Relics

Some extraordinary magic items grow in power along with a character, gaining abilities that add to an adventurer’s legend. These are called relics, and owning one can define a character more than any other magic item could.

Relics begin as a simple item, called a relic seed, which is little more than a functional item with a minor magical effect associated with it. As the owner of the relic grows in power, so does the relic. It develops gifts, which are new magical abilities and activations. These abilities might be themed to the relic, the character, or the nature of the campaign. If a relic is passed to another character, this process begins anew, sometimes granting the same abilities again over time, but possibly unlocking entirely new powers. If someone else takes the relic from its owner, it usually works for a while, though it might lose its power incrementally over time if not returned to its owner. How the relic changes in such a circumstance is up to you, and should fit the story.

The decision to add relics to the game is entirely up to you as the GM. If you decide to add them, you’ll need to adjust treasure somewhat. It’s also wise to consider how many players you expect to end up with relics. Will they each get one? Or will there be just one or two tied to the theme of the campaign?

Discovering a Relic

Some relics might begin as ordinary items with a rich history. They might be part of a character’s starting gear, only to have their true powers uncovered later during play.

Other relics can be acquired during play as part of the ongoing story. Regardless of their origin, these powerful items might not appear to be much at first, but they contain the potential to become something truly great.

For example, an old, tarnished amulet found around the neck of a buried king might turn out to be an item of deep historical significance that awakens to great power.

The seemingly ordinary family sword, passed down to each new generation, might unlock hidden potential through the deeds of its owner.

The PCs might immediately recognize a relic for its ability, or they might carry it for a time before its true nature becomes apparent. The story of a relic should be a tale of discovery. At first, a relic’s wielder likely does not fully understand the item’s power, or might be unable to use it, learning of its abilities only after a momentous event or fortuitous breakthrough. Ultimately, relics are powerful tools in service of the story, working as a valuable tie to the narrative, but their growth and development are in your hands. Because of the place relics hold in the story, they aren’t available for purchase, nor can they be crafted.

Pay attention to the characters’ backstories for potential relics, and look for spots in your narrative that might be suitable for campaign relics. If you’re planning to use relics in your game, let the players know in advance, since their ideas and plans can guide you and give them greater investment in the relics.

Background Relics

A background relic is tied to the history of a character, and its form and abilities should draw inspiration from the story of their character’s life or the past of the item.

The relic could be a gift from a friend or mentor, an heirloom from the character’s family, a found object from their upbringing, or even the first item they ever crafted. The player should select the form of the relic (a battered longsword, a copper ring, or a threadbare red cloak, for example).

Campaign Relics

A campaign relic is drawn from the ongoing story of the campaign.

You decide the entirety of the item, from its form to its aspects (described below) as part of the story of the campaign. Use campaign relics to reinforce and foreshadow the themes of your game. Relics come to those who need them to do great deeds, after all, so finding a relic with the perfect aspects for your future challenges is entirely likely. Unlike background relics, campaign relics typically have magical abilities when first found.

Intelligent Relics

Any intelligent item can become a relic. A relic can also awaken to sapience, and the intelligent relic gift facilitates that occurrence if you add it to the options in your campaign.

Set Relics

Some permanent magic items are strongly attuned to one another, forming a relic seed called a set relic or item set. Such items fit a theme, empowering a specific type of character. A set relic grants gifts and benefits based on its items working and growing more powerful in concert.

Set Relics in the Campaign

Set relics are more powerful than typical relic seeds, but they also make acquiring treasure more exciting. To balance things, ensure each character has access to a set relic suited to their abilities. Also, consider what it takes for characters to acquire this considerable power. Seeking the items or materials to craft them should lead to specific quests and challenges, or even whole adventures. Strongly consider adjusting treasure to account for these valuable items.

Starting a Set Relic

A character starts a set relic when they acquire one item from the set, usually the lowest-level item. (You can allow characters to start the set with a different item.) This starting item has a minor gift and two aspects, as with other relics. The set then works as a single relic regarding its aspects and relic level.

Utilizing a Set Relic

A user must carry or wear items comprising a set relic to gain their benefits as part of the set. Any item the set relic’s wielder fails to wear or carry, as well as any item stowed in an extradimensional space, doesn’t count toward the gifts and item-number features the set relic can grant. The character must also invest any item that has the invested trait, or that item doesn’t count for the power of the set relic. Consequently, if a user loses an item that’s part of the set relic, any benefits that item brought to the set relic disappear until the item is recovered, invested if necessary, and carried or worn again.

Advancing a Set Relic

Each part of a set relic that a character collects further empowers the relic’s gifts and provides additional features.

Gifts: A set relic grants you gifts based on the number of items properly utilized as part of the set relic, as well as a minimum level, which the wielder’s level must equal or exceed. This progression matches that for other types of relics in terms of number of gifts, minimum level, gift type, and gp equivalent. Each known set relic shows a number before listing a gift. This number corresponds with the number of gifts as well as the number of items in the set relic that must be properly utilized to access the indicated gift.

Collective Features: A set relic also grants its user features, boosting to the relic’s gifts, based on the number of items properly utilized in the relic. Such features are cumulative. Once a character has four items from a set, for instance, that wielder gains the features for having two, three, and four items. Each known set relic lists the number of items and the feature linked with properly utilizing that number of items as part of the set relic.

Smaller Sets: For set relics that have fewer than five items, the relic can still permit the wielder to access gifts that are more powerful. One of the items in the set must be of or higher than the minimum level given for the gift for the relic to grant the gift. Meeting this requirement might involve the wielder improving an existing item to the appropriate level or finding a new item of a suitable level.

Improving Set Items: The items in a set relic need not remain static. They can be improved, according to rules for items of their type, with runes and to higher-level versions. If a set relic lists a specific advanced form of an item, you must possess that form of the item and properly utilize it to gain its benefits as part of the set relic.

Relic Aspects

Each relic is associated with aspects—typically two—that speak to its overall concept and purpose. The individual gifts each have an associated aspect.

