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Mana 487 of the Duststrider Reins

—

by

Dale
in

Lore

  • Crafted during the early expansion across the open plains of the Aterian continent, these reins were woven from treated hemp fibers and distilled sap harvested with fluid collectors from thornwood brush.
  • Passed through the hands of low-ranking chariot skirmishers who patrolled the trade roadways between coastal ports and central hubs, the reins slowly absorbed the latent spiritual essence and momentum of hundreds of rapid courier runs.
  • A tiny, coin-sized Tier 1 magic crystal is embedded into the central yoke loop, drawing ambient mana from the surrounding weave to assist the driver in maintaining physical endurance over long, jarring journeys across monster-filled terrain.

Description

  • The item consists of a set of braided, ash-gray leather straps that terminate in a polished brass link meant to affix directly to a chariot harness or yoke.
  • Fine, spiral grooves run the length of each strap, inlaid with pulverized glass and silver-toned crystal dust that emits a very faint, shimmering pulse whenever the bearer grips the handles.
  • The driver’s end features reinforced hand-loops lined with soft felt, keeping the grip stable against strong vibrations while preventing the straps from slipping during aggressive maneuvers.

Detailed Stats

  • Item Tier: Tier 1 (Common)
  • Gear Slot: Hand Slot (Right or Left hand when held; counts as a single gear slot when lashed across the waist/wrist)
  • Item Hit Points: 30 (20 base avatar health equivalent + 10 resilience)
  • Armor Check (AC) Modifier: +1 AC
  • Resilience: 10
  • Weight: 2 pounds
  • Attunement: Requires handheld attunement (instantaneous when gripped) or 1 minute for simple attunement when secured to gear
  • Maximum Stored Mana Boost: 2 points of mana

Passive Magic

  • Driver’s Stance: While actively holding the reins and standing on a moving chariot or cart, the avatar gains a +2 bonus to physical checks made to resist being knocked prone or displaced by sudden turns and jarring terrain impacts.
  • Ambient Reservoir: The embedded Tier 1 crystal passively gathers ambient magical pressure from the surrounding air, generating 1 Mana Boost point at the beginning of each gameplay session, up to the item’s maximum capacity of 2 points.
  • Tethered Guidance: Beast-drawn mounts connected directly to the harness of these reins experience a continuous reduction in fatigue during routine overland travel on patrolled roadways.

Activable Magic

  • Silver Spark Acceleration: As a free action immediately after declaring an attack or ramming action while driving, the avatar may expend 1 stored Mana Boost point to channel pure “silver fire spell power” along the traces, adding 1d4 unresistible silver fire damage to the total damage dealt on a confirmed hit.
  • Surge of Equilibrium: When an attack or road hazard would reduce the avatar’s health points to zero while holding these reins, the avatar can expend 1 point of stored mana as an immediate reaction, preventing death and leaving the avatar with exactly 1 health point remaining.
  • Yoke Flare: By expending an action and focusing through the Mind’s Eye, the driver can release a small burst of stored kinetic energy through the brass coupling, producing a sudden, blinding flash that imposes a disadvantage penalty on the next attack roll made by any hostile creature within 10 feet of the chariot’s forward arc.

Tags

  • Tier 1, Common, Chariot, Transport, Hand Slot, Mana Boost, Vehicle, Worn Gear, Arcane Focus, Tool, Silver Fire, Mount, Driver, Leather, Crystal, Harness, Mobility, Reaction

