Void Tethered Skyhooks 77

Merged Items: Voidwalk Draught and Aetheric Grappling Hooks

Lore: The genesis of the Void-Tethered Skyhooks 77 is a tale whispered among daring explorers and ambitious artificers. It’s believed that a renegade member of the secretive engineering guild responsible for the original Aetheric Grappling Hooks, one Elara Vayne, became obsessed with the tales of the Voidwalk Draught. Frustrated by the physical limitations of even her advanced grappling gear when faced with impassable magical barriers or the need for ultimate stealth, Elara sought to merge the principles of aetheric energy manipulation with the forbidden knowledge of void-phasing. After numerous dangerous experiments, involving rare Abyssal Shards and refined Aetheric Crystals, she succeeded in creating a device that could not only traverse physical space with incredible agility but also briefly touch the ethereal, allowing its wielder to pass through the very fabric of reality. The “77” is said to refer to her 77th, and only successful, prototype before her mysterious disappearance, some say into the void itself.

Description: The Void-Tethered Skyhooks 77 are a Tier 2 marvel of combined magical engineering, appearing as a pair of intricately designed forearm-mounted assemblies. Each assembly houses a compact, crystal-powered launcher for an Aether-infused grappling line, and also glows with a faint, internal violet light indicative of its void-energy core. When activated, these devices allow the wearer to launch high-tensile lines that anchor to surfaces, facilitating rapid ascent, descent, and traversal across gaps. Beyond mere physical movement, the Skyhooks grant the wielder limited access to ethereal properties, enabling them to phase through obstacles during grapples or to step momentarily out of the material plane altogether. This item is designed for individuals who require unparalleled mobility and the ability to navigate complex environments, both physical and metaphysical. The item possesses 5 Aetheric Charges, which regenerate at a rate of 1 charge per hour of non-use.

Stats:

• Tier: 2
• Aetheric Charges: 5 (regenerate 1 per hour of non-use)
• Weight: 4 lbs (for the pair)
• Required Attunement: Yes (attuning to the Skyhooks takes 10 minutes of focused interaction)

Tags: Utility, Agile, Aetheric, Planar Magic, Etherealness, Grappling, Tier 2, Phasing, Enhanced Mobility, Magical Device, Stealth, Exploration, Escape, Artifice-Crafted, Hybrid-Tech, Charge-Reliant, Void-Tethered, Ascension, Forearm-Mounted

Multiple Passives Magic:

• Aether-Lightened Form: While attuned, the wearer’s movements feel more fluid and less encumbered. The wearer gains a +1 bonus to Athletics checks made for climbing or jumping, and any damage taken from falls is halved.
• Resonant Aetheric Field: The Skyhooks emit a subtle, almost imperceptible aetheric field. This field grants the wearer an intuitive sense of structural integrity, providing a +2 bonus to Perception checks or similar skill rolls made to identify stable anchoring points for the grappling lines or to spot hidden weaknesses in structures within 15 feet.
• Void Echoes: The attuned wearer develops a subtle sensitivity to planar energies. They gain an innate sense, like a faint ringing in the ears or a cold spot on the skin, when within 30 feet of an active planar portal, a significant ethereal phenomenon, or an area where the veil between worlds is unusually thin.

Multiple Active Magics:

• Aetheric Grapple Launch (1 Action): The wearer fires a grappling hook attached to an Aether-infused line from one of the forearm assemblies towards a target surface or object up to 80 feet away. On a successful appropriate skill check (e.g., ranged attack roll or specific tool proficiency check determined by the Guide Manager) against the target’s AC or a set difficulty, the hook anchors securely. The line can support up to 750 pounds. The wearer can then move along the line using their standard movement or pull themselves along it.
• Voided Retraction (1 Bonus Action, Costs 1 Aetheric Charge): If a grappling line is currently anchored, the wearer can activate this ability to retract the line with incredible speed and silence. The wearer is pulled to the anchor point almost instantaneously, arriving in the same round. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.
• Phase-Shift Traverse (Reaction during Aetheric Grapple movement, Costs 1 Aetheric Charge): When moving along a deployed grappling line via Aetheric Grapple Launch, the wearer can activate this ability as a reaction to temporarily become ethereal. This allows them to pass harmlessly through one solid object or barrier (up to 5 feet thick) that directly intersects their path of travel along the line. The ethereal state lasts only for the moment of passage through the obstacle.
• Brief Ethereal Step (1 Action, Costs 2 Aetheric Charges): The wearer can expend charges to shimmer and fade from normal sight, stepping partially into the Ethereal Plane. For up to 1 minute, the wearer becomes invisible and can move through solid objects and creatures as if they were difficult terrain. While in this state, the wearer cannot affect or be affected by anything on the Material Plane (except for certain magical effects attuned to the Ethereal Plane), cannot attack or cast most spells, but can see and hear the Material Plane. Maintaining this state requires concentration; if concentration is broken, the effect ends prematurely. The wearer can end the effect voluntarily as a free action.

Specific Slot: Paired Forearm Assemblies (which counts as a single worn item).

In the world of Saṃsāra, the “Void-Tethered Skyhooks 77,” being a unique Tier 2 amalgamation of sophisticated aetheric engineering and rare void magic, would not be found in common marketplaces. Its acquisition and sale would be events in themselves, occurring in specialized and often secretive locations, with costs reflecting its power and rarity.

Here are some types of establishments where this item might be bought and sold, along with the nature of such transactions:

• Sealed Archives of Innovating Artificers:
  • Description: These are not mere workshops but heavily guarded research enclaves, often located within the most technologically advanced districts of major metropolises like those found in towering skyscrapers or within self-sufficient, magically shielded floating cities. Some might even be hidden geothermal-powered forge complexes built into remote mountainsides, direct inheritors of Elara Vayne’s ambition or competing guilds that have painstakingly reverse-engineered or independently developed similar marvels. Access is extraordinarily limited.
  • Buying: To purchase the Void-Tethered Skyhooks 77 from such an archive, one would likely need a significant reputation as a capable agent, explorer, or benefactor whose needs align with the enclave’s interests. An invitation, sponsorship by a highly respected patron, or the presentation of an exceptionally rare material (such as pristine Abyssal Shards or unique, uncataloged Aetheric Crystals) might be prerequisites even to negotiate. The transaction would be highly formal, potentially involving magical contracts to ensure secrecy and prevent unauthorized replication.
  • Selling: Offering such an item to these artificers could be intriguing for them, especially if it represents a design variant they haven’t encountered. They might prioritize study over immediate resale. While they would offer a fair price, it might be partly in unique resources, access to their specialized crafting facilities for other projects, or exclusive schematics rather than pure gold. They would conduct exhaustive tests to verify its authenticity and functionality.
  • Estimated Cost: 4,500 to 7,000 gold pieces. The final price would fluctuate based on the buyer’s leverage, the current availability of such devices, and whether part of the payment is made in rare materials or services.
• The Gilded Veil Exchange (High-End Shadow Markets):
  • Description: These are not common back-alley black markets but sophisticated, clandestine emporiums that cater to an extremely wealthy and often morally ambiguous clientele. The Gilded Veil Exchange might operate from a constantly shifting location—perhaps a luxurious, temporarily commandeered wing of an underwater city’s deep-sea dome, a series of interconnected private suites in azeppelin moored high above a sprawling metropolis, or even a magically concealed oasis within a vast, uncharted desert island. Discretion is paramount, and security is invisibly omnipresent.
  • Buying: Gaining entry requires tokens of passage, verifiable references from existing clientele, or navigating a web of intermediaries. Transactions are swift, often conducted through shielded proxies, and use untraceable forms of currency or high-value commodities like soul-coins or perfectly cut planar gems. Buyers pay a significant premium for anonymity and the unique nature of the goods.
  • Selling: Approaching the Gilded Veil to sell such an item is fraught with risk but offers the potential for immense profit. Sellers must use trusted go-betweens to avoid revealing their identity. The Exchange’s appraisers are ruthlessly efficient, and while they’d pay handsomely for an authentic Void-Tethered Skyhooks 77, any hint of deception could have dire consequences.
  • Estimated Cost: 6,000 to 10,000 gold pieces, sometimes even higher if a bidding war erupts between anonymous, affluent buyers. The premium reflects the risk and the exclusivity of the venue.
• Outfitters of the Unseen Path (Specialized Planar Exploration Suppliers):
  • Description: These unique establishments are typically found near known planar weak points, ancient ruins pulsating with interdimensional energies, or within hidden communities renowned for producing seasoned planar explorers and mystics. An Outfitter of the Unseen Path might be a seemingly unassuming shop in a fog-shrouded port city known for its otherworldly mists, or a well-defended lodge situated at the edge of a reality-warping jungle. Their inventory consists of items specifically designed for survival and navigation in realms beyond Saṃsāra.
  • Buying: The proprietor of such an establishment is often a retired planar traveler themselves, possessing deep knowledge and a discerning eye. They would likely only sell an item like the Void-Tethered Skyhooks 77 to individuals they deem genuinely capable of utilizing it and surviving its intended use. This might involve sharing detailed accounts of past planar expeditions, presenting rare cartographical data of other realms, or undertaking a specific task for the outfitter to prove one’s mettle.
  • Selling: If one were to sell the Skyhooks here, the proprietor would be highly interested in its history and the experiences of its previous owner. The price might be slightly lower than in a shadow market, but the transaction would be more secure, and the seller might gain valuable information or contacts for future planar ventures in return.
  • Estimated Cost: 4,000 to 7,500 gold pieces. The price may be influenced by the buyer’s demonstrated experience and the current demand among the planar explorer community.
• The Celestial Vault Auction House:
  • Description: These are not regularly held events but exclusive, invitation-only auctions occurring perhaps once or twice a decade, often coinciding with significant celestial alignments or major political gatherings. The Celestial Vault might use a different grand and secure location each time—a magically reinforced wing of a major city’s most ancient library, a private island estate belonging to an obscenely wealthy noble, or even a temporarily repurposed grand temple. Attendees are the absolute elite: powerful guild masters, rulers of island nations, archmages, and secretive collectors of legendary artifacts.
  • Buying: Acquiring an item like the Void-Tethered Skyhooks 77 here means engaging in intense bidding against some of the wealthiest and most determined individuals in Saṃsāra. Bids are often placed through discreet, magically shielded proxies to maintain anonymity. The provenance and authenticity of items are meticulously verified and presented in lavish detail.
  • Selling: Consigning an item to The Celestial Vault offers the potential for the highest possible price due to the competitive environment. However, the auction house takes a substantial commission, and the seller must agree to their stringent terms regarding verification and presentation. The item would be showcased for weeks leading up to the auction, generating significant anticipation.
  • Estimated Cost: Starting bids would likely be around 5,000 gold pieces, with the final sale price potentially soaring to 12,000 gold pieces or significantly more, depending entirely on the fervor of the attending bidders and the perceived uniqueness of the specific Skyhooks 77 being auctioned.

Across all these avenues, the process of buying or selling the Void-Tethered Skyhooks 77 would be far removed from a simple over-the-counter transaction. It would involve negotiation, verification, considerable risk, and often, a narrative of its own.