You should almost always select gifts that have an aspect matching one of those found on the relic. For example, a brass dagger recovered from the City of Brass might have the fire and mind aspects, which means that it could have the flare bolt gift (which has the fire aspect), but not the rolling geode gift (which has the earth aspect).

Usually you can determine at least one aspect of a relic easily by looking at the history of the item or personality of the character. For example, if a player decides that their background relic is a rusty mace wielded by the character’s great grandmother in battle against rising undead hordes, the mace might have the life aspect, as it was used to slay countless undead creatures. There’s no harm in letting the player choose an aspect for a background relic; through play, the item will reveal another aspect associated with it. In the previous example, the mace might reveal itself to have powers against demons as well, in which case its aspects might be celestial and life.

Advancing A Relic

As a relic’s bearer performs mighty deeds and advances their story, the relic gets stronger. The most basic advancement for a relic is its level, which always matches that of its owner. Weapons and armor can gain fundamental runes normally.

You decide what, if any, property runes can be added to a given relic; by default, they can’t have property runes, like any other specific item.

The more complex advancement comes from gifts.

Table 2–22: Relic Gifts shows the typical number of gifts a relic should have at a given level, but relics don’t follow this strictly. Rather, gifts arise according to the pace of the story, the needs of the campaign, and the relationship between the character and the relic. Generally speaking, this results in a relic gaining one gift for every 4 levels its bearer has, but this might fluctuate as the campaign progresses. For example, a relic might gain its first gift at 4th level after the bearer defeats a powerful foe. It might then gain its second at 7th, after they perform a special ritual. That same relic might not gain another gift until 13th level and then again at 16th as the player reaches other major milestones.

The gift types—minor, major, and grand—indicate their general power level. Again, the table indicates what’s generally appropriate at certain levels, but you can alter them as you see fit.

You should usually avoid giving a minor gift at 10th level or higher, because it just won’t be that impressive, though some of them scale well enough to be interesting at higher levels. The Gold Piece Equivalent entry for each gift helps you determine how much you should reduce treasure when using relics (see Adjusting Treasure below).

Table 2–22: Relic Gifts

Number of Gifts	Minimum Level	Gift Type	Gold Piece Equivalent
1	1st	Minor	20 gp
2	5th	Minor	160 gp
3	9th	Major	700 gp
4	13th	Major	3,000 gp
5	17th	Grand	15,000 gp

You decide what gifts a relic gains, generally by either selecting a single gift or offering two paths for the relic to grow and allowing the player to choose, but this should be informed by the story and the nature of the character bearing the relic. A relic should complement the bearer, bolstering the bearer’s strengths and helping to overcome their weaknesses. Within that framework, you should try to maintain a cohesive theme for the relic.

Adjusting Treasure

When you incorporate relics into your game, you can adjust the treasure gained by the party down to account for the relics increasing in power. Essentially, some of the treasure from Table 10–9: Party Treasure by Level in the core rules should be replaced with relic seeds and gifts instead.

You can use the relic’s minimum level, replacing a permanent item of that level, or you can use the gp equivalent. Keep in mind that relic gifts are often a little more powerful than other items with the same Price even when they start out, and they often scale without any additional costs, so PCs with relics will usually be a bit more powerful.

If you prefer, you can grant relics in addition to other rewards. This means PCs will be much more powerful, but you’re rewarding their investment in the story.

Making Relic Seeds

A relic seed can be quite simple: imagine a standard item with two aspects and an appearance that matches the theme.

You can also use an existing magic item for a campaign relic; pick two aspects for it, and tweak its appearance or characteristics to make it clearly different from other items of its type.

You can choose a tradition for the seed and apply that trait to the seed and all the gifts of the seed. This tradition might be derived from the background of the item, or it might appear or change through story moments involving the relic.

If you want a relic to have an additional special benefit, you can design it to grant a bonus to a skill, typically a +1 item bonus for a 3rd-level relic.

Player-Driven Relics

Though these rules assume you as the GM are providing relic gifts as a form of treasure with input from the players, you can instead have the players make all the decisions for their relics.

Encourage the players to choose different styles of items and aspects to match their characters’ themes, rather than simply choosing the most powerful combination of options. Have players describe how their relic gets more powerful in the story. What acts from previous sessions lent the relic power?

What special meditations or practices did they perform to unlock new gifts? How does it feel to have the relic grow?

As the item and the character level up, the player chooses which gifts the item gets from the list as a part of character advancement.

You still adjust treasure as normal for incorporating relics into your game. In fact, if the player tries to optimize the combinations, they will likely be more powerful than under the standard method.

Relic Gifts

Gifts are divided up into three tiers. Minor gifts grant useful, often scaling abilities and are available early in a character’s career. Major gifts define a relic, determining its true purpose and granting powerful abilities. Grand gifts are the pinnacle of power, and most relics never have more than one.

The more gifts there are of one aspect, the more the relic reflects that aspect, and the more influence the aspect has on the character who wields it. An item with multiple shadow gifts might begin to lose its color. With four or five, the character that wields it might take on an ashen tone and the relic might become entirely made of shadow.

Runes as Gifts

You can substitute runes for gifts. If you choose to allow property runes on the relic, you’ll want them to take up rune slots. Otherwise, you can give as many or few as you prefer, just like any other gifts. Runes are sorted into minor, major, and grand categories, but you should use their normal level and Price when you adjust treasure, instead of the number and levels on the Table 2–22. If you’re using the player-driven relics variant, it’s recommended you do not include this option.

