Arcanium Implant (Exalted)

Description

Forged through a rare collaboration between Elven arcanists and Gnomish engineers, the Arcanium Implant represents a lost union of magical elegance and mechanical precision. Its intricate form defies conventional geometry, runes interwoven with fine metallic filaments that hum with dormant energy. To the untrained eye, it might appear as a pile of scrap; to those who understand its nature, it is an artifact of impossible craftsmanship.

No record survives of who built it—or why. Whether it was intended as a weapon, a tool, or something far more personal, its original purpose remains lost to time.

 Attunement and Installation

To attune to the Arcanium Implant, it must be surgically installed on your upper back. The procedure requires a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Medicine) check performed by a creature capable of casting spells.

On a failure, the implant is damaged and becomes inert. On a success, it integrates seamlessly with your body. The device covers much of your upper torso and lower back, hiding tattoos, scars, or similar markings beneath its lattice of runes and plates.

 Dormant

After implantation and a period of recovery, the Arcanium Implant remains inactive. The wearer feels its presence—a quiet hum beneath the skin—but no overt power. Over time, the artifact begins to resonate with its host’s magic, manifesting subtle physical resilience, as well as heightened reflexes.

While the Arcanium Implant is dormant, you gain the following benefits:

• You gain a +1 bonus to AC.

• You have advantage on saving throws against effects that would reduce your Speed or cause you to be Paralyzed or Restrained.

   

 Awakened

Through focused training and attunement, you learn to consciously direct the implant’s energy. Once-dormant runes flare to life, channeling pure arcane momentum through your body. Your movements get even faster, your reflexes even sharper, you can anticipate strikes as they begin, and predict where they will hit.

If you spend at least 48 hours over a period of 6 days or fewer exercising with the implant, it awakens, granting the following benefits:

• Your AC bonus goes up to +2

• Arcane Surge (2/Short Rest). Twice per short rest, you can activate the implant to surge with energy. When you do, you gain the effects of the haste spell for 30 seconds. This activation requires no concentration, and you do not suffer the wave of lethargy when the effect ends. If you activate this ability while in initiative, it takes a bonus action.

 Exalted

In time, you uncover the implant’s true nature. Beneath the skin, beneath the runes, lies a network of glass-like vials connected to a crystalline core. At the center rests a retractable needle of arcane alloy—an injector capable of delivering precise alchemical doses directly into your bloodstream. the implant now works in complete synchronicity with yourself, allowing you to unlock an ultra-instinct, moving even before thinking.

If you spend at least 100 hours over a period of 15 days or fewer using or exercising with the implant, and succeed on a DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check made to analyze it, you unlock its exalted state.

Your AC bonus goes up to +3, also The implant gains the following feature:

Injection

At the start of your turn, before taking any other action, you may mentally activate the implant’s injection system.
This activation requires no action and does not interfere with your action, bonus action, or reaction for the turn.

The implant contains three vials, each capable of storing a potion or other compatible substance. You may inject one or more vials simultaneously. Each vial can be filled or replaced during a short or long rest, provided you have the necessary potions.

You can activate this system only once per turn.

Special Injections. You may inject other substances (poisons, alchemical reagents, or DM-approved compounds). Once a non-potion substance is used, the implant becomes permanently attuned to that compound and can no longer process potions for eight hours. Such injections may require Constitution saving throws and can have lasting consequences.

 “Those who bear the Arcanium rarely survive long enough to master it.
Those who do, transcend the boundary between flesh and spell.”
— Archmage Vaelirion, last known possessor of the Arcanium

Notes: Bonus: Armor Class, Requires attunement from a Monk, Fighter or Rogue, Movement, Combat, Utility Potion, Combat Potion