Acquisition, Trade, and Valuation of the Duststrider Reins

  • Family-Owned Wheelwright and Tack Outlets: These small roadside establishments operate along the primary patrolled corridors connecting coastal harbor hubs to the central inland capitals. Operated by generational crafter families who specialize in harness construction, wheel lathing, and leather treatment, the shops maintain modest front counters where gear is displayed on open wooden pegs and wall racks. Purchasing the reins directly from a licensed family-owned shop typically demands a standard price of approximately 10 to 14 Silver, reflecting the cost of basic Tier 1 components and the embedded coin-sized crystal catalyst. Avatars who hold recognized active membership within the local Caravan Guild or Teamsters’ Faction receive a standard 10% discount on the item’s baseline value, dropping the purchase price to roughly 9 to 12 Silver or Electrum equivalents. When an avatar sells the reins to an artisan merchant of this type, the proprietor will haggle down the payout by approximately 10% based on the seller’s Tier, typically paying around 8 to 9 Silver deposited directly into the seller’s World Bank ledger, while logging the transaction in their official ledger of acquisitions.
  • Guild-Appointed Waystation Depots: Situated inside large fortified garrisons and municipal transit depots within cities exceeding five thousand residents, these facilities are overseen by military officials and board-appointed Guild Masters. Because these supply halls exist to service couriers, supply wagons, and country patrol units, stock is cataloged systematically and kept under the strict supervision of appointed quartermasters. When an adventuring party seeks to purchase the reins here, the asking price generally settles at 12 to 15 Silver, though verified guild members can acquire them at a marked reduction through their institutional standings. When selling excess gear back to a guild depot, the payout adheres rigidly to municipal appraisal baselines, yielding roughly 9 Silver credited to the character’s World Bank account after standard administrative vetting and origin questioning.
  • Back-Alley Faction and Black-Market Fences: Tucked away in subterranean tavern cellars, secluded warehouse alleys near coastal shipping wharfs, or covert faction enclaves, these clandestine operations trade strictly without official municipal tax assessments or governmental oversight. Fences and shadow dealers do not interface with the World Bank or submit records to local judges, conducting all transactions exclusively in physical metal coinage, primarily raw Gold and minted precious coin denominations. Avatars seeking to purchase the reins from a black-market broker must pay the complete premium price without standard faction discounts, routinely spending between 2 to 3 Gold coins (equivalent to 20 to 30 Silver) due to the heightened scarcity and secrecy. Conversely, an avatar selling the item to a black-market fence will be paid immediately in physical coin rather than a bank ledger transfer; depending on how urgently the dealer requires untraceable transport gear for contraband wagons or clandestine escapes, the fence will pay between 1 to 2 Gold coins in hand while ensuring complete silence regarding the identity of the seller.

