Query, I'm looking for examples from other GMs for some of the weirdest, greatest or most powerful artifacts (be they chaos, xenos or unknown origin) as ideas for a plot I'm working on. They don't have to be weapons or armour no they can be anything. I'm just wondering what custom items some of you have come up with or experienced. The more the better, as I need a few ideas to give myself a selection when the relevant time comes.

Some I already have come up with or brainstormed with others for example (feedback welcome):

The Tome of Dimannius - A deep blue bound grimoire, this item when opened appears to contain almost infinite knowledge. It is said that its discoverer Adept Dimmanius, spent many years reading through it. Each time it was opened, pages would change and new information would be available to quench the thirst of the eternal scholar. Anything from arcane secrets and lore through to basic manuals and childrens stories, the information would be endless. Over time though such knowledge would come at a terrible price and Dimmanius eventually became obsessed with the book, first becoming reclusive before even going so far as to forgo sleep or even sustenance, not willing to part with his tome. Before his death, observers noted that for the final few months of his life it appeared the adept had even lost all sight or the capacity of speech, so focused on his reading that nothing else mattered.

Effect: Spending an hour reading through the book grants +30 to any single lore test however the reader must make a Willpower test with a -10 penalty for each time with the first test starting at +30. Should they fail this test they compulsively spend another hour reading another section and must retest.

Explanation: Basically it's that whole "know lots but it'll come back to slowly bite you". Get them obsessed with reading to the point they become frail and distracted with life in favour of reading.

Deathless Armour - Appearing as black shadowy armour, this suit of finely crafted metallic armour seems to bind effortlessly onto the body of its wearer, moulding itself as it is placed. It is said that the wearer of such armour is able to endure any assault, stand immune to any blow and laugh in the face of their adversaries. They become so sure of their immunity that over time it becomes almost impossible to remove...or is that the armour not wanting to be removed?

Effect: The deathless armour acts as unique armour which can never be penetrated, it always fits the wearer perfectly no matter how large or small they are and has no weight. Should the wearer be struck on any body part which has a piece of the armour equipped, they ignore the attack completely. Additionally once all parts are in place the suit counts as fully environmentally sealed, allowing the wearer to survive any hostile environment for an indefinite length of time even the heart of a volcano or the chill of space. The problem is though, once added it can never be removed without removal of the limb. Additionally it is not power armour and does not contain any of the nutrient capabilities or recycling capacity.

Explanation: Immunity from everything, it's like King Midas. The problem is though that you cant take off what you add. No more will you feel the wind on ones skin, if the helmet goes on then forget eating. Nice little double edged sword. Cant die from wounds but you can die from lack of nutrition or other issues...

Warp Walker Gauntlet - Dark Mechanicus experts fashioned this device using a powerful warp manipulator and a small fragment of technology fashioned from a Necron Deathmark. Observing the deathmark's ability to permanently locate and find any target wherever it may hide in warp or real space, they managed to find a way to utilise this basic tracking component into a small detachable item the size of a coin. Once planted and active, the beacon transmits a unique signal upon which the gauntlet is able to locate and instantaneously transport the wearer from their source to the locator and back again. It may also be able to recall the locator. However caution is advised as the unknown nature of Xenos technology means its reliability is questionable.

Effect: The gauntlet is worn on either arm as a bracelet like item and may be worn over or under existing armour. It provides no AP value. When first acquired, the GM is encouraged to roll 2D10 to determine the number of charges it has and keep the number hidden. The locator is a small item and may be placed anywhere and activated as a half action. It emits an almost undetectable signal which can only be devised using specialist auspex. The gauntlet may then be activated as a full action, should the locator be active, the wearer is transported to the precise location of the locator beacon irrespective of where it actually is. This may place the wearer in a difficult situation if it is on a hostile environment. Transporting the user to and from the locator requires one charge per journey as well as recovering the locator however longer journeys may require more at GM discretion. Should the number of charges reach zero then the gauntlet ceases to function and cannot be recharged.

Explanation: A quirky little thing, with this you could cross the entire galaxy almost instantly if you can get the locator there...problem is though that you dont know if you have enough charges to get you back again or where the locator ended up!

And those are some initial ideas...any more though?

