Magic Items

Wondrous item, rare

Professor Skant. The professor orb owned by Vellynne Harpell and stolen by Nass Lantomir calls itself Professor Skant. It is lawful good, and it has a Wisdom of 11 and a Charisma of 9. It speaks and reads Common, Draconic, Elvish, and Loross (the dead language of the Empire of Netheril). Professor Skant is a chatterbox and assumes all humanoids are dunderheads. When elaborating on its areas of expertise, it adopts an unintentionally patronizing tone. It has the following four areas of expertise:

The history of Netheril
Vampirism and the traits of vampires
Rituals surrounding the making, bottling, and drinking of Elverquisst (a rare, ruby-colored elven liquor distilled from sunshine and rare summer fruits)
The tarrasque
A professor orb is a smooth 5-pound sphere of smoky gray quartz about the size of a grapefruit. Close examination reveals two or more pinpricks of silver light coming from deep inside the sphere.

The orb is sentient and has the personality of a scholar. Its alignment is determined by rolling on the alignment table in the “Sentient Magic Items” section in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Regardless of its alignment, the orb has an Intelligence of 18, and Wisdom and Charisma scores determined by rolling 3d6 for each ability. The orb speaks, reads, and understands four languages, and it can see and hear normally out to a range of 60 feet. Unlike most other sentient items, the orb has no goals of its own and can’t initiate a conflict with the creature in possession of it.

The orb has extensive knowledge of four narrow academic subjects. When making an Intelligence check to recall lore from any of its areas of expertise, the orb has a +9 bonus to its roll (including its Intelligence modifier).

In addition to the knowledge it possesses, the orb can cast the mage hand cantrip at will. It uses the spell only to transport itself. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence.

Ring, rare (requires attunement)

This ring has 3 charges, and it regains 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn. While wearing the ring, you can use an action to expend 1 to 3 of its charges to make a ranged spell attack against one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. The ring produces a spectral ram’s head and makes its attack roll with a +7 bonus. On a hit, for each charge you spend, the target takes 2d10 force damage and is pushed 5 feet away from you.

Alternatively, you can expend 1 to 3 of the ring’s charges as an action to try to break an object you can see within 60 feet of you that isn’t being worn or carried. The ring makes a Strength check with a +5 bonus for each charge you spend.

Chardalyn: More than a hundred years prior to this adventure, a wizard named Akar Kessel found an artifact suffused with demonic magic called Crenshinibon (better known as the Crystal Shard) and used it to erect a great black tower in Icewind Dale. When this tower was destroyed, the magic used to create it fused with the surrounding ice to form what is now known as chardalyn: a nonmagical, crystalline substance as strong as metal, though considerably easier to work with than steel. In the years since, more deposits of chardalyn have been found across Icewind Dale. Like the Crystal Shard, these deposits tend to be suffused with demonic magic. Prolonged contact with chardalyn that has become suffused with demonic magic can warp a creature’s mind, causing madness that usually fades away once the contact is broken.

Chardalyn is cold to the touch and readily accepts magical enchantment, making it an ideal substance for wands, staffs, and other magic items. A chardalyn object suffused with the magic of the Upper Planes is considered a consecrated object, while a chardalyn object suffused with the magic of the Lower Planes is considered a desecrated object; both can be identified as such using a detect evil and good spell or similar magic.

Long before Akar Kessel left his mark on Icewind Dale, Netherese wizards created their own chardalyn. Many items made from this dark-colored crystal can be found in the ruins of ancient Netherese enclaves.

Staff, rare (requires attunement by a bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard)

While holding this staff, you can use an action to expend 1 of its 10 charges to cast charm person, command, or comprehend languages from it using your spell save DC. The staff can also be used as a magic quarterstaff.

If you are holding the staff and fail a saving throw against an enchantment spell that targets only you, you can turn your failed save into a successful one. You can’t use this property of the staff again until the next dawn. If you succeed on a save against an enchantment spell that targets only you, with or without the staff’s intervention, you can use your reaction to expend 1 charge from the staff and turn the spell back on its caster as if you had cast the spell.

The staff regains 1d8 + 2 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff becomes a nonmagical quarterstaff.