Operational Roleplay and Tactical Deployment Across Varied Environments

  • Arid Plains and Dusty Roadways (Offense):
    • The driver grips the reinforced felt hand-loops with both hands, leaning their avatar’s body forward into the chariot’s front railing to accelerate the draft beasts across open dirt tracks.
    • Spotting a pack of aggressive feral beasts pacing the vehicle from the brush, the driver maintains steady tension on the ash-gray braided leather, waiting for the chariot’s iron-rimmed wheels to align parallel with the lead creature.
    • As the avatar declares a trampling pass, they focus their Mind’s Eye on the brass coupling, triggering the Silver Spark Acceleration as an integrated part of the attack.
    • The driver roleplays channeling their stored mana along the spiraled grooves of the straps, watching a stream of unresistible silver fire ripple down the traces into the yoke and lash outward into the flank of the monster, adding the silver fire spell power directly to the momentum damage of the chariot without suffering multi-action penalties.
  • Arid Plains and Dusty Roadways (Defense):
    • When raiders launch javelins and arrows from elevated embankments along the state roadway, the driver relies on the passive Driver’s Stance to brace against the violent swerving and wheel bounces over ditches.
    • As a heavy projectile strikes the chariot frame and threatens to dislodge the driver, the avatar uses the physical +1 AC threshold granted by the reins to absorb the deflection.
    • If a sudden ambush deals critical damage that would reduce the avatar’s health points to zero, the driver instantly expends 1 point of stored mana via the Surge of Equilibrium reaction, roleplaying a desperate surge of spiritual energy that arrests the mortal blow, keeping the avatar standing on the floorboards with a single hit point remaining while maintaining their grip on the team.
  • Dense Swamps and Mire Basins (Offense):
    • Navigating the shallow marshways and bog waters where fluid collectors gather tree saps, the driver uses the steady handling of the reins to prevent the chariot wheels from binding in deep muck.
    • When a predatory swamp monster lunges from the murky water to block the narrow pathway, the driver pulls the right rein hard while shouting somatic commands to swing the chariot in a wide, sweeping arc.
    • The driver activates the Yoke Flare ability, focusing through the embedded crystal catalyst to discharge a kinetic shockwave across the water’s surface, creating a bright flash of dispersed energy that disrupts the creature’s sight and forces a disadvantage penalty onto its impending strike.
  • Dense Swamps and Mire Basins (Defense):
    • As massive serpentine tentacles or root snares rise to overturn the chariot chassis, the reins provide continuous structural stability to the driver’s center of gravity, preventing them from being thrown into toxic bogs.
    • If the draft beasts panic from submerged hazards, the driver uses the Tethered Guidance property to steady the mounts’ nerves and maintain forward momentum through the difficult terrain, ensuring the entire vehicle does not sink into stagnant mud pools.
  • Urban Thoroughfares and City Stone Gates (Offense):
    • During high-speed chases through the cobblestone corridors of large island cities or approaching fortified toll bridges, the driver grips the reins tightly to weave between market stalls and pedestrian carts.
    • When pursuers attempt to box in the carriage from adjacent alleys, the driver channels a single point of silver fire into the reins, letting the energy crackle visibly along the leather to scorch the wheel hubs of competing vehicles, disabling their steering assemblies on a confirmed hit.
  • Urban Thoroughfares and City Stone Gates (Defense):
    • In the tight confines between stone buildings, hostile crossbowmen stationed on low rooftops fire downward into the open carriage.
    • The driver pulls back sharply on the straps, angling the chariot’s reinforced armored cab against the line of fire while using the reins’ innate defensive check bonus to maintain footing over slick paving stones.
    • Should an explosive blast or heavy barrier spell detonate directly in front of the team, the driver spends their reaction to expend a mana charge, allowing the avatar to absorb the shockwave and steer the chariot through the blast perimeter without collapsing from fatal injuries.
  • Cloud City Disks and Aerial Bridges (Offense):
    • When operating light carts or specialized chariot rigs across the floating disks, elevated walkways, and cable-supported avian structures of sky metropolises, the driver utilizes the reins to make sharp, calculated drift maneuvers 3,000 feet above the world.
    • When aerial monsters or hostile flyers swoop down toward the carriage bed, the driver coordinates with party members by executing an abrupt pivoting turn, discharging the Yoke Flare to startle the airborne predators and knock them out of their flight trajectories away from the disk perimeter.
  • Cloud City Disks and Aerial Bridges (Defense):
    • Strong crosswinds and magical air currents near the edge of the floating disks pose a constant threat of pitching vehicles over the perimeter barrier into the open sky.
    • The driver leverages the Driver’s Stance magic woven into the straps, firmly anchoring their boots to the vehicle floor against heavy updrafts and opposing wind pressures.
    • If a high-tier wind strike or structural collision tears through the chariot floor and threatens immediate death, the driver expends their stored mana reaction, holding fast to the reins with one health point intact while the harness keeps the avatar tethered safely to the main chassis.

Perception of Activation:

  • Sight:
    • User’s Perspective: Brilliant threads of silver-violet luminescence race along the braided fibers directly from the grip down into the central brass ring, making the entire harness illuminate with sharp, branching arcs of crackling energy.
    • Observer’s Perspective: Bystanders witness a sudden, vivid burst of radiance ignite across the vehicle’s reins, casting dancing, sharp shadows across the chassis and bathing the surrounding area in a brilliant, cold silver-purple flash.
    • Positives: Completely illuminates immediate dark pathways, murky fog, or night roads, clearly highlighting obstacles, ruts, and enemy positions in the vehicle’s forward path.
    • Negatives: Destroys natural night vision and ruins any attempt at stealth or covert movement, signaling the vehicle’s exact position across vast distances to nearby hostiles.
  • Hearing:
    • User’s Perspective: A high-pitched, harmonic ringing resonates straight through the driver’s arms, accompanied by the crisp, sizzling pop of atmospheric mana discharging along the traces.
    • Observer’s Perspective: Witnesses hear an abrupt, whip-like sonic crack followed by a persistent, low-frequency hum vibrating steadily from the bronze yoke.
    • Positives: Projects an unmistakable audible cue that can intimidate approaching feral beasts, startle enemy formations, and signal nearby allies in the heat of chaotic combat.
    • Negatives: Masks subtle environmental auditory cues, preventing the driver from hearing quiet approaching footsteps, distant verbal warnings, or incoming ranged projectiles.
  • Touch:
    • User’s Perspective: A surge of invigorating warmth rushes into the driver’s palms, followed by a light, rhythmic tingling that numbs the physical jarring and vibration of the road beneath the cab.
    • Observer’s Perspective: Looking closely, an onlooker can see the driver’s knuckles tighten effortlessly as the leather bands stiffen slightly, acting as rigid, stabilizing rails.
    • Positives: Grants the wielder enhanced tactile stability and superior grip strength, completely preventing the straps from slipping out of sweaty or wet hands.
    • Negatives: Leaves the driver’s fingertips with lingering phantom numbness and slight muscle tightness after the magical surge concludes.
  • Smell:
    • User’s Perspective: The driver breathes in a sharp, crisp scent reminiscent of lightning-struck stone, scorched sweet sap, and highly concentrated atmospheric ozone.
    • Observer’s Perspective: Anyone standing within twenty feet immediately catches a whiff of static charge mixed with hot, treated harness oils and singed air.
    • Positives: Provides immediate, clear confirmation of the magical charge’s purity and readiness to channel into silver fire.
    • Negatives: The pungent chemical and ozone odor can alert beasts with sharp olfactory tracking long before the vehicle comes into direct physical view.
  • Taste:
    • User’s Perspective: A distinct, metallic tang resembling copper and chilled mint coats the tongue and the back of the driver’s throat as the mana conduits flare open.
    • Observer’s Perspective: Non-active observers do not directly taste the discharge, though close riders might notice a faint dry, chalky dryness in the air.
    • Positives: Stimulates the driver’s nervous system, acting as an instant stimulant that sharpens focus and banishes drowsiness.
    • Negatives: Leaves a persistent, dry aftertaste that induces intense thirst following prolonged vehicle maneuvers.
  • Extra-Sensory Perceptions (Mind’s Eye & Magic Flow):
    • User’s Perspective: The Mind’s Eye immediately perceives a glowing readout of flowing ley-currents, showing the precise mana points draining from the item’s internal reservoir and calculating the trajectory arc of the chariot’s kinetic momentum.
    • Observer’s Perspective: Nearby individuals with active True Sight observe a massive, vibrant ultraviolet flare pulsating within the coin-sized crystal, showing dense streams of mana circulating through the weave around the harness.
    • Soul Resonance: The driver’s conscious soul experiences a brief, euphoric synchronization with the mechanical carriage and the draft team, feeling the physical health and balance of the entire assembly as an extended part of their own avatar’s anatomy.
    • Positives: Delivers instantaneous, perfect awareness of the vehicle’s structural integrity, precise distance measurements to obstacles, and optimal turning angles.
    • Negatives: Causes brief metaphysical cognitive strain when the activation ends, leaving the driver momentarily disoriented as their awareness abruptly snaps back to their singular avatar body.

Crafting Recipe: Duststrider Reins (Tier 1 Re-creation)

Materials Needed

  • 1 Coin-sized Tier 1 Magic Crystal (Mundane catalyst grade or harvested beast drop)
  • 4 Strips of cured, heavy beast hide leather (approximately 12 feet each, treated in ash-bark wash)
  • 1 Cast brass or bronze central coupling ring (forged with etched spiral conduit grooves)
  • 2 Fluid Collector vials of distilled Ironwood tree sap (acting as a binding and strengthening reagent)
  • 1 Fluid Collector vial of refined predatory beast blood (harvested to infuse momentum and tracking traits)
  • 1 Ounce of pulverized crystal dust or crushed mana-glass
  • 2 Felt lining strips (cut for internal hand-grip padding)

Tools Required

  • 1 Fluid Collector (precision syringe for reagent extraction and measured chemical application)
  • 1 Set of leatherworking awls, needles, and heavy sinew thread
  • 1 Small jewel-setting vice and jeweler’s punch (for crystal seating)
  • 1 Brass rune-inscribing stylus
  • 1 Miniature mana-burner or steam-assisted curing kettle

Skill Requirements

  • Crafting (Leatherworking): Level 5 minimum
  • Arcane Crafting / Catalyst Infusion: Level 5 minimum
  • Minimum Crafter Tier: Tier 1