Air

Armor (Major) energy-resistant or greater energy-resistant (cold or electricity), invisibility; Armor (Grand) ethereal

Weapon (Minor) returning; Weapon (Major) dancing, shock, thundering; Weapon (Grand) greater shock, greater thundering

Celestial

Weapon (Major) anarchic (azata-themed), axiomatic (archon-themed), holy

Death

Weapon (Minor) ghost touch, wounding

Earth

Armor (Minor) energy-resistant or greater energy-resistant (acid); Armor (Major) fortification; Armor (Grand) greater fortification Weapon (Minor) shifting

Fiend

Armor (Minor) energy-resistant or greater energy-resistant (acid, cold, or fire)

Weapon (Major) anarchic (demon-themed), axiomatic (devil-themed), unholy

Fire

Armor (Minor) energy-resistant or greater energy-resistant (fire)

Weapon (Minor) flaming; Weapon (Major) greater flaming

Life

Weapon (Minor) disrupting; Weapon (Major) greater disrupting

Mind

Armor (Minor) glamered; Armor (Major) invisibility

Plant

Weapon (Minor) shifting

Shadow

Armor (Minor) shadow; Armor (Major) greater shadow; Armor (Grand) ethereal, major shadow

Water

Armor (Minor) energy-resistant or greater energy-resistant (cold or fire), slick; Armor (Major) greater or major slick

Gift Saves and Spell Attack Rolls

Many gifts allow for a saving throw or have other abilities that change as the relic goes up in level. The DC for any saving throw called for by a gift is its owner’s class DC or spell DC. The spell attack modifier of a gift is 10 lower than that DC. A relic’s counteract modifier is equal to its owner’s counteract modifier.

Air Gifts

Deadly Spark Minor Gift

Air Electricity Evocation

Aspect air

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Effect A spark flashes out from the relic toward a creature within 20 feet. This spark deals 1d12 electricity damage (basic Reflex save). The damage increases by 1d12 at 6th level and by another 1d12 every 4 levels thereafter.

Feather Steps Minor Gift

Air Transmutation

Aspect air; Prerequisites The relic is a worn item.

While wearing the relic, you do not trigger traps that use weight or pressure plates as a trigger. Also, whenever you fall, you reduce the falling damage by the level of the relic. If this would reduce the falling damage to 0, you land on your feet and are not prone. The relic grants a +1 item bonus to Athletics checks made to Jump, increasing to +2 at 9th level and +3 at 17th level.

Wind Barrier Minor Gift

Abjuration Air

Aspect air

Activate [one-action] command; Effect An invisible barrier of air deflects ranged attacks, granting you a +2 circumstance bonus to

AC against ranged attacks until the beginning of your next turn. At 13th level, this increases to a +3 circumstance bonus to AC against ranged attacks.

Lightning Storm Major Gift

Air Electricity Evocation

Aspect air

Activate [two-actions] command; Effect The relic surrounds you with a storm of wind, rain, and lightning in a 30-foot emanation.

This storm is difficult terrain for creatures other than you.

Any creature other than you that enters or starts its turn in the storm takes 1d12 electricity damage, with a basic Reflex save (2d12 damage at 15th level).

You can Sustain this Activation up to 1 minute.

Propelling Winds Major Gift

Air Transmutation

Aspect air

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Frequency once per hour; Effect The relic casts fly targeting you.

Living Storm Grand Gift

Air Electricity Evocation

Aspect air

The relic grants you a fly Speed equal to your Speed or 60 feet, whichever is greater. In addition, a creature that Strikes you with a melee attack takes 5 electricity damage, and you can cast 5th-level lightning bolt as an innate spell.

Beast Gifts

Beast Senses Minor Gift

Transmutation

Aspect beast; Prerequisites The relic is a worn item.

The relic grants you an animal’s acute senses as long as you wear it.

You gain low-light vision. If you already have low-light vision, you instead gain darkvision. At 10th level, the relic grants you imprecise scent with a range of 10 feet.

Call of The Wild Minor Gift

Transmutation

Aspect beast Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Frequency once per day; Effect Your relic summons a creature to fight at your side, casting summon animal with a level of half the item’s level rounded up.

You can Sustain this Activation as you would the spell.

Feral Claws Minor Gift

Morph Transmutation

Aspect beast; Prerequisites The relic is a worn item.

Activate [one-action] command; Effect Your hands transform into a pair of claws. These grant you a claw unarmed attack that deals 1d6 slashing damage and has the agile and finesse traits.

This lasts until you Dismiss the effect.

Form of Fury Major Gift

Transmutation

Aspect beast; Prerequisites The relic is a worn item.

Activate [two-actions] command, envision; Frequency twice per day; Effect Calling upon the bestial nature within, you change shape into that of an animal. The relic casts animal form on you, transforming you into the same type of animal every time, chosen when the gift is gained; the spell level is half the item’s level, rounded down.

At 11th level, the spell is 5th level, and the spell level goes up by 1 for every 2 levels beyond that.

Track of The Beast Major Gift

Transmutation

Aspect beast

The spirit of an animal fills you. The relic gives one of the following benefits, chosen by the GM when the relic gains this gift.

• A +10-foot status bonus to your land Speed.
• A climb Speed equal to your land Speed.
• A swim Speed equal to your land Speed.

Form of Vengeance Grand Gift

Transmutation

Aspect beast; Prerequisites form of fury gift

Whenever you use the relic’s form of fury activation, it can cast aerial form or dinosaur form instead of animal form. Like form of fury, these spells also turn you into the same type of animal each time (so you have three forms you can assume in total, one from each spell). The spell level is the same as defined in form of fury.

While transformed, you can switch from one of the three forms to another by Sustaining the Activation. This doesn’t change the duration.

Celestial Gifts

Divine Retribution Minor Gift

Evocation

Aspect celestial; Prerequisites The relic is a weapon.

Weapon (Minor) shifting

Activate [two-actions] command; Effect Drawing upon divine fury, you single out a target that damaged you or an ally within the past round and fill your relic with divine vengeance against them. Make a Strike against that foe, dealing an additional damage die on a hit. If the target is evil, it is also enfeebled 1 until the start of your next turn on a hit (or enfeebled 2 on a critical hit).

Heaven’s Grace Minor Gift

Abjuration

Aspect celestial; Prerequisites The relic is a worn item.

The heavens protect you from harm.

While wearing the relic, you gain a +1 status bonus to AC against attacks by fiends and resistance to an energy type corresponding to the relic’s celestial origin (such as sonic resistance from a choral angel). The resistance is equal to half the relic’s level (minimum 1).

