Amulet of Undeath Artifact, Legendary (requires attunement by a spellcaster of evil alignment)
Once gifted to a follower of Orcus following a gruesome blood sacrifice in Orcus’ name, Amulet of Undeath hangs on an iron chain adorned with humanoid teeth, the amulet itself is a beautifully crafted obsidian stone rod roughly ½ inch in diameter and 4 inches long that comes to a fine point, and it gives its wielder power to create and control undead creatures. If the amulet ever falls to 0 charges you lose the passive features of the amulet.
Blessing of Orcus. Required for some features once attuned. Open to DM interpretation, generally should be heinous act against good creatures, e.g. leading raiding party against peaceful village, large scale living sacrifice in Orcus’ name, etc. Once a creature has received this blessing their soul becomes tainted and marked for the Abyss upon their death.
Passive Features (activate as soon as the amulet is worn)
Damage Immunities. poison
Condition Immunities. poisoned
Damage Resistance. necrotic
Rotted Visage. The flesh of the wielder takes on the look, feel, and smell of rotting meat, and their voice becomes hoarse. While wearing the amulet, the wielder has disadvantage on Persuasion and Stealth checks.
Gluttony. You no longer gain as much sustenance from food and drink. You must consume 5 times the normal amount of food and drink in order to sustain yourself
Senses. Can communicate telepathically with any undead or fiend within 60ft of you.
Amulet of Undeath has the following additional properties:
Evil Taint. If a creature of good alignment attempts to wear the amulet, they suffer 30 (10d6) psychic damage and must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the start of their next turn. This damage and save must be made at the start of every one of their turns until the amulet is removed. A creature whose hit points falls to 0 from this effect is immediately transported, along with the Amulet, to a prison dimension nested within the Abyssal Plane to be tortured by Orcus and his minions for eternity. Only a wish spell, or a bargain with Orcus can bring the creature back.
*Sustenance. Amulet of Undeath initially has 1d6 charges after attunement, and gains 1 charge per tenday. Additional charges are gained through ritual sacrifice of living humanoids (up to a maximum of 6 stored charges). When a living creature is sacrificed, the amulet gains 1 charge. The sacrificial ritual takes 1 hour per creature, and involves brutal torture of the victim and the spiked amulet impales the victim at the apex of the ritual. Once the ritual is complete the flesh of the sacrifice rapidly decays.
*Apprentice of Undeath. As an action, you can expend one stored charge and cast the Animate Dead spell at 5th level (animating up to 5 undead), requiring no material components. If you fall unconscious, travel to another plane of existence, or lose attunement to the amulet, the creatures under your control suffer 3d10 force damage, and are free from your control. Targets of the Animate Dead spell will listen to the wielder of the Amulet indefinitely, unless they are released by the wielder. A total of 300 hit points worth of undead creatures can be controlled at one time by the wielder of the Amulet of Undeath. Any summoned undead which surpass this total explode upon their summoning causing each creature within 5 ft of them to make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or take 3d6 piercing damage.
*Prolong Suffering. When the wielder of the Amulet of Undeath kills a living humanoid (outside of the Sustenance ritual). The amulet prolongs the creatures suffering and corrupts their essence, creating a twisted, ghostly version of the creature that is under the control of the wielder of the Amulet until dismissed or destroyed. The stats for this creature are equal to a Specter (MM 279). There is no limit to how many Specters the wielder can have under their control. However, for each additional specter past the first one created the wielder must make an Intelligence saving throw, equal to 8 + number of Specters under their control. On a failure the newly created Specter is destroyed after 1 minute. While a soul is tethered to a Specter in this way, any attempt to resurrect the creature automatically fails. Only a Wish or True Resurrection spell can overcome the soul tether.
*Evil Magnetism. Fiends (loyal to Orcus) and undead may seek out the wielder of the amulet and offer to serve them, if they feel they are worthy. If the wielder veers off course or is obviously unfit to wield the amulet, they may abandon them, or attempt to take the amulet for themselves.
* These features only function if the attuned creature has received the Blessing of Orcus described at the top of this item's description.
Notes: Immunity: Poisoned, creature of evil alignment, Teleportation, Exploration, Jewelry
Comments