Crafting Steps

  • Preparation of Straps and Grooving: Using the leatherworking awls, trim and braid the four strips of ash-treated beast hide into two dense, multi-ply traces. Score symmetrical spiral channeling grooves along the entire length of both straps to serve as the physical path for arcane conduits.
  • Reagent Blending and Conduit Lining: In the steam-assisted curing kettle, heat the two vials of distilled Ironwood sap and mix in the ounce of pulverized mana-glass dust until it forms a shimmering, translucent lacquer. Carefully paint this mixture into the scored grooves of the leather using the fine tip of the Fluid Collector to ensure uniform magic conductivity.
  • Coupling Assembly and Rune Inscription: Take the cast brass central coupling ring and use the rune stylus to engrave foundational conduits of kinetic transference along its outer circumference. Heat the metal slightly to expand the central bezel.
  • Crystal Seating and Binding: Seat the coin-sized Tier 1 Magic Crystal into the central bezel of the brass coupling ring. Apply a measured ring of the refined beast blood around the base of the crystal to act as the biological binding agent. As the metal cools and contracts, the crystal will lock permanently into the housing.
  • Trace Attachment and Hand-Grip Stitching: Fasten the forward ends of the braided leather straps securely through the reinforced loops of the brass coupling. Affix the felt lining strips to the driver’s hand-loops, stitching them closed with reinforced sinew thread to cushion road vibration.
  • Mana Infusion and Initial Attunement Test: Place the completed assembly on a stable workbench. Channel an active pulse of thought through the Mind’s Eye into the central crystal to activate the weave. The crystal should flare with an ultraviolet hue while the conduits along the leather ignite with faint silver-purple sparks, confirming the circuit is complete and ready for handheld attunement.

Great Speed Cart and Pulling Bands of Silver Burning

In the day of when the land was very dried and the mud was not yet cooked by the sky-fire Helios, there was walking one man named Kar-Tho who was possessing the body of a four-legged running beast rider. He was having much sorrow because the grand king of the walled mound said unto him, “You must carry the heavy stone vessel through the bad wilderness of seventy miles before the darkness week comes down upon the dirt.” But the road was full of angry crawling things and large tooth-beasts who liked to chew upon the walkers of the world.

Kar-Tho took the long tree-ropes made from the screaming iron trees which bled thick juice when pricked with the iron needle tool. He washed the ropes in the gray dirt of burned wood. He spoke words of the mind-focus that were clumsy and loud, saying, “Be strong, O skin of animal, do not break when the great wheels turn over the sharp rock.” Then he did take a small hard shine-pebble from the belly of a killed winged lion and stuck it with sticky red beast-water into the middle brass ring that holds the two animals of pulling together.

When the two horned horses were fastened to the wood cart, Kar-Tho pulled the bands with both arms of his avatar. The old translation says: And behold, the fire of white-metal leaped from his finger-bones into the skin-strips, and the cart did scream like a bird of thunder. The tooth-monsters of the sand did run out from the thorny bushes to eat the meat of his avatar. Kar-Tho did not jump down into the dirt to die. He pushed his belly against the front wood board and pulled the right leather string while making loud throat-noises. The small pebble on the brass ring made a very bright purple lightning that did punch the eyes of the sand-crawlers, so they fell upon their heads and missed the biting of his wheels.

For three days of no sleeping, the cart went fast through the dust. The translated brick says that the wind was blowing from the cold pole to the warm middle, but the wagon moved against the blow because the ropes had the spirit-power inside their braids. When the wheel hit a giant stone of the road, Kar-Tho was flying upward into the sky, but because he gripped the ash-hide bands, his spirit did not separate from his meat-vessel. A terrible spear of an enemy chief did strike his chest-box, making his blood-pool go to nothing, yet by crushing the spirit-fire inside the small crystal pebble, he remained standing with only one breath of life in his vessel, refusing to turn into a cloud of sparks before the king’s mound was reached.

When he arrived at the stone gate of the city where five thousand souls were making barters, the leather bands were hot like iron from the furnace, yet they did not burn away into ash. The scribes wrote that Kar-Tho did drop down upon the ground to eat three bowls of grain-soup for twenty minutes to fix his broken bones, but the ropes remained tied to the bronze yoke, glowing with the purple shadow of the world-mother.

