“The vessels scattered across the world that contain the tears of angels are of special scholarly interest. Aside from the obvious questions tied to any magical items of uncertain origin, one must ask: how does one make an angel cry? Why can they cry? And why do their tears heal the bodies and souls of men?”
— Archscribe Althren Vos
When you drink this potion, you are overwhelmed by a sense of intense sorrow and strange fatigue, and must make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw. You may choose to automatically fail this saving throw. If the potion is given to a creature who has died within the last minute, they are restored as if by the Resurrection spell, though without the drawbacks, and are then immediately affected by the potion and automatically fail the saving throw. Only the tongue, jaw, and part of the esophagus must be reasonably intact and part of a contiguous piece of flesh for a corpse to be fully restored by this potion.
If you fail the saving throw or give in to the fatigue, you fall asleep and cannot be awakened by any means short of a Wish spell for 7 hours. This potion can put to sleep even humanoids normally immune to magical sleep, such as creatures with Fey Ancestry like elves. As soon as you fall asleep, you repeatedly gain the benefits of a long rest until no further benefits can be obtained. You are cured of all diseases, relieved of any ailments that could be removed by Greater Restoration, cleansed of any curses that could be broken by a 9th-level casting of Remove Curse, and your body is fully regenerated and restored, becoming whole, unblemished, and healthy, including the reversal of any negative effects caused by aging.
While asleep, your skin glows faintly, you are immune to all damage as any injury heals instantly, and you are under the effects of a persistent Death Ward. Furthermore, you benefit from a persistent Sanctuary (DC 30), as any creature that attempts to harm you is overcome with an intense sense of guilt. These effects cannot be dispelled and do not end until you awaken. When you awaken, you feel comforted, though you retain no memory of any dreams. You also feel invigorated and full of life. Your ability scores each increase by +7, potentially raising some beyond 20, but not beyond 28. This bonus decreases by 1 after each long rest you complete, until it disappears entirely.
If you resist the fatigue, the sorrow transforms into a righteous fury that burns within your chest. Your hit points are fully restored, and you immediately gain the benefits of a short rest. Additionally, your chest begins to glow with a fiery golden-orange light, as if radiant embers have replaced your heart, causing you to emit dim light in a 10-foot radius. While this light persists, all effects that would be cured by the potion during sleep are suppressed. Your movement speed doubles, and you gain resistance to all damage; if you are already resistant to a damage type, you become immune to it. You can take an additional, unrestricted action on each of your turns, and you gain two bonus actions and two reactions per round. You add a +7 bonus to all d20 tests and to your ability and spell save DCs. Furthermore, you do not need to breathe and are immune to the charmed and frightened conditions. You gain a +3 bonus to your AC and recover 5 temporary hit points at the start of each of your turns. Even missing limbs and organs gain fully functional, temporary golden-orange spectral replacements that last until the light fades.
After each turn in which you benefit from any of these effects, except those listed after the “furthermore,” the light’s radius diminishes by 1 foot. Additionally, the light loses 1 foot of brightness every 18 minutes. When the light fades completely, all these effects end, you pass out, and you gain one level of exhaustion. You must then make a DC 20 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, you remain unconscious for one hour; on a success, you remain unconscious for one minute. In either case, you can be awakened early only by taking damage, but if you are awakened early, you suffer an additional level of exhaustion.
This clear liquid glows with a soft white light that becomes slightly golden when shaken. When consumed it initially tastes like iron and salt, but has a warmly sweet aftertaste like honeyed milk, undercut by a sharp, peppery bitterness akin to arugula or mustard leaves.
"These are the effects that Angel Tears have on humanoids. While the effects on beasts, giants, most monstrosities, many dragons, some fey, and certain sentient plants are quite similar, they tend to be less potent. The effects on other creature types vary greatly. Aberrations, fiends, undead, many oozes, some fey, and certain monstrosities often have strong negative reactions. Constructs and elementals, on the other hand, appear entirely unaffected. Most fey and some dragons react in wholly unpredictable ways, but their reactions are typically very strong. The Tears tend to cause weed-like unintelligent plants to wither, and other unintelligent plants to bloom. Most sentient plants appear to follow this pattern. Celestials seem to experience only subtle positive effects, but they seem to greatly value the Tears. The reasons for this are unclear." — Archscribe Althren Vos
Notes: Healing, Buff, Warding, Consumable, Combat Potion
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Posted Jul 26, 2025Just clarifying how the light fades:
You lose 1 foot of light at the start of your turn if, during or after your previous turn, you did any of the following: made a d20 test; made a saving throw to resist effects other than being frightened or charmed; forced another creature to make a saving throw with one of your abilities or spells; moved farther than your normal (unenhanced) movement speed; took more than one action or bonus action; took damage; or used a second reaction. However, you do not lose light from holding temporary hit points, benefiting from the AC bonus , holding your breath (which can be used to avoid harmful gases or to explore environments where breathing is impossible), making saving throws against effects that only frighten or charm, or using your spectral limbs or organs for actions that do not violate any of the clauses above. Maintaining this state is intentionally difficult and even under ideal conditions, the effects of the light can only be extended to a maximum duration of 3 hours.
Notes/comments/preemptive question answering:
Yes, this item is very powerful, and it’s meant to be. The only reason it’s not classified as an artifact is because, in my setting, there are an indeterminate number scattered across the world and artifacts are always unique as I understand them. Each known vial is a national treasure to the kingdom that possesses it, often regarded with reverence akin to the Holy Grail. This sort of thing is a 'once in a campaign' type item. Something to cure the incurable, or help warriors do the impossible. DMs should feel free to adjust the bonus values to better fit their games. I chose +7 for thematic and internal lore reasons, but a +3 to both for the ability score bonus and the d20/save DC modifiers instead might be more reasonable for other games.
I don't have any modifiers, conditions, or spells in the item because there no way to get Beyond to get a mechanical version of this.
Archscribe Althren Vos is an elven historian and researcher in my setting who has been dead for some 400 years, but is well published.
Althren did not go around feeding Angel Tears to random creatures. His research methods were far more academic, focusing primarily on reviewing historical accounts, examining archived records, and conducting contemporary interviews. He extrapolated his conclusions based on what he read and heard, and while he did see and handle a vial of Angel Tears before his death, he never once tasted it himself nor was he ever a first hand witness to its effects. Despite this, his assumptions have proven remarkably accurate.
Feel free to give a review and to point out any grammar or syntax mistakes I made. I proof read it and ran it through Grammarly like 10 times, but mistakes still happen...
Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you DMs out there can incorporate this into your high level games, or into your lower level ones if you want. Just post your questions below, and who knows, maybe I'll respond to them.