BRACELET OF BEAUTY Effect: Shape Shift (Sight, Hearing, Smell/
Taste, and Touch Groups), Instant Change, Makeover
Target: Self Duration: Constant Range: Self END Cost: 0 Defense: 6 DEF
Description: This exquisite diamond bracelet transforms its wearer into a beautiful woman….
whether the wearer was originally a woman or not!
The wearer need only remove the bracelet to dispel the effect. In game terms, the wearer can vary her beauty between “mildly cute” (9 COM) and “drop dead gorgeous” (20 COM) at will.
Some wizards create Bracelets of Masculine Magnificence, which function (and cost) the same, except that they can only transform the wearer into a handsome man.
Game Information: Shape Shift (Sight, Hearing, Smell/Taste, and Touch Groups, to a beauti-ful female form), Instant Change, Makeover, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½) (43 Active Points); IIF (-¼), Independent (-2). Total cost:
13 points.
BRACELET OF MONKEY MISCHIEF Effect: Summon 12 60-point monkeys Target: Special
Duration: Instant Range: No Range END Cost: 0 Defense: 11 DEF
Description: This odd-looking bracelet appears to be made of a dozen carved ironwood monkeys linked hand in hand. When the command word is spoken, however, the monkeys let go of one another, drop to the floor, and grow into full sized monkeys. These animated creatures are friendly to the bracelet’s wearer, but not particularly obedient:
they will behave like excited, curious monkeys until the command word is spoken, at which point they return to the owner’s wrist in a reversal of their previous summoning.
See pages 171-72 of The HERO System Bestiary for a Monkey character sheet.
Game Information: Summon 12 60-point monkeys, Friendly (+¼), Reduced Endur-ance (0 END; +½) (56 Active Points); OIF (-½), Independent (-2), Incantations (-¼).
Total cost: 15 points.
BRACELET OF SOOTHING MASSAGE Effect: Healing BODY 1 point
Target: One character Duration: Constant Range: Touch END Cost: 1 Defense: 3 DEF
Description: This nondescript pewter band gives its wearer the ability to perform soothing massages.
The wearer must use both hands and take no other actions during the massage.
Game Information: Healing BODY 1 point (3 Active Points); OIF (-½), Concentration (½ DCV throughout; -½), Extra Time (1 Hour, may take no other actions during this time;
-3¼), Gestures (both hands throughout; -1), Independent (-2), Others Only (-½). Total cost: 1 point.
BRACELET OF SPELL STORAGE Effect: Variable Power Pool, 60 base Target: Varies
Duration: Varies Range: Varies Charges: 12 Charges Defense: 19 DEF
Description: This pretty bracelet made of silver set with a dozen moonstones is actually a pow-erful storage bank for spells. Once per day a wizard can cast up to a dozen of his spells “into”
this bracelet (one per stone). The ring stores the spells and can instantly release them at any time on his mental command.
In game terms, the character uses his spell-book and a special ritual to implant up to twelve spells into the Bracelet. Standard rules for VPPs apply, so the total Real Point cost of all twelve spells has to fit into the 60 point base cost of the Pool, and no single spell can have more than 60 Active Points.
Game Information: Variable Power Pool, 60 base + 30 control cost, Trigger (mental com-mand, Trigger immediately automatically resets; +1) (120 Active Points); all slots OIF (-½), Independent (-2), Can Only Be Changed With Access To Spellbook And A Special Ritual (-½), Character’s Spells Only (-¼), 12 Charges (-¼). Total cost: 60 base + 13 control cost = 73 points.
BRACELET OF THIEVERY Effect: Major Transform 3d6 (objects into small
lead charms); Teleportation 5”, Usable As Attack, only versus Transformed objects Target: One object
Duration: Instant Range: 5”
Charges: 12 Defense: 13 DEF
Description: This innocuous looking charm brace-let is actually a potent device for crime! The wearer of this enchanted item need only look at a small, inanimate object such as a coin purse, ring, or dagger to instantly change it into a tiny pewter rep-lica attached to his bracelet. Later, safely ensconced in his lair, the thief can detach the “charm” from his bracelet, at which time it will immediately turn back into the stolen item! This can be done 12 times per day at a distance of up to 5”.
