Threshold crests are magical artifacts that can operate in conjunction with each other to be permanently imbued with a spell. They are generally around 2ft x 1ft x 1ft in size, round, weigh 80 pounds, and are made of a gem that emits a low light.
The most common use is to have multiple stones combined with the same spell that can transport everything within their triangulated area across the planes.
Note: These crests behave differently than they do in-game for Critical Role. Any and all differences may be attributed to the shit that went down in Draconia.
History
There are rumoured to be four such crests that were used to make the island of Draconia fly. According to Emror, they cracked when Draconia fell under the assault of the Chroma Conclave. Emror said his teacher and master imbued them with a spell to prevent their further deterioration, and thus made Ravinia fly again, however the flying spell was broken when the civil war of Ravinia occurred. In the second fall, the island fell again, trapping the remaining residents.
The purple and green crests were used to break the time-spell on Draconia/Ravenia, and send the living back home. Once the spell was cast, the crests vanished.
Known Crests
- Purple crest, cracked but somewhat functional, discovered in Vorugal’s old lair, inscribed with the word DRACONIA
- Lime green crest, currently in the Kobold throne room, used to protect them from scrying
- Unknown color, located at the ziggurat in Whitestone, secreted there by the last known leader of the Ravenites
Potential locations
- The ‘castle’ – There was one known to be there, but the whole castle is missing
- In Gelidon’s possession – According to Cembiten, she had one besides the one found in her lair
Details
Damaged crests (or crests missing from a ‘set’ for permanent use) are fragile and subject to breaking. If a crest has any physical damage, roll 1D20 and add your spell casting modifier, against a DC of 17. On a failure, the spell will fail. On a critical fail, the crest will break completely.
The crest only needs attunement if being used to store non-permanent spells or to augment your own spell casting. There are ten slots, and you can cast any spell you want into storage, even from a scroll.
Each crest has it’s own frequency, or vibration.
Notes
- The crests do not always permit attunement, leading some magic users to believe they have a degree of sentience.
- Crests that are bound together for joint permanent automatically resonate with the same frequency.
- Theoretically, some crests are not possible to join together for shared usage due to frequency mismatches.
Permanent Spell Use
Threshold crests can be permanently imbued with a spell of the wielder’s desire. In order to do so, you must cast the same spell into the stone every day for a year. You need not use the spell when you cast the spell in this way. If the stone needs to be used in conjunction with other stones, then the spell must be cast on all of them at (roughly) the same time. This can be performed by multiple people. This is generally used in order to make permanent teleportation spells across planes, but can also cast invisibility on a city (for example). A crest cannot be used for anything else once a permanent spell is set. Additional ‘casters’ may be added to the crest by meditating for 4 hours and making a spell casting check (DC 18).
If a single crest within a set is damaged or missing, roll 1D100 whenever used. A result under the spell’s level will cause the spell to fail and the crest to no longer be imbued with the specific spell.
Additionally, the spell can be canceled by “Dispel Magic” or by one of the original / maintaining casters.
Single Use Charges (A)
If you do not wish to use it to perma-cast a single spell, you can use the crest like a ring of spell storing, and store spells. The item requires attunement to be used in this manner.
Spellcasting Augmentation (A)
Instead of using the individual charges, you may use all 10 charges to power yourself to cast a higher spell that you have access to, such as a spell scroll. Once attuned, you may roll 1d4 and lower the DC for a spell. Starting at 6th level, you may roll 1D6 to reduce the DC. For example, if you’re a level 2 magic user and roll a 4 and the DC to cast a 7th level spell from a scroll, the DC drops from 18 to 14. The item requires attunement to be used in this manner, and will use all ten charges for the day for a single use.