Norgionephesett, The Will of Morgion

D&D 3e (3.0/3.5) Rules

by Fallsend

Legend has it that during the Age of Dreams, Morgion himself imbued a coin with his essence and gave it to a powerful cleric. The coin took the symbol of Morgion (the hooded head red eyes) as faces on both sides. It is said that as the cleric sent a trusted follower on a mission of great importance, that the coin split itself, each face becoming a new coin with a smooth blank back. The cleric fastened the coin to a rusted iron chain and donned it around the follower's neck.

Though the fate of the cleric and follower is not known. The Will of Morgion has slipped through history, occasionally appearing here or there, usually among where the interests of Morgion are, but never for very long.

Those who look that the coin intently sometimes swear they see the eyes blink or flash and occasionally report hearing insane laughter coming from around somewhere distant. Those who touch the coin feel a powerful attraction to it and will usually desire it long after it leaves their sight.

The Details

Morgion's Will is an intelligent item consisting of the two coins attached to rusted iron chains. Both coins share a singular intelligence (named Norgionephesett) which considers itself to be a Cleric of Morgion and seeks to forward his goals and ideals on Krynn, specifically the coin aligns itself most closely with the aspect of Madness and embodies the desire for insanity.

The Will is chaotic evil in nature and fiercely independent: thinking itself superior to all but Morgion (or aspects of) - though the centuries of existence among 'insignificant mortals' has softened it slightly so that it has become a little more content with not directly interfering with the world around it unless a great opportunity presents itself to further it's goals.

Mostly it will try to talk telepathically with the being wearing or holding it to influence their actions toward a more evil course and in doing so inflict pain and suffering when the opportunity presents itself, though it will rarely force its will. To those who truly resist its advances, it will badger constantly, allowing them little rest and it will occasionally cast the spells it has available to confuse, or hamper them.

Once the Will has been donned, both its power and its penalties come into play in full effect as defined by the table below. Removing the Will ends the benefits but not the penalties as long as the Will remains in the character's possession.

Anyone who possesses the Will for any amount of time begins to feel its power and is drawn to it, for whatever reason they may consciously follow. Giving up or leaving the Will behind requires a will save of DC 15 before any significant interactions with the personality of the Will, this save must be made even if the person possessing it did not don the Will. The DC increases by one for each day the Will is in a character's possession and in addition by one each time any of the powers of the Will (including DR) are used, with a Max of 30. Failure of the will save means the possessor will do all in his or her power to retain the Will. A character does not have to wear the Will and may freely place it on her person however he or she will instantly know when it begins to leave (just before it would drop or someone would be about to steal it) however, characters will usually feel a desire to keep it safe.

The chain which it is attached to may be detached and a new fastening may be added but soon after joining with the will it will show signs of rust or decay (whichever is most appropriate) though it remains structurally strong.

Destroying one of the coins causes the face to reform on the other over the course of 1d4 weeks after which it must wait another 1d4 weeks before it is capable of splitting again.

Powers

The powers granted by the Will are dependent on the alignment of the character wielding it, although the powers are considered to be voluntarily granted by the intelligence of the coin and under exceptional situations it may choose to grant or revoke powers as it sees fit, though this would be practically unheard off and most likely only happen if the Will perceived some mortal danger to itself - which is by large unlikely from any mortal being.

Deity Morgion: If the wielder's deity is Morgion, add one to the CL for the purpose of determining the affect and saves of spells (but not the ability to cast them). The wielder also receives an additional -1 penalty to resist domination by the Will.

Damage Reduction: Damage reduction is treated as X/- and cannot be bypassed. This damage is in turn dealt to the person wielding the other coin. If the other coin is unattended or the coins are combined, this effect is negated. Damaged dealt through this way cannot be avoided or reduced and is considered to be voluntarily accepted by the wielder.

Wisdom skill checks and saves: While wielding this item the user is stricken by a streak of madness. Though minor this manifests itself in a -1 penalty to all wisdom based skill checks and will saves.

Clarity of Madness: This functions exactly like the feature of the madness domain except that the bonus is relative to the table above.

Resist Domination: Those wielding the Will receive this bonus (or penalty) to resist domination by the Will (see intelligent items in the PHB).

Spells: The Will grants its wielder the ability to cast spells from the madness domain as spell-like abilities as if they where a cleric of their ECL, with a maximum caster level as listed in the table above. Each available spell may be cast once per day and the Will is considered to have prepared them at midnight of each day. Both coins maintain the same listing possible spell which can be cast and if the user of one coin casts a spell and the wielder of the other later in the day attempts to casts the same spell, the spell fails but the attempt is still made. The Will may or may not inform the Wielders which spells it has available.

Alignment Save DC: Each time the wielder casts a spell a must pass a will save DC listed above or their alignment shifts one step towards evil. Evil characters who fail their save switch Deities to Morgion.

Item Stats

Int: 16, Wis: 16, Cha:14, Ego: 18, CL 20
+120 ft. darkvision, blindsense, and hearing
Telepathy, Speech
Languages: Common, Infernal, Nerakese, Kolshet (any time it spends a full level with a character it may learn one commonly used language of that character)

Notes on using the Will in play

The Will of Morgion is an artifact that has been largely unknown throughout history so players would possibly either find it on some corpse somewhere or in use by a villain they defeat. On the surface this item provides quite a bit of power with very little drawback for those that don't mind the alignment shift so in countering this it is up to the DM to play the personality of the item (which is written as a very strong personality that likes to get its way).

When playing the personality of the will, that it is essentially an embodiment of the Madness domain of Morgion. As such it will have a tendency to be unreliable and impartial - even sometimes to the cause of it's friends - because after-all mortals should suffer. It will often specifically fail to mention information it has simply because it finds it more interesting that way. On the same token it might be just as likely to alert its user to some invisible creature it sees (and then stop half way through a fight). Basically this is the personality a half-way insane cleric of Morgion who's been around for a very long time. It's slightly bored.

The other important aspect for the DM to consider when this item is in play is what the other half is doing: after all this is where damage from the DR is going to and more importantly coming from. In addition this is a source of limiting the spells available thru the Will. While it might be tempting to simple apply this at random, it works best to design a rough plan for when the opposite wielder will be doing important events (such as fights or other instances in which the spells might be used).

The Will works best when introduced as a lead to another adventure - one that can actually be driven by the Will itself due to the bond between the two faces of it. Players might for instance, come across one of the coins of the Will and find out later that the other is held by a powerful cleric or warrior of Morgion (or even an aspect). The intelligence of the Will will want to aid the cleric and may even consider its new wielder a potential new recruit. The party could then be tasked with using the Will to find it's other wielder and destroy the object (both parts) with the Will in effect working as a spy in both groups, or perhaps a more evil group may choose to take both parts for themselves.

This item was built to function quite a bit like the Ring of Power from Lord of the Rings in the way that it draws those who use or possess it to covet it, though unlike the Ring of Power it will usually not actively "wish to be found" and be acquired by the person most likely to reveal it or achieve its goals. It is much more content to try and change the person using it achieve its goals - it would see this as a worth challenge (remember it's slightly bored.)

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