Game Information: Major Transform 3d6 (small inanimate objects to lead charms on the character’s bracelet, heals back by removing the charm from the bracelet), Area Of Effect (One Hex Accurate; +½) (67 Active Points); IIF (-¼), All Or Nothing (-½), Independent (-2), Limited Target (small inanimate objects; -½), 12 Charges (-¼) (total cost: 15 points) plus Teleportation 5”, Usable As Attack (defense is Power Defense; +1), Limited Range (5”; +¼) (22 Active Points); IIF
(-¼), Independent (-2), Linked (only works against Transformed objects; -½), Only To Move Object Onto Bracelet (-½), 12 Charges (-¼) (total cost: 5 points). Total cost: 20 points.
BRACERS OF MANUAL DEXTERITY Effect: +10 DEX, Only To Perform Hand Based
Non-Combat DEX Skills
Description: The wearer of these bracers can per-form amazing acts of dexterity — but only with his hands! Thus, while he can juggle, pick pockets, or carve sculptures with the greatest of ease, the Brac-ers don’t help him with Acrobatics, Breakfall, or any other “full body” Agility Skill.
Game Information: +10 DEX (30 Active Points); OIF (-½), Independent (-2), Only To Perform Hand-Based Non-Combat DEX Skills (-1). Total cost: 7 points.
Options:
1) Strong Bracers: Increase to +13 DEX. 39 Active Points; total cost 9 points.
2) Weak Bracers: Decrease to +7 DEX. 21 Active Points; total cost 5 points.
BRACERS OF SERPENTINE CONJURATION Effect: +3 with Conjuration Spells
Target: Self Duration: Persistent Range: Self END Cost: 0
Defense: Unbreakable (see below)
Description: These bracers of interlaced platinum and white gold are shaped to resemble coiled ser-pents that wind about the wearer’s arms. When worn on the arms, they make it much easier for him to use Conjuration spells. When pulled from his arms and thrown to the ground, each bracer becomes a venomous serpent utterly loyal to the wearer. If either Bracer dies while in snake form, the entire set is destroyed.
See page 178 of The HERO System Bestiary for character sheets for venomous serpents.
Game Information:
Cost Power
28 Bracers Of Conjuration: Multipower, 97-point reserve; all slots OIF (-½), Independent (-2)
3u 1) Snake Form: Summon up to two serpents built on up to 188 Character Points, Devoted (+¾), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½); OIF (-½), Independent (-2), Gestures (-¼) 1u 2) Bracer Form: +5 with Conjuration Spells;
OIF (-½), Independent (-2) Total cost: 32 points.
BRACERS OF TROLL’S STRENGTH Effect: +25 STR
Target: Self Duration: Persistent Range: Self END Cost: 0 Defense: 7 DEF
Description: These metal or leather bracers increase the wearer’s strength so that he’s as mus-cular as a troll.
Game Information: +25 STR, Reduced Endur-ance (0 END; +½) (37 Active Points); OIF (-½), Independent (-2), No Figured Char-acteristics (-½), Maximum Of 35 STR (-0).
Total cost: 9 points.
Options:
1) Bracers Of Giant’s Strength: Increase to +40 STR and Maximum Of 50 STR (-0). 60 Active Points;
total cost 15 points.
2) Bracers Of Ogre’s Strength: Decrease to +15 STR and Maximum Of 30 STR (-0). 22 Active Points;
total cost 5 points.
BRACERS OF WOODLANDS CONCEALMENT Effect: Invisibility to Sight and Hearing Groups Target: Self
Duration: Constant Range: Self END Cost: 0 Defense: 7 DEF
Description: These leather bracers are tooled with woodland scenes. When worn in the wil-derness, they cause their wearer to blend almost perfectly with his environment, making him both invisible and silent.
