Spectrumite are an item I introduced in a recent higher level campaign I ran, as an additional magic item for a party that had largely filled out their attunement slots already. Mechanically, Spectrumite are intended to expand a character’s options in and/or out of combat, granting extra possibilities for their action, bonus actions, and/or reaction as opposed to flat bonuses to any particular statistic.
Each Spectrumite also carries with it a small personality trait that gives your player a fun role playing opportunity now and then. While I feel forcing personality traits onto PCs in general is something to be avoided, these are small and really give the player the option to utilize them or ignore that part of the item’s description. Playing to these are something that I would often grant Inspiration for however.
General Notes
Spectrumite are crystallizations of the memories and experiences of individuals with particularly resilient souls. A creature may bond with a piece of Spectrumite to access a small degree of that experience. These items do not require attunement, but a creature may only bond with one Spectrumite at a time. The ritual to bond or unbond to a Spectrumite takes an hour. The unbonding ritual in particular is quite taxing, resulting in 2 levels of exhaustion upon completion.
Spectrumite of the Green Hunter
This crystal holds the experiences of a kind woman who lived off the land. While she was a prodigious hunter, she was known more for her reverence for life and her attitude to never take more than was needed to survive. While bonded with this Spectrumite you occasionally find yourself disgusted at needless slaughter.
Life Pulse – While bonded with this Spectrumite you may use an action to sense the heartbeats of any living creatures with 60 feet of you. You may use this a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier, regaining any spent uses after a long rest.
Spectrumite of the Red Mother
This crystal holds the experiences of a cold woman who ran an orphanage, and was brutally stabbed to death in her sleep by the children in her care she had tormented daily. While bonded with this Spectrumite you occasionally feel unappreciated.
Anklebiters – While bonded with this Spectrumite, as an action you may summon the violent souls of 6 dead children armed with knives beneath the feet of your enemies. For each of the six children, choose a space in range, the spirit of the child rises from the ground and occupies that space for the duration. One space may fit up to three of the children at once, and may already be occupied by another creature.
When you first use this ability, and at the start of each of your turns for the duration, each child will attempt to do one of two things:
- If there is another creature in its space and it is not currently grappling something, it will attempt to grapple that creature (the children have a +5 modifier to grapple checks).
- If the child is grappling a creature it will attack it once with its knife, which automatically hits, dealing 1d4+1 damage.
- If there is no creature in its space it will do nothing. A child may also attempt to grapple a creature the first time a creature enters its square during a turn.
A creature grappled by the children may use an action to attempt to break free, if it does so, it rolls once against each child currently grappling it, breaking free of one grapple per success. The children may also be attacked (AC 12, HP 5). The children disappear after 1 minute, or when killed. You regain use of this ability following a long rest.
Spectrumite of the Blue Songstress
This crystal holds the experiences of a loud and bubbly singer who traveled from city to city spreading cheer. She wrote many songs, although none of her originals became well known until after her death. While bonded with this Spectrumite you occasionally feel the urge to cheer up those around you.
Swan Song- While bonded with this Spectrumite, you receive the songstress’ inspiration when you are on the verge of death. When a hostile creature brings you to 0 Hit Points, you may use your reaction to perform one final melody. When you do so, choose up to 4 target creatures you within 60 feet of you that can hear you. Each creature regains Hit Points equal to 1d8 + your Charisma modifier. Additionally, they receive one die of Bardic Inspiration (see PHB pg. 53 for full details). These die are d8s, unless you have larger Bardic Inspiration dice from a different feature, in which case they use that die size instead (no uses of Bardic Inspiration from other features are consumed by this ability).
You may not use this ability again until you complete a short or long rest.
Let me know what you think in the comments, and tell me about a character from one of your own games that you think would leave one of these behind for others to use. This is a series of items that will be ongoing, so maybe they’ll will show up in there!