Lore: The genesis of this unassuming magical device lies not with performers, but with their critics. It is said that the first Prompter was commissioned by a notoriously anxious playwright living in a vast, subterranean megacity. Desperate to know the true, unfiltered reaction of his audience during a premiere, he hired a psycho-resonant alchemist to create an item that could sense the emotional state of a crowd. The result was a simple copper hoop containing a focus crystal that vibrated in tune with the dominant emotions of nearby souls. The design proved effective, and while the original was clunky, artisans quickly refined it. The simplified, common version became popular with street performers wanting to know when to pass the hat, politicians learning to read a room, and negotiators looking to sense the opposition’s disposition.
Description: This item presents as a simple, unassuming hoop of tarnished copper, designed to be worn on the earlobe. The metal is smooth but lacks any polish or ornamentation. Dangling from the lowest point of the hoop is a small, roughly-cut shard of transparent quartz. The crystal itself is imperfect, filled with myriad internal fractures and cloudy inclusions that catch the light in unpredictable ways. The entire piece looks like a common trinket one might buy from a street vendor for a few copper coins. When worn, however, it is faintly warm to the touch, and the crystal occasionally pulses with a very soft, invisible energy.
Gained Stats While Worn
Enhances the wearer’s ability to discern the motivations and sincerity of individuals they are interacting with.
Grants a subtle, instinctual awareness of the general mood of a small group or crowd.
Color Tarnished copper and a clear, fractured quartz crystal.
Tags Common, Tier 1, Head, Earring, Magic, Metal, Roleplay, Divination, Alchemical, Steam-Powered, Clockwork, Isekai, Ancient, Elemental, Telepathic, Consumable, Biomancy
Passive Magic
Crowd Sense: The wearer gains a continuous, vague impression of the collective emotional state of any group of five or more individuals within their line of sight. This perception is not detailed; it manifests as a simple, instinctual feeling, such as “anxiety,” “amusement,” “hostility,” or “boredom.” It allows the wearer to get a general sense of how a crowd is reacting to events as they unfold.
Sincerity Gauge: The crystal earring acts as a subtle emotional resonator. When the wearer is listening to someone speak with profound sincerity or earnestness, the earring feels briefly cool against their skin. Conversely, when a speaker is engaging in a deliberate and strongly felt deception, the earring becomes faintly warm for a moment. It does not react to lies of omission, ignorance, or instances where the speaker believes their own falsehood.
Active Magic
The Right Line: By focusing on a single target in a conversation and clearing their mind, the wearer can activate the earring’s divinatory function. For a fleeting moment, a single, simple impression forms in the wearer’s mind, representing the target’s most immediate emotional need or desire in that moment. This might be a word (“approval”), a concept (“escape”), or a simple image (a fist, a coin). This insight is meant to guide the wearer’s next words or actions. This can only be attempted on the same person once per hour.
Spotlight Focus: The wearer can physically touch the quartz crystal to activate a state of heightened perception on a single individual. For the next ten seconds, the wearer’s senses home in on that target, making them acutely aware of every micro-expression, shift in posture, and change in breathing. The rest of the world seems to fade into the periphery. This provides a significant advantage to a single skill use meant to read, persuade, or intimidate that person during the effect. This intense focus is draining and leaves the wearer’s own senses feeling dull and muted for a minute afterward.
Specific Slot Ear (Left or Right Lobe)
Availability and cost fluctuate significantly based on the commercial environment in which it is sold:
Metropolitan Guildhalls and Specialized Boutiques
In the world’s major population centers—such as the floating city of Aeridor, the cavern-megacity of Gloomhome, or the bustling port of a trade-focused island nation—these items can be acquired from reputable, specialized establishments. These might be Theatrical Supply shops nestled in entertainment districts, Diplomatic Outfitters catering to politicians and their aides, or the direct storefront of an Arcaneer’s or Tinker’s Guild.
These shops are typically clean, well-lit, and professionally managed. The earrings would be displayed in glass cases, often resting on velvet cushions. A potential buyer would be attended to by a knowledgeable clerk who can explain the function of the item and its magical properties. In many high-end establishments, a “Resonance Stone” is available on the counter, a diagnostic tool that glows when a magical item is placed upon it, verifying that its enchantments are active and stable. Transactions are formal. Haggling is often considered impolite, and the price is usually fixed. Payment is made in coin, and the shop provides a receipt in the form of a small parchment slip bearing the guild’s seal, which serves as a proof of authenticity.
Typical Cost: Due to high overhead, guaranteed quality, and the cost of maintaining a formal business in a metropolis, the price is at a premium. A single earring like the Ear of the Thespian or the Ear of the Prompter would typically cost a firm 15 Gold.
Open-Air Markets and Tinker’s Stalls
In the sprawling markets of most towns and cities, one can find numerous vendors selling a miscellany of goods. Amongst the food stalls and textile merchants, there are often tinkers, curio dealers, and purveyors of common magic. These sellers operate from carts, tents, or blankets laid out on the cobblestones. Here, the earrings would be found jumbled in a wooden tray or hanging from a display board alongside other minor charms, enchanted rings, and alchemical potions.