Moral of the Story: The hand that holds the burning string of spirit-power will not fall from the wooden runner, for even when the beast of the wild tries to break the wheel, the mind that focuses through the stone makes the shortest road through the longest desert.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Dungeons & Dragons

Duststrider Reins Wondrous Item, Common (Requires Attunement)

  • Item Type: Wondrous Item (Vehicle accessory / Handheld focus)
  • Armor Class Bonus: While holding these reins and driving a land vehicle (such as a cart or chariot), you gain a +1 bonus to your Armor Class.
  • Surefooted Pilot: You have advantage on saving throws and ability checks made to avoid falling off, being knocked prone, or being dismounted from a moving land vehicle.
  • Mana Surge (1 Charge): The reins possess 1 charge, which replenishes daily at dawn. When you hit a target with a vehicle ramming attack or a weapon attack made while mounted or driving, you can expend 1 charge to deal an additional 1d4 radiant damage.
  • Equilibrium Ward: If damage from an attack or road collision would reduce you to 0 hit points while you are holding these reins, you can use your reaction and expend 1 charge to drop to 1 hit point instead.
  • Flash of the Yoke: As an action, you can present the central crystal to emit a burst of light. Each hostile creature within 10 feet of the front of your vehicle must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or suffer disadvantage on its next attack roll before the start of your next turn.

Call of Cthulhu

The Charioteer’s Cthulhu-Era Traces Occult Artifact / Enchanted Rigging

  • Item Classification: Enchanted driving gear / Physical talisman
  • Sanity Cost: 1 Sanity point upon first activating the embedded stone’s power.
  • Drive Auto / Drive Carriage Modifier: Provides a +20% bonus (or one Bonus Die) to Drive (Auto) or Drive (Carriage) skill checks when attempting difficult or dangerous evasive maneuvers at high speeds.
  • Eerie Luminescence: By concentrating for 1 round and spending 1 Magic Point, the driver causes the reins to crackle with purple luminescence, illuminating a 10-yard forward cone. Hostile entities staring directly at the glow suffer a penalty die on their next immediate strike.
  • Willpower Shield: If the driver suffers a major physical collision or impact that would reduce their Hit Points to 0, they may immediately spend 5 Magic Points and succeed on an Extreme POW roll. On a success, the driver avoids instant death or unconsciousness, surviving with exactly 1 Hit Point.

Blades in the Dark

Spark-Craft Duststrider Rig Special Item (1 Load, Harness/Rigging)

  • Item Nature: Spark-craft electroplasmic rigging designed for carriage, carriage-rig, or vehicle drivers.
  • Quality & Tier: Tier I quality equipment.
  • Static Anchor: While actively driving a carriage or mechanical transport, gain +1d to Resistance rolls against physical consequences involving collisions, violent turns, or being thrown from the cab.
  • Electro-Discharge: You may take 1 Stress to channel an electroplasmic shock down the traces. This improves the Position or Effect (e.g., from Standard to Great) when performing a violent ramming maneuver, pursuit obstacle sweep, or break-through against pursuers.
  • Vitality Reserve: When you suffer fatal harm while holding the reins, you may immediately resist death by filling 2 Stress boxes, reducing the fatal consequence to level 3 harm and remaining conscious behind the reins.

Knave

Duststrider Reins Item (1 Item Slot)

  • Slot Cost: 1 item slot (must be held in hands to function).
  • Armor Bonus: +1 Armor Defense while driving or riding a cart, chariot, or beast of burden.
  • Quality: 3/3 Durability.
  • Driving Mastery: Advantage on all Dexterity and Strength checks made to keep control of a moving vehicle or remain standing on rough or broken terrain.
  • Silver Fire (1 Use/Day): Once per day, after a successful attack made from the vehicle, discharge the crystal to add 1d4 direct, unblockable damage to the attack total.
  • Death Ward (1 Use/Day): If you are reduced to 0 HP while holding these reins, make a Constitution check (DC 15). If successful, you instead remain at 1 HP, and the reins lose 1 point of Quality.

