Wondrous Wednesday: Onyx Ball & Ring of Hunan Influence

Continuing with the comedy items are these two, which are, again, of extremely limited use. I don't tend to use curses much, but the curses on these items feed into the humor.

EDIT: Accidentally posted an earlier draft of this blog post. Oops! Fixed now (5/18/2023).


Onyx Ball

Wondrous item, very rare (requires attunement)

The onyx ball, a very rare item, is a little less than 9 inches in diameter and completely opaque. While touching it, you can cast the scrying spell (save DC 17) with it. 

Curse. Because the onyx ball is nearly impossible to see through, you can only hear the target.

Ten percent of all onyx balls are actually inert, but have Nystul’s magic aura cast upon them. A closer examination of such balls reveals three finger-sized holes in close proximity to each other.

Source: James MacDougall, “Not Found In Any Stores!,” Dragon #120 (April 1987). 

Ring of Hunan Influence
Ring, uncommon (requires attunement)

This jade ring is decorated with characters in an unknown script. Under investigation, it appears to be a magical ring related to fire or heat.

The ring has 3 charges. While wearing the ring, you may spend a charge and expend a bonus action to exhale fire at a target within 30 feet, forcing it to make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, the target takes 4d6 fire damage, and on a success, half as much.

Curse. The ring affects anything eaten by the wearer; there is no noticeable change in the taste, but one round after being eaten, the food begins to burn for 1 point of fire damage per round. Water only makes the burning worse (1d4 fire damage for one round).

Every hit die worth of fire damage the attuned wearer sustains due to this curse restores 1 charge of the ring; for example, a wearer who was a wizard (d4 Hit Dice) would restore 1 charge for every 4 points of fire damage taken due to the curse of the ring. The ring can only hold up to 3 charges at a time. This is the only way to restore charges to the ring.

Only eating 1d6 rations worth of rice will ease the pain and stop the fire damage. No matter how much food is consumed, the wearer still feels hungry an hour later.

Source: John M. Maxstadt, “Still More [Gods Forbid] Outrages From the Mages,” Dragon #144 (April 1989).

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