Word of Faith Minor Gift

Healing Necromancy Positive

Aspect celestial

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Frequency once per hour; Effect Placing your hand on yourself or an ally, you heal their wounds and bolster their spirit. The target regains 1d8 HP per item level and reduces their frightened value by 1.

Holy Light Major Gift

Evocation Good

Aspect celestial

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Effect Your relic shines with holy light. This creates bright light in a 30-foot emanation around the item. Evil creatures in the area are frightened 1, and can’t lower their frightened value below 1 as long as they remain in the light.

Fiends in the area increase any weakness to good damage they have by 5. You can Sustain this Activation for up to 1 minute.

Righteous Call Major Gift

Evocation Good

Aspect celestial

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Frequency once per day; Effect Holy magic fills your armaments, making them true weapons against evil. For 1 minute, your weapons and unarmed attacks gain the holy weapon rune while you hold them. If a weapon is at its limit on property runes, you can choose one property rune on the weapon to go dormant while the holy rune takes effect. In addition, any successful Strikes your allies make while they’re within 30 feet of you deal 1 additional good damage.

Angelic Vessel Grand Gift

Conjuration Good

Aspect celestial

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Frequency once per day; Effect At your invitation, a celestial imbues your body with the divine.

You gain 50 additional Hit Points, increasing both your maximum and current Hit Points, as well as weakness 10 to evil damage. If the relic has the righteous call gift, this activation grants the effects of that gift as well, without expending its daily use.

You can Dismiss the effect.

If you do, you can unleash a wave of holy power, causing the relic to cast an 8th-level divine decree, choosing good for the alignment.

Death Gifts

Death Gaze Minor Gift

Necromancy Negative

Aspect death

Activate [two-actions] envision, Interact; Effect Your stare causes a creature’s flesh to rot and wither away. Target a creature you can see within 30 feet. Your stare deals 1d6 negative damage to the creature for every 2 levels the relic has (minimum 1d6; basic Fortitude save). An undead creature or other creature with negative healing targeted this way is instead healed 1d6 HP per level of the relic and is temporarily immune to this effect for 10 minutes.

Living Death Minor Gift

Necromancy

Aspect death

You stand on the threshold between the living and the dead. If you attempt a saving throw against an effect that would deal negative damage to you, such as harm, your outcome is one degree of success better than what you rolled. If you roll a critical success and the effect is capable of healing undead, you regain HP equal to half the spell’s full damage. Any positive spell or effect that would heal you has only half the normal effect. All these effects apply only if you are a living creature.

Shroud of the Afterlife Minor Gift

Necromancy Negative

Aspect Death

Activate [one-action] command, Interact; Frequency once per day; Effect You shroud yourself with powers from beyond the living realm for 1 minute. While this shroud is active, you take on a pallid appearance and gain poison resistance equal to half the relic’s level and a +1 status bonus to saving throws against death effects, diseases, effects that would make you paralyzed, poison, and sleep effects. In addition, the DC for your recovery checks is 9 + your dying value instead of 10 + your dying value.

Pierce The Veil Major Gift

Necromancy

Aspect death; Prerequisites living death gift

The relic allows you to pierce the veil between life and death. While you are holding or wearing the relic, you have the negative healing ability (as though you were undead; positive energy harms you and negative energy heals you). In addition, whenever you are healed by a negative spell or effect, you gain resistance 5 to all damage (except force, ghost touch, and positive) until the start of your next turn. Finally, you gain a +2 item bonus to all saves against death effects while you are the bearer of the relic; this increases to a +3 item bonus at 13th level.

Tide of Death Major Gift

Necromancy Negative

Aspect death; Prerequisites death gaze gift

You can Activate death gaze with 3 actions instead of 2. If you do, it targets all living creatures within 30 feet except for you. If you have the negative healing ability, you can include yourself to be healed.

Grim Specter Grand Gift

Necromancy

Aspect death

Activate [two-actions] command, envision; Frequency once per day; Effect You can call upon the terrifying powers that fuel your relic to transform yourself into a specter of death.

You become incorporeal, having no physical body.

You are immune to effects that require a physical body, including precision damage as well as exposure to most diseases and poisons.

You also have resistance to all damage equal to half the relic’s level; force damage, ghost touch attacks, negative damage, and positive damage ignore this resistance, and the resistance doubles against non-magical damage.

You can move through solid objects. When inside an object, you can’t perceive, attack, or Interact with anything outside it, and you’re always slowed 1 on turns you start in an object. Corporeal creatures can pass through you but can’t end their movement in your space.

You can’t attempt Strength-based checks against corporeal creatures or objects, unless those objects have the ghost touch property rune. Likewise, corporeal creatures can’t attempt Strength-based checks against you.

You can Sustain the Activation up to 1 minute.

Earth Gifts

Ease Burden Minor Gift

Earth Transmutation

Aspect earth

Your relic draws strength from the earth underfoot to lighten your load. As long as your relic is on your person and you are standing on the ground, you can carry 1 more Bulk than normal before becoming encumbered, and you increase your maximum Bulk by 2. At 6th level and every 4 levels thereafter, increase the Bulk you can carry before becoming encumbered by 1 and your maximum Bulk by 2.

Rolling Geode Minor Gift

Conjuration Earth

Aspect earth

Activate [two-actions] command, envision; Frequency once per hour; Effect Stone and crystal form a sphere that chases your foes.

You create a geode in an unoccupied square within 30 feet.

You can spend a single action, which has the concentrate trait, to move the geode up to 30 feet along the ground. If the geode enters a creature’s space, the creature must succeed at a basic Reflex save or take 2d6 bludgeoning damage; a creature can take damage this way only once per turn, even if you roll the geode through its space multiple times. The geode persists for up to 1 minute or until destroyed or Dismissed; it has AC 5, Hardness 10, and 40 Hit Points, and is immune to critical hits and precision damage.

