Magic Items
Every magical item in the World of Exterminis is a powerful and unique artifact from a bygone era. Heroes won’t find a +1 Longsword or a +2 Breastplate. Instead, they might recover Soulreaver, the legendary sword that Finnbjorn used to slay the dragon Karakerios, or The Demon’s Hide, the armor that Khalis crafted using the flayed skin of the demon lord Abraxis.
Such items should be carefully designed by the Game Master if they want to include them in their game.
An artifact is a unique magic item of tremendous power, with its own origin and history. An artifact might have been created by gods or mortals of awesome power. It could have been created in the midst of a crisis that threatened a kingdom, a world, or the entire multiverse, and carry the weight of that pivotal moment in history.
Some artifacts appear when they are needed most. For others, the reverse is true; when discovered, the world trembles at the ramifications of the find. In either case, introducing an artifact into a campaign requires forethought. The artifact could be an item that opposing sides are hoping to claim, or it might be something the adventurers need to overcome their greatest challenge.
Characters don’t typically find artifacts in the normal course of adventuring. In fact, artifacts only appear when you want them to, for they are as much plot devices as magic items. Tracking down and recovering an artifact is often the main goal of an adventure. Characters must chase down rumors, undergo significant trials, and venture into dangerous, half-forgotten places to find the artifact they seek. Alternatively, a major villain might already have the artifact. Obtaining and destroying the artifact could be the only way to ensure that its power can’t be used for evil.
Artifact Properties
Each artifact has its own magical properties, as other magic items do, and the properties are often exceptionally powerful. An artifact might have other properties that are either beneficial or detrimental. You can choose such properties from the tables in this section or determine them randomly. You can also invent new beneficial and detrimental properties. These properties typically change each time an artifact appears in the world.
An artifact can have as many as four minor beneficial properties and two major beneficial properties. It can have as many as four minor detrimental properties and two major detrimental properties.
| d100 | Property |
|---|---|
| 01–20 | While attuned to the artifact, you become trained in one skill of the GM’s choice. |
| 21–30 | While attuned to the artifact, you are immune to disease. |
| 31–40 | While attuned to the artifact, you can’t be charmed or frightened. |
| 41–50 | While attuned to the artifact, you have resistance against one damage type of the GM’s choice. |
| 51–70 | While attuned to the artifact, you can use an action to cast one Force 1 spell (chosen by the GM) from it. |
| 71–80 | As 61–70 above, except the spell is Force 2. |
| 81–90 | As 61–70 above, except the spell is Force 3. |
| 91–00 | While attuned to the artifact, you gain a +2 bonus to Physical Defense. |
| d100 | Property |
|---|---|
| 01–20 | While attuned to the artifact, one of your ability scores (DM’s choice) increases by 2, to a maximum of 10. |
| 21–30 | While attuned to the artifact, you regain 1 health point at the start of your turn if you have at least 1 health point. |
| 31–40 | When you hit with a physical attack while attuned to the artifact, the target takes an extra 1 wound of the weapon’s type. |
| 41–50 | While attuned to the artifact, your walking speed increases by 10 feet. |
| 51–60 | While attuned to the artifact, your walking speed increases by 20 feet. |
| 61–90 | While attuned to the artifact, your walking speed increases by 30 feet. |
| 91–00 | While attuned to the artifact, you can’t be blinded, deafened, petrified, or stunned. |
| d100 | Property |
|---|---|
| 01–05 | While attuned to the artifact, you suffer a -5 penalty to Magic Resistance |
| 06–10 | The first time you touch a gem or piece of jewelry while attuned to this artifact, the value of the gem or jewelry is reduced by half. |
| 11–15 | While attuned to the artifact, you are blinded when you are more than 10 feet away from it. |
| 16–20 | While attuned to the artifact, you have a -5 penalty to Social Defense (Insight). |
| 21–30 | While attuned to the artifact, you emit a sour stench noticeable from up to 10 feet away. |
| 31–35 | While attuned to the artifact, all holy water within 10 feet of you is destroyed. |
| 36–40 | While attuned to the artifact, you are physically ill and have a -3 penalty to Strength and Endurance checks. |
| 41–45 | While attuned to the artifact, your weight increases by 1d4 × 10 pounds. |
| 46–50 | While attuned to the artifact, your appearance changes as the DM decides. |
