Saturday, August 05, 2006

Black Death Scarab Husk - Medium Wondrous Item

Black Death Scarab Husk: Black death scarabs are largish beetles, nearly two inches long with hairy legs and large pincers which they use only in defense. Their shell has a curious shape that resembles a horned humanoid skull, and a glassy black texture that resembles obsidian.

They are very tolerant of negative energy, and they can be dried and treated to release large quantities of it. This is a difficult and time consuming activity. Although black death scarab's are tough, they explode in a puff of negative energy if injured, and positive energy turns them into a greenish brown slurry. Natural light quickly leaches them of their acumulated energies.

A black death scarab must be starved to death and dried in a prismatic crystal bottle filled with Mierendrach salts, which usually takes a year of drying under artificial lights, a process with is worrisome to some vermin rights activists. A properly dried beetle is worth at least 5,500 gp. Black death scarabs are sometimes given as gifts to priests of the dark gods, or pushy necromancers.


If a black death scarab husk is eaten, the user is granted the ability to cast mass inflict critical wounds as a supernatural ability, once. If the ability is not used before the next sunrise it is lost, and the user will be affected by a harm spell the next time they are exposed to sunlight.

Moderate necromancy; Brew potion or create wondrous item, mass inflict critical wounds; Price 12,000 gp

NPC Gear: 13th
Treasure Value: 12th

Math: single use 8th level spell (8*15*100) = 12,000 gp

No comments: