Contract 575 of the Burning Itch

Appearance:  A crude leather bracelet adorned with a single, roughly carved wooden bead. The wood feels unnaturally warm to the touch, and the bead throbs with an unsettling energy.

Lore: Tales tell of a restless warrior plagued by an unquenchable urge to fight. He sought a reprieve from his maddening impulses, even for a price. Legends claim he struck a pact with a mischievous fire elemental, offering a sliver of his self-control in exchange for the ability to channel his agitation.

Slot: Wrist

Roleplay Emphasis: Agitated. The wearer experiences a constant, maddening sensation like an itch beneath the skin. This drives them toward conflict and makes it difficult to stand still or concentrate.

Costs:

• Mana: 6
• Upkeep: None, however, the itch intensifies as the wearer remains inactive.

Passive Magic:

• Smoldering Fury: The wearer gains a +1 bonus to melee attack rolls and gains resistance to fire damage.

Active Magics:

• Burst of Flame (Cost: 8 Mana): The wearer can release their pent-up energy in a fiery blast. (Cone 15ft, targets make a Dexterity/Reflex save or take 1d6 Fire damage).

Tags: Contract Magic, Fire, Buff, Debuff

Considerations:

• Relentless Urge: This item is heavily focused on driving the character toward action. The player should embrace this agitation, potentially leading the character into risky situations.
• Combat Focus: While the passive provides some survivability, the core strength of this item lies in pushing the wearer into a more aggressive fighting style.

Roleplaying the Agitation: Contract 575 of the Burning Itch in Action

• Defense:
  • Ignoring Pain: The constant itch translates into a heightened tolerance for pain. The character might shrug off minor wounds and continue fighting with reckless abandon, their focus solely on subduing the enemy and the burning sensation within. This could be impressive in a fight, but also lead to them ignoring critical injuries until it’s too late.
  • Frenzied Defense: The character’s agitation makes them a whirlwind of motion, constantly shifting and making it harder to hit them in close quarters. Imagine weaving through blows, driven by the itch more than tactics. This can be effective against slow or deliberate attackers, but leaves them vulnerable to precise strikes.
• Offense:
  • Aggressive Combat: The Smoldering Fury bonus and the urge to fight make the character a relentless attacker. They might wade into battle recklessly, focusing on overpowering the enemy with a flurry of blows. This can overwhelm foes who struggle to keep up, but also leave them open to flanking maneuvers or spells.
  • Burning Fury: The Burst of Flame ability allows the character to unleash their built-up frustration in a fiery explosion. Imagine the character gritting their teeth, the itch intensifying until they erupt in a blast of flame. This is a powerful attack, but the character might waste it recklessly or become predictable with its use.
• Environments:
  • Open Battlefields: The character thrives in chaotic situations where their constant movement and fiery outbursts can disrupt enemy formations. However, in prolonged battles, the burning itch could become debilitating, hindering their focus and making them easy prey for patient foes.
  • Tight Quarters: The character’s frenzied defense shines in enclosed spaces. Their agility and unpredictable movements make them difficult to pin down. However, the Burst of Flame ability could be risky in tight spaces, potentially injuring allies caught in the blast radius.
  • Social Situations: The constant agitation makes it hard for the character to stay still or engage in polite conversation. They might fidget, blurt things out impulsively, or even pick fights due to the maddening itch. This could be a source of amusement or tension depending on the social setting.
• Remember:
  • The key is to embrace the constant urge to fight and act. Play up the character’s frustration and restlessness.
  • Balance the benefits (increased aggression, fire damage) with the drawbacks (recklessness, social awkwardness).
  • Let the contract influence the character’s decision-making, potentially leading them down a more violent path.