The process of buying is an expected social ritual of haggling. The vendor will name a high price, and the buyer is expected to counter with a lower one, with both parties negotiating until an agreeable middle ground is reached. The quality can be variable; while most items are genuine, some may be weaker copies or have slightly flawed enchantments. A savvy buyer would insist on testing the item, perhaps by trying to activate one of its functions discreetly. Transactions are completed with a handshake and the exchange of coin. There are no receipts and no guarantees once the buyer walks away.
Typical Cost: The environment is competitive and prices are flexible. A seller might initially ask for 14 Gold. A skilled negotiator could likely acquire one for around 9 Gold. A buyer in a hurry or one who is poor at haggling might pay 12 Gold. Payment could be made in mixed currency, such as 8 Gold and 4 Electrum.
The Underworld and Black Markets
Given the inherent utility of these earrings for deception, espionage, and social manipulation, they are a staple commodity in less-reputable circles. In the dimly lit back rooms of taverns, hidden bazaars in city sewers, or from a shadowy fence operating in a port’s alleyways, one can almost always find these items for sale.
Here, the transaction is defined by discretion and speed. The item is not displayed openly. A buyer would need to know the right code words or signals to even initiate a conversation. The seller, or “Fence,” would present the earring palmed in their hand, allowing only a brief inspection. The quality is usually reliable, as purveyors in this world value their reputation for delivering functional tools. Haggling is possible but risky, as it can be interpreted as a sign of trouble or disrespect. Payment is expected in untraceable coin, and asking for a receipt would be met with suspicion or hostility.
Typical Cost: Prices in the underworld are based on risk and demand. A seller might charge a premium for the convenience and secrecy, setting the price at 18 Gold. Alternatively, if they need to move merchandise quickly, they might offer it for a bargain price of 10 Gold and 1 Electrum for a no-questions-asked cash deal.
Traveling Merchants and Remote General Stores
On the vast oceans between the 73 Island countries and in the remote, backwater villages, specialized magical goods are scarce. A traveling merchant’s caravan or a ship laden with goods from afar is often the only source for such items. These merchants carry a wide but shallow inventory, and might only have one or two such earrings acquired from a city market. Likewise, the “General Store” in a small, isolated settlement might have one sitting on a dusty shelf for years.
In these situations, the seller has a local monopoly. The transaction is less about haggling over price and more about whether the buyer can meet the seller’s demands at all. The merchant knows that the buyer has no other options. The item might be offered for coin, but in remote areas, a barter for valuable local commodities—rare alchemical reagents, monster parts, crates of preserved food, or even information—is often preferred.
Typical Cost: The price is significantly inflated due to scarcity. A traveling merchant might demand 20 Gold or even 2 Platinum for a single earring, knowing that a desperate buyer will pay. A village storekeeper who doesn’t fully grasp the item’s value might sell it for a seemingly random price, such as 7 Gold, 8 Silver, and 12 Copper, simply because that’s what they feel it’s worth.
The application of this item varies greatly with the environment:
In a Bustling Urban Marketplace: This environment is a chaotic sea of commerce, opportunity, and danger. An avatar is just one face in a crowd, and information is currency.
Offensive Use:
An avatar wearing the Ear of the Thespian could use its Momentary Mask ability to perfectly mimic the voice of a dock foreman, shouting that a certain ship is infested and its cargo is worthless. This act of sabotage could drive down the price of goods they wish to purchase from a rival merchant.
With the Ear of the Prompter, an avatar could use Crowd Sense to identify a group of anxious and distracted individuals near a fountain. Using The Right Line on one of them reveals a one-word impression: “lost.” The avatar can then approach as a helpful local, offering directions to exploit their vulnerability for a “finder’s fee” or to lead them into an alley for a less pleasant encounter.
Defensive Use:
If cornered by city guards who suspect the avatar of pickpocketing, the Ear of the Thespian becomes a vital defensive tool. The Subtle Countenance passive masks the wearer’s nervousness, while the Vocal Resonance passive allows them to deliver a confident, unwavering denial. If pressed, they could activate Tears of the Crocodile to manifest a convincing, tearful breakdown, claiming to be a victim themselves, thus shifting blame and gaining sympathy to de-escalate the confrontation.
An avatar with the Ear of the Prompter can use the Sincerity Gauge to detect the falsehood in a street vendor’s sales pitch or, more critically, in a stranger’s offer of a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” As they walk through the crowd, the Crowd Sense ability can warn them of rising hostility, giving them a crucial head start to exit the area before a riot or a guard crackdown begins.
During a Tense Diplomatic Negotiation: Here, the battlefield is a polished table, and the weapons are words, leverage, and perception. Every action is scrutinized.
Offensive Use:
The Ear of the Thespian allows its wearer to go on the offensive with powerful emotional appeals. They can use Vocal Resonance to deliver a speech with such clarity and conviction that it sways neutral parties. In a moment of feigned concession, activating Tears of the Crocodile can create an illusion of profound sincerity, manipulating the opposing diplomat into believing they have won a major victory while giving up very little.
