A Player's Guide to Artifacts V
Additional Artifact Articles
A Player’s Guide to Artifacts I
A Player’s Guide to Artifacts II
A Player’s Guide to Artifacts III
A Player’s Guide to Artifacts IV
Once again, here’s the grading system used, and each item is given an overall A-F letter grade.
Excellent - This is the reason why you crave this item.
Good - A strong property that’s useful daily.
Meh - Positive that does little or negative that’s annoying but manageable.
Ugh - You still want the item but plan on it being an ongoing issue.
F*&k me - You may want to think twice about attuning to this item.
* Spoiler Alert - Please be aware some of the artifacts below are directly tied to official content adventures, and this article talks about them in detail.
Sword of Zariel
Weapon (longsword), artifact (requires attunement by a creature the sword deems worthy)
This longsword belonged to the angel Zariel before her fall from grace. Fashioned from celestial steel, it gives off a faint glow and hum. The weapon chooses who can attune to it and who can’t. It desires a wielder who embodies bravery and heroism.
The fallen angel mythos makes it to D&D. Rambling on about the sword would be a space filler. Zariel is the central figure in the adventure Descent into Avernus, so check it out if you’re looking for more background and lore.
Random Properties. The sword has two minor beneficial properties. A good sword gets good properties. - Good
Sentience. The sword is a sentient, lawful good item with an Intelligence of 10, a Wisdom of 20, and a Charisma of 18. It has hearing and normal vision out to a range of 30 feet. The sword communicates by transmitting emotion to the creature carrying or wielding it. - Good
Sword Properties. As with most powerful artifacts, you have to attune to the sword. The process is instantaneous, saving you an hour of speaking to it smoothly, but the blade must think you are worthy. When you attune to the sword, you receive all sorts of beautiful abilities:
Your alignment becomes lawful good.
You can speak, read, and write Celestial.
Celestial Resistance grants you resistance to necrotic and radiant damage.
Divine Presence increases your Charisma score becomes 20 unless it is already 20 or higher.
A pair of wings sprout from your back. No, you don’t become an angel, but you can fly. You have a flying speed of 90 feet and the ability to hover. If you had wings, I hope you weren’t too attached to them since the new wings replace the old ones, which fall off.
You gain Truesight, allowing you to see in normal and magical darkness and all things invisible. Illusions don’t work on you, and you always succeed on saving throws against them. You see right through shapechangers and polymorphed creatures and can look 60 feet into the Ethereal Plane.
You get a new personality rolling on the provided Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws charts provided.
Add up all these instantaneous powers you receive, and the word that comes to mind is - Excellent.
There’s more to be had since we haven’t even talked about the sword itself and its powers.
Holy Light. I’ve never cared for the whole “the item sheds light” thing. This sword emits bright light in a 5-foot radius and dim light for an additional 5 feet. What’s great about this light is that fiends dislike the light; even if they can’t see it, they have a disadvantage on attack rolls made within the weapon’s radius of bright light. It gets better since a bonus action, you can intensify the sword’s light, causing it to shed bright light in a 15-foot radius and dim light for an additional 15 feet. - Good
Searing Radiance. Jealous of your paladin’s smite ability. With the Sword of Zariel, you don’t have to be. Any creature struck by the weapon is dealt an extra 9 (2d8) radiant damage or 16 (3d10) radiant damage if you’re wielding the weapon with two hands. Evil creatures are especially screwed. If an evil creature takes radiant damage from the sword, it must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of its next turn. - Excellent
Truth Seer. A little ribbon power to end with. You gain advantage on all Wisdom (Insight) checks. It’s a ribbon power to end with, but we’ll take it. - Meh
Destroying the Sword. Destroying the sword can be a central story arc in the adventure, depending on the route your players decide. Zariel can destroy the sword simply by grasping it. A former angel, now archdevil, would definitely have the ability to destroy a sword of goodness and light. The blade shatters if used against the Companion, a scenario specific to the adventure. If you kill Zariel in the Nine Hells, the sword becomes no more challenging to destroy than a typical longsword, meaning you can melt it down at any old blacksmith.
