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The Resonance Stone 157

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by

Dale
in

From: Whispercap Spore Bloom 713

Description: This item appears to be a simple, smooth, dark gray river stone, polished by time and water until it fits perfectly in the palm of the hand. It is unnaturally cold to the touch. A closer look, perhaps with the Mind’s Eye, reveals the stone is not solid. It has been expertly hollowed out and re-sealed with no visible seam. Within this hollow chamber is a fine, glowing powder—the dust of a ritually prepared Whispercap Spore-Bloom. When held, a very faint, low hum can be felt resonating through the user’s hand.

Lore and Crafting: Resonance Stones are uncommon tools, occasionally crafted by geomancers, psychometrists, or those who follow ancient investigative traditions. The process involves petrifying a Whispercap at the peak of its absorbent potential, then grinding it into a fine powder with salt crystals gathered from a place of great silence. This dust is then sealed within a stone that has been steeped in a running river for a full year to cleanse it of all prior history. The stone is sealed with a single drop of the creator’s own blood and an incantation, binding the dust’s absorbent quality to the stone itself.

Magical Function: The Resonance Stone is not worn or consumed, but used as a focus. By pressing the stone against an inanimate object with a long history (such as an ancient statue, a dungeon wall, or a murder weapon) and concentrating, the user coaxes the powdered fungi within to act as a conduit. The stone absorbs a faint, momentary echo from the target object and transmits it directly into the user’s mind. This allows the user to potentially learn about the object’s recent past, who last held it, or what powerful event happened near it. Each use exhausts some of the dust’s magical potential. A newly crafted stone typically holds three such uses. After the last use, the glow within fades, and it becomes nothing more than a cold, empty stone. It is a powerful but finite tool for unraveling the secrets held by the world itself.

The Resonance Stone is a unique and potent investigative tool, a fusion of geomancy and psychometry. Unlike items that grant the user persistent abilities, the stone is a finite resource, a key designed to unlock the secrets trapped within other objects. Each use is a deliberate act, as the dust of the Whispercap within is consumed, its power spent forever. Those who use it are not just observers of the past but are connecting directly to an object’s silent, impartial memory, witnessing events without the color of emotion or bias.

Appearance

The stone is typically a piece of smooth, dark basalt or obsidian, polished by a river over centuries until it has no sharp edges and fits comfortably in the user’s palm. It is unnaturally cold, feeling more like deep stone from a cave than a surface rock. Its most remarkable feature is its seamlessness; though hollow, there is no crack or line to show how it was sealed, a testament to the magical craft involved. When held, a low, quiet hum resonates from within, a thrumming that seems to sync with the holder’s own pulse. The glowing powder inside is a brilliant, pale blue, swirling lazily like a captured nebula. After each use, a portion of the dust goes dark, becoming inert gray ash that settles at the bottom of the hollow chamber.

Tier One Stats

  • Tier: 1
  • Type: Wondrous Item, Focus
  • Charges: 3
  • Recharge: Does not recharge. Once all charges are spent, the stone becomes a mundane, non-magical object.
  • Activation Time: 1 minute of concentration
  • Weight: 1 lb
  • Base Value: 8 Gold Pieces

Slot: Held (1 hand). Can be stored in a pouch or pack.

Tags: Focus, Magical, Tier 1, Uncommon, Crafted, Charges, Divination, Single-Use, Trade Good, Key, Trap, Container, Two-Handed, Aquatic, Ceremonial, Buff, Debuff, Ethereal

Passive Magics

  • Historical Resonance: The stone’s faint, constant humming subtly changes in pitch and intensity when it is brought near an object that has a powerful or violent history. It acts as a dowsing rod for secrets, guiding the user towards items that are saturated with significant memories.
  • Psychic Insulation: The cleansed stone and the silent dust within provide a minor buffer against ambient mental noise. An avatar holding the stone finds it slightly easier to concentrate in chaotic or psychically “loud” environments, as the stone passively absorbs stray, unfocused energies.

