Wild 232 of The Chromatic Probes

Lore: These tools were born from the frustration of a breeder of racing griffons in Saṃsāra’s early days. This breeder, a man named Fenris, was a master of animal husbandry but a novice in magic. He grew tired of the sheer unpredictability of his craft; a pairing of two champion griffons could result in a powerful heir or a timid runt with no explanation. Believing the secrets were hidden in the blood, he sought a way to read them.

Knowing that disciplined magic only revealed what was, he theorized that chaotic, wild magic might reveal what could be. He designed a set of silver probes, but instead of fitting them with perfect, disciplined conduits, he capped them with the cheapest, most flawed magic crystals he could find—off-color, cracked, and cloudy “junk gems.” His invention was designed to fail safely. By touching a probe to a drop of griffon blood and channeling a tiny, unstable surge of mana, he wasn’t casting a spell, he was creating a contained magical storm within the blood itself.

He discovered that the blood would flash with a unique pattern of colors that corresponded to the griffon’s latent traits. A flash of angry red hinted at aggression, a swirl of sky-blue suggested a calm temperament, and a rare fleck of gold could predict a prized mutation for speed. The readings were chaotic and difficult to interpret, but they gave him an edge no other breeder possessed. The simple design became a common, if eccentric, tool for monster breeders, xenobotanists, and anyone who gambled on the potential hidden within a creature’s lineage.

Description: The item is a small case made of worn, dark leather that unrolls to reveal three slender probes. Each probe is the length of a finger, crafted from polished silver that never tarnishes. One end of each probe is sharpened to a fine, delicate point for taking samples, while the other end is capped with a small, visibly and uniquely flawed crystal. One crystal might have a deep, internal fracture; another is a milky, opaque quartz; the third is a tiger’s eye gem with a distorted, unsettling pattern. The probes feel cool to the touch and give off a faint sensation of static electricity, like the air before a lightning storm.

Detailed Stats

Tier: 1
Required Skill: A skill related to animal handling, botany, medicine, or genetics.
Durability: The probes are designed to channel chaotic energy, making them paradoxically resistant to magical overloads and physical damage.
Primary Effect: Serves as a chaotic, divinatory tool for analyzing the latent genetic potential and lineage of biological organisms.

Passives Magic

Sense of Lineage: The wielder has an intuitive eye for heredity. They can more easily spot signs of mixed ancestry or unusual genetic traits in creatures and plants, such as noticing the subtle scale pattern of a drake on a common lizard or the unique leaf shape on a hybrid flower.
Aura of Mutation: The probes hum very faintly when near a creature or plant with a significant or unstable magical mutation, acting as a passive detection tool for genetically altered lifeforms.
Genetic Static: The user finds their mind occasionally filled with useless but interesting biological trivia. They might suddenly know the average gestation period of a hippogriff or the scientific name for a common weed.

Activable Magics

Chromatic Reading (Analysis): Once per hour, the user can take a tiny biological sample (a drop of blood, a bit of sap, a single feather) and touch it with one of the probes. They then channel a small, unstable surge of wild magic into the sample. The sample flashes with a brief, silent, and chaotic swirl of colors and light. By interpreting this “chromatic reading” (which requires a successful skill check), the user can learn one piece of information about the source organism’s latent genetic code. This might reveal a hidden recessive trait (like a rare fur color), a predisposition to a specific non-magical disease, or its immediate ancestral makeup (e.g., “this creature’s father was a wolf”). A failed check might give a completely false reading or harmlessly destroy the sample.
Jolt of Potential (Influence): Once per day, the user can take an un-germinated seed or an unfertilized egg and use the probes to send a wild magic surge directly into it. This is a gamble. The user cannot choose the effect, but the surge “excites” the organism’s genetic code, making it more likely that a random recessive or rare trait will manifest as dominant. A flower seed jolted this way might bloom in a color its parent plants never showed. An egg might hatch into a creature with an unusual but natural marking. The effect is always a roll of the dice, and is just as likely to bring forth an undesirable trait as a desirable one.

Specific Slot: Tool

Tags: Common, Tier 1, Wild Magic, Genetics, Analysis, Tool, Diagnostic, Chaotic, Utility, Silver, Divination, Breeding, Horticulture, Xenobiology, Influence, Unstable, Predictive, Flawed, Artisan-Tool, Kit

The Chromatic Probes are not tools for the everyday avatar; they are specialized instruments for a niche and often obsessive profession. Their sale is confined to places where the high-stakes gamble of genetics is a way of life, from the pristine stables of griffon racers to the muddy, chaotic markets of monster trappers.

1. The Professional Breeder’s Emporium

Type of Shop: This is a high-end, specialized supplier, often located on the wealthy outskirts of a major city near racing tracks or the estates of nobles who keep monstrous menageries. A shop like “The Griffon’s Roost” or “Fenris’s Fine Mounts & Tack” would cater to this clientele. The establishment is clean and organized, a cross between a luxury stable and a veterinary clinic, smelling of expensive feed, clean hay, and antiseptic balms. The air is punctuated by the occasional roar or cry of an exotic beast from the well-kept pens out back.