| 51–55 | While attuned to the artifact, you are deafened when you are more than 10 feet away from it. |
| 56–60 | While attuned to the artifact, your weight drops by 1d4 × 5 pounds. |
| 61–65 | While attuned to the artifact, you can’t smell. |
| 66–70 | While attuned to the artifact, nonmagical flames are extinguished within 30 feet of you. |
| 71–80 | While you are attuned to the artifact, other creatures can’t take short or long rests while within 300 feet of you. |
| 81–85 | While attuned to the artifact, you deal 1 necrotic damage to any plant you touch that isn’t a creature. |
| 86–90 | While you are attuned to the artifact, animals within 30 feet of you are hostile toward you. |
| 91–95 | While attuned to the artifact, you must eat and drink six times the normal amount each day. |
| 96–00 | While you are attuned to the artifact, your flaw is amplified in a way determined by the GM. |
| d100 | Property |
|---|---|
| 01–05 | While you are attuned to the artifact, your body rots over the course of four days, after which the rotting stops. You lose your hair by the end of day 1, fingertips and toe tips by the end of day 2, lips and nose by the end of day 3, and ears by the end of day 4. A regenerate spell restores lost body parts. |
| 6–15 | When you first attune to the artifact, it gives you a quest determined by the GM. You must complete this quest before using the artifact. Once you complete the quest, you are no longer affected by this property. |
| 16–25 | The artifact houses a bodiless life force that is hostile toward you. Each time you use an action to use one of the artifact’s properties, there is a 50 percent chance that the life force tries to leave the artifact and enter your body. If you fail a Charisma check, it succeeds, and you become an NPC under the GM’s control until the intruding life force is banished using magic such as the dispel evil and good spell. |
| 26–30 | The artifact imprisons a Monster. Each time you use one of the artifact’s properties as an action, the monster has a 10 percent chance of escaping, whereupon it appears within 15 feet of you and attacks you. |
| 31–35 | While you are attuned to the artifact, creatures of a particular type other than humanoid (as chosen by the GM) are always hostile toward you. |
| 36–40 | The artifact dilutes magic potions within 10 feet of it, rendering them nonmagical. |
| 41–45 | The artifact erases magic scrolls within 10 feet of it, rendering them nonmagical. |
| 46–50 | Before using one of the artifact’s properties as an action, you must use a bonus action to draw blood, either from yourself or from a willing or incapacitated creature within your reach, using a piercing or slashing melee weapon. The subject takes 1 damage of the appropriate type. |
| 51–60 | When you become attuned to the artifact, you gain a form of long-term madness. |
| 61–65 | You take 4 psychic wounds when you become attuned to the artifact. |
| 66–70 | You take 8 psychic wounds when you become attuned to the artifact. |
| 71–75 | Before you can become attuned to the artifact, you must kill a creature of your alignment. |
| 76–80 | When you become attuned to the artifact, one of your characteristics is reduced by 2 at random. A spell can restore the ability to normal. |
| 81–85 | Each time you become attuned to the artifact, you age 3d10 years. You must succeed on an Endurance check or die from the shock. If you die, you are instantly transformed into a monster under the GM’s control that is sworn to protect the artifact. |
| 86–90 | While attuned to the artifact, you lose the ability to speak. |
| 91–95 | While attuned to the artifact, you have vulnerability to all damage. |
| 96–00 | When you become attuned to the artifact, there is a 10 percent chance that you attract the attention of a god that sends an avatar to wrest the artifact from you. The avatar has the same alignment as its creator. Once it obtains the artifact, the avatar vanishes. |
Destroying Artifacts
An artifact must be destroyed in some special way. Otherwise, it is impervious to damage.
Each artifact has a weakness by which its creation can be undone. Learning this weakness might require extensive research or the successful completion of a quest. The DM decides how a particular artifact can be destroyed. Some suggestions are provided here:
- The artifact must be melted down in the volcano, forge, or crucible in which it was created.
- The artifact must be dropped into the River Styx.
- The artifact must be swallowed and digested by some ancient creature.
- The artifact must be bathed in the blood of a god or an angel.
- The artifact must be struck and shattered by a special weapon crafted for that purpose.
- The artifact must be returned to its creator, who can destroy it by touch.
This page includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document.
The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.