Wand of Orcus

The ghastly Wand of Orcus rarely leaves Orcus's side. The device, as evil as its creator, shares the demon lord's aims to snuff out the lives of all living things and bind the Material Plane in the stasis of undeath. Orcus allows the wand to slip from his grasp from time to time. When it does, it magically appears wherever its master senses an opportunity to achieve some fell goal.
Made from bones as hard as iron, the wand is topped with a skull that once belonged to an empyrean slain by Orcus. The wand can magically change in size to better conform to the grip of its user. Plants wither, drinks spoil, flesh rots, and vermin thrive in the wand's presence.
Instant Attunement. Orcus can use his bonus action to summon the wand to his side if it is within 120 feet of him, he can attune to the wand as an action on his turn. Any creature besides Orcus that tries to attune to the wand must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw. On a successful save, the creature takes 10d6 necrotic damage. On a failed save, the creature dies and rises as a zombie.
In the hands of one who is attuned to it, the wand can be wielded as a magic mace that grants a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. The wand deals an extra 2d12 necrotic damage on a hit.

Immutable. While attuned to the wand, you can't be charmed, frightened, blinded, deafened, petrified, or stunned.
The wand is imbued with the essence of Orcus and has the following properties while attuned to anyone other than Orcus himself:

• Soul Consumption. Each time you use one of the wand's properties, you age 3d10 years. You must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or die from the shock. If you die, you are instantly transformed into a wight under the DM's control that is sworn to protect the artifact.
• Decrepit. While you are attuned to the wand, you are physically ill and have disadvantage on any ability check or saving throw that uses Strength or Constitution.
• Isolated. While you are attuned to the wand, other creatures can't take short or long rests while within 300 feet of you.

Protection. You gain a +3 bonus to Armor Class while holding the wand.
Spells. The wand has 7 charges. While holding it, you can use an action and expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells (save DC 18) from it: animate dead (1 charge), blight (2 charges), circle of death (3 charges), finger of death (3 charges), power word kill (4 charges), or speak with dead (1 charge). The wand regains 1d4 + 3 expended charges daily at dawn. While attuned to the wand, Orcus or a follower blessed by him can cast each of the wand's spells using 2 fewer charges (minimum of 0).
Call Undead. While you are holding the wand, you can use an action to conjure skeletons and zombies, calling forth as many of them as you can divide 500 hit points among, each undead having average hit points. The undead magically rise up from the ground or otherwise form in unoccupied spaces within 300 feet of you and obey your commands until they are destroyed or until dawn of the next day, when they collapse into inanimate piles of bones and rotting corpses. Once you use this property of the wand, you can't use it again until the next dawn.
While attuned to the wand, Orcus can call forth up to 500,000 hit points worth of undead, and summon any kind, not just skeletons and zombies. However, he must have access to one corpse per 25 hit points spent. The undead don't perish or disappear at dawn the following day, remaining until Orcus dismisses them.
Sentience. The Wand of Orcus is a sentient, chaotic evil item with an Intelligence of 16, a Wisdom of 12, and a Charisma of 16. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet. The wand communicates telepathically with its wielder and can speak, read, and understand Abyssal and Common.
Personality. The wand's purpose is to help satisfy Orcus's desire to slay everything in the multiverse. The wand is cold, cruel, nihilistic, and bereft of humor. In order to further its master's goals, the wand feigns devotion to its current user and makes grandiose promises that it has no intention of fulfilling, such as vowing to help its user overthrow Orcus.

Item type

Magical

Creation Date

3009 BCE

Destruction Date

16th of Winter's Call, 534

Rarity

Legendary Artifact (requires attunement)