Wizard Hat of the Realm

From Stormravengaming

Presto Produces a chicken from the Wizard Hat of the Realm.

This artifact, also known as the hat of many things, appears to be a typical conical wizard hat, brimless, green and somewhat floppy. When the Wizard Hat is donned, the wearer immediately receives a sense of the powerful and chaotic nature of the artifact.

The wearer of the Wizard Hat of the Realm gains a +10 bonus to Spellcraft and Knowledge (arcana) checks. He may use these skills as though trained, even if he isn't.

The Wizard Hat can store spells as a ring of spell storing, except that the Hat stores nine spell levels and all spells stored in it must be arcane. Spells may be stored at any caster level from the minimum caster level of the stored spell to the caster level of the spellcaster storing the spell, but once stored, the caster level cannot be changed. The Hat must be worn to store or cast these spells.

The wearer of the Wizard Hat of the Realm can recall any arcane spell he has cast that day. He may recall one spell of each spell level, once per day each. This ability functions like pearls of power of each level, 1st through 9th. The Hat must be worn to recall these spells.

The primary function of the Wizard Hat of the Realm is Production of useful items. The user fixes in his mind the item (an object or a creature) he wishes to Produce, composes and recites a rhyming couplet describing the intended result, then reaches into the Hat to retrieve it. The interior of the Wizard Hat glows purple whenever it is used to Produce any item. The Hat's nature is wildly chaotic, however, and maintaining the proper mental focus on the desired item requires an act of will. The user must make a Concentration check. The base DC is 15 to Produce a Tiny or smaller object worth 1 gp or less, or to Produce a Tiny or smaller creature of CR 1 or less. Increase the DC for larger, more valuable or more powerful items according to the following table:

Due to the wildly chaotic nature of the Hat, the user may not take 10 or take 20 on this roll. However, if he has at least 5 ranks in either Knowledge (arcana) or Use Magic Device, he gains a +2 synergy bonus on this check (or +4 if he has 5 ranks each in both of these skills). (This special synergy bonus does not apply to any other use of the Concentration skill.)

Compare the result of the Concentration check against a roll of 1d6 on the following table to determine the item actually retrieved from the hat. The results are explained below the table.

(If a natural 20 still fails, use the appropriate Failure row. If a natural 1 still succeeds, use the appropriate Success row.)

Extraordinary: Something extraordinarily good is Produced. It is not what the wearer intended; it is far better. Anything is possible, even a deity in a helpful mood.

Exact: The hat Produces exactly what the wearer intended.

Useful: The hat Produces something unintended but that is still useful to the situation.

Type: The hat Produces something related by type to the intended item. For example, if the user intended a spoon, he might produce a fork instead.

Composition: The hat Produces something related by composition or construction to the intended item. For example, if the user intended a spoon, he might produce a lump of silver or a shovel instead.

Wordplay: The hat Produces something related by wordplay to the intended item. For example, if the user intended a spoon, he might produce a loon (rhyme) or snoop (anagram) instead.

Unrelated¹: The hat Produces something completely unrelated to what was intended. The item is Tiny or smaller.

Unrelated²: The hat Produces something completely unrelated to what was intended. The item is Small or Medium.

Unrelated³: The hat Produces something completely unrelated to what was intended. The item is Large or Huge.

Unrelated⁴: The hat Produces something completely unrelated to what was intended. The item is unrestricted in size.

Items Produced by the Wizard Hat of the Realm cannot be put back into it. Items too large to be held in one hand appear in the nearest available, unoccupied space. Producing an item from the Hat is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. This effect has an instantaneous duration, and Produced items are for all purposes real and permanent entities. Sentient creatures Produced from the Hat are under no control by the Hat's user and may freely determine their own actions. Such creatures have an initial attitude of indifferent to the Hat's user and any other creatures in the area, but their attitudes may be altered thereafter by normal means.

The Wizard Hat cannot Produce specific objects or creatures. It can only Produce a representative of a type of object or class of creature. The wearer might Produce a human or a spoon, or even a human cook or silver soup ladle, but could not Produce Winton the Wide or Savour, his amazing soup ladle of many flavors.

The Wizard Hat of the Realm is not an extradimensional storage space. If items are placed into the Hat, it acts as any mundane hat would.

There are very few requirements for the rhyming couplet that accompanies the use of the Hat for Production. It must rhyme, must be spoken aloud, and must somehow reflect the intent of the user. Also, it must be unique: that is, the same rhyme may not be reused. (This feature is intended to be used for fun and flavor, not punish poor poets.)

The Wizard Hat of the Realm cannot be damaged or destroyed by any common means.

Strong (all schools); CL 20th; Crafting requirements unknown; Market Price –; Cost to Create –; – lb.

In-Game Usage Suggestions

When the Wizard Hat Produces an item unrelated to the user's intention, consider visiting a random Wikipedia page. This produces a random entry from Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia with hundreds of thousands of articles. Draw inspiration from the entry to determine the outcome.

Another option is to roll dice and consult a printed encyclopedia, dictionary or any selection of books or magazines. For example, determine the volume of a 20-volume encyclopedia by rolling d20; roll d1000 (d10 * 100 + d10 * 10 + d10, with "000" representing 1000) – reroll if a valid page number is not generated – and roll to determine which entry on the page to use. Or just roll d100 to determine a specific word.

Rhyming Couplets

Presto has used these couplets:

Magical hat, let me be frank

What we need now is a twenty-ton tank!

Spirits that come and go in the night,

Banish these snail-things from my sight!

Jeremy has used the following rhymes:

We found a map, to my great pleasure,

Let's have something to mark its measure

To entertain crowds with eager ears bent,

A bard must have his instrument.

A bassoon's no good, nor drum nor flute,

We'd prefer a guitar or lute.

I've already tried to grab it twice,

Something with strings would be nice.

Music soothes the savage heart,

Help me further the bardic art.

For the bard and his listeners' sake,

Come on, hat, give me a break!

Lend your ear – performances twice daily!

My friend is master of the ukulele!

Of a vest, just one; of hose, the pair,

And the rest of course – some clothes to wear.

He reaches in, and hopes he plucks,

Something formal – Fiat Tux!