Active Magics

  • Read Object’s Echo: As an action that requires 1 minute of uninterrupted concentration while touching an inanimate object, you can expend 1 charge. You receive a brief (5-10 second) but clear sensory vision of a single, significant event from the object’s past, experienced from the static, impartial perspective of the object itself. You see, hear, and feel what the object did, but without any emotional context.
    • Temporary Skill Gained: For 10 minutes after the vision, you gain the Object Attunement skill. Your connection to the object allows you to notice minute physical details you would otherwise miss. This grants you advantage on any check made to physically search the object for clues like secret compartments, hidden inscriptions, or lingering traces of a substance that are related to the vision.
  • Delve Deeper: Immediately after using Read Object’s Echo, you can choose to force a more detailed vision by expending a second charge. This provides a longer vision (up to a minute long), revealing the moments that led up to or immediately followed the main event, providing crucial context. This forceful reading creates a dangerous psychic backlash. You take 1d6 psychic damage and must succeed on a Tier 1 mental saving throw or become Stunned for one round as the object’s history overwhelms your senses.

The Resonance Stone is not a common commodity; it’s a specialized, finite tool. You won’t find it in a general magic shop. Its trade is limited to circles that deal in secrets, history, and investigation.

The Scholar’s Guild or Grand Atheneum

Where and How: In a major city, a large scholarly institution or a library’s acquisitions department would be the most likely place to formally trade a Resonance Stone. The transaction would be handled by a quartermaster or a curator in a quiet, professional office. They view the stone as a vital tool for historical research and archeology. If you’re buying, you’d likely need to be a member of the institution or present a compelling academic reason for your purchase. If you’re selling, they would meticulously verify the stone’s authenticity and remaining charges before logging it into their collection and paying you from the institution’s coffers.

Cost:

  • Cost to Buy: The price here is fair and based on the item’s established value as a research tool. Expect to pay between 8 and 10 Gold Pieces.
  • Cost to Sell: The guild offers a standard, non-negotiable price. They will appraise the stone and offer you 7 Gold Pieces for a specimen with all three charges intact.

The Private Enquiry Agent’s Office

Where and How: In the winding streets of a metropolis, a discreet, private investigator (or “Enquiry Agent”) who deals with high-profile cases would trade in such tools. Their office is a place of business, and the transaction is a confidential, commercial affair. The agent understands the stone’s immense practical value in solving a crime or uncovering a secret. They sell it as a solution to a desperate client’s problem, and they buy it as an investment for a future case. The negotiation will be shrewd and based on pure street-level supply and demand.

Cost:

  • Cost to Buy: The agent charges a significant premium for providing such a rare and case-breaking tool. The price will be high, likely between 12 and 15 Gold Pieces.
  • Cost to Sell: The agent is a tough negotiator and needs to make a profit. They will offer you 5 to 6 Gold Pieces, arguing that they are taking on the risk of finding a buyer for such a specialized item.

A Temple of Truth or Justice

Where and How: A large temple dedicated to a deity of justice, truth, or knowledge would see the Resonance Stone as a divine instrument. It wouldn’t be “sold” in a shop but kept in a reliquary for use by the temple’s ordained inquisitors. To acquire one, you would need to petition the temple’s high priest and prove that your quest aligns with the deity’s sacred mission. The transaction would be a solemn ceremony, framing the exchange as the temple “gifting” you a tool to do the god’s work. To sell one, you would present it as a sacred offering.

Cost:

  • Cost to Buy: The temple would not sell the stone for coin. Instead, they would require a “donation” to the faith to prove your sincerity, typically 10 Gold Pieces or more, before they would consider bestowing the item upon you.
  • Cost to Sell: You would not receive a market-value payment for giving the stone to the temple. It is an offering. In return for your piety, you might receive a different holy blessing, the temple’s political favor, or a small “stipend” of 3 to 4 Gold Pieces to aid you in your travels.

The Resonance Stone is a tool for deliberate, focused investigation. Its power isn’t unleashed in the heat of battle, but in the quiet moments before or after. Roleplaying its use is about creating tension during its one-minute activation, interpreting the impartial visions it provides, and making calculated decisions based on the secrets it reveals.

Roleplaying its Defensive Uses

The stone’s defensive power is entirely preemptive. It’s about gathering intelligence from the environment to anticipate, understand, and neutralize threats before they strike.

