The Grand Design (Patreon)

Weapon (pike), artifact (requires attunement)

A long pike with a hollow shaft filled with pitch black ink, tipped with a large, sharpened pen nib. You have a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. Up to 100 ounces of ink poured into the curved tip is magically stored within until used. Each 5 cubic feet a property of this weapon affects uses 1 ounce of stored ink. The dimensions of the property’s effects must be chosen in 5-foot increments.

Stippling. Attacks made with this weapon deal 1d4 additional force damage for every Stain point the target has.

Wash. In place of an attack, you can splash up to a 15 foot cone of ink from the tip of this weapon. Creatures with the cone must make a DC 18 Strength saving throw or be knocked back to an unoccupied space beyond the cone’s range and gain 1 Stain point.

Blot. You can use your action to lob an opaque sphere of ink at a point you can see within 60 feet of you for 1 minute. The sphere can have up to a 40 foot radius, obscuring everything within. All creatures within have total cover, are blinded, deafened and cannot make sound of any kind. A creature that ends its turn within the sphere gains 1 Stain point.

Line. You can use an action to draw an opaque wall of spouting ink of any length, 5 feet wide and up to 20 feet high for 1 minute. The line must start from your position but can form any shape you wish as long as it is continuous. Creatures within the path of the line must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw. On a success, they move to an unoccupied space of their choice within 5 feet of them outside of the wall. Creatures who fail or that cannot move to a space outside the wall gain 1 Stain point. The spaces the wall occupies are difficult terrain and creatures moving through the wall gain 1 Stain point each time they do so.

Redact. When you hit a creature with this weapon, you can spend up to 100 ounces of ink to attempt to remove a feature from the target. The feature can be anything other than an ability score, base AC, walking speed, or any type of action that doesn't have a recharge (DM’s discretion). Spells the creature can cast must be removed this way individually. The creature must make a Charisma saving throw equal to 10 + 1 for every 5 ounces used or lose the stated feature for 1 minute.

A creature can have up to 5 stain points. Creatures with Stain points have advantage on stealth checks in dim light or darkness and have a -1 to all saving throws for every Stain point they have. Stain points remain until a creature spends 1 minute cleaning the ink from them for every stain point they have or if they are affected by a water-based spell cast at 4th level or higher.

Destroying the Pike. The pike can be destroyed by filling it with Sovereign’s Glue. If Universal Solvent is poured inside after destroying the pike this way, it returns to normal.

The creation of the realms has always been a matter of some debate amongst our various cultures. One divine or another may be given more of an influence than the rest, or perhaps all gods, good and evil alike, should be given equal credit. But there is one belief that the world was shaped not by the gods we know, but by ink. Some force beyond our perception carving lines into parchment, to facilitate its grand design. Perhaps even the gods themselves owe their existence to this mysterious Creator, a simple narrative to disguise the true nature of our world. Some scoff at such a preposterous idea that we are all simply fictions of alien minds, but even if we are but a story, stories can be the most valuable treasures one can share.

Happy Two-Year Anniversary and April Fools! We pulled a switcheroo - Our rules designer, Andrew Kim, provided the art for this item and our artist, Andrew Macaruso, took over the rules. We hope you like this fun (and powerful) item to celebrate our time creating this collection of now 201 items and creation in the ttrpg space in general. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our creations with you!