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Resonance Shroud 912 of the Eternal Breath

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by

Dale
in

Lore: The Resonance Shroud 912 is a legendary synthesis of five disparate disciplines: the silence of the mangroves, the empathy of the healer, the radiance of the inner soul, the stability of the mountain’s breath, and the discord of the stirring winds. It was reportedly forged in the “Nexus of Five Currents,” where a Tier 5 Master Artificer sought to create an object that could perfectly balance the emotional and physical pressures of the multiverse. By fusing the Malagan wood with crystalline shards and pressurized brass, the creator bound the ability to both incite chaos and restore peace into a single heartbeat. To wear the 912 is to hold the strings of the world’s emotional and mechanical fabric; it is the ultimate tool for a character who must walk between the seen and unseen, the calm and the storm.

Description: This Tier 5 artifact is a masterwork of integrated design. It takes the form of an intricate, full-face cowl-mask that extends down to a reinforced brass collar. The lower portion is crafted from grey, rippling Malagan driftwood that pulses with blue bioluminescent veins. Embedded within the “maw” of the mask are crystalline shards that shimmer with iridescent liquid, while a small, silver-white bell—the clapperless Empath’s Chime—hangs delicately from the throat. Layered obsidian plates and etched brass vents wrap around the neck and shoulders, exhaling a constant, cool silver vapor that smells of petrichor and ozone. The entire surface shifts color and texture to mimic the environment, yet glows with a soft, dawn-sky nimbus when its power is focused.

Stats:

  • Tier: 5
  • Durability: Indestructible (Artifact status)
  • Charisma Modifier: +5
  • Constitution: +3
  • Stealth Modifier: +5 (Nullifies all light-based disadvantages)
  • Magic Capacity: 500 units of stabilized flow

Skills Gained (While Openly Worn):

  • Grand Mastery of Awareness: The user automatically diagnoses all mechanical, emotional, and magical pressure faults within 100 feet.
  • Social Architecture: The ability to perfectly read and manipulate the “Qi” of any social environment, granting absolute advantage on Persuasion, Intimidation, and Deception checks.
  • Sovereign Stealth: The user can move at full speed while remaining camouflaged and silent in any environment, including open or sterile areas.

Tags: Apparatus, Tier 5, Artifact, Camouflage, Emotional Manipulation, Steamcraft, Geomancy, Soul-Binding, Silent, Social Distortion, Industrial, Benevolence, Facewear, Ethereal, Multiversal, Harmonic, Relic, Sentient, Pressure-Linked, Biometric, Resonant, Aegis, Transcendent, Apex

Passive Magics:

  • Omniscience of the Eye: Combines the Mind’s Eye with Pain Sense; the wearer instantly knows the health, species, emotional state, and physical location of every sentient being within 300 feet, regardless of cover or invisibility.
  • Field of Absolute Equilibrium: The stabilizer vents create a 60-foot permanent aura where steam lines cannot rupture, magical overloads are neutralized, and allies gain +50% resistance to heat, fire, and force damage.
  • Aura of the Transcendent Veil: The wearer’s presence is “withheld” from the universe. Undead, spirits, and constructs cannot perceive the wearer unless the wearer chooses to be seen. Light and shadow bend naturally around the mask to ensure the wearer is always aesthetically perfect.
  • Whisper of Constant Motion: A low-frequency vibration disrupts the concentration of all enemies within 60 feet, imposing a permanent penalty to their attack rolls and spellcasting checks.

Active Magics:

  • Symphony of the Five Currents (3/day): The wearer rings the internal chime to trigger an immediate, massive emotional shift in a 100-foot radius. The user chooses: Total Serenity (all combat stops), Total Discord (all targets attack each other), or Total Hope (allies gain 50 Temporary HP and 5 Mana Boost).
  • Barrier of the Stone-Breath Pulse (2/day): Anchor the collar’s pressure to the ley lines to create a 30-foot shimmering dome of force for 1 hour. Nothing can pass through the dome unless the wearer allows it.
  • The Vanishing Maw (Continuous): The wearer can activate an “Echo-Absorbing” field at will. For the duration, the wearer and up to five allies produce no sound, scent, or thermal signature across all planes of existence.
  • Radiant Essence Manifestation (1/day): The wearer consumes a charge of Stone-Breath to release the Luminous Veil in a blinding flash. All enemies are Stunned for 1 minute, while the wearer gains +10 to Charisma and becomes a “Beacon of Solace” visible across the entire plane.

Specific Slot:

  • Face (Worn Item): This single object occupies only one slot on the avatar’s face/head, despite its integrated components.