1. In a Dungeon or Ancient Ruin:

  • Environment: Your party stands before a corridor with suspicious-looking floor tiles and murder-holes in the walls. A skeleton lies slumped against the far wall, its hand resting on a lever.
  • Roleplay in Action: You would announce, “Everyone cover me. I need a minute. I’m going to ask the wall what it saw.” You’d press the stone against the wall near the entrance, close your eyes, and become vulnerable for the full minute of concentration. Your party would have to roleplay defending your motionless form. You would then describe the vision you receive: an impartial, silent movie of the last adventurer getting shot with darts from the walls, then pulling the lever which triggered a pitfall trap. You’d use the Object Attunement skill to say, “The vision showed a faint seam around the third tile… I think I can find the trigger mechanism now.” The defense is using the stone’s memory to avoid a deadly trap and disarm it safely.

2. Investigating a Cursed Object:

  • Environment: You’re in a haunted house where a beautiful music box plays on its own, causing feelings of deep sorrow in all who hear it.
  • Roleplay in Action: You approach the music box, explaining that you need to understand the source of the curse. You activate the stone, pressing it against the wood. The vision reveals a heartbroken toymaker, weeping as he crafts the box after the death of his daughter, pouring his grief into its creation. The defense comes from this understanding. You’d tell your party, “It’s not a hostile entity, it’s an echo of grief. We don’t need to destroy it; we need to perform a ritual of peace.” You might choose to Delve Deeper, risking the psychic damage to see a clearer vision of the daughter and learn her name, which is the key to the ritual. You are defending the party from the curse’s debilitating effects by learning how to appease it, not just fight it.

Roleplaying its Offensive Uses

Offense with the stone is about turning the enemy’s own history against them. You uncover their secrets, plans, and weaknesses by reading objects they have left behind, allowing for a perfectly planned strike.

1. Infiltrating an Enemy Stronghold:

  • Environment: Your party is outside the locked side-entrance to a bandit leader’s fortress. You’ve managed to acquire a drinking horn that was recently used by one of his guards.
  • Roleplay in Action: In the dead of night, you take out the horn and the stone. You spend the tense minute concentrating, your party watching for patrols. The vision shows the guard drinking from the horn, then rapping a specific rhythm on the door (knock-knock… knock) which causes it to open. You now have the secret password. The offense is a silent, perfect infiltration, bypassing the enemy’s defenses entirely. You’re not breaking the door down; you’re using their own secrets to walk right through it.

2. Unmasking a Secret Society:

  • Environment: You have infiltrated a secret meeting of a sinister cult and pocketed a ceremonial dagger from the altar. You need to know who the leader is.
  • Roleplay in Action: Later, in a safe house, you use the stone on the dagger. The vision shows the dagger’s perspective from the altar during the last ritual. You see the robed figures, but more importantly, you see the unmasked leader raising the dagger and speaking the cult’s secret creed. You now have the proof you need. The offense is identifying the secret leader, allowing you to expose them to the city guard or plan a targeted strike against them personally. The information gained from the stone becomes the primary weapon in your offensive campaign against the cult.

Perception of Activation:

This describes the standard use of the Resonance Stone, which requires one minute of focused concentration while touching a target object.

User’s Perspective

The Known Senses:

  • Touch: The stone, already cold, deepens its chill as you concentrate, a feeling that seeps into your hand and wrist. The low hum intensifies, becoming a steady, palpable thrum that seems to sync with your heartbeat. The point of contact with the target object becomes the sole focus of your tactile sense, feeling like a gateway.
  • Taste: Your sense of taste is completely suppressed, replaced by a dry, mineral quality in your mouth, like the taste of dust or dry clay.
  • Smell: All ambient smells fade away, replaced by the faint, clean scent of ozone and ancient, deep stone emanating from the Resonance Stone itself.
  • Sound: The world goes quiet. External sounds become a muffled, distant drone. The only sound you can clearly perceive is the resonant hum of the stone, which seems to originate from inside your own head. The vision itself is almost always completely silent.
  • Sight: After the minute of focus, your normal vision becomes transparent, like a pane of glass. A ghostly, monochromatic image of the past is superimposed over it. You are seeing from the static, fixed perspective of the object itself, witnessing the scene unfold without emotion or bias.

