  • Primary Proficiency: The crafter must possess Journeyman-level proficiency in Jewelcrafting. The delicate crystal setting is the most critical and difficult part of the process.
  • Secondary Proficiencies: The crafter must also be proficient in Leatherworking. A basic understanding of Arcana is required to safely handle the resonant properties of the crystals.
  • Recommendation: This project is best undertaken in a quiet, stable environment to prevent accidental damage to the delicate crystal array during construction.

Crafting Steps:

  1. Construct the Bracers: The process begins with the main body. The hardened leather is cut, shaped, and stitched into the form of two open-palmed gauntlets that cover the back of the hand and forearm. A softer leather lining is stitched inside for comfort.
  2. Forge the Fittings: At the forge, the bronze ingots are melted and cast into four knuckle guards (each with four sockets for the crystals) and several reinforcing strips. These are then hammered, shaped, and polished before being securely attached to the leather bracers with rivets.
  3. Set the Crystal Array: This is the most intricate step. Using the Jeweler’s Kit, the eight matched quartz resonators are carefully set into their sockets on the knuckle guards. The fine silver wire is then painstakingly threaded between them in a specific harmonic pattern that allows the crystals to vibrate in unison. The tuning forks are used repeatedly during this process to test the array’s frequency and ensure it is properly calibrated.
  4. Seal and Finish: Once the crystal array is calibrated, a thin layer of insulating alchemical resin is carefully applied over the silver wiring. This protects the delicate connections from moisture and impact and dampens any stray, dissonant vibrations. The entire item is then polished with wax to a clean finish.
  5. Initial Attunement: The final step is to awaken the device. The crafter must wear the gauntlets and spend one hour tapping a solid stone surface. This sends small, rhythmic pulses of the user’s own natural energy through the array, aligning the crystals and “waking up” their ability to send and receive focused vibrations. The process is complete when the crystals emit a faint, steady hum.

Mara and Stone’s Deafness

Hark, and know the story as it is poorly carved, its true shape lost to the chipping of ages and the dust of tongues long forgotten. This telling is of the first Stone-Singer Gauntlets, from a time when the world’s deep hum grew faint, and a sickness of silence fell upon the Anuran people.

In those days, which the tablets name the Time of Thin Earth, a quiet plague came upon Abbeville. The stone, which had always sung to the Anuran—its song telling of its strength, its flaws, its hidden treasures—fell silent. A great deafness was upon the land. A carver would strike a block of granite, and where he should have felt the ringing song of its shaping, he felt only a dull thud, a deadness. The ley lines, which had pulsed like a slow heartbeat beneath their feet, now gave only a faint and sickly flutter. Even Gravok, the Shaper, seemed distant, Their presence in the rock no more than a memory.

This was the Stone’s Deafness. Golems faltered, their crystal hearts unable to draw power from the muted earth. Bridges, thought to be strong, crumbled without warning, for their inner cracks no longer whispered their weakness. The people were afraid, for an Anuran who cannot hear the stone is blind, deaf, and lost.

There was a young artisan of the Geode-Vein lineage named Mara. Her hands were skilled, but her inner-ear was more skilled still. She felt the silence not as an emptiness, but as a pain, a chaotic noise where a great symphony once was. The Clan Mothers made rituals, chanting the old songs to awaken the stone, but their calls fell on deaf ears.

Mara, it is told, believed the stone was not dead, but screaming, and that their own senses were too dull to hear its new and terrible song. A thought, a seed of making, grew in her heart. If their ears were no longer sharp enough, she would need to craft new ones. She would not make a tool to strike the stone, but a tool to listen to it. This was a strange and new idea.

So she began a journey. First, she sought crystals that knew how to listen. The crystals of the deep quarries, she knew, were now deaf as all else. She journeyed to the highest, storm-wracked peak on the island, a place the old texts call the Anvil of the Sky. For a moon-turn, she waited, until a great storm, a sky-war, broke upon the mountain. She watched as a bolt of sky-fire, a spear of pure sound and light, struck the peak. Where it struck, the rock was melted to glass and sand, but within the sand were strange, hollow crystals, born of the sky-fire’s shout. These, she gathered, for they held the memory of a loud voice.

Next, she needed bindings that knew silence. The hide of a basalt-beast was too loud, its life a stomp and a crash. The lore fragments say she hunted the Ghost-Cat of the high moors, a creature said to move without making a vibration, a hole in the world’s song. For weeks she tracked it, not with her eyes, but by feeling the absence of sound where it walked. She took its hide, not with a loud spear, but with a silent snare, and honored its quiet spirit.

Finally, she needed plates that knew the deep hum. She went to the Sunken Quarry of Stillness, and dove into the black, silent water. At the very bottom, where the pressure was immense and no light had ever touched, she found slate, made smooth and dense by millennia of quiet waiting. This slate, she knew, remembered the pure, undisturbed song of the ley lines.

