Dragon Charms

Summary

As improbable as it seems, a dragon will sometimes consider a member of a lesser race to be worthy of his attention, or even his friendship. As a show of good will, the dragon removes part of himself and imbues it with power, creating a charm that keeps working for as long as the dragon is alive.

Only dragons may create dragon charms, and then only those with spellcaster levels. Crafting a dragon charm is a way for dragons to forge alliances, give out bribes or even trick the recipient, for not all the enchantments placed upon such items are of a beneficial nature. The dragon is free to remove the power from a charm he created at any time simply by being within 30 feet of the item.

Dragons are weakened by the process of imbuing a charm, suffering 10d6 points of subdual damage to create a basic charm, which is why dragons prefer to do this when they are in good health.

Dragon charms are use-activated magical items, and only the person it was given to can use it; it becomes a simple dragon component in the hands of another. Using a dragon charm as a component for a standard magical item or even as a dragon focus strips it of the power the dragon imbued in it, and the dragon is instantly aware his gift was wasted or stolen and wasted (in which case the original owner is perfectly safe from the dragon’s wrath). Except when noted, the owner of a dragon charm may use each of its powers once per day.

Dragon Charm Powers

Every dragon charm has the following effects:

Empathic Link:

The dragon has an empathic link with the recipient of his charm regardless of distance. The dragon cannot see through the character’s eyes but the two of them can communicate telepathically. The dragon can call on the character at any time but the character can only try to contact the dragon once per day and must succeed at a Will save (DC 15 or the dragon’s frightful presence DC, whichever is higher). A character with a higher Scry skill modifier can use that instead of his Will save but the dragon will be a tad annoyed to be scryed upon with one of his gifts.

Energy Protection:

The recipient of a dragon charm gains a +2 inherent bonus to saves against energy attacks of the same type as the dragon’s breath weapon.

Location:

On a successful Scry check (DC 10 + character’s HD) the dragon knows exactly where the character is. Often, dragons hide this particular power from the recipient of one of their charms.

Dragonmark:

The recipient of the dragon charm is marked as a dragon-friend (or lackey, as the case may be). He enjoys a +2 morale bonus to all Charisma-based checks when dealing with dragons of any species and he is immune to dragons’ frightful presence effect.

If he wishes to put more effort into it, a dragon may enchant a charm with any of the following powers:

Extraordinary abilities:

The dragon can imbue the item with one of the extraordinary abilities it is capable of using at its age category. Doing so causes an extra 2d6 points of subdual damage to the dragon. The charm’s recipient may use the ability once per day for one round per caster level of the dragon.

Spell-like abilities:

The dragon can imbue the item with one of its spell-like abilities. It suffers an additional d6 hit points of subdual damage for every spell level of the emulated ability. The charm’s recipient may use the ability once per day, cast at the dragon’s current caster level.