Extra-Sensory Perceptions:

  • Objective Detachment: This is the most profound perception. You witness the event with the cold, impartial neutrality of the stone. Even a traumatic or joyous event is presented as simple data, stripped of all emotional context. This feeling of detached observation can be deeply unsettling.
  • Temporal Stasis: During the vision, you feel as though you are an observer outside of time. Your own consciousness is minimized to a simple point of view, unable to interact or feel.
  • Material Intuition: You gain a brief, intuitive understanding of the physical nature of the object you’re reading—its age, density, material composition, and points of stress or weakness.

Observer’s Perspective

  • Sight: An observer would see you become perfectly still for a full minute, one hand pressed against the target object, the other clutching the Resonance Stone. During this time, the glowing powder within the stone would swirl faster and brighten considerably. At the conclusion of the minute, the glow would visibly dim as a portion of the dust inside turns to inert ash. You would then typically gasp or blink rapidly, returning to your senses.
  • Sound: In a quiet environment, an observer standing close might hear the stone’s low hum intensify slightly. The primary sound would be your sharp intake of breath as the vision ends and you return to full awareness.

Positives

  • You receive a clear, unbiased, and objective record of a past event, providing pure information without the filter of emotion that could cloud judgment.
  • The subsequent Object Attunement skill allows you to translate the magical insight into a direct, physical advantage when searching the object for clues.

Negatives

  • The one-minute activation time leaves you completely vulnerable to your surroundings.
  • The experience of witnessing an event without any emotional context can be deeply unnerving and disconcerting.
  • Each use permanently expends one of the stone’s limited charges, making every activation a costly decision. The optional Delve Deeper function carries a direct risk of psychic damage.

Geomancer’s Method for Crafting a Resonance Stone 881

This text outlines the traditional and demanding process for creating a Resonance Stone. The craft is a fusion of stonemasonry, alchemy, and ritual enchanting, requiring not only skilled hands but also a deep connection to the earth and a willingness to sacrifice a part of oneself to awaken the final product.

Materials Needed

  • The Vessel: One hand-sized, non-porous river stone (basalt or obsidian is ideal). The stone must have been submerged in continuously running water for no less than a full year to be cleansed of all prior psychic resonance.
  • The Heart: One mature, perfectly formed Whispercap Spore-Bloom, harvested no more than a day prior.
  • The Catalyst: A thimbleful of “Still-Salt”—raw salt crystals harvested from a geode found deep within a magically silenced cavern.
  • The Petrifaction Agent: A small vial of diluted Basilisk’s Blood solution, or a similar potent petrifying alchemical agent.
  • The Sealant: A small quantity of powdered silver mixed into a paste with pure cave water (water that has dripped from a stalactite).
  • The Personal Link: A single drop of the crafter’s own blood.

Tools Required

  • Stoneworking Tools: A set of fine, diamond-tipped stone saws and drills for the delicate hollowing process. Polishing cloths and fine grit are needed for the finishing.
  • Alchemical Kit: A ceramic crucible, a grinding bowl and pestle (traditionally made of petrified wood), and glass droppers.
  • Enchanter’s Scribe: A silver needle or a fine-pointed crystal used to trace the binding incantation.
  • Ritual Workspace: A quiet, stable workbench, preferably made of stone, where the delicate final steps can be performed without interruption.

Skill Requirements

  • Stonemasonry or Geomancy (Adept): The ability to perfectly hollow out a solid stone and prepare it to be resealed without any visible seam is the most technically demanding physical step.
  • Alchemy (Journeyman): A working knowledge of petrifaction agents and the principles of grinding and preserving magical reagents is necessary.
  • Enchanting (Journeyman): The final incantation is not complex, but it requires the skill to bind a magical effect to an object using a personal sacrifice (the blood) as a catalyst.

