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Reflecting 47 of the Enamel Retaliator

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by

Dale
in
  • Lore: Forged by an eccentric field chirurgeon practicing out of the coastal clinics of Aterian, this device was crafted to address both dental extractions and combat hazards. The creator believed that physical affliction—much like a rotting molar—must never be endured in silence, but violently expelled outward to maintain internal balance. By mounting a mirror-polished tooth extractor head onto an articulated jaw harness, the artisan bound kinetic impact runes directly to enamel-binding catalysts. Over decades of skirmishes against reef-dwelling beasts, the contraption gained a reputation among frontline apothecaries as a brutal deterrent: any blow struck against the wearer’s skull triggers an immediate sympathetic shockwave, jarring the teeth and bones of all encroaching foes while simultaneously clearing obstructions from the patient’s mouth.
  • Description: This apparatus consists of an articulated mandible cradle made from tarnished cold-rolled iron, lined with boiled leather and fitted with a pair of curved dental forceps that clasp securely across the lower jawline. Set flush against the chin is a silvered concave extraction mirror etched with microscopic warding spirals. Small glass vials filled with chalky tooth-powder suspensions and calcified fossil fragments are mounted along the cheek struts. When struck, the silvered mirror flashes with a harsh, calcifying light, emitting the sharp, high-pitched screech of metal scraping enamel as retaliatory shockwaves discharge outward from the mouthpiece.
  • Item Slot: Mouth Slot
  • Stats:
    • Item Tier: Tier 1 (Common)
    • Item Hit Points: 10 plus wearer maximum health points (Resilience 10 x Tier 1)
    • Armor Check (AC) Bonus: +1
    • Weight: 2 pounds
    • Attunement: Requires 1 minute of concentration to secure the biting clamps and calibrate the mirror to the avatar’s jawbone.
  • Passive Magic:
    • Reflective Enamel Shatter: Whenever the wearer takes damage from a successful strike, the item unleashes an explosive acoustic wave of matching damage type and identical value to all hostile targets within a radius equal in feet to the damage points sustained. If another entity within this radius also bears active reflective warding magic, a catastrophic arcane resonance is triggered immediately, threatening total destruction to all creatures in the area of effect.
    • Shock-Absorbing Bite: Provides the wearer with +1 to saving throws against effects that inflict the dazed, stunned, or shaken conditions caused by acoustic, concussive, or head-targeted strikes.
    • Pulp Stabilization: The avatar cannot suffer matrix damage or dental loss from physical trauma delivered directly to the mouth or jaw while the harness remains intact and above half of its maximum hit points.
  • Activable Magic:
    • Forceful Extraction Jolt: As an action, the wearer may trigger a burst of pneumatic pressure through the front forceps while making a melee strike. On a hit, this discharges base bludgeoning damage plus the avatar’s tier die (1d4), forcing an adjacent target backward by 5 feet. This knock-back can be utilized proactively against foes suspected of carrying reflective enchantments to break proximity and prevent lethal resonance cascades.
    • Tartar-Scraping Grate: Once per combat encounter as an action, the wearer can grind the dental tongs together to emit a piercing, calcified screech. All foes within a 10-foot radius must succeed on a DC 11 saving throw or suffer the hindered condition for one turn due to sensory agony and jarring jaw vibrations.
    • Antiseptic Rinse Flush: As an action outside of combat, the avatar can depress the cheek-mounted vials to flush the mouth with medicinal brine, cleansing the avatar of non-magical oral toxins and granting 1 temporary health point that lasts until the end of the next exploration period.
  • Tags: Mouth, Headwear, Tier 1, Common, Reflecting Magic, Force, Warded, Retaliation, Knockback, Chirurgy, Dentistry, Tool, Harness, Metal, Sonic, Mandible, Orthodontia, Enamel, Extraction, Calcite, Resonant, Medical, Alchemical, Mirror, Kinetic, Pneumatic