How It Is Sold: Here, the Chromatic Probes are sold as a standard, if somewhat eccentric, piece of diagnostic equipment. They would be displayed in a glass case alongside enchanted incubators, alchemical supplements for growth, and finely crafted harnesses. The proprietor would be an expert in the field, able to discuss the nuances of genetic divination. The sale would be a professional consultation: “An excellent choice for predictive analysis. Of course, the reading is chaotic, but it is the only tool that can reliably hint at the manifestation of a latent Shadow-Plume gene. Unpredictable, yes, but indispensable for any serious breeder.”

Cost: The price is stable and reflects the probes’ established value within the professional breeding community. It is considered a necessary investment for anyone serious about the craft. The cost for a new set would be between 45 and 60 Silver pieces.

2. The Xenobotanist’s Guild Greenhouse

Type of Shop: This is less a public shop and more a supply store attached to a specialized academic institution or guild, such as a city’s Grand Conservatory. The environment is a massive, magically-lit greenhouse, humid and warm, filled with the scent of damp earth, exotic pollens, and strange, flowering vines coiling up steam-powered trellises. The “shop” section provides tools and materials for members and licensed researchers.

How It Is Sold: The probes are presented as a scientific instrument for “chaotic hybridization analysis.” The vendor would be a studious botanist or alchemist who would discuss its function in academic terms. “The probes introduce a contained wild magic surge into the plant’s sap to stimulate and observe its latent bio-magical potential. The resulting chromatic reading is, of course, a qualitative data point, but it proves invaluable for predicting the potential outcomes of cross-pollination experiments.” The transaction is formal, and a buyer might need to present a guild license or research grant to purchase one.

Cost: The price is often subsidized for guild members. For a licensed independent researcher, the cost would be a fixed, non-negotiable price of around 35 Silver pieces, reflecting its status as a piece of specialized academic equipment.

3. The Tamer’s Moot Market

Type of Shop: This is not a permanent location but a temporary, chaotic market that springs up for a few days at a time at a known wilderness crossroads or in a cleared-out valley. It is where independent monster tamers, back-country breeders, poachers, and eccentric beast collectors gather to trade live animals, eggs, hides, and gear. The atmosphere is loud, muddy, and smells of animal musk, campfire smoke, and cheap ale.

How It Is Sold: The probes would be sold from a trapper’s stall or a tinkerer’s rickety table. The vendor is likely a grizzled veteran of the trade who might even make the probes themselves from scavenged silver and flawed crystals. The sale is an informal, boisterous affair based on hard bargaining. The sales pitch is practical and shorn of any academic pretense: “These? They’re blood-readers. Prick the egg, see what color it flashes. Red for a fighter, yellow for a coward, blue for a thinker. No science to it, just the luck of the wild. But it’s better than waiting six months to find out you’ve raised a dud, eh?”

Cost: The price is entirely fluid and subject to the whims of the market and the buyer’s haggling skills. The vendor might start by asking for 30 Silver, but a savvy customer could talk them down to 15 Silver, or trade for something of practical value, like a sturdy cage, a set of rare animal pelts, or a flask of strong whiskey.

The Chromatic Probes are not tools of combat; they are instruments of knowledge. Their use in conflict is never a direct attack but a subtle and devastating exploitation of information. An avatar with these probes plays the role of a profiler and a saboteur, weaponizing the very building blocks of life against their foes.

In a Monster’s Lair or Wild Environment

In the untamed wilds of Saṃsāra, where strange and powerful beasts roam, the probes are a key to survival, turning a terrifying monster into a puzzle that can be solved.

Defensive Roleplay: Defense with the probes is a function of proactive threat assessment. Upon discovering tracks or a shed scale near a creature’s lair, the avatar can perform a Chromatic Reading. The roleplay is that of a calm, methodical field researcher in the face of imminent danger. They would take the sample, touch it with a probe, and interpret the resulting flash of chaotic light.

The chaotic swirl of colors provides a blueprint of the threat. A flash of angry crimson mixed with stony grey might mean a creature with a fiery temper and a rock-hard hide. A shimmering, oily black laced with sickly green could indicate a venomous creature that uses poison and shadow. This knowledge is the defense. The avatar can now prepare the correct elemental defenses, ready the right antitoxins, or, most wisely, recognize that this is a fight they cannot win and choose a safer path. Their defense is making an informed tactical decision before the first blow is ever struck.

Offensive Roleplay: Offense is an act of biological warfare based on the knowledge gained. After the Chromatic Reading reveals the creature’s lineage—perhaps it is a hybrid of a fire-drake and a cave-lizard—the avatar knows its inherent weaknesses. The offense is not a direct attack with the probes, but a meticulously prepared trap. They can exploit the creature’s lizard ancestry by mimicking the call of a rival reptile to draw it into an ambush, or use its drake heritage against it by luring it into a ravine and causing a rockslide of shale, which they know its scales are not adapted to.

For a truly insidious and long-term offense, if the avatar finds the creature’s nest, they can use the Jolt of Potential on the eggs. The roleplay is that of a saboteur targeting a bloodline. They whisper a chaotic prayer and send a surge into each egg, gambling on activating a negative recessive trait. They are not killing the young; they are attempting to curse the next generation with brittle claws, a weaker constitution, or a timid nature, effectively ending the creature’s reign as a territorial threat without a single direct confrontation.

In a Magically-Controlled Biological Environment

Within an arch-alchemist’s greenhouse or a wizard’s laboratory filled with genetically engineered flora and fauna, the probes become a tool for navigating a living security system and dismantling a rival’s life’s work.