The Void-Tethered Skyhooks 77 offer a dynamic range of tactical possibilities for both defense and offense across diverse environments in Saṃsāra. Their true potential is unlocked through creative roleplay, blending swift aetheric grappling with the uncanny ability to phase through the material world.

• Urban Environments (Sprawling Metropolises, Cramped Shanty-towns, Majestic Temple Districts):
  • Defensive Roleplay:
    • Rooftop Evasion & Vertical Escape: Imagine your character cornered in a bustling marketplace square by heavily armed city guards. With a defiant grin, they shout, “The skyways are my domain!” Firing an Aetheric Grapple, the shimmering line shoots towards a distant clock tower’s ornate gargoyle. Activating Voided Retraction, they are yanked upwards in a near-silent, violet-streaked blur, leaving pursuers staring from below. If a rooftop barricade or magically sealed window blocks their path, a quick use of Phase-Shift Traverse allows them to pass through the obstruction as if it were smoke, making good their escape into the labyrinthine rooftops.
    • Alleyway Ambushes & Ghostly Retreats: Trapped in a narrow, refuse-choked alley with cultists closing in, your character might activate Brief Ethereal Step. “You cannot hold what is not there,” they whisper, their form becoming a translucent, shimmering outline. They then walk through their astonished enemies, the chilling sensation of their passage perhaps causing a moment’s hesitation, and continue through the alley wall into an adjacent, safer street, reforming with a sigh of relief.
    • Misdirection in Crowds: When needing to evade a pursuing assassin in a crowded festival, your character could fire a grapple towards a high banner, then immediately use Voided Retraction to pull themselves partway, only to drop back into the crowd elsewhere, using the brief vertical movement and the flash of aetheric energy as a decoy. The passive Void Echoes might also alert them if the assassin is using planar means to track them.
  • Offensive Roleplay:
    • Multi-Story Assault & Unseen Flanking: Your character needs to infiltrate a corrupt magistrate’s high-rise office. Using Aetheric Grapple Launch, they ascend the sheer walls under the cover of magical darkness or a stormy night, their Aether-Lightened Form making them agile and quiet. Reaching the target floor, instead of a noisy entry, they activate Brief Ethereal Step, phasing through the reinforced stone wall to appear silently behind the unsuspecting magistrate engrossed in illicit documents, ready for a decisive strike or to plant incriminating evidence.
    • Triangulation & Surprise Attacks: In a skirmish across interconnected rooftops, your character and their allies are fighting a rival guild. Your character uses the Skyhooks to rapidly reposition, firing lines to distant chimneys or water towers. They might shout targeting information, “He’s behind the steam vent!” then swing to a new vantage point. For a coordinated attack, they could use Brief Ethereal Step to become unseen, get into a perfect flanking position on a precarious ledge, and then unleash a powerful attack when their allies create a diversion.
    • Utilizing Verticality in Chases: Pursuing a nimble thief across rooftops, your character uses Aetheric Grapple Launch not just to keep pace, but to cut off escape routes, swinging over wide gaps. If the thief ducks into a building, Phase-Shift Traverse through a boarded-up window or a thin wall can allow your character to continue the pursuit without losing momentum.
• Natural Terrains (Dense Forests, Towering Mountains, Treacherous Swamps):
  • Defensive Roleplay:
    • Canopy Evasion (Forests/Jungles): Ambushed by territorial beasts or hostile trackers in a dense jungle, your character spots an ancient, towering tree. “Up and away!” they declare, launching a grapple high into the canopy. The Voided Retraction pulls them swiftly above the immediate threat. If a particularly thick branch or a cluster of magically animated vines blocks their ascent, Phase-Shift Traverse lets them pass through it seamlessly. Once in the high canopy, they can use Brief Ethereal Step to become invisible among the leaves, allowing the pursuers to pass below.
    • Chasm Crossings & Cliffside Retreats (Mountains/Canyons): Caught on a crumbling mountain path with a chasm blocking retreat and a formidable monster advancing, your character launches a grapple to the far side. As they swing across the dizzying drop, a tremor dislodges rocks. “Not today, gravity!” With a surge of Aetheric Charge, they activate Phase-Shift Traverse, their body becoming momentarily insubstantial as a falling boulder passes harmlessly through them. Their Aether-Lightened Form ensures a softer landing.
    • Phantom of the Fen (Swamps/Marshes): When navigating a treacherous swamp, if quicksand or a hidden mire traps them, a quick Aetheric Grapple Launch to a sturdy, distant mangrove root, followed by Voided Retraction, can pull them free. If cornered by swamp denizens in an area with few solid grapple points, Brief Ethereal Step could allow them to walk over water or sink into the mud to hide, becoming one with the murky environment for a crucial minute.
  • Offensive Roleplay:
    • Death From Above (Forests/Jungles): Your character spots a group of bandits unaware of their presence. Using the Skyhooks, they silently ascend to the highest branches. “Like a spider, I wait,” they murmur. They might then use Aetheric Grapple Launch to swing down directly above the enemy leader, perhaps using Brief Ethereal Step for the last few feet to phase through any intervening leaves or even a bodyguard, striking with the element of complete surprise.
    • Precarious Perch Sniping (Mountains/Canyons): Needing to take out a sentinel on a narrow, inaccessible cliff ledge, your character uses the Skyhooks to reach an opposing, equally precarious perch. The Resonant Aetheric Field passive helps them identify a stable, unseen anchor point. From this vantage, they are a difficult target, able to deliver ranged attacks and then use Voided Retraction to swiftly change position if discovered.
    • Ambush from Unexpected Quarters (Caves/Underground): Within a dark cavern system, your character uses Brief Ethereal Step to scout ahead, passing through thin rock walls or cave-ins to observe enemy encampments. They then return to their allies, relaying information. For an attack, they might phase through the floor from a lower tunnel (if thin enough) or through a wall to strike at a key target, while their allies launch a frontal assault.
• Aboard Ships / Airships (Sailing Vessels, Majestic Airships):
  • Defensive Roleplay:
    • Rigging Retreat & Mast Evasion: During a chaotic ship-to-ship battle, with the deck swarming with enemy boarders, your character launches a grapple high into their own ship’s rigging or up the main mast. Voided Retraction pulls them out of the melee. If an enemy attempts to climb after them or a stray cannonball threatens their perch, Phase-Shift Traverse through a sail or a wooden beam can save them. They could even use Brief Ethereal Step to cling unseen to the side of the mast.
    • Inter-Vessel Escape: If their own vessel is sinking or overrun, your character might make a desperate leap towards a nearby friendly or even an enemy ship. An Aetheric Grapple Launch provides the connection, and as they swing between vessels through smoke and chaos, Phase-Shift Traverse could be crucial for passing through rigging, debris, or even the ghostly forms of fallen sailors if the area is planarly charged.
  • Offensive Roleplay:
    • Silent Boarding & Sabotage: Your character needs to infiltrate an enemy airship under cover of night. They use the Skyhooks to grapple from their own vessel (or a flying mount) to the underside or a less guarded section of the target airship. Once attached, they use Brief Ethereal Step to phase through the hull, appearing inside a cargo hold or engine room to sabotage critical components or assassinate a key officer silently.
    • Swinging Attacks & Deck Control: In a battle on the deck of a large airship, your character uses the Skyhooks to swing from railings, support struts, or even the gondola above, making them a hard target. They can drop down for an attack, then use Voided Retraction to zip back to a higher point. “You can’t hit what dances on the wind!” they might taunt, using their aerial mobility to outmaneuver grounded foes.
• Planar/Exotic Environments (Ethereal Mists, Alien Structures, Unstable Realities):
  • Defensive Roleplay:
    • Navigating Ethereal Barriers: In a region where the Ethereal Plane bleeds into the material, creating shimmering, impassable walls of mist or strange energy fields, Brief Ethereal Step becomes a primary mode of navigation, allowing the character to pass through these otherwise solid planar boundaries. The passive Void Echoes would be constantly providing sensory information here.
    • Escaping Planar Predators: If pursued by creatures native to the Ethereal or Astral planes, the Skyhooks’ abilities offer unique defenses. A quick Aetheric Grapple Launch to a piece of solid, material debris floating in an otherwise ethereal sea, followed by Voided Retraction, might provide a temporary bastion. Brief Ethereal Step could also be used to try and ‘match’ the phase of some Ethereal pursuers, potentially confusing them or allowing the character to slip through their grasp.
  • Offensive Roleplay:
    • Exploiting Planar Geometry: In a realm with non-Euclidean geometry or floating islands of reality, the Skyhooks are essential for traversal. Your character might grapple onto a surface that is sideways or upside-down relative to them. Offensively, they could use Brief Ethereal Step to phase through a wall of shifting probability or a field of pure thought, emerging on the other side to attack a planar entity tethered to that specific point.
    • Anchoring in Chaos: If an environment is highly unstable with shifting gravity or dissolving structures, the Aetheric Grapple Launch can create temporary points of stability. They might attack a foe, then grapple to a momentarily solid piece of dream-stuff, only to have it dissolve moments after they Voided Retract away, leaving their opponent in a perilous situation.

In every scenario, the key to effective roleplay with the Void-Tethered Skyhooks 77 lies in describing the character’s quick thinking, their interaction with the Aetheric Charges as a resource, the visual and sensory details of the aetheric lines and void-phasing effects, and how their unique movement style impacts the flow of any encounter.

Perception of Activation:

