Echoing Aegis

by Frazer 👁 249 views

AC 2

Charges: 7 (regains at dawn)

A sturdy steel shield with a smoky pewter patina. The face bears a ring of delicate, pale-blue runes that resemble shifting mouths in mid-syllable, as if the shield were listening to every insult spoken nearby. The inner surface hums with a quiet, invisible pressure that tingles at the edge of your mind when someone speaks ill of you. When light strikes the surface, the runes flicker and flash with a pale azure glow, and faint whispers seem to echo from inside the shield.

Insult Reflection While attuned, the shield stores spoken insults directed at you and, as a reaction, can expend 1 charge to lash back at the initiator as psychic pain. The target within 60 feet who can hear you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or take 2d6 psychic damage and have disadvantage on its next attack roll against you. On a successful save, the target takes half damage and has no additional effect. This reaction costs 1 charge and can be used a number of times equal to the shield's current remaining charges. The effect lasts for 1 round. The shield regains 1d6 charges at dawn, up to its maximum.

Lore

Crafted by a circle of hedge wizards who sought to turn words into weapons, the Echoing Aegis is said to have once belonged to a queen who faced a chorus of slander from multiple rivals. She learned to turn every barb into pain that battered her enemies’ minds, rather than her own shield. Since then, the shield has passed through many hands, always returning to war-torn keeps where insults fly as freely as arrows.

History

First forged in the twilight forge of the Luminous District, the shield was wielded by a spellcaster-commander who led the defense of a city under siege by masters of deceit. It later vanished during a sacking, reappearing centuries later in a desert ruin guarded by a sphinx who asked riddles in scathing wit.

Created by Frazer 👁 249 views