Hey guys, planning on starting a adventure where my players go to look for a Sith artifact to keep out of the empire's hands. I was thinking of having it be the Gauntlet of Kressh the Younger, which in old canon an artifact that gives it's wearer or the person touching the ability to not be touched or harmed by anything unless the owner allows it. I was thinking something along the lines that another party chasing it, finds it and that the party has to find creative ways to end the threat. Ie. poison, vacuum, starvation, etc. Mostly as a method of trying to force players to not just go for shooting on sight.

However due to the power of said artifact, im afraid of incorporating it in a way that could endanger balance. after all if a guy cant be hurt what do you do?

I was thinking that after several sessions some pirate finds it first and begins a cult about his godliness and starts amassing an army via his rumored invincibility. leading to players teaming up with other parties to try to stop them, but im still throwing out ideas. thoughts?

I would not bring something into the game with an ability like that. You can make a permanently immune to damage character by the way that reads. I would probably throw that out there as one of the rumors or legends they hear of the artifact if they are going to hear of it before they obtain it. However I would significantly reduce the ability it has. Maybe something like a use of the Protect base power once per encounter, even if you don't have or don't qualify for the Protect/Unleash power.

I would be afraid of one of my players getting this as well. Especially if it didn't have any kind of drawback to the damage immunity.

Like GroggyGolem said, it would probably be better if you linked it to Protect our maybe make it where it made the character immune to breach/parry rather than immune to damage.

As it is a Sith artifact, it is site to draw on the dark side so I would also treat it like one of the dark side force powers. You automatically start each session with conflict just for owning it. That may help in keeping the players from wanting to keep it

I'm not familiar with the artefact you mentioned, but I'd be very wary of something so powerful in the hands of the PCs. You could use something similar, but as others have mentioned, definitely give it some drawbacks. The conflict idea from Varlie isn't a bad one, but I'd be tempted to make it something quite onerous so that they want to be rid of the thing rather than keep it and misuse it. Something like the shield amulet from Stargate: Atlantis , that gave the user protection but at the same time prevented them from eating or drinking. It also didn't protect against drowning (so presumably suffocation, too). It could only be removed by a significant act of will - maybe a Daunting Discipline check or the like.

The other option would be that it not only causes conflict, but acts in a similar way to the One Ring - the user becomes paranoid and fearful, unable to function properly, and eventually becomes completely consumed by it?

I just know from experience that giving players something uber-powerful ends up causing nothing but trouble for you as the GM in the long run!

In the core book there is a talisman that gives the wearer the cortosis quality. Not as crazy but still potent. I am afb but i think it is the talismannof the fist...

5 hours ago, Daeglan said:

In the core book there is a talisman that gives the wearer the cortosis quality. Not as crazy but still potent. I am afb but i think it is the talismannof the fist...

Talisman of the Iron Fists

A good rule of thumb in introducing a new item to any game is "what would happen if my players not only got a hold of this item, but decided to use it?"

As others have said, giving the in-game version of the Gauntlet of Kressh the Younger the full abilities it had in Legends would make things incredibly difficult if the PCs decided that being any degree of invulnerable is too good of a benefit to pass up, especially if the players are used to the D&D mindset of using looted treasure to buff up their characters.

In terms of game stats, the suggestion to have it replicate the Talisman of Iron Fists (i.e. wearer has the Cortosis quality) is probably your safest bet. If you want to make it stand out a bit more, perhaps have it also provide a +1 bonus to the wearer's defense. But since it sounds like this object is destined to wind up in the PCs' hands by design, I wouldn't let it provide any further bonuses.

If I'm recalling the source right (Haazen from the KOTOR comics had this, yes?) then perhaps the wearer of the gauntlet needs additional items/regalia in order to "unlock" the Gauntlet's true powers. Could lead to an interesting scavenger hunt where the PCs are scrambling to keep these ancient Sith artifacts out of the Empire's hands, but also having to avoid succumbing to the lure of power they'd provide, especially when all of them are assembled.

On 5/4/2018 at 10:17 AM, Donovan Morningfire said:

If I'm recalling the source right (Haazen from the KOTOR comics had this, yes?) then perhaps the wearer of the gauntlet needs additional items/regalia in order to "unlock" the Gauntlet's true powers. Could lead to an interesting scavenger hunt where the PCs are scrambling to keep these ancient Sith artifacts out of the Empire's hands, but also having to avoid succumbing to the lure of power they'd provide, especially when all of them are assembled.

Gathering multicolored, glowing stones to empower gauntlets seems to be all the rage right now. . .

There's a few ways you could make this "balanced" while still making it incredibly powerful, assuming you want the PCs to have a tough fight against a villain with an exceptional "magic item," but don't necessarily want them to have and use it themselves. First, as suggested, if you're wearing the thing, you get automatic Conflict at the start of each session. Like, say, twenty. At times, you the GM make take control of the character wearing the Gauntlet and have them perform an evil action, like killing an unarmed person the party wanted to interrogate, as the Dark Side corruption leads to them being ever more bloodthirsty (many may cry foul on this, but I feel it's perfectly reasonable for a proper Sith artifact). If the person wearing it becomes a full-fledged Darksider, paranoia and meglomania set in, with the PC acting against the other party members, because of course they want to steal his source of awesome power for themselves (which they probably do by this point). Lastly, artifacts like this have a nasty habit, in all manner of legends, of slipping from their user's grasp whenever it would be most inconvenient for them to do so. The PC wakes up as the ship is about to be boarded by the 501st with Darth Vader at their head, and oh wear did I put my invincibility gauntlet last night. . .