• Sight
  • What is Perceived: Upon activation of the Aetheric Grapple Launch, a brilliant, shimmering line of Aether-infused thread erupts from one of the forearm assemblies, trailing faint motes of azure light. The internal violet glow from the Void-energy core within the activated assembly intensifies, casting a deeper, more ominous luminescence. When Void-powered abilities like Voided Retraction or Phase-Shift Traverse are engaged, this violet light pulses sharply, and observers might catch glimpses of fleeting, shadowy distortions or a brief ripple in the air around the user or the device, like heat haze but cold. During Brief Ethereal Step, the user’s entire form becomes translucent, outlined in a flickering violet and aetheric blue, their movements leaving faint, ghostly trails.
  • User’s Perspective: The familiar azure flash of the Aetheric line is accompanied by the deepening throb of violet light from within the Skyhook. Activating Void abilities brings a momentary sharpening of visual details, as if the world’s colours become more intense yet colder. During phasing, their own limbs and the device appear semi-transparent, overlaid with a swirling miasma of faint blues and purples; it’s like looking through slightly distorted, energized water.
  • Observer’s Perspective: The Aetheric Grapple is a visually impressive streak of light. The subsequent activation of Void powers is more subtle yet striking: the Skyhooks flare with a distinct violet pulse, and the user might appear to ‘glitch’ or become momentarily wreathed in faint, dark energies for Phase-Shift Traverse. Brief Ethereal Step is unmistakable – the user becomes a ghostly, shimmering apparition, difficult to focus on, appearing to float or move with unnatural grace.
  • Positives: Clear visual confirmation of activation and the type of energy being predominantly used (Aetheric blue vs. Void violet). The effects are often spectacular and can be intimidating to foes. The ethereal form provides obvious visual feedback of the altered state.
  • Negatives: The light displays are highly conspicuous, eliminating any chance of stealth during the initial Aetheric Grapple Launch. The unsettling nature of the Void-light and phasing effects might frighten allies or non-combatants. Complex light interplay could be momentarily distracting for the user in high-pressure situations.
• Sound
  • What is Perceived: The Aetheric Grapple Launch produces a distinct, sharp thworp or a high-tensile whirring crackle as the line deploys, followed by a solid thunk or kri-chak as it anchors. Voided Retraction, true to its name, is almost supernaturally silent; the ambient noise might even seem to dip or become momentarily muffled around the user as they are pulled. Phase-Shift Traverse can be accompanied by a faint, quickly dissipating sound like tearing silk or a soft, indrawn breath on a larger scale. Brief Ethereal Step often initiates with a barely audible, low hum that rapidly fades into an unnerving silence from the user’s direct person, though sounds from the material plane are still perceived by them.
  • User’s Perspective: The launch sound is a familiar, reassuring report of action. The silence of Voided Retraction is a stark contrast, often feeling like a sudden pressure change in the ears. The subtle sounds of phasing are more like internal vibrations or a whisper at the edge of hearing, easily missed in combat but distinct in quiet moments.
  • Observer’s Perspective: The Aetheric Grapple is clearly audible unless specifically muffled. The silence of Voided Retraction can be deeply unsettling if they witness the user suddenly zipping towards an anchor point without any accompanying sound. The whisper-thin sound of Phase-Shift Traverse is unlikely to be heard unless very close and in a quiet environment. During Brief Ethereal Step, observers would notice the cessation of the user’s normal movement sounds (footsteps, rustling clothes).
  • Positives: The grapple launch provides clear auditory feedback of successful deployment. The silence of Voided Retraction is excellent for stealthy repositioning or escape. The subtle or absent sounds of void abilities can enhance the user’s mysterious or intimidating presence.
  • Negatives: The initial grapple sound can alert enemies to the user’s action and general location. The extreme quietness of void abilities might make it difficult for allies to track the user’s actions or confirm successful activation without clear line of sight. Unusual void-related sounds, however faint, might attract the attention of magically sensitive creatures or those attuned to planar disturbances.
• Touch
  • What is Perceived: Activating the Aetheric Grapple Launch gives a firm, controlled recoil and vibration through the forearm assembly. When Void energies are drawn upon for abilities like Phase-Shift Traverse or Brief Ethereal Step, a distinct, unnatural coldness emanates from the Skyhooks, seeping into the user’s arm and sometimes felt as a fleeting chill across their skin. During the actual phasing of Phase-Shift Traverse or Brief Ethereal Step, the user experiences a sensation of becoming momentarily weightless, frictionless, and oddly ‘slick’ against the material world, as if their body’s surface tension has vanished.
  • User’s Perspective: The recoil of the grapple is a familiar kick. The Void-cold is a key tactile indicator, often felt just before the main effect of a void ability manifests; it’s a deep, penetrating chill that feels ancient. The sensation of phasing is initially disorienting – like walking through dense fog that offers no resistance yet slightly numbs the skin. With practice, it becomes a unique feeling of liberation from physical constraints.
  • Observer’s Perspective: An observer would not directly perceive the touch sensations of the user. If an observer were to try and touch the user during Brief Ethereal Step, their hand would likely pass through, perhaps feeling a faint, inexplicable cold spot or a tingle like static electricity.
  • Positives: Clear tactile feedback helps distinguish between Aetheric and Void activations. The cold sensation is a strong, unmistakable sign of Void power usage. The unique sensation of phasing provides undeniable confirmation of the altered state.
  • Negatives: The profound cold from repeated Void activations might become physically uncomfortable or even debilitating over extended periods if not managed. The initial disorientation from the phasing sensation can be a drawback until the user acclimates.
• Smell
  • What is Perceived: The Aetheric Grapple Launch, especially if the line sparks or generates friction, can produce a faint, sharp scent of ozone, similar to the air after a lightning strike, mixed with a hint of superheated metal or specialized lubricant from the mechanism. Activation of Void-related abilities, particularly Brief Ethereal Step, may be accompanied by a fleeting, almost imperceptible scent of cold, ancient dust, dry stone, or more uniquely, a “null-scent”—a sudden, localized absence of other ambient smells, creating a sterile, empty olfactory sensation.
  • User’s Perspective: The ozone from Aetheric use is a familiar, almost invigorating scent. The dusty or stony scent of Void activation is subtle, often a prelude to the deeper cold. The “null-scent” is particularly strange, making the air feel suddenly thinner and devoid of character, a clear mark of the Void’s presence.
  • Observer’s Perspective: Someone standing very close to the user during an Aetheric Grapple Launch might catch a whiff of ozone. The Void-related scents are likely too subtle and localized for a typical observer to notice, though a creature with exceptionally keen senses might detect the faint dusty aroma or react with confusion to the “null-scent.”
  • Positives: Adds a layer of sensory immersion and atmosphere to the item’s use. The ozone can be a subtle indicator to allies that aetheric energy has been deployed. The unique Void scents can serve as a personal confirmation for the user.
  • Negatives: Generally too subtle to be reliable feedback in chaotic situations like combat. The “null-scent” might be disconcerting or subtly unnerving to the user. These smells are unlikely to provide significant tactical advantage or disadvantage.
• Taste
  • What is Perceived: Direct taste is highly unlikely. However, in instances of very intense Aetheric energy discharge in close proximity to the user’s face, a faint metallic or tinny tang might be momentarily perceived on the tongue, similar to putting one’s tongue on a battery terminal. Intense Void energy manifestations, especially during prolonged Brief Ethereal Step, might induce a dry, papery, or “dusty” sensation in the mouth and throat, as if all moisture has been wicked away.
  • User’s Perspective: These sensations are rare and fleeting, typically overshadowed by other, more dominant sensory inputs. The metallic tang is a minor curiosity; the dryness from Void use is more a mild discomfort.
  • Observer’s Perspective: Not perceivable by observers.
  • Positives: Adds a minor element of sensory detail in extreme or prolonged usage scenarios, contributing to the overall immersion.
  • Negatives: Irrelevant for most activations and offers no tactical information. The dryness associated with Void use could become a minor irritant.
• Extra-Sensory Perceptions
  • Mana / Aetheric / Void Energy Sensitivity
    • What is Perceived: A clear distinction in energy types. Aetheric Grapple Launch feels like a controlled, vibrant outward burst of structured, almost ‘positive’ or ‘kinetic’ magical energy flowing from the user through the Skyhooks. Void-related activations (Voided Retraction, Phase-Shift Traverse, Brief Ethereal Step) feel like a ‘negative’ energy flow, a drawing inward or a sudden, localized ’emptying’ of ambient magical energy. This Void energy feels significantly colder, denser, and more ‘ancient’ or ‘alien’ than the relatively familiar Aether. During phasing, there’s a sensation of the user’s personal magical field becoming momentarily ‘porous’ or ‘thinned.’
    • User’s Perspective: The user feels these energy shifts profoundly. The Aetheric surge is empowering and direct. The Void ‘draw’ is potent but can feel somewhat draining or like tapping into something vast and indifferent. They learn to differentiate the ‘flavor’ of each ability’s energy signature, understanding the subtle build-up and release associated with each function of the Skyhooks.
    • Observer’s Perspective (if magically sensitive): A magically sensitive observer would clearly detect the two distinct types of energy. The Aetheric burst is relatively common in a high-magic world. The Void energy, however, would be far more unusual and potentially alarming, feeling ‘unnatural,’ ‘entropic,’ or ‘consuming’ to those attuned to vital or elemental magics. They might perceive the user’s aura flicker, dim, or become infused with shadowy tendrils when Void powers are active.
    • Positives: Provides the user with precise, intrinsic feedback on which systems of the Skyhooks are active and the intensity of the power draw. Magically sensitive allies can understand the nature of the user’s actions. The distinct feel helps in mastering the complex item.
    • Negatives: The sensation of channeling Void energy might be mentally or spiritually taxing for the user over extended periods, possibly leading to fatigue or a sense of detachment if not properly shielded or mentally fortified. Magically sensitive observers, especially those with strong moral or philosophical opposition to ‘dark’ or ‘void’ magics, might react with fear, distrust, or outright hostility.
  • Spatial & Planar Awareness
    • What is Perceived: When Aetheric Grapple Launch is activated, the user might experience a brief, heightened sense of trajectory and spatial connection to the anchor point. During Phase-Shift Traverse, there’s a fleeting, disorienting ‘overlay’ of the Ethereal Plane – a ghostly, shimmering version of reality superimposed over normal vision for a split second. With Brief Ethereal Step, this perception becomes more sustained and immersive: the material world appears muted, translucent, and ‘distant,’ while the immediate surroundings take on the characteristics of the Ethereal Plane (wispy, echoing, populated by ethereal phenomena or creatures). The user feels a distinct ‘thinness’ or ‘boundary’ between planes. The passive “Void Echoes” provides a constant, low-level hum of this awareness for nearby planar disturbances.
    • User’s Perspective: The grapple gives a brief ‘line of sight’ extension. The flash of ethereal overlay during Phase-Shift Traverse is like a momentary double vision of two worlds. During Brief Ethereal Step, navigating the world requires recalibration; distances can feel distorted, solid objects appear as ghostly outlines, and there’s a constant awareness of being ‘between’ places. It can be exhilarating but also unsettling.
    • Observer’s Perspective: Observers see the user become translucent or vanish from normal sight during ethereal effects. Those with ‘ ट्रू साइट ‘ (True Sight) or similar planar viewing abilities would see the user’s ethereal form moving within or along the boundary of the Ethereal Plane. They might also notice the user reacting to unseen (to them) ethereal stimuli.
    • Positives: Essential for the effective and safe use of the Skyhooks’ phasing and ethereal abilities. Can grant unique tactical insights, allowing the user to perceive hidden ethereal elements or navigate complex planar geography. Enhances the item’s utility for exploration and infiltration.
    • Negatives: The sensory input during ethereal states can be highly disorienting, potentially leading to nausea, vertigo, or misjudgment of distances and locations, especially for inexperienced users. There’s a psychological stress associated with perceiving the often unsettling vistas of other planes, and a risk (however small, depending on lore) of attracting unwanted attention from entities native to those planes.
  • Empathy / Latent Resonance (towards the Void-Tethered Skyhooks 77)
    • What is Perceived: The Skyhooks possess a subtle, dual resonance. The Aetheric components feel ‘eager,’ ‘responsive,’ and ‘aligned’ with concepts of motion, connection, and ingenuity – a clear, almost vibrant hum of potential. The Void-infused components, however, resonate with a profound ’emptiness,’ an ancient ‘stillness,’ or a vast, ‘impassive’ depth. It’s not actively malevolent, but feels like an ancient, slumbering power that is being carefully channeled, not truly ‘partnered’ with. There’s a sense of these two distinct forces existing in a meticulously engineered, but sometimes tense, symbiosis within the device.
    • User’s Perspective: The user feels this duality keenly. The Aetheric aspect feels like an extension of their will, a reliable and almost cheerful tool. The Void aspect feels like wielding a fragment of cosmic indifference; it grants immense power but offers no comfort or companionship. Mastering the Skyhooks involves learning to balance and harmonize these contrasting resonances, understanding when to lean on the Aether’s reliability and when to carefully tap the Void’s profound potential.
    • Observer’s Perspective: An observer would not directly perceive this, but might note the user’s intense concentration when using the Skyhooks, or comment that the device seems to have a ‘mood’ or ‘presence’ of its own, sometimes appearing agile and bright, other times more somber and formidable.
    • Positives: This empathetic connection can lead to a deeper, more intuitive mastery of the Skyhooks’ complex functions. The user might gain preternatural insight into the item’s charge levels, potential malfunctions, or even optimal ways to utilize its blended energies. It fosters a unique bond between wielder and artifact.
    • Negatives: The ’emptiness’ or ‘indifference’ of the Void resonance could be emotionally or spiritually draining for some users over long periods, fostering feelings of isolation or nihilism if they are not of strong will or suitable temperament. There might be rare occasions where the two energetic aspects feel subtly ‘at odds,’ requiring greater focus from the user to maintain control, especially if the item is damaged or exposed to conflicting magical fields.

