Nimbus, First Staff of the Thunderbirds (Patreon)

Staff, artifact (requires attunement)

This ancient staff was created when a piece of driftwood was struck by lightning, fusing it to a twisted length of glass made from the sand on which it laid. Revered by the Rocborne nomads and other worldly travelers, this one-of-a-kind crook carries with it the power of storms, tempests, and the wind spirits that control them. When it appears, it falls from the sky in the eye of a storm or a flash of lightning.

This staff can be wielded as a magic quarterstaff that grants a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. In addition, when you attack with the staff, you can choose to make a special ranged attack with it instead. This attack is a ranged spell attack with a range of 30 feet. You are proficient with it, and you add your Wisdom modifier to its attack and damage rolls. On a hit, it deals 1d6 bludgeoning damage as a gust of magical wind batters the target.

Variant Properties. Some properties of this artifact are locked behind layers of dormant magic. As you grow stronger and reach certain milestones, these properties may become available to you. This staff can have up to 3 of the following properties active at a time. When you attune to Nimbus, you can choose to activate up to 3 of its variant properties whose prerequisites you meet. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can replace any of the activated properties with another one.

○ The staff can be used as a broom of flying.

○ (Prerequisite: 5th level) While holding the staff, you can use a bonus action to cast the shillelagh spell with it.

○ (Prerequisite: 5th level druid or ranger) The staff gains 8 charges and regains 1d6 + 2 expended charges daily at dawn. While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC: create or destroy water (1 charge), fog cloud (1 charge), misty step (2 charges), sleet storm (3 charges), or thunderwave (2nd-level version, 2 charges). If you activate another property that causes the staff to gain charges, the total number of charges and regained charges are cumulative.

○ (Prerequisite: 9th level) Your bonus to attack and damage rolls with this weapon increases to +2, and the special ranged attack's damage die becomes a d8. When you reach 17th level, the bonus increases to +3, and the ranged attack's damage die becomes a d10.

○ (Prerequisite: 9th level) The first target hit by the staff on each of your turns takes an extra 1d6 cold, lightning, or thunder damage (your choice).

○ (Prerequisite: 13th level druid or ranger) The staff gains 8 charges and regains 1d6 + 2 expended charges daily at dawn. While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC: lightning bolt (3 charges), shatter (2 charges), spirit guardians (3 charges), or wind wall (3 charges). If you activate another property that causes the staff to gain charges, the total number of charges and regained charges are cumulative.

○ (Prerequisite: 13th level) While holding the staff, you have resistance to cold, lightning, or thunder damage (your choice). When you finish a long rest, you can change this resistance to a different one.

○ (Prerequisite: 17th level) While holding the staff, you can take the Dash action as a bonus action on your turn, as wind spirits help usher you forward.

○ (Prerequisite: 17th level druid or ranger) The staff gains 8 charges and regains 1d6 + 2 expended charges daily at dawn. While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC: chain lightning (6 charges), cloudkill (5 charges), cone of cold (5 charges), control weather (8 charges), or fly (3 charges, or 6 charges to cast at 6th level). If you activate another property that causes the staff to gain charges, the total number of charges and regained charges are cumulative.

○ (Prerequisite: 20th level druid or ranger) You gain the benefits of all of this staff's variant properties. In addition, if you are a ranger, you can summon a roc to your location by spending 8 hours performing an ancient Rocborne ritual. The roc is friendly toward you and your companions, its Intelligence becomes 6, and it gains the ability to understand one language of your choice that you speak. Once this property of the staff has been used, it can't be used again until you dismiss the roc using an action or until the roc dies. If the roc dies, this property can't be used again for 30 days.

Destroying Nimbus. The only way to destroy Nimbus, First Staff of the Thunderbirds is to keep it in a vacuum for 10 years, depriving it of any air, at which point the staff cracks open to release the swirling storm inside it. If the force of the released storm causes the vacuum to end, the storm escapes and continues to rage above that location for 1 year.

The storm within him brewed and twisted, looking for something to lash out at. It wasn't like him to feel this way, to feel this angry. The wind inside him whirled and thrashed at his emotions, stirring up feelings long-since forgotten.

The ferocity never waned. Days turned to weeks. He felt breathless. He felt trapped and fragile. He felt dangerous.

On the 24th day he screamed to the wind. He was never taught the ceremony or the traditions, but he knew that the wind could hear him all the same. Precautions be damned.

"Spirits! Why is this tempest inside me? What have I done, or what must be done to end it? Please, I seek your wisdom! I must know answers!"

A brief pause. For a moment, all he could hear was the sound of the roc's feathers fluttering against the sky as it flew. Then, a whisper:

"Go."

It wasn't a threat or a command: it was the word of a knowing parent. A loving advisor. It was time for him to seek out his own path, his own adventures as a rocborne. He would travel where the wind carried his feet, and would build his own stories, line by line with each step.

Without a second thought, he leapt. He watched as his home, his family's roc, fell away above him. The solid ground loomed below as he hurtled toward it. The colors and terrain were new and strange, but he was undaunted. This was the start of something greater.

With a word, his descent slowed to become gentle. He drifted down, landing softly on the loamy floor of a open meadow. The birds here sounded different than the ones he was used to: not many could survive at that high an altitude. The air was thick, and the breeze that rustled the trees' leaves was hot against his skin.

The storm inside him settled. The hurricane of his thoughts quieted, and he could once again feel at peace.

He took a deep breath and looked skyward, where he knew his Home still flew on without him. Then, a small flash of lightning, and the silhouette of something falling—no, careening— toward him.

A crooked staff, coated in rain and twisted glass, pierced the glen of flowers and brush in front of him. It was sparking and shuddering like the storm inside his heart. He grasped the crook and lifted it from the earth, holding it carefully in his hands. He looked at it with wonder and admiration, and though he knew nothing about this staff, he felt like he had known it all along.