The Ear of the Prompter is a scalpel in this setting. Activating Spotlight Focus on the opposing negotiator allows the wearer to see the almost invisible facial tick when a certain trade proposal is mentioned, revealing a hidden weakness. Using The Right Line can give the wearer the key to the entire negotiation—a mental impression of “security” or “legacy”—allowing them to frame their entire argument in terms that will appeal directly to their opponent’s core desires.
Defensive Use:
When faced with an unexpected and damning accusation, an avatar wearing the Ear of the Thespian can rely on Subtle Countenance to maintain a perfect poker face, showing no flicker of recognition or guilt. They can parry the accusation with a voice steadied by Vocal Resonance, preventing any sign of weakness.
The Ear of the Prompter is the ultimate defensive tool for a negotiator. The Sincerity Gauge passively alerts the wearer to when an opponent’s “final offer” is a bluff versus when their threat is truly sincere. Crowd Sense, when applied to the opposing delegation, can reveal if their united front is genuine or if the wearer’s arguments are causing fractures and dissent among their ranks, signaling that they should press their advantage.
In a Hostile Wilderness Encounter: When encountering suspicious patrols, territorial hunters, or bandit roadblocks, survival often depends on avoiding a physical fight.
Offensive Use:
Faced with a bandit toll, an avatar with the Ear of the Thespian could use Momentary Mask to mimic their leader’s voice, shouting from a hidden position for the men to investigate a false alarm down the path, creating an opportunity to sneak by.
An avatar wearing the Ear of the Prompter can use The Right Line on a territorial hunter to understand their chief concern is “trespassers.” The avatar can then proactively and convincingly state that they are merely seeking safe passage and have no intention of poaching game, immediately addressing the unspoken fear and shaping a peaceful outcome.
Defensive Use:
If captured by bandits, the Ear of the Thespian can be used to mount a psychological defense. The avatar can use Vocal Resonance and Subtle Countenance to bluff with unnerving confidence, speaking of a powerful and vengeful ally who is tracking them. This creates doubt and fear, turning the avatar from a simple victim into a potential liability the bandits would rather release.
The Ear of the Prompter provides critical early warnings. As the avatar approaches an unknown camp, Crowd Sense gives a feeling of its disposition—relaxed, fearful, or hostile—allowing for a safe approach or a wide berth. If held at arrow-point, using Spotlight Focus on the leader can reveal if their threatening posture is backed by resolve or hiding deep-seated fear, informing the avatar whether to surrender or attempt to de-escalate.
Perception of Activation:
User’s Perspective
When an avatar wills the Ear of the Prompter to activate one of its more potent abilities, such as Spotlight Focus, the world is suddenly and dramatically altered through their senses. The activation is an internal, overwhelming event that floods the user with targeted information at the cost of all else.
Sensory Perceptions:
Sight: The moment of activation causes an instantaneous shift in vision. Everything in the user’s peripheral view desaturates, losing color and detail, blurring into a muted, grey tableau. The target of the focus, however, snaps into hyper-realistic clarity. Colors on their clothing seem more vibrant, the texture of their skin is rendered in infinitesimal detail, and every subtle twitch of a muscle around their eyes or mouth becomes a glaringly obvious event. It is like looking at a single, perfect photograph while the rest of the world is an impressionist painting.
Sound: All ambient noise abruptly fades into a distant, muffled hum, as if the user’s head has been submerged in water. The clatter of a market, the whispers of a court, or the howl of the wind are all reduced to a non-existent background drone. In stark contrast, every sound originating from the target becomes unnaturally amplified. The user can clearly hear the soft whisper of their breathing, the subtle rustle of their clothing with each shift of weight, and the almost imperceptible click of their tongue before they speak.
Touch: The first physical sensation is a spike of heat from the tarnished copper hoop against the earlobe, a warmth that is sharp and distinct, far more intense than the item’s usual passive heat. This is followed by a tingling sensation that feels like static electricity running from the earring down the side of the neck, a physical manifestation of the magic being drawn and focused.
Smell and Taste: These senses are almost entirely suppressed. The aroma of food, the stench of the sewers, or the fresh scent of rain are all erased from perception. The user may experience a brief, faint taste of ozone or burnt copper on their tongue, a phantom sensation caused by the flow of arcane energy through their body.
Extra-sensory Perception: The user feels a distinct mental “lurch” as their consciousness forges a temporary, one-way link to the target. It is a feeling of invasive focus, as if a part of their mind has reached out and is palpating the target’s immediate physical state. They are flooded with a torrent of raw, non-verbal data—tiny shifts in posture, pupil dilation, breathing rate, and muscular tension—that their brain scrambles to interpret into meaningful insight.
Positives:
The user gains an unparalleled, momentary advantage, receiving a flood of information that makes the target’s intentions, deceptions, or anxieties transparent.
This intense focus allows for the formulation of a perfect response or action, tailored precisely to exploit the target’s immediate emotional and physical state.
The internal nature of the activation gives the user the element of surprise, as the target is unaware they are being so deeply scrutinized.