Item Hit Points and Disabling Magic

The Resonance Shroud 912 possesses a structural integrity born from the fusion of brass, obsidian, and solidified resonance. To effectively disable the item’s magical functions, an attacker must target the object directly and overcome its Item Hit Points (IHP).

  • Total Item Hit Points: 250 IHP.
  • Threshold for Disablement: If the item takes 125 damage (50% of its total IHP), the internal steam pressure and magic circuits become misaligned. At this point, all Active Magics are disabled, and Passive Magics function at only 50% effectiveness (ranges halved, bonuses reduced).
  • Total Magical Collapse: If the item reaches 0 IHP, it does not shatter (due to its Tier 5 artifact status), but it becomes “inert.” In this state, it provides no mechanical bonuses, and the avatar loses the Mind’s Eye enhancements provided by the item.
  • Damage Resistance: Because it is a Tier 5 artifact, the item has Hardness 20, meaning any individual hit against the object must exceed 20 damage to reduce its IHP at all. It is immune to all non-magical damage.

Repair Process

If the Resonance Shroud 912 is damaged or rendered inert, it cannot be mended by mundane blacksmithing. The repair requires a synthesis of the five disciplines used in its creation:

  • The Calibration Ritual: A Tier 5 Engineer or Artificer must anchor the item to a Ley-Node or a Breathing Forge.
  • Materials: Repair requires 1 unit of Stone-Breath fuel and 1 phial of Luminous Veil (or its raw ingredients) to lubricate the internal obsidian plates and re-sensitize the glass shards.
  • The Process: The crafter must use a Tuning Fork to realign the Empath’s Chime while maintaining a Ritual Silence for four hours. During this time, the steam pressure must be manually stabilized using a Steamforge Anvil.
  • HP Recovery: Successfully completing this ritual restores all IHP and re-activates the dormant magics. Between sessions, if the item is not inert, it slowly self-repairs at a rate of 5 IHP per Long Rest due to the Living Forge Field passive logic.

In the world of Saṃsāra, obtaining a Tier 5 artifact like the Resonance Shroud 912 of the Eternal Breath is an achievement that marks a character as a global power. Such items are rarely found in standard commerce; they are the results of high-level convergence, divine favor, or the accumulation of immense wealth in the world’s most exclusive metropolises.

Methods of Obtaining the Resonance Shroud 912

  • Convergence Crafting: The most common way to obtain this specific item is by a Tier 5 character performing a “Grand Convergence Ritual.” This requires the physical possession of all five Tier 1 base items and a Master Artificer’s workshop (such as the Breathing Forge). The process involves folding the ley-resonant properties of the five items into a single physical matrix over several days of ritual silence and pressure stabilization.
  • The Inheritance of Legend: Due to its “Sumaq Variant” lineage, a character might quest to find the original shroud of the vanished sage. This often involves navigating “Deathly areas” in the high-altitude ruins of Peakhold or the submerged mangrove vaults where the original Malagan spirits dwell.
  • The Sovereign Trade: High-level gestalts (characters with 5 avatars) sometimes trade these items at the highest levels of global politics to secure the safety of an entire island nation or to fund the construction of a floating megacity.

Venues for Purchase and Sale

While you cannot buy a Tier 5 artifact at a common market, Saṃsāra has three distinct types of venues where such a transaction might occur:

1. The Celestial Exchange (Floating Metropolises) Located in the highest skyscrapers of floating cities like Aerishan, these are not shops so much as private banking sanctums.

  • Buying: Access is restricted to Tier 5 characters or those with Royal Licenses. The price is staggering because the item represents the peak of industrial and magical achievement.
  • Cost to Buy: 500 to 700 Rhodium. * Selling: The Exchange buys such items to keep them out of the hands of “Rule Breakers” or rival nations.
  • Cost to Sell: 350 Rhodium (plus a permanent diplomatic favor from the City Council).

2. The Guild Matriarch’s Private Vault (The Breathing Forge) The primary manufacturers of the stabilizer component, the Breathing Forge Guild, occasionally possess a 912 model that has been returned to them or crafted by a Grandmaster.

  • Buying: One does not simply pay; one must undergo a “Resonance Trial” to prove their soul can dominate the item without it shattering.
  • Cost to Buy: 400 Rhodium and a requirement to complete a Tier 5 quest for the Guild.
  • Selling: The Guild is the only place that offers a “Master’s Recertification,” which significantly increases the resale value to other elite buyers.
  • Cost to Sell: 280 Rhodium (if the bioluminescent tubing is intact).

3. The Shadow Estuary Black Market (Urin Pacha Substrata) In the dark cave megacities, the 912 is traded in total secrecy. This is the only place where “Rule Breakers” can acquire the shroud without government oversight.

