Buoyant Barbs
Description: An unwieldy harpoon head made of lusterless gray metal, with prominent barbs and pierced with a sturdy ring for a tethering rope or chain. Like many magic items, it will subtly re-size itself to fit the shaft of most javelins, spears, or even short polearms as well as actual harpoons made for human-sized creatures. Divinatory spells and mystical senses will detect an aura of transformation magic. More advanced techniques will reveal the powers below.
Powers: Any creature carrying a Buoyant Barb cannot be fully submerged by any non-magical force. Some part of its body will always remain above water (or whatever liquid they may find themselves in) although this doesn't grant certain immunity to drowning (your head could still go under) nor does it help with other issues like hypothermia, salt dehydration, etc.
A damaging attack from a Buoyant Barb (whether attached to a proper shaft, or via an improvised attack using the barb as a clumsy dagger at -10% chance to hit) will magically lodge the barb in its target until all damage from the wound is healed (by any means, natural or magical) or the magic of the barb is dispelled by some means. Any creature with one or more barbs lodged in it counts as "carrying" the item, and will therefore be unable to fully submerge, voluntarily or otherwise.
An unattended Buoyant Barb will itself float and cannot be forced below the surface without potent magic.
If a barb is somehow brought below the surface (most likely through magical means) its enchantment fails and the items rusts into powder within hours.
Possible origins: The method for enchanting Buoyant Barbs is ancient and well-known among almost all seafaring cultures, and the knowledge has even spread to fishing communities on rivers and freshwater lakes. The process is still time-consuming and physically demanding, requiring cold-forging from a mystic alloy of various metals and alchemical reagents. Despite this, it's common to find these items for sale (or as found loot) in lots of 1d4 individual barbs. Ironically most accomplished artificers refuse to bother with such "trivial" magic, preferring to leave such work to hedge wizards and village wise folk.
Complications: Intelligent aquatic creatures will often be hostile to anyone who uses Buoyant Barbs as a weapon, especially if they leave a wounded creature alive but "trapped" on the surface till they heal. Exceptions might be made if the victim is an traditional enemy of the creature in question (eg mermen versus kraken) but in general sea-dwellers will at least attempt to confiscate and destroy any barbs they encounter, and will only use one themselves in the most dire of circumstances.
Design Commentary: Buoyant Barbs are obviously most useful for fighting sea monsters (who won't be able to retreat below water once struck with one) but it's also not unheard of for cautious seafarers to carry a barb (with or without a shaft) as a charm against drowning. They can also serve as flotation devices in a pinch, and you can expect players to get creative about other uses, eg letting animal companions or pack animals swim long distances safely by strapping a barb to them so they can't sink.
A creature wounded by a barb will "shed" it when the wound heals, which often leaves unattended barbs floating on the surface afterward. While finding one adrift at sea is vanishingly unlikely, they wash ashore eventually. Beachcombers may turn one up now and then, particularly in regions with active whaling or aquatic monster-hunting industries. More than one dockside bar has been regaled with stories of a marooned or shipwrecked sailor swimming to civilization after finding a "lucky charm" on their island prison.
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