Lair Wards

LAIR WARDS

Lair wards are a special kind of wondrous item that dragons often use to protect their lairs and hoards. They are identical to certain kinds of wondrous architecture used in humanoid-built strongholds and dungeons, as detailed in the Stronghold Builder’s Guidebook. Essentially, lair wards are immobile (or practically immobile) magic items, and they follow all the normal rules for the use of magic items. See the Stronghold Builder’s Guidebook for information on creating these items and determining the market price for new items.

Most lair wards affect an area defined as a “single cavern.” This need not be an actual cavern; such an effect wards an area of approximately 400 square feet.

Disabling a Lair Ward: As a stationary magic item, a lair ward is essentially identical to a magic trap (even though some have beneficial rather than harmful effects). A character with the trapfinding ability (including rogues and characters affected by a find traps spell) can use Search to find lair wards and Disable Device to deactivate them. The DC for both checks is 25 + the spell level of the highest-level spell used in the lair ward’s construction. A successful Disable Device check suppresses the ward’s magical properties for 1d4 rounds, just as if the character had cast dispel magic on it. If the character beats the DC by 10 or more, she suppresses its magical properties for 1d4 minutes instead.

Black Luminary: This 3-foot-wide steel half-orb sheds darkness in a 20-foot radius around itself. Not even creatures who can normally see in the dark can see through it, and it cancels out any normal light, as well as magical light of 1st level or lower. If magical light of 2nd level (such as continual flame) is brought into or cast in the area, it and the black luminary cancel each other out until the light spell expires or is removed from the area. Higher-level light spells, such as the daylight spell, are unaffected by a black luminary’s darkness.

The orb has a shutter that enables a person standing beneath a ceiling-mounted black luminary to conceal or reveal the item (and the resulting darkness) with a move action.

Faint evocation; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, darkness; Price 6,000 gp.

Black Luminary, Pitch: This 4-foot-wide steel half-orb sheds deeper darkness in a 60-foot radius around itself. Not even creatures that can normally see in the dark can see in this darkness, and it cancels out any normal light as well as any magical light of 2nd level or lower. If a daylight spell is brought into or cast in the area, it and the pitch black luminary cancel each other out until the light spell expires or is removed from the area.

The orb has a shutter that enables a person standing beneath a ceiling-mounted pitch black luminary to conceal or reveal the item (and the resulting darkness) with a move action.

Faint evocation; CL5th; Craft Wondrous Item, deeper darkness; Price 15,000 gp.

Bright Luminary: This 4-foot-wide steel half-orb sheds daylight in a 60-foot radius around itself. Creatures affected by normal daylight are affected by a bright luminary as well. If magical darkness is brought into or cast in the area, it and the bright luminary cancel each other out until the magical darkness expires or is removed from the area.

The orb has a shutter that enables a person standing beneath a ceiling-mounted bright luminary to conceal or reveal the item with a move action.

Faint evocation; CL5th; Craft Wondrous Item, daylight; Price 15,000 gp.

Cavern of the Earthbound: Within the walls of this cavern, the fly spell does not function. Characters who are flying when they enter the cavern float to the ground as if the spell’s duration had expired. When they leave the cavern, any fly spells whose durations have not expired return to normal efficacy.

Moderate abjuration; CL7th; Craft Wondrous Item, spell immunity; Price 14,000 gp.

Cloudgathering Orb: This 4-foot-wide crystal orb keeps the weather nasty (thunderstorms in spring, torrential rain in summer, sleet in autumn, and blizzards in winter) around a lair for a 2-mile radius. Anyone attempting to magically alter the weather in this area must make an opposed caster level check against the cloudgathering orb’s power to succeed.

See pages 93–95 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide for information on weather effects.

Moderate transmutation; CL11th; Craft Wondrous Item, control weather; Price 33,000 gp.

Cavern of Babble: Anyone who enters this cavern must make a DC 14 Will save or have any words that she speaks come out as unintelligible gibberish. The exact nature of the transmuted sounds is determined by the creator of this magic item at the time of creation.

This effect makes it impossible for anyone in the cavern to communicate verbally with anyone else. Additionally, it prevents a spellcaster from casting a spell that requires a verbal component.

Faint transmutation; CL5th; Craft Wondrous Item, sculpt sound; Price 7,500 gp.

Cavern of Silence: All sounds made within this cavern are negated (as if by a silence spell).Making a DC 13 Will save allows a character to speak normally (including casting spells with vocal components), though other sounds remain dampened.

This property doesn’t affect sounds created outside this cavern.

Faint illusion; CL3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, silence; Price 3,000 gp.

Hurricane’s Eye: This 5-foot-wide crystal orb maintains hurricane-force winds (see page 95 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide) around the outside of the lair at all times. The eye of the hurricane (the safe, calm part) is a cylinder with a diameter of up to 80 feet. If the lair is larger than this, multiple orbs can be linked together by overlapping the eyes. Any section that is surrounded by eyes on all sides automatically becomes a part of the eye, turning the whole

region into one massive, continuously operating eye, keeping the raging winds of the hurricane entirely outside of the affected regions.