Negatives:
The user suffers a total loss of situational awareness. They are completely blind and deaf to anything other than their target, making them vulnerable to being surprised, flanked, or attacked by another party.
The sensory whiplash is mentally jarring, and the after-effect, where all senses are dulled for a full minute, leaves the user disoriented and vulnerable.
The intense flow of information, if used too frequently, can cause sharp headaches, mental fatigue, and a lingering sense of dissociation from reality.
Observer’s Perspective
To an outside observer, the activation of the earring is an exceptionally subtle event. There is no flash of light or crackle of energy. The magic is almost entirely contained within the user, making it a powerful tool for subterfuge.
Sensory Perceptions:
Sight: A casual observer would likely notice nothing at all. A more keen or suspicious observer, however, might notice a few strange tells. They might see the user subtly touch their earring. For the ten-second duration of an ability like Spotlight Focus, the user’s eyes may appear to lose their normal tracking motion, becoming fixed on their target with an unnerving, predatory stillness. Their gaze might seem to flatten, as if they are looking through the target rather than at them.
Sound: There is no sound associated with the activation that an observer could hear.
Touch: An observer would feel nothing.
Smell and Taste: An observer would perceive no change in smell or taste.
Extra-sensory Perception: A being with the ability to sense magic might perceive a very brief and faint “spike” in arcane energy coalescing around the user, immediately followed by a thin, directed “thread” of that energy extending towards the user’s target. To a non-magical observer, there is no perceptible change.
Positives:
The primary positive from an observer’s point of view is that the ability is almost completely clandestine. The user can gain a massive social or strategic advantage without revealing that they are using magic at all.
The lack of any overt display means the activation is unlikely to provoke or escalate a situation, maintaining the user’s cover.
Negatives:
To a highly perceptive observer (such as another adventurer or a trained inquisitor), the user’s sudden stillness and unnaturally intense stare can be a red flag. It signals that something is happening beneath the surface.
This intense focus can be interpreted as aggression or intimidation, potentially causing the target to become defensive or hostile without understanding why. It can unintentionally sabotage a delicate social interaction if the observer misinterprets the user’s state.
Artisan’s Schema: The Prompter’s Hoop
This document outlines the standard guild-approved process for the creation of a common, Tier 1 arcane device known as a Prompter’s Hoop. Adherence to these steps ensures a stable and reliable enchantment. Deviations may result in a non-functional or, in rare cases, an unstable and hazardous item.
Materials Needed
One 10cm length of raw, untreated copper wire.
One raw, unflawed Shard of Whisper-Quartz, no smaller than a thumbnail. (Note: Whisper-Quartz is identifiable by the faint, high-frequency hum it emits when held by a sentient being).
Three drops of solidified “Empath’s Tears” (an alchemical suspension of psychically resonant biomatter).
A single pinch of finely powdered Rhodium-purified silver.
One standard “Lesser Mana Cell” to power the process, or direct proximity to a significant source of ambient magical energy (e.g., a ley line confluence).
Tools Required
A set of Jeweler’s Pliers and Wire Cutters.
A Small, hardened-steel Anvil and a lightweight Jeweler’s Hammer.
An Alchemical Mortar and Pestle (must be crafted from non-reactive obsidian or ceramic).
An Arcane Focusing Lens or a scryer’s crystal of at least 2cm diameter.
A Resonance Tuning Fork keyed to the note of C-sharp.
A small magical forge or a brazier fueled by a trapped fire elemental mote for a consistent, controllable heat source.
Skill Requirements
A crafter must possess the following trained skills to attempt this schema with a reasonable chance of success:
Artificing (Novice)
Jewelry Crafting (Basic)
Alchemical Lore (Basic)
Attunement (Novice)
Crafting Steps
Forming the Hoop: Begin with the mundane construction. Using the pliers and cutters, fashion the 10cm copper wire into a simple, open hoop sized for an earlobe. One end should be filed to a dull point, and the other should be worked into a small, secure loop to act as a clasp. Place the hoop on the anvil and use the jeweler’s hammer to lightly texture and harden the copper, ensuring a sturdy, uniform shape. Set the completed hoop aside.
Preparing the Crystal: Take the remaining length of copper wire and meticulously wrap the Whisper-Quartz shard, creating a small “basket” or cage that secures the crystal without obscuring its primary facets. Leave a small loop at the top of the basket for attachment to the hoop. This step requires a delicate hand, as fracturing the quartz will ruin it for enchantment.
Creating the Resonance Paste: In the alchemical mortar, place the pinch of powdered silver. Carefully add the three drops of solidified Empath’s Tears. Using the pestle, gently grind and mix the components together. The mixture will slowly transform into a shimmering, faintly glowing paste with the consistency of thick honey. This paste is the conduit for the enchantment and is only viable for a short time.
Assembly and Application: Attach the caged Whisper-Quartz to the bottom of the copper hoop. Using a small wooden stylus, carefully apply the entirety of the Resonance Paste to the points where the copper basket makes contact with the main hoop. The paste will seem to be absorbed into the metal, leaving behind only a faint, silvery sheen.