Procurement and Commerce of the Enamel Retaliator

  • Independent Chirurgical Apothecaries and Tooth-Drawer Workshops:
    • Located in crowded coastal market districts or state trade alleys, these small family-operated shops double as operating suites and crafting benches. The Enamel Retaliator hangs among racks of forceps, brass spittoons, bone-saws, and jars of pickled monster teeth. Transactions here are strictly over-the-counter and driven by supply of materials such as cold-rolled iron and alchemical antiseptics.
    • Purchasing cost: 100 to 140 silver coins. If the buyer is an enrolled member of the local Apothecary Guild or Chirurgical Faction, the standard 10% discount per character tier applies, lowering the purchase price to 90 to 126 silver coins. Payment is routinely logged into the World Bank ledger via the Mind’s Eye.
    • Selling value: The resident practitioner will haggle around 10% of the base value per tier of the seller (yielding 10 to 14 silver coins for a Tier 1 seller). The funds are deposited directly into the seller’s World Bank account, and the shopkeeper logs the transaction details for potential review by city tax assessors and military magistrates.
  • Frontline Guildhall Supply Depots:
    • Found inside official Adventuring Guildhalls within cities boasting five thousand or more residents, these secure armories are overseen by appointed military officials. Here, the harness is stocked as specialized personal defense equipment for vanguard scouts and tunnel explorers who anticipate close-quarters ambushes from subterranean beasts.
    • Purchasing cost: Exactly 10 electrum coins (equivalent to 50 silver coins) for registered guild members in good standing, representing an institutional bulk price. Non-members are barred from direct armory requisitions unless sponsored by an officer.
    • Selling value: Depots purchase recovered units strictly as surplus scrap or refurbishment stock, offering 8 to 10 silver coins deposited to the World Bank account. The acquisition is logged under garrison property registers, exempt from city entrance tariffs if transferred within guild grounds.
  • Black-Market Alleys and Smuggler Dens:
    • Operating out of unmarked wharf basements, abandoned sewer conduits, or back rooms behind port-city taverns, these vendors deal in untraceable gear salvaged from fallen avatars whose soul crystals and belongings were looted before authorities arrived.
    • Purchasing cost: 15 to 20 gold coins (150 to 200 silver value). Items are priced at a premium due to the complete absence of ledger records. Transactions must be settled immediately in physical precious metal coin; World Bank digital balances are never accepted.
    • Selling value: Black-market fences pay between 20 and 30 silver coins in raw physical coinage if the item is in high demand, remaining entirely silent regarding the previous owner’s identity. If municipal watch patrols are actively sweeping the district, fences may drop their payout to a flat 10 silver coins.
  • Wandering Caravan Peddlers and Tinkers:
    • Traveling in heavily reinforced covered wagons guarded by hired mercenaries along the military-patrolled roadways between coastal ports and central capital cities, these itinerant merchants cater to travelers, rural town militias, and isolated homesteaders who lack direct access to city guildhalls.
    • Purchasing cost: 12 to 18 electrum coins (60 to 90 silver value), with prices fluctuating upward depending on the distance from the nearest state border and the prevalence of hostile monsters along that stretch of road. The peddler often attempts to pass on the 1% transit fee and 5% border tax to the buyer.
    • Selling value: Wandering peddlers rarely hold substantial liquid reserves and will offer no more than 6 to 8 silver coins or an equivalent barter trade in mundane travel rations, waterskins, or black powder cartridges. Transactions can be settled through World Bank transfers if the peddler possesses an attuned banking ledger focus, or via non-metal municipal tokens weighed to standard silver equivalence.

Environmental Tactics and Roleplay Applications

  • Subterranean Caverns and Dark Mines:
    • Defensive Roleplay: While navigating pitch-black stone tunnels, an avatar equipped with the harness acts as the point guard. When burrowing horrors or cave predators ambush the avatar from the shadows, the incoming blunt force violently compresses the jaw clamps, discharging a blinding acoustic flare. The wearer grinds their teeth, absorbing the impact without dislocation, while the reflected kinetic radius reverberates across the enclosed granite walls, halting subsequent leaps from the dark.
    • Offensive Roleplay: In narrow choke-points, the avatar steps into the vanguard, clattering the steel forceps against their molars to emit the Tartar-Scraping Grate. The amplified dental screech echoes through the stone tunnel, disorienting subterranean creatures that rely on acute hearing or echolocation. Following the screech, the avatar drives their iron-clad jaw forward to deliver the Forceful Extraction Jolt, slamming the lead cavern beast back into its pack to block the passage.
  • Open Sea Vessels and Coastal Reefs:
    • Defensive Roleplay: Aboard rolling ship decks or slippery coral outcrops, rogue waves, shifting cargo, and aquatic raiders pose constant threats. When a sea serpent or boarding pirate lands a direct strike against the avatar’s upper torso, the reflective ward on the chin mirror flashes brightly across the spray. The impact energy redirects into the surrounding salt water as an expanding concussive ring, staggering boarding parties and throwing swimming foes back from the vessel’s hull without harming the ship itself.
    • Offensive Roleplay: During deck-clearing maneuvers, the wearer leans forward over the ship’s gunwales to engage boarding enemies climbing grappling lines. By snapping the front forceps shut with the Forceful Extraction Jolt, the avatar catches the foe’s boarding axes or armor rims, dislodging them from the netting with a pneumatic burst that sends them tumbling into the reef surf below, breaking proximity before any enemy counter-enchantments can detonate.
  • Densely Populated City Alleys and Wharf Districts:
    • Defensive Roleplay: In narrow cobblestone lanes where cutpurses and municipal enforcers operate, the avatar relies on the passive reflective barrier to ward off sudden strikes from behind. A blunt strike from a blackjack or club across the avatar’s helmet triggers the chin mirror to discharge an outward wave of concussive force, tossing back flanking footpads while leaving the avatar firmly balanced on the street stones.
    • Offensive Roleplay: To suppress brawls without resorting to lethal blades that attract city watch tribunals, the avatar triggers the Antiseptic Rinse Flush to clear their airway before stepping into melee range. Using the mouth harness as a mechanical grappling wedge, the avatar clamps onto the collar or weapon haft of an agitator, firing the pneumatic jolt to shove them backward through market stalls, disarming the target while avoiding municipal bans on unsheathed blades.
  • High-Altitude Airships and Sky Platforms:
    • Defensive Roleplay: Fighting along the exposed gondolas of zeppelins or open balconies of cloud cities requires constant defense against airborne raptors and swooping griffons. When a diving beast rakes its talons across the avatar’s faceplate, the harness absorbs the shearing force, releasing a reflective shockwave directly into the updraft. The acoustic detonation pushes against the beast’s wings, denying it purchase and preventing the avatar from being dragged over the safety railing into the abyss below.
    • Offensive Roleplay: Close-quarters combat on narrow airship catwalks carries severe risk of catastrophic resonance cascades if boarding aerial raiders carry matching wards. The avatar actively monitors the targets through the Mind’s Eye, identifying enchanted warding trinkets on enemy officers. Instead of relying on standard blade strikes, the avatar triggers the forward pneumatic burst from the dental tongs, driving the enchanted foe five feet backward over the edge of the sky platform to sever the magical link and eliminate the risk of mutual obliteration.