The winds circle the eye in a clockwise or counterclockwise fashion, as you prefer. However, if there are more orbs than one, they must all force the wind to circle in the same direction. If you join this item up with a tornado’s eye or a windstorm’s eye, they can each only function at the level of the weakest item.

Strong transmutation; CL15th; Craft Wondrous Item, control winds; Price 75,000 gp.

Inscriptions of Privacy: This form of wondrous architecture places arcane sigils throughout the walls and ceiling of a cavern. They can be as subtle or outlandish as the creator likes. However, when anyone tries to spy upon anyone in the cavern by means of clairaudience/clairvoyance or scrying or a crystal ball or any other magic scrying device, the inscriptions glow softly. If the scrying attempt originates from within the cavern, the person making the attempt begins glowing as well.

Anyone scried upon can attempt an opposed caster level check (using the caster level of the inscriptions of privacy). If the target of the scrying attempt wins the opposed check, she immediately gets a mental image of the scrier, along with a sense of the direction and distance of the scrier, accurate to within one-tenth of the distance.

Moderate divination; CL7th; Craft Wondrous Item, detect scrying; Price 14,000 gp.

Inscriptions of Vacancy: Everyone within a cavern adorned with these inscriptions becomes undetectable to scrying. In fact, to someone casting a scrying spell it appears as if the cavern is entirely empty of people and devoid of activity, no matter how many people are in it or what they are doing.

Moderate illusion; CL9th; Craft Wondrous Item, false vision; Price 22,500 gp.

Missing Chamber: This cavern—and everyone and everything inside it—is difficult to detect by divination spells and detection spells and magic items. For such a spell or item to work, the caster or user must succeed on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) against DC 16.

Faint abjuration; CL5th; Craft Wondrous Item, nondetection; Price 7,500 gp.

Orb of Pleasant Breezes: This 4-foot-wide crystal orb keeps the weather in a 2-mile radius around the lair mild and pleasant no matter the time of year. Anyone attempting to magically alter the weather in this area must make an opposed caster level check against the orb’s power to succeed.

Moderate transmutation; CL11th; Craft Wondrous Item, control weather; Price 33,000 gp.

Platform of Healing: Any time an injured creature is placed on this 10-foot-round platform—which is affixed to the floor—the creature recieves the benefits of a heal spell.

If an undead creature somehow ends up on the platform, treat it as if a harm spell had been cast upon it instead.

Strong conjuration; CL17th; Craft Wondrous Item, mass heal; Price 76,500 gp.

Pool of Scrying: This shallow pool forms a reflective surface in which the user can scry on others. This works just like the standard scrying spell. Spellcasters can cast certain spells through the pool of scrying at creatures or things they are scrying upon, as per the scrying spell.

While the pool can be shallow, it must be at least 2 feet by 4 feet. It can be formed into the top of a large pedestal, but these items are just as often found in a room’s floor. If the water is ever entirely emptied from the pool, the item loses its magic.

Faint divination; CL5th; Craft Wondrous Item, scrying; Price 7,500 gp.

Pool of Scrying, Greater: This magic item works just like the standard pool of scrying, with one exception. You can reliably cast any spells through it that you could use with the greater scrying spell.

Moderate divination; CL11th; Craft Wondrous Item, greater scrying; Price 33,000 gp.

Secure Cavern: The entire cavern is affected by a mind blank spell. No one in the cavern can be affected by devices and spells that detect, influence, or read emotions and thoughts, up to and including miracle or wish. Even a scrying attempt that scans an area does not work.

Strong abjuration; CL15th; Craft Wondrous Item, mind blank; Price 60,000 gp.

Sigils of Suppression: A globe of invulnerability fills the entire cavern, as represented by the arcane sigils that are inscribed upon the walls. No spell effects of 4th level or lower function within this cavern. Such spells cannot be cast within the cavern, nor can their effects extend to within the cavern.

A targeted dispel magic can temporarily suppress sigils of suppression, just like any other magic item.

Moderate abjuration; CL11th; Craft Wondrous Item, globe of invulnerability; Price33,000 gp.

Sigils of Suppression, Lesser: These are identical to sigils of suppression, except that they only block spell effects of 3rd level or lower (as per lesser globe of invulnerability).

Moderate abjuration; CL7th; Craft Wondrous Item, lesser globe of invulnerability; Price 14,000 gp.

Tornado’s Eye: This 6-foot-wide crystal orb maintains tornado-force winds (see page 95 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide) around the outside of the lair at all times. See the description of the hurricane’s eye for how this works.

If this item is joined with a hurricane’s eye or a windstorm’s eye, each item functions at the level of the weakest item.

Strong transmutation; CL18th; Craft Wondrous Item, control winds; Price 90,000 gp.

Veil of Obscurity: This lair ward disguises up to 8,000 contiguous square feet of caverns with a mirage arcana effect, making the lair appear as something other than it is. It includes audible, visual, tactile, and olfactory elements, though it can’t disguise, conceal, or add creatures.

Moderate illusion; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item, mirage arcana; Price 25,000 gp.

Windstorm’s Eye: This 4-foot-wide crystal orb maintains windstorm-force winds (see page 95 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide) around the outside of the lair at all times. See the description of the hurricane’s eye for details.