Death Note (D20 Modern Equipment)
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- OK, so this is a cheesy replica of the fabled weapon from the series Death Note. It's a little overpowered in the manga (obviously), so I weakened it a little to move it into D20 Modern, and added some other interesting abilities.
- The Death Note is a black notebook, approximately 7.5 X 10 inches, with the words "Death Note" written in silver on the cover. The notebook appears relatively thin, maybe containing 100 pages or so, but, if you start writing in it, you find that the book will never run out of pages.
- This notebook, while seemingly unassuming, holds the power to revoke life from any being, under certain parameters. The notebook also comes with a Shinigami (D20 Modern Creature), visible only to the possessor of the notebook, who may or may not be helpful him or her. They can, however, kill creatures in a more advanced way than the possessor of the Death Note. This creature also has the power to bestow certain powers on the possessor, like:
- The Shinigami Eyes: This ability gives the possessor of the Death Note the ability to see the true name and remaining lifespan of a person, as long as that person is not in possession of any part of a Death Note. This ability does however have a penalty; it costs 4 points of Constitution and 20 hit points, ten of which are permanent hp drain. This damage is taken immediately after the shinigami completes the ritual to bestow the eyes. The eyes are a continuous effect, requiring not activation.
- The 'Freak' Stare: As an attack action, the possessor of a Death Note may make a gaze attack on one living creature. If this creature fails a DC 15 Will save, they take a - 2 to all attack actions, Bluff, Intimidate, and Sense motive checks involving the possessor of the notebook, as well as 10 sanity damage (if the DM is running sanity points) or a -2 to all will saves for the next 1d4 days.
- The most famous and interesting power contained within the Death Note is the ability to suck the life out of any individual. The rules, at transcribed by Ryuk, a rather famous shinigami, are as follows:
| “ | The human whose name is written in this note shall die. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected. If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds. This note shall become the property of the human world, once it touches the ground of (arrives in) the human world. The owner of the note can recognize the image and voice of the original owner, i.e. a god of death. The human who uses this note can neither go to Heaven nor Hell. If the time of death is written within 40 seconds after writing the cause of death as a heart attack, the time of death can be manipulated, and the time can go into effect within 40 seconds after writing the name. The human who touches the DEATH NOTE can recognize the image and voice of its original owner, a god of death, even if the human is not the owner of the note. The person in possession of the DEATH NOTE is possessed by a god of death, its original owner, until they die. If a human uses the note, a god of death usually appears in front of him/her after he/she uses the note. Gods of death, the original owners of the DEATH NOTE, do not do, in principle, anything which will help or prevent the deaths in the note. A god of death has no obligation to completely explain how to use the note or rules which will apply to the human who owns it. A god of death can extend his life by putting human names on the note, but humans cannot. A person can shorten his or her own life by using the note. The human who becomes the owner of the DEATH NOTE can, in exchange of half his/her remaining life, get the eyeballs of the god of death which will enable his/her to see a human’s name and remaining lifetime when looking though them. A god of death cannot be killed even if stabbed in his heart with a knife or shot in the head with a gun. However, there are ways to kill a god of death, which are not generally known to the gods of death. The conditions for death will not be realized unless it is physically possible for that human or it is reasonably assumed to be carried out by that human. The specific scope of the condition for death is not known to the gods of death, either. So, you must examine and find out. One page taken from the DEATH NOTE, or even a fragment of the page, contains the full effects of the note. The instrument to write with can be anything, ((e.g. costumes, blood, etc)) as long as it can write directly onto the note and remains as legible letters. Even the original owners of the DEATH NOTE, gods of death, do not know much about the note. You may also write the cause and/or details of death prior to filling in the name of the individual. Be sure to insert the name in front of the written cause of death. You have about 19 days (according to the human calendar) in order to fill in a name. Even if you do not actually possess the DEATH NOTE, the effect will be the same if you can recognize the person and his/her name to place in the blank. The DEATH NOTE will not affect those under 780 days old. The DEATH NOTE will be rendered useless if the victim’s name is misspelled four times. “Suicide” is a valid cause of death. Basically, all humans are thought to possess the possibility to commit suicide. It is, therefore, not something “unbelievable to think of”. Whether the cause of the individual’s death is either a suicide or accident. If the death leads to the death of more than the intended, the person will simply die of a heart attack. This is to ensure that other lives are not influenced. Even after the individual’s name, the time of death, and death condition on the Death Note were filled out, the time and condition of death can be altered as many times as you want, as long as it is changed within 6 minutes and 40 seconds from the time it was filled in. But, of course, this is only possible before the victim dies. Whenever you want to change anything written on the Death Note within 6 minutes and 40 seconds after you wrote, you must first rule out the characters you want to erase with two straight lines. |
” |
- The exact way in which the power operates is thoroughly unknown, even by the original owners of the Note. Thus, a DM can deem a Death Note inoperable whenever usage would ruin a situation. Not all note's contain the above information, and the list of rules above is by no means the entire list. However, in game terms, the power conferred by the note is simple:
Similar to a death attack, the Death Note requires that the user record the name of the person to be killed (the real name, not just an alias) and make a concentration check (DC 10) to call the image of the persons face to mind. DM's are free to add other parameters to the use of the Note, but these are the base ones. After recording as such, the user can either designate the death as "Immediate" or "prolonged". In the case of "immediate," the target instantly suffers a fatal heart attack. Any and all attempts to revive them fail immediately. Nothing short of a true resurrection spell can bring them back, and even then, the spell has a 50% miss chance. If the user records "prolonged", they are then free to either allow the target to perish of another fatal heart attack, forty seconds later, or concoct their own manner of death. Anything and everything is fair game, within the limits of the DM, and the subject has fifteen minutes to concoct their method before the Note simply bumps the target off with a heart attack.
When the target's cause of death is decided, they must immediately make a will save with a DC of 10 + the users will save divided by two + the users Wis modifier + the users hit dice divided by two or die by the prescribed means.
- Note// if the DM decides that the method of death is not possible, then the target will die of a heart attack immediately.
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