Patch of the Open Eye (Patreon)

Wondrous item, common

This canvas patch can be magically attached to a piece of clothing by pressing it against the clothing for 1 minute. The patch remains on the clothing until it falls off or you use an action to remove it. While it's attached to a piece of clothing, the eye's pupil will occasionally dart off to the side before returning back to the center.

While the patch is attached to a piece of clothing you're wearing, you can't be surprised at the start of combat. Once the patch prevents you from being surprised in this way, it falls off. Alternatively, you can choose to peel off the patch as part of making a Wisdom (Perception) check. You make this decision after you roll the d20, but before knowing the result of the check. When you do, roll a d4 and add it to the total.

Once the patch has been removed from a piece of clothing it's attached to, the patch loses its magic and becomes a mundane patch. If the magic patch is removed from a robe of useful items, the patch has a 50 percent chance to keep its magical properties and can be reattached to a piece of clothing again.

As the captain finalized her departure checks, she felt a tug at her coat. Looking down, she saw a solemn child: a boy in ruddy clothes and oil-slicked hair. In his hand was a patch, embroidered with a wide, gazing eye. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine, and deep in her gut she knew her fate was tied to the little watcher.

She mustered her most appreciative smile and took the patch from the boy. She pressed a copper into his hand before remembering the pang in her gut. She withdrew the copper and placed silver instead.

A week later, the captain felt that tug again while sailing through misty waters. She wheeled around instinctively, just in time to see a privateer's silent prow pierce the fog behind her ship.

At her feet rest the silent eye once more: its job complete.