  • Buying: The price is highly inflated due to the risk of “The Punishment” (god-sent pain) and the scarcity of Tier 5 gear.
  • Cost to Buy: 900 to 1,200 Rhodium. * Selling: Illicit traders are desperate for Tier 5 gear to bolster their own private gestalt guards.
  • Cost to Sell: 600 Rhodium (no questions asked, payment often made in raw magic crystals).

4. The Pilgrim’s High Shrine (Jungle Ruins of Teyûn) This is the only “non-monetary” venue. Shrines to the Vanished Sage may hold a shroud as a holy relic.

  • Buying/Acquisition: Cannot be bought with coin. The “cost” is a spiritual trade: the character must sacrifice their Tier 4 gear and perform a year of service to the mangrove spirits.
  • Selling: Donating the item to a shrine grants the character a permanent “Soul-Muted” blessing, even when not wearing the mask.

Environmental Roleplay: The Resonance Shroud 912 in Action

The Resonance Shroud 912 of the Eternal Breath is a tool of supreme environmental dominance. At Tier 5, the item no longer merely reacts to the world; it dictates the reality of the space the avatar occupies. Below is the roleplay application of its powers across the diverse landscapes of Saṃsāra.

High-Altitude Sky-Cities and Zeppelins

  • Defense: In the thin, volatile air of the floating metropolises, the wearer uses the Barrier of the Stone-Breath Pulse to create a pressurized sanctuary. When a rival sky-ship detonates its mana-reactors, the Shroud’s Field of Absolute Equilibrium prevents the concussive force from reaching the avatar’s allies, turning a lethal explosion into a harmless ripple of silver mist.
  • Offense: During an aerial boarding action, the wearer activates the Whisper of Constant Motion. As they step onto the enemy deck, the low-frequency vibrations cause the ship’s crew to lose their footing and focus, while the Vanishing Maw ensures the wearer is a blur of shifting light. They can dismantle a ship’s helm controls while remaining spiritually “invisible” to the vessel’s defensive gargoyles.

The Drowned Mangroves and Coastal Deltas

  • Defense: In its ancestral home, the Shroud’s Aura of the Transcendent Veil makes the avatar a ghost. As the great spirit-plumed predators of the Ikhalu-Sar hunt for soul-scents, they pass directly over the avatar, perceiving only the smell of wet ash and the texture of rotting wood. The wearer can stand in the center of a necromantic storm, completely protected from “soul-scrying” by the mask’s deep Malagan roots.
  • Offense: The wearer uses Symphony of the Five Currents to trigger “Total Discord” among the lurking spirits of the marsh. Ghost-herons and drowned warriors are whipped into a frenzy of unrest, attacking one another to clear a path for the avatar. The wearer moves through the swamp at full speed, their footsteps silenced by the Echo-Absorbing Maw, striking from the shadows like a thought that was never voiced.

Subterranean Megacities and Deep-Cave Labyrinths

  • Defense: In the echo-chambers of the dark caves, the Omniscience of the Eye allows the wearer to “see” through miles of solid rock. They detect the heartbeat and physical pain of trapped miners or hidden assassins long before they are encountered. If a cave-in occurs, the Steamcraft Regulation skill allows the wearer to stabilize the tectonic pressure of the machinery, preventing a chain-reaction collapse.
  • Offense: The wearer can activate Radiant Essence Manifestation in the absolute darkness of the deep. The resulting “Luminous Veil” flash doesn’t just blind foes; it sears the eyes of creatures accustomed to the dark, leaving them stunned for a full minute. While the enemies reel, the wearer uses Social Architecture to command the surviving cave-dwellers, their voice amplified by a charismatic authority that brooks no defiance.

Volcanic Ridges and the Breathing Forges

  • Defense: Within the searing heat of a forge-city, the wearer is an island of cool. The Living Forge Field repairs the avatar’s mechanical tools in real-time as they work, while the mask’s vents exhale a stabilizing vapor that neutralizes heatstroke. The wearer can walk through flowing lava or steam-jets that would melt a Tier 1 avatar, protected by the Field of Absolute Equilibrium.
  • Offense: By manipulating the Stone-Breath Conversion, the wearer can siphoned ley-energy directly from the volcanic vents. They can then release this stored energy as a Reclamation Pulse in reverse—not to heal, but to cause a “Backflow Quake” in enemy automatons, shattering their internal gears through harmonic dissonance.

