Empowered Gloves

From: Nimble Evasion Rune

Lore: The lore of the Rune-Empowered Gloves tells the tale of an ancient order of climbers and acrobats who sought to conquer treacherous landscapes and scale seemingly impossible heights. Through their arduous journeys, they discovered the Rune of Nimble Evasion, a symbol of agility and grace. They began to stitch this rune onto the palms of their gloves, believing it would grant them enhanced grip, dexterity, and agility. These gloves became a symbol of their order, allowing them to perform incredible feats of climbing, navigate precarious obstacles, and execute intricate maneuvers with ease.

Use: The Rune-Empowered Gloves are designed to augment the wearer’s grip, dexterity, and agility, enabling them to excel in climbing, intricate maneuvers, and physical tasks that require precise hand movements. When the wearer clenches their fists, the rune activates, infusing them with heightened abilities. These gloves provide a firm hold on surfaces, enhance the wearer’s hand-eye coordination, and improve their overall agility, allowing them to perform impressive feats with confidence.

Tier One Stats:

• Bonus to Climbing: +2 (providing a +2 bonus to climbing rolls)
• Bonus to Dexterity: +1 (providing a +1 bonus to dexterity-based skill rolls)

Skills gained: The Rune-Empowered Gloves enhance the following skills for the wearer:

• Climbing: The gloves significantly improve the wearer’s climbing ability, making them more adept at scaling vertical surfaces and navigating difficult terrain.
• Sleight of Hand: The enhanced dexterity provided by the gloves enhances the wearer’s ability to perform delicate tasks, such as pickpocketing, lockpicking, or manipulating small objects.

Preparation: Creating Rune-Empowered Gloves requires a skilled artisan who can carefully stitch the Rune of Nimble Evasion onto the palms of a pair of gloves. The gloves themselves are typically made from supple leather or a lightweight, flexible material that allows for ease of movement. The process involves precise needlework infused with a touch of rune magic, ensuring that the gloves properly channel the power of the rune and activate when the wearer clenches their fists.

Cost: Rune-Empowered Gloves, due to their practicality and the demand from adventurers, climbers, and agile individuals, have a moderate cost. At level one, a pair of these gloves may be priced at around 100 gold pieces. The cost includes the skilled craftsmanship required to create the gloves and the rarity of the Rune of Nimble Evasion.

Process Tags: Rune stitching, Climbing, Agility and dexterity, Precise hand movements, Grip enhancement, Acrobatic maneuvers, Infused leather, Ancient order, Heightened senses, Supple Leather, Needlework, Rune Magic, Hand-Eye Coordination, Delicate Tasks, Vertical Surfaces, Covert Operations, Flexibility, Physical Prowess, Gloves

The Rune-Empowered Gloves find their greatest use in situations that require precise hand movements, climbing, and agility. These gloves are particularly advantageous for characters who need to scale heights, traverse narrow ledges, or perform intricate maneuvers. Adventurers who possess Rune-Empowered Gloves gain a significant advantage in climbing challenges, navigating treacherous terrain, or executing delicate tasks. The gloves are a symbol of the wearer’s dedication to agility and their ability to conquer obstacles with grace and precision.

The recipe for Rune-Empowered Gloves can be found and purchased in various locations that cater to adventurers, climbers, and agile individuals. Here are some details on where and how this recipe is sold, as well as how the end results are used:

• Adventurer’s Emporium: Well-established adventurer’s emporiums are ideal places to find the recipe for Rune-Empowered Gloves. These specialized shops cater to adventurers, climbers, and those seeking equipment that enhances their physical capabilities. Knowledgeable merchants or craftsmen within these establishments may sell the recipe or offer to create the gloves for a price.
• Climbing Outfitters: In mountainous regions or near famous climbing spots, climbing outfitters may possess the recipe for Rune-Empowered Gloves. These outfitters not only sell climbing equipment but also cater to the needs of adventurers who require specialized gear for scaling heights. The recipe may be sold alongside other climbing essentials or as a premium item for those seeking an extra edge in their climbing endeavors.
• Guild of Acrobats: Within bustling cities, a Guild of Acrobats could be a hub for agile performers and individuals seeking to enhance their physical abilities. These guilds not only train acrobats but also serve as marketplaces for specialized equipment. The recipe for Rune-Empowered Gloves may be obtainable through membership, favor, or by impressing the guild’s masters with one’s acrobatic skills.
• Remote Monasteries: Hidden within secluded mountain ranges or dense forests, ancient monasteries inhabited by ascetic monks could hold the secret to creating Rune-Empowered Gloves. These wise and reclusive monks have honed their bodies and mastered the art of agility. Those who seek the recipe may need to prove their worth through physical trials or undertake quests that align with the monastery’s teachings.