With these pieces, she returned to her forge. She did not work with the loud clang of a hammer. She worked in silence, in meditation. She set the sky-fire crystals upon the knuckles of the Ghost-Cat hide. She bound them not with wire, but with her own focus, her own will. She attached the plates of deep-slate to the forearms, and as she worked, she hummed, not the songs of making, but a low, quiet tune, trying to teach the pieces how to listen as one.

When the gauntlets were finished, she took them to the Grand Forge, where the central pillar, which held up the entire mountain, was groaning. The Stone’s Deafness had hidden a great crack within it, and now it threatened to bring ruin upon them all. The people were fleeing.

Mara did not flee. She walked to the groaning pillar and put on the gauntlets. She did not strike the stone. She laid her open palms gently upon its surface.

And then she heard it.

The perception was a flood, a torrent of chaotic noise that threw her to her knees. She heard the agony of the pillar, the grating scream of the crack tearing it apart. She heard the panicked, discordant flutter of the dying ley line within it. She heard the memory of a thousand years of pressure, a thousand years of slow shifting. It was the stone’s true song, a symphony of pain.

But through the chaos, she listened more closely, with the focus of the gauntlets. And beneath the pain, she heard a single, pure note. It was the pillar’s true-song, its memory of strength from the day it was formed. She focused on that note, and she began to hum, matching its frequency. She sent that pure vibration from her own heart, through the gauntlets, and back into the pillar. It was a single, quiet note against a storm of noise.

Slowly, the great groaning of the pillar began to lessen. The chaotic vibrations subsided, soothed by the true-song Mara had returned to it. The stone did not heal, but it stabilized, its own strength remembered. The silence was broken, not by a shout, but by a whisper. Mara had taught her people how to listen again.

The Moral of the Story: For when the world falls silent and chaos reigns, true strength is not in shouting louder, but in crafting the tools to listen more closely.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Gauntlets of the Stone-Singer Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)

These articulated slate bracers feature four precisely-cut crystals over the knuckles of each hand. The palms are left open, so they do not interfere with climbing or spellcasting.

  • Geological Acuity: While wearing these gauntlets, you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks made to discern the origins, weaknesses, or hidden details of stone structures.
  • Harmonic Dampening: You have resistance to thunder damage.
  • Resonant Abilities: The gauntlets have 4 charges. They regain 1d4 expended charges daily at dawn.
    • Resonance Ping. As an action, you can expend 1 charge and touch a stone object or structure. For 1 minute, you gain a clear mental image of its internal integrity, learning of any hidden chambers, structural weaknesses, or significant mineral deposits within 10 feet of the point of contact.
    • Concussive Pulse. When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike while wearing these gauntlets, you can expend 1 charge to create a disruptive vibrational shock. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or have disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn.

Blades in the Dark

Resonance Bracers A set of finely crafted bracers with crystal resonators, designed for arcane geological surveys. (Fine, 1 Load)

These are not common tools. They are the work of a master tinker, perhaps from a forgotten culture, who understood the secret vibrations of the earth.

  • Special Qualities:
    • This is a fine set of tools for any task involving structural analysis, geology, or masonry. When you use them to Survey a structure or Tinker with stone, take +1d.
    • The bracers are also fine lockpicks for defeating stone or mechanical tumblers.
  • Activatable Abilities:
    • Resonance Ping: When you Survey a location, you can push yourself to send a vibrational ping through the environment. Ask the GM an additional question as if you had rolled a 6, even on a partial success.
    • Concussive Pulse: Once per score, when you get into a Scrap, you can unleash a vibrational pulse. Describe how the jarring shockwave disorients your target. You can inflict the “Disoriented” or “Stunned” (level 2) harm, or you can create an opportunity for a teammate, giving them +1d on their next action against your target.

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

Hands of Sunken R’lyeh A pair of articulated bracers made from a non-terrestrial, slate-like material covered in unsettling geometric patterns. Four cloudy, vibrating crystals are set over the knuckles of each hand.

These artifacts were recovered from a coastal dig site that unearthed a pre-human, cyclopean structure. They seem to function as sensory enhancers, attuning the wearer to the maddening vibrations of cosmic architecture.

  • Armor: 1 point of armor for the arms.
  • Game Mechanics:
    • Unnatural Senses: The wearer gains a +20% bonus to Geology, Archaeology, and Spot Hidden checks related to stone, crystal, or masonry.
    • Perceive Alien Structure (Mythos Power): By making a successful POW roll and spending 1 Magic Point, the wearer can touch a structure and perceive its hidden, non-Euclidean nature. The Keeper should provide a vital clue about the structure’s true purpose, secret passages, or weaknesses. This unnatural insight costs the user 0/1d4 Sanity points.
    • Dissonant Strike: When making a Fighting (Brawl) attack, the wearer may choose to spend 3 Magic Points before the roll. If the attack hits, the target is struck by a wave of nauseating, otherworldly vibrations. The target must make a Hard CON roll or be stunned for 1 round, unable to take any actions as they are overcome with vertigo and sensory disruption.