Overall Grade: A- Unless you have a severe aversion to being a lawful good character, there’s not much you can complain about if the Sword of Zariel deems you worthy to wield it.
The Teeth of Dahlver-Nar
Wondrous item, artifact (requires attunement)
The Teeth of Dahlver-Nar are stories given form. They are a collection of teeth, each suggestive of wildly different origins and made from various materials. The collection rests within a leather pouch stitched with images of heroes and whimsical creatures. Where the teeth fall, they bring legends to life.
Each tooth has a story, and the onus is on the DM to create the account based on the titles provided for each tooth. While I wish there was a tale for each tooth, I get why there isn’t. Even a synopsis for twenty teeth isn’t going to happen unless you play 1st or 2nd edition.
Magical teeth are gross, especially when you pop them into your mouth and they attach themselves. When you put one of the teeth into your mouth, the corresponding tooth falls out, and the new tooth takes its place. The new tooth provides you with an Implanted Power from a chart provided. Roll a d20 and discover what fun and exciting powers your new molar bestows.
The tooth is automatically attuned when it attaches itself. You can’t remove or voluntarily end your attunement so long as you are alive. If you’re up for a whole new set of teeth, you can install several teeth equal to 1 plus your Consitution modifier. Any more than that, an implanted tooth falls out, disappears, and is replaced by a new tooth. While you are attuned to the teeth, you can’t voluntarily end your attunement to them. If removed after your death, the tooth vanishes.
You can forgo the dental work and bury them in the ground if you choose. When put on the ground, the tooth burrows into the ground and vanishes, leaving no hole behind, or it vanishes into the water. Creatures from the summoned creatures list with appear. They are allies to you, speak all languages you speak, and hang out for a mere 10 minutes before disappearing.
Make sure you do something with a tooth by the end of the round where you pulled it from the bag. If you don’t, then one of two things can happen. The tooth can vanish, and creatures appear as if you sowed it, but they are hostile to you and your allies. If that doesn’t happen, the tooth replaces one of your teeth as if you implanted it.
Each tooth can only be used once.
Destroying the Teeth. Each tooth must be destroyed individually by sowing it in the area where the tooth’s story originated to destroy it. When planted this way, creatures summoned are not friendly to you and do not vanish. Some of the creatures summoned merely head off in search of their home, while others act as their tales dictate. In either case, the tooth is gone forever.
Overall Grade: B-. There are some remarkable abilities to gain or creatures that can be summoned. There’s a risk vs. reward factor for sure, so how often you want to use the teeth depends on your risk tolerance.
Wand of Orcus
Weapon (mace), artifact (requires attunement)
The ghastly Wand of Orcus rarely leaves Orcus’s side. The device, as evil as its creator, shares the demon lord’s aims to snuff out the lives of all living things and bind the Material Plane in the stasis of undeath. Orcus allows the wand to slip from his grasp from time to time. When it does, it magically appears wherever its master senses an opportunity to achieve some fell goal.
Made from bones as hard as iron, the wand is topped with a magically enlarged skull that once belonged to a human hero slain by Orcus. The wand can magically change in size to better conform to the grip of its user. Plants wither, drinks spoil, flesh rots and vermin thrive in the wand’s presence.
All things considered, this is a fair amount of description for the artifact. If you want to learn more about Orcus, his mace, and what he does all day in hell, check out our Deep Dive on this Prince of the Undead.
Attunement. Attunement is a dicey proposition unless you are Orcus, and we will assume you aren’t. Any creature besides Orcus that tries to attune to the wand must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw. Because you save doesn’t mean you get away unscathed, as you take up to 60 points of necrotic damage. If you fail, start rolling a new character since you die, quickly followed by returning as a zombie. - F*&k me.