Perception of Activation:

• Sight
  • Perceived: The bead blazes with a bright inner light. Tiny wisps of smoke rise from the leather and wood, and the warmth becomes a searing heat.
  • Description: The transformation from mundane bracelet to conduit of fiery energy is sudden and visceral.
  • Positives: Intimidating display of power. Might cause foes to hesitate.
  • Negatives: Highly visible, impossible to use stealthily.
• Sound
  • Perceived: Crackling sounds, like a small campfire, emanate from the bracelet.
  • Description: The sound aligns with the visual transformation and reinforces the elemental power.
  • Positives: Could frighten enemies unused to dealing with fire magic.
  • Negatives: Highly noticeable, draws attention.
• Touch
  • Perceived: The wooden bead pulses with a burning heat, making the very touch agonizing. The itch beneath the wearer’s skin surges, becoming almost unbearable.
  • Description: The pain is a constant reminder of the contract’s cost. It’s focused where the bracelet touches, making it hard to ignore.
  • Positives: The pain can be channeled into rage and aggression, heightening the combative potential of the wearer.
  • Negatives: It’s highly distracting and might even impede the wearer’s ability to perform complex actions.
• Smell
  • Perceived: Acrid smoke with a tangy, almost metallic scent.
  • Description: The smell is harsh but aligns with the elemental nature of the contract.
  • Positives: None, unless it can create a smokescreen in enclosed areas.
  • Negatives: Unpleasant and might irritate the sinuses of both the wearer and others nearby.
• Taste
  • Perceived: A hot, metallic taste suffuses the mouth, with an undertone of ash.
  • Description: An unpleasant side effect that further highlights the unsettling nature of the contract.
  • Positives: None.
  • Negatives: Might be hard to tolerate for extended durations.
• Extra-Sensory Perceptions
  • Feel the Fire: The wearer becomes hyper-aware of the fiery energy coursing through them, potentially feeling the flames lick at their very soul.
  • Heightened Agitation: The burning itch explodes, becoming an irresistible urge to act violently and impulsively.
  • Presence of the Elemental: A fleeting, whispering sentience brushes against the wearer’s mind – the fire elemental bound by the contract.

Recipe: Contract 575 of the Burning Itch

• Materials Needed:
  • Tough Leather: Cured from a creature known for its aggression and endurance. This will be the base of the bracelet.
  • Heartwood Bead: Carved from the heart of a tree known to have survived a wildfire. It must retain a lingering warmth.
  • Infused Ember: A small ember still smoldering with elemental fire essence. This can be dangerous to obtain and handle.
  • Agitation Tincture: A noxious brew made from rare herbs and ingredients known to cause restlessness and a feverish temperament.
• Tools Required:
  • Leatherworking Tools: For treating, cutting, and assembling the bracelet.
  • Woodcarving Tools: To shape the bead and etch symbols of fire into it.
  • Alchemist’s Supplies: To safely handle the ember and brew the tincture.
• Skill Requirements:
  • Leatherworking (Novice): Ability to create a simple yet sturdy bracelet.
  • Basic Carving (Novice): To shape the heartwood bead, no intricate details required.
  • Ritual Lore (Novice): Understanding the basic structure of a pact ritual.
  • Elemental Lore (Dangerous): Some knowledge of fire elementals is needed to complete the ritual and imbue the item safely.
• Crafting Steps
  • Bracelet Assembly: Prepare the leather, carefully stitching and punching holes as needed to attach the bead.
  • Carve the Bead: Inscribe rudimentary symbols of flame and binding on the heartwood bead using the carving tools.
  • Agitation Brew: Under controlled conditions, use alchemical supplies to concoct the agitation tincture.
  • Ember Preparation: With utmost caution, carefully insert the infused ember into the hollow center of the bead.
  • Binding Ritual: At a secure location, imbue the bracelet with the tincture, focusing on the concepts of restless energy and unyielding aggression. Recite incantations that invoke the power of fire and offer a sliver of self-control as payment.
  • Seal the Pact: The elemental, drawn by the ritual, will attempt to overwhelm the crafter. Success requires a battle of wills, fueled by willpower and knowledge of elemental banishing.
• Important Notes:
  • Elemental Risk: The fire elemental will resist binding at every step. The ritual is dangerous and could result in burns or worse if not done carefully.
  • Wearer’s Warning: The crafter should inform the intended wearer of the full effects of the contract before it is put on.
  • Failure: If the ritual fails, the components will be consumed in a fiery explosion.

Bracelet of the Burning Itch
A Pact of Fury Misunderstood

In the age before remembering, when fire first danced on the world’s skin, there existed a bracelet, crude yet fearsome – the Bracelet of the Burning Itch. Tales whisper of its forging, a bargain struck beneath the unforgiving gaze of a volcano’s heart.