Game Information: Invisibility to Sight and Hearing Groups, Reduced Endurance (0 END;
+½) (37 Active Points); OIF (-½), Independent (-2), Only In Woodlands And Wilderness (-¼).
Total cost: 10 points.
Options:
1) Improved Bracers Of Concealment: Add No Fringe . Total cost: 14 points.
2) Bracers Of Woodlands Invisibility: Remove Hear-ing Group. Total cost: 8 points.
UNIQUE ITEMS
FAYA’S BANGLE
Effect: Mind Control 25d6, Only To Make Victim Fall In Love
Target: One character Duration: Instant
Range: Eye contact range (typically 3” in good light)
END Cost: 0
Defense: Unbreakable
Description: The goddess Faya used a tiny amount of her power to create an artifact that she could send out into the mortal world to spread her influ-ence. Whether the presence of Faya’s Bangle is a curse or a blessing is very much up to interpreta-tion: like the Lady of Pain and Joy herself, it stirs uncontrollable emotions in all who are touched by it. This delicate bracelet of multicolored sap-phires causes all who lock eyes with its wearer to fall instantly in love with him. The effect may wear off over time (i.e., eventually the victim makes his Breakout Roll), but by then he will have been utterly manipulated.
Game Information: Mind Control 25d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½), Persistent (+½), Uncontrolled (+½) (312 Active Points);
OIF (-½), Independent (-2), Eye Contact Required (-½), Set Effect (makes victim fall in love with wearer; -1). Total cost: 62 points.
F
or purposes of this book, “clothing” is any material that covers the torso, limbs, hands, feet, or head of the wearer and is not considered armor. Humans (and most humanoid race in Fantasy settings) almost universally wear clothing of some sort; even non-humanoid races such as the Leomachi wear leather vests and cloth blouses on their torsos.At the most practical level, clothing is usually worn for practical reasons, to protects the wearer from his environment: strong sunlight; extreme heat or cold; insects; abrasive foliage; dirt. But since it’s so ubiquitous in human lives, clothing quickly comes to have social and cultural signifi-cance. The shape, coloration, and material used in clothing often reveal a great deal about the person wearing it. By observing a person’s cloth-ing, one can often discern his profession, level of wealth, social status, and even religious or philo-sophical affiliation.
Items of clothing make excellent subjects for enchantment. They’re difficult to steal from their wearer, are “handy” (in the sense that they don’t have to be removed from a backpack or drawn from a belt), and can be made out of fairly incon-spicuous materials when need be. Boots and cloaks
— along with the staff, the ubiquitous implements of the medieval traveler — are particularly suitable choices for adventuring characters, as are belts and pants (or the equivalent), since nearly everyone wears them. And many Fantasy settings feature their own distinctive items of clothing. For exam-ple, in Ambrethel, Kumasian men wear a combina-tion tunic-vest garment known as a shikadi, while Indusharan women wear an elaborate two-piece garment known as a risalat that can be wrapped in various ways to communicate emotions.
Folklore, legend, and myth feature count-less examples of enchanted clothing. The Greek god Hermes owned a pair of winged sandals and a winged cap that helped him to fly between the heavens and earth. The goddess Aphrodite possessed a supernatural girdle that made her even more irre-sistible to men (as if she needed such a thing). The Norse god Thor owned a magical belt named Meg-ingjord that gifted its wearer with incredible strength, and the magical gauntlets Jarngriepr that allowed him to grasp his hammer Mjolnir safely. The name-sake of the classic fairy tale Cinderella has a pair of magical glass slippers, while a pair of cursed slippers that won’t stop dancing dooms the protagonist of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Red Shoes. The Norse folk-hero Sigurd (a.k.a. the German Siegfried) pos-sessed a magical cloak made by Alberich the dwarf that rendered him invisible.
In game terms, most clothing items are Obvi-ous, Inaccessible Foci (cloaks being one exception).
Therefore it’s an easy matter to change one item into another if you want. If you’d prefer that the Belt of Quick Action become the Boots of Quick Action or Robe of Quick Action, all you have to do is change the name and appearance.