Defensive Roleplay: The avatar must move through a greenhouse where every plant could be a trap. The Sense of Lineage passive allows them to instinctively feel which plants are unnatural hybrids. They might approach a beautiful, glowing flower that blocks their path. A normal adventurer might try to push past it. The probe-wielder, however, would carefully take a tiny sample of a leaf and perform a Chromatic Reading. The resulting flash of violent, pulsating magenta would reveal its aggressive, carnivorous nature, allowing them to find another way around. The roleplay is that of a codebreaker, reading the genetic language of the room to bypass its beautiful, living traps.

Offensive Roleplay: The offense is not destruction, but corruption of purpose. The rival alchemist’s magnum opus is the “Sun-Kissed Rose,” a flower prized for its perfectly golden petals. The avatar finds the carefully cultivated seed pods for the next generation. Using Jolt of Potential, they give each seed a chaotic surge. They are not killing the seeds; they are gambling with their genetic expression. The next season, when the alchemist unveils their prized flowers, they might bloom not in a perfect, uniform gold, but in a chaotic riot of mottled yellow, common red, and sickly orange. The offense is the destruction of perfection and reputation, turning a rival’s masterpiece into a worthless, chaotic mess.

In a High-Stakes Social Environment

At a noble’s court, a purebred animal auction, or any event where bloodline and heritage are paramount, the probes are a weapon of social assassination.

Defensive Roleplay: When a rival noble publicly accuses the avatar’s prize-winning, purebred creature of being a mongrel, the avatar can call for a trial by blood. The roleplay is one of supreme confidence and scientific theater. They would calmly produce the Chromatic Probes, take a single drop of blood from their animal in front of the judges, and perform the Chromatic Reading. The resulting pure, unblemished, and steady light of a single color would be undeniable proof of the creature’s pure lineage. This act not only defends their honor but utterly humiliates the accuser.

Offensive Roleplay: Offense is the reverse of the above. The avatar’s Sense of Lineage passive makes them notice that the heavily favored champion racing hound has the faintest, almost imperceptible feathering on its legs, a sign of griffon ancestry. To confirm, they need a sample. The roleplay becomes a small, social heist. They might “accidentally” spill a drink on the handler, and in the act of helping to clean it up, their probe lightly grazes the hound, securing a single hair.

Later, in private, the Chromatic Reading confirms their suspicion: the hound’s blood flashes with the steady brown of its canine lineage, but also with a damning streak of ethereal blue from its magical ancestor. The hound is a fraud, its speed illegally enhanced by magical blood. Armed with this undeniable truth, the avatar can ruin their rival. They can expose them to the judges, blackmail them for a fortune, or simply place an enormous, winning bet on another contender, turning their secret knowledge into cold, hard coin.

Perception of Activation:

User’s Perspective

For the avatar using the Chromatic Probes, the activation is a sharp, precise, and jarring experience. It is the act of channeling a micro-thunderstorm through a needle’s eye into the very essence of a living thing.

Sight: The user sees the flawed crystal at the end of the probe flare with a chaotic, internal light, like a storm trapped in glass. A tiny, silent arc of multicolored static leaps from the probe’s silver tip into the organic sample. For a brilliant instant, the sample itself—be it a drop of blood, sap, or a single scale—erupts in a flash of vibrant, swirling colors, a unique and beautiful aurora that tells a story of its origin and potential before winking out.
Touch: A sharp, but not painful, jolt of static electricity runs up the probe and into the user’s hand. For a split second, the silver probe becomes intensely cold, as if flash-frozen, while the flawed crystal at the end becomes searingly hot. This fleeting, extreme temperature duality is the primary physical sensation.
Sound: The user hears a high-pitched, whining zzzeeeep sound directly in their mind. It is the sound of a capacitor charging and discharging in an instant, followed by a faint, crystalline ping, like a single grain of sand striking a wine glass.
Smell: A powerful, sterile, metallic scent of ozone fills the user’s nostrils, momentarily overpowering all other smells. This is often mixed with a phantom, “distilled” scent of the sample’s source—the coppery tang of blood, the green scent of sap, or the musky odor of a beast, all made sharp and unnatural.
Extra-sensory (Genetic Insight): As the colors flash in the sample, the user receives an instantaneous, non-verbal burst of intuitive knowledge. The chaotic patterns are not merely seen; they are understood. A swirl of crimson translates to “aggression,” a steady azure to “pure lineage,” a sickly green to “predisposition to disease,” a fleck of shimmering gold to “rare potential.”
Extra-sensory (Life-Force Resonance): The user feels a brief, violent connection to the life force of the sample’s donor. They might feel a phantom echo of the creature’s heartbeat, its hunger, its fear, or the slow, patient existence of a plant. It is a momentary, forced empathy with the organism’s fundamental nature.

Observer’s Perspective

To a nearby observer, the activation is a tiny, beautiful, and baffling flash of light that is over before it can be fully processed.