Perception of Activation:

  • User’s Perspective:
    • Sight: A blinding, cold flash erupts inches beneath the eyes as the concave chin mirror blazes with intense ultraviolet luminescence, casting high-contrast shadows across the immediate field of vision while microscopic fracture lines in the glass flare white.
    • Hearing: A deafening, mechanical crunch accompanied by an ear-splitting, metallic screech reverberates straight through the jawbone, resembling an iron burr grinding violently into deep calcified bone tissue.
    • Smell: The air fills instantly with the pungent stench of burnt calcium, ozone, and vaporized medicinal clove oil discharged from the cheek canisters.
    • Taste: A sharp, metallic bitterness floods the tongue, accompanied by the dry, powdery sensation of pulverized chalk and saline astringent.
    • Touch: Intense kinetic compression grips the entire mandible as the leather and steel struts bite into the jawline, followed by a violent outward pneumatic pulse that rattles the teeth in their sockets without dislodging them.
    • Extra-Sensory Perception (Mind’s Eye): Intrinsic numeric values flash violently across the inner sight, projecting an expanding spherical readout of retaliatory force values matching the incoming trauma down to the exact digit.
    • Extra-Sensory Perception (Arcane Pressure): A sudden, localized siphon in ambient mana causes an internal cold snap along the avatar’s soul channels, producing a brief tingling sensation of needles across the ethereal body as the kinetic energy is inverted and discharged.
  • Observer’s Perspective:
    • Sight: The attacker sees their weapon connect with the wearer’s jaw, only for the mirrored medallion on the harness to instantly ignite with an expanding, ring-shaped ripple of harsh silver-blue light that illuminates the surrounding terrain.
    • Hearing: Encroaching targets hear a loud, piercing crack like shattering porcelain magnified tenfold, followed by a concussive boom that rings painfully in the eardrums of anyone caught within the perimeter.
    • Smell: A bitter drift of acrid chemical smoke and bone dust rolls outward from the burst, stinging the nostrils of all nearby combatants.
    • Taste: Those standing within the blast radius catch an iron-tinged, copper taste in the back of their throats caused by the sudden atmospheric displacement.
    • Touch: Enemies feel a direct physical blow strike their chests and limbs matching the weapon type used against the avatar, shivering their joints and throwing them off balance as the air pressure slaps outward.
    • Extra-Sensory Perception (True Sight): Observers equipped with mystical vision perceive a blinding corona of ultraviolet arcane threads snapping violently outward from the harness in an undulating spherical web, tethering the incoming strike directly to the bodies of all surrounding foes.
    • Extra-Sensory Perception (Tremorsense): Burrowing or ground-bound creatures detect a sharp, localized shockwave vibrating through the topsoil or stone floor, originating precisely from the avatar’s footing and radiating outward in concentric, jarring ripples.
  • Positives:
    • Immediate Area Deterrent: The user converts an otherwise debilitating cranial blow into an instantaneous defensive perimeter strike, damaging all encroaching enemies simultaneously without expending an action.
    • Structural Anchorage: The mechanical brace prevents mandibular fracture, absorbing concussive inertia that would normally stagger, unbalance, or disarm the wearer.
    • Tactical Disruption: The acoustic and visual detonation breaks enemy coordination, disorienting attackers and creating immediate space for party members to maneuver.
  • Negatives:
    • Sensory Disorientation: The intense flash, concussive ringing, and bitter chemical taste can temporarily distract the user, leaving a dull ache through the skull for several seconds after the discharge.
    • Catastrophic Resonance Danger: If an enemy within the discharge radius carries an active reflective enchantment, the simultaneous mirroring creates an exponential harmonic loop that risks vaporizing both combatants and bystanders instantly.
    • Stealth Elimination: The brilliant flare of light, heavy odor of burnt bone powder, and loud acoustic shockwave immediately reveal the avatar’s location to every hostile presence in the region.