Crafting Steps

  1. The Petrifying of the Heart: The process begins with the most delicate component. The fresh Whispercap is placed in a ceramic bowl, and the Basilisk’s Blood solution is carefully applied drop by drop. Over several hours, the solution will permeate the fungi, turning its soft, ethereal form into a hard, crystal-like substance that retains its inner glow.
  2. The Grinding of the Essence: The now-petrified Whispercap is placed in the grinding bowl along with the Still-Salt. The salt acts as an abrasive and a catalyst, helping to break down the petrified material into a fine, shimmering powder. This must be done by hand, a slow, meditative process that can take a full day of grinding. The resulting powder is the stone’s “charge.”
  3. The Hollowing of the Vessel: Using the diamond-tipped tools, the cleansed river stone is painstakingly cut in half. Each half is then carefully hollowed out, leaving a sturdy outer wall. The inner surfaces are polished smooth. This is the most labor-intensive part of the craft.
  4. The Sealing and Sacrifice: The glowing powder is poured into one half of the hollowed stone. The silver paste sealant is applied to the rim of both halves. The two halves are pressed together. As the crafter holds the stone, they must prick their finger with the enchanting scribe and let a single drop of their blood fall upon the invisible seam.
  5. The Binding Incantation: Immediately after the blood is applied, the crafter must trace the seam with their scribe while chanting the short, resonant incantation that coaxes the magic from the blood, the silver, and the dust to fuse the stone into a seamless whole and awaken its psychometric power. The stone will grow cold and begin to hum, signifying the success of the ritual.

Sculptor’s Vision and Stone-Dreamer’s Cap

Listen, and let the ears of your mind be open, for this tale comes from a great distance of years, and its words are worn smooth and strange, like sea glass, by the telling.

In the city of Veridia, which was known for its artistry, there lived a woman named Elara. A great artist of the stone was she, and it was said her statues could make the gods weep with their beauty. But a fallow time had come upon her. Her creative well had run to dust, and her hands, which once saw the shape of life in raw marble, now saw only stone.

The city’s council came to her then, with a commission of highest honor. They bid her carve the statue of the city’s Founder, a hero of the first age whose deeds were legend but whose face was lost to time. The scrolls gave conflicting reports, one saying the Founder was tall, another short, one with eyes of fire, another with eyes of the sea.

Elara despaired. How could her hands carve what her heart could not see? She saw only stone, and the Founder was a ghost of words. In her gloom, a traveler from a distant land, a man wrapped in whispers, told her a tale. He spoke of a fungi, the Stone-Dreamer’s Cap, which grew only on the oldest, most memory-soaked stones. He said it did not show a picture of the past, but let one taste its feeling.

A seed of hope, which is a stubborn thing, did sprout in Elara’s soul-house. She took her lamp and descended into the deep roots of the city, into the first catacombs where the air was still and ancient. She searched for the foundation stone, the very first block laid by the Founder herself. And there, growing in a crevice, was a single, pale bloom, glowing with a light that seemed to hold a question.

With a sculptor’s steady hand, she took the Cap and, praying to the forgotten gods of inspiration, she did consume it.

The vision that came was not of a face, nor of a form. It was a storm. A storm of feeling. She felt the raw grit of determination in muscles that were not hers. She tasted the dust of a new-broken land. She felt the fierce, burning hope for a future city of soaring spires. She felt the deep ache of sacrifice and the unbending will to protect a people not yet born. It was not a memory of a person, but an echo of their very soul.

Elara returned to her studio, her eyes alight with a strange fire. She did not look at the conflicting scrolls. She took up her hammer and chisel and for a month and a day, the sound of her work filled the street.

When the statue was unveiled, the people of Veridia were silent. It was not the statue they expected. The face was indistinct, a suggestion more than a portrait. The figure was not clearly man nor woman. But the angle of the jaw spoke of unbreakable will. The sweep of the stone cloak held a promise of hope. The texture of the marble felt of grit and hardship. It did not look like the Founder, but it felt like the Founder. It was the truest statue ever carved, for it was a portrait of a spirit, not a body. Elara’s creative well was full once more, fed by a vision of feeling.

The moral of this story is: Inspiration is not a memory of what was seen, but an echo of what was felt.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Whispercap Mushroom Wondrous item, rare

This pale, faintly glowing mushroom feels unnaturally cold and hums with a quiet, magical energy. Its delicate cap is covered in barely-visible, rune-like patterns.

When you consume this mushroom raw, you are flooded with a chaotic and emotionally overwhelming vision of a significant past event that occurred where the mushroom grew. The DM describes this fragmented vision. The psychic feedback is intense and disorienting. You must immediately succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or suffer two effects:

  • You gain one level of Exhaustion.
  • You are under the effects of the confusion spell for 1 minute.

