From Warcraft: Magic & Mayhem
(Blizzard Entertainment / Sword & Sorcery, 2004)
ADVENTURING GEAR

Adaptive Shackles

A warden traveling with a master tinker in search of an escaped fugitive invented adaptive shackles during their journey. Once the chainmail sheath of adaptive shackles is placed over a prisoner’s hands and the cuffs around his wrists inflated and tightened, it is unusually difficult to escape. The DC of Escape Artist checks to get free from adaptive shackles begins at 30. Each time an attempt to escape is made and fails, the DC increases by 3 as the phlogiston boiler and machinery cinching the shackles at their center react by inflating the cuffs more tightly and drawing in more of the sheath. When the DC reaches the maximum of 45, the shackles will be tight enough to do 1d6 points of damage each time the prisoner tries to escape. If the prisoner stops trying to escape and remains still, the cuffs will slowly slacken at the rate of –3 to the DC per minute until they have returned to their base level (DC 30). A ring welded to the center of adaptive shackles allows them to be chained to a wall or vehicle.

Operation: Putting adaptive shackles on a prisoner requires a DC 15 Use Technological Device check.
MR: 2 (Malfunctions occur only when the shackles are being placed onto a prisoner, though the malfunction may not be immediately apparent to anyone but the prisoner.)
Startup Time: 2 rounds
AC: 15
Hardness: 5
Hit Points: 25
Size: Small (1.5 ft. long x 1 ft. diameter sheath)

Inflatable Soldier

An enterprising merchant making regular runs along the dangerous trade routes between Nighthaven and Theramore commissioned the creation of the inflatable soldier. Made of sheep’s bladders with an outer covering of mercenary garb, inflatable soldiers make overnight camps appear better guarded than they truly are. As they gain popularity among merchants too poor or too cheap to hire full escorts, inflatable soldiers of increasing realism (with facial features, chain shirts, and tin helms) are becoming available, as are models appearing to be members of varying humanoid races. Unfortunately, due to their more complex stitching, the more realistic models are more likely to spring a leak when being repacked into the small kegs that make up their bases.

A standard inflatable soldier can be recognized as an artificial construct with a DC 15 Spot check (all modifiers due to distance and darkness apply to this check). An improved inflatable soldier requires a DC 18 Spot check, and a superior inflatable soldier requires a DC 21 Spot check.

MR: 1 (standard), 2 (improved), 3 (superior)
Startup Time: 10 minutes
AC: 11 (standard), 12 (improved), 13 (superior)
Hit Points: 5 (standard), 10 (improved), 15 (superior)
Size: Medium (inflated: 7 ft. tall x 3 ft. wide x 2 ft. deep), Small (stored: 2 ft. tall x 1 ft. diameter keg)
Weight: 40 lb.
Market Value: 40 gp (standard), 60 gp (improved), 80 gp (superior)
Item Creation DC: 17


Tracking Boots

Built from old discarded pairs of goblin mine shoes, tracking boots distribute the weight of the wearer so that the carved soles of the boots leave the tracks of various large wild animals. Goblin merchants traveling the Barrens are known to use tracking boots to disguise their tracks as those of dire wolves in order to fool tauren patrols into searching for nonexistent Horde scouts.

Donning tracking boots requires a Use Technological Device check, the result of which becomes the DC for a tracker’s Survival check to realize the false nature of the tracks. Characters wearing tracking boots may not move at any speed faster than a walk.

Operation: Use Technological Device check (special — see above)
MR: 0
Startup Time: 5 minutes
AC: 12
Hit Points: 10
Size: Small (2 ft. x 1 ft. x 6 in.)
Weight: 12 lb.
Market Value: 40 gp (dire bear or dire wolf), 50 gp (quillboar), 60 gp (frost wolf), 75 gp (frostsaber cat), 120 gp (kodo beast)

SPECIAL SUBSTANCES AND ITEMS

Phlogiston Collector

The first samples of phlogiston were collected in the labs of dwarven tinkers in Khaz Modan when a vacuum pump was used to collect the superheated air over a kettle of molten iron. In the years since, the process has been much refined, leading to the development of the phlogiston collector. A wagon-sized piece of machinery, large intake valves pull air into a reserve over a glowing crucible. Once the phlogiston gas has been separated and purified, bubbling it into a mixture of oil and water captures it. The liquid is then siphoned into glass vials and sold as “liquid phlogiston,” the fuel for many devices.

A phlogiston collector running at full speed can collect forty vials of liquid phlogiston per hour, though collectors running atop mountaintops (such as the collectors at the high altitudes of Khaz Modan) collect a bit more and collectors at seaside (such as those at Thermaore) collect a bit less.