Sight: An observer would see the user carefully touch the probe’s tip to a small sample. They would then see the sample itself flash brightly for a split second with a swirl of vivid colors, like a tiny, contained firework. The flawed crystal on the probe might also flash once, a barely perceptible glint of strange light.
Sound: Unless the environment is perfectly silent, an observer would likely hear nothing. A very attentive listener might perceive a single, sharp tick sound, like a piece of static electricity discharging.
Smell: The sharp, distinct smell of ozone, like the air after a lightning strike, would be noticeable to anyone standing within a few feet of the activation.
Extra-sensory (Aura Perception): A user of magical sight would see a messy and alarmingly crude process. They would witness a frayed thread of raw, wild mana being drawn down the user’s arm and funneled into the flawed crystal. It would then discharge in an uncontrolled, sparking burst into the sample. The sample’s own aura, its life-force, would flare violently and chaotically for a moment in response, as if struck.
Extra-sensory (Sense of Vitality): A mundane observer standing very close might feel a sudden, strange sensation, as if the air itself had come alive for a second. They might feel a phantom warmth, a prickling on the skin, or the ghost of a powerful heartbeat in the air—the momentary, violent release of the sample’s life energy.

Positives

Speed and Discretion: The activation is instantaneous and focused on a microscopic sample. It can be performed quickly and, in a busy environment, go completely unnoticed. It is a perfect tool for covert biological analysis.
Unique Information: The chaotic reading reveals information that cannot be obtained through normal means. It divines potential—recessive traits, hidden lineage, and predispositions—not just the subject’s current state.
Minimal Magical Footprint: The amount of energy used is minuscule. While the discharge is chaotic, it is so small and brief that it leaves almost no lingering magical signature on the environment, making it nearly impossible to trace after the fact.

Negatives

Sample Destruction: The violent surge of wild magic is destructive on a small scale. In most cases, the organic sample is incinerated or rendered inert by the process, making repeated tests or follow-up analyses impossible. The user gets one chance per sample.
High Risk of Misinterpretation: The chromatic reading is not a clear text but a chaotic, subjective pattern of color and light. Its meaning can be highly symbolic. A user who is stressed, biased, or inexperienced can easily misinterpret the results, leading to disastrous decisions in a breeding program or a tactical assessment of a creature’s weaknesses.
Biological Backlash: While rare, a critical failure can cause the chaotic energy to surge back up the probe and into the user. This doesn’t cause an explosion, but a minor biological wild magic effect. The user’s skin might briefly change to the color of the sample’s reading, their fingernails might grow rapidly, or they might temporarily develop one of the creature’s minor traits, such as a craving for raw meat or the urge to build a nest.

Recipe: The Breeder’s Gambit

This recipe details the method for crafting a set of Chromatic Probes. The process is a unique blend of fine metalworking and deliberate magical sabotage. The goal is to create a set of tools that are intentionally flawed, designed to channel the unpredictable nature of wild magic into a focused, diagnostic tool for analyzing the very building blocks of life.

Materials Needed

For the Probes: Three thin rods of pure, untarnished silver.
For the Case: A hand-sized piece of durable, soft leather (such as deer or griffon hide) and a simple clasp or leather tie.
The Flawed Conduits: Three small, low-grade, and visibly flawed crystals. They must be distinct. For example:
- One clear quartz with a significant internal fracture.
- One milky or occluded rose quartz.
- One tiger’s eye or other banded stone with a distorted, chaotic pattern.
The Catalysts:
- A Biological Link: A single drop of blood or sap from a creature or plant with a strong, known lineage (e.g., a champion racing hound, an ancient oak tree).
- A Chaotic Link: A small, inert metal fragment recovered from the site of a significant wild magic surge (a twisted gear, a melted coin, etc.).

Tools Required

Silversmith’s Kit: A small forge or torch, fine hammers, files, and polishing cloths for shaping the silver.
Gemsetter’s Tools: A bezel pusher, clamps, and a small vise for setting the flawed crystals.
Leatherworking Kit: A sharp knife, an awl, and a sturdy needle for crafting the case.
A Magically Insulated Container: A small, lead-lined box or a ceramic vessel inscribed with basic warding runes, designed to contain a minor energy release.

Skill Requirements

Silversmithing or Jewelry Making (Trained): The crafter must be skilled enough to create the delicate, sharp silver probes.
Gemcutting (Untrained): The crafter does not need to cut gems, but must have a basic understanding of how to set them without shattering the already flawed crystals.
Arcana (Untrained): The crafter must understand the basic theory of what causes a wild magic surge—namely, channeling mana through an imperfect conduit—to perform the final, crucial step.

Crafting Steps

Forging the Probes: The crafter begins by heating and carefully shaping the silver rods. One end of each rod is hammered and filed down to a sharp, needle-like point, fine enough to draw a single drop of blood. The other end is prepared to have the crystal set into it. The silver is then polished to a mirror shine.
Crafting the Case: The leather is cut to size and fitted with loops to securely hold the three finished probes. The clasp or tie is attached. This is a simple, practical step of craftsmanship.
Setting the Flaws: This is a delicate, counter-intuitive process. The crafter must set each of the three flawed crystals onto the ends of the probes. Unlike normal gemsetting, the goal is not to create a perfectly secure, stable housing. The setting should be secure enough to hold the crystal, but intentionally imperfect, allowing for a slight “rattle” or gap that will encourage magical energy to leak and surge chaotically.
The Surge Imbuement: This is the final and most dangerous step. The three finished probes are placed inside the insulated container. The drop of biological catalyst (the blood or sap) is placed in the center of the box, and the chaotic metal fragment is placed beside it. The crafter then closes the container and takes a deep breath. They must channel a small, raw, and completely unfocused burst of their own mana directly into the closed box. The intent is not to cast a spell, but simply to overload the flawed system within.