Open Plains and Deserts

  • Defense: In environments with no natural cover, the Sovereign Stealth skill is most apparent. The Shroud mimics the shimmering heat-haze and the flat color of the dunes so perfectly that a scout looking directly at the wearer sees only the horizon. The Aura of Calm ensures that desert beasts, such as giant sand-serpents, treat the avatar as a non-threatening fixture of the landscape.
  • Offense: The wearer uses the Beacon of Solace to create a false target. By projecting a brilliant light across the plains, they draw all “lost” or “searching” enemies toward a specific point, leading them into an ambush or away from a vulnerable caravan. As the enemies converge on the light, the wearer—hidden by the Vanishing Maw—picks them off with silent, precision strikes.

Perception of Activation: Resonance Shroud 912

User’s Perspective

  • Sight: The world transforms into a high-fidelity overlay of data. You see the “soul-threads” of everyone within 300 feet as shimmering, colored silhouettes. The Malagan wood at your jawline ripples, and a soft, dawn-sky nimbus edges your field of vision, clarifying hidden details and highlighting pressure faults in nearby machinery with a red, rhythmic pulse.
  • Sound: All ambient noise—the roar of steam engines or the howl of wind—is instantly vacuumed away, replaced by a deep, resonant silence. Within this silence, you hear the “internal chime,” a clear, crystalline note that rises in pitch as you focus on specific targets. You can hear the heartbeats of others like a distant drum.
  • Touch: A sudden, grounding weight settles on your shoulders as the brass collar locks into the ley-flow. You feel a soothing, cool vapor—smelling of petrichor—circulating against your skin, while a steady, high-frequency vibration thrums against your throat, matching your own pulse.
  • Smell/Taste: The sharp, metallic tang of ozone fills your sinuses, followed by the crisp taste of cold mountain spring water on your tongue, even in the middle of a desert.
  • Extra-Sensory: You experience a profound state of “Centering.” Your own emotional turbulence vanishes, and you feel an umbilical connection to the plane itself. You perceive the “non-existence” of your own physical form, feeling like a ghost that has chosen to wear a mask. You sense the “weight” of the mountain breathing alongside you.

Observer’s Perspective

  • Sight: The avatar’s face seems to dissolve. Where a person stood, there is now a blurred distortion of bark, stone, and shifting light. The bioluminescent veins in the mask pulse with a blinding blue intensity, and a thick, silver mist exhales from the collar vents, swirling in a 60-foot radius.
  • Sound: There is a total auditory dead-zone around the wearer. You see their lips move (if the mask allows), but no sound emerges. Instead, you feel a low-frequency vibration in your own chest that makes your teeth ache and your concentration waver.
  • Extra-Sensory: Spirit-sensitive observers see a “hole” in the world. The avatar’s aura doesn’t just dim; it vanishes, replaced by a terrifying, cold void that feels ancient and indifferent. Undead nearby turn their heads away, unable to process the presence.

Positives

  • Total Environmental Mastery: The wearer gains absolute tactical and social awareness, effectively becoming an omniscient presence on the battlefield.
  • Unshakable Calm: The user is immune to fear, panic, and emotional manipulation while the item is active.
  • Protective Sanctuary: Provides a high-tier defensive buffer for the wearer and all nearby allies against mechanical and elemental catastrophes.

Negatives

  • Psychic Burnout: The sheer volume of sensory input—hearing every heartbeat and sensing every mechanical fault—can lead to severe mental exhaustion after the activation ends.
  • The Uncanny Valley: The “Soul-Muted” presence is so profound that even allies may find the wearer terrifying or “wrong,” leading to social discomfort once the mask is removed.
  • Dissociation: Prolonged use causes the wearer to lose touch with their own identity, as the mask’s “Withheld Skin” logic begins to make them feel more like a fixture of the world than a living being.

Recipe: The Grand Convergence of the Eternal Breath

Items Merged

Additional Materials Needed

  • 10 Rhodium Filaments: Used to bridge the tier gap and conduct high-pressure magic flow.
  • 5 Units of Stone-Breath Fuel: To maintain the extreme temperatures required for obsidian-driftwood fusion.
  • 1 Gallon of Arcane Flux Oil: To prevent the disparate magical signatures from detonating during the merge.
  • 1 Heart-Shard of a Greater Elemental: To provide a sentient-tier battery for the constant passive effects.
  • 1 Phial of Primordial Petrichor: To bind the scent and sensory “grounding” of the item.

Tools Required

  • The Sovereign Forge: A Tier 5 industrial facility capable of cross-planar resonance.
  • Tuning-Hammer of Sumaq: To align the heartbeat of the user with the chime’s frequency.
  • Obsidian Etching Array: For carving the integrated wave-knot and terrace patterns into the merged shell.
  • Vacuum-Sealed Pressure Chamber: To prevent the Luminous Veil from evaporating during the heat of the merge.
  • The Eye of the Artificer (Tier 5 Magnification): To see the microscopic ley-thread intersections.

