More Tools for 5e: Gemologist's Supplies
Gems have a huge variety of properties, like looking pretty or even some supernatural effects. For thousands of years, we have dug these gems out of the earth and ascribed special properties to each gem. Some may act as protection against physical threats, while others purely operate to help align our thoughts and keep us focused. For some, they may just look at a gem and think it’s a rock. For others, they see something magical that can help protect their allies from afflictions, pain, and more.
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Gemologist’s Supplies
If you’ve ever gone into a treasure hoard and received ten 25 gp gems and thought… huh, that’s a weird way of saying you found 250 gp, well it’s time to turn those useless gems into something useful! Each gem has a power and an influence on the world and on your body - for some, they may feel nothing from a rock, while others can sense the primal potential of each gem and how to turn that potential into magical effects.
Of course, not everyone values a gem for its innate connection to the world. Some just enjoy the shiny rocks, while others are more interested in buying and selling gems.
Polishing
The basics of this tool are to simply allow someone proficient in this tool to polish uncut gems, shaping them into specific shapes that are pleasing to the eye or can be used in all types of jewelry, perfect if you, or someone in your group, is proficient in Jeweler’s Tools. This type of activity requires no check and allows you to work on unrefined gems for 8 hours and increase its value by an amount equal to 5% times your proficiency bonus. For those just starting their adventuring career, that’s only 10% but for seasoned adventurers, you could be looking up to a 30% increase.
Enchanting
Of course, not everyone is interested in the mundane uses of gems when there are hidden powers that you can unlock within them. This is a magical property of the stone and is locked away until someone can come along, recharge the gem, activate the power within the gem, and cause its power to manifest. Once a gem has been activated, it provides its power for only a few hours before the gem must be recharged, requiring the gemologist to keep up maintenance on their shiny rocks.
There are three main elements for using a gem. First, they must be recharged; this type of activity takes 8 hours, and the gem must be near a power source. This could be a crackling fire, on top of a sleeping cat, near a waterfall, inside a music hall, or anything else that speaks to the gemologist and the gem. The gem then slowly recharges itself from the source of power, turning energy into magic within its facets. Once it is done recharging, the gem is ready to be activated.
Once a gemologist is ready, they can spend their action and activate a gem. However, they are limited to the number of gems they can activate equal to their Wisdom modifier, meaning they can’t have 30 gems on them and activate all of them to stack lots of effects, wards, and magical properties. Instead, they must be thoughtful about what they are willing to activate and who can benefit from the gem.
Once a gem is activated, it begins fueling its magical energy and stays active for a number of hours equal to the gemologist’s proficiency bonus. The more powerful a gemologist is, the greater their knowledge of gems and how to prolong their effects. Once the gem is activated, it continues to unleash its power, and this power can not be stopped until the gem runs out of its reservoir of magic.
So a gemologist must recharge and activate a gem, and then its power only lasts for a few hours—requiring the gemologist to repeat the steps and take good care of their gems.
The size of a gem also has an impact on the power of its magical ability. The larger a gem, the more magic that can be funneled out of it. Luckily, larger gems typically cost more. Thus, a 250 gp gem is going to be a bit larger than one that is only 100 gp. This is just an easy road map to hook up to power levels, making more expensive gems offer better protection or different interactions with their wielder. There are more powerful gems that are worth 1,000 gp and 5,000 gp, though they are quite rare, and little is known about their power. Just as there are more powerful gems, there are also smaller gems that are only worth 10 gp and 50 gp, and while they still hold power in them, they aren’t large enough for their power to adequately provide noticeable benefits to their wielder.
Gemstones
Whether you fancy yourself a gem hoarder, a gemologist, a lapidary, or someone who just likes shiny rocks; each gem holds a special property. For some, it could just be the coloring and luster that hold power over them, while for others, it is the magical properties hidden within the gem.
Each gemstone exists within a family of gems that simply provide some insights into their focus. This has no real mechanical effect, but some people like collecting and using only a specific family of gemstones, just as some wizards prefer collecting and using only a specific school of spells. Some of the families are Dreams, Thoughts, Protect, Physical, and Transformation, but there are far more out there, depending on what gem you are looking at. You might include, in your games, gemologist NPCs who have studied only a specific family of gems so thoroughly, that they can unlock even greater depths and powers within a family of stones.
Once a gemstone is found, a gemologist can determine the effects of a gem and its connection to the world. For example, we will go over Citrine.
Citrine is a type of quartz with a smoky color of pale yellow to brown within it - it is quite a rare stone to find in our world, and plenty of lab fabrications of it exist in the marketplace. This has an influence on its rarity, even if its power isn’t wholly powerful compared to other gems of similar rarity.
Citrine belongs to the family of Thoughts. Thoughts are all about the mental space, helping to clear your mind and focus your emotions. Gems within this family might be able to keep you calm under pressure, protect your mind from psychic energies, or provide bonuses to your mental abilities. This gem is valued by merchants as it is thought to be a ‘money stone’ and brings with it prosperity.
For those who recharge and activate the power of Citrine, the wielder gains a bonus to their Charisma checks to buy or sell goods. This lasts for the length of the gem’s activation, and how potent the bonus the gem provides is based on the size of the gem.
Power of Gems
There are loads of other gems out there, though this tool only provides five examples. Each gem is going to have different powers that they can offer to a wielder, though they aren’t typically going to be incredibly powerful effects. Instead, they offer small boons to the wielder of an activated gem, providing just enough energy to the wielder to help them overcome challenges that they come across.
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