Shattered Earth Minor Gift

Earth Evocation

Aspect earth

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Frequency once per hour; Effect Seismic pulses from your relic ripple through the nearby ground, shaking sharp fragments to the surface.

A 10-foot-radius patch of stone or earth within 60 feet is transformed into difficult terrain. A creature that enters an affected square during a move action must succeed at an Acrobatics check or Reflex save or take 1d6 piercing damage; it needs to roll only once per move action even if it moves through several squares. At 6th level and every 4 levels thereafter, increase the damage by 1d6.

Raise Ramparts Major Gift

Conjuration Earth

Aspect earth

Activate [three-actions] command, Interact; Frequency once per day; Effect Your relic reshapes the earth around you.

You cast 5th-level wall of stone.

Underground Bounty Major Gift

Conjuration Earth

Aspect earth

Your relic produces metals and stones to empower your weapons. Each day during your daily preparations, your relic conjures a magical shard of silver, cold iron, gold, or a non-precious stone or metal material of your choice (such as bronze or granite). If your relic is a weapon, it immediately absorbs the shard, causing it to gain a magical sheen of that metal or stone until your next daily preparations. If your relic is not a weapon, the shard is not immediately used, and you can touch it to a stone or metal weapon using an Interact action to give it a magical sheen of that metal or stone for 10 minutes. While coated in the magical sheen, the weapon interacts with weaknesses, resistances, and the like as if it were made of the stone or metal from the shard rather than its own. The sheen and the shard are obviously magical in nature, and if you don’t use the shard, it disappears when you make your next daily preparations. At 17th level, add adamantine and mithral to the available options.

Living Statue Grand Gift

Earth Transmutation

Aspect earth

Your relic’s energies have given you control over the boundary between flesh and stone.

You can cast 6th-level flesh to stone and stone to flesh as innate spells, each once per day. As long as you are standing on the earth, your body reflexively petrifies at the moment you are struck, granting you resistance 5 to physical damage (except adamantine). This increases to 8 in caves or subterranean environments.

Fiend Gifts

Curse Wound Minor Gift

Curse Evil Necromancy

Aspect fiend; Prerequisites The relic is a weapon.

Activate [reaction] command; Trigger Your Strike with your relic deals damage to a creature within 60 feet; Effect The evil within your relic curses an enemy’s wound to ensure they won’t heal. The triggering creature must attempt a Will save or be unable to restore the Hit Points lost by damage from the triggering Strike until its next daily preparations. If you use Curse Wound on a creature already affected by your Curse Wound, your previous application expires.

Fiendish Defiance Minor Gift

Abjuration

Aspect fiend; Prerequisites The relic is a worn item.

The fiendish power of your relic offers you more protection against celestials and allows you to ignore harm. While wearing the relic, you gain a +1 status bonus to AC against attacks by celestials and resistance to an energy type corresponding to the relic’s fiendish origin (such as fire resistance from a devil). The resistance is equal to half the relic’s level (minimum 1).

Little Helper Minor Gift

Divination Evil

Aspect fiend

Your relic awakens to sapience, developing a personality (usually one that clashes with your own). Your relic has an alignment corresponding to the type of fiend associated with the item, precise vision and imprecise hearing each out to 30 feet, the ability to understand and speak one language you know, and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma modifiers of +0.

Your item’s total Perception and Will modifiers are equal to your proficiency modifiers in Perception and Will, respectively. It is trained in the Lore associated with its fiend type (such as Demon Lore), for a total modifier of 2 + the relic’s level. Unlike most intelligent items, the relic has no actions or reactions and can’t use any of its own activations.

Fiendish Bargain Major Gift

Divination Evil

Aspect fiend

Activate [one-action] command; Frequency once per hour; Effect You bargain with the evil force empowering your relic for a boon, though you must trade something in return. Select one of the following benefits to gain.

• Your relic attempts to counteract a harmful condition affecting you.
• You regain 3d8+16 Hit Points. This is a healing effect.
• You gain a +2 status bonus to attack rolls for 1 minute.

One of the following randomly determined effects occurs to you in payment, after applying the benefit.

• You are stupefied 1 for 1 minute.
• You are clumsy 1 for 1 minute.
• You lose 1d8 Hit Points.
• You take a –1 penalty to damage rolls for 1 minute.

Profane Fervor Major Gift

Evil Evocation

Aspect fiend

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Frequency once per day; Effect Profane energies twist your weapons, filling them with rage toward everything good.

For 1 minute, your weapons and unarmed attacks gain the unholy weapon rune while you hold them. If a weapon is at its limit on property runes, you can choose one property rune on the weapon to go dormant while the unholy rune takes effect. In addition, successful Strikes your allies make while they’re within 30 feet of you deal 1 additional evil damage.

Command Legion Grand Gift

Conjuration

Aspect fiend

Activate [three-actions] command, envision; Frequency once per day; Effect Your relic opens a gate within itself, overwhelming your enemies with fiends.

You cast 6th-level summon fiend, but summon two fiends instead of one, and you can command them both with 1 action to Sustain a Spell. If the relic has the profane fervor gift, this activation grants the effects of that gift as well, without expending its daily use. For the next minute, you can use the following activation.

Activate [free-action] envision; Trigger One of the fiends summoned by command legion is banished; Effect You summon that same fiend again in an adjacent space. The fiend returns at full Hit Points and all conditions, spells, and other effects on it end before you summon it again. However, it does not recover any limited-use abilities it used before, such as innate spells or abilities with a Frequency entry.

Fire Gifts

Flare Bolt Minor Gift

Evocation Fire

Aspect fire

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Effect A bolt of flames scorches out from the relic. Make a spell attack roll with your relic against a target within 30 feet. The bolt deals 1d6 fire damage for every 2 levels the relic has (minimum 1d6).

Critical Success The bolt deals double damage, as well as persistent fire damage equal to the level of the relic.

Success The bolt deals full damage.

Heat Haze Minor Gift

Abjuration Fire

Aspect fire

Your relic’s heat keeps the air around you pleasantly warm.