Fate

Duststrider Reins of the Waste Extra (Aspect & Stunt Focus)

  • Item Aspect: Spirit-Forged Charioteer’s Rigging
  • Stunt (Driver’s Stance): Gain a +2 bonus to Create an Advantage or Defend using Physique or Athletics while standing in a moving vehicle, chariot, or wagon to resist being thrown, dismounted, or knocked off balance.
  • Stunt (Silver Spark Ignition): Once per scene, when you successfully attack an opponent using a vehicle maneuver, ramming strike, or close-range weapon from the cab, you may spend 1 Fate Point to increase the shift value of the hit by +2 with the unblockable energy aspect Silver Fire Strike.
  • Stunt (Surge of the Hearth): Once per session, when you would take a Consequence that takes you out of a fight due to physical vehicle damage or direct attacks while driving, you can invoke the reins’ reserve to fill your lowest available Consequence slot instead and remain active behind the driver’s rail.

Numenera & Cypher System

Duststrider Guidance Array Artifact (Level 2)

  • Form: Braided synth-leather leads connecting to a bronze nodule housing a pulsating violet energy nodule.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d10 (checked upon using activable energy discharges).
  • Passive Effect: The bearer eases all Speed defense rolls and physical control tasks by one step (reducing the difficulty by 1) while operating, steering, or standing aboard any moving ground or repulsor vehicle.
  • Active Effect (Silver Conduit): As part of an attack action made from the vehicle, the user can channel the artifact’s energy pool into the weapon or prow strike, dealing +2 points of direct energy damage that ignores armor.
  • Active Effect (Equilibrium Pulse): As an immediate action when a physical attack or vehicle impact would reduce the character’s Might or Speed Pool to zero (knocking them down the damage track), the user may roll for Depletion immediately. On a success, the character remains conscious and mobile, arresting the fatal blow at 1 point remaining in that Pool.
  • Active Effect (Nodule Flare): With an action, the user triggers a flash of blinding light from the nodule. All hostile entities within immediate range must succeed on a Level 2 Speed defense roll or be hindered on their next task.

Pathfinder

Duststrider Harness Reins Item 1 (Magical, Transmutation)

  • Price: 15 gp
  • Usage: held in 2 hands (or 1 hand with vehicle bracing)
  • Bulk: 1
  • Driver’s Balance: While holding these reins aboard a land vehicle, you gain a +1 item bonus to Reflex saving throws and Acrobatics or Athletics checks to Avoid Falling Off, Stop a Vehicle, or resist being knocked prone by violent turbulence.
  • Silver Strike (Free Action): Trigger: You successfully hit a creature with a weapon or vehicle strike while driving. Frequency: Once per day. Effect: You channel unresistible energy through the traces, adding 1d4 spirit damage to the total damage dealt.
  • Equilibrium Ward (Reaction): Trigger: You are reduced to 0 Hit Points by an attack or collision while actively holding the reins. Frequency: Once per day. Effect: The magical feedback sustains your consciousness; you do not gain the dying condition and instead remain at 1 Hit Point.
  • Disorienting Burst (One-Action): Requirements: You are holding the reins. Effect: The central catalyst releases a bright light in a 10-foot emanation. Hostile creatures in the area must succeed at a DC 15 Fortitude save or become dazzled for 1 round.

Savage Worlds

Duststrider Reins Minor Arcane Device (Personal Gear)

  • Item Type: Vehicle Accessory / Arcane Focus (Requires 2 Hands to guide, or 1 Hand to hold)
  • Weight: 2 lbs
  • Min Str: d4
  • Steadfast Pilot: The user gains a +1 bonus to Driving checks when performing difficult, evasive, or high-speed maneuvers, and a +1 bonus to resist Agility-based hazard rolls to avoid falling out of a moving vehicle.
  • Silver Fire Discharge: When scoring a successful hit with a vehicle ram, sideswipe, or melee weapon strike from the vehicle, the driver may expend 1 Power Point (or spend 1 Benny) to add +1d4 unsoakable AP 2 damage to the total damage roll.
  • Momentum Ward: If the driver suffers enough wounds from an attack or vehicular crash to become Incapacitated while holding the reins, they may make an immediate free Vigor roll at +2. If successful, they take only enough wounds to bring them to Bleeding Out/Critical state without expiring immediately, retaining 1 temporary point of life to maintain control of the vehicle.