A warrior named Agna, his village ravaged by raiders from the northern wastes, craved vengeance. He ventured into the fiery depths, seeking power from the beings of molten rock. Legends diverge here. Some speak of a pact with a cruel fire spirit, others of a stolen ember imbued with restless rage. Regardless, Agna emerged with the bracelet, crude leather adorned with a single, scorched bead. It pulsed with a heat that defied reason.

The bracelet granted Agna strength beyond mortal measure. He became a whirlwind of fury, laying waste to the raiders’ camp. Yet, victory turned to bitter ash in his mouth. The villagers, once terrified by the raiders, now feared their own champion. Driven mad by the bracelet’s itch, a constant gnawing fire beneath his skin, Agna became a monster himself, a charred reflection of the inferno within.

The end is shrouded in whispers of forgotten times. Some say the villagers, fearing for their lives, slew Agna. Others claim he wandered the wastes, a lonely monument to the fury’s destructive power.

The Bracelet of the Burning Itch, lost or hidden, remains a cautionary tale. It speaks of power at a terrible cost, a relentless fire that consumes not just enemies, but the very soul of the one who wields it.

Moral: Beware bargains forged in anger, for borrowed power often demands a heavier price than anticipated.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu

• Description: This cursed leather bracelet bears a scorched wooden bead that throbs with impossible heat. It grants fiery power, but fuels destructive urges and erodes sanity.
• Sanity Cost: Using its powers causes Sanity loss (1D4/use). The constant itch is profoundly unsettling, leading to fits of rage and difficulty focusing.
• Magic:
  • Burst of Flame (Spend 5 Magic Points): Channel the fire within, unleashing a cone of flame (Range 10ft, targets make an Agility save or take 2d6 fire damage).

Blades in the Dark

• Affiliation: Tied to a fire elemental spirit, perhaps a forgotten Skovlander demon associated with restless fury.
• Tier: 0 – It’s accessible for starting characters.
• Type: Load Item (1-2 Load depending on how harsh the side effects are)
• Mechanics:
  • Resist: Roll action dice with Risky position. On success, overcome your agitation to perform controlled actions. On failure, lash out violently with +1d to harm.
  • Burst of Flame: Powerful, but risky (2 or 3 Load). Unleash a gout of flame (range and effect depend on scale of your game). Suffer significant heat immediately after.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

• Rarity: Uncommon
• Attunement: Requires attunement, and resisting the attunement process could involve a contest of wills with the bound fire elemental.
• Stats:
  • +1 to melee attack rolls.
  • Resistance to fire damage
  • Burst of Flame (1/day): As an action, unleash a cone of flame (15ft, DC 13 Dexterity save for half damage, 2d6 fire damage).
• Downside: The constant itch drives the wearer toward aggressive behavior. Any time they don’t attack in combat, they must make a Wisdom Save (DC escalating each round) or lash out impulsively at the nearest target.

Knave

• Description: A crude, itchy bracelet with a pulsating bead of scorched wood. Makes you fight better, but drives you a little nuts.
• Mechanics:
  • +1 to all melee attack rolls.
  • Burst of Flame: Activate expending a Use. Unleash a blast of fire dealing 1d6 damage to a target within 10ft.
• Downside: The itch is distracting! When not in combat, you must make a Willpower save or waste your next turn doing something impulsive (attacking nearby objects, shouting insults, etc.).

Fate

• Aspect: Bound by the Contract of the Burning Itch – Represents the power and the curse of the bracelet.
• Stunt: Burst of Flame (2 Fate Points): When invoking the aspect, unleash a fiery blast. Target within close range makes an opposed Athletics roll. Success ties the attack for moderate damage, failure means taking severe fire damage.
• Consequences:
  • Mild: Consumed by the Itch – Suffer a temporary consequence “Agitated and Distracted,” making actions unrelated to combat harder.
  • Moderate: The Fire Rages Within – Take a moderate physical consequence representing uncontrolled burns.
  • Severe: Embodiment of the Flame – The wearer fully succumbs, becoming an NPC driven by the fire elemental’s chaotic nature.

