Hand of the Furnace (3.5e Bodily Relic)

Hand of the Furnace

The Hand of the Furnace is a Bodily Relic that takes the form of an odd patch of what appears to be cloth on the hand of the person who has it. This patch of "cloth" is the same color as the persons skin and so is likely to not be noticed unless a person is looking directly at the hand for whatever reason. The material of this patch releases faint traces of an enigmatic energy that seems to fortify the person who has it against fire, even letting them encase their hand in flames at will, without the flame harming them.

Nature of the Hand of the Furnace

Physical Affects of the Hand of the Furnace

The person who has the Hand of the Furnace Bodily Relic will have rough skin that's a little richer in color than most of their race, their skin also seems to radiate a comforting warmth that can charm people close to them. The person who has the Hand of the Furnace will also always have straight, clean hair. Though the most striking physical change of the Hand of the Furnace is the fact that the person who has it can encase their hands in flame at will.

• In game terms the person who has this Bodily Relic receives a +3 circumstantial bonus to all bluff and diplomacy checks made against people within 5 feet of them and Fire Resistance 15, they also can add 1d6 fire damage to all unarmed strikes and grapple checks they make.

Mental Affects of the Hand of the Furnace

The person who has this Bodily Relic will usually have a rather flirtatious attitude and may become easily fooled by people the find attractive. The person in question will also be rather friendly to people in general, wanting to make them feel at home wherever they may be.

• In game terms the person who has this Bodily Relic receives a −3 circumstantial penalty to all bluff, diplomacy, and sense motive checks made against people that they find attractive (if the person doesn't really find people attractive very often, then they receive the penalty against people of the opposite sex)

Properties of Hand of The Furnace

Crafting and Transferring of the Hand of the Furnace

The Bodily Relic Hand of the Furnace is a rather odd Relic to transfer from one person to another. The main reason for this is the fact that the patch of cloth-like material that is the Relic cannot be removed from the hand of the person who has it by just cutting it off. If a person attempts this then the Relic will become just a piece of skin and the Relic will just grow back back as the skin heals.

Therefore, the first step required to transfer the Hand of the Furnace from one person to another is for the Relic to be removed from the persons body. The way this is done is by soaking the persons hand in a solution of 10 parts pure water, 3 part finely powdered iron, and 1 part sulfur (or at least a compound containing sulfur) for 3 hours (This solution must be continually stirred so that the iron powder remains suspended in the water). After the 3 hours the Relic will turn slightly red in color and fall off, slowly floating up to the top of the solution. The Relic must then be removed from the water and allowed to dry. After it has completely dried it must be taken and placed on the skin of the hand of the recipient and then placed into a blue flame, the Relic must be in this flame until it turns to the color of the recipient. This takes 1d12 rounds and the recipient takes 1d6 damage for each round, if this damage reduces the recipient to 0 hit points then they take no more damage and are stable. As soon as the Relic has changed color then they are considered as having the Hand of the Furnace. There is no known way to craft the Hand of the Furnace from existing materials. It is possible to have both hands with this Bodily Relic, the only additional benifit is the ability to encase both of their hands in flame instead of just one. Only a character who has 16 or more ranks in Craft(Bodily Relic) knows any of this information, the craft DC for this entire process is 20, if this DC is failed, then the process fails and the Relic is lost.

After the person looses the Relic then their hand may have also become affected by the process (10% chance), if this happens then the hand appears blackened and burned where the Relic had been. As time progresses then the black area of their hand spreads and begins to pain the person, up till the point that the person cannot even use their arm without taking 2d6 nonlethal damage. This effect can be reversed by the person in question getting a "replacement" Hand of the Furnace transferred onto their body. After the Relic has left the body then the donor will always begin to feel rather cold, but only just enough to be uncomfortable. If a person looses a hand then they loose the Relic too if it was on that hand. Although, if a character is born with the Hand of the Furnace and later looses it before having a child, consider the person as having the Relic still.

Immunities of the Hand of the Furnace

The Bodily Relic Hand of the Furnace is an odd thing, if it is part of a persons body then it will behave like flesh in all respects, but when separate from a persons body then it is immune to all arcane and divine spells that are 2nd level or above and any cold damage.

Occurrences of the Hand of the Furnace

The Hand of the Furnace isn't an unknown about Relic, but it is very, very uncommon, seeing as only one in about 100 people have it. Most people who have this Bodily Relic tend to work in forges or similar places. The Hand of the Furnace is passed down through bloodlines and is a recessive gene. If two people have a child and they both have the Hand of the Furnace then there is a 100% chance that the child, whether it's a boy or a girl, will have it also. If only one parent has the Hand of the Furnace then there is only a 30% chance of the child having the Bodily Relic. If either of the parents were not born with the Hand of the Furnace, but still have it, then lower the percent chance by 15%. A person will only ever be born with this Bodily Relic on one hand.

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