Harmonic Splinters

Harmonic splinters are the needle-like shards of a crystalline mineral found most prevalently along the shores of Sky Mountain, though they may be found in subterranean deposits throughout the Ten Sword Isles. These splinters, believed to be a sort of magical 'tumor' or 'knot' formed in the World Tree mutated by localized concentrations of do entities, have the unique property of bursting in a syncronized fashion after a short time when thrust into an organic material - including the bodies of enemies - giving them a unique use as dart-like thrown weapons.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

A raw 'bundle' of harmonic splinters appears to be a striated, quartz-like crystal comprised of many needle-like structures held together in parallel by weak perpendicular inclusions. These crystals are glass-clear and glow from within with a faint blue-violet light. Resellers break these bundles into fist-sized chunks for use as weapons, though particularly large samples may be used as light sources in the oppulent homes of the upper classes. Sqeezing a bundle breaks the needles apart, with a handheld bundle typically producing around 50 needles intact enough to be thrown as weapons. Harmonic splinters have a curious property in that, when they make contact with organic matter, they begin to decay and splinter apart in a staggered fasion such that they all break down at roughly the same time a few seconds later, causing severe slashing injuries to the target in the process. The process by which the splinters 'communicate' with one another is unknown, but is believed to have something to do with the influence of the unseen do entites that seem to congregate within large harmonic splinter deposits.

Breaking open a bundle of harmonic splinters is a move action that requires one hand and does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Individual harmonic splinters are simple thrown weapons that deal 1 piercing damage on impact. A wielder can hold a bundle of 50 harmonic splinters in one hand and throw them with the other as an attack action, making a number of attacks up to that allowed by their base attack bonus as normal without the need of the Quickdraw feat. Harmonic splinters can also be used as ammunition for a blowgun with similar effects (see below).
At the end of your turn, if you hit a creature with one or more harmonic splinters this turn, that creature takes an additional 1d4 slashing and piercing damage per splinter you hit them with over the course of this turn as the splinters burst apart in a shower of razor-sharp shot. This damage occurs all at once, as the splinters embedded in the target explode simultaneously. The explosion is a supernatural effect that still occurs even if you did not deal damage with the initial attacks as a result of damage reduction or hardness, but does not occur in the presence of an anti-magic field or if more than one hour has elapsed since you broke open the bundle from which the needles were drawn.
An intact bundle of harmonic splinters can be enchanted as magic ammunition. Treat each bundle as a stack of 50 masterwork pieces of ammunition for item creation purposes. Magical qualities, such as improved damage, only apply to the initial impact of each needle. Extra damage from sneak attack or other sources only applies to the initial impact of the needle, not to the explosion effect that occurs at the end of your turn, with one exception. If you have enchanted a bundle of harmonic splinters with a property that causes them to deal a different type of damage damage (fire, holy, etc.), then you may, at the time of creation, choose to have the splinters' explosion deal damage of any single type specified in the enchantment in lieu of the usual slashing and piercing damage. An enchanted blowgun bestows its enchantment on harmonic splinter ammunition as normal.

Item type

Weapon, Ranged

Weight

1 lb/bundle

Base Price

400 gp/bundle (50 needles each)