This enormous ancient armillary sphere allows you to chart and track distant celestial objects, including stars, Wildspace systems, and Astral Sea phenomena like the cities of deities or the petrified husks of dead gods.
In the center of the armillary sphere is a stone platform that up to 8 people can stand on. In the center of that platform is a stone console with dozens of runes engraved on it. While standing on the platform, on the inner surface of each ring, various celestial objects are identified and labeled. The labels are written using a sequence of 2, 3, or 4 of the runic symbols that appear on the center console. The rings of this armillary are magically calibrated to accurately convey the position of the celestial objects at all times.
You can attempt to teleport to any celestial object that is identified on the rings of the armillary. To teleport to one of the objects, you need to touch the exact runes on the console that match to an object identified on the rings of the armillary. After you have done that, an individual within the armillary sphere must place their hand on a special rune that indicates "teleport" and then take an action to exert their will to command the teleportation magic to work. To command the machine, the person commanding the machine only needs to mentally command it while they are touching the "teleport" rune. When they do this, they must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw. On a success, you and up to 7 other willing creatures present on the platform within the armillary, along with everything all the travelers are wearing and carrying, safely teleport to the intended destination. On a failed save, a mishap occurs instead. The DM rolls on the Armillary Sphere Travel Mishaps table to determine the mishap or chooses a mishap that’s good for the campaign.
In its default state, the runes on the console are unlit. After touching a rune on the console, the rune will glow white. If a valid selection of runes is selected on the console, the runes will glow either red or blue. Blue indicates that there is a matching and similarly functioning and corresponding armillary sphere at the specified location. For that specified location, if you choose to and are able to invoke the teleportation feature, you will be teleported to the platform of that armillary sphere at the destination. If the runes begin to glow red, that indicates that there is not a matching armillary sphere at the specified location. If you were to teleport to a destination with runes that glow red, you will be teleported to a random unoccupied space on the surface of that location. Returning back to the origin location from that destination might be nearly impossible without the construction of a corresponding armillary sphere or finding a different mechanism for teleporting back. If a set of runes is not selected, or if the set of selected runes is not glowing either blue or red, or if the selected runes are not above the horizon/plane of the platform (you would not be able to see them since they would be under the platform), then nothing happens when attempt to invoke the teleportation feature and the console resets to its default state.
Only 1 person at a time may attempt to invoke the teleportation feature and perform the Wisdom saving throw. If multiple people attempt to invoke the teleportation feature at the same time, then the armillary sphere chooses the person with the highest Wisdom score to make the Wisdom Saving Throw. If the highest Wisdom score is a tie between 2 or more individuals, then one of those tied individuals is picked at random or by the DM.
| d6 | Mishap |
|---|---|
| 1 | For 6 seconds, gravity changes for anything that was within the armillary sphere at the time of when the attempt to invoke the teleportation feature was made. Gravity starts pulling anything within the rings of the armillary sphere upwards. People in the armillary sphere can make a DC 13 Dexterity Saving throw to see if they can grab onto one of the rings before they are pulled too high. On success, the character is able to successfully grab hold of one of the rings and then safely fall back to the ground after the 6 seconds without taking fall damage. On fail or for anything that could not or chose not to make the saving throw, and after the 6 seconds have passed, the items will fall 50 feet back to the platform and take any applicable fall damage. |
| 2 | The will of the person invoking the teleporter is overwhelmed. They take 3d6 psychic damage and 1 level of exhaustion. |
| 3 | Excess cosmic energy overloads the armillary, causing an explosion. Anything within the rings of the armillary sphere takes 3d6 force damage. The armillary sphere is immune to the force damage from this affect. |
| 4 | A creature from the Astral Sea (such as a githzerai zerth) appears within 60 feet of the armillary sphere. The DM decides its attitude. |
| 5 | A runic message will appear on the platform indicating that the armillary sphere cannot attempt to travel to the specified location for next 24 hours. Inputting the runes for that location will not cause the runes to glow blue or red during that 24 hours. The teleportation feature will not do anything if anyone attempts to invoke it to that location for that 24 hours. |
| 6 | The travelers arrive at their intended destination, but they take 4d6 of psychic damage when they arrive at the destination. |
Notes: Teleportation, Exploration