Phlogiston collectors are temperamental pieces of machinery and require constant supervision. If they collect too little phlogiston gas, the water content of the liquid phlogiston will be too high and devices won’t operate properly. If too much phlogiston gas is collected, the crucible inside may start reacting with the gas to burn white-hot until the entire collector melts into slag and the collected gas ignites in a titanic explosion.

Operation: Requires a DC 20 Use Technological Device check each hour; failure means that no phlogiston is collected that hour.
MR: 2
Startup Time: 1 day. If the collector has been shut down, a full day is required for it to heat up and collect enough air to begin processing.
AC: 25
Hardness: 10
Hit Points: 75
Size: Huge (18 ft. long x 12 ft. wide x 9 ft. tall)
Weight: 12,000 lb.
Market Value: 37,500 gp
Item Creation DC: 30


Liquid Phlogiston

Produced by phlogiston collectors, vials of liquid phlogiston contain a precise mixture of oil, water and phlogiston gas. It is liquid phlogiston that allows smaller boilers to burn at the tremendous temperatures and pressures that enable portable tinker technology and gigantic vehicles to operate. Unless otherwise specified, most portable phlogiston-powered devices require one vial of liquid phlogiston per week. Vehicles may require anywhere between one and twenty vials per week based on their size and weight.

Market Value: 20 gp

WEAPONS

Demon Dirk

The demon dirk was originally invented by a lazy tinker as a self-oiling dagger that couldn’t rust. Upon carrying it, he quickly discovered that he had invented a weapon with more possibilities than he imagined: not only was the dagger protected from rusting, it could more readily cut through fibers (even those of a giant spider’s web, thus saving the tinker’s life on one important occasion). Most importantly, the tinker discovered when he let dagger and its oily coating stray too close to a campfire that the weapon’s blade would burst into flame. Reminded of weapons he had seen carried by the Burning Legion, the tinker christened the weapon a “demon dirk” and began selling them.

A demon dirk is immune to the rust ability, as well as any spells and abilities that corrode or damage metal. The weapon also grants a +15 bonus to Escape Artist checks when the wielder is entangled by a spell or object. Igniting the dagger’s blade using the sparker built into its hilt is a move action. When the blade is aflame, it can do 1d6 additional points of fire damage per attack for 6 rounds until the oil stored in the hilt is expended and must be replaced.

Type: Light Melee Weapon
Damage: 1d3 (Small), 1d4 (Medium); 19–20/x2
Operation: Loading oil into a demon dirk requires a DC 10 Use Technological Device check and requires a half pint of oil.
MR: 1
Startup Time: Reloading the demon dirk takes 5 minutes.
Hardness: 1
Hit Points: 5
Weight: 2 lb.
Market Value: 17 gp
Item Creation DC: 16

Swordbelt

A swordbelt can appear to be a perfectly normal longsword. However, when the pommel is unscrewed, it releases the tension of a cable running through its core and allows the weapon to collapse into a series of connected segments that can be fastened around the waist. The half-basket hilt of the weapon is even designed to appear like a belt buckle. The clever craftsmanship of the weapon grants the wielder a +15 bonus to Hide checks attempting to conceal the device’s true nature by wearing it like a belt. However, as it lacks the solid construction of a traditional longsword, a swordbelt is an unbalanced weapon that gives the wielder a –2 penalty to all attack rolls.

Type: One-Handed Melee Weapon
Operation: Breaking down the longsword into a belt requires a DC 10 Use Technological Device check, as does reversing the process. Using the swordbelt as a weapon requires the wielder to have weapon proficiency (longsword) and to make appropriate melee attack checks.
MR: 1
Startup Time: Changing the swordbelt from one form to another requires 1 minute.
Hardness: 5
Hit Points: 10
Weight: 5 lb.
Damage: 1d6 (Small), 1d8 (Medium); 19–20/x2
Market Value: 150 gp
Item Creation DC: 18


Tinker’s Tosser

The tinker’s tosser is yet another in a long line of mechanical arms, this one a sizeable model attached to a backpack containing its phlogiston power source. A hand mounted on the end of the arm can hold anything from a rock to a dagger, while crosshairs hanging in front of the wearer’s eye allows him to select a target. Properly loaded and aimed, the tosser throws its payload at the target.

The tinker’s tosser can be used to throw any weapon or object, with its range increment doubled. Due to the tremendous force with which it throws improvised weapons, the normal –4 penalty is halved. When determining damage, the tinker’s tosser has a Strength modifier of +5.

Operation: Use of the tinker’s tosser requires a ranged attack roll.
MR: 2
Startup Time: The tinker’s tosser requires 2 rounds to build up an initial head of steam.
Hit Points: 10
Size: The tinker’s tosser adjusts to fit any creature of Small or Medium size.
Weight: 15 lb.
Market Value: 375 gp
Item Creation DC: 18

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