The Enchantment: This is the most critical step. Place the assembled earring onto a fire-resistant ceramic dish inside the forge or brazier. Heat the item until the copper begins to glow a dull, cherry red. Strike the Resonance Tuning Fork and hold it near the earring; the Whisper-Quartz should begin to vibrate sympathetically, emitting a low, audible hum. Now, position the Arcane Focusing Lens to channel the energy from the Lesser Mana Cell directly onto the humming crystal. The hum will rise in pitch, and the silvery sheen from the paste will flare with a bright, white light. Maintain this energy flow until the light subsides and the hum returns to its original low pitch. This signifies the enchantment has stabilized within the crystal matrix.
Cooling and Final Attunement: Immediately remove the earring from the heat source and allow it to cool naturally on a non-conductive surface. Do not quench it, as the thermal shock will shatter the enchantment. Once cool to the touch, the crafter must wear the earring for one full minute. They will feel a faint warmth and a subtle “pressure” in their mind as the device attunes to their personal magical signature. The earring is now complete and ready for use.
Quiet Master and Loud Play-Maker
And it was, in the age before the sky-ships sailed with great wind, that there was a man. His name was called Loric, and he was a maker of plays, which are fabrications of truth for a stage. His home was in a city deep below the stone, where the light was made by glowing moss and the air was ever still. Loric was a man of great mind, and the plays he wrote were full of thoughts heavy as lead and ideas sharp as glass. But his soul was a vessel with a great crack, for he feared the people who came to see his fabrications.
He did not fear their thrown food, nor did he fear their empty chairs. No, he feared their hearts. For when they clapped their hands, he thought, they clap for a false thing they see, not the true thing I have written. And when they were quiet, he thought, they are quiet because they do not understand the great truth. Their loud feelings were like a storm on the ocean of his perfect thoughts, and he was made sick by them.
And so Loric, he sought a way to hear not the noise of the heart, but the quiet of the mind. He sought to know if they understood his great truth, in silence. The people told him of an Artisan, a woman who lived where the city ended and the deep rock began. They called her the Quiet Master, for she spoke no words and her workshop was a place of no sound.
Loric went to the deep place, and it was a long walk on a dark road. He found the workshop, which was a cave, and the door was a great stone that drank all sound. He entered and saw the woman. She was old, and her hands moved like slow spiders, weaving things of metal and stone. She did not look at him, but he spoke his need. He said, I wish for a thing to put on my body that will let me hear the understanding of a person, not the foolish noise of their heart.
The Quiet Master, she stopped her work. She looked at Loric for a long time, and her eyes were like dark water. She did not speak, but she nodded her head one time. She made a motion with her hand, for him to bring her three things. A bell that had forgotten its voice. A stone that had never known light. The hard water from a feeling man’s eye.
Loric, he went away and his quest was long. He went to the endless ocean and dove to a sunken temple, and he brought back a piece of a great copper bell, green with sea-salt and silence. He went to the heart of a mountain and broke open a geode that had been in darkness since the world was made, and he took from it a shard of quartz, clear as air and holding the great pressure of the deep earth. And he found a mystic who was said to feel all the pains of the world, and he traded a great treasure for a single tear that had been caught and turned to crystal by an alchemic process.
He brought these things to the Quiet Master. She took them, and she began her work. She put the copper of the silent bell into a fire that made no sound, and she shaped it into a hoop, a perfect circle. She took the heart-stone of the mountain and fastened it to the hoop with wire thin as a thought. Then she took the hard water from the feeling man’s eye, and she crushed it into a dust that shimmered with sad colors. She put this dust on the hoop, and she held it up to a beam of light that came from no known source. The dust melted into the metal, and the hoop gave one, soft hum that was the sound of a question being answered. She gave the hoop to Loric.
Loric, he put the earring on his ear. The world did not change. He went to his great theater for the first showing of his greatest fabrication, a play about the nature of a perfect, singular Truth. The people came. The actors spoke the heavy words. The play ended. The people were silent for a moment. Loric, he touched the hoop. He activated its power.
He wished to hear their minds, to know if they understood his Truth. But the hoop did not hear minds. The translation of his desire was wrong. The hoop heard hearts.
And what he heard was not a great understanding. From one man, he heard a powerful, simple feeling: boredom, and a great hunger for a hot meal. From a woman, he heard a wave of deep sadness, not for the play’s great Truth, but for a single, small line that reminded her of her lost brother. He heard from an actor on the stage a spike of pride and a pulse of jealousy for another actor. He heard from a merchant a dull worry about his leaking roof. He heard from a young woman a bubbling joy that had nothing to do with the stage, but everything to do with the hand she was holding in the dark.
It was a storm. A storm of a million small, messy, simple truths. Not his one, great, perfect Truth. It was the sound of life. And this sound, this true sound of the heart he had so feared, it broke the vessel of his mind. He screamed a silent scream and ran from his own theater, out into the deep darkness of the city under the stone, and was not heard from again.
The moral of the story: To seek the absolute truth of the heart is to find a million different truths, and this is a great burden for a single mind to hold.