Artisan’s Blueprint: The Void-Tethered Skyhooks — This demanding process outlines the fusion of the Aetheric Grappling Hooks’ mechanical ingenuity with the planar-traversing magic of the Voidwalk Draught, resulting in the versatile Tier 2 artifact known as the Void-Tethered Skyhooks 77. Success requires not only rare components but also exceptional skill in multiple arcane and mundane disciplines.

• Items Merged:
  • 1x Aetheric Grappling Hooks (pair, fully functional)
  • 3x Voidwalk Draught (vials, freshly brewed for maximum potency)
• Materials Needed (in addition to the items being merged):
  • Abyssal Shard, Greater (1): A significantly larger and purer fragment of condensed voidstuff compared to that used in a single draught, intended to serve as the stable core for the sustained void-energy system.
  • Prime Aetheric Crystals (2): Flawless, high-grade Aetheric crystals, either sourced anew or by demonstrating the exceedingly rare skill of perfectly cleansing and re-attuning the original crystals from the Aetheric Grappling Hooks. These will be transmuted.
  • Umbral Bloom Fiber (2 spools): Spun from flora native to shadow-touched demiplanes, this silk-like fiber is inherently resilient to both aetheric and void energies, replacing the original Aether-infused thread.
  • Planar Harmonic Resonators (1 set of 4): Small, precisely tuned devices crafted from interwoven strands of cold-forged silver and polished obsidian. These are crucial for creating a stable matrix that allows Aetheric and Void energies to coexist and synergize rather than destructively interfere.
  • Essence of the Veil (3 vials): A highly concentrated and magically stabilized distillate derived from multiple Ethereal Essences, designed for permanent enchantment.
  • Luminous Lunar Saturation (1 sealed pouch): A dense concentration of Lunar Dust, refined to enhance its ability to bind volatile magical energies.
  • Void-Phased Alloy Ingots (2): Special metallic ingots that have undergone a complex alchemical process of being saturated with inert void energy, making them suitable for forging the new insulated casings required to safely house the dual-energy core.
  • Aetheric Flow-Regulator Oil (1 jar): An exceptionally refined version of Aetheric infusion oil, formulated to help components channel and regulate the more complex and often conflicting energy patterns of the merged device.
  • Binding Salts of the In-Between (a small packet): Rare crystalline salts gathered from locations where the Ethereal Plane visibly encroaches upon the material world.
• Tools Required:
  • Artificer’s Apex Bench & Toolkit: This includes precision manipulators, arcane energy calibrators, and diagnostic tools far exceeding standard kits, suitable for work involving hybridized magical-mechanical systems.
  • Planar Enchanter’s Lectern & Foci: Equipped with lenses ground from planar crystals, attunement forks for various energy frequencies (including Void and Aether), and containment fields for delicate enchantment processes.
  • Masterwork Alchemical Laboratory: Featuring reinforced crucibles, fractional distillation columns capable of separating subtle magical essences, and wards against energetic backlash.
  • Null-Resonance Forging Chamber: A small, heavily warded forge or workbench designed to dampen chaotic magical energies and provide a controlled environment for working with raw Void components and volatile infusions. This includes specialized ventilation to handle unusual fumes.
  • Runic Inscription Set (Star-Metal & Obsidian): A set of high-precision etching tools capable of inscribing complex binding runes onto hardened alloys and crystals.
  • Aetheric Field Stabilizer: A device used to maintain a consistent ambient aetheric field during the infusion process, preventing unwanted fluctuations.
• Skill Requirements:
  • Grandmaster Artificing (Specialization: Planar Mechanisms & Hybrid Energy Systems): Essential for redesigning the grappling hook mechanisms to integrate the void core, ensuring mechanical integrity while accommodating potent magical forces.
  • Arch-Enchanting (Specialization: Void/Ethereal Infusion & Planar Binding): Required to safely channel, bind, and harmonize the volatile energies of the Void and the Ethereal Plane within the Aetheric framework of the device.
  • Master Alchemy (Specialization: Esoteric Transmutation & Essence Stabilization): Needed to carefully deconstruct the Voidwalk Draughts, refine their core components, and create stable, infusible forms of these potent magical substances.
  • Scholar of Planar Dynamics (Exceptional Proficiency): A profound theoretical and practical understanding of how the Aether, the Void, and the Ethereal Plane interact is critical to avoid catastrophic failure during crafting or dangerous malfunctions in the final product.
  • Fine Metalworking & Crystal-Lathe Operation (Expert Level): For fabricating the new void-phased alloy casings with utmost precision and for shaping or re-shaping the Prime Aetheric Crystals for their new role.
• Crafting Steps:
  • Sanctum Preparation & Component Evaluation:
    • Prepare the Null-Resonance Forging Chamber and the Planar Enchanter’s Lectern. Ensure all tools are consecrated and calibrated.
    • Meticulously inspect the Aetheric Grappling Hooks, noting the precise construction and energy flow of their original Aetheric systems. Carefully disassemble them, preserving all reusable high-quality gears, springs, and the core chassis if adaptable. The original Aetheric crystals are set aside for transmutation.
    • Analyze the three Voidwalk Draughts, confirming their potency and the clarity of their constituent essences using alchemical apparatus.
  • Void Essence Extraction & Stabilization:
    • Within the Masterwork Alchemical Laboratory, carefully deconstruct each Voidwalk Draught. The goal is to separate and concentrate its core magical components: the Abyssal Shard’s resonance, Voidflower Nectar’s phasing properties, Astral Essence’s planar signature, Ethereal Essence’s insubstantiality, and Lunar Dust’s binding qualities.
    • Combine the essences from all three draughts, then refine and stabilize them using the Essence of the Veil and Luminous Lunar Saturation, creating a potent, concentrated elixir of void and ethereal power. This elixir is temporarily stored in a warded flask.
  • Crystal Transmutation & Core Assembly:
    • The Prime Aetheric Crystals are carefully heated within the Null-Resonance Forging Chamber. At the precise temperature, they are immersed in a bath containing a small, ritually prepared portion of the stabilized Void Elixir and the Binding Salts of the In-Between. This process, guided by Expert Enchanting, transmutes them into Void-Quenched Aetheric Crystals, capable of resonating with both energy types.
    • The Greater Abyssal Shard is then prepared. Using the Runic Inscription Set, specific containment and channeling runes are etched onto its surface. It is then partially infused with a measure of the Void Elixir, becoming the nascent Void-Energy Core.
  • Chassis Fabrication & Thread Infusion:
    • Using the Void-Phased Alloy Ingots, forge the new insulated forearm casings at the Null-Resonance Forging Chamber. These casings must be built to house the original grappling mechanisms (or their improved versions), the new Void-Energy Core, the Void-Quenched Aetheric Crystals, and the Planar Harmonic Resonators.
    • Spool the Umbral Bloom Fiber. This thread is then meticulously drawn through a bath of Aetheric Flow-Regulator Oil that has been lightly infused with a trace of the stabilized Ethereal Essence, preparing it for its role as the grappling line.
  • Integration & Primary Enchantment:
    • Assemble the Void-Energy Core, Void-Quenched Aetheric Crystals, and Planar Harmonic Resonators within the newly forged casings. This step demands Grandmaster Artificing to ensure perfect alignment and mechanical functionality alongside the magical components.
    • The preserved or enhanced grappling mechanisms are integrated, now threaded with the infused Umbral Bloom Fiber.
    • The bulk of the stabilized Void Elixir is then carefully channeled into the Void-Energy Core and throughout the network of Planar Harmonic Resonators, guided by Arch-Enchanting skills. This process binds the essence of the merged draughts into the device, transforming it from a mere tool into a true hybrid artifact.
  • Harmonization & Final Attunement:
    • The nearly completed Void-Tethered Skyhooks are placed within the Aetheric Field Stabilizer on the Planar Enchanter’s Lectern. A complex, multi-hour ritual of harmonization is performed. This involves delicately balancing the Aetheric and Void energies, ensuring they can flow and synergize without conflict, enabling the item’s various active and passive abilities.
    • The final stage involves a personal attunement by the crafter, drawing upon their own understanding of Planar Dynamics to “awaken” the Skyhooks and confirm their stability and responsiveness.
  • Testing & Calibration:
    • Within a secure testing area, all functions of the Void-Tethered Skyhooks 77 are meticulously tested: Aetheric Grapple Launch (range, strength, retraction speed), Voided Retraction (silence, speed), Phase-Shift Traverse (reliability, duration of phase), and Brief Ethereal Step (stability of ethereal form, duration, clarity of planar senses). Minor adjustments to the Planar Harmonic Resonators or energy flow regulators may be needed.

This lengthy and resource-intensive process transforms two distinct Tier 1 items into a significantly more powerful and versatile Tier 2 artifact, a testament to the crafter’s supreme skill and dedication.

Witness of the Star-Tethered Artifice
Her Journey Forth and Back (Perhaps)

It is thus recorded, though the glyphs falter and their true semblance is much debated by the wise, concerning the Mechanist, She of the Unfettered Mind, whose given name, if the crumbling scrolls speak truth, was Elara, and sometimes Vayne, as if a weathercock shifting. This Elara, it is told, possessed a heart that beat not with the common rhythm of folk but with the tick-tock of strange engines and the whisper of energies not meant for the grasping hand of humankind. She was, one might venture, a disturber of what is settled.

In those days, which are now dust upon dust, the Aetheric Ropes of Swift Ascent were known, it is true, clever they were for the climbing of rock-teeth and high walls of cities. Yet Elara, her soul-fires burned for more than mere up-going. She gazed upon the Firmament, not as a roof, but as a curtain. And she looked also, it is whispered, into the Other Places, the Between-Spaces where reality wears thin like old cloth, and the Void, which is the Great Unmaking, breathes its cold breath. Such was her hunger, a perilous appetite for what lies beyond.

So it came to pass, after seasons of toil in a secret house wreathed in wards and smokes of curious color (the number seventy and seven is oft-scribed here, for reasons now clouded), she brought forth a new wonder. Not one, but Two Arms of Uncanny Passage they were, to be worn upon the fore-limbs, as a warrior dons vambraces. These were the Star-Tethered Artifice, or so the later tellers named them, for they seemed to promise a bridging to the very stars, and also to that which is starless. Within them, the bright, swift spirit of Aether was made to dwell, yet it was yoked, most unnaturally, some say, with the dark, silent power drawn from the Shard of Uttermost Emptiness. A light, as of a bruised evening sky, did issue forth from their heart-places when they stirred.

