Wondrous Wednesday: Robe of Blending (Waring 3-speed)

There were two robes of blending that basically had the same shtick -- instead of the robe "blending" you into the background, it "blended" you like a kitchen blender. Ha ha! The first was Allen Hammack, who wrote one up in his article “The Lighter Side” in Dragon #35 (March 1980), about typos in the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide. The second was the prolific John M. Maxstadt who put the Waring 3-speed into his article “Still More [Gods Forbid] Outrages From the Mages” in Dragon #144 (April 1989).

But I thought, you know, there's room for a robe that can shoot blades at opponents, and giving it a curse isn't the worst. So, here's the result.

Robe of Blending (Waring 3-speed)
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)

Source: Allen Hammack, “The Lighter Side (Robe of Blending),” Dragon #35 (March 1980); John M. Maxstadt, “Still More [Gods Forbid] Outrages From the Mages,” Dragon #144 (April 1989).

To all appearances, this is a perfectly ordinary robe with a swirling design of leaves (or “swooshes”) of silver against a black background. If the clasp is examined closely, it will be revealed to be a sliding switch with four settings; when found, such items are always set to “Off.”

The robe has 3 charges. It recovers 1d3 charges every day at dawn. When an attuned wearer is hit by a melee weapon attack, as a reaction they may expend a charge to cause one or more blades to emerge from the pattern on the robe. The blades swing out at the creature that struck the wearer. The creature must make a Dexterity saving throw or suffer an amount of slashing damage based on the switch setting. The blades are treated as if they were magic weapons and, after making the counterattack, vanish back into the pattern on the robe.

Switch Setting Save DC Damage
“Chop” 18 2d8
“Mix” 15 3d10
“Liquefy” 13 4d12

Curse. When the wearer rolls a natural “1” on a Strength or Dexterity skill check or a weapon attack roll, the robe activates on its own without expending any charges — but the blades emerge on the inside of the robe. The wearer must make a saving throw or suffer damage based on the switch setting, but makes the save at disadvantage.

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