Numenera & Cypher System

• Type: Artifact
• Level: 3
• Depletion: 1 in d10
• Effect:
  • The user gains Asset to damage rolls and fire-based cyphers.
  • The user suffers a constant, maddening itch that makes tasks requiring focus more difficult (increases difficulty by one step.)
  • Burst of Flame (3 Intellect points): Unleash a blast of searing fire (range and damage equivalent to a level 3 cypher).

Pathfinder (2nd Edition)

• Rarity: Uncommon
• Trait: Magical, Pact, Fire, Cursed
• Investment: Minor
• Stats:
  • +1 circumstance bonus to melee attack rolls.
  • Gain fire resistance 5.
  • Burst of Flame (Activate: Command, Frequency: Once per Day): Unleash a gout of flame in a 15ft cone (Reflex save for half damage, 2d6 fire).
• Downside: The itch grows more intense with inactivity. For every round spent out of combat, the wearer must attempt a Will save (DC escalating each round) or lash out at a random nearby creature.

Savage Worlds

• Rank: Novice
• Power Points: 5
• Powers:
  • Bolt (Base): Ranged fire attack, d6 damage, requires a raise to affect foes not directly in the wielder’s path of aggression.
  • Boost/Lower Trait (Agitation – 1PP): Activate to Boost Strength by d4 for a short time but become Shaken.
• Backlash: Using Agitation carries a significant risk of going Berserk – if the wearer’s already Shaken, they immediately go Berserk and must attack the nearest creature, friend or foe.

Shadowrun

• Type: Enchanted Focus (Force 3)
• Availability & Cost: Rare (14+) and expensive, 30,000¥+
• Drain: 3 (Physical) when activating Burst of Flame
• Effects:
  • Bound Spirit (Passive): The focus is linked to a fire elemental spirit, granting a +1 Dice Pool bonus to close combat actions and adding a fiery aura to melee attacks.
  • Agitation (Passive): The constant itch makes rest and concentration difficult. The character becomes Reckless and more likely to engage in risky activities.
  • Burst of Flame (Activated): Spend a Complex Action to unleash a blast of superheated energy. Deals fire damage with high armor penetration to targets in a cone.

Starfinder

• Item Level: 4
• Price: 6000 credits
• Type: Hybrid (Magical and Technological)
• Mechanics:
  • +1 to melee attack rolls and +2 to Intimidation checks.
  • Agitation (Downside): The wearer gains the Off-Target condition, making focused tasks like hacking or precision shooting harder.
  • Burst of Flame (Activated): As a standard action, unleash a blast of fiery energy from the bead (15ft line, Reflex save for half, 2d6 fire damage). After, the item overheats and must recharge for an hour.

Traveller (MgT2)

• Tech Level: TL8-9 (with magical components)
• Price: Highly variable depending on societal views on magic. Could range from 5,000Cr+ to being virtually priceless.
• Description: A bracelet imbued with a bound fire spirit. Offers combat prowess but breeds aggression and impatience.
• Mechanics:
  • Skill Bonus: Provides +1 DM to melee combat, Intimidation, and short-term endurance checks.
  • Agitation (Downside): The itch makes long-term planning or focused tasks difficult. The DM might impose penalties on concentration-based rolls.
  • Burst of Flame: Can be activated as a “Recharge” action. Emits a gout of flame causing damage and igniting flammable materials (Range and damage based on weapons table).
• Side Effect: The bound spirit can inflict disturbing dreams and make the wearer short-tempered, potentially leading to social conflicts.

Warhammer (Fantasy or 40K)

• Lore: A relic of Chaos, infused with the essence of Tzeentch (or a similarly chaotic entity).
• Mechanics:
  • Warhammer Fantasy: Grants +1 Strength and causes Frenzy. Burst of Flame could temporarily grant an additional attack or ignore armor penalties, but risks attracting manifestations of Chaos.
  • Warhammer 40K: Grants +1 Strength and the Fear (1) trait. Burst of Flame might make weapons temporarily gain the Fleshbane or Rending special rules but also increases the chances of overheating or jamming. Also risks attracting Chaos daemons.