ITEMS OF LEGACY
CHAPTER 3
LEGACY ITEM ABILITIES
All the following are legacy item abilities of Staff of the Torrent Moons. Obscuring Mist (Sp): Starting at 5th level, at will, you can use obscuring mist as the spell. You can drop the mist as a standard action. Caster level 5th. Speed of Fin (Su): At 7th level, you gain a swim speed equal to your base land speed. This feature also grants a +8 bonus on Swim checks and allows you to take 10 on Swim checks even while distracted or endangered. You can use the run action while swimming, provided you swim in a straight line. River of Plenty (Su): At 9th level and higher, three times per day on command, you can use create water as the spell. Staff of the Torrent Moons must be touched to a container for this feature to work, the water appearing inside the container. If you are good-aligned, this ability might optionally be used to create 1 pint of holy water inside the container. Caster level 5th. Water Breathing (Su): Starting at 10th level, you can breathe underwater as if constantly under the effect of a water breathing spell. Caster level 10th. Speak with Aquatic Animals (Su): At 12th level, you gain the ability to communicate verbally with all aquatic animals as if constantly under the effect of a speak with animals spell. Caster level 7th. Celestial Porpoise Companion (Su): At 13th level and higher, with a swift action, you can summon a
celestial porpoise into any body of water within 30 feet that is large enough to contain the creature. The porpoise understands your speech and follows your commands perfectly. It remains until slain (in which case it cannot be summoned again for 24 hours) or dismissed (a swift action). This ability can be used as often as desired, but only one porpoise companion can be present at any one time. Shape of Carp (Sp): Beginning at 14th level, once per day, you can touch Staff of the Torrent Moons to a target and utter a command word, transforming that creature into a Tiny fish (as a baleful polymorph spell). The save DC is 17, or 15 + your Charisma modifier, whichever is higher. Targets not already immersed in water gain a +4 bonus on the Fortitude save to resist this effect. Caster level 11th. Summon Fish Swarm (Sp): At 15th level and higher, five times per day on command, you can summon a swarm of Tiny fish (as the summon swarm spell) into any body of water large enough to hold the swarm. This swarm has statistics identical to the rat swarm (see page 239 of the Monster Manual), except it has no land speed and no special attacks. It has a Swim speed of 20 feet and the following skill bonuses in place of the rat swarm’s: Hide +10, Listen +3, Spot +7, Swim +15. Caster level 10th. Flooding the Fields (Su): Beginning at 16th level, once per day on command, you can touch Staff of the Torrent Moons to any body of water and cause it to rise
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THE TWIN TIDES MONASTERY
Inukai Satoru established the monastery called Twin Tides to train pupils in what he called the Way of Water. Not simply a combat style, it is a way of life that teaches honor and respect by living its principles. Master Inukai’s most famous teaching is, “Be the pool below the waterfall. Let your surface be calm, hiding the depths within.” In an expression of this philosophy, the Twin Tides Monastery was built by a mountain stream that falls in cascades into a series of pools. The monastery building itself straddles the largest of the waterfalls, with an open floor in the center of the meditation hall through which students can contemplate the rushing water below. About 30 feet below this cascade is a deep pond whose surface is remarkably tranquil (except right below the falls). Within this pond rests the Staff of the Torrent Moons. The water’s depth and the strong current make simply entering this pool a challenge (Swim DC 15), even without the ever-vigilant water sentry. Daily exercises at the monastery include immersion in the stream’s bone-chilling waters, to train the body to resist physical discomfort, as well as to sluice away impurities
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of body and mind. Students learn to slow their breathing almost to a stop and enter a trancelike state in which they can slow the effects of poison, suffocation, and so forth. In game terms, these students gain ranks in the Autohypnosis skill (Expanded Psionics Handbook, page 36). In fact, many students train as psychic warriors or enter the fist of Zuoken prestige class (Expanded Psionics Handbook, page 144) to further hone their mental powers. To join the monastery, a candidate must be of lawful alignment and demonstrate a commitment to honor and justice. Initiation is grueling, involving a battery of probing interviews interspersed with exercises involving difficult ethical challenges (often a choice between two unhappy outcomes). The student is allowed no food or sleep during that time. Only the most disciplined spirits pass such a test. Monks of the Twin Tides are itinerant, being much sought after for their honorable and wise judgment in overseeing contracts or resolving disputes. The chosen one who wields Staff of the Torrent Moons is usually an emissary to imperial courts.
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