Terminus, Judgement's Edge
Whosoever holds this branch gains dominion over all judgement of the dead.
There is always a Judgement, little one. Yours is simple: "May those who pass on travel to where is most befitting of their words and deeds."
Terminus is one of a small number of cosmic artifacts. It is an item of immense, world-changing power: it's wielder is responsible for the judgement of all mortals in Urvén. In addition, it dictates the source of the intra-planar spirit river, the Conduit of All Souls, which flows through the multiverse, carrying souls to their eternal destination. Upon attuning to this artifact, the user's conscious and unconscious thoughts, views and prejudices are used to form the system by which this judged.
The staff appears as though made of a grey-brown, ancient wood twisted into a straight shaft. It is impossible to identify its actual material - close inspection blurs the line between petrified wood and carved stone. It is roughly seven feet long and has a diameter of about an inch and a half. When being held, a faint, translucent scythe blade appears from one side of the top of the shaft. This blade is immaterial but serves a dual purpose: the Conduit of All Souls flows directly from its edge until the ground is struck. This location becomes the new source of the river for a minimum of ten years.
Terminus resides at the bottom of the Lake of Souls on the Plane of Justice. It is here that judged souls are drawn to and submerged, reemerging on the banks of the river somewhere within a different plane - the destination of their everlasting afterlife. It is attuned to the minor deity Ortinia and their proclamation: "May those who pass on travel to where is most befitting of their words and deeds" is the overriding governance by which the plane operates.
Urvén Homebrew
Terminus, Judgement's Edge
Weapon
Legendary Artifact Requires Attunement
Terminus is a magic quarterstaff that grants a +4 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. When you hit with an attack roll using it, the target takes an additional 1d8 radiant and 1d8 necrotic damage. The bearer of this staff has an important role in the multiverse: their beliefs and judgements, conscious or unconscious, shape what happens to a soul after death.
Otherworldly Resilience. While attuned to this staff, your Constitution score is 20. This effect does not occur if your Constitution is already 20 or higher without it. Any time you make a death saving throw you may treat a d20 roll of 9 or lower as a 10. Finally, you cease aging for the duration of your attunement and become immune to age-affecting magical effects.
Severance. If you attack a living creature with this weapon and score a 20 on the attack roll, Terminus severs their soul from their body. The target must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw, dying instantly on a failure. You choose the destination plane for the permanent afterlife of any living creature slain in this way.
Transcendance. While attuned to this staff, you may use a bonus action to allow the river of souls to flow through your form. While in this state, your ki points return to their maximum value at the end of each of your turns and you have resistance to all damage. If you do not have ki points, you are treated as though you have two levels in the Monk class for the duration, gaining a maximum ki of 2 and access to the Flurry of Blows, Patient Defence and Step of the Wind class features.
After a number of rounds equal to your Constitution modifier, being in this transcendant state harms your body. At the end of each of your turns after this, you take 4d8 radiant and 4d8 necrotic damage.
Binding. While this staff is on your person, you may use an action to shape souls into a temporary spirit guardian. This guardian lasts for up to 10 minutes, or until it is destroyed. Once this feature of the staff is used, it may not be used in this way again until dawn.
Travelling the Waters. While this staff is on your person, you may use an action to cast the spell plane shift to any section of the Conduit of All Souls. Once this feature of the staff is used, you may not use it again until a day has passed.
Versatile. This weapon can be used with one or two hands. A damage value in parentheses appears with the property—the damage when the weapon is used with two hands to make a melee attack.
Terminus is a cosmic artifact, an item that exists simply because the multiverse does and dictates how certain systems in the cosmos work. It appears as a tightly gnarled wooden branch, but closer inspection reveals that it is not clear whether it is made of petrified wood or particularly detailed stonework.
At times, a ghostly scythe blade is visible. This blade is far more significant than at first glance: it is the source of the Conduit of All Souls, the spirit river that transports beings to the afterlife. It may be struck into the ground of any location, transfering this property to that specific point for a minimum of ten years.
The wielder of Terminus is surrounded by a palpable aura of authority as well as a very faint, white halo.
| Type | Damage | Damage | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Melee | 1d6 / 1d8 | Bludgeoning |
Cost: Priceless
Weight: 8lb
"The tree of life, the river of souls, the scythe of Death. These concepts echo throughout the cosmos, manifesting uniquely in each iteration. What dictates their form, the dream the created the world, or the beliefs of those that reside within?"
Cosmic artifacts are not designed to be used by player characters, instead offering some underlying insight into how the cosmos functions.
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