Charges:
3
(regains at dawn)
The Third Face is a thick silver coin with no recognizable currency or date. One side bears a narrow doorway opening onto a starless sky; the other shows a closed eye surrounded by three small crowns. Its edge is engraved with a continuous question mark that has no beginning or end. The metal is cold even in sunlight, and whenever it is tossed, it rotates once, hangs motionless, and settles upright on its razor-thin edge. Tiny changes in its engraving appear whenever its owner makes a decision the coin considers unimaginative.
Edgewise
The coin always lands perfectly on its edge, regardless of the surface, angle, or force used to toss it. It can balance indefinitely until its owner picks it up. The coin cannot be destroyed by ordinary means and is immune to damage from falling.
Opinionated Intelligence
The coin is sentient, has an Intelligence of 12, and communicates telepathically with its attuned creature. It has strong opinions about fairness, cowardice, needless cruelty, and false dilemmas. It may offer unsolicited advice, criticize the owner's decisions, or refuse to answer questions that are trivial, dishonest, or already have a reasonable third option.
Demand the Third
As an action, you may state two mutually exclusive courses of action and toss the coin. Instead of heads or tails, it lands on its edge and presents a third course of action through a whispered telepathic suggestion. The third course must be materially different from the stated choices and reasonably possible in the current circumstances; the DM determines its nature and any risks or costs. If you sincerely pursue the coin's third course within the next 10 minutes, you gain advantage on one ability check made directly to carry it out. This property cannot be used again until the next dawn unless you expend a charge.
Refuse the Premise
When you fail an ability check or saving throw caused by choosing between two clearly presented alternatives, you can use your reaction and expend 2 charges to reject the forced choice. The coin offers a third approach, subject to the DM's approval, and you reroll the failed check or saving throw with advantage. You must use the new result, and the third approach must impose a meaningful cost, complication, or delay determined by the DM.
A Coin's Counsel
Once per long rest, you can spend 10 minutes consulting the coin about a specific course of action you plan to take within the next 30 minutes. The coin functions as the augury spell, except its answer is never simply weal or woe: it describes one likely consequence of the proposed action and one plausible alternative that avoids or changes that consequence. The coin cannot predict events more than 30 minutes into the future.
Lore
The coin is said to have been minted by the god of crossroads after a mortal hero demanded a way to defeat fate without obeying it. Rather than grant the hero a miracle, the god gave them a coin and declared that every choice contains a door no one has thought to open. Philosophers prize the coin as proof that destiny is negotiable, while generals despise it for making soldiers question orders.
History
The Third Face passed through the hands of revolutionaries, judges, thieves, and one famously indecisive king. During the Siege of Bellweather, its bearer tossed it between surrender and a final assault; the coin suggested opening the gates and inviting the besiegers inside for a feast. The resulting negotiations ended the war, though the city had to rebuild half its walls after the guests refused to leave. The coin vanished from history a century later and was recently recovered from a sealed courtroom beneath a ruined courthouse.