On a successful save, you only suffer the effects of the confusion spell for 1 round.

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

Grave-Blossom

A rare, psychoactive fungus found only in places saturated with the psychic residue of intense emotion or supernatural events—such as forgotten tombs, old libraries, or the sites of grisly murders. It glows with a faint, corpse-light and is cold to the touch.

  • Mechanics: An investigator who eats the raw fungus is subjected to a violent, non-Euclidean sensory flash of a past event. The information is potent and truthful but comes at a great cost to the investigator’s psyche.
  • Sanity Loss: Consuming the Grave-Blossom is a profoundly sanity-shattering experience. The investigator must immediately make a Sanity roll (1/1d6+1).
  • Temporary Insanity: If the SAN loss from the vision is 5 or more points, the investigator also suffers a bout of temporary insanity as their mind is overwhelmed by the foreign memories and emotions. The vision provides a significant clue, but its context may be lost until the investigator recovers.

Blades in the Dark

Echo-Spore A rare, dangerous, psychoactive fungi

A raw Whispercap mushroom, plucked from a place steeped in the ghost field. Consuming it is a desperate act, a way to tear a secret directly from the world’s memory without the safety of a proper ritual.

When you consume an Echo-spore, you Gather Information about a past event in your current location and gain Potent effect. The vision is overwhelming and intense. You get your information, but the cost is severe. You immediately suffer 3 Stress and the GM inflicts a Level 2 Harm, such as “Addled,” “Terrified,” or “Haunted,” as the psychic backlash tears through you.

Knave (2nd Edition)

Whisper-Cap Fungus, 1 inventory slot

A pale, glowing mushroom found in ancient or magical places. It is cold to the touch.

Effect: When eaten, the GM will give you a chaotic but truthful vision of a single, important past event from the location where the cap was found. The psychic shock is immense. You must immediately make a Will save.

  • On a failure: You are Stunned for 1d6 rounds and are so disoriented you cannot speak or act coherently for 1 hour (10 exploration turns).
  • On a success: You are only Stunned for 1 round.

Pathfinder (2nd Edition)

Raw Whispercap Item 3 Price 4 gp Usage held in 1 hand; Bulk L Category Consumable, Alchemical, Ingested

This raw, faintly glowing mushroom is cold to the touch and hums with untamed magical energy. Consuming it is a risky endeavor, flooding the mind with unfiltered psychic echoes.

Activate [A] Interact

When you eat the Raw Whispercap, you experience a chaotic and emotionally charged vision of a significant past event from your current location. The GM describes what you see. The psychic backlash from this raw infusion is intense, and you must immediately attempt a DC 20 Fortitude save to resist it.

Critical Success You are unaffected by the psychic feedback. Success You are Stunned 1. Failure You are Confused for 1 minute. Critical Failure You are Confused for 1 minute and are knocked unconscious for 1 minute.

Fate (Core System)

Raw Echo-Cap

A raw, wild Whispercap, pulsing with faint light and raw memory. Chewing and swallowing this fungi is a desperate act—a shortcut to a powerful vision without any of the alchemical safeguards that would make it stable.

Mechanics: When you consume a Raw Echo-Cap, you are trying to gain a powerful insight into your current location’s past. You automatically succeed at a Create an Advantage action as if you had succeeded with style. Work with the GM to define a potent situation aspect with two free invocations (e.g., The Baron’s Secret Escape Route or Echo of the Killer’s Rage).

The Cost: The vision is psychically devastating. You must immediately take a Moderate consequence to reflect the mental and emotional damage, such as Mind-Scrambled, Haunted by Visions, or Emotionally Wrecked.

Numenera & Cypher System

Unstable Mnemonic Nodule

Level: 1d6 Form: A single, raw, bioluminescent fungus that feels cold and vibrates faintly. It is found in areas saturated with psychic or temporal energy. Effect: When consumed, the user experiences a powerful but chaotic and emotionally jarring vision of a single, significant past event from their current location. The vision provides one crucial, though perhaps cryptic, piece of information. The psychic feedback from this raw infusion is physically damaging. The user immediately takes Intellect damage equal to the cypher’s level (ignoring Armor) as their neural pathways are overloaded.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)

Raw Ghost Mushroom Weight: —; Cost: 50

A rare, glowing mushroom that grows in haunted or magical places. Locals warn against eating them raw, telling tales of folk who were driven mad by the memories of the dead.

