Single-Use Substances and Spelljunk (Part III)

I just got a Firefly expansion for my fiance for her birthday, and I'm rather excited about it. If all goes well, I may do a quick review of it as a supplement to my current Tuesday-Thursday posting pattern. 

If you play board games, what sort of games do you like? Which ones would you suggest I try?

Part II.

Black Powder Vial, Crude 400

A poorly refined powder of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur, Black Powder is highly flammable. Thanks to either cheap ingredients, an incorrect recipe, or improper storage, this powder is fairly weak although still explosive. This vial can be used to instantly start fires in windy conditions using negligibly tiny pinches of the powder. Compressed and ignited, it will explode for 2d6 damage in 10 feet and 1d6 in 20 feet. A Dexterity save (DC 13) halves this damage. With an engineering check, the explosion ignores the hardness of a structure and deals maximum damage.

Black Powder Vial 750

The strong rotten egg odor of this pitch black powder belies the dangerous nature of the rocky mixture. The powder can be used to start fires or when lit in a closed container, explode. The explosion deals 4d6 damage in 15 feet and 2d6 in 30 feet. A Dexterity save (DC 15) halves this damage. If the user places the explosive with an engineering check, the explosion will ignore the hardness of a structure or object and deal maximum damage.

Refined Black Powder Vial 2000

The fine black grains of the Refined Powder are the result of carefully guarded, secret recipes of mad or genius alchemists. The grains of this powder are so fine that they repel water, and can be lit in any place with enough air, regardless of the conditions. In a compressed container, the powder will explode violently after ignition. The explosion will cause 8d6 damage within 20 feet and 4d6 damage in 40 feet. A Dexterity save (DC 17) halves this damage. A saboteur-minded individual can set the explosive in such a manner, with an engineering check, to ignore the hardness of all objects and structures in the blast radius and deal them maximum damage. This check is harder the more objects the saboteur targets.

Bottled Mine 3000

Like its cousin, the Bottle Bar, this large jar contains a doll-sized version of its namesake. Inside is a tiny mine, complete with uniformed foreman, shadowy miners, and enough heavy equipment to keep them working. Uncorking it creates a mass of equipment needed to run a fully functional mine: tools, carts, foreman’s shack, a storage shed, a crane, track, and a dozen shadowy figures lead by a uniformed shadow-foreman. The foreman will obey the commands given by the last holder of the bottle. The foreman’s desk has a large drawer that will fit the jar perfectly in its velvet lining. The shadows act as ‘unseen servants’ and can mine as much, total, as a single professional miner could.

Camp in a Bottle 500

Opening this glass flask’s waxed cloth stopper and dumping its tiny contents on the ground creates a fully stocked camp with a dozen tents and bedrolls in available space in the thirty feet surrounding the opener. A small, waterproof chest with two dozen dried rations and waterskins grows to full size at the user’s feet. Two oil soaked logs drop from the flask next to the chest. These can be burned as a normal campfire, worth a day of fire each. Once it is emptied of its miniaturized campsite, the flask loses all magical properties.

Like a pike square in your pocket

Cavalry Spikes 250

Unlike normal caltrops, these four inch balls of iron have six evenly spaced depressions along its surface. If these are given the command, “Pike Formation!”, the six depressions rapidly extend forth four foot pikes. The tetrahedral points of the Cavalry Spikes ensure that three pikes always point out and up while the other three form a secured base. Any creature that makes a charge, second move, or similar hasty movement will be struck by the pikes. Such a creature takes 3d6 damage and must make a Dexterity save or have their movement stopped (DC 15). Mounts that are stopped suddenly may throw their riders. Cavalry spikes can be thrown quickly, even as a reaction. Cavalry Spikes can only be used once and remain extended, having expended their sizing magic.

Choking Powder 40

While Choking Powder can come in many containers: purple cloth bags, rolled in wide blue leaves, or thin white ceramic jars. A tossed container of Choking Powder creates a thick cloud of purple-black smoke. The cloud has a ten foot radius and moves freely with any air currents. Any breathing creature starting their turn in the cloud must make a Constitution save (DC 13) or lose their action coughing and sneezing. The cloud lasts for three rounds or until dissipated. Used underwater, the cloud of choking powder only lasts for one round before becoming inert.

Refined Choking Powder 100

Fine, iridescent purple powder is irritating enough to make one’s eyes water and respiratory organs become agitated just by holding an open container of Refined Choking Powder. When smashed open or tossed, the fine powder becomes a 20 foot cloud of nearly invisible powder. Any creature that starts its turn in the cloud must make a Constitution save (DC 15) or that creature may only take a single move action to move at half speed. This affects any living creature that breathes or has exposed, sensitive mucous membranes such as eyes, mouths, or other similar biology. The creature spends that turn writhing in severe irritation. The cloud lasts for five rounds or until dissipated. Warnings are often listed on the container, as many a user has found themselves inside the nigh-invisible, noxious cloud when the wind changed. Used underwater, the powder will dissolve into a similar cloud 30 feet in radius that only lasts two rounds before becoming inert. Pouring milk on the affected areas of a creature cures them of its effects and grants advantage on saves against the choking powder for one minute.

It will find a container to return to.

Cloud in a Bottle 1000

Uncorking the swirling, cloudy vortex in this clear wine bottle will expel a blast of strong wind in the direction of the opening that lasts for 1 minute. If outdoors, the weather will become one step cloudier within 12 hours and lasting for the next week. This has a corresponding effect on other types of weather related to the cloud cover. When released indoors or underground in an insufficiently large space for weather to take place, the strong gusts rush back into the bottle or another suitable container and re-cork themselves.

Give no alms to the black eyed children.

Dark Shroom Oil 4500

Harvested from thin stalked mushrooms hidden in the base roots of jungle trees, Dark Shroom Oil is a fermented and torturous poison. As an oil, the poison can be applied in food, on a weapon, rubbed on as a contact poison, or heated into a noxious gas. Whatever the method of the deliver, one trait is shared, the poisoned creature that fails a save against it will be struck permanently blind and even those that successfully save will still have their sight reduced to 1/10th its normal distance for 1 minute as their eyes fill with the dark oil. When ingested, the victim must make a save each day. Each failed save results in a random limb turning black and becoming unresponsive. Three successful saves means the victim has metabolized enough poison to no longer suffer further ill effects. When inflicted with a weapon, the poison causes the wound to fester and rot, requiring a save. Failure results in an ongoing 3d6 poison damage with a new save each round allowing the victim to reduce the damage by 1d6. Success on that save still means that the creature cannot heal the damage the weapon dealt for 1 week. As a contact poison, the victim only has to worry about a one time save against the base blindness effect of the inky oil. When inhaled as a gas, the Dark Shroom Oil grants the victim a euphoric high for 1 hour and requires a save or the victim will fall into a euphoric coma for 1d4 days. Success on this save means the victim merely gains a minor manic compulsion. Any creature that has been blinded by the Dark Shroom Oil, even if they regain sight, never loses the ink-black eyes and is forever immune to its blinding effect. It is rumored that some afflicted by the Dark Shroom Oil cry a liquid that can be fermented into more poison, leading some depraved souls to purposefully inflict children and keep them captive.

Part IV.