In terms of the environment and usage of Rune-Empowered Gloves:

• Cliffside Escapades: Adventurers who acquire Rune-Empowered Gloves often utilize them during cliffside escapades. These gloves grant climbers enhanced grip and agility, allowing them to ascend vertical surfaces, navigate precarious ledges, and tackle challenging rock formations with confidence. Whether scaling treacherous cliffs, exploring hidden caves, or conquering towering waterfalls, these gloves provide a significant advantage.
• Exploration of Ancient Ruins: Rune-Empowered Gloves are valuable assets for individuals exploring ancient ruins or forgotten temples. The gloves enhance the wearer’s ability to traverse crumbling walls, grip narrow ledges, and perform daring leaps between platforms. Adventurers can use these gloves to navigate traps, access hidden chambers, and retrieve valuable artifacts from perilous locations.
• Acrobatic Performances: Agile individuals, such as acrobats and performers, utilize Rune-Empowered Gloves during captivating displays of grace and skill. The gloves enable them to execute intricate maneuvers, enhance their dexterity, and showcase awe-inspiring climbing abilities. Whether it’s performing acrobatic routines on stage or captivating audiences with daring stunts, these gloves elevate the performer’s abilities and add an extra element of excitement to their acts.
• Thieves and Spies: Rune-Empowered Gloves are also valued by thieves, spies, and infiltrators who rely on agility and dexterity in their clandestine activities. The gloves aid in scaling walls, traversing rooftops, and maneuvering through complex security systems. They enhance the wearer’s grip during delicate thefts or allow them to navigate intricate traps with finesse, ensuring successful covert operations.

Acquiring the recipe for Rune-Empowered Gloves may involve visiting adventurer’s emporiums, climbing outfitters, guilds of acrobats, or seeking the wisdom of reclusive monks in remote monasteries. The gloves are used primarily during cliffside escapades, exploration of ancient ruins, acrobatic performances, and covert operations. Possessing these gloves enhances the wearer’s grip, agility, and dexterity, allowing them to overcome physical challenges, perform impressive feats, and excel in environments that demand exceptional climbing and acrobatic skills.

A Chronicle of the Sky-Clasper’s Grip

The tattered scrolls, their ink faded and their edges crumbling like ancient cliffs, speak of an era when the world was younger, and the mountains reached for the heavens with an ambition that has since been eroded by time. These scrolls, deciphered with painstaking effort from a language predating even the oldest Elven dialects, tell of the Kael’thir, a people we now, through the distortions of countless retellings, know as the Sky-Claspers.

The Kael’thir were not warriors, nor mages, nor merchants, in the common understanding. They were climbers, ascetics who sought communion with the divine through the act of ascending. Their temples were not built of stone and mortar, but were the sheer cliffs, the towering peaks, the impossible overhangs that defied gravity itself. They believed that the closer one got to the sky, the thinner the veil between the mortal realm and the realm of the gods.

Their leader, a woman named Aethel, was renowned for her skill and daring. She could scale sheer walls of ice with bare hands, cling to the slightest crevice in a storm, and leap across chasms that would make a seasoned warrior blanch. Yet, even Aethel, blessed with the agility of a mountain cat and the grip of a falcon’s talons, found herself humbled by the Spires of Silence, a series of impossibly smooth, obsidian peaks that pierced the clouds like the teeth of some ancient god.

For years, Aethel attempted to conquer the Spires. She tried every technique, every tool, every trick known to her people. But the obsidian was too smooth, too unforgiving. The slightest misstep meant a fall into the swirling mists below, a fall from which no one had ever returned.

Despairing, Aethel retreated to a hidden cave, high on the slopes of a lesser peak. There, she fasted and meditated, seeking guidance from the spirits of the wind and the stone. On the seventh day, as her strength was failing, she had a vision.