Skill Requirements

  • Grandmaster Steamcrafting (Tier 5): To regulate the internal pressures of the merged apparatus.
  • Master Alchemy (Tier 4+): To stabilize the iridescent liquid and star-sap components.
  • Spirit-Weaving (Tier 5): To successfully “withhold” the soul-scent of five items into one.
  • Geomantic Engineering: To align the final object with the world’s natural ley-weather.

Crafting Steps

  1. The Stripping of the Shells: Place all five items in the Sovereign Forge. Use the Obsidian Etching Array to carefully strip the exterior casings of the Steam Stabilizer and the Malagan Mask, exposing the raw ley-circuits and spirit-veins.
  2. The Alchemical Infusion: Submerge the Feng Shui crystalline shards and the Empath’s Chime into a solution of Luminous Veil and Arcane Flux Oil. This “sensitizes” the materials to respond to a single emotional trigger.
  3. The Layered Fusion: Gradually wrap the Malagan driftwood around the Steam Stabilizer’s capsule core. Use the Rhodium Filaments to stitch the driftwood to the brass plates, creating a single physical “cowl” structure.
  4. Pressure Locking: Insert the Heart-Shard of a Greater Elemental into the central chamber. Seal the obsidian vents and begin a slow Stone-Breath burn to bring the internal pressure to exactly 1,200 psi.
  5. Harmonic Tuning: As the pressure peaks, strike the Empath’s Chime with the Tuning-Hammer of Sumaq. The user must hum the “Song of the Five Currents” to synchronize their own pulse with the emerging artifact.
  6. The Ritual Silence: For the final four hours of the cooling process, the workshop must be kept in absolute silence. Any sound made during this phase will cause the “Echo-Absorbing Maw” to fail, resulting in a Tier 1 item rather than a Tier 5.
  7. Sovereign Binding: Once the blue bioluminescent veins begin to pulse in rhythm with the cooling brass, the petrichor phial is shattered over the mask. This “grounds” the artifact to the world of Saṃsāra, finalizing the Tier 5 transition.

Ten-Thousandth Breath and Mask of Neither-Side

In the elder-times, before the Sky-Vomit had cooled and when the Mountains still walked upon their knees, there lived the Great-Mender, whose name is written as a sound of wind through a cracked pot. This one sought the Absolute-Stillness, yet was plagued by the Screaming-Voices of the World.

The Mender took the Skin-of-the-Quiet-Marsh (which sees but is not), and the Bell-of-the-Hollow-Chest (which weeps for the unseen), and the False-Face-of-the-Star-Water (which shines with the light of things that are not there). To these, the Mender added the Iron-Lung-of-the-High-Smoke and the Glass-of-the-Whipping-Air.

Upon the Anvil of the World’s Core, the Mender beat these five into a single Shape. The translation is muddy here, suggesting the Mender used the “Heart-Blood of a Stone” and “The Silence of a Dead God” as the glue. As the Hammer fell, the world forgot how to speak for three days. When the smoke cleared, there sat the Resonance Shroud 912, a face that was every face and no face at once.

The story tells that the Mender put upon the Shroud and walked into the Great-Discord-War. Where there was Fire, the Shroud exhaled the Cool-Vapor of the Mountain, and the Fire became as Ice. Where there was the Shout of Hate, the Shroud rang the Inner-Chime, and the warriors fell to their knees in a Great-Lamenting of Love. The Mender became the Ghost-of-the-Middle-Path.

But the Shroud grew heavy with the weight of “Seeing-Everything.” The Mender could hear the pain of the worms beneath the earth and the sorrow of the stars above the clouds. The “Skin-of-Withholding” began to withhold the Mender from their own soul. On the final day, the Mender stood at the edge of the End-World and breathed out. The breath was so stable, so balanced, that it became a bridge to the Beyond-Place.

The Mender crossed the bridge, but the Shroud remained, for it was too “Heavy-with-World” to leave the World. It was found by a blind man who thought it was a rock, and by a king who thought it was a god, but to all, it remained a Face that breathes for the Land when the Land is too tired to breathe for itself.