Crafting Recipe: The Enamel Retaliator Mandible Harness

  • Materials Needed:
    • One Tier 1 magic crystal (coin-sized and coin-weighted, harvested from a slain creature to act as the arcane power battery).
    • Two pounds of cold-rolled iron bar stock (for the articulated jaw cradle, structural hinges, and cheek struts).
    • One square foot of cured, boiled monster hide or thick cowhide (to line the chin rest and form the adjustable retention straps).
    • One concave silvered glass examination mirror (roughly two inches in diameter, free of cracks or cloudy impurities).
    • Four small tempered glass apothecary phials fitted with brass threaded caps.
    • Three ounces of calcified fossil powder (derived from ground beast molars or petrified reef fauna to serve as the enamel-binding catalyst).
    • Two ounces of refined alchemical clove oil mixed with concentrated brine antiseptic.
    • One pair of steel dental extraction forceps (functioning as the sacrificial tool component consumed to transfer kinetic extraction properties into the harness).
    • One ounce of powdered silver solder and flux (for inscribing warding runes onto the mirror backing).
  • Tools Required:
    • A standard blacksmithing forge or charcoal-fired crucible with tongs and anvil.
    • Ball-peen and cross-peen metalworking hammers.
    • A set of hardened steel metal scribes, chisels, and engraving burrs.
    • A glasscutter and brass bezel-setting mandrels.
    • A leatherworking punch, skiving blade, heavy awl, and waxed sinew thread.
    • An alchemical mortar, pestle, and fluid collector syringe for precise reagent measurement.
    • A jeweler’s magnifying glass or loupe.
  • Skill Requirements:
    • Blacksmithing / Metal Crafting: Minimum Skill Level 5.
    • Alchemical Crafting / Chirurgical Medicine: Minimum Skill Level 4.
    • Arcane Rune Inscription / Mind’s Eye Calibration: Minimum Skill Level 3.
  • Crafting Steps:
    • Step 1 (Mandible Framework Forging): Heat the cold-rolled iron bar stock in the forge to a dull cherry glow. Hammer and draw out the main curved cradle to mirror the curvature of an adult jawline. Form the lateral cheek struts, punching clean hinge holes at each temple pivot point to allow smooth vertical movement. Temper the iron in cool brine to preserve rigidity against heavy kinetic impacts.
    • Step 2 (Sacrificial Tool Decomposition): Heat the steel extraction forceps in the forge until molten, treating the metal with calcified fossil powder. As the steel melts and loses its original physical form, channel its latent extraction and gripping magic into the front clamp assembly of the harness, permanently transferring its physical properties into the newly forged tongs.
    • Step 3 (Reflective Rune Inscription): Using the fine steel scribe and magnifying lens, etch a concentric spiral ward of geometric reflection onto the reverse silvered face of the concave mirror. Fill the etched grooves with the powdered silver solder and heat carefully with a small flame until the silver flows into the channels, permanently locking the kinetic inversion weave into the glass.
    • Step 4 (Power Battery Mounting): Seat the Tier 1 magic crystal firmly into the center of the heavy iron chin medallion housing. Secure the inscribed mirror directly over the crystal within a rolled-brass bezel, ensuring the reflective face points straight outward while its back makes firm physical contact with the crystal’s apex.
    • Step 5 (Pneumatic and Reagent Assembly): Mount the four brass retaining rings onto the lateral cheek struts. Fill two glass phials with the fossilized tooth powder to act as kinetic resonance buffers, and fill the remaining two phials with the clove-brine antiseptic solution. Seat the phials firmly into the rings and connect tiny lead delivery tubes running from the caps directly into the inner mouthplate.
    • Step 6 (Leather Fitting and Strapping): Cut the boiled hide to fit the inside of the iron chin cradle. Skive the leather edges thin, punch stitch holes through both leather and iron, and sew the lining into place using waxed sinew. Rivet the adjustable suspension straps to the top and rear struts, outfitting them with brass buckles designed to hold the apparatus firmly against the avatar’s skull.
    • Step 7 (Final Calibration and Attunement Priming): Place the assembled harness on an anvil. Strike the frame lightly with an iron hammer while focusing the Mind’s Eye to verify that the crystal absorbs the impact without shattering and that the mirror emits a faint ultraviolet flare. Polish the metalwork and store the completed Tier 1 harness in a dry padded wrap until ritual attunement is initiated.

Iron Mouth and Great Bite of King’s Sore

Hear then the ancient speech of the elder dirt, written down badly by the scribe who had not full eyes for the carvings of the broken stone. In the time which came before the seven times seven counting of the sky, when the great water yet boiled upon the face of the moon and the beasts had not all decided which heads belonged unto which paws, there lived one named Maastik of the Grey Basin. Maastik was not a lord of horse-armies, nor did he hold the golden sticks of the high queens. He was a stone-scraper of the skull, a man whose hands did enter into the dark wet throats of the crying people to pull forth the black rocks that grew inside their heads. For in that season of the world, the meat of the great sea-worms did rot the gums of the hunters, and their mouths were full of small devils that bit without stopping.

Now it came that the great bull-beast of the low salt shore, whose title was given as Brok-of-the-Horns, did roar with a misery so terrible that the fishes threw themselves upon the mud to die of fear. The chieftain of the coastal ditch came unto Maastik with four iron bags of base coin and spoke thus through a trembling throat: “Behold, the father of our ditch cannot sleep, nor will he swing his wood-club against the raiding men of the sharp canoes, for a worm of salt eats his cheek from the deep interior. If thou dost not reach thy fingers into his head-cave and snatch the worm away, his foot will step upon thy house, and thy water-jars shall be turned unto gravel.”

Maastik took with him his long tongs of gray metal, which had been tempered in the grease of dead leviathans, and he carried his looking-glass made from beaten river-silver. He went forth into the stinking tent of the chief Brok. But Brok was not in his right head, because the throbbing pain had turned his spirit upside down. When Maastik did lift the looking-glass to see where the black tooth did cling, the great chief mistook the shiny circle for an enemy star. With an arm like the trunk of an oak tree, Brok swung his heavy fist and struck the tooth-drawer directly upon the jaw. The bone of Maastik went sideways with a terrible sound, and his mouth did vomit his own white stones into the sand, while the chief laughed with the froth of madness.

Maastik went away into the red rocks, his tongue hanging through his broken beard, weeping because he had no chin to eat his porridge. For forty days of the burning sun he sat by the hole where the blue fire bubbled out of the ground. He took the grey iron of a smashed ploughshare and beat it between two flat boulders until it had the curve of a boar’s lower face. He took his tongs of pulling and broke them into the flame, shouting words that the birds could not understand, binding the iron with the bitter sap of the gum-pine and the dust of crushed river-shells. In the middle of the chin-pot he fixed his concave silver looking-glass, but he scratched upon its back the mark of the coiled serpent that eats its own tail.

“If the head must be hit,” said Maastik through his broken nose, “then let the fist know the taste of its own bone.”

He strapped the cold harness onto his cheeks with bands cut from the skin of an ox that had died of rage. The iron clamps bit deep into his bloody flesh, and his broken jaw was locked as straight as a fortress gate. When he bit down, the silver mirror upon his chin did hum like an angry hornet trapped in a clay pot.

