Eye of Zaltec

[CapnZapp]

This fabled treasure is given a general description in Tomb of Annihilation, and game stats in the Tomb of Annihilation Companion. Here's my version:

Eye of Zaltec
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)
The Eye of Zaltec is a lustrous, spiked ruby as big as a human fist, rumored to have the power to resurrect the ancient dead. For centuries, the fist-sized ruby surmounted the Great Pyramid in Nexal, capital city of the Maztican Empire. The gem is a relic of the cult of Zaltec, and its dagger-like point was plunged into the hearts of countless sacrifices.

The Eye of Zaltec can be charged by using it to kill a humanoid, dragon, fey, giant, or monstrosity with Int 6 or higher that is alive and hasn't bargained away its soul. Each sacrifice adds a number of charges equal to the Challenge Rating of the creature (minimum 1) and binds the soul of sacrifice into the Eye, preventing regular ressurrection (short of a Wish or using the Eye). There is no upper limit to the number of charges the Eye can hold, but 33 days after adding the last charge, all charges dissipate (releasing the souls of the sacrifices).

While the Eye holds any charges, you are haunted by those you have slain. Each time you charge the Eye, make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or suffer the effects of short term madness. In addition, the symbol of a jaguar's head with the teeth of a rattlesnake slowly become visible on your chest, becoming more and more distinct with each charge gained. The possibility of a permanent alignment shift towards chaotic evil is left up to the DM.

The Eye of Zaltec has the ability to cast a special version of Raise Dead, modified as below:

• the Eye is the material component, and is not consumed
• the limit on how long ago the target creature died is removed entirely
• the Eye must contain at least as many charges as the number of years since the creature died, or the spell fails
• the creature's soul need not be willing and is forced back into life without being asked
• the spell replaces damaged or missing organs and limbs. The spell can even provide a new body if the original no longer exists, in which case you must touch the creature's remains or a personal belonging of historical significance. You are advised to confirm the identity of any remains or belongings through divination magic before attempting to restore an ancient or obscure creature to life.
• the body's physical age is that of a young adult. The creature's mental age remains the same as when it died
• after the spell is cast, all charges are spent and all sacrifical souls devoured (they can't be returned to life by any means, including divine intervention), regardless of success or failure.

 

[CapnZapp]

Changes and their rationale:

First off, the Companion writers completely forgot the entire justification for the item's existence, that of being able to raise someone from the dead no matter how old!

Then, a number of niggling inconsistences and baffling choices has been rectified:

• The Eye can be charged by regular humans, and not just by CR 4+ creatures. In any Aztec description, it's always about quantity, not quality. And if you need a thousand sacrifices to bring back someone from the dead after a millenium, I think design mission accomplished! However, I have retained a nod towards challenge rating as you can see in the item mechanics.
• After several centuries of burial, ancient creatures are likely reduced to skeletal remains, or even dust. (Not every culture can make Mummies!) The Eye needs to function for such targets, so I lifted in some verbiage from True Ressurrection. I did not, however, want to relinquish the need to touch something, so I did not import the name clause.
• A legendary evil item like the Eye would probably not care whether the soul was willing. For an item meant to raise creatures even after millenia, this seems like a necessary power.
• In a similar way, physical rejuvenation seems appropriate, given the huge cost in sacrificial victims.
• Symbol and alignment of Zaltec the god has been addressed.
• Specifics of losing the charges has been changed.
• Since the usage of this item will always be plot ("downtime"), never adventure ("uptime"), the bit about getting inconvenienced has been dropped.

 

[CapnZapp]

See if you can find the Altered Carbon reference...

 

[Schmoe]

Really cool. The mechanics totally support the flavor and seem suitably legendary.

 

[Harzel]

• the Eye must contain one charge per year since the creature died, or the spell fails

I like it, but I completely misunderstood this point on first reading, and I'm still not sure about one detail of your intent. Here are suggested rewordings, depending on what was intended:

• the Eye must contain at least as many charges as the number of years since the creature died, or the spell fails
• the Eye must contain exactly as many charges as the number of years since the creature died, or the spell fails

 

[CapnZapp]

I like it,


[*]the Eye must contain at least as many charges as the number of years since the creature died, or the spell fails

Thanks!

And thanks for the clearer language!

(The risk of insufficient charging is not meant to be a biggie. Most people powerful enough to use the Eye will also have access to divination magic that can tell you if every prerequisite for using it is met)

 

[CapnZapp]

I think I'll post the other three treasures here as well - if and when the Companion write-ups turn out to be insufficient [emoji106]

 

[Unwise]

I think I might borrow this item for my own campaign, it really gives a good motivation for a bad guy. It means that bad guys have reasons to raid local towns and take the entire population captive, killing as few as possible. The 33 day limit on the souls means that they can't just run around slaughtering everybody in a remote area as they will run out of people before the 33 days is up. They need to stockpile them.

 

[CapnZapp]

I think I might borrow this item for my own campaign, it really gives a good motivation for a bad guy. It means that bad guys have reasons to raid local towns and take the entire population captive, killing as few as possible. The 33 day limit on the souls means that they can't just run around slaughtering everybody in a remote area as they will run out of people before the 33 days is up. They need to stockpile them.

It also "explains" why the Mazticans act like Aztecs... [emoji6]

It is also the item the adventure party (Yellow Banner) is after. My hunch is they would have gotten mighty disappointed... [emoji6]

 

[Coroc]

Cool item, let's resurrect a lich with it