Shadowrun

Duststrider Neuro-Tether Reins Vehicle Interface / Qi-Focus Accessory

  • Item Rating: Rating 1 (Focus / Rigging Interface)
  • Availability: 4 (Restricted)
  • Cost: 1,500 nuyen
  • Physical Profile: Braided composite tether with a central focal brass ring embedded with a refined telesma crystal.
  • Driver Stabilization: While gripping the harness aboard an open groundcraft or chariot-type rig, the user gains a +1 dice pool modifier to Piloting Ground Craft tests and Body tests to resist vehicular bucking, sudden deceleration, or ejection.
  • Silver Fire Conduit: When the user lands an attack or successful vehicle ramming action while holding the reins, they may spend 1 Edge to channel spiritual elemental energy down the tether, inflicting an additional 2P unresisted Elemental (Electricity/Fire) damage.
  • Vital Lock Reaction: If physical damage from an attack or collision would fill the character’s Physical Condition Monitor into overflow and cause immediate death, the character may spend 1 point of Edge as an immediate interrupt action to remain conscious with 1 box of Physical Condition remaining.

Starfinder

Duststrider Piloting Rig Hybrid Item, Level 1

  • Item Level: 1
  • Price: 350 credits
  • Bulk: 1
  • Hands: 2 (or 1 while anchored)
  • Capacity: 10 charges (Standard Battery or Internal Crystal)
  • Usage: Variable
  • Surefooted Pilot: While aboard a moving land, hover, or repulsor vehicle and holding these reins, the user gains a +1 insight bonus to Piloting checks made to perform evasive maneuvers or maintain vehicle stability over hazardous terrain, as well as a +2 circumstance bonus to Reflex saves against being knocked prone or thrown from the cab.
  • Silver Fire Surge (1 Charge): As part of a vehicle attack or small arms attack made while piloting, the user can expend 1 charge from the reins to deal 1d4 additional force damage on a confirmed hit.
  • Equilibrium Shield (5 Charges): When the pilot takes damage that would reduce them to 0 Hit Points and force them to spend Resolve to stabilize, they can use an immediate reaction and expend 5 charges to remain at 1 Hit Point instead.
  • Flash of the Nodule (2 Charges): As a standard action, the user expends 2 charges to discharge a flash in a 10-foot cone forward; all hostile targets must succeed at a DC 12 Fortitude save or gain the dazzled condition for 1 round.

Traveller

Duststrider Kinetic Control Harness Primitive / Tech Level 4 Psionic-Compatible Tether

  • Tech Level: TL 4 (Specialized / Anomalous Manufacture)
  • Mass: 1.0 kg
  • Skill Synergy: Drive (any groundcraft) or Ride (beast)
  • Cost: Cr 1,200
  • Handling Buffer: Grants a +1 DM to all Drive or Athletics checks made to maintain control, avoid vehicle roll-overs, or prevent the operator from being thrown clear during high-speed turns or collisions.
  • Kinetic Arc Discharge: Once per combat encounter, following a successful vehicular strike, sideswipe, or melee weapon attack from the driving station, the user can activate the energy nodule to add 1D6 additional armor-ignoring damage to the final damage total.
  • Bio-Resonance Ward: If the user suffers catastrophic physical damage that would reduce their combined Physical Characteristics (STR, DEX, END) to 0 (death state), the harness discharges its stored resonance, stabilizing the user at exactly 1 point of Endurance remaining and rendering the harness inert until serviced at a repair facility.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound

The Duststrider Reins of Chamon Minor Wondrous Item / Arcane Tack

  • Availability: Rare (Found along Trade Baron corridors and Ironweld carriage lines)
  • Item Slot: Held (Both hands, or one hand while harnessed)
  • Armour Check: +1 to Armour while actively piloting or braced within a carriage, wagon, or cogfort chariot.
  • Pilot’s Discipline: The driver gains +1d6 to all Mind (Drive) or Body (Athletics) tests to maintain balance, navigate difficult terrain, or resist being thrown from a moving vehicle.
  • Silver Spark Flare: Once per encounter, when the bearer scores a successful hit with a vehicle ram, trampling move, or melee weapon from the cab, they may spend 1 Mettle to inflict 1 additional Damage that completely ignores non-magical Armour.
  • Hearth-Sparks of Defiance: If an attack or catastrophic vehicle crash would inflict the Mortally Wounded condition on the driver, the driver may immediately expend 1 Mettle to reduce the severity of the blow, remaining conscious with 1 Toughness remaining instead.