Moral of the Story: To hold the balance of all things is to lose the weight of one’s own self; he who wears the world as a mask must remember that the world has no face of its own.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition) Artifact of the Silent Sovereign Type: Hyper-Physical Artifact Description: A disturbing, multi-layered cowl-mask of petrified wood and pulsing brass that smells of ozone and wet earth. It hums at a frequency that seems to vibrate the user’s very DNA. Game Mechanics:

  • The Weight of Omniscience: While worn, the user gains a +40% bonus to Sense Responsibility and Spot Hidden. However, every hour spent wearing the mask requires a Sanity roll (1/1D6).
  • Aura of Absolute Equilibrium: The user may spend 10 Magic Points to create a 20-yard zone of stability. For 10 minutes, all mechanical malfunctions are impossible, and all Fire/Force damage is halved.
  • Spirit-Muted Presence: Mythos entities must succeed on an Extreme POW roll to perceive the wearer unless directly attacked.
  • Symphony of Discord (Active): Spend 15 Magic Points and 1D10 Sanity to force all creatures within 30 yards to make a Hard POW roll. On a failure, they are affected by the “Total Discord” or “Total Serenity” effects (Keeper’s discretion).
  • The Punishment: If the user’s POW is less than 90, wearing the item causes 1D4 damage every 1D4 minutes as the gods punish the “Rule Breaker.”

Blades in the Dark The Pulse-Anchor of Qosqo-Sar Tier: V (Unique Masterwork) Quality: Fine Load: 2 (Worn as a heavy cowl/mask) Game Mechanics:

  • The Vanishing Maw: When you Prowl or Infiltrate, you have Potency. You produce no sound or spectral signature.
  • Sovereign Awareness: You may always ask “What’s really going on here?” or “What is my target feeling?” without spending Stress or making a roll; the information is provided by the mask’s resonance.
  • Field of Equilibrium: You can expend a Special Armor use to negate any consequence involving fire, steam, or mechanical collapse for yourself and your crew within reach.
  • Discordant Pulse (Special Ability): Spend 2 Stress to cause a ripple of “Total Discord.” All enemies in the area take a -1d penalty to their next action as they lose focus and emotional stability.
  • The Cost: If you overindulge your Vice while the mask is attuned, you take Level 2 Harm “Dissociated Identity” as the mask begins to overwrite your own personality.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition) Resonance Shroud 912 Wondrous Item, legendary (requires attunement) Slot: Face Stats: While attuned, you have a +3 bonus to AC, and your Charisma and Constitution scores increase by 2 (to a maximum of 22). Game Mechanics:

  • Omniscience of the Eye: You have Truesight out to a range of 120 feet and advantage on Insight checks.
  • Field of Equilibrium: You and allies within 30 feet have resistance to Fire and Force damage.
  • Vanishing Maw: You can cast Greater Invisibility and Pass Without Trace at will, targeting only yourself. These spells do not require concentration when cast this way.
  • Symphony of the Five Currents (3/Day): As an action, you can force each creature of your choice within 60 feet to make a DC 18 Charisma saving throw. On a failure, they are affected by the Confusion spell for 1 minute or are instantly calmed (as per Calm Emotions).
  • Punishment of the Rule Breaker: If you attune to this item before reaching 17th level, you take 1d4 psychic damage every 1d4 minutes. This damage cannot be reduced in any way.

Knave (2nd Edition) The Eternal Breath Mask Slots: 1 (Face) Quality: Artifact (Indestructible) Description: A driftwood and brass mask that breathes silver vapor and pulses with blue light. Game Mechanics:

  • Passive Sight: You can see perfectly in total darkness and detect the HP and emotional state of any creature you look at.
  • Muffled Soul: You are invisible to the Undead and Spirits unless you attack them.
  • Stone-Breath Barrier (1/Day): You may create a 10ft dome of force that lasts for 3 rounds. No creature or spell may pass through the barrier.
  • Chime of Discord: Once per day, you may force all enemies in a 60ft radius to make a Charisma Save. If they fail, they must spend their next 3 turns attacking their own allies.
  • The God-Pain: If your level is less than 5, you lose 1d4 HP every 1d4 minutes while wearing the mask. If this kills you, your soul is vaporized into sparks and cannot be resurrected.

Fate Core System The Resonance Shroud 912 (Legendary Extra)

Unique Name: Aspect: The Mountain’s Breath and the Spirit’s Silence

Description: A Tier 5 artifact integrated into a single face-mask cowl. It allows the wearer to perceive the underlying emotional and mechanical currents of the multiverse, offering supreme control over environmental and social pressures.

Game Mechanics:

  • Permissions: Possessing this item allows the character to use the Notice and Empathy skills to perceive things normally invisible to the naked eye (spirits, mechanical faults, emotional auras) at any distance within the same scene.
  • Aspects: The item grants the following permanent situational aspects while worn: Presence Withheld from the World, Omniscient Environmental Awareness, and Anchor of Absolute Equilibrium.
  • Stunts:
    • Symphony of the Five Currents: Once per session, you may spend a Fate Point to immediately create a scene-wide aspect (e.g., Total Serenity or Total Discord) with two free invokes.
    • Stone-Breath Barrier: Once per session, you can use Crafts to defend against an attack targeting anyone in your zone. If you succeed, you create a Force Barrier aspect that lasts for the remainder of the exchange.
  • The God-Pain (Cost): If your character is not at the highest available Tier, the GM gains a permanent hostile “God’s Agony” boost that can be used against you once per scene, representing the physical toll of the item.