Of course, your NPCs don't care about these drawbacks, but letting the players know just what price this power comes with should probably dissuade them from trying to use it in the first place. And if not. . . well, they were warned.

" Gathering multicolored, glowing stones to empower gauntlets seems to be all the rage right now. . . "

Hehe...it seems that kyber crystals have become a placeholder for any kind of space-magic you want in Star Wars, these days. There's even a reference in the novelisation of "The Force Awakens" to Kylo Ren's star destroyer having its turbolasers powered by kyber crystals, which is why (I presume) they could track a target.

On ‎5‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 7:50 PM, Varlie said:

I would be afraid of one of my players getting this as well. Especially if it didn't have any kind of drawback to the damage immunity.

Like GroggyGolem said, it would probably be better if you linked it to Protect our maybe make it where it made the character immune to breach/parry rather than immune to damage.

As it is a Sith artifact, it is site to draw on the dark side so I would also treat it like one of the dark side force powers. You automatically start each session with conflict just for owning it. That may help in keeping the players from wanting to keep it

Or make it a sort of at-will-parry-and-reflect talent (like the beta inquisitors) - but whilst it doesn't cost strain, it does cost conflict to trigger.

Essentially, it's an invulnerability maguffin. These are broadly speaking a bad thing to have in games where the players can get their hands on them, unless you've already prepared a downside:

• Option 1: We don't have all the bits.
  • I wouldn't have it be 'in multiple bits' because if the players are going to have to deal with it at full effect in an opponents hands, they must logically have all the bits.

That instead means you have two options to stop them using it at full effect:

• Option 2: So where's the "on" switch?
  • Using the gauntlet may require not just the artefact but some sith lore as to how to make the darn thing work.
  • Whilst you can kill the current holder and loot their corpse, unless you bother to interrogate them first - or even know that you need to - what you end up with is a really cool glove that's maybe worth +1 soak, tops, not a world-conquering sith artefact.
  • If this is a case, then they then have a follow-on hook to find a viable 'instruction manual'.
• Option 3: Oh, heck, the battery's run out.
  • I doubt Kressh's gauntlet runs on standard double-A's.
  • Whilst you could have it needing artefacts B, C and D to 'power up', or to find some 'gems of a really high number' to draw power from, that basically just turns one maguffin hunt into another.
  • How about something else: it is a sith artefact after all. The gauntlet can provide shielding for a given period of time by draining to the point of death the life-force of a being other than the wearer.
    • Precisely how long you are invulnerable per murder, and how strict the gauntlet is about its victims (at worst case, sentient and with a personal emotional attachment to the wearer) is a matter for the GM to decide.

I actually built my current campaign around this very artifact. How to keep it from destroying game balance? Easy--- the gauntlet is never actually within the grasp of the players or major NPCs.

We began on Nar Shadda where among the items offered at auction was a carved vase decorated with what was in fact an ancient cypher. After obtaining the item, they learned that Kressh had hidden the knowledge he used to create the gauntlet. The players must retrieve five data crystals from the five scared worlds of the ancient sith and re-assemble them in his Holocron in order to unlock the information.

Now, after 32 sessions, the characters are on Korriban in the tomb of Ludo Kressh where they are about to come face to face with their final challenge.

Certainly anyone using a sith artifact for his own benefit would fall to the dark side

On 3/27/2018 at 10:05 PM, Saseav said:

Hey guys, planning on starting a adventure where my players go to look for a Sith artifact to keep out of the empire's hands. I was thinking of having it be the Gauntlet of Kressh the Younger, which in old canon an artifact that gives it's wearer or the person touching the ability to not be touched or harmed by anything unless the owner allows it. I was thinking something along the lines that another party chasing it, finds it and that the party has to find creative ways to end the threat. Ie. poison, vacuum, starvation, etc. Mostly as a method of trying to force players to not just go for shooting on sight.

However due to the power of said artifact, im afraid of incorporating it in a way that could endanger balance. after all if a guy cant be hurt what do you do?

I was thinking that after several sessions some pirate finds it first and begins a cult about his godliness and starts amassing an army via his rumored invincibility. leading to players teaming up with other parties to try to stop them, but im still throwing out ideas. thoughts?

So i stat’d up the relic once. It used the sith shield as the basis, but has the cumbersome 4 trait and is one less encombrance. This owes to it’s supernatural weight but more gauntlet size.

The user had the option of committing 1 force die to the gauntlet to gain the following: eliminate the cumbersome quality, gain innate talent: parry 2, and increase the difficulty of all brawl, melee, and lightsaber attack by one die. Committing this force die generates two conflict and colors the character with a mild paranoia. Every session committed the user gains 2 conflict. taking off the commitment generates 4 conflict, due to the fear of being vulnerable.

I know in Kotor comics the gauntlet looks powerful, but in the hands of a moderately skilled force user for example (a couple ranks of parry and say adversary 2) “melee” attack would start with a base difficulty of 1 purple and two red. And with the extra ranks of parry most any reasonable “melee” attacks would be fairly minimal in damage. Using the normal ability of a sith shield to commit dice and unleash power mimics the bursts in the comics, and if the npc has improved parry... it gets pretty solid pretty quick.

This then becomes an item that PCs can have, and has a clear draw to the dark side. But it’s also something thing that doesn’t break the game, as the user can still be hit/damaged and isn’t the godly power from a “legend”

hopefully this helps. This is actually one of my favorite with relics, so cool on you for using this in your game.

Edit: autocorrect. Sigh

The Empire might want something that has information as its main power. Maybe something that acts a bit like the Foresee power. Or you could make it an artifact from the Sith Empire that was constructed using Sith Sorcery that can break any code.