He walked back unto the tent of the chief, carrying no sword and no spear, having only his iron face and his empty sack. The warriors laughed at him, saying: “Behold the badger who wears an iron bucket for a chin! Has he come to eat our dirt?” But Maastik answered nothing, for the straps held his lips tight against the teeth.

Brok-of-the-Horns sat upon his pile of bear skins, his face swollen until his left eye was shut like a blind puppy. He saw the iron-jawed man and became full of wild choler. “Dost thou mock my swelling with thy iron bowl?” cried the king of the ditch. He leaped from his pelts and took his great club of petrified wood, studded with the knucklebones of slain wolves. With both arms he brought the timber down upon the head of Maastik with the weight of a falling mountain.

The petrified timber struck the iron cradle of the chin with an acoustic sound like the splitting of an anvil. But the head of Maastik did not go down. The concave mirror upon his chin did flare with a cold, white-blue lightning that smelled of boiling sea-brine and dead bone. The fury of the club did not enter into Maastik; it went backward along the grain of the wood like a striking viper. The petrified timber shivered into ten thousand dry splinters, piercing the arms and bellies of the guard-men standing twenty paces distant.

The chief Brok screamed a scream that shook the hides of the tent, for both of his wrists had cracked like dry reeds from the return of his own weight, and the shockwave went inward through his own skull. Every tooth in the head of Brok did jump from its hole at once, rattling upon the carpets like hail cast upon frozen ground. Even the evil worm-eaten molar that had caused all his wrath was knocked clean out of his gums, landing squarely inside the empty bowl of the tooth-drawer’s iron harness.

The giant chief fell upon his face, bleeding from an empty mouth, weeping like an infant child, having no teeth left to bite either meat or man. The guards who were not pinned to the earth by flying wood threw away their copper knives and hid their faces in the ashes of the hearth, believing that the moon-goddess had sent a spirit of iron justice to swallow their breaths.

Maastik did not speak. He reached up with cold iron fingers, took the black, rotten molar out of his chin-cup, and placed it into his sack to prove the deed was completed. Then he turned his back upon the ditch-folk and walked away into the high hills of stone.

It is recorded in the fragmentary songs of the lower coast that wherever Maastik walked, raiders and wild cats leaped upon his face to tear him, but every beast that struck his jaw found its own claws turned backward into its ribs, and every spear that touched his iron lip flew backward to pierce the throat of the man who pushed it. For seventy years he wandered the wilderness of Saṃsāra, never taking the harness from his bones until the iron and the skull became one single metal, pulling the decayed fangs from mountain beasts and leaving all who struck him to grovel in the gravel without their teeth.

Moral of the Story: He who strikes the healer upon the mouth shall have his own jaw emptied of all that can bite.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

The Reliquary of Maastik’s Mandible

  • Description: An archaic, distressing apparatus composed of pitted wrought iron and oxidized brass bands fitted with a silvered concave dental mirror over the chin and four small glass vials containing calcified human teeth ground into suspension. It clasps tightly over the lower jaw and secures around the back of the cranium with rotting leather buckles.
  • Item Type: Unique Artifact / Arcane Apparatus
  • Magic Points Cost: 2 MP per activation
  • Sanity Loss: 1/1D4 Sanity points upon attuning or clamping the device over the bare jaw; witnessing the reflective detonation costs 0/1D3 Sanity points for observers.
  • Armor Check & Passive Protection: Grants +1 point of physical armor against attacks directed specifically at the face, head, or jaw. Prevents jaw dislocation, broken teeth, or oral trauma from blunt impacts.
  • Reflective Backlash: Whenever the wearer suffers damage from a melee weapon, fist, or natural attack while the mirror remains unobstructed, the wearer may immediately spend 2 Magic Points to discharge the kinetic ward. The attacker must make an instantaneous Dodge roll:
    • Failure: The attacker suffers damage equal to the total hit points inflicted upon the wearer, dealt as concussive physical damage.
    • Success: The attacker dives clear or parries the shockwave, suffering half damage.
    • Resonance Hazard: If the attacking entity is protected by an active magical barrier or warding artifact (such as Flesh Ward or Shield of Prinn), both the attacker and the wearer must immediately make an Extreme CON check. A failure by either combatant causes the feedback to detonate simultaneously, inflicting 3D10 kinetic damage to everyone within a 10-foot radius.
  • Pneumatic Jaw Strike: The wearer can spend 1 Magic Point to deliver an unprovoked bash with the iron cradle (Fighting: Brawl). On a Regular Success, it deals 1D3 + Damage Bonus; on an Extreme Success, the concussive burst drives a human-sized target backward by 1D6 paces.
  • Medical Utility: If used as an improvised surgical tool during a First Aid or Medicine roll to extract foreign objects or treat cranial/oral injuries, the keeper grants a Bonus Die to the check, though the patient must make a Sanity check (0/1 loss) from the auditory trauma of the tongs.