The first trials, ah, they were not without peril. The ancient parchment speaks of rooms rent asunder, of sudden cold that froze the very air, and of Elara herself found oft aswoon, her hair like hoarfrost, yet her eyes burning with a terrible light of knowing. For the Artifice, it did not yield its secrets with grace. To send forth the Aether-line, that was as before, a servant to the will. But to call upon the Void-heart, to bid the world melt like mist, or to step as a thought steps, unseen, unheard – this was to bargain with echoes from the rim of creation. The translations here are most vexing, speaking of a “slipping of the hold” and a “walking as shadow-stuff.”

Yet master them she did, or so the fragments attest. It is chronicled she first scaled the Unclimbable Spire of Tor Gvaloch, whose peak was said to scratch the belly of the moon, in a single night, leaving no trace but a chill wind that smelled of ozone and distant dust. No rope could have held there, no hand found purchase. But Elara, with her Star-Tethers, she danced upon the sheer face, now a spider, now a phantom. One moment, the writings tell, her form was seen against the starlight, a dark shape clinging; the next, only the uncaring stone, as if she had breathed herself into the rock itself, only to emerge higher still.

Then, her ambition, it grew like a shadow in the sun’s decline. She spoke, it is said, of “doorways unseen by waking eyes” and of “paths that run between the ticks of time.” The Artifice, it was her key. She sought, if the meaning is not too warped by ages, the Silent City, a place rumored to float not in any sky of Saṃsāra, but in the very currents of the Ethereal, a ghost-city of forgotten lore. Many had sought it; all had returned mad, or not at all.

With the Star-Tethered Artifice bound to her arms, Elara stepped, it is written, from a high mountain pass, not into the air, but into a shimmer, a place where the world was as a painted veil. The descriptions that follow are a tapestry of confusion: she walked on winds, she grappled stars that were not stars, she spoke with echoes that wore faces. The violet light of the Void-core is mentioned much, a beacon in that place of no true light. She passed through walls of sorrow and across rivers of lost memories, the Aether-lines her only guide, the Void-phase her only shield.

What she found in that Silent City, or if indeed she found it, the scrolls become like water, holding no clear shape. Some say she grasped a truth too great for mortal mind, and it unmade her. Others whisper she became a guardian of that place, or a prisoner. There is one passage, much broken, that speaks of a “choice between shadow and shimmer,” and that the Artifice thereafter “knew but one master, who was also its first sorrow.” It is a knot of words.

Her return to the lands of men is not clearly writ. Did she return at all? Or was it but the Artifice itself that was found, lying upon a high, cold peak, humming faintly with its twin energies, its mistress vanished into the legend it had helped her craft? The seventy-seventh experiment, some say, was her final one, a journey from which the return was not part of the design. The Star-Tethered Artifice, thereafter, passed through many hands, a thing of wonder and of dread, its full story, like that of Elara, lost to the true knowing. Many have used it to great renown, many to their undoing. The twin lights, of eager Aether and silent Void, they continue their uneasy dance.

Moral of the Story: To weave the All and the Nothing into one thread is a feat of mighty vision, yet the weaver may find themself caught within their own intricate design, where the path upward and the path into absence become but a single step.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

The Shadow-Phasing Rig of Professor Vayne

• This strange apparatus consists of two forearm-mounted devices of unknown alloy, with embedded crystals and faintly glowing violet cores. It is rumored to be the creation of the missing Professor Elara Vayne, who delved into both advanced engineering and forbidden planar sciences.
• Aetheric Charges: The Rig holds 5 Aetheric Charges. It regains 1 charge after 6 hours of careful maintenance and calibration (requires a Regular Mechanical Repair roll; failure means no charge is regained, a fumble might expend a charge or cause a minor malfunction).
• Aetheric Grapple: To deploy a grapple, the wearer must succeed on a Hard Mechanical Repair or Operate Heavy Machinery roll. If successful, a shimmering line fires up to 80 feet and anchors securely. This allows the wearer to climb at their normal movement rate. Each deployment attempt expends 1 Aetheric Charge, regardless of success.
• Voided Retraction: If a grapple is securely anchored, the wearer can expend 1 Aetheric Charge to be instantly and silently pulled to the anchor point. No roll is required for the retraction itself.
• Phase-Shift Traverse: When moving along an anchored grapple line, the wearer can expend 1 Aetheric Charge to attempt to phase through a single solid obstacle up to 5 feet thick in their direct path. The wearer must make a Dodge roll.
  • Success: They pass through the obstacle unharmed.
  • Failure: They strike the obstacle, suffering 1D6 physical damage, and must immediately make a DEX roll to maintain their grip on the line.
  • Fumble (on Dodge roll): They strike the obstacle forcefully, suffer 1D6+2 physical damage, and automatically lose their grip, likely falling. This shocking experience also costs 0/1 Sanity points.
• Brief Ethereal Jaunt: The wearer can expend 2 Aetheric Charges to become ethereal for 1D6+4 rounds (approximately 30 seconds to 1 minute). While ethereal, they are invisible to normal sight and can pass through solid objects as if they were mist. They cannot physically interact with the material world, nor can it normally affect them (though some Mythos entities or potent spells might still pose a threat).
  • Sanity Cost: Activating this ability, or clearly witnessing someone else dematerialize using it, costs 0/1D4 Sanity points due to its unnatural violation of physical laws.
  • Concentration: Maintaining this ethereal state for more than 3 consecutive rounds requires the wearer to succeed on a CON roll at the beginning of each subsequent round. Failure results in premature return to materiality and disorientation (suffer a Penalty Die on their next significant action).
• Passive Qualities (while worn and functional):
  • Aether-Lightened Form: The Rig’s aetheric field provides a Bonus Die on all Climb rolls. If the wearer falls, any damage sustained is reduced by 3 points (to a minimum of 0).
  • Resonant Structural Perception: The wearer gains a Bonus Die on Spot Hidden or Cthulhu Mythos rolls specifically when attempting to discern structural weaknesses, hidden mechanisms, or unnatural planar geometry in their immediate vicinity (within 15 feet).
  • Void Echoes: The Keeper will inform the player if the character comes within 30 feet of a significant planar distortion, active gate, or unusually strong spiritual emanation. At the Keeper’s discretion, a successful Listen or Occult roll might be required to glean more specific (though often unsettling) information.
• Studying the Rig: Deciphering the Rig’s hybrid hyper-technology and alien energy principles requires a successful Hard Cthulhu Mythos roll and a Hard Science (Physics or Engineering) roll, taking at least 1D4 weeks of dedicated study. Success grants understanding but costs 1D4 Sanity points. Failure yields no insight and costs 1 Sanity point from mental frustration.

Blades in the Dark

The Rift-Walker’s Harness

• (A set of strange, articulated bracers humming with captured lightning and shadows from the ghost field. Takes up 2 Load.)
• This device uses Aether-Void Charges; it holds a maximum of 5. It regains 1 charge when you dedicate a downtime activity to its maintenance and attunement (describe how you tinker with its delicate mechanisms and soothe its volatile energies). Alternatively, in a desperate moment, you can clear 1 Stress to gain 1 charge.
• Abilities:
  • Grapple Launch (Mark 1 charge): When you use the harness to swiftly traverse complex environments or ascend to an advantageous position, you can roll with your Prowl or Finesse attribute.
  • On a critical success (6, 6), you achieve your movement perfectly and gain +1d to your next action due to your superior positioning or the suddenness of your arrival.
  • On a full success (6), you move to the desired location quickly and efficiently.
  • On a partial success (4/5), you make it, but there’s a consequence: you hesitate, make some noise, expose yourself to danger briefly, or mark 1 Stress.
  • On a failure (1-3), you falter, the grapple fails, or you end up in a worse position. The GM describes the trouble.
• Void Retract (Mark 1 charge): After a grapple line is set, you can describe how you instantly and silently retract to your anchor point, moving like a phantom. This grants Potency (increased effect level) to any action taken immediately upon arrival due to the surprise or unnatural speed.
• Phase Traverse (Mark 1 charge & 1 Stress): When traversing along a grapple line, you can choose to phase through a single physical obstacle (a wall, a barrier, another person) in your path. Describe this unsettling, brief distortion. This can be used as a Setup action, granting +1 effect level to a subsequent action by you or an ally that capitalizes on this maneuver. The Stress cost is due to the disorienting and unnatural sensation.
• Ghost Step (Mark 2 charges & 2 Stress): You become ethereal, like a ghost, for the current scene or until you willingly end the effect. While in this state:
  • You are invisible to normal sight and completely silent.
  • You can pass through solid objects (though dense materials might feel ‘thick’ or ‘resistant’ in the fiction).
  • You cannot physically interact with the material world (e.g., open doors, attack).
  • The Stress cost reflects the significant strain of detaching from reality. Each time you pass through a particularly dense or magically warded object, or if you witness something profoundly disturbing from your ethereal state, the GM may ask you to make a Resolve resistance roll to avoid further Stress or other consequences.
• Passive Qualities (These inform how you can narrate your actions and resist consequences when the Harness is part of your loadout):
  • Surefooted Agility: When you leverage the Harness for balance, to reduce the impact of a fall, or to make a daring leap, you can narrate its assistance. The GM might grant you improved effect or reduced consequence on relevant actions, or allow you to resist with Prowess with greater effect.
  • Structural Weakpoint Insight: When you actively scan your surroundings for structural vulnerabilities, hidden passages, or optimal anchor points for your grapples (perhaps an Investigate action), the Harness provides you with unusually keen insight. The GM will provide you with detailed information and potentially an unexpected opportunity.
  • Unnatural Resonance: The Harness subtly hums or grows cold when you are near significant concentrations of spectral energy, active rifts in the ghost field, or potent occult artifacts. The GM will use this to provide clues, forewarnings, or new avenues for investigation.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Vayne’s Dimensional Clasps

• Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)
• These dark, metallic forearm-mounted bracers are intricately engineered, with visible aetheric crystals that pulse with a soft blue light and a central violet core that emits a subtle, cold glow. While wearing and attuned to these clasps, you gain the following benefits:
• The clasps have 5 charges. They regain 1d4+1 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the void core overloads, rendering the clasps nonfunctional until they are repaired by a creature proficient with Tinker’s Tools and Arcana, requiring 8 hours of work and 100 gp worth of rare planar components (such as powdered aetheric crystal and a drop of shadowfell essence).
• Aetheric Grapple. As an action, you can expend 1 charge to launch a grappling hook from one clasp towards a point, object, or creature you can see within 80 feet. If targeting a point on a surface or an object, the hook lodges automatically. If targeting a creature, make a ranged spell attack (using your spellcasting ability modifier if you have one, or your Dexterity modifier otherwise; attack bonus = modifier + proficiency bonus). On a hit, the hook lodges in the creature’s clothing, armor, or hide.
  • A creature hooked in this way has its speed halved and cannot move more than 80 feet away from you. As an action, the creature (or another creature within 5 feet of it) can attempt to remove the hook by succeeding on a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check. The hook also detaches if you move more than 80 feet away from the creature.
  • While the hook is lodged, you can use your bonus action on subsequent turns to pull yourself up to 30 feet towards the hook’s location if it is anchored to a surface or an object heavier than you. If the hook is lodged in a creature no more than one size larger than you, you can use your bonus action to force it to make a DC 15 Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you pull the creature up to 20 feet towards you.
• Void Retraction. As a bonus action, if a grappling hook launched by this item is lodged in a surface or object, you can expend 1 charge to instantly retract the line. You are pulled to the hook’s location. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.
• Phase-Shift Traverse. As a reaction when you are moving along a grappling line deployed by this item, or when being pulled by Void Retraction, you can expend 1 charge to momentarily become ethereal. You can pass through one obstacle up to 5 feet thick (such as a wall or another creature) that is directly in your path without impediment. You must end this movement in an unoccupied space.
• Brief Etherealness. As an action, you can expend 2 charges. You then gain the effects of the blink spell for 1 minute (concentration is not required for this version of blink). However, you have greater control: at the start of each of your turns during this duration, you can choose whether to roll to remain on the Ethereal Plane or to remain on your current plane. If you choose to roll, you do so as described in the blink spell. While on the Ethereal Plane via this feature, you are invisible from the Material Plane, can move through objects and creatures there, and only see and hear the Material Plane as a muted, ghostly overlay.
• Passive Benefits (while attuned):
  • Aether-Lightened Form: You have advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks made to climb. When you make a running long jump or high jump, the distance you cover increases by a number of feet equal to your Dexterity modifier. When you fall, you can use your reaction to reduce any falling damage you would take by an amount equal to five times your proficiency bonus.
  • Structural Insight: You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made to spot structural weaknesses in constructions or terrain within 15 feet of you. Additionally, you have advantage on Intelligence (Investigation) checks made to determine the most secure point to affix a grappling hook or similar device.
  • Planar Disturbance Sense: You can sense the presence and general direction of planar portals or areas where the veil between planes is unusually thin within 60 feet of you. This sense manifests as a cold tingle running down your arms.

Knave (1st or 2nd Edition)

Rift-Climbers

• (2 Inventory Slots, worn on forearms. Quality: Alien, intricate, hums faintly.)
• These articulated metal bracers are cold to the touch, with embedded blue crystals and a core that pulses with a dim violet light. They possess 5 Aether-Void Charges. You can regain 1 charge by spending a full day in a safe location (like a town or workshop) carefully recalibrating their delicate internal mechanisms, or by finding and absorbing a source of potent magical energy (GM’s discretion).
• Abilities (When you use an ability, tell the GM and mark off the charges):
  • Launch Grapple (Costs 1 Charge): Fires a shimmering blue hook-line up to 80 feet (a very long distance).
    • To hit a specific small target (like a lever or a fleeing foe’s leg), you must succeed on a DEX save.
    • To anchor to a general surface, it usually just works unless the surface is obviously unsuitable (e.g., mist, crumbling sand). The GM might ask for a DEX save for precarious surfaces.
    • The line is incredibly strong (can hold a small cart). Allows you to climb or swing.
  • Void Retract (Costs 1 Charge): If your grapple line is anchored, you are instantly and silently pulled to that anchor point. This is very fast, happening in a moment.
  • Phase Traverse (Costs 1 Charge): If you are moving along your grapple line, you can choose to become momentarily like a ghost. You pass straight through one intervening obstacle (like a wall, a person, or a magical barrier, up to about 5 feet thick). You must have space to emerge on the other side. Using this is disorienting; make an INT save to avoid being unable to act for your next turn from the momentary sensory overload.
  • Ghost Form (Costs 2 Charges): For 10 minutes (typically one dungeon exploration turn), you become invisible and can walk through walls and other solid things. You cannot attack, carry items through walls (they fall off unless also ethereal), or speak loudly. You can still be harmed by magical attacks or creatures that can affect ghosts. If you take damage or are severely startled, you must make a WIL save to maintain the form.
• Passive Perks (These are always active if you are wearing the Rift-Climbers and they have at least 1 charge):
  • Feather-Footed: You rarely slip. When climbing or balancing, any related saves are made with advantage (roll twice, take the better result). If you fall, reduce the damage taken by 1d6.
  • Weak Spotter: When you take a moment to carefully examine a structure, wall, or large object within sight (about 15 feet), ask the GM. They will tell you about one hidden structural weakness, flaw, or unusually strong anchor point that you notice.
  • Rift-Sense: If an open portal to another world, a powerful ghost, or a place where reality is “thin” is within 30 feet, you feel a specific, unsettling coldness in the bracers, and the violet core might flicker more noticeably.

Fate Core System

Vayne’s Shifting Tethers

• This device is an Extra, represented by a set of interconnected aspects and stunts. It must be acquired through significant narrative effort.
• Core Item Aspect: Forearm-Mounted Aether-Void Rig (This grants permission to use its abilities and can be invoked or compelled).
• Supporting Aspects:
  • Sometimes I’m Here, Sometimes I’m Not
  • Sees the Unseen Cracks in the World
• Aether-Void Shuttles (Charges): The Tethers hold 5 Shuttles. They regain 1 Shuttle per scene where you have a chance to rest and perform minor attunement, or all Shuttles are restored after a session where significant downtime for maintenance is achieved.
• Stunts/Abilities:
  • Aetheric Grapple (Costs 1 Shuttle): When you need to traverse a significant distance quickly or reach an inaccessible point up to several zones away, you can Create an Advantage using Athletics or Shoot by establishing a Secure Grapple Line aspect with two free invokes on it for movement-related actions. Without spending a shuttle, you can still attempt to use the Tethers as high-quality grappling hooks, using Athletics to Overcome or Create an Advantage related to climbing or swinging, but without the enhanced speed, special effects, or extra free invokes.
  • Void Retraction (Costs 1 Shuttle): If a Secure Grapple Line aspect is currently active and anchored, you can instantly move to its anchor point. This allows you to swiftly Overcome a distance or obstacle. If used to achieve a surprising position, you may Create an Advantage such as Instantaneous Repositioning for yourself.
  • Phase-Shift Traverse (Costs 1 Shuttle): When moving along an active grapple line, you can declare you are phasing through a single physical obstacle (such as a wall, barrier, or non-sentient hazard, generally no thicker than would fill one zone) that directly intersects your path. This action automatically Overcomes that specific obstacle. The GM might compel your Sometimes I’m Here, Sometimes I’m Not aspect if the phasing effect causes momentary disorientation or leaves a faint, unsettling planar trace.
  • Brief Ethereal Step (Costs 2 Shuttles): You can render yourself ethereal and invisible for the duration of a scene, or until you choose to end the effect or attempt to physically interact with the material world. While ethereal:
    • You automatically Overcome physical barriers by passing through them.
    • You cannot physically affect or manipulate material objects or beings.
    • You can use this state to Create an Advantage like Ghostly Scout or Unseen Witness.
    • The GM can compel your Sometimes I’m Here, Sometimes I’m Not aspect to reflect the strain, the alien sensations of the Ethereal Plane, or the attention you might draw from entities native to it, potentially costing you a Fate Point to mitigate a complication.
• Passive Benefits (tied to the aspects):
  • Aether-Lightened Form: When the Forearm-Mounted Aether-Void Rig aspect is relevant to feats of agility, climbing, jumping, or reducing the impact of a fall, you may invoke it for a bonus or re-roll, or the GM might accept it as justification for a +1 bonus on relevant rolls.
  • Resonant Field & Void Echoes: You can invoke the Sees the Unseen Cracks in the World aspect to gain insight into structural weaknesses, ideal grapple points, or the presence of nearby planar disturbances, rifts, or potent ethereal entities when it is narratively appropriate. This aspect can also be compelled by the GM to draw you towards such phenomena or to highlight their dangers.

Numenera & Cypher System

Phase-Tether Bracers

• Level: 6 (Artifact)
• Form: A pair of sleek, dark-alloy bracers that conform to the wearer’s forearms. Intricate crystalline matrices within them glow with an alternating blue (aetheric) and faint violet (void) light when active.
• Effect: The Phase-Tether Bracers allow the wearer to manipulate personal position and state with a unique blend of energy projection and dimensional phasing. The bracers have an internal energy source.
• Charges: The bracers have an internal power source, effectively granting them 5 “Charges” for their primary abilities.
• Depletion: 1-2 on 1d6 (The GM should decide if this check is made per activation of a charged ability, once per hour of active use, or once per day. If depleted, the bracers become inert until exposed to a significant source of transdimensional energy – such as a powerful rift, specific iotum like Quantium or Thaumids, or the energies released by certain extra-dimensional creatures – and a successful Intellect-based task at difficulty 6 to recalibrate and recharge them over several hours.)
• Abilities:
  • Aetheric Tether (Action; Speed-based task for aiming, difficulty determined by GM based on target distance and stability, up to long range): The wearer launches a line of cohesive, shimmering blue energy from one bracer, which anchors securely to a solid surface it strikes. The line is strong enough to support the weight of several individuals (approx. 750 lbs). The wearer, or others, can then ascend or traverse along this line. Cost: 1 Charge.
  • Void Retract (Action): If an Aetheric Tether is currently active and anchored, the wearer can activate this function to be instantly and silently pulled to the tether’s anchor point. Cost: 1 Charge.
  • Phase Traverse (Part of movement while on an Aetheric Tether; Intellect-based task at difficulty 4 to maintain cohesion): While moving along an active Aetheric Tether, the wearer can choose to become momentarily insubstantial. This allows them to pass directly through a single physical barrier (up to a short distance in thickness, e.g., a standard wall) that lies in their path. A failed Intellect task might mean the phasing falters, causing the wearer to be rebuffed by the obstacle, or they might suffer 1 point of Intellect damage from the jarring psycho-spatial feedback. Cost: 1 Charge.
  • Ethereal Jaunt (Action; Intellect-based task at difficulty 5 to stabilize the dimensional breach): The wearer’s form becomes translucent, shimmering with faint violet and blue light, for up to one minute. In this state, they are effectively invisible to normal sight and can move through solid matter as if it were merely dense air. They cannot physically interact with the material world, and most material attacks pass harmlessly through them. Maintaining this state beyond a few rounds, or under duress, might require additional Intellect-based tasks at the GM’s discretion to avoid disorientation or other complications (GM Intrusion). Cost: 2 Charges.
• Passive Benefits (Constant while the artifact is worn and has at least one charge):
  • Enhanced Mobility: The bracers generate a subtle aetheric field that reduces the wearer’s effective weight and enhances their agility. All Speed-based tasks directly related to climbing, jumping, balancing, or acrobatics are eased by one step. Additionally, damage taken from falls is reduced by 3 points.
  • Structural Sense: The wearer gains an asset (eased by one step) on any Intellect-based task involving the perception or analysis of structural weaknesses, material vulnerabilities, or unusually stable anchor points within their immediate vicinity (immediate range).
  • Planar Instability Sense: The bracers resonate with local dimensional energies, causing them to hum faintly or grow noticeably cold when within short range of significant transdimensional phenomena, such as active rifts, powerful extra-dimensional entities, or areas where the laws of physics are unstable.

