Danse Macabre

[Bri]

Danse Macabre

 

The fervent whisper of breath, the vibrant beat of a heart, all compose the symphony of life. What few realize is that death has its own melody, its own hymn…and the possessor of the Danse Macabre is the conductor for this requiem of the damned.

 

Upon hearing this dire instrument, the dead are enthralled by its dirgeful music, bound to the will and the tunes of the piper.

 

Crafted from a simple bone flute, ash-grey glyphs run along the sides of the ivory instrument When translated, they give a simple message “What you are, we were; What we are, you will be.â€Â

 

 

Statistics:

Casts Hold Undead 3 times per day

Casts Animate Undead 3 times per day

 

Usable by:

Bards

[Andyr]

That's nice. I might tone it down a little to be more suitable for Tutu/ early SoA, for example limiting the total of both spells to 3 times/day.

 

So you could do 3 Animate Dead, 2 Animate Dead and one Hold Undead or some combination like that.

[Bri]

*nods* Yeah, definitely a bit more powerful than BG I.

 

Well adjust to your heart's content.

[Hendryk]

Funny, I was thinking that for bards of higher level (20+) there should be more powerful functions like Slay Living or Control Undead with increasing penalties to the target's save. To balance this, the instrument starts to draw on the bard's lifeforce, removing hps permanently, bard cannot be raised/resurrected, lowering WIS or what-have-you. The point being that a bard who goes down this road eventually and inevitably joins the 'Danse' for all eternity.

 

Of course by this time, this is no longer just an item but the hook for a quest. That's because you gave it such a nice, suggestive name.

[Bri]

Well, I freely admit that I tend to give more XP and such to my starting characters, so something like this would be on the low end of power in my SoA games.

 

Funny, I was thinking that for bards of higher level (20+) there should be more powerful functions like Slay Living or Control Undead with increasing penalties to the target's save. To balance this, the instrument starts to draw on the bard's lifeforce, removing hps permanently, bard cannot be raised/resurrected, lowering WIS or what-have-you.

 

I could see that happening, but it all depends on Andyr's needs.

 

The point being that a bard who goes down this road eventually and inevitably joins the 'Danse' for all eternity.

Ooh, that is a very nice twist

 

Of course by this time, this is no longer just an item but the hook for a quest. That's because you gave it such a nice, suggestive name.

 

I freely admit I had some thoughts for making this a story of the dark variety ;-)

[BigRob]

The point being that a bard who goes down this road eventually and inevitably joins the 'Danse' for all eternity.

 

 

And the bard couldn't even complain about not being given fair warning.....

 

 

“What you are, we were; What we are, you will be.”

[jester]

So the summoned undead might themselves have been players of the very instrument you are clutching amidst a fiery battle.

 

This instrument reminds me of a piece by HP Lovecraft about a violinist:

The music of Erich Zannn

http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovec...oferichzann.htm

[Grim Squeaker]

Personally I'd have the item upgradable like the Horn of Valhalla or just upgrade with the user. Or in an even stranger idea, have the item summon a skeleton when something on the screen dies, or something like that. Possibly with a couple of seconds of the Danse Macarbe playing when it happens.

[jester]

I like powerful artifacts that the player can only partly control or for a certain prize.

[Hendryk]

Might get interesting, too, if this is played while the party mage is wearing the robe of vecna - Like calling to like, as magical theory has it.