There will be a single, sharp CRACK sound from inside the box, a muffled flash of multicolored light visible through the seams, and the container will become intensely hot for a moment. The chaotic energy, guided by the catalysts, will be forced through the flawed crystal probes, permanently attuning them to their purpose of analyzing biological matter via wild magic.

Cooling and Retrieval: The container must be left sealed and undisturbed for one full hour to cool and allow the chaotic energies to settle. When opened, the catalysts will have been consumed, leaving only a fine dust. The probes will now be cool to the touch and will thrum with a faint, static charge. They are complete and ready for use.

Fenris and Blood That Spoke in Colors

And it was in the time of the great sky-races, when avatars would ride upon griffons and other winged beasts for glory and coin. In that time lived a man named Fenris. He was not a lord, nor a mage of great power. He was a breeder of sky-hunters, and his griffons were known to be the strongest and proudest. But Fenris had a great sorrow in his heart. For his life’s work was a gamble, a game of chance he could not win.

The blood-lines of the beasts were a secret language he did not know. He would take a father of golden feathers and a mother of silver speed, and their child might be a timid thing with a dull coat and a weak heart. He would take two plain beasts, and their child might be a new champion, a surprise of the blood. He did not know why. He would look upon a new egg and his heart was a nest full of hope and broken shells. “The story of what will be is written in the blood,” he would say, “but I cannot read the words.” And so it was.

Fenris was not a good mage. When he tried to use the magic gear, his spells would often fail. They would make an angry spark, a flash of wild, wrong magic. He looked at the tools of the mages, with their perfect, clear stone-hearts. And then he looked at the bucket of junk gems that the gemcutters threw away, the stones with cracks and clouds and twisted colors inside. And a strange thought came to his mind. “A perfect eye sees a perfect road,” he thought. “But the road of the blood is not a perfect road. It is a crooked path with many hidden turns. To see a crooked path, one must look with a crooked eye.”

And so he did a strange thing. He was a master of metal, so he took pure silver. He forged three needles, as long as his finger, as sharp as a griffon’s claw, and as bright as the moon. This was the work of a master. Then he did the work of a fool. He went to the junk-gem pile. He took three broken stone-hearts. One had a great crack in it, like a frozen lightning bolt. One was cloudy and white like a blind eye. One had its colors twisted all wrong. He put these three broken stones on the ends of his three perfect needles.

His friends, the other breeders, they saw his work and they laughed. “Fenris!” they shouted. “You have made a king’s body with a fool’s head! What good is a broken tool?” Fenris did not answer. He held his three probes, his blood-readers, and he went to his pens.

He took his greatest champion, a mighty griffon of pure gold feather. He took a single, tiny drop of its blood. His hand did shake. He touched the drop of blood with the tip of a silver probe. He closed his eyes and pushed a small, angry spark of his own clumsy magic through the cloudy, broken stone-heart.

The blood did not burn. It did not pop. No. For a moment, it shone with a light of its own. It shone with a pure, steady, and brilliant gold light. Then the light was gone. Fenris’s heart was a fast drum. He went to the pen of a sickly, weak griffon. He took a drop of its blood. He did the test. The blood shone with a dull, muddy brown light, and in its center was a spot of ugly green. And he understood. The blood did not lie. It spoke in colors.

Then came the great test. An egg was laid by two of his best griffons. But the last three eggs from these parents had been disappointments. Fenris feared this one would be the same. He did a dangerous thing. He used one of his probes to take a tiny, tiny drop of fluid from the eggshell itself. He tested it. The drop flashed with the gold of the father and the silver of the mother. But deep inside the light, for just a moment, he saw a new color. It was a speck of color like the dark sky just after the sun is gone, a deep and vibrant blue. He had never seen this color in the blood before. His friends told him to throw the egg away. “It is flawed,” they said. “It is another failure.” But Fenris had seen the color. He took the gamble. He kept the egg.

The egg hatched. The griffon was small and plain. For years, his friends laughed at him for his prized “failure.” But Fenris was patient. When the griffon grew to its full size, a great change came. Its feathers were not gold, nor silver, nor brown. They were the color of the deep, midnight sky. And when it flew, it was not just fast. It was a piece of the night itself, a streak of silent, impossible speed. It won every race. It became the greatest champion of all.

Fenris, with his broken tool, had not read what the griffon was. He had read what it could be.

Moral of the Story: A perfect tool can only show you the truth that is already there. But a flawed tool can sometimes show you the truth of what is possible. Do not fear the crack in the stone, for that is often where the most beautiful light shines through.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu

The Chromatic Blood-Reader

A small, worn leather case containing three polished silver probes. Each is capped with a flawed, milky, or fractured crystal. This kit was developed by a Miskatonic University biologist who delved too deeply into the lineage of Innsmouth’s inhabitants. The device uses a contained burst of chaotic energy to analyze a blood sample, revealing hereditary traits and, often, terrifying truths about a subject’s ancestry that were meant to remain hidden. Using it is to risk discovering that the “flaw” in a bloodline is something altogether inhuman.

