Boulder Seeds
"Dwarven legends tell that their trickster god Fool once sought to impress his liege by performing the greatest feat of juggling there would ever be. He reached out to the seven tallest peaks of the mountain range we now call the Gaps, squeezed them down into a collection of juggler's balls, and started his cascades and chops. For a time it went well but then Fool tripped on one of the lesser peaks and went stumbling to fall face first in the Midden Swamps. The seven mountains went flying as he fell, scattering across the world to become the Straying Peaks while their original sites became the passes and deep vales of the Gaps."
Description: A boulder seed is a smooth, roughly-spherical stone that seems slightly heavier than you'd expect for its size, appropriate for use in a sling. To magical senses they radiate strong transformative magic. Advanced magical examination will perceive the seed as much larger than it appears to mundane senses.
Powers: A boulder seed that is fired from a sling or similar weapon or dropped from a distance of 10' or more expands to over a foot in diameter and a weight of around a hundred pounds in flight, with its magic warping inertia so that its trajectory remains largely unchanged. Used as sling or pellet crossbow ammunition they suffer a moderate penalty to hit (-2 for D&D and similar d20 systems) but inflict damage as though they were fired by a medium catapult (3d10 in D&D, or 2d2 structure points to large targets like buildings and ships). If used as a dropped weapon (often in multiples) each seed affects a single 5' area, no attack roll is needed but the damage is halved. Targets with a special ability to avoid or reduce damage by dodging ranged or area attacks (eg many rogues in later D&D editions) can use them against these items.
Boulder seeds are single-use, and are often found or sold in small lots (1d4 or 1d6 seeds).
Possible Origins: Boulder seeds are almost entirely a Dwarven creation, although some alchemists of other races claim to have duplicated the secret of compressing certain stones in the same manner. The original inspiration for the idea is the legend of Fool's juggling feat, but mere mortals are incapable of squeezing down anything the size of a entire mountain.
Complications: Anyone carrying one or more boulder seeds that suffers a fall of more than 10' will find it triggers the seeds' expansion, which is sudden and violent, bursting any mundane containers. This also adds significant damage (2d6 per seed in D&D) to that of the fall itself as the stones crash to the ground in a clump with the victim. Effects that slow your fall (eg the Feather Fall D&D spell) will prevent this from happening. If a seed bearer somehow manages to find themselves suddenly accelerated at a similar rate (perhaps by being fired out of a catapult?) the same expansion effect will occur, although the greater scattering of the seeds in flight may reduce the extra damage by half at the GM's discretion.
Design Commentary: I've always been a bit of a fan of consumable magic like enchanted arrows and potions and other one-shot items, and these reflect that. I'm also a fan of magic items with quirks that can bite you in the butt, and sudden falls (and even being shot out a siege engine) are just common enough that you need to think twice before loading up on these things.
I'd be careful about handing these out in numbers if the party has easy access to a lot of Feather Fall-style effects, though. They're a little too good if there's no risk to carrying them, so maybe limit availability or scale down the damage if that's the case.
Also I seem to be on a bit a Dwarven-themed magic item kick this week. Wonder what tomorrow will bring?
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