Effect: When a character eats this raw mushroom, the GM immediately provides them with a potent but confusing and emotionally draining vision of a past event. The psychic backlash is physically taxing. The user must immediately make a Vigor roll.

  • Critical Failure: The character suffers two levels of Fatigue.
  • Failure: The character suffers one level of Fatigue and is Vulnerated for 1d4 rounds.
  • Success: The character is only Vulnerable for 1d4 rounds.
  • Raise: The character resists any ill effects.

Shadowrun (6th World)

Mana Static Projector

A piece of restricted and highly sought-after arcane tech, the Mana Static Projector is a handheld cylindrical device that superimposes a field of magical “noise” over the local manasphere. It doesn’t create a true void, but makes it incredibly difficult for magical energies to coalesce, effectively jamming spellcasting and astral forms.

  • Type: Magical Gadget
  • Activation: Complex Action
  • Effect: When activated, the projector creates a 5-meter radius Zone of Static centered on itself. Any character (including the wielder) attempting any action involving magic (such as Spellcasting, Summoning, or using Foci) while within the zone suffers a -4 dice pool penalty. Active spells are not immediately dispelled, but any attempt to sustain them within the zone requires a Magic + Willpower (4) test each Combat Turn. The projector has an internal power source that allows for 1 minute (20 Combat Turns) of use before needing to be recharged at a specialized facility.
  • Feedback: The wielder must resist 2 Stun damage each time the device is activated from the feedback loop.

Starfinder

Null-Space Generator Level 12; Price 35,000; Hands 2; Type Technological Item; Bulk 2

This bulky, cylindrical device is made of polished darkwood and brass, with a large, black crystal at its tip. When activated, the crystal seems to absorb all light and energy, projecting a field of absolute magical neutrality.

Capacity 20; Usage 2/minute

As a standard action, you can activate the generator to create a 10-foot-radius emanation of magical suppression, centered on the device. This field functions as the antimagic field spell. You must hold the generator with both hands to maintain the field, and the effect ends if you are no longer holding it. The generator’s battery can be recharged at any standard charging station.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Psi-Dampening Field Emitter

An incredibly rare and high-tech device, likely of Ancient or advanced Imperial military design. The emitter is a heavy rod of unknown alloys that generates a disruptive resonance field, making the precise mental focus required for psionics nearly impossible to achieve.

  • Type: Advanced Electronic Device
  • TL: 16
  • Cost: Cr 1.5M
  • Effect: When activated, the emitter projects a 5-meter radius psionic-dampening field. Any character within this field attempting to use a psionic power has the difficulty of the check increased by +4. Furthermore, the psion must first succeed on a Difficult (10+) Electronics (comms) check to even attempt the power, as they fight the overwhelming static generated by the device.
  • Power: The device is powered by a single-use, high-density power cell that functions for a total of 5 minutes before being permanently expended.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition)

The Nullstone Rod

A heavy rod of dark wood bound in brass, with a core of what appears to be polished obsidian or some other lightless stone. It is believed to be of Dwarf make, designed to unravel the fickle Winds of Magic into an inert state. Its use is viewed with suspicion by wizards, as it starves them of the very power they need to survive.

  • Type: Magical Item
  • Cost: 250 GC; Enc: 75; Availability: Extremely Rare
  • Effect: As an Action, the wielder can activate the rod. It creates a 3-yard radius Zone of Nullity centered on them. Any ongoing magical effects within this zone are immediately ended. Any character (friend or foe) attempting to cast a spell within the zone must first pass a Hard (-20) Cool Test. Failure means the spell is lost, and the wizard cannot attempt to cast it again for 1d10 rounds.
  • Drawback: The strain of unravelling magic is immense. Each round the rod is active, the wielder must make a Challenging (+0) Endurance Test or gain 1 Fatigued Condition. The rod can only be used for a total of 10 rounds per day.