Suggested conversions to other systems:
Call of Cthulhu, 7th Edition
The Empath’s Folly
A simple, tarnished copper hoop dangling a flawed quartz crystal. It feels faintly warm to the touch. The artifact was rumored to be crafted for a playwright in a lost city, an artist who was driven mad when he finally heard the raw, unfiltered truth of his audience’s feelings. It is a tool for understanding the human heart, but the Cthulhu Mythos teaches that some truths are not meant for mortal minds.
Game Mechanics: An investigator possessing the earring must keep it on their person, typically worn, for its effects to function. Merely possessing the artifact may draw unwanted attention from entities that feed on emotion.
Passive Empathy: The wearer may add one bonus die to all Psychology skill rolls made to determine a person’s motives or to detect if they are lying. The wearer also gains a vague, instinctual sense of the dominant emotion of any crowd of a dozen or more people, which the Keeper will describe in a single word (e.g., “fearful,” “angry,” “joyful”).
Active Resonance (Spotlight Focus): By touching the earring and concentrating on a single human target, the wearer can attempt to “tune in” to their psyche. This costs the user 1 Magic Point and requires a POW x 5 roll.
On a Success: For the next minute, the target suffers one penalty die on any opposed roll to resist the wearer’s Persuade or Intimidate checks. The wearer, however, is consumed by this focus; they are effectively deaf and blind to everything else and will automatically fail any Listen or Spot an Hidden rolls. This intense focus costs 0/1d2 Sanity Points.
On a Fumble: The wearer is overwhelmed by a torrent of psychic feedback from the target and the buzzing chaos of the cosmos. They immediately lose 1d4 Sanity Points and suffer from a bout of temporary insanity.
Mythos Insight: Each time the wearer uses the Active Resonance ability, there is a chance they perceive not just the target’s emotions, but the subtle, alien influence pulling at their soul. The Keeper may call for a Cthulhu Mythos roll; success grants a terrible insight but comes with the requisite Sanity loss.
Blades in the Dark
Ghost-Echo Hoop
A loop of tarnished Doskvol copper, dangling a shard of quartz harvested from the ghost-haunted Deathlands. It doesn’t resonate with thoughts, but with the emotional echoes that cling to every soul in the city, living and dead. When you wear it, the whispers of the ghost field become a bit clearer, a bit more personal.
Item Type: Arcane Implement Load: 1
Game Mechanics: The Ghost-Echo Hoop provides the following benefits to the scoundrel who wears it and attunes to it during their downtime.
Crowd Sense: When you Survey a scene or location, you can read its emotional residue. You get +1 effect to your roll. The GM will tell you the lingering, dominant emotion of the place.
Sincerity Gauge: When you try to Sway or Command someone, you can read the truth of their emotional state. You may suffer 1 stress to ask the GM if the target is being truthful or deceptive with you at that moment. The GM must answer honestly.
Spotlight Focus: When you perform a Prowess or Resolve action targeting a single individual, you may choose to enter a state of total focus. You may take +1d to your roll. However, you are psychically exposed and cannot tick your armor boxes to reduce the severity of any consequences that result from this action.
Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition
The Prompter’s Charm Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)
This simple copper earring dangles a shard of rough, cloudy quartz. While wearing this charm, you gain a subtle insight into the emotions of those around you.
Insightful Ear. While wearing this earring, you have advantage on all Wisdom (Insight) checks.
Active Abilities. The earring has 3 charges. It regains 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn. You can expend its charges to gain the following benefits:
Read the Room (1 Charge). As an action, you can open your senses to the emotional state of a group. For 1 minute, you know the general disposition and mood of any humanoid within 30 feet of you that is not hidden from you (for example, you can tell if they are generally friendly, hostile, fearful, or cheerful).
Spotlight Focus (1 Charge). As a bonus action, you can focus your attention on one creature you can see within 60 feet. For the next minute, you have advantage on all Charisma (Deception) and Charisma (Persuasion) checks directed at that creature. During this time, you have disadvantage on any Wisdom (Perception) check made to perceive anything other than the target creature.
Knave, 2nd Edition
Copper Earring of the Audience
Inventory: Takes 1 slot. Worn on ear.
Description: A simple hoop of tarnished copper holding a flawed quartz crystal. It allows the wearer to sense the hearts of others, for good or ill.
Game Mechanics:
Passive: When you are in a crowd, the GM will tell you its general mood (e.g., “angry,” “celebratory,” “nervous”). When talking to a single person, you can always tell if they are being blatantly deceptive, though you may not know the exact truth.
Active: You may use the earring’s power once per day in one of the following ways:
Glimpse Motivation: Point to one character. The GM must tell you, in one or two words, what that character wants most in the current situation.
Unnerving Focus: For the next minute, you are completely focused on one character. Any saves they make against your attempts to persuade, trick, or intimidate them are at disadvantage. The cost is that you are considered blind and deaf to everything else. Any enemy that attacks you during this time automatically hits.
Fate Core System
The Heart’s Own Stage
This simple copper hoop is more than an object; it is a story waiting to be told. It doesn’t show you facts, but truths—the messy, inconvenient truths of the heart. It forces you to see the stage play of emotion that underlies every conversation, a perspective that is as much a burden as it is a gift.