Pathfinder (2nd Edition)

Vayne’s Rift Striders

• Item 8+
• Rare, Magical, Invested, Evocation, Transmutation
• Price 450 gp (for a Level 8 version, price increases for higher-level versions)
• Usage worn bracers (pair); Bulk L
• These sleek, dark metal bracers are warm to the touch from their aetheric components yet emanate a subtle cold from their violet void cores. You must Invest this item for 1 hour to gain its benefits.
• The Rift Striders have 5 Charges. They regain 1d4+1 Charges daily at dawn. If all Charges are expended, you can attempt a DC 5 flat check; on a failure, the void core destabilizes, and the item becomes a mundane pair of bracers until Repaired (requiring 1 day of work by someone with Master proficiency in Crafting and the Magical Crafting feat, plus 100 gp worth of rare planar essences like Ethereal Essence or Shadow Essence).
  • Aetheric Line ([one-action] Interact) Cost 1 Charge; Requirements You are not currently maintaining an Aetheric Line from this item; Effect You launch a shimmering blue line of force from one bracer that extends to a solid surface or an unattended object within 80 feet that you choose. The line anchors securely and lasts for 1 minute or until you use this ability again. You can Climb this line with a Climb speed equal to your land Speed or 25 feet, whichever is less. The line can support up to 750 pounds.
  • Void Retraction ([free-action]) Trigger You have an Aetheric Line from the Rift Striders active and anchored to a surface; Cost 1 Charge; Effect You are instantly pulled to the anchor point of your Aetheric Line. This movement does not trigger reactions that can be triggered by movement.
  • Phase Through ([reaction]) Trigger You are moving along an Aetheric Line from the Rift Striders (including via Void Retraction) and your path would cause you to enter a space occupied by a physical obstacle (such as a wall, but not a creature unless it is inanimate like a statue) that is no more than 5 feet thick; Cost 1 Charge; Effect You become momentarily incorporeal, passing through the triggering obstacle. You must end your movement in an unoccupied space on the other side of the obstacle. This does not protect you from creatures or hazards on the other side.
  • Ethereal Jaunt ([two-actions] Interact) Cost 2 Charges; Effect You gain the effects of the gaseous form spell, except that instead of becoming a cloud of gas, you become ethereal (invisible and able to pass through solid objects and creatures as though they were difficult terrain). This state lasts for 1 minute, and you must Sustain the Activation each round (as per sustaining a spell, typically by spending a single action that has the concentrate trait). While in this form, you cannot affect the material world (except to Sustain this effect), and you are immune to most effects from the material world, though effects that function on the Ethereal Plane can affect you.
• Passive Benefits (while Invested):
  • Aether-Aided Agility: You gain a +1 item bonus to Athletics checks to Climb and Long Jump. When you Leap horizontally, increase the distance you Leap by 5 feet. When you fall, you can use your reaction to reduce the falling damage you take by an amount equal to half your level (minimum 1).
  • Resonant Perception: You gain a +1 item bonus to Perception checks to notice structural flaws, hidden mechanisms, or unusually stable anchor points in architecture or natural terrain within 15 feet.
  • Planar Sense: You gain an imprecise sense that allows you to detect the presence of active planar portals or areas where the boundaries between planes (particularly the Ethereal Plane) are unusually thin or weak within 30 feet of you. This manifests as a distinct chill or a faint, almost inaudible hum from the bracers.

Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE)

The Void-Shift Armatures

• Description: A pair of advanced, forearm-mounted devices crafted from an unknown black alloy, with embedded blue crystals and a core that emits a faint violet thrum. They feel strangely light yet immensely durable.
• Weight: 4 lbs.
• Notes: These Armatures are considered an Artifact. They possess their own internal power source.
• Power Points (Charges): The Armatures have 5 “Void-Aether Charges” (VAC). They recharge 1 VAC per hour of inactivity, provided they are exposed to some form of ambient energy (sunlight, strong winds, magical emanations, etc.).
• Abilities:
  • Aetheric Grapple (Action, Costs 1 VAC): The user makes an Athletics roll (this roll benefits from a +2 situational bonus due to the Armatures’ advanced targeting systems) to fire a shimmering blue grapple line up to 15″ (90 feet) which anchors securely to a chosen surface or object. If targeting a resisting individual to entangle or pull, this would be an opposed Athletics roll. The line is exceptionally strong (can support approx. 750 lbs) and allows the user to climb or swing at their normal Pace.
  • Void Retraction (Free Action, Costs 1 VAC): If a grapple line from the Armatures is currently anchored, the user can instantly retract the line, pulling themselves to the anchor point. This can be used once per turn. This movement does not provoke Disengagement attacks if the target was unaware of this capability.
  • Phase-Shift Traverse (Reaction, Costs 1 VAC): When moving along the grapple line (either by climbing, swinging, or via Void Retraction), if the user would collide with a physical obstacle (such as a wall, tree, or inanimate barrier up to approximately 2″ or 10 feet thick), they can activate this ability as a Reaction. They pass harmlessly through the obstacle. Using this ability is disorienting; the user must make a Spirit roll. Failure means they are Shaken; a critical failure means they are Stunned.
  • Ethereal Step (Action, Costs 2 VAC): The user becomes ethereal and invisible (as per the invisibility power, with the added benefit of being incorporeal). This state lasts for a standard duration of 5 rounds, or it can be maintained with Concentration (requiring a Spirit roll each subsequent round as an action). While ethereal, the user can pass through solid objects, cannot be affected by most mundane attacks, and cannot physically affect the material world. Some magical or supernatural attacks may still affect them.
• Passive Benefits (while worn and holding at least 1 VAC):
  • Aether-Lightened Form: The Armatures grant the wearer a +1 bonus to all Athletics rolls involving climbing or jumping. Furthermore, damage taken from falls is reduced by one die type (e.g., 3d6 becomes 2d6, 2d6 becomes 1d6).
  • Structural Analyzer: The wearer gains a +1 bonus to Notice rolls when specifically looking for structural weaknesses, hidden compartments, ideal grapple points, or other subtle architectural/environmental details within 5″ (30 feet).
  • Planar Echo Sense: The Armatures vibrate faintly or emit a subtle, almost inaudible whine if a significant planar portal, dimensional rift, or powerful extra-dimensional entity comes within 10″ (60 feet). The GM should inform the player of this sensation. A successful Notice or appropriate Knowledge skill roll might provide vague additional information about the nature of the disturbance.

Shadowrun (6th World)

“Vayneshard” Dimensional Harmonizers

• Type: Complex Gizmo (Incorporating advanced micromachinery, exotic materials, and what might be a stabilized astral shunt or a contained void-echo. Not standard cyberware due to its unique, possibly magical, energy source.)
• Rating: Device Rating 5 (for charge capacity and resistance to tampering)
• Availability: 20F (Forbidden – likely unique Pre-Crash tech, recovered artifact, or an experimental piece from a fringe corp or powerful magical group)
• Cost: Priceless (Acquired through significant narrative events, not typically purchasable. If a theoretical black market price were set, it would be upwards of 250,000¥ and attract immense, dangerous attention.)
• Aetheric-Void Charges: The Harmonizers hold 5 Charges. They regain 1 charge per hour when connected to a specialized high-energy power source (like a vehicle power core or a dedicated charging station requiring an Engineering + Logic [Mental] (4) test for setup) or, if its esoteric nature is embraced, via a complex ritual requiring 1 hour in a Magical Lodge of at least Force 5 with a successful Enchanting + Magic [Astral] (4) test.
• Mechanics:
  • Aetheric Grapple Line (Complex Action, Costs 1 Charge): Make an Exotic Ranged Weapon (Harmonizers) + Agility [Accuracy 5] test. The range is 80 meters. The threshold is determined by the target’s stability and distance (e.g., Threshold 2 for a large, stable nearby surface, up to Threshold 5 for a small, distant, or unstable anchor). A success means a shimmering, monomolecular-edged filament anchors securely (it has an effective Strength of 8 for supporting weight, approximately 340 kg or 750 lbs). Allows climbing using Gymnastics + Agility.
  • Void Retraction (Minor Action, Costs 1 Charge): If a grapple line is currently anchored, the user is pulled to the anchor point almost instantly and silently. This movement may bypass some forms of overwatch or reaction fire if the target is not prepared for such rapid, silent repositioning.
  • Phase-Shift (Interrupt Action, Costs 1 Charge): When moving along the grapple line, if the user would physically impact a solid barrier (up to 1 meter thick, like most standard walls or doors), they can spend a charge. Make an Intuition + Device Rating (5) [Astral or Mental] (3) test.
    • Success: The user passes through the barrier harmlessly.
    • Failure: The user impacts the barrier as normal.
    • Glitch: The user passes through but suffers 1D6S Stun damage from dimensional shearing and is disoriented for their next action (-2 dice pool penalty). Critical Glitch means they might become partially phased within the object for a moment, suffering Physical damage and potentially getting stuck.
  • Brief Ethereal Jaunt (Complex Action, Costs 2 Charges): The user makes an Intuition + Device Rating (5) [Astral or Mental] (4) test.
    • Success: The user becomes intangible and invisible (similar to the effects of an Improved Invisibility spell combined with incorporeality) for 1 minute (20 Combat Turns). This requires Concentration to maintain (Sustain as a Minor Action each turn). While in this state, they can pass through physical objects (dense materials may slow movement). They cannot physically interact with the material world. Attacks against them are made as if targeting a target with Extremely Good Cover and suffer a -6 dice pool penalty, and only attacks that can affect astral or phased forms (e.g., some spells, weapon foci, certain spirit powers) can harm them.
    • Failure: The ability fails to activate, and the user may suffer 1S Stun damage from energy feedback.
    • Glitch/Critical Glitch: As failure, plus a more severe consequence like temporary loss of another charge, attracting unwanted astral attention, or a brief, uncontrolled astral projection.
• Passive Benefits (while worn and powered):
  • Aetheric Celerity: The user gains +1 Edge on any Gymnastics tests directly involving climbing or jumping. When calculating damage from falls, reduce the effective distance fallen by 10 meters.
  • Structural Resonance: The user gains a +2 dice pool bonus to Perception tests specifically made to spot structural weaknesses, hidden supports, or optimal anchor points for the grapple line within 5 meters.
  • Void Echoes: The Harmonizers provide subtle haptic feedback (a faint vibration or chill) when the user is within 10 meters of an active astral rift, a powerful free spirit, an area with a high Background Count related to dimensional instability, or potent parageological phenomena.