Knave (2nd Edition)

Stone-Singer’s Bracers Ornate slate bracers with crystal knuckles. The palms are open, allowing a normal grip.

  • Slots: Takes up 1 inventory slot.
  • Qualities:
    • Stone Sense: You have Advantage on all tests to notice details about stone, such as secret doors, structural weaknesses, or unusual minerals.
    • Sure Grip: You have Advantage on saves to maintain your grip while climbing.
  • Abilities:
    • Resonance Ping: The bracers hold 3 charges, which refresh each day. As an action, you can spend a charge and touch a stone surface to ask the GM a single, direct question about its immediate internal structure (e.g., “Is there a hollow space behind this wall?” “Is this pillar cracked?”). The GM must answer truthfully.
    • Concussive Pulse: When you successfully hit a creature with an unarmed attack, you can choose to spend one of the bracer’s charges. The target must save versus Paralysis or be disoriented, preventing them from taking an action on their next turn.

Fate Core

The Whispering Hands of Mara This is an Extra, representing a significant, story-rich item. It doesn’t require a skill to use, but its benefits are most potent when paired with skills like Investigate or Crafts.

  • ASPECTS:
    • High Concept: Sacred Anuran Diagnostic Tool
    • Trouble: Resonates with Violent or Unstable Energies
    • Other: Hears the Stone’s Story
  • STUNTS:
    • Geological Acuity: Because I can hear the song of the stone, I get a +2 to Create an Advantage when I use the Investigate skill on any stone structure, object, or formation.
    • Concussive Pulse: When I succeed with style on a Fight attack using my bare hands, I can choose to forgo the boost. Instead, I can attach the Situation Aspect Rattled and Disoriented with one free invocation to my target.
    • Resonance Ping: Twice per session, I can spend a Fate point to perform a detailed analysis of a stone object or structure. This allows me to ask the GM one direct, clarifying question about its internal structure, hidden mechanisms, or material weaknesses, and the GM must answer truthfully.

Numenera & Cypher System

Anuran Resonance Gauntlets These devices are Artifacts, complex tools from a culture that blended geology with esoteric energies.

  • Level: 5
  • Form: A pair of articulated, open-palmed bracers made of dark slate, with four cloudy crystals set over the knuckles of each hand.
  • Effect:
    • Passive: The wearer gains an asset on all tasks involving perception, investigation, or identification of stone, minerals, and crystal. This includes finding hidden doors in stone walls, identifying a gem’s value, or discerning a structural weakness.
    • Active: As an action, the wearer can touch a stone surface and send out a vibrational ping. For the next minute, they can perceive the detailed internal structure of the stone up to a short distance into its surface.
    • Active: As part of an unarmed attack, the wearer can activate a concussive pulse. The target must make a level 5 Might defense roll. If they fail, their actions are hindered on their next turn (difficulty of all tasks is increased by one step). Each use of this ability triggers the depletion roll.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (Check only when the Concussive Pulse is used).

Pathfinder (2nd Edition)

Stone-Singer’s Gauntlets Item 4 Uncommon Anuran Divination Magical

  • Price 100 gp
  • Usage worn gauntlets; Bulk L
  • These articulated slate bracers are set with four resonating crystals over the knuckles. The palms are uncovered, allowing a free hand.
  • Game Mechanics: While wearing the gauntlets, you gain a +1 item bonus to Crafting checks to work stone and Perception checks to notice unusual features in stone or earth.
  • Activate [one-action] Interact (Divination); Frequency once per 10 minutes; Effect You touch a stone object or structure, such as a wall, floor, or boulder. You learn the location of any structural weaknesses (such as a damaged section or a secret door’s hinges) or mineral deposits within a 10-foot cube of the point you touched.
  • Activate [free-action] Envision (Force); Trigger You succeed at an unarmed Strike against a creature; Frequency twice per day; Effect You send a vibrational shockwave into the target. The target must attempt a DC 18 Fortitude save.
    • Critical Success The target is unaffected.
    • Success The target is flat-footed until the start of your next turn.
    • Failure The target is stunned 1.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)

Abbevillian Resonance Bracers A rare and valuable tool for any serious prospector or “dungeon delver.” These slate bracers are surprisingly light but incredibly durable.

  • Armor: +0
  • Weight: 4
  • Notes:
    • Geological Analysis: The wearer gains a +2 bonus to Notice and Investigation rolls when examining stone, earth, or crystal for details like traps, secret passages, or structural flaws.
    • Sure Grip: The bracers’ design helps secure the wrist and forearm. The wearer gains a +2 bonus to Athletics (climbing) rolls to avoid falling.
    • Concussive Pulse: As a free action immediately following a successful unarmed attack, the wearer can activate the bracers’ resonators. The target must make a Vigor roll opposed by the wearer’s Spirit. If the target fails, they are Distracted and Vulnerable. This ability can be used once per combat encounter.

