The Carcinomancers Zepter is a large rod of chalcedony with bronze ornaments, a pearl affixed to the bottom, and a top reminiscent of an aspergillum.

The Zepters top can be filled with water as an action, upon which one can use another action to conjure a certain unit of crustacean creatures depending on the type of water added, consuming the liquid in the process. No matter what is summoned, one must add a bottle of fluid and the summoned creatures may only be given simple commands as a unit. A summoned creature may for example be given a target to attack or guard but cannot be told multi-step procedures or any tasks requiring higher though such as wielding weapons or identifying something. Any creatures will remain summoned until death, until the next use of the Zepter, or upon the bearer eating any seafood, the latter causing the crustaceans to defect rather than dissapear. If left without a command, creatures will cease to move and leak water from their carapace.

 

These creatures are summoned per dose of water:

Saltwater: up to 4 Giant Mantis shrimp (Statblock of a Grick, but claws are used for tentacle attack)

Freshwater: up to 4 Giant Crayfish

Rainwater: up to 30 Giant crabs

Boiling Freshwater: up to 3 Crab folk (rezised medium and beasts)

Iced Saltwater: up to 2 giant lobsters (Statblock of Chuul without tentacle attack or magic detection)

Boiling Saltwater: up to 2 giant Mantis Shrimp and a giant Lobster

Iced Freshwater: up to 2 giant crayfish and a Crab Folk

 

Water put in the Zepter can be 'spiked' with different substances, changing the summoned creatures:

Minerals/Gems can be powdered and dissolved in water to give resistances and attacks, the basics would be:

- Jade: Creatures become resistant to acid and poison

- Arsenic: Creatures damage type changes to poison

- Peridot: Creatures damage type changes to acid

- Nephrite: Creatures become resistant to necrotic and psychic

- Smoky Quartz: Creatures damage type changes to necrotic

- Fluorite: Creatures damage type changes to psychic

- Citrine: Creatures become resistant to radiant and lightning

- Moonstone: Creatures damage type changes to radiant

- Topaz: Creatures damage type changes to lightning

- Chalcedony: Creatures become resistant to force and thunder

- Labradorite: Creatures damage type changes to force

- Tigers Eye: Creatures damage type changes to thunder

- Onyx: Creatures become resistant to fire and cold

- Carnelian: Creatures damage type changes to fire

-Lapis: Creatures damage type changes to cold

- Pyrite: Creatures become resistant to Bludgeoning, piercing ang slashing from nonmagical attacks

- Grey Agate: Creature deals +1d10 damage with its attacks

- Red Agate: Creatures have +1d%(of current hp) temporary hp

- It is of course up to the Dm what other things can be mixed in to produce effects like resistance to being paralyzed, adding attacks, stat increases or even waky stuff like not being able to be forcefully moved like an immovable rod, or control abilities.

 

Monster Parts can be added to give abilities to spawned creatures:

- Trolls Blood: creatures gain 2d4 per turn regeneration

- Roper Digestive Juices: creatures can completely destroy anything non-magic, non-platinum or non-gemstone

- Rust monster Shell: creatures can corrode anything they touch

- Dragon scales: creatures can exhale a beam of elemental energy as an action (consult dragonborn breath entrey)

- Lycanthrope Blood: creatures can curse people they bite into turning into a lycanthropic version of them, providing the target becomes incapacitated, this effect only lasts until the culprit creatures dissapear

- Again, additional options are up to the DM, though it is wise to take the most eye cathing ability of a monster for its effect.

 

The Zepter of the Carcinomancer can be used as a quarterstaff, however attacking someone with it makes any summoned crustaceans attack that person until stopped.

The zepter has 1 minor detrimental property, and eccessive use of the Zepter might lead to permanent side effects(escalating in order):

- The bearer has wet and clammy skin

- The bearer cannot pronounce a sharp C, replacing it with a Z

- The bearer may pronounce a P as a K

- The bearers skin hardens into carapace

- The bearer becomes intolerant to freshwater and must drink saltwater to quench their thirst

- The bearer can cast animal friendship at will, if targeting a crustacean

- The bearers digits may periodically fall off and regenerate

- The bearer can can converse with crustaceans as if it were casting speak with animals

- The bearer grows additional crustacean limbs and becomes unaligned

- The bearer forgets how to speak common and only speaks aquan or deep speech

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are a DM looking for an interesting magic item to give your party, consider this one if one of the following one of the Members would do:

- Be a summoner

- Command an army rather than attack on your own

- Create a meatshield or elemental ward

- Hire a private lobster bodyguard

- Create a swarm of crabs summoned with lycanthrope blood and keep them at hold until you defeat an enemy and then let the crabs descend upon them, twisting them into a horrible crustacean abomination under your command, slowly building up a leagion of mutant werecrabs that only dissapear under very specific or careless circumstances and becoming the crustacean overlord plaguing the land and converting anybody standing against you into another beast

- eat free seafood every 3 days

Notes: fasting on seafood for at least a week, and one becomes unable to use it for 3 days upon eating any seafood