Game Mechanics: The Heart’s Own Stage is best represented as an Extra that grants the character a new Aspect and special permissions.
Aspect: Upon attuning to the earring, the character gains the Aspect Wielder of the Heart’s Own Stage.
This can be invoked by spending a Fate Point for a +2 bonus or a reroll on any skill roll related to perceiving emotions or discerning motives, such as Empathy. For example, “Because I am the Wielder of the Heart’s Own Stage, I see the flicker of fear in the captain’s eyes and know he’s bluffing.”
This can be compelled by the GM to introduce a complication based on an inconvenient truth the character perceives. For example, “Your partner is giving you a reassuring smile, but as the Wielder of the Heart’s Own Stage, you can feel their overwhelming terror. You can’t shake the feeling they’re about to betray you to save their own skin. Of course, you could just ignore it…” The character gains a Fate Point if they accept the complication.
Special Permission: Read the Room. The character can inherently sense the dominant mood of a scene (e.g., tense, joyful, suspicious) without needing to make a roll.
Stunt: Spotlight Focus. Once per scene, you can spend a Fate Point to enter a state of intense focus on one other character. When you take the Create an Advantage action against this character using the Rapport skill, you automatically succeed with one free invocation.
Numenera & Cypher System
Empathic Resonator
This device appears to be a simple copper hoop from which dangles a shard of some imperfect, milky crystal. In truth, it is a psychoreactive datasphere link from a prior world, designed to translate the bio-signatures of sentient beings into comprehensible emotional states. It filters the chaotic noise of a creature’s mind down to the resonant frequency of their heart.
Level: 5
Form: A small copper hoop with a dangling crystal, worn on the ear.
Effect: While worn, the wearer is trained in tasks involving discerning lies or determining a person’s true mood. If the character is already trained in such tasks, they are specialized instead. In addition, the artifact has two active functions:
Glimpse Motivation (Action): The wearer can focus on one creature within short range. The GM tells the player a one-word summary of the target’s current, most powerful motivation (such as “Greed,” “Escape,” “Dominance,” or “Safety”).
Psychic Spotlight (Action): The wearer can activate a state of intense focus on one creature within short range. For the next minute, all tasks performed by the wearer to persuade, deceive, or intimidate that creature are eased. However, during this time, all other tasks the wearer attempts that rely on perception are hindered.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check each time Psychic Spotlight is activated).
Pathfinder, 2nd Edition
Prompter’s Earring Item 4 Uncommon | Divination | Invested | Magical Price 90 gp Usage worn, earring
This tarnished copper hoop holds a roughly-cut, cloudy quartz crystal that gently warms when emotions run high nearby. Originally conceived by a playwright to gauge his audience, this earring grants you an uncanny insight into the hearts of others.
While wearing the earring, you gain a +1 item bonus to Perception checks to Sense Motive.
Activate [A] envision; Frequency once per 10 minutes; Effect You focus on a single creature you can see within 30 feet. You instantly learn its current emotional state. The GM tells you its disposition toward you (e.g., friendly, indifferent, hostile) and its most prominent, surface-level emotion (such as happiness, anger, or fear).
Activate [A] concentrate; Frequency once per day; Effect You designate one creature you can see within 30 feet as your focus for 1 minute. You gain a +1 status bonus to Deception and Diplomacy checks against that creature. During this time, you are fascinated by the creature. This fascination ends if the target becomes hostile to you or your allies.
Savage Worlds Adventure Edition
The Empath’s Edge
This small copper earring seems like a worthless trinket, but to those who know, it’s a powerful tool in the arsenal of any grifter, diplomat, or spy. It doesn’t read minds—that’s the stuff of high magic—but it does read hearts, and sometimes, that’s more than enough.
Game Mechanics:
Sincerity Gauge: The wearer gets a +1 bonus to Notice or Common Knowledge rolls made to discern a person’s mood or to detect if they are lying.
Spotlight Focus: By spending a Bennie, the wearer can activate the earring’s focus on a single target for the next five rounds. During this time, the wearer gains a +2 bonus on Persuasion checks and Intimidation or Taunt Tests made against that target.
The Price of Focus: While Spotlight Focus is active, the wearer is so engrossed that they are considered permanently Distracted until the effect ends.
Shadowrun, 6th Edition
Aztechnology Empath-Imp
A sleek, corporate-branded earpiece made of a burnished copper-alloy, with a small, artificially grown quartz crystal nestled near the ear canal. Marketed on the Matrix as a ‘next-gen social enhancement tool’ by a shell corp, street-level gossip knows it’s an Aztechnology arcane prototype. It doesn’t just amplify sound, it amplifies intent, giving the wearer a dangerous edge in the world of shadows and lies.
Type: Magical Gear Rating: 3 Availability: 12R Cost: 15,000¥
Game Mechanics: This device is a subtle magical focus that must be worn to function. Its active magical nature is obvious to anyone actively using Assensing.
Passive Empathy: The wearer gains a +1 dice pool bonus to all Judge Intentions tests.