Damage: 1d6
Damage Type: Bludgeoning
Properties: Versatile

Chardalyn: More than a hundred years prior to this adventure, a wizard named Akar Kessel found an artifact suffused with demonic magic called Crenshinibon (better known as the Crystal Shard) and used it to erect a great black tower in Icewind Dale. When this tower was destroyed, the magic used to create it fused with the surrounding ice to form what is now known as chardalyn: a nonmagical, crystalline substance as strong as metal, though considerably easier to work with than steel. In the years since, more deposits of chardalyn have been found across Icewind Dale. Like the Crystal Shard, these deposits tend to be suffused with demonic magic. Prolonged contact with chardalyn that has become suffused with demonic magic can warp a creature’s mind, causing madness that usually fades away once the contact is broken.

Chardalyn is cold to the touch and readily accepts magical enchantment, making it an ideal substance for wands, staffs, and other magic items. A chardalyn object suffused with the magic of the Upper Planes is considered a consecrated object, while a chardalyn object suffused with the magic of the Lower Planes is considered a desecrated object; both can be identified as such using a detect evil and good spell or similar magic.

Long before Akar Kessel left his mark on Icewind Dale, Netherese wizards created their own chardalyn. Many items made from this dark-colored crystal can be found in the ruins of ancient Netherese enclaves.

Wondrous item, very rare

An abracadabrus is an ornate, gemstone-studded wooden chest that weighs 25 pounds while empty. Its interior compartment is a cube measuring 1½ feet on a side.

The chest has 20 charges. A creature can use an action to touch the closed lid of the chest and expend 1 of the chest’s charges while naming one or more nonmagical objects (including raw materials, foodstuffs, and liquids) worth a total of 1 gp or less. The named objects magically appear in the chest, provided they can all fit inside it and the chest doesn’t contain anything else. For example, the chest can conjure a plate of strawberries, a bowl of hot soup, a flagon of water, a stuffed animal, or a bag of twenty caltrops. Food and drink conjured by the chest are delicious, and they spoil if not consumed after 24 hours. Gems and precious metals created by the chest disappear after 1 minute.

The chest regains 1d20 expended charges daily at dawn. If the item’s last charge is expended, roll a d20. On a 1, the chest loses its magic (becoming an ordinary chest), and its gemstones turn to dust.

Staff, very rare (requires attunement by a druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard)

You have resistance to cold damage while you hold this staff.

The staff has 10 charges. While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC: cone of cold (5 charges), fog cloud (1 charge), ice storm (4 charges), or wall of ice (4 charges).

The staff regains 1d6 + 4 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff turns to water and is destroyed.

Weapon
Futuristic, martial weapon, ranged weapon, firearm

3d8 Radiant
Ammunition (100/300 ft.), reload (30 shots), two‑handed

Staff, very rare (requires attunement by a sorcerer, warlock, or wizard)

This staff can be wielded as a magic quarterstaff that grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. While holding it, you gain a +2 bonus to Armor Class, saving throws, and spell attack rolls.

The staff has 20 charges for the following properties. The staff regains 2d8 + 4 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff retains its +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls but loses all other properties. On a 20, the staff regains 1d8 + 2 charges.

Damage: 1d6
Damage Type: Bludgeoning
Properties: Versatile

Power Strike. When you hit with a melee attack using the staff, you can expend 1 charge to deal an extra 1d6 force damage to the target.

Spells. While holding this staff, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC and spell attack bonus: cone of cold (5 charges), fireball (5th-level version, 5 charges), globe of invulnerability (6 charges), hold monster (5 charges), levitate (2 charges), lightning bolt (5th-level version, 5 charges), magic missile (1 charge), ray of enfeeblement (1 charge), or wall of force (5 charges).

Retributive Strike. You can use an action to break the staff over your knee or against a solid surface, performing a retributive strike. The staff is destroyed and releases its remaining magic in an explosion that expands to fill a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on it.

You have a 50 percent chance to instantly travel to a random plane of existence, avoiding the explosion. If you fail to avoid the effect, you take force damage equal to 16 × the number of charges in the staff. Every other creature in the area must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes an amount of damage based on how far away it is from the point of origin, as shown in the following table. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage.

Distance from Origin Damage
10 ft. away or closer 8 x the number of charges in the staff
11 to 20 ft. away 6 x the number of charges in the staff
21 to 30 ft. away 4 x the number of charges in the staff