She saw a pair of gloves, crafted not of coarse hide or woven fiber, but of the supple skin of the cloud-leopard, a creature as elusive and agile as the wind itself. Upon the palms of these gloves, she saw a rune, not etched with crude tools, but stitched with the luminous silk of the sky-spider, a creature said to spin webs that could catch the very starlight.

The vision showed her the ritual, a complex series of movements that mimicked the climbing of a spider, the grip of a gecko, the balance of a mountain goat. Each stitch, each knot, each pass of the needle was to be imbued with a prayer, a whisper of intent, a plea for the gifts of agility and unwavering grip.

Aethel emerged from the cave, her body weak but her spirit renewed. She sought out the cloud-leopard, not to hunt it, but to learn from it. She observed its movements, its grace, its uncanny ability to cling to seemingly impossible surfaces. Finally, after many weeks, she found a discarded pelt, shed naturally by the creature, a testament to the cycle of life and renewal.

Then, she sought out the sky-spider. This was an even more perilous undertaking, for the spiders dwelt in caves filled with treacherous traps and venomous guardians. But Aethel, guided by her vision and driven by her unwavering determination, persevered. She collected the luminous silk, careful not to harm the spiders, understanding that true strength lies not in domination, but in respect.

With the materials gathered, Aethel began to craft the gloves. She followed the instructions of her vision meticulously, her fingers moving with a precision and grace that belied her weakened state. Each stitch was a prayer, each knot a testament to her dedication.

When the gloves were finished, they seemed to hum with a faint, inner light. The rune on the palms pulsed with a soft, blue glow, a reflection of the sky itself. As Aethel slipped them on, she felt a surge of energy, a tingling in her fingertips, a sense of connection to the very rock she stood upon.

She returned to the Spires of Silence. This time, as she began to climb, she felt a difference. The obsidian, once so smooth and unforgiving, now seemed to offer tiny imperfections, invisible to the naked eye, but perceptible to the touch of the rune-empowered gloves. Her fingers found purchase where before there had been none. Her movements were fluid, effortless, almost instinctive.

She climbed for days, pausing only to rest and to draw strength from the gloves, which seemed to pulse in rhythm with her own heartbeat. Finally, she reached the summit, the first of her people to do so. She stood above the clouds, bathed in the golden light of the setting sun, feeling a sense of connection to the sky, to the earth, to the very essence of existence.

The Kael’thir, inspired by Aethel’s achievement, adopted the rune-empowered gloves as a sacred tool, a symbol of their dedication to the path of ascent. They continued to climb, to explore, to seek communion with the divine, their hands guided by the wisdom of the past, their spirits soaring towards the infinite possibilities of the future.

The original language is all but gone now. Most cannot even begin to pronounce the ancient words.

Moral of the Story: True mastery is not achieved through brute force or innate talent alone, but through dedication, perseverance, and a willingness to learn from the world around us. Even the most insurmountable obstacles can be overcome with the right tools, the right knowledge, and the unwavering belief in one’s own potential. The connection between the physical and the spiritual is profound, and true strength lies in the harmony of both.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

Rune-Empowered Gloves

• (Artifact)
• Lore: Relics of a pre-human civilization that worshipped a forgotten entity associated with heights and the wind. The runes are subtly disturbing, hinting at geometries that defy human understanding.
• SAN Cost: 1/1D4 Sanity points upon first wearing the gloves. This represents a brief, unsettling glimpse into the alien perspective of the beings that created them.
• Mechanics:
  • Grants a +20% bonus to the wearer’s Climb skill.
  • Grants a +10% bonus to the wearer’s Dexterity when attempting delicate manual tasks (e.g., picking locks, disarming traps, performing sleight of hand).
  • Curse (Optional): Each time the gloves are used to perform a task requiring extreme precision (Keeper’s discretion), the wearer risks attracting the attention of the entity associated with the gloves. The Keeper may require a secret Luck roll. On a failure, the wearer experiences a disturbing vision, suffers a temporary phobia of heights, or encounters a minor, unsettling coincidence related to their actions.
• Build Points: 5 build points to create a custom magic item.