Active Social Read (Major Action): Once per day, the wearer can activate the Imp’s core function when making a Con, Etiquette, or Negotiation test against a single target. The user gains an amount of Edge equal to the device’s Rating (3 Edge) which can be spent on that test.
Astral Footprint: When the active ability is used, it creates a significant astral signature. Any character with Astral Perception who succeeds on an Assensing test will know that potent manipulation magic was just used. Even to mundane perception, the user’s intense focus can be unnerving; after using the Active Social Read, the wearer takes a -1 dice pool penalty on all other social tests for the rest of the scene as they appear distracted or predatory.
Starfinder
AbadarCorp Psycho-Grapnel Earring
A discreet earring consisting of a simple copper hoop and a shard of flawed, lab-grown quartz. A nearly invisible AbadarCorp logo is etched into the metal. It functions as a specialized personal sensor, bypassing normal audio/visual data and instead tapping into the minute bio-signature fluctuations and pheromonal cues that betray a creature’s true emotional state. It’s an invaluable tool for any diplomat, merchant, or spy operating in the Pact Worlds.
Level: 5 Price: 2,900 credits Bulk: — Slot: Slotless (worn on ear)
Game Mechanics:
Passive Analysis: You gain a +2 insight bonus to Sense Motive checks to discern if a creature is lying.
Crowd Dynamics: You gain a +2 insight bonus on Perception checks to get a general sense of the mood of a group or crowd.
Pinpoint Motivation (Standard Action): Once per day, you can activate the earring to perform a deep scan on one creature you can see within 30 feet. You instantly learn its current disposition toward you (Helpful, Friendly, Indifferent, Unfriendly, or Hostile) and its most prominent surface-level emotion (such as fear, anger, or curiosity), as determined by the GM.
Focus Target (Move Action): Once per day, you can designate one creature as your focus for 1 minute. During this time, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate checks against that creature. While this ability is active, your focus is narrowed and you take a –2 penalty to Perception checks that don’t involve the target.
Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)
Zhodani Mind-State Monitor
This device is a small, unassuming copper hoop with a crystalline psionic-wave conductor. It is a piece of restricted Zhodani technology, designed as a training aid for their own Telepaths or as a subtle interrogation tool. It does not read thoughts directly but filters and amplifies the raw psychic static of emotion, translating it into a format the wearer’s brain can comprehend. In the Third Imperium, possession of such an item is highly illegal and will attract the immediate and unfriendly attention of the Psionics Institutes and Imperial authorities.
TL: 14 Mass: — Cost: Cr 450,000 (market price) Legality: Forbidden (Illegal in most systems outside the Zhodani Consulate)
Game Mechanics: This device is a psionic amplifier that must be worn to function.
Effect on Psions: A character with the Telepathy talent gains DM+2 on any skill checks made to sense a target’s emotional state.
Effect on Non-Psions: A character without psionic talent can attempt to use the device. Once per day, the user may make a Telepathy 0 check as if they had a Psi score of 3.
On a success: The user gets a single, clear impression of the target’s current emotional state (e.g., calm, agitated, deceptive, afraid).
On a failure: The user suffers a splitting headache for 1d6 hours, taking DM-1 on all Intellect- and Education-based checks.
Risk: The device is an active psionic transmitter. Each time it is used, there is a chance it may be detected by other psions in the vicinity. Furthermore, any failure on a check made using the device by a non-psion may result in psychic feedback, potentially leading to long-term psychological quirks at the Referee’s discretion.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 4th Edition
The Earring of Unsettling Truths
This tarnished copper ring, dangling a shard of grimy quartz, feels cold to the touch, no matter the ambient temperature. It is a relic of a Tilean playwright who, in his vanity, sought a magical advantage to better control his audience. He bound a sliver of Ulgu, the Grey Wind of shadow and illusion, into the trinket. It did not show him what he wanted, but what was truly there: the petty, selfish, and often base emotions of the common man. The truth drove him mad, and the earring now carries that same touch of paranoia for any who would dare wear it.
Qualities: Magical, Subtle, Corrupting
Game Mechanics:
Whispers of the Heart: While wearing the earring, you are sensitive to the emotional currents around you. You gain a +10 bonus to all Intuition Tests made to discern a person’s immediate feelings or determine if their mood is genuine.
Focus the Grey (Active Ability): Once per day, you may whisper a command word to the earring to focus its power on one target you are in conversation with. For the next minute, you may add +1 Success Level to any successful Charm or Intimidate Tests you make against that target.
The Price of Insight: Immediately after using the “Focus the Grey” ability, you must make a Challenging (+0) Cool Test. If you fail, the raw influx of unfiltered emotion overwhelms you, and you gain 1 Fatigued Condition as you are left mentally drained.
Curse of Paranoia: This item is tainted by the nature of Ulgu. Each time you use its active ability, you must secretly note it down. When you have used the ability a number of times equal to your Willpower Bonus (minimum 1), you must make a Difficult (–10) Endurance Test. If you fail, you gain 1 Corruption Point and suffer from a bout of acute paranoia until the end of the session, believing that even your closest allies are hiding things from you and acting on their own selfish motives.