Game Mechanics:

Type: Artifact
Analyze Lineage: An Investigator may spend 10 minutes to analyze a fresh sample of blood. This requires a successful POW x5 roll and costs 1 Magic Point.
- Success: The blood sample flashes with a swirl of symbolic colors. The Investigator may then make a Medicine or Science (Biology) roll. If that roll is successful, they learn one cryptic but significant fact about the subject’s genetic makeup or lineage (e.g., “unnatural longevity,” “not of terrestrial origin,” “predisposed to psychic phenomena,” “tainted by the sea”). Witnessing this fundamental truth of the flesh costs 0/1D2 Sanity points.
- Failure: The colors are a meaningless, chaotic swirl, providing no insight.
- Fumble: The probe reveals a direct, horrifying truth of the subject’s connection to a Mythos entity (e.g., a flash vision of a Shoggoth ancestor, the subject’s family tree twisting into the sigil of Hastur). This revelation costs 1/1D6 Sanity points and grants the Investigator +1D4% to their Cthulhu Mythos skill.

Blades in the Dark

The Breeder’s Needles

A discreet leather roll-case holding three silver needles, each topped with a flawed gemstone that glitters with an inner chaos. These are prized tools among the breeders of rare Whisper-Hounds and leviathan-blood workhorses, and also by physickers who treat the strange maladies of the noble families. The needles excite the spirit within a drop of blood, causing it to reveal its secrets—its strengths, its weaknesses, and its ghosts.

Game Mechanics:

Load: 1
Item Type: Alchemical Apparatus, Ritual Tool
Passive: When you Study a person or creature up close, the GM will tell you if they have a notable physical quality (unusually strong, sickly, or possessing a strange heritage). This can provide context for your actions.
Active (Action): Read the Blood. During a score, if you can acquire a fresh sample of blood, you can use an action to analyze it. Roll Wreck (if you are a Leech) or Attune (if you are a Whisper). On a 6, you learn a key physical strength or weakness of the target (e.g., “aversion to loud noises,” “a weak heart,” “unnatural strength in their left arm”). On a 4/5, you learn a minor detail, or the information is cryptic. This knowledge can be used to create an advantage for a future action against them.
Ritual (Downtime Activity): Influence the Lineage. When working on a long-term project to breed an animal or cultivate a rare plant, you can use the needles. At a crucial stage, you “jolt” the subject with chaotic energy. The result is a gamble. Roll your Attune rating in dice. If you get a 6, the offspring develops a desirable new quality. On a 1-3, it develops a troublesome flaw.

Dungeons & Dragons

Probes of Latent Potential Wondrous item, uncommon

This item is a small leather case containing three slender silver probes. Each is capped with a uniquely flawed crystal that hums with untamed magical energy. When touched to an organic sample, the probes send a minor surge of wild magic into it, revealing the secrets of its biological makeup.

Game Mechanics:

Passive: You have advantage on Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks made when attempting to breed or train a beast, and on Wisdom (Medicine) checks made to diagnose hereditary or genetic diseases.
Chromatic Reading: The kit has 3 charges. As an action, you can expend 1 charge by touching a probe to a willing or incapacitated creature, or to a sample of its blood or tissue taken within the last minute. You learn one of the following pieces of information about the creature:
- Its primary damage vulnerability, if any.
- Its primary damage resistance, if any.
- A hint about its ancestry (e.g., “has fiendish blood,” “descended from giants”). The kit regains all expended charges daily at dawn.
Jolt of Potential: Once per week, you can spend 10 minutes using the probes on a single beast or plant egg or seed. When that creature is born or the plant sprouts, the GM secretly rolls a d100. On a 01-50, it develops a minor flaw (e.g., -1 to an ability score, vulnerability to a damage type). On a 51-00, it develops a minor benefit (e.g., +1 to an ability score, resistance to a damage type).

Knave

Silver Blood-Probes

A small leather case containing three sharp, silver probes, each topped with a cracked or cloudy gem. It takes up 1 inventory slot. The probes are used to test a creature’s blood or an egg’s yolk to see what potential lies hidden within.

Game Mechanics:

Passive: When you are fighting a creature and it becomes bloodied (takes any amount of damage), the GM will give you a one-word clue about its general nature (e.g., “fierce,” “cowardly,” “unnatural,” “tough”).
Active:
- Analyze Sample: You may spend your turn to perform a test on a fresh organic sample (blood, fur, a scale). You must make a successful Wisdom saving throw. On a success, the GM tells you one specific physical weakness of the creature the sample came from (e.g., “hollow bones,” “vulnerable to cold,” “blind in one eye”). On a failure, the probes give a false reading, and the GM can give you misleading information.
- Gamble on the Egg: Once per adventure, you can use the probes on an unhatched egg. The GM secretly rolls a d6. On a 1-3, the creature that hatches will be flawed (fewer hit dice, a penalty to an attribute). On a 4-6, it will be superior (more hit dice, a bonus to an attribute, or a special ability).

Fate

The Blood Tells the Story

In Fate, this kit is an Extra, representing the character’s unique and chaotic method for understanding the very essence of living things. It is a powerful tool for creating and discovering Aspects related to a character’s or creature’s physical nature and heritage.

Aspect: The Blood Tells the Story Permissions: This item allows the character to use skills like Investigate or Lore on biological samples (blood, fur, sap) to learn about a creature’s history, weaknesses, or potential. It grants narrative permission to interact with the concepts of genetics and lineage through wild magic.