While you are holding or wearing the relic, it protects you from severe environmental cold. At 9th level, it also protects you from extreme cold, and at 17th level, it protects you from incredible cold. At 4th level, the relic also gains the following activation.

Activate [two-actions] command, envision; Frequency once per day; Effect Your relic erratically elevates the air temperature around you, creating heat shimmers that distort your appearance and grant you the concealed condition for 1 minute. As the nature of this effect still leaves your location obvious, you can’t use this concealment to Hide or Sneak.

Incandescent Sight Minor Gift

Divination Fire

Aspect fire

Activate [two-actions] command, envision; Frequency once per day; Effect Your eyes become attuned to heat signatures as your vision extends into the infrared, granting you a heatsight precise sense for 1 minute. Your heatsight can see temperature gradients out to a range of 30 feet, allowing you to detect living creatures and warm objects even in the dark. Warm objects block your heatsight even if they are transparent, such as hot water.

Jet Propulsion Major Gift

Evocation Fire

Aspect fire

Activate [one-action] envision; Frequency once per hour; Effect Flames from your relic channel through your body, erupting from your feet, hands, or other limbs with enough force to blast you across the ground and propel you through the air. For 1 minute, you gain a +10-foot status bonus to your Speed and gain a fly Speed equal to your new Speed or 20 feet, whichever is greater.

You must end your turn on solid ground, or you fall.

Searing Wave Major Gift

Evocation Fire

Aspect fire

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Effect You allow a portion of the fire magic housed in your relic to escape in a direction of your choice.

You deal 1d10 fire damage for every 2 levels of the relic to all creatures in a 30-foot cone (basic Reflex).

You can’t use Searing Wave again for 1d4 rounds.

Blazing Soul Grand Gift

Evocation Fire

Aspect fire Fire magic suffuses your body and soul, protecting you from lesser flames and allowing you to kindle even the smallest sparks into powerful infernos.

You gain fire resistance 10.

The first time each hour you are targeted by a fire effect that would deal damage, you regain 1d8 HP for every counteract level of the effect, in addition to taking the damage.

Activate [reaction] envision; Trigger A creature within 60 feet is critically hit by or critically fails a save against a fire effect and is not reduced to 0 Hit Points; Effect Flames roar forth from the triggering creature, dealing 6d6 fire damage to all creatures in a 15-foot burst centered on it, including that creature (basic Reflex).

You aren’t affected by the activation, though your allies are. If this damage reduces the triggering creature to 0 Hit Points, it is reduced to a fine ash, though its gear remains.

You can’t use this activation again for 1d4 rounds.

Life Gifts

Bestow Life Minor Gift

Positive Transmutation

Aspect life

Activate [two-actions] command, envision; Frequency once per day; Effect An infusion of positive energy from your relic can temporarily animate an unliving object.

You transform an adjacent inanimate object into an animated object with a level equal to one-half the relic’s level and appropriate to the object (so a broom would become an animated broom).

The object pursues a single simple noncombat task you state when you use Bestow Life, ignoring any subsequent commands. The object is mindless and pursues the task singlemindedly and uncreatively. The object remains animated for 1 hour.

Healing Wave Minor Gift

Healing Necromancy Positive

Aspect life

Activate [two-actions] envision; Frequency once per hour; Effect You release a wave of positive energy in a 15-foot cone.

You and each living target in the area regain 1d4 HP per level of the relic.

Overflowing Life Minor Gift

Healing Necromancy Positive

Aspect life Life force flows through you, and positive energy causes your vital essence to burst through your skin like beads of liquid light.

You gain an item bonus equal to half the relic’s level (minimum 1) to the Hit Points you recover from positive healing spells; this bonus applies only the first time per casting that a particular spell heals you.

Inextinguishable Major Gift

Necromancy Positive

Aspect life Your connection to life force makes you more difficult to snuff out than others.

You die from the dying condition at dying 5, rather than dying 4. If you roll a success on a save against a death or negative effect, you get a critical success instead.

Vitality Siphon Major Gift

Healing Necromancy Positive

Aspect life

Activate [reaction] envision; Trigger An ally within 60 feet regains more Hit Points than it is currently down via a targeted positive healing effect without a duration; Effect Your relic acts as a relay for vitality.

You or an adjacent willing creature regain a number of Hit Points equal to the amount in excess of the triggering creature’s maximum Hit Points; for instance, if the triggering creature was missing 5 Hit Points and was targeted by a heal spell that restored 12 Hit Points, you or an adjacent willing creature would regain the remaining 7 Hit Points.

Life Everlasting Grand Gift

Healing Necromancy Positive

Aspect life

Activate [two-actions] envision; Frequency once per day; Effect Massive amounts of positive energy surge forth. For 1 minute, you emit positive energy in a 10-foot emanation centered on you. At the end of your turn, you (if you are living) and allied living creatures in the emanation regain 10 Hit Points. If you or an allied creature would die due to an increased dying value, you can Dismiss the activation as a free action to prevent the death; if you do, their dying value doesn’t increase.

Mind Gifts

Linguistic Nexus Minor Gift

Divination Mental

Aspect mind

Your relic grants you a powerful neural plasticity, and as a result, you can learn languages more easily.

You learn an additional language of your choice for every 2 levels of the relic (minimum 1).

You can retrain one of the languages from the relic with only a single week of downtime.

Recalculate Minor Gift

Divination Mental

Aspect mind

Activate [reaction] envision; Trigger You fail an attack roll; Effect Analysis of angles, probabilities, and myriad other factors flows from your relic into your mind after you miss an attack, preparing you for the next one.

You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to your next attack roll against the target you missed, as long as it is made before the beginning of your next turn.

Repository of Knowledge Minor Gift

Divination Mental

Aspect mind Your relic is imbued with the psychic impressions of ages past. While the relic is on your person, you are trained in 3 additional Lore skills of the GM’s choice that fit the relic’s history, decided at the time of gaining this gift. If the relic is 9th level, you instead have expert proficiency in these Lore skills, and if the relic is 17th level, you have master proficiency in these Lore skills.