In the palladium games system i based a whole campaign around a ring that could cast a spell of legend called summon warrior horde. Just like it sounds, it would summon 10 magic warriors per level. Even at level 10 the warriors were weak on their own so i added a twist.

When dipped in the blood of a recently dead psyker, it would absorb a charge. Weak psykers gave a one use charge and powerful ones gave an annual use charge. A charge could either be used to initiate one cast of the spell. Or they could be burned to upgrade the spell. The player could permanently purchase higher spell level, different soldier types (archer artillery cavalry etc) officers (since the horde had to remain so close to the caster, officers let the horde move further away) and increase duration.

What's to keep someone from wrestling the book away from the scrawny nerd that's stuck reading it?

The armour strikes me as either way too powerful or utterly useless as well, depending on how you rule certain other things.

Valid point on the taking of the book. Might need to enforce willpower penalties or aggressive moments. Basically the concept is designed to work similar to an addiction which at severe levels will even cause the subnets body to become weak and fatigued as their depths of knowledge increase.

RE armour, please elaborate. My thoughts were that you become immeasurably tough in combat and enjoy the blessings of enduring any blow but by sealing it up you know that you can never remove it, never feel the embrace of a lover, satisy ones nutrition needs or maintain personal hygiene. It becomes a sacrifice in the name of being the immortal warrior. Feedback to refine is appreciated.

An imperial guard corporal, taken prisoner and sold as a slave by khornate chaos lord. Had he been not so adamant about not having sorcerers in his warband he would quickly discovered that this miserable, wounded, scared weakling is born with potential to become a culexus assasin material. If the slave is seduced by his new master and given enough training and equipment or (gods help you if you succeed) implanted with astartes progenoids and turned into space marine - you get an unimaginably powerful and dangerous minion.

Explanation: Immunity from everything, it's like King Midas. The problem is though that you cant take off what you add. No more will you feel the wind on ones skin, if the helmet goes on then forget eating. Nice little double edged sword. Cant die from wounds but you can die from lack of nutrition or other issues...

There's plenty of ways to become immune (or frankly not care about the fluffy "drawbacks", like being a khornate) to the mechanical drawbacks of not being able to put stuff in your mouth — like not needing to eat in the first place (warp eater or undying comes to mind).

In the right hands (i.e. an optimizer or powergamer worth his salt) that armour means limited immortality (I do hope it doesn't apply to psychic powers) with no real drawbacks.

A valid point. I could downgrade it to AP X (thinking around 4 or 5) + Infamy bonus which continues to rise as the wearer goes on. with no chance of losing seal or AP degradation irrelevant of source with force field incorporated equivalent to say Corruption score.

Gets a massive penalty to Stealth of -60 as its unappreciated and cowardly unfitting of its design.

Any better perhaps? Bear in mins that the context of these are geared towards end game or things I can use as plot hooks.

Well I hope he has some good adult diapers under those pants if he can never take them off.

I wonder if even a Khornate would be happy with that price..... perhaps a follower of Nurgle would have no qualms though......

Hey you don't need to add ALL the pieces of armour

I'm just imagining that noise marine trying to seduce a callidus with one gigantic piece of leg armor still on.

A valid point. I could downgrade it to AP X (thinking around 4 or 5) + Infamy bonus which continues to rise as the wearer goes on. with no chance of losing seal or AP degradation irrelevant of source with force field incorporated equivalent to say Corruption score.

Gets a massive penalty to Stealth of -60 as its unappreciated and cowardly unfitting of its design.

Any better perhaps? Bear in mins that the context of these are geared towards end game or things I can use as plot hooks.

That armour is ridiculous. How can I break it? Let me count the ways...

1. Ignoring all damage entirely? Very dumb idea.

2. Hope you don't need to breathe in there.

3. The armour is filling up with your urine, excrement, skin flakes and sweat. Right now.

4. Any part of your body not coated in Deathless armour is about to get murdered.

5. Never being able to feel the touch of another is a retarded drawback for a denizen fo the Screaming Vortex who can be utterly insane if he wants.