Numenera & Cypher System Resonance Shroud 912

Unique Name: The Sovereign Harmonic Interface

Level: 10 (Artifact)

Description: A complex arrangement of brass, obsidian, and bioluminescent organic matter that fits over the face. It processes ambient ley energy to stabilize the environment and hide the user’s bio-signature.

Game Mechanics:

  • Passive Effects:
    • Ease Tasks: All tasks related to Perception, Engineering, Empathy, and Stealth are eased by three steps.
    • Soul-Muted: The wearer is invisible to all creatures that sense via telepathy, aura, or spiritual energy.
    • Equilibrium Field: The wearer and everyone within immediate range gain +5 Armor against fire, heat, and ambient pressure/force.
  • Active Abilities:
    • Symphony of Currents (Action): The user triggers a mental wave. All creatures within long range must make an Intellect defense roll against Level 10 or be stunned for one minute.
    • Stone-Breath Barrier (Action): Creates a Level 10 force field in a 10-foot radius that lasts for one hour.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d100 (Check only after using an Active Ability).
  • The Punishment: If a Tier 1-4 character uses this artifact, they suffer 4 points of ambient damage that ignores Armor every 10 minutes of use.

Pathfinder (2nd Edition) Resonance Shroud 912

Unique Name: Mask of the Eternal Convergence

Item Level: 20 (Artifact) Price: 70,000 gp Bulk: L Usage: Worn (Mask); Slot: Face

Description: This masterwork cowl combines Malagan spirit-craft with Andean steam-geomancy. It pulses with blue light and exhales silver mist, marking the wearer as a sovereign of the Five Currents.

Game Mechanics:

  • Passive Effects:
    • You gain a +3 item bonus to Perception, Stealth, Diplomacy, and Engineering checks.
    • Greater Pain Sense: You have Truesight out to 60 feet and can sense the exact HP and emotional state of any creature you can see.
    • Equilibrium Aura: You and allies within a 30-foot emanation gain Resistance 20 to fire and force damage.
  • Activation (Actions):
    • Symphony of Currents [Two-Actions] (Enchantment, Mental): Frequency: 3/day. All enemies within a 60-foot emanation must attempt a DC 45 Will save. On a failure, they are Confused for 1 minute; on a critical failure, they are Paralyzed with serenity or discord (user’s choice).
    • Echo-Absorbing Maw [One-Action] (Illusion, Shadow): You become Undetected to all sound-based and spiritual senses for 10 minutes.
  • The God-Pain: If a character under Level 20 invests this item, they become Drained 2 and take 1d4 persistent mental damage every minute.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition) Resonance Shroud 912

Unique Name: The Apex Stabilizer

Type: Relic (Tier 5 Artifact) Weight: 2 lbs Armor: +4 (Face/Head only)

Description: An integrated cowl that bridges the gap between spirit and machine. It allows the wearer to “breathe” in rhythm with the ley lines of Saṃsāra.

Game Mechanics:

  • Passive Effects:
    • Omniscience: The wearer gains +4 to all Notice checks and ignores all Dim or Dark lighting penalties.
    • Spirit-Muted: Enemies suffer a -4 penalty to notice or track the wearer using magical or spiritual senses.
    • Equilibrium: The wearer and everyone in a Medium Burst Template gain +4 to Toughness against fire, heat, and explosive/force damage.
  • Powers (Activated):
    • Symphony (Action): As an action, the wearer makes a Spirit roll. On a success, all enemies in a Large Burst Template are Distracted and Vulnerable. On a Raise, they are also Stunned.
    • Stone-Breath Barrier: Replicates the Barrier power using the character’s Spirit as the arcane skill.
  • The God-Pain: If the hero is not a Legendary Wild Card, they suffer a level of Fatigue every 10 minutes the mask is worn. If they reach Incapacitated, they die as their soul vaporizes into sparks.

Shadowrun (6th World) The Sovereign Resonance Mask (Tier 5 Artifact Focus)

Description: An advanced arcanotech cowl merging Malagan driftwood with high-pressure steam-circuitry. It harmonizes the user’s astral signature with the physical world’s mechanical and emotional flows.

