Prayer Beads

[crimhthanthegreat]

Have any of you ever used this item? And if so how did you use it and how did it work out in your campaign? Our clerics always wanted one of these and like all magic items they were hard to come by and not without some risks of their own.

Prayer Beads

These are beads (10-40) on a string, usable only by clerics for aid in prayer. All of the beads will be of gem-quality stone (min. 100 GP ea.) of uniform size and value. 60% of the beads will be plain stone, with the remainder having a 20% chance of having supernatural powers. 75% of all bead strings will be Lawful, 20%
Neutral and 5% Chaotic. If they are picked up by a character of the wrong alignment, they will give no damage, unlike other magical items. The only means of determining the beads’ powers, if any, is trial and error. In determining the special power, roll a six sided die, and count off in the order listed. The powers a bead may possess are:

Bead of Atonement — Allows the user to have an 80% chance of atoning for a transgression that has caused them to change alignment. In other words, it gives the user an 80% chance of regaining his alignment.

Bead of Response -- Serves as a hot line to your patron deity, assuring response to prayers, though in no way guaranteeing that the response is the one you hoped for. Gods are fickle.

Bead of d**nation -- Serves as a hot line to your patron’s chief nemesis, which usually gets you in trouble.

Bead of Karma — For clerics of the 1st to 5th levels, it increases their powers by three levels for 3-12 turns; 6th through 10th, 2 levels for 2-8 turns, and 11th level+, 1 level for 1-4 turns.

Bead of Succor — Increases the base chance of response of god prayed to by 30%.

Bead of Hindrance — Decreases chance of response by 30%.

With any prayer beads, the alignment is critical. A Lawful Bead of Response, for instance, is a hot line to a Lawful deity, where a Chaotic Bead of Response is a hot line to a Chaotic deity. Therefore, if a Lawful character found a Chaotic Bead of d**nation, he would be in luck, because it would be a hotline to a Lawful deity. (The nemesis of a Chaotic god would necessarily be Lawful.)

(I see that the software of the site censored the name of the magic item above) ;D

[Deleted]

I don't remember ever seeing these in a game but they look like a lot of fun to throw in.

[serendipity]

crimhthanthegreat said:

The only means of determining the beads’ powers, if any, is trial and error. In determining the special power, roll a six sided die, and count off in the order listed.

Let me make sure I understand this. The DM rolls the D6 for each bead, though he keeps that info a secret. The only way the PCs can know what the beads do is to try them. So the PCs might find themselves praying for atonement to the wrong gods. That could certainly be amusing. Does the bead in question get used up in some fashion or disappear, or can it be used again?

[crimhthanthegreat]

serendipity said:

crimhthanthegreat said:

The only means of determining the beads’ powers, if any, is trial and error. In determining the special power, roll a six sided die, and count off in the order listed.

Let me make sure I understand this. The DM rolls the D6 for each bead, though he keeps that info a secret. The only way the PCs can know what the beads do is to try them. So the PCs might find themselves praying for atonement to the wrong gods. That could certainly be amusing. Does the bead in question get used up in some fashion or disappear, or can it be used again?

Yes, you are correct, that is the way that I play it and yes is can be very amusing. The beads can be used again; however, trying to use them too often (decided by the Ref on a case by case basis) or for things that are too trivial of a situation can result in some unusual results. I don't place any restrictions on how often that a player can attempt to use these items.

[serendipity]

crimhthanthegreat said:

The beads can be used again; however, trying to use them too often (decided by the Ref on a case by case basis) or for things that are too trivial of a situation can result in some unusual results. I don't place any restrictions on how often that a player can attempt to use these items.

I'm wondering what I'd do with one I figured out was for the wrong god. I could remove it from my rosary, of course, but I'd hate for one of his minions to get hold of it, so I couldn't just drop it off somewhere. Destroying it might also pose a problem. What if the god knew I was desecrating his holy bead?

[crimhthanthegreat]

serendipity said:

crimhthanthegreat said:

The beads can be used again; however, trying to use them too often (decided by the Ref on a case by case basis) or for things that are too trivial of a situation can result in some unusual results. I don't place any restrictions on how often that a player can attempt to use these items.

I'm wondering what I'd do with one I figured out was for the wrong god. I could remove it from my rosary, of course, but I'd hate for one of his minions to get hold of it, so I couldn't just drop it off somewhere. Destroying it might also pose a problem. What if the god knew I was desecrating his holy bead?

Like many items, they can be a double edged sword. These are all great questions and their resolution is fun to play out. And yes, the god will know if you try to destroy it.

[serendipity]

Are you allowed to pray to your god for knowledge regarding which bead could be used by a faithful devotee? After all what god other than Loki would direct a follower to another god's bead!