Blades in the Dark

Rune-Empowered Gloves

• (Fine Climbing Gear)
• Description: Thin, dark gloves with intricately stitched, glowing runes on the palms. They feel strangely adhesive to the touch.
• Effect: When you roll Climb or Finesse, you may choose to push yourself to activate the gloves:
  • Take 1 stress.
  • Gain +1d to your roll.
  • Ignore penalties for slick or precarious surfaces when climbing.
  • On a 1-3 result on any of the dice, suffer a complication related to the gloves sticking too well, or a momentary disorientation caused by the runes’ shifting patterns.
• Quality: Fine (+1d to engagement rolls when used for scaling walls or infiltrating buildings)
• When used gain one tick on your downtime.
• Requires 1 load.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Rune-Empowered Gloves

• (Wondrous Item, Uncommon, Requires Attunement)
• Description: These supple leather gloves are embroidered with glowing, blue runes that pulse faintly when the wearer clenches their fists.
• Properties:
  • While attuned to these gloves, you gain a +2 bonus to Strength (Athletics) checks made to climb.
  • While attuned to these gloves, you gain a +1 bonus to Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks.
  • You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws made to avoid falling.
  • As an action, you can speak a command word to activate the gloves’ Spider Climb ability. For 10 minutes, you can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check. This property can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Knave

Rune-Empowered Gloves

• Description: Dark, flexible gloves with luminous runes stitched onto the palms. They feel strangely warm and slightly sticky.
• Effect:
  • Advantage on any Strength-based saves or tests related to climbing or maintaining grip.
  • +2 to Dexterity when attempting sleight of hand or other fine manipulation.
  • Occupies one item slot.
  • If the wearer has to hold on for more than 10 minutes, roll a constitution test. On a failed test the user takes 1d4 damage from the strain.
  • Unnatural Grip (Optional Rule): If the wearer rolls a natural 1 on a Strength-based save or test while using the gloves to climb, the gloves adhere too well, becoming stuck to the surface. The wearer must succeed on a Dexterity save to detach the gloves without damaging them (and potentially falling).
• When worn by anyone over tier 1, for each tier above 1 the avatar suffers 1d4 of damage. (See general rules.)
• The Avatar may use this item up to their tear level. If they use this ability above that level, then damage from overload (above) may be applied.

Fate (Core)

Rune-Empowered Gloves

• Aspect: Grip of the Sky-Clasper
• Permissions: Allows the use of the Athletics skill for tasks normally requiring Craft or Lore, as long as the task involves delicate manipulation with the hands (e.g., picking a lock, disarming a trap, performing surgery).
• Skills Affected: +2 to Athletics when used to Create an Advantage related to climbing, gripping, or maintaining hold.
• Stunt: Unshakable Grip: Once per scene, when you succeed with style on an Athletics roll to climb or maintain your grip, you may immediately create a Boost aspect representing your superior hold or advantageous position.
• Stunt: Once per game session, the user can choose to use a Fate point (without spending it) on a successful test of Athletics.
• Cost: 1 Refresh (to represent the inherent magical enhancement)

Numenera & Cypher System

Rune-Empowered Gloves

• (Artifact, Level 2)
• Form: Thin, dark gloves with glowing, blue runes on the palms.
• Level: 2 (Affects the difficulty of tasks related to understanding or modifying the artifact)
• Effect:
  • Eases the difficulty of any Speed-based tasks involving climbing or gripping by one step.
  • Eases the difficulty of any Intellect-based tasks involving fine manipulation (e.g., picking locks, disarming traps) by one step.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d6 each time either of the difficulty easing effects is used. On depletion, the runes dim, and the artifact ceases to function until repaired (a task with a difficulty of 2).
• Cypher Option (If used as a Cypher): One-time use. For the next hour, the user gains an asset on all Speed-based tasks related to climbing and gripping, and an asset on all Intellect-based tasks related to fine manipulation. After the hour, the gloves crumble to dust.