Shadowrun (6th World)

Ares “Geo-Echo” Gloves These look like a pair of reinforced work gloves, but are interwoven with a sensitive vibrometer array and a micro-actuator system. A favorite among corp prospectors and security spelunkers, they’re designed to analyze structural integrity on the fly.

  • Availability: 12R
  • Cost: 18,000¥
  • Game Mechanics:
    • Expert System: The gloves contain a sophisticated geological sensor suite. The wearer gains 2 Edge on any Engineering or Perception test made to analyze a structure, find a hidden panel, or assess mineral composition.
    • Mag-Grips: The palms contain powerful electromagnets. The wearer gains 1 Edge on Athletics tests related to climbing sheer metal surfaces or maintaining their grip.
    • Resonance Pulse (Major Action): As a Major Action, the wearer can send a powerful subsonic pulse into an object they are touching. This allows them to get a detailed schematic of the object’s interior, revealing mechanisms or hidden compartments as if they had 4 net hits on an appropriate Engineering test.
    • Concussive Knuckles (Minor Action): The wearer can charge the knuckle actuators. Their next Unarmed attack deals Electric damage and, on a successful hit, forces the target to resist a Stun effect with a DV equal to the net hits on the attack roll.

Starfinder

Gloves of the Stone-Singer Level 4 Technomological Item

  • Price 2,100 credits
  • Hands; Bulk L
  • These articulated slate-gray gauntlets feel cool to the touch and hum with a faint energy. Crystals set over the knuckles pulse with a soft light when near unusual geological formations.
  • Game Mechanics:
    • Geological Acuity: You can use these gloves to analyze the composition and integrity of stone, crystal, or metal structures. This allows you to use your Mysticism or Engineering skill to identify materials, find structural weaknesses, or detect hidden mechanisms as if you had the appropriate professional specialty. You gain a +2 insight bonus to these checks.
    • Resonance Ping: As a standard action once per hour, you can touch a structure to send out a diagnostic pulse. You learn of any hidden rooms, secret doors, or significant structural flaws in a 20-foot cube originating from the point you touch.
    • Concussive Pulse: Twice per day as part of a successful unarmed strike, you can activate the gloves to release a concussive vibration. The target must succeed at a DC 18 Fortitude save or become off-kilter until the end of its next turn.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Geological Resonance Manipulators (TL 10) A piece of advanced prospecting and engineering equipment, these sophisticated gloves use a combination of subsonic pulses and vibrometers to create a detailed map of a material’s internal structure.

  • Weight: 1 kg
  • Cost: Cr 45,000
  • Game Mechanics:
    • Advanced Scanner: The gloves are a powerful diagnostic tool. A character wearing them gains a DM +2 on all Science (Geology), Recon (for finding secret doors or traps in structures), and Mechanic checks related to diagnosing structural failures.
    • Sure Grip: The fingertips contain micro-suction emitters, granting a DM +1 on any checks to climb or to prevent being disarmed.
    • Resonant Analysis: By spending one minute touching a wall or object, the user can get a detailed reading of its internal composition up to 1 meter deep, revealing hidden compartments, wiring, or stress fractures.
    • Disruptive Pulse: The gloves can be weaponized in an emergency. If the wearer makes a successful Unarmed attack, they may choose to release a vibrational shock. The target must make a Stamina (Endurance) 8+ check. Failure results in the target being stunned and unable to take any action for one round. Each use of this ability drains 10% of the glove’s power supply.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition)

Dwarf Prospector’s Gauntlets A pair of masterfully crafted leather and bronze gauntlets, with finely tuned gromril crystals set over the knuckles. Runic channels are etched into the bronze, which seem to hum faintly when near unworked stone.

  • Encumbrance: 1
  • Qualities: Durable, Fine (+20)
  • Game Mechanics:
    • Masterwork Tool: These gauntlets are considered a set of Fine quality Artisan’s Tools (Engineer), providing a +10 bonus to Trade (Engineer) Tests related to stonework, mining, and structural assessment.
    • Stone Sense: The wearer gains a +10 bonus to Perception Tests to find secret doors, hidden mechanisms, or traps in any stone or earth structure.
    • Durable: The gauntlets are exceptionally well-made. When taking a Critical Hit to the Arms location, the severity of the Critical is reduced by 2.
    • Concussive Strike: Once per combat encounter, when the wearer makes a successful Melee (Brawling) Test, they may choose to activate the crystals. If they do, the target must make a Challenging (+0) Toughness Test or gain one Stunned Condition.