Blades in the Dark

Maastik’s Resonant Jaw-Brace

  • Item Classification: Rare Arcane Apparatus (2 Load, counts as Heavy Armor when worn over existing helmet or protective mask).
  • Description: A brutal, articulated iron chin harness fitted with surgical dental clamps, small alchemical reagent phials, and a concave silver mirror etched with Leviathan-warding runes.
  • Quality: Fine (+1 Quality to melee defense and brutal physical interrogations).
  • Tier: II
  • Armor Trait: You may mark your Armor box to resist harm that targets your head, face, or jaw, reducing the harm level by one step.
  • Special Armor — Reflective Enamel: You may mark your Special Armor (or take 2 Stress) to activate the mirror’s retaliatory discharge when you suffer Harm from a close-quarters attack:
    • Effect: The incoming force explodes outward into the attacker and all immediate bystanders. The attacker suffers Harm equal in level to the Harm you suffered (e.g., suffering Level 2 Harm deals Level 2 Harm to the attacker).
    • Resonance Calamity: If the opponent possesses an active ghost ward, lightning-hook shield, or spirit barrier, the interaction causes an immediate catastrophic detonation: clear zero Harm, take 3 Stress, and every character in the immediate area suffers Level 3 Harm (“Shattered Hearing and Internal Bleeding”) from the concussive backlash.
  • Push Yourself (Knock-back Jolt): When you make a Wreck or Skirmish roll to shove, grapple, or push a foe away with the jaw apparatus, spend 1 Stress to gain +1d or push the effect to Great Effect, driving the enemy back a dozen feet through obstacles or over ledges to prevent close-quarters engagement.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition, 2024 Revision)

Enamel Retaliator Harness

  • Wondrous Item, Common (Requires Attunement)
  • Item Slot: Mouth
  • Armor Class Bonus: While wearing this harness, you gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class, provided you are not wearing heavy armor that fully encases the lower head.
  • Description: This apparatus features an articulated lower-jaw cradle made of cold-rolled iron with integrated extraction forceps, flanked by four small vials of calcified powder and a central, polished silver examination mirror positioned over the chin.
  • Mandibular Fortitude: You have advantage on saving throws against being stunned or incapacitated by effects that involve concussive force, sound, or blows to the head. Your teeth and jaw cannot be broken by nonmagical means.
  • Retaliatory Enamel Shatter: When a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with a melee attack and deals damage to you, you can use your reaction to trigger the mirror’s dormant magic. The attacker takes force damage equal to half the damage you sustained from the attack (minimum of 1 damage).
    • Resonance Hazard: If the attacker is protected by a spell or magic item that reflects or retaliates against damage (such as Armor of Agathys, Fire Shield, or a similar ward), both you and the attacker must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, both creatures take 3d6 force damage and are pushed 10 feet away from each other; on a successful save, each takes half as much damage and is not pushed.
  • Forceful Extraction: As an action, you can make a special unarmed strike using the protruding iron tongs against an adjacent creature. On a hit, the target takes bludgeoning damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, and if the target is Medium or smaller, it must succeed on a DC 11 Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 5 feet straight away from you.

Knave (2nd Edition)

Maastik’s Iron Tooth-Cage

  • Item Slots: 1 Item Slot (Head/Face, counts toward worn encumbrance).
  • Item Armor: +1 Armor Check (AC 12 when combined with standard unarmored defense of 11).
  • Quality/Durability: 3/3 Quality.
  • Description: A notched iron chin-strap and forceps rig lined with pigskin. A tarnished dental mirror is bolted over the chin point, flanked by vials of bone chalk and bitter clove spirits.
  • Mirror Rebound: When an enemy strikes the wearer in melee and deals HP damage, the wearer may test Constitution (rolling a d20 + Constitution bonus vs. DC 15) as an immediate reaction:
    • Success: The mirror discharges an acoustic crack. The attacker suffers damage equal to the damage dealt to the wearer, and the harness loses 1 point of Quality.
    • Failure: The ward fails to discharge, and the wearer suffers the damage normally without reflection.
    • Resonance Break: If the target has an active protective spell or magical armor enchantment, the magic shatters violently: the harness breaks immediately (0 Quality), the enemy’s ward is unraveled, and both the wearer and the attacker suffer 2d6 direct damage.
  • Pneumatic Shove: Once per combat encounter, the wearer may spend their combat action to make a Strength check against an enemy’s Strength defense to drive the iron frame forward into the opponent’s chest. On a success, the foe is knocked back 10 feet and loses their next movement action as they recover balance.
  • Field Extraction: Provides the wearer with an Advantage on Wisdom checks made to dress facial wounds, extract infected teeth, or neutralize oral poisons during exploration turns.

Fate (Fate Condensed)

Maastik’s Mandibular Mirror-Brace

  • Aspects:
    • High Concept: Archaic Iron Dental Brace of Kinetic Inversion
    • Trouble: Catastrophic Harmonic Vulnerability
    • Additional Aspect: Reinforced Bone and Tooth Cage
  • Stunts:
    • Reflective Enamel Backlash: Once per conflict, when you defend against a close-quarters physical attack with Fight and succeed with style, instead of gaining a boost, you may inflict physical stress on the attacker equal to the shifts of the incoming hit before reduction. If invoked with a Fate point when you suffer stress from a physical melee attack, the attacker takes an immediate physical hit with shifts equal to the stress you suffered.
    • Resonance Hazard: If an opponent possesses an active mystical barrier, reactive armor, or kinetic deflection stunt, any triggered backlash forces both you and the attacker to immediately defend against a Great (+4) Fair-wide kinetic blast. Everyone in the zone takes shifts of stress on a failed defense.
    • Forceful Extraction Jolt: You gain a +2 to Overcome or Create an Advantage using Physique when grappling, bull-rushing, or shoving an opponent away to create physical distance using the reinforced chin-frame.
    • Oral Trauma Immunity: The wearer cannot have aspects created against them related to broken teeth, fractured jaws, or facial bludgeoning.