Stunts:

Read the Lineage: When you Create an Advantage by using the probes to analyze a biological sample from a creature, you get a +2 bonus to your Investigate roll. If you succeed, you create a situational Aspect related to its heritage or a hidden physical trait. Examples: Fire-Drake Ancestry, Brittle Bones, Latent Chameleon Gene, or Purebred Champion Bloodline.
A Nudge of Fate: Once per session, you can use the probes on an egg or seed over the course of a scene. You can spend a Fate Point to declare that one specific, minor, non-magical trait will manifest in the offspring (e.g., a specific eye color, a slightly tougher hide, a sweeter fruit). This provides a small but guaranteed influence over the chaotic gamble of genetics.

Numenera & Cypher System

The Latency Probe Kit

This artifact is a small leather case containing three silvery probes. Each is capped with a different, visibly flawed crystal that glows with a chaotic internal light when near organic matter. The kit is a piece of ancient biotechnology, a handheld gene-sequencer that functions not with precision, but by “exciting” a biological sample with a chaotic energy surge and interpreting the response.

Level: 4 Form: A small kit of three handheld probes. Effect: The user can analyze a small organic sample by touching it with a probe. * Function 1 (Genetic Analysis): As an action, the user can analyze a sample. This is an Intellect-based task. On a success, the user gets a brief, chaotic flash of insight into the target’s genetic makeup, learning one useful piece of information, such as a physical vulnerability (e.g., an aversion to a specific sound frequency, a weakness to cold), a dormant ability, or its relationship to another species. * Function 2 (Activate Potential): Once per day, the user can inject a surge of chaotic energy into a willing or unconscious living creature. The creature must make a Might defense roll against the artifact’s level (4). If it fails, one of its latent or ancestral genetic traits is activated for one hour. The GM chooses the trait, which could be beneficial (e.g., the creature temporarily grows claws that function as a medium weapon, develops gills for breathing underwater) or detrimental (e.g., a sudden, debilitating allergy to sunlight, a painful molting process). Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check each time a function is used).

Pathfinder

Fenris’s Tools Item 3 Traits: Uncommon, Alchemical, Divination, Magical Price: 50 gp Usage: Held in 2 hands (to use the kit); Bulk: L

Named after the legendary griffon breeder who invented them, these three silver probes are each capped with a flawed crystal. The kit is used by monster hunters and breeders to analyze a creature’s bloodline and predict its potential.

Activate [one-minute] (Divination, Interact, Manipulate); Frequency three times per day; Effect: You take a biological sample from a willing, unconscious, or dead creature (or a piece of a plant) that has been gone for no more than an hour. You analyze it with the probes and attempt a Crafting (if related to alchemy or breeding), Nature (for beasts and plants), or Medicine check against a DC set by the GM (often the standard DC for the creature’s level).

Critical Success: You learn two of the following about the creature: one of its lowest saving throws, one of its resistances, or one of its weaknesses.
Success: You learn one of the pieces of information listed above.
Failure: The reading is a meaningless swirl of colors.
Critical Failure: The reading is dangerously misleading, identifying a resistance as a weakness, or vice versa.

Activate [ten-minutes] (Interact, Manipulate, Transmutation); Frequency once per week; Effect: You use the probes on an egg or seed. When it hatches or sprouts, it gains a minor, random ability adapted from one of its parents (e.g., if a parent had a climb Speed, the offspring might gain a +5 item bonus to Athletics checks to Climb). The GM determines the specific adaptation.

Savage Worlds

The Breeder’s Kit

A worn leather case containing three silver probes, each capped with a cracked gem that sparks with faint, multicolored light when used. It is an indispensable, if unreliable, tool for anyone in the business of raising, training, or hunting strange beasts.

Requirements: Novice, Smarts d6+, Science d6+ or Animal Handling d6+ Passive Bonus: The wielder gains a +1 bonus to Science or Survival rolls made to identify or understand the nature of a plant or animal.

Special Abilities:

Analyze Bloodline: With a fresh sample of blood or tissue and a successful Science roll, the wielder can learn one significant piece of information about the source creature. This could be one of its official Weaknesses (from its stat block), a clue to its behavior (e.g., “territorial,” “attracted to shiny objects”), or a hint about its heritage.
Genetic Gamble: Once per session, the wielder can spend a Bennie to use the probes to “jolt” an unhatched egg or un-sprouted seed with chaotic potential. The GM then secretly draws a card from the Action Deck.
- Joker: The resulting creature/plant is special and a Wild Card, even if it normally wouldn’t be.
- Face Card or Ace: The creature/plant hatches/sprouts with a beneficial, hereditary Edge (e.g., Alertness, Fleet-Footed).
- Number Card: The creature/plant is a normal specimen of its kind.

Shadowrun

Fenris-model Gene-Scrambler

In the corporate-controlled Sixth World, genetics are just another commodity. The Fenris-model Gene-Scrambler is a piece of boutique arcane biotech, a tool for “freelance geneticists” and corporate spies who need to analyze a target’s proprietary DNA without leaving a digital trace. It uses a contained wild magic surge, channeled through flawed synth-crystals, to get a chaotic but insightful reading of a sample’s genetic potential and weaknesses.