Game Mechanics:

  • Rating: 10 (Unique Artifact)
  • Type: Power Focus / Sustaining Focus (Multi-Slot)
  • Astral Blurring: While active, the user gains a +4 dice pool bonus to Sneaking (Astral). Spirits and astral observers must succeed in an Intuition + Perception (5) test to even perceive the user as a distinct entity.
  • Environmental Dampening: The mask provides a built-in +6 Heat Resistance and +6 Cold Resistance. It also acts as a Rating 10 respirator and gas mask.
  • Symphony of Discord (Active): As a Major Action, the user can expend 1 point of Edge to force all sentient beings within 20 meters to resist a Mental Illusion (Power 10). Those who fail gain the Dazed status for 1 minute.
  • Equilibrium Field: The user may take a Minor Action to stabilize any malfunctioning drone, vehicle, or magical device within 10 meters, immediately clearing any “Glitch” effects.
  • The God-Pain: If the user’s Magic attribute is less than 6, they suffer 1 box of unresistable Stun damage for every 5 minutes the mask is active. If the user is Mundane, this is Physical damage.

Starfinder (Enhanced) The Chronos-Pacha Life-Shroud

Description: A hybrid of ancient geomancy and futuristic tech, this Tier 5 item appears as a bioluminescent face-shroud that vents supercooled plasma vapor to regulate local reality.

Game Mechanics:

  • Level: 20; Price: 850,000 Credits; Bulk: L
  • Slot: Face
  • Passive Perception: The wearer gains Truesight 60 ft. and a +5 insight bonus to Sense Motive and Perception checks.
  • Absolute Stability: The wearer is immune to the Confused, Frightened, and Off-Target conditions. Any environmental heat or cold damage is reduced by 30.
  • Stone-Breath Barrier (Active): Once per day as a Standard Action, the wearer can create a 20-ft. radius spherical force field. It has 200 HP and a Hardness of 20. It lasts for 10 rounds.
  • Resonance Pulse (Active): Twice per day as a Move Action, the user can send out a chime that forces all enemies within 30 ft. to make a Will Save (DC = 10 + half level + Charisma mod). Failure means they are Staggered for 1 round.
  • The God-Pain: If the wearer’s character level is below 15, they are Sickened as long as the item is worn and take 2d6 damage every minute.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition) The Ancient Empathic Regulator (Artifact 912)

Description: A seamless, self-repairing mask of unknown alloy and organic fiber. It interfaces directly with the user’s nervous system to equalize psionic and physical pressures.

Game Mechanics:

  • TL: 17 (Artifact)
  • Mass: 1 kg
  • Price: Cr 5,000,000+
  • Psionic Interface: The user gains the Telepathy and Awareness talents at Level 4 while the mask is worn. If the user already has these, they gain a DM+4 to all checks.
  • Environmental Protection: The mask acts as a vacc suit headpiece with infinite life support. It provides Protection 15 against all damage types.
  • The Vanishing Maw: The wearer is invisible to all electronic sensors and IR/Thermal detection. Ships or stations trying to scan the wearer suffer a DM-6 to the check.
  • Harmonic Pulse (Active): The user can spend 2 Psionic Strength points to emit a wave that forces all biological entities within 15 meters to make a Difficult (10+) END check. Failure results in a DM-2 to all actions for 1 hour due to intense nausea or sudden euphoria (user’s choice).
  • The God-Pain: Users with a PSI of 0 take 1D6 damage to all physical characteristics (STR, DEX, END) every 10 minutes as the device attempts to draw power from their biological marrow.

Warhammer (Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition / 40k) The Shroud of the Eternal Forge-Saint

Description: A relic of a lost era, this mask is forged from drift-iron and blessed with the “Breathing Oaths.” It is a holy object that calms the Warp and the machine-spirit alike.

Game Mechanics:

  • Encumbrance: 1; Rarity: Unique
  • Aura of the Saint: The wearer gains the Second Sight and Magical Sense talents. If they already possess them, they gain a +20 bonus to all related Tests.
  • Shield of Equilibrium: The wearer and all allies within 5 yards gain +2 Armor Points to all locations against Fire and Warp-based attacks.
  • Symphony of Currents (Active): Once per session, the wearer may speak a “Breathing Oath.” All enemies within 20 yards must pass a Hard (-20) Willpower Test or gain the Surprised and Broken conditions as their minds are overwhelmed by celestial resonance.
  • The Vanishing: Tests to track or detect the wearer by sight, sound, or smell are Astounding (-30).
  • The God-Pain: Those without the Bless or Petty Magic talent who wear this relic take 1 Corruption Point every hour. Furthermore, they suffer a -10 penalty to all physical Tests as the “God-Pain” racks their limbs.