Numenera & Cypher System

The Jaw-Harness of the Bio-Extirpator

  • Level: 3 (Artifact)
  • Form: An articulated head-harness made of dark synth-steel and verdigris-coated brass, featuring an external chin bracket with an iridescent, concave synth-glass mirror and four pressurized glass phials of white calcified powder.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (checked upon triggering the reflective detonation).
  • Armor: Adds +1 to Armor against physical attacks directed at the head or face.
  • Effect:
    • Reactive Shatterwave: Whenever the wearer suffers physical damage from a melee or hand-to-hand strike within immediate range, the mirror discharges a concussive shockwave. The attacking creature immediately suffers physical damage (ignoring Armor) equal to the raw damage points dealt to the wearer.
    • Dangerous Resonance: If the striking foe is protected by an active force field, displacement field, or esotery of warding, the harmonic interaction results in a catastrophic release: the artifact immediately depletes, the enemy’s shield terminates, and all targets within short range suffer 6 points of ambient damage.
    • Pneumatic Ram: As an action, the wearer may spend 1 Might point to activate the pneumatic cheek phials, delivering a crushing headbutt strike. On a successful Might attack roll, the target suffers 3 points of damage and is knocked back an immediate distance.
    • Medical Utility: Grants an asset on any healing or chirurgical task attempting to extract foreign bodies, repair dental structures, or set facial fractures.

Pathfinder (Second Edition Remaster)

Mirror of the Rebounding Extraction

  • Item 3, Uncommon, Invested, Magical
  • Price: 55 gp
  • Usage: Worn headwear (occupies the jaw/mouth area); Bulk: L
  • Perception and Defense: The wearer gains a +1 item bonus to saving throws against effects with the auditory or sonic traits, and cannot suffer persistent bleed or broken jaw debuffs caused by blunt facial impacts.
  • Retaliatory Enamel Shatter (Reaction):
    • Trigger: An adjacent creature hits the wearer with a melee Strike and deals physical damage.
    • Frequency: Once per day.
    • Effect: The concave mirror on the chin flashes with blinding light and releases an explosive acoustic crack. The triggering creature must attempt a DC 18 basic Fortitude save:
      • Critical Success: The creature takes no damage.
      • Success: The creature takes force damage equal to half the damage inflicted upon the wearer.
      • Failure: The creature takes force damage equal to the full amount of damage inflicted upon the wearer.
      • Critical Failure: As failure, and the creature is pushed 5 feet away from the wearer.
    • Arcane Resonance Hazard: If the triggering creature has an active reactive warding spell (such as fire shield or retributive strike), the energy destabilizes. Both the wearer and the attacker immediately take 2d8 sonic damage, and the harness cannot be used again until completely repaired with a Crafting check (DC 18).
  • Push and Extract (Single Action):
    • Frequency: Once per 10 minutes.
    • Effect: The wearer makes an Athletics check to Shove an adjacent enemy using the forward clamps. On a success, the target is pushed back 5 feet; on a critical success, the target is pushed back 10 feet and falls prone from the concussive burst.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition – SWADE)

Maastik’s Retaliator Cradle

  • Classification: Minor Arcane Device (Worn, Face/Jaw)
  • Min Strength: d4
  • Weight: 2 lbs
  • Cost: $1,200
  • Armor Bonus: Provides +1 Armor to the Head area only, stacking with open helmets that do not cover the chin.
  • Mandibular Ward: The wearer gains a +2 bonus to Vigor rolls made to resist being Stunned by blunt trauma, sound, or blast effects aimed at the head.
  • Reflective Backlash:
    • Whenever the wearer is hit by an adjacent melee attack and suffers at least one Wound or Shaken result, the mirror immediately triggers.
    • The attacker must make an instantaneous Agility roll at -2.
    • Failure: The attacker suffers the exact amount of raw damage (same dice roll and total) that was delivered to the wearer.
    • Success: The attacker manages to evade the main force and takes half damage.
    • Resonance Calamity: If the attacker is protected by the arcane protection, barrier, or deflection powers, a violent harmonic occurs. The device immediately suffers a Malfunction, destroying its enchantment, and generates a Medium Blast Template centered on the wearer that inflicts 2d6 damage to everyone within.
  • Pneumatic Shove:
    • The wearer may use the device to execute an unprovoked Push maneuver without taking a multi-action penalty. On a success, the opponent is shoved back 1″ (2 yards); with a raise, the target is pushed back 2″ (4 yards) and knocked Distracted.

Shadowrun (Sixth World)

The Enamel Retaliator Rig

  • Item Classification: Foci / Armor Accessory (Face/Jaw Mount)
  • Availability: 4 (R)
  • Cost: 8,500¥
  • Karma Binding Cost: 6 Karma
  • Defense Rating: +1 to overall Defense Rating against close combat attacks; grants the wearer the minor trait Unbreakable Jaw (immune to facial bone fractures and tooth loss from physical trauma).
  • Reflective Impact Ward:
    • Whenever the wearer is hit by an opponent in Close combat and takes Physical or Stun damage after the Damage Resistance test, the attuned focus discharges an acoustic kinetic pulse.
    • The attacking character must immediately roll a Damage Resistance test against an equal value of Physical damage matching the unresisted damage inflicted upon the wearer.
    • Resonance Hazard: If the attacking opponent has an active magical armor spell (such as Armor or Physical Barrier) or is employing a cybernetic kinetic dispersion system, the focus destabilizes. Both the wearer and the attacker suffer 6P damage (AP -2) from the sudden harmonic eruption, and the focus is immediately deactivated until rebound during downtime.
  • Pneumatic Shove (Minor Action):
    • The user expends a Minor Action when making an Unarmed Combat attack to trigger the pneumatic cheek pistons.
    • If the attack successfully connects, the opponent is shoved directly back 2 meters and must make an Athletics + Agility (2) test or fall prone.
  • Medical Utility:
    • Incorporates micro-vials of dental antiseptics and extraction forceps. Grants a +1 dice pool bonus to Biotech / First Aid tests involving cranial trauma, oral injury stabilization, or foreign object extractions.