6. The armour is impenetrable. This says nothing about whether or not it disperses or absorbs impact shock. Watch me pick up your Mary Sue ass and rattle your brain around like a pea in a drum. Fatigue from grappling will knock you out. Then I stick your feet in concrete and hurl you into the depths of the ocean-world of Furia.

7. Psychic Attacks control the mind, not the body. Telepathy attacks about to rip your brain to shreds.

Do feel free to suggest an alternative statline or rule set. The premise was to create what could be considered the greatest piece of body armour available to allow true power and potency but all items would carry their risks and their massive drawbacks. Terminator armour and just losing dodging ability seems too nice for what its worth.

Not really. When you hit high tier, Armour 14 isn't really all that protective. Evasion is king.

To respond to your request for more constructive alternatives, I think suffocating to death is a pretty good drawback. It would not, of course, affect most Nurgle players, who would relish the idea of bathing in their own filth and might not even need to breathe.

"Never feeling the embrace of a lover" Is the most useless, hippy-dippy Mary Sue drawback I've ever seen. This is Black Crusade we're talking about, here. Unless you're Slaaneshi, most people wouldn't care in the slightest.

Here's a good drawback: The wearer needs a -60 Awareness test to be able to recognise friend from foe.

Also, instead of being invulnerable, how about adding Corruption Bonus to the armour Value of, save, 8 or 10? Except every hit the wearer takes that doesn't kill them gives them a Corruption Point, which counts as a Failing, because it's a very cowardly artifact.

I'll just put an artifact I created for a Dark Heresy Campaign into the thread.

The Accursed Marksman Rifle

This ornate musket fashioned from bone and steel is a mighty tool in the hand of any assassin employed by the dark powers. It uses special Warp-Infused ammunition, which is said to never miss it’s target. However, every so often, the Rifle itself selects the target, at first subtly but then more and more openly in order to bring harm to it’s enslaver. The Demon “Samiel” bound to this weapon revels in harming it’s targets from afar, not outright killing them. The Weapon has the following Profile:

Range: 100 Meter RoF: S/-/- Damage: 1D10 +5 Type: Impact Penetration: 0 Clip: 1 Reload: 4Full Special Qualities: Unreliable, Warp Weapon, Accursed Ammunition*

Range: Melee Damage: 1D10 +2 Type: Rending Penetration: 0

Special Qualities: Tearing

*Accursed Ammunition: The Ammunition for this Weapon is a special, Warp-Infused silver-bullet. These must be poured by someone able to do this (requiring a routine (+20) Trade(Smith) test) and someone preparing the Ritual. The Silver must be mixed with the blood of the marksman who will shoot the weapon and in a ritual requiring a Difficult (-10) Scholastic Lore (Occult) Test infused with the power of the Warp. 2 Kg of silver will produce 10 Bullets. A normal Success means that 5 bullets are “Free Shooting” shots, while the other 5 are Accursed. Each degree of Success will convert one of the accursed shots into a free shooting one, while each degree of failure will convert one “good” bullet into a “bad” one. Make sure to keep the results of this test secret from the player! The effects of the Ammunition are as follows

The Weapon is not restricted by the normal ranges, being able to hit anything within line of sight of the user (Possible Perception Checks are more than appropriate in extreme cases). Anything further than 500 Meters counts as “Extreme Range”. Regardless of ANY OTHER modifier, the weapon grants a +60 on any test to shoot it as well as a re-roll as a full action in the next round as the user “guides” the shot to find it’s target should the first try miss (which is an unmodified Test on Ballistic Skill). Should the +60 result in a modifier of more than +60, reduce it to +60 (which should be more then enough). However, there are three cases in which the Daemon takes control of the shot

- The Bullet used is an accursed one

- The weapon Jams

- The second correction-shot is missed

In this case, the Daemon takes control of the bullet and tries to somehow harm it’s Master either directly by aiming at him or indirectly by harming his friends or something else. For the purpose of hitting, use the Daemon’s Willpower and resolve it as an attack of the Daemon using the Weapon (He has the Training to use it, duh) from roughly where the bullet was when this quality triggered (Position of the User in case of an Accursed Bullet and a Jam, the position of the target which was missed twice). Samiel’s willpower is 45.

Edit: Apparently the Forum's software does not approve of Google Docs :/