Staff of All Power (5e Equipment)
Weapon (staff), artifact (requires attunement by a spellcaster)
A forgotten relic crafted by a god of light but then corrupted after a demon lord stole it, this screaming boar-headed staff is sickly green and strangely sticky despite not having anything on it. As an attuned creature attempts to fall sleep each night, its eyes seem to glow until looked at directly, and soft whispers can occasionally be heard by that creature while the eyes are glowing.
The source of the corruption comes from three historical events involving the demon lord who corrupted the staff, wherein the staff was used to commit horrible atrocities and bring about terrible disasters and mass despair. The specific events have been lost to time, but it is said that if a mortal were to commit three great acts of kindness and good therefore altering the fate of the world for the benefit of all, the corruption may be lifted. However, such feats of heroism would have to be very great indeed to rectify the sins of the artifact's previous owner.
As the corruption lifts, the appearance of the staff changes. First, the boar's head softens into a pig's, its tusks disappearing and mouth closing while the staff turns a more neutral green and no longer feels sticky but cold and smooth, and the whispering stops. Then, the head changes to that of human, elf, dwarf, or similar humanoid with a soft smile on their face, while the staff itself becomes a pale leafy green with a soft woody texture that is lukewarm to the touch, whereas the eyes stop glowing. Finally, once the corruption has been fully removed, the face shifts to that of a crane's with bright blue eyes that constantly twinkle, while the staff itself has become a perfectly smooth and pure white rod that that is pleasantly warm to the touch and glows in the dark when its current owner wishes to find it, and kind and gentle voices sing them to sleep if the staff's owner wants them to.
This staff can be used as both a quarterstaff and a spellcasting focus. While attuned to and wielding it, you have a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls with it, as well as a +2 bonus to spell attack rolls you make. Additionally, your spell save DC increases by 1.
Random Properties. The Staff of All Power has the following random properties:
- 2 minor beneficial properties
- 3 major beneficial properties
- 3 minor detrimental properties
- 2 major detrimental properties
Curse of Three Quests. When you first attune to this item, it gives you three quests determined by the DM, with each quest being associated with one of this item's Major Beneficial properties and one of the item's Minor Detrimental properties. For each quest, you can choose to make a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, or if you choose to not resist, you are compelled to complete the given quest as with the spell mass suggestion. For the duration of the effect, you cannot benefit from the Major Beneficial property associated with the quest that caused the effect. If you complete a given quest, the effect ends and the associated Minor Detrimental property is removed from the staff. Otherwise, the effect does not end until the given quest is completed, and nothing short of a wish spell or a god's will can end it early. You also cannot willingly end your attunement with this item so long as it has one or more Minor Detrimental properties.
If you succeeded on your save against the effect, the item loses the associated Major Beneficial property and you are not compelled to complete the quest. The quest still exists, but is no longer associated with this item. You are aware of the consequences of attempting to make the saving throw before you do so. Once all three quests have been completed, the item loses one of its Major Detrimental properties.
Spells. The staff has a number of charges and regains a number of charges at dawn each day determined by the number of Minor Detrimental properties it has. The spells you can cast from this staff, as well as the DC of the associated saving throws, are also determined by the number of Minor Detrimental properties it has. Regardless of spell, you must use an action and expend the required number of charges to cast the given spell.
With three Minor Detrimental properties, the staff has 5 charges, regains 1d4+1, and you can cast the following spells from it (save DC 14): command (3rd level, 1 charge), blindness/deafness (3rd level, 1 charge), or fireball (2 charges).
With two Minor Detrimental properties, the staff has 8 charges, regains 1d6+2, and you can cast the following spells from it (save DC 16): command (4th level, 1 charge), blindness/deafness (4th level, 1 charge), fireball (4th level, 2 charges), or freedom of movement (2 charges).
With one Minor Detrimental property, the staff has 11 charges, regains 1d8+3, and you can cast the following spells from it (save DC 18): command (5th level, 2 charges), blindness/deafness (5th level, 2 charges), fireball (5th level, 3 charges), freedom of movement (2 charges), or destructive wave (3 charges).
With zero Minor Detrimental properties, the staff has 16 charges, regains 2d6+4, and you can cast the following spells from it (save DC 20): command (6th level, 2 charges), blindness/deafness (6th level, 2 charges), fireball (6th level, 3 charges), freedom of movement (2 charges), destructive wave (4 charges), or mass suggestion (6 charges).
Destroying the Staff of All Power. The Staff of All Power can be destroyed by its creator breaking it across their knee.
Design note: If you want to make this item extra-special, you can make the Minor Detrimental and Major Beneficial properties associated to each quest be direct opposites of each other, such as the Minor Detrimental property of "While attuned to the artifact, you are deafened when you are more than 10 feet away from it." and the Major Beneficial property of "While you are attuned to the artifact, you can't be blinded, deafened, petrified, or stunned." both being associated to the same quest. To make it even more thematic, the quest can be related to the effects of the properties themselves. Using the example, the given quest could involve infiltrating a magical fortress inside of which all senses except for hearing are nullified, and therefore you must rely on your hearing to succeed. For a character attuned to a staff with the example properties, loosing the staff in this scenario would render them completely helpless as they wouldn't be able to see, smell, feel vibrations, or even hear any threats.
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