Perception Filter Major Gift

Divination Mental

Aspect mind

Activate [two-actions] envision; Frequency once per day; Effect Your relic reaches into the minds of nearby creatures and blocks your presence from their perceptions. For the next 10 minutes, a creature that enters a 120-foot-radius emanation, centered on you, must attempt a secret Will save, after which the creature is then temporarily immune for 1 day.

Critical Success The creature is unaffected.

Success The creature takes a –2 status penalty to Perception checks to Seek or otherwise detect you.

Failure You filter all of the creature’s senses, making it difficult for it to notice you. When you are hidden or undetected from the creature, it doesn’t observe you as soon as you do anything other than Hide, Sneak, or Step. If it rolls a Perception check to Seek or otherwise detect you, it gets the outcome one degree of success worse than what it rolled, and if you roll a Stealth check to Hide, Sneak, or otherwise escape its attention, you get the outcome one degree of success better than what you rolled against the creature. If you use a hostile action toward the creature, the effect ends for that creature after your hostile action is completed.

Critical Failure As failure, but the effect doesn’t end for that creature if you use a hostile action against it.

Psychic Scream Major Gift

Divination Mental

Aspect mind

Activate [two-actions] envision; Effect Your thoughts build before spilling forth in a powerful telepathic scream.

Enemies within a 20-foot-radius burst centered on you must attempt a basic Will save or take 1d10 mental damage for every 2 levels of the relic. On a critical failure, they are also stupefied 1 for 1 minute.

Mental Bastion Grand Gift

Mental

Aspect mind

Your relic takes over some of your mental processes and enhances others.

You gain telepathy; if you already have telepathy, you instead increase its range by 30 feet. Whenever you would become stupefied, reduce the value by 1.

You are permanently quickened and can use the additional action to Recall Knowledge.

Plant Gifts

Apothecary’s Garden Minor Gift

Healing Necromancy Plant

Aspect plant

Your relic grows potent natural medicines. Each night, two medicinal herbs (or other plants) grow from your relic and can be harmlessly harvested during your next daily preparations. A living creature that consumes an herb with an Interact action regains 1d8 Hit Points for every 2 relic levels (minimum 1d8). At 9th level, the relic grows three herbs each night, and at 17th level, the relic grows four herbs each night. Herbs wither away 1 day after being harvested.

Pollen Spray Minor Gift

Evocation Plant

Aspect plant

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Effect Pollen and poison spores spray from your relic, dealing 1d6 poison damage for every 2 relic levels (minimum 1d6) to all creatures in a 15-foot cone (basic Fortitude save). On a critical failure, targets are also dazzled for 1 round.

You can’t use Pollen Spray again for 1d4 rounds.

Sprout Ally Minor Gift

Plant

Aspect plant

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Frequency once per day; Effect Your relic rapidly matures and animates nearby plant matter into an ally to fight by you, casting summon plant or fungus, with a level of half the item’s level rounded up.

You can Sustain this Activation as you would the spell.

Grappling Vine Major Gift

Plant Transmutation

Aspect plant

Activate [one-action] Interact; Effect Your relic launches a sticky, multi-stranded vine at a target within 50 feet. Make an attack roll as you would when using a grappling hook, but if you roll a critical failure on the check to secure the vine, you get a failure instead. Once the vine is anchored, creatures receive a +1 status bonus to Athletics checks to Climb the vine, and they gain a +5-foot status bonus to the distance they move with a successful check while Climbing using the vine.

The vine lasts for 1 day or until you use Grappling Vine again, at which point your older vine withers.

Petal Dance Major Gift

Plant Transmutation

Aspect plant

Activate [two-actions] envision; Frequency once per hour; Effect You discorporate into a cloud of petals and leaves. This grants you the swarm trait, immunity to falling damage, resistance 5 to bludgeoning and slashing damage, and weakness 5 to area and splash damage.

You can fit into spaces only a few inches wide, moving your constituent petals through the gap.

You don’t gain the swarm mind ability, so you are still affected normally by mental effects. As a swarm, you can’t speak, cast spells, use manipulate actions requiring your hands, activate your magic items, or make any of your Strikes with your normal body. You remain in this form for 1 minute or until you Dismiss the activation. At 13th level, the relic gains a reaction that triggers when you fall or take damage, applying this gift’s resistances, weaknesses, and immunity to falling damage to the triggering effect.

Megaflora Grand Gift

Conjuration Plant

Aspect plant

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Frequency once per day; Effect With a pulse of natural energy, your relic grows massive plants in an instant. The megaflora is of one of the following types, chosen by the GM when the relic gains this gift. A megaflora appears in an unoccupied 10-foot space within 30 feet and has 50 Hit Points, weakness to fire 5, 37 AC, +20 Reflex, and +30 Fortitude. It persists for 1 minute or until reduced to 0 Hit Points.

• Corpseflower A single putrid-smelling flower grows at the target location. While the flower persists, each round at the end of your turn, all creatures in a 20-foot burst centered on the plant except you must succeed at a Fortitude save or be sickened 2 (also stunned 2 on a critical failure). This is a poison effect.
• Thorns A 10-foot-tall thorned plant or bamboo stalk grows at the target location. While the stalk persists, each round at the end of your turn, sharp stakes erupt from the ground, dealing 6d8 piercing damage to all creatures in a 20-foot burst centered on the plant except you (basic Reflex)
• Tree of Life A large tree bearing life-giving fruit grows at the target location. While the tree persists, living creatures within reach of the tree can use an Interact action to pick and eat one of the tree’s fruits, regaining 2d8+5 Hit Points; picking a fruit without eating it causes the fruit to instantly vanish. This is a healing effect, and a given creature can heal from the tree only once per round.

Shadow Gifts

Encompassing Darkness Minor Gift

Conjuration Shadow

Aspect shadow

The shadows at your feet can hold objects.