Starfinder (Second Edition)

Retaliatory Mandible Guard

  • Item 3, Uncommon, Tech, Worn
  • Price: 1,400 credits
  • Bulk: L
  • Usage: Worn (jaw/face)
  • Armor Class Modifier: +1 item bonus to Armor Class against melee Strikes targeting the wearer’s upper body or head.
  • Enamel Stabilization: The wearer gains a +2 item bonus to Fortitude saving throws against effects that inflict the stunned, deafened, or sickened conditions caused by concussive sonic bursts or direct cranial bludgeoning.
  • Reflective Shockwave (Reaction):
    • Trigger: An adjacent creature hits the wearer with a melee Strike and deals kinetic or bludgeoning damage.
    • Frequency: Once per 10 minutes.
    • Effect: The concave chin medallion flares with a sharp flare of ultraviolet light and releases a concussive shockwave. The triggering attacker must attempt a DC 18 basic Reflex save:
      • Critical Success: The attacker takes no damage.
      • Success: The attacker takes force damage equal to half the damage dealt to the wearer.
      • Failure: The attacker takes force damage equal to the full damage dealt to the wearer.
      • Critical Failure: As failure, plus the attacker is pushed 5 feet away from the wearer.
    • Energy Shield Resonance: If the striking foe has an active kinetic barrier, personal force field, or defensive energy matrix, the feedback cascade causes both the target’s shield and this item to short out. Both creatures take 2d6 sonic damage, and the shield/item is deactivated for 1 minute.
  • Pneumatic Disengagement (Single Action):
    • The wearer uses the jaw forceps to make an Athletics check to Shove an adjacent foe. On a success, the target is pushed back 5 feet; on a critical success, the target is pushed back 10 feet and becomes off-guard until the start of its next turn.

Traveller (Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition)

TL12 Ballistic Retaliation Jaw-Harness

  • Tech Level: 12
  • Mass: 1.0 kg
  • Cost: Cr 4,500
  • Armor Value: +1 Armor to the Head location (stacks with open vacc-suit helmets and soft armor).
  • Power Requirements: Powered by a micro-fusion battery cell (good for 50 combat activations).
  • Reactive Kinetic Inversion:
    • Whenever the wearer is struck in close combat (Brawling or Melee) and suffers damage through their armor, the harness’s chin-mounted piezoelectric transducer discharges stored kinetic energy into the attacker.
    • The attacker immediately suffers concussive damage equal to the total points of damage inflicted past the wearer’s armor (Armor applies normally to the reflected blow).
    • Resonance Calamity: If the opponent is protected by an active TL13+ energy defense field or reactive deflector field, the harmonic overlap causes a catastrophic field surge. The harness’s battery burns out, destroying the unit, and an explosive blast delivers 3D6 damage to all beings within 2 meters.
  • Pneumatic Extractor Shove:
    • As a combat action, the wearer may engage the spring-loaded extraction calipers against an adjacent opponent.
    • The user rolls Melee (unarmed) with DM+1. On a success, the opponent is shoved back 3 meters and must pass an Athletics (dexterity) check with 8+ to avoid falling prone.
  • Chirurgical Functionality:
    • Contains pressurized surgical vials of fast-acting coagulant and dental calipers. Adds DM+1 to any Medic check performed to treat facial injuries, dislocated jaws, or emergency tracheotomies in the field.

Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay (Wrath & Glory)

The Enamel Cleanser’s Mandibular Cage

  • Value: 4 (Rare)
  • Keywords: IMPERIUM, ADEPTUS MINISTORUM, CHIRURGEON
  • Item Type: Headgear / Specialized Armor Attachment
  • Armor Rating: +1 Resilience against melee attacks directed at the head.
  • Blessed Enamel Sanctity: The wearer gains +1 bonus die to Defiance checks against suffering the Stunned or Blinded conditions from concussive impacts, thunderous detonations, or blunt trauma to the head.
  • Mirrored Kinetic Retribution:
    • Whenever the wearer suffers 1 or more Wounds from a melee attack made by an enemy in Engagement range, the silvered reliquary mirror upon the chin detonates with a pious, earsplitting shriek.
    • The attacking enemy immediately suffers Shock equal to the total Wounds inflicted upon the wearer.
    • Perils of Resonance: If the attacker is shielded by an active Rosarius, Refractor Field, or psychic barrier (such as Fiery Form or Psychic Shield), the colliding energies trigger an immediate warp-resonance spike. The user gains 1 point of Wrath or the area triggers a Minor Perils of the Warp check, and both combatants take 1d3+3 Mortal Wounds from the uncontained burst.
  • Pneumatic Forceps Shove:
    • The user can make an unprovoked melee attack using the iron tongs with their standard Melee pool.
    • On a hit, it inflicts 5 +1ED damage, and if the target fails an opposed Strength check against the user, the target is shoved 2 meters out of Engagement range.
  • Surgical Utility:
    • The device incorporates sacred bone-extractors and alchemical antiseptics. Grants +1 bonus die on Medicae (Int) tests made to extract invasive parasite brood-matter, stitch throat wounds, or remove splintered shrapnel from wounded allies.