Healing Can Bring an Enemy's Doom With the Sea Queen's Crown

Dungeons and Dragons has been the driving game for me as a writer, creator, and a human, for well over eight years. As part of the course of being a Game Master for 5th edition, I crave inspiration for new material as the goat craves the mineral.

Bringing new story lines to my players, so that they may explore my world as fully and deeply as they want to is usually my priority. I have a long history with writing fiction set in my world, and my players bring those stories to life.

“But this is Dungeons and Dragons” I don't hear you ask because I'm writing this down and I can't hear you. In the world of adventurers, there have to be things for them to fight against and sweet, tasty experience points for them to be rewarded with. Well, I don't run my games with XP because in essence, it makes zero sense, and that's something I'll explain another time, but rewarding players for adventure is essential!

Coming up with new items for your heroes to be bequeathed can be a struggle. Many pragmatic protagonists can look at their patrons and simply say “money is always nice”. But that's never enough, not when a unique item is up for grabs.

Why Build Something New?

In your own world of Dungeons and Dragons, the gods that bestow powers to the Clerics and Paladins can be as different and diverse as you can imagine. The Domains that the Clerics are built around in 5th edition give us some inspiration to see what kinds of gods there could be, especially if you've added your own from other game materials and extra world material.

Sometimes cobbling things together is very effective - Scrounged Scythe by Jason Felix.jpg

But once the holy casters know exactly who they pray to, how these penitent few channel their magic is wildly different, and the thoughtful player paired with the crafty Game Master can come up with something truly unique. One great example of this would definitely be in the live streamed game of Force Gray: Giant Hunters. Ashley Johnson's Cleric was a god of invention, and to channel her magic, smaller mechanical beasts and insects flew out and generated what the spell did.

The ability to customise and manage your own magic is an exciting way to make your character look and feel unique. Adding new items makes things even stronger still, but a large part depends on where a new magic item comes from.

To be a Game Master, you tell stories for all of your players, but stories can come from any part of your game. When creating something for your game, thinking about where something came from can clarify things for your players and keep them curious about the world you're bringing to them.

While the books written by Wizards, the fine creators on DM's Guild, and of course us here at Apotheosis Studios will always bring you new unique pieces to your games of Dungeons and Dragons, coming up with your own stuff makes it personal for everyone at the table, and brings everyone's investment right into the centre with something that the table has that's just their own. I encourage every Game Master playing any system to brew new things for their players. This is something I've added to my games.

Crown of Sea Queen

As said earlier, Clerics and Paladins draw their power from their devotion to a god. When they have this devotion clear in their hearts, and the favour of the gods is a conduit of immense power, the power that they need to bring the gods' will to the world for good or ill.

The life of adventure means that the successful ones come back with treasure to their name. Something truly ancient, and blessed by one god may yet benefit another priest of a different faith.

The story of an item blessed by a god can inspire the hearts of many. Thus was the story of the Crown of the Sea Queen. Circlets made of the drops of the ocean, with the strange effect of bringing both weal and woe to those around its wearer.

There was once a pale priestess who had earned the favour of a goddess of the ocean. The great fins of the mother of all merfolk carry the deity through the oceans of the higher planes, and dictates the tides of the oceans across the worlds. One of this goddess' penitent dry-folk had held her attention for many many years. By spreading the word of respecting and being careful in the face of the ocean, the movements and care of the creatures within.

The goddess watched the cleric from across the world and the ocean. She moved with grace and precision, rolling like a distant wave. The goddess watched with fascination as her words of respect to the sea were sung and recited as though effortless and like a breath. The priestess wore green scales and wielded a tall trident made of coral and pearls. This dedication drew the goddess' fascination.

Heroic feats were made across the coast all in the name of this oceanic goddess. She watched closer as these majestic acts of heroism done in her name began to lift her spirit and energy as a goddess. Catastrophes that would have ravaged coastal settlements were easily avoided through the prayers and magic of the penitent. The sick and injured were healed by the graceful hands and green light of the deep ocean. Wonders made in the name of the ocean mother became a common occurrence on the coast and sea shores of the world. This good will left traces of power behind in the world, ingots of the goddess' power, damp on the ground like sea water.

The sea queen crown is as beautiful as it is deadly - Rainbow Sugar Mermaid Crown by Frida Flower Crowns

One such day, the tides of fate changed. The cleric worked in the service of the ocean mother for her entire life, but all mortal lives end. When on an adventure, the cleric ensured the escape of her party, then flooded the subterranean dungeon with ocean water. The loss of her most penitent follower left the goddess distraught and broken. The drips of water across the world coalesced and froze with grief. The frozen sadness coalesced up into crowns made of deep blue coral. These indestructible circlets sought their way to the followers of the gods to share the stories of the separated, mortal and divine lovers.

Whilst Wearing the Crowns

The Sea Queen Crown is a strange magical item spread by the continued use of holy warriors over the ages. Even ones who do not worship the goddess of the ocean.

There is a shared power among Clerics and Paladins that allow them to draw on similar magic, bestowed by the powers of the gods that radiate out this energy. Those that use this crown feel the comforting warmth and endless rolling motion of the ocean. In recent years, those who have a connection to the ancient and primal world, such as the Druid and the Ranger may be able to commune with this ancient and holy power.

Crown of the Sea Queen Stats generated with homebrewery

While using this crown, the wearer is able to tap into the same changeable powers of the tides. The weal and woe woven into the world and its waters. This primal power is tempered by the unrequited love of the goddess to her remarkable mortal. The desire to protect her people is mirrored by the goddess in her anger at losing the woman she loves. As such, the power to heal and protect, and the powers to attack those who rebuke them.

As a user attuned to this circlet uses healing magic they control, a globule of pure ocean water starts to coalesce over the user. Simply by using the magic item, the power with which you heal your allies increases. The strength of the healing energy swirls in the bubble as the user heals themselves and their allies. After a short time, the bubble detonates in a way that is harmless to the user and those who have been healed by them. Those who do not takes a sum of damage equal to an amount of the healing dealt out to their allies.

The blessings of the sea queen's crown are manifold and every where. There are enough out there to have been shared in Druidic circles and Paladin enclaves. It's powers to heal allies and blow back enemies have been valued and sought after by many.

Now we want to hear from you. What unlikely magic items do you imagine coming to your games? What mechanics that appear distant but could be brought together in something you run? Let us know in our discord server or in the comments below.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com, they write all kinds of gaming press, while they write news about the League of Legends Card Game on RuneterraCCG. On Youtube, they can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Find where they dwell by climbing their Linktree.