Starfinder

Xeno-Dimensional Bracers MK III

• Level: 9; Price: 13,500 credits; Bulk: L (worn on forearms, does not count towards carried Bulk limits once donned)
• Type: Hybrid Item (Magic and Technology); Hands: —
• Capacity: 5 charges; Usage: Each activation consumes charges as noted below.
• Recharge: The bracers slowly draw ambient cosmic and planar energies, regaining 1 charge every hour they are not actively used for one of their charged abilities.
• Description: These masterfully crafted bracers are composed of an unknown, midnight-black alloy that seems to absorb light. Intricate aetheric crystals pulse with a soft blue luminescence, while a central focusing lens over each bracer glows with a faint, cold violet light indicative of a miniature void-energy tap.
• Abilities:
  • Aetheric Grapple (Standard Action, Costs 1 charge): You can target a point, an unattended object, or a creature within 80 feet.
    • If targeting a point or object, the grapple line anchors automatically, creating a stable line.
    • If targeting a creature, make a ranged attack roll (1d20 + your Dexterity modifier + your Base Attack Bonus or your primary spellcasting ability modifier, whichever is higher). This attack targets EAC. On a hit, the target gains the grappled condition, but its movement is only restricted by the 80-foot line; it can still attack. The creature can spend a standard action to attempt a DC 19 Acrobatics or Athletics check to escape.
    • You can use a move action to pull yourself up to 30 feet along the line if it’s anchored to a surface or an object significantly heavier than you. The line can support up to 750 lbs.
  • Void Retraction (Swift Action, Costs 1 charge): If an Aetheric Grapple line launched by this item is currently anchored to a point or object, you can instantly retract the line, pulling yourself to that location. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
  • Phase-Shift Traverse (Reaction, Costs 1 charge): When you are moving along an Aetheric Grapple line (including movement from Void Retraction), if you would collide with a solid barrier or object no more than 5 feet thick, you can activate this ability. You pass through the obstacle harmlessly, continuing your movement on the other side. You must end your movement in an unoccupied space.
  • Brief Ethereal Jaunt (Standard Action, Costs 2 charges): You become ethereal for 1 minute. While ethereal, you are invisible, gain a +20 circumstance bonus to Stealth checks, and can move through solid objects and creatures as if they were difficult terrain. You cannot attack, cast spells that affect creatures or objects on the Material Plane, or otherwise directly interact with the Material Plane. You can see and hear the Material Plane, but everything appears gray and indistinct. You are immune to most effects from the Material Plane, but force effects and abilities that can affect ethereal creatures can still harm you. This effect requires concentration (as if concentrating on a spell with a 1-minute duration).
• Passive Benefits (while worn and charged):
  • Aether-Buoyancy: You gain a +3 circumstance bonus to Athletics checks made to climb or jump. When you fall, you take damage as if the fall were 20 feet shorter than it actually is.
  • Structural Analyzer: You gain a +3 circumstance bonus to Perception checks or Engineering checks made to identify structural weaknesses, hidden supports, or find secure anchor points for grappling within 15 feet.
  • Planar Instability Sensor: The bracers vibrate almost imperceptibly and the violet core glows slightly brighter when you are within 30 feet of an active portal to another plane, an area of significant planar distortion (such as a gateway to the Drift being opened nearby), or a creature with strong extraplanar ties.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

‘Vayne’s Anomaly’ Personal Tether System (TL15)

• Tech Level (TL): 15 (Represents highly advanced, almost Precursor-level technology or a unique breakthrough by a solitary genius.)
• Skill (for understanding, repair, or replication): Science (xenology or dimensional physics) TL15 or Mechanic TL15 with appropriate specialization.
• Weight: 1.5 kg (for the pair); Cost: Cr 1,200,000 (Likely a unique artifact or extremely limited production, not commonly available for purchase. Price reflects rarity and advanced capabilities.)
• Power: Internal dedicated micro-fusion cell with a dimensional tap, providing 5 “Grav-Phase Charges.” Recharges 1 charge per 6 standard hours via induction from a ship’s power plant (requiring a compatible interface, Engineer (electronics) TL12 check) or a specialized TL15+ portable charger unit.
• Description: A pair of sleek, dark forearm-mounted units crafted from exotic composites. They feature crystalline emitters that glow with a faint blue light and shielded micro-cores that emit a barely perceptible thrum and cold spot.
• Abilities:
  • Grav-Hook Launch (Significant Action, Costs 1 Charge): The user makes a Dexterity-based skill check (e.g., Athletics (coordination) DM+2, or Gunnery (turret) DM+1 if specifically targeting a small, distant point) versus a difficulty based on range and target stability (target up to 25m/approx. 80ft). Success anchors a coherent gravitic tether (supports up to 350kg). Allows the user to ascend or descend along the tether at their normal movement speed.
  • Rapid Retraction (Minor Action, Costs 1 Charge): If a gravitic tether is currently anchored, the user is pulled to the anchor point almost instantaneously. This is silent.
  • Phase-Shift (Reaction, Costs 1 Charge): If moving along an active gravitic tether and about to impact a solid, non-shielded barrier (up to 1.5m thick), the user may attempt to pass through it. This requires an Average (8+) Science (dimensional physics) or Pilot (any) check by the user (representing intuitive control over the phasing field).
    • Success: The user passes through the obstacle without harm.
    • Failure: The user impacts the obstacle as normal. A roll of 2 on the 2D6 check (Mishap) could result in the system temporarily shorting out (1D6 minutes offline) or the user suffering 1D3 damage from field instability.
  • Brief Displacement Field (Significant Action, Costs 2 Charges): The user activates a personal displacement field, causing them to become out-of-phase with normal reality for 1D6+4 rounds (approximately 1 minute). While displaced, they are invisible to normal vision (sensors may detect an energy signature at DM-4) and can pass through solid objects (movement may be halved due to the effort of maintaining cohesion). They cannot physically interact with normal reality. Maintaining this field requires an Average (8+) Intellect or Psionic Strength check each round after the first; failure means the field collapses prematurely, and the user may be disoriented (DM-2 on actions for 1 round). This technology is extremely advanced and would attract significant attention from scientific or military bodies if widely observed.
• Passive Benefits (while powered):
  • Gravitic Assistance: The user gains DM+1 to all relevant skill checks for climbing or jumping. The effective distance of any fall is reduced by 5 meters for the purpose of calculating damage or injury.
  • Structural Analyzer Field: The system provides DM+1 to relevant skill checks (e.g., Engineer (mechanical) or Investigate) when attempting to detect structural weaknesses, hidden access points, or optimal anchor points within a 5-meter radius.
  • Anomaly Detection: The units provide a subtle haptic feedback or an almost inaudible whine if within 10 meters of significant gravitic anomalies, spatial distortions (such as those near a Jump drive activation), or active psionic phenomena of high magnitude.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition)

Elara’s Aethyr-Null Bracers

• Encumbrance: 30 (for the pair, surprisingly light for their apparent construction)
• Price: Unique Artifact (Effectively priceless; likely the reward of a perilous adventure, found in an ancient vault, or a dangerous commission from a shadowy patron like a Gold Wizard with unorthodox ideas or a collector of forbidden relics.)
• Availability: Unique (One of a kind, or exceedingly few exist.)
• Qualities & Flaws: Magical, Aethyric Attuned (Azyr), Shadow-touched (Ulgu/Dhar), Unstable, Complex, Recondite.
• Description: A pair of masterfully engineered black-iron bracers, inlaid with Azyrite crystals that shift with captured starlight and a core of polished obsidian that seems to devour ambient light, feeling unnaturally cold. They hum with barely contained power, a fusion of Celestial precision and the chilling emptiness of the Void. To attune to them and understand their basic function, one must spend at least a week in study and meditation, succeeding on a Very Hard (-30) Lore (Magic) Test or a Hard (-20) Channelling (Azyr) Test. Failure results in 1 Corruption point and an inability to use the bracers until further study. Critical failure might attract unwanted attention from Daemons of Chaos or Witch Hunters.
• Aethyr-Null Charges: The bracers hold 5 Charges. They regain 1d3-1 (minimum 0) charges at dawn if the wearer spent the night under an open sky (Azyr’s influence) or meditated within an area strongly aspected to Ulgu (like deep shadows or mist) without succumbing to its insidious nature. Alternatively, one might attempt a Dangerous Channelling (Azyr or Ulgu) Test to try and force 1 charge back into them; failure could lead to Miscasts or Corruption.
• Abilities:
  • Comet’s Leap (Full Action, Costs 1 Charge): The wearer makes a Challenging (+0) Ranged (Engineering) Test (to aim the arcane projection) or a Challenging (+0) Athletics Test (to intuitively guide the line) to launch a shimmering blue line of Azyr-infused energy up to 16 yards (80ft). This line anchors tenaciously to a chosen solid point. The wearer (and others, if careful) can then Climb this line as if it were a superior rope. The line itself is magically resilient and lasts for 1 minute or until this ability is used again.
  • Silent Heavenly Ascent (Move Action, Costs 1 Charge): If a Comet’s Leap line is currently anchored, the wearer can activate this ability to be pulled instantly and silently to the anchor point, moving with uncanny speed.
  • Passage of Mist and Shadow (Reaction, Costs 1 Charge): When moving via Comet’s Leap or Silent Heavenly Ascent, if the wearer would impact a solid, non-magically warded physical barrier (e.g., a thick wooden wall, a stone battlement, up to 1 yard thick), they may attempt to pass through it. The wearer must make a Hard (-20) Stealth (Agility) Test, infusing their form with shadow-stuff.
    • Success: They flow through the obstacle like mist, emerging on the other side.
    • Failure: They impact the obstacle as normal.
    • Astounding Failure (e.g., rolling 100): They not only impact but might also draw the attention of something unpleasant from the Aethyr or the shadows, or suffer a Minor Miscast as the unstable energies backlash.
  • Step Beyond the Material Veil (Full Action, Costs 2 Charges): The wearer attempts to wrench their form partially out of sync with the material realm, stepping into the liminal space between worlds. This requires a Very Hard (-30) Channelling (Ulgu or Azyr) Test.
    • Success (by 0-1 SL): For 1d3 rounds, the wearer becomes Ethereal (see WFRP rulebook for Ethereal creature traits – typically invisible, can pass through objects, cannot affect or be affected by most mundane things). They must make a Challenging (+0) Cool Test each round to maintain their focus and cohesion.
    • Success (by 2+ SL): As above, but the duration is 1 minute (10 rounds).
    • Failure: The ability fails to activate, the charges are lost, and the wearer gains 1 Corruption point due to exposure to raw, unharnessed energies.
    • Astounding Failure or rolling doubles on the Test: The ability fails catastrophically. Roll on the Major Miscast Table (or a specific table for Aethyr/Void corruption if available).
• Passive Benefits (while worn, attuned, and holding at least 1 Charge):
  • Azyrite Grace: The wearer gains a +10 bonus to Athletics Tests made for Climbing and Jumping. When calculating damage from falls, reduce the effective height of any fall by 2 yards.
  • Engineer’s Insight: The wearer gains a +10 bonus to Perception Tests when actively looking for structural weaknesses, hidden mechanisms, secret doors, or secure anchor points within 3 yards.
  • Whispers of the Void & Aethyr: The bracers grow noticeably cold or hum with a clear Azyrite tone when the wearer is within 6 yards of an active magical phenomenon, a dimensional instability (like a tear to the Realm of Chaos), a potent magical ward, or a creature strongly suffused with raw Dhar, chaotic energies, or potent Aethyric power. This may grant a +10 bonus to Intuition Tests to sense such disturbances.
• Perils of the Void: Each time the wearer uses “Step Beyond the Material Veil,” regardless of success, they must make a note. After a number of uses equal to their Willpower Bonus (minimum 1), they gain 1 Corruption point. Furthermore, prolonged reliance on the Void-aspected powers may subtly alter the wearer’s demeanor, making them colder, more detached, or attracting the attention of entities that dwell in the empty places between worlds (GM discretion).