DM's Workshop: Blue Dragonstones

Blue dragonstones are alike in color with brilliant, deep sapphires, but shot through with a fine veinwork of silvery threads. These burn with a bright white light when the stone’s powers are activated, causing the entire gem to shine with a cold blue light.

Blue dragonstones are closely tied to the Element of Air, and the Sphere of Thought. Their power draws from the user’s own Intelligence.

Passive Powers: the user gains the Fey Ancestry resistances to sleep and charm, as well as any other mind-affecting spell. The user gains advantage on all saves against any kind of scrying or thought-detection magics. The user can also detect evil at will, the range dependent on the phase of the moon: New: 5’ ; First quarter: 10’; Half moon: 15’; Three quarter: 20’; Full: 30’; the cycle repeats in reverse as Matera wanes.

Active Powers (Common):

Detect Magic (1st)

This affect manifests as the spell of the same name.

Identify (1st)

This affect manifests as the spell of the same name.

Active Powers (Uncommon)

ESP (DC 15) (2^nd)

This effect manifests as the detect thoughts spell.

Read Languages (DC 13) (1^st)

The user can make sense of foreign or coded writings by viewing them through the stone.

Active Powers (Rare):

Harness the Wind (DC17/19) (3^rd/5^th)

The user can either summon a gust, or take full control of the winds, manifesting as either the 2^nd level gust or 5^th level control winds spells from the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion.

Active Powers (Very Rare):

Lore (DC22) (6^th+)

This power is heavily reliant on the extent of the knowledge of the intellect imprinted into the stone. If the intellect has knowledge that the user requests, it will be shared, within the same restrictions as the 5^th level spell legend lore. If the user fails the power’s activating Intelligence saving throw by 5 or more, the intellect attempts to invade and subsume the user’s own, requiring a Charisma saving throw vs. at least DC 16 — if the user is of fey ancestry, this save is made with disadvantage.

Blue dragonstones gain their powers from the minds of their users. If the user fails the activation Intelligence saving throw, the invoked effect devours a spell slot of a given level for each invoked effect. If the user does not have slot of that level, the stone takes any remaining slots that add up to that level (one 3rd and one 2nd level spell slot rather than one of 5th level). In cases such as this, the invoked effect is only half as potent. If the stone’s user does not have enough spell slots to power the effect, the power does not manifest, and leaves the user’s thoughts muddled. Intelligence checks must be made for the next 4d6 hours to recall such things as names, places, and events within the same amount of time.

If the person using the dragonstone is not a spellcaster, the stone takes 1d4 hours’ of memories per spell level indicated (or 1d4 significant memories), at random intervals within the user’s lifetime:

d%         Time past

01-05 10 years

06-10 8 years

11-15 6 years

16-25 5 years

26-36 4 years

37-49 3 years

50-65 2 years

66-73 1 year

74-89 6 months

90-97 3 months

98 Past Month

99 Past week

00 Past day

Spells ‘eaten’ by the stone can be relearned after a full night’s rest, as if they had been cast. (They cannot be regained by Arcane Recovery). Memories return sporadically, trickling back to the blue dragonstone user’s at a rate of one (or one hour’s worth) per each night’s rest.

Those memories are permanently ‘burned’ into the stone. These memories trigger if another user takes up the stone, flashing into the new user’s mind in times of high stress (i.e. on a missed non-lethal saving throw, or as the DM’s story allows)

Sirens can coax full non-detection from a blue dragonstone, being immune to all forms of scrying, clairaudience, clairvoyance, ESP, and any other means of detection. They can use the stone’s power to assume gaseous form for up to an hour between long rests. By touching a blue dragonstone to a pool or puddle of still, clear water, a siren can then use that surface as if it were a crystal ball. This ability can be used once per short rest.

Shrikes can use a blue dragonstone to empower a leap into short-distance flight (as if using the fly spell, limited to 30 minutes’ duration), or can arrest a fall from great heights, reducing the effective range of a fall by 2/3 the actual distance.

All known blue dragonstones contain an imprint of a fallen siren. If the specific siren is not known, roll 1d4x 1000 to determine the “age” of the siren, and gauge her knowledge from that point in history.

Sources: D&D Basic Rules, Players Handbook, Elemental Evil Player’s Companion.