Game Mechanics:

Type: Biomonitor / Arcane Implement
Availability: 9R
Cost: 22,000 Nuyen
Passive: The kit provides a +2 dice pool bonus to Biotechnology or Medicine Tests made to identify a species, diagnose a genetic disease, or determine a subject’s metatype from a tissue sample.
Active (Complex Action): Chromatic Analysis. The user connects the probes to a fresh genetic sample (blood, tissue, hair). This requires a Biotechnology + Logic [Mental] (3) Test for mundane analysis, or an Arcana + Magic [Mental] (3) Test to analyze its magical potential. Each net hit provides one piece of key genetic information: a special quality (e.g., Natural Armor, Regeneration, a Critter Power), a vulnerability (e.g., Allergy, a specific damage type), or a latent magical propensity (e.g., potential to be Awakened).
Active (Complex Action): Jolt Potential. The user can use the probes on an unfertilized egg, a seed, or a cellular culture. They make an Arcana + Magic [Mental] (4) Test. On a success, one random, dormant genetic trait is “awakened,” which could be beneficial or detrimental (GM’s discretion). A glitch on this test always results in a harmful or monstrous mutation, and a critical glitch may attract a hostile paracritter spirit to the sample.

Starfinder

The Latent Trait Analyzer Level 4 Price 2,100 credits Bulk L Category Hybrid Item

This kit contains three delicate silver probes and a small handheld scanner. It uses a chaotic energy surge to create a probability waveform of a creature’s genetic potential, collapsing it into a single, observable data point. Xenobiologists use it to get a quick, if sometimes unpredictable, insight into the capabilities of newly discovered alien lifeforms.

Game Mechanics:

Passive: The user gains a +4 insight bonus to Life Science checks to identify a creature’s species or its special abilities based on its physical appearance.
Genetic Scan (Active): The kit has 3 charges, which refresh each day. As a standard action, you can expend 1 charge to touch a probe to a willing, helpless, or recently deceased (within 1 minute) creature. You instantly learn one of the creature’s subtypes (such as magical beast, humanoid, or ooze), and one of its significant traits from the following list: Senses (e.g., darkvision, blindsense), a major special ability (e.g., breath weapon, regeneration), a vulnerability, or a resistance.
Mutagenic Jolt (Active): Once per day, you can use the probes to make a melee attack against a living creature’s EAC. If you hit, the creature must succeed at a DC 13 Fortitude save or one of its genetic traits is temporarily scrambled for 1 minute. The GM determines the specific effect; it might temporarily lose a resistance, its natural attacks might deal a different damage type, its movement speed could be halved, or another similar biological quirk manifests.

Traveller

Zhodani Bio-Harrow (Artifact) TL 15

This device is not Imperial technology. It is a set of three perfectly smooth, silver-like probes in a small case, believed to originate from the Zhodani Consulate. The probes are not electronic but function via psionic resonance, using a chaotic telepathic burst to forcibly read and interpret a subject’s genetic code and psionic potential. It is an incredibly powerful and dangerous tool of biological espionage.

Game Mechanics:

Nature: The Harrow is a piece of advanced, alien psionic technology. It cannot be purchased on the open market.
Function 1 (Genetic Analysis): Using the probes requires a fresh biological sample (blood, skin, etc.) and a Difficult (10+) Science (genetics) or Psionics check.
- Success: The user receives a detailed telepathic flash of the target’s full genetic makeup, including hereditary traits, congenital weaknesses, and any latent psionic potential. The Effect of the roll determines the amount of fine detail learned.
- Failure: The user is hit with painful psychic feedback, taking 1d6 damage and being unable to use the device again for 24 hours.
Function 2 (Genetic Imprinting): A psion with the Telepathy talent can use the Harrow to attempt to imprint a minor genetic command into a simple organism, an unfertilized egg, or a cellular culture. This is a Formidable (12+) Psionics check that takes one hour. Success means they can influence one minor physical trait of the resulting organism (e.g., eye color, temperament, pattern of fur). Failure results in a catastrophic and unpredictable mutation, potentially creating a new and hostile lifeform.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

The Probes of Unnatural Selection

A small, sinister-looking kit containing three tarnished silver probes, each capped with a cracked, discolored gemstone that seems to writhe with an internal, chaotic light. These are heretical tools, despised by priests of Verena and Shallya, as they use the raw energy of Chaos to divine the secrets of the flesh and meddle with the natural order of things. They are sometimes used by radical Imperial Engineers, breeders of war-beasts, or the ruinous cults of Tzeentch.

Game Mechanics:

Qualities: Magical, Unstable, Corrupting, Precise
Active (Read the Blood): The user can take a fresh blood sample from a creature and make a Challenging (+0) Heal Test or, if they are willing to risk their soul, a Hard (-20) Lore (Chaos) Test.
- Success: The user learns one of the creature’s Traits (e.g., Weapon+X, Armour+X, Fear, Undead, Regenerate). However, peering into the raw stuff of life through the lens of Chaos is a corrupting act; the user gains 1 Corruption point.
- Failure: The reading is a lie, providing plausible but dangerously false information about the creature’s capabilities.
Active (Jolt the Egg): By using the probes on an unhatched egg for one hour and passing a Difficult (-10) Heal Test, the user can attempt to influence the creature within. Roll 1d10. On a 1, the creature perishes. On a 2-5, it hatches with a random, debilitating physical mutation. On a 6-9, it hatches with a random beneficial Creature Trait (e.g., Fast, Tough). On a 10, it hatches as a superior specimen with a permanent +10 bonus to one Characteristic of the user’s choice. Each use of this ability gives the user 1 Corruption point.