Sentience. The Wand of Orcus is a sentient, chaotic evil item with an Intelligence of 16, a Wisdom of 12, and a Charisma of 16. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet. The wand communicates telepathically with its wielder and can speak, read, and understand Abyssal and Common. - Ugh
Personality. You never want an item of pure evil to have wants and desires. It’s a cold, cruel, and nihilistic item and seeks to destroy all life across the multiverse. Oh, and it lies unabashedly too. It will pledge you its loyalty and make promises it has no intention of fulfilling, such as vowing to help its user overthrow Orcus. - Ugh
Random Properties. The wand has two minor beneficial properties, one major beneficial property, two minor detrimental properties, and one major detrimental property. If you’re Orcus, the detrimental properties are suppressed. Again, we’re going to assume you’re not playing a Prince of Hell. - Meh
Weapon Properties. It’s a powerful weapon, granting a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. On top of its normal weapon damage, the wand deals an extra 2d12 necrotic damage on a hit. - Good
Protection. A weapon that grants you a bonus to AC is a special kind of weapon. You gain a +3 bonus to Armor Class while holding the wand. - Good
Spells. If you like necrotic spells, you’ll love the spells available to you through the Wand of Orcus. You have 7 charges with which you can cast the following spells (save DC 18): animate dead (1 charge), blight (2 charges), circle of death (3 charges), finger of death (3 charges), power word kill (4 charges), or speak with dead (1 charge). The wand regains 1d4 + 3 expended charges daily at dawn. If you are lucky, or unlucky depending on your viewpoint, enough to be blessed by Orcus, the wand’s spells use 2 fewer charges. - Good (Excellent if blessed by Orcus)
Call Undead. Have you ever dreamed of summoning your own army of the undead? With the Wand of Orcus, you can! With just a single action, you can conjure up as many zombies and skeletons as you can divide 500 hit points among, each undead having average hit points. Your undead army rises up in unoccupied spaces within 300 feet of you. It does your bidding until they perish in battle, you kill them because you can, or until the dawn of the next day when they collapse into inanimate piles of bones and rotting corpses. You can do this once per day, giving you a never-ending horde of low-level undead creatures at your disposal. - Excellent
Destroying the Artifact. Remember the human skull on top of the wand? To destroy it, all you have to do is find that hero and have them bring it to the Positive Energy Plane, where they need to submerge it in positive energy. The only problem is most people whose skulls are mounted to an evil mace are dead. You must bring the hero back to life, which means you must find his imprisoned soul. Guess who imprisoned the soul and kept it under heavily guarded lock and key? Orcus.
Overall Grade: C+ It’s a ridiculously overpowered item that anyone would like to possess. The positive effects outweigh the negative, but that’s not the issue. The Wand of Orcus would be graded higher if having it didn’t mean that the Prince of Hell would hunt you down and take it back after killing you.
Wyrmskull Throne
Wondrous item, artifact (requires attunement)
Built by dwarven gods and entrusted to the rulers of Shanatar, an ancient dwarven empire, the Wyrmskull Throne was a symbol of dwarven power and pride for ages untold. The throne hovers a foot off the ground. It is a massive thing made of polished obsidian with oversized feet — the impaled skulls of four ancient blue dragons. Runes glisten in the carved obsidian, winking to life with blue energy when the throne’s powers are activated.
After the fall of Shanatar, the Wyrmskull Throne fell into the clutches of less honorable creatures. A band of adventurers wrested the throne from the aquatic elf tyrant Gantar Kraok and sold it to the storm giant Neri for a considerable fortune. Neri had the throne magically enlarged and gave it to her husband, King Hekaton, as a gift, along with one of the Ruling Scepters of Shanatar, which she had found in a wreck at the bottom of the Trackless Sea. Only a creature attuned to a Ruling Scepter and in possession of it can harness the powers of the Wyrmskull Throne, which has become the centerpiece of King Hekaton’s throne room in the undersea citadel of Maelstrom. Fear of the throne’s power has helped prevent evil giants from challenging or threatening Hekaton’s leadership.
I feel better knowing we are ending this series with an item with a good description and exciting lore. There may be hope left in this world.
Attunement. You need to know that the artifact requires you to be attuned to a Ruling Scepter, and those items can only be found in the adventure Storm King’s Thunder. It’s a bummer you’ll need to buy the book to find out about them.
Ok, you won’t since I’m here to tell you about them. There are ten Ruling Scepters of Shanatar. The first nine are the Alatorin Scepter (location unknown), the Barakuir Scepter (held by the duergar king Olorn Ridaugaur of Underspires), the Drakkalor Scepter (lying in the hoard of an ancient red dragon, Charvekannathor), the High Shanatar Scepter (last seen in the Nelanther Isles), the Iltkazar Scepter (hidden in the Sea of Fallen Stars), the Sondarr Scepter (location unknown), the Torglor Scepter (held by the Ryscelsar noble family of Halruaa), the Ultoksamrin Scepter (lost in the ruins of Myth Ondath near the Great Glacier), and the Xothaerin Scepter (location unknown).
The tenth scepter is itself a magical item named the Korolnor Scepter. It was forged by the dwarven gods and given to the ruling houses of the ancient empire. A storm giant queen named Neri found it in a shipwreck at the bottom of the Trackless Sea. This scepter is a mithral rod as thick and long as a dwarf’s forearm, with a small platinum knob at the bottom and a rounded disk adorned with a ring of seven tiny blue gems at the top. Basically, it’s a jeweled beating stick that functions as a +3 magic club.
Isn’t lore fun?
Suppose you’re not attuned to one of the rods. In that case, you are immediately paralyzed and encased in a magical force field upon sitting on the throne. You cannot be moved when paralyzed, but if someone touched the throne with a ruling rod, you are set free. If you are attuned to a rod and sit on the throne, you first hear faint whispers in Draconic. These are the voices of the four blue dragons whose skulls adorn the throne. There’s nothing spelled out in the artifact’s description, but I assume nothing good can come from that.
Properties of the Throne. The throne is badass and has five primary powers. Some require you to use one of its 9 charges (all regained daily at dawn), while others come free.
It’s a flying throne! The throne has a flying speed of 30 feet and can hover and flies where the creature wills. This property doesn’t expend any charges.
It’s a burrowing throne! You and the throne can move through earth and stone without disturbing the material they move through. I assume you move at your normal movement speed since it’s not defined. This property doesn’t expend any charges.
When sitting on the throne, you can expend 1 charge to have a bolt of electrical energy shoot from a blue dragon’s skull. You cast a 9th-level lightning bolt (spell save DC 19) from the throne. The spell deals 49 (14d6) lightning damage.
Use 2 charges, and you can cast the globe of invulnerability encompassing you and the throne. You must be sitting on the throne.
Spending 3 charges creates a spectral image of an ancient blue dragon surrounding it and the throne for 1 minute. At the end of your turn, the spectral dragon makes one bite attack and two claw attacks against anyone you choose. What puts this over the top is all of the attacks have the same attack bonus, reach, and damage as an ancient blue dragon’s bite and claw attacks.
So you can burst forth from the ground, hover 20 ft above your enemy, and have a ghostly blue dragon make two claw attacks for 16 slashing damage and one bite attack for 20 damage plus 11 (2d10) lightning damage. - Excellent
Destroying the Artifact. The Wyrmskull Throne can be destroyed by simultaneously breaking at least five Ruling Scepters of Shanatar on it. The problem is no one knows about this requiring you to go on a quest to learn the method for doing so. Destroying the throne results in a massive explosion. If you are within 30 ft and fail a DC 21 Dexterity saving throw, you’re subjected to 70 (20d6) slashing damage. I vote to forgo the quest and enjoy flying on your new throne.
Overall Grade: A-. Make sure you attune to a rod, and the artifact has no downside.
The core Artifacts are complete. I hoped you enjoyed these articles and that they help you decide with the Sword of Kas is worth wielding or if you should read the Book of Darkness.
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