You can Interact with your shadow to store or remove objects, just like you would a mundane container. Your shadow can contain 3 Bulk of objects, which don’t count toward the Bulk you are carrying. At 6th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, you can store 1 additional Bulk of objects in your shadow. While the items are in your shadow and can be detected normally, you gain a +4 circumstance bonus to Stealth checks to Conceal the Objects unless someone knows to check your shadow for items.

Obscure Minor Gift

Illusion Shadow

Aspect shadow

Your relic absorbs light and wraps shadow around you, hiding you in darkness. As long as you are in dim light in an area of shadows, you can attempt a Stealth check to Hide, even if you aren’t concealed against the creature, such as with a creature with darkvision.

Shadow Smith Minor Gift

Conjuration Shadow

Aspect shadow

Activate [one-action] Interact; Effect Your relic pulls at nearby shadows, twisting them into the shape of a simple weapon or a simple tool or item, such as a rope or crowbar. It lasts until it is used for a single activity, until you use shadow smith again, or for 1 minute, whichever comes first, after which it dissipates.

Dancing Shadow Major Gift

Shadow Evocation

Aspect shadow; Prerequisites The relic is a weapon.

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Frequency once per hour; Effect Your relic’s shadow detaches from your relic and dances through the air to attack an enemy. When you Activate the relic, designate a target. The relic’s shadow flies up to 60 feet until it is adjacent to that foe and then makes a Strike against it, dealing 5d8 damage on a success or double that on a critical success; the damage type is of any type normally dealt by your relic. The shadow uses your attack bonus with the relic, and it uses and contributes to your multiple attack penalty. While this activation is in effect, you can use a single action, which has the attack and concentrate traits, to mentally direct the shadow to make another Strike against the same target. The shadow lasts until that target is reduced to 0 Hit Points, that target moves more than 400 feet from you, or that target moves to an area where no shadow could be cast, such as an area of complete darkness, whichever comes first.

The shadow doesn’t take up space, grant flanking, or have any other attributes a creature would, and it automatically follows the chosen foe. The shadow can’t make any attack other than its Strike, and feats or spells that affect weapons do not apply to it.

Dark Roads Major Gift

Conjuration Shadow Teleportation

Aspect shadow

Activate [two-actions] command, envision; Effect Your relic creates a path from your shadow to a nearby one, teleporting you and any items you’re wearing or holding from your current space to an unoccupied one within 30 feet that you can see.

You can’t use the dark roads gift again for 1d4 rounds.

If the destination is not within an area of bright light, the range is instead 60 feet. If this would bring another creature with you—even if you’re carrying it in an extradimensional container—the gift fails.

Umbral Body Grand Gift

Shadow Transmutation

Aspect shadow

Activate [two-actions] command, Interact; Effect Shadowy essence infuses your body, and you can reshape wisps of yourself into a variety of damaging shadows. This has the effect of a 6th-level shadow blast, choosing from only bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing damage.

You can’t use this activation again for 1d4 rounds.

Water Gifts

Lashing Currents Minor Gift

Evocation Water

Aspect water; Prerequisites The relic is a weapon.

Water collects at the tip of your relic.

You can adjust your grip on your relic with an Interact action to allow you to make lashing current weapon Strikes with your relic, which deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage; have the disarm, finesse, reach 10, trip, and versatile S traits; and are in the flail group. Your lashing current Strikes gain the benefit of your relic’s fundamental and property runes, though any property runes that would not be applicable to the lashing currents are not applied.

You can use another Interact action to return to your normal grip and make Strikes with the relic.

Monsoon Curtain Minor Gift

Air Conjuration Water

Aspect water

Activate [three-actions] command, envision; Frequency once per day; Effect You call down a curtain of violent rain in a location within 120 feet. The wall is 5 feet thick, 30 feet long, up to 30 feet high, and lasts for 1 minute. The wall stands vertically, but you can shape its path. The wall has the following effects.

• If a fire effect crosses through the wall, it either uses the outcome one degree of success worse than the result of its attack roll or its targets use the outcome one degree of success better than the result of their saving throw, as appropriate.
• Creatures with a weakness to water that cross the wall or start their turn in the wall take damage equal to their weakness.
• The wall imposes a –2 status penalty to Perception checks to sense creatures or objects on the other side.

Tidal Crash Minor Gift

Evocation Water

Aspect water

Activate [two-actions] command, envision; Frequency once per day; Effect Your relic spews forth a dense sphere of water.

Make a spell attack roll against a target within 30 feet.

On a success, you deal 2d10 bludgeoning damage plus 2 bludgeoning splash damage. At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, increase the initial damage by 1d10 and the splash damage by 1.

Bottomless Reservoir Major Gift

Conjuration Extradimensional Water

Aspect water

Activate [one-action] Interact; Effect Your relic can absorb and release water, storing it in a endless reservoir.

You either touch your relic to an adjacent body of water and absorb 1 gallon of it into the reservoir, or you release 1 gallon of a liquid from the reservoir.

You can add another action to the activation to absorb water from a touched creature made entirely of water, like a water elemental. If you do, it takes 1d6 damage per relic level (basic Fortitude save).

Activate [reaction] Interact; Trigger You are targeted by an acid or water effect; Effect Your relic attempts to counteract the effect, expending 1 gallon of stored liquid. At the GM’s discretion, you can use this ability on effects made of other liquids, such as blood.

Flowing Footsteps Major Gift

Transmutation Water

Aspect water Your relic ensures no water impedes your movement.

You gain the effects of the water walk spell, and the ability to breathe water.

You also gain a swim Speed equal to your Speed or 15 feet, whichever is higher.

Ripples and Waves Grand Gift

Water

Aspect water

You become attuned to the ebb and flow of all things.

You gain wavesense 60 as a precise sense and can cast 5th-level hydraulic push at will as an innate spell.

Activate [two-actions] command, envision; Frequency once per day; Effect Ankle-deep water floods outward from you, filling a 60-foot emanation centered on you for 1 minute.

Enemies within the area without a swim Speed treat the area as difficult terrain for movement on land. While the effect persists, you can have any water effects you generate originate from any point within the emanation, in addition to their normal range and area.