Pathfinder (Second Edition)

Rune-Empowered Gloves

• (Item 2)
• Usage worn gloves; Bulk L
• Traits: Invested, Magical, Transmutation
• Description: Supple leather gloves with glowing runes stitched onto the palms.
• Activate envision (free action); Frequency once per round; Effect The runes flare, granting you a +1 circumstance bonus to Athletics checks to Climb and to your Reflex DC against attempts to Disarm you until the start of your next turn.
• You also gain a +1 item bonus to Sleight of Hand checks.
• Craft Requirements Supply a casting of spider climb or a similar spell enhancing climbing ability.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)

Rune-Empowered Gloves

• (Minor Relic)
• Description: Dark leather gloves with intricate, glowing runes stitched onto the palms.
• Powers:
  • +2 to Athletics rolls made to climb.
  • +2 to Agility rolls made to perform tasks requiring fine manipulation (e.g., picking locks, disarming traps, picking pockets).
  • Sure Grip: The wearer gains a +4 bonus to resist being disarmed.
  • Climbing Claws (Optional): As a free action, the wearer can extend tiny, retractable claws from the fingertips of the gloves. These claws grant an additional +2 to Climbing rolls (for a total of +4), but prevent the use of the gloves for fine manipulation while extended. The claws retract as a free action.
• Drawback (Optional): The wearer becomes slightly reliant on the gloves for their grip. If the gloves are ever lost, broken, or taken away, they suffer a -1 penalty to Athletics (climbing) and Agility (fine manipulation) rolls until they spend a full round re-acclimating to their natural grip.
• Requires the arcane background edge.

Shadowrun (6th Edition World)

Rune-Empowered Gloves

• (Focus, Force 2)
• Description: These gloves appear to be made of dark, flexible leather, but are subtly reinforced with magically-treated fibers. Intricate runes, glowing faintly blue, are stitched onto the palms.
• Type: Skill Focus (Climbing)
• Availability: 6F (Forbidden – requires a license to own legally)
• Cost: 4,000¥ (2 x 2,000¥)
• Effect:
  • Provides a +2 dice pool modifier to all Climbing skill tests.
  • Provides a +1 dice pool modifier to Palming and other slight-of-hand skills.
  • Grip Enhancement: The gloves provide a minor adhesive quality. The wearer gains a +1 dice pool modifier to any test to maintain their grip, resist being disarmed, or hold onto something.
• Requires Karma to activate (bond) the item.
• The character may not bond with another item that has the same effect.

Starfinder (Core Rulebook)

Rune-Empowered Gloves

• (Hybrid Item, Level 2)
• Price: 1,000 credits
• Bulk: L
• Description: These gloves are made of a flexible, synthetic material that mimics the texture of leather. Microscopic, rune-shaped circuits are embedded in the palms, glowing faintly when activated.
• Effects:
  • +1 equipment bonus to Athletics checks made to climb.
  • +1 equipment bonus to Sleight of Hand checks.
  • As a move action, the wearer can activate the gloves’ gripping system. For 1 minute, they gain a +4 circumstance bonus to their KAC against disarm combat maneuvers and gain a +2 circumstance bonus to any check made to hold onto something or maintain their grip. This ability can be used once per day.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Rune-Empowered Gloves

• (TL-6 Artifact)
• Description: Gloves made from a flexible, unknown material that feels like soft leather. Intricate, glowing patterns are embedded in the palms.
• Cost: Cr6,000 (rare and likely only found on the black market or from specialized dealers)
• Weight: Negligible
• Effects:
  • +2 DM to all DEX-based skill checks involving climbing (Athletics).
  • +1 DM to all DEX-based skill checks involving manual dexterity or fine manipulation (e.g., Sleight of Hand, possibly Engineering or Medic if delicate work is involved).
  • Adhesive Grip (Optional): The gloves can be activated (a minor action) to provide a strong adhesive grip. This grants a +2 DM to any attempt to hold onto something, resist being disarmed, or climb a smooth surface. The effect lasts for 1D6 rounds, after which the gloves need 1D6 rounds to recharge.
• Requires one week and special training to attune.

Warhammer (Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition)

Rune-Empowered Gloves

• (Minor Magic Item)
• Description: Dark leather gloves, finely crafted and embroidered with glowing, blue runes on the palms. They feel surprisingly light and flexible.
• Availability: Scarce
• Cost: 150 gc
• Encumbrance: 0
• Effects:
  • +10 bonus to all Tests involving the Climb skill.
  • +5 bonus to all Tests involving the Sleight of Hand skill.
  • +5 bonus to all Tests involving the Pick Lock skill.
  • Sure Grip: The wearer gains a +10 bonus to any Test made to resist being disarmed or to hold onto something.
• Requires Identify to learn about, after learning about this item it may be attuned.