Alluvial Shroud of the Unterwelt

Alluvial Shroud of the Unterwelt

CL 13 Body Slot Item • Moderate Abjuration

Cost: 22,750 gp

Weight: 10 lbs.

Family: Shroud of the Unterwelt

A Shroud of the Unterwelt is a voluminous garment, loosely cut, generally shapeless, and generously sized. They can be made of a myriad of materials, ranging from massive iron-bossed leather to heavy canvas to sailcloth to light denim all the way to thin silk. It is rare for a Shroud to be exactly diaphanous, but it could be.

They can be decorated, although this is a fairly rare happenstance, and the more heavily made leather or canvas styles seem to have more etchings or embroidery to them. The reason is that these items nearly always appear to be heavily worn and invariably soiled. Thick grime is embedded in their very makeup, muddy stains, ground-in-dirt and even caked muck are always present. Attempting to clean a Cloak of the Unterwelt is futile, the grit and dirt is as much a part of it as the fabric or other material it is made of.

These items have the ability to transform into stone around the wearer. This has several effects, the most unpleasant being that while a Cloak is frozen this way, the wearer cannot move. They cannot make attacks, use items, or use most class features (such as using skills or casting spells) that require movement. They cannot move from their space voluntarily, although they are still subject to forced movement.

While the Shroud is transformed to stone, it lends the wearer resistance to all attacks, and powerful Shrouds can be quite powerfully protective. Even better, depending upon the surroundings, the wearer can use the Shroud to gain a circumstance bonus to Stealth rolls (this is an exception to the inability to use skills noted above). The GM adjudicates all such things, but in general, the more powerful Shrouds grant a larger base bonus.

Lastly, even while the wearer is not frozen, the more powerful examples of these Shrouds allow the wearer to burrow through the earth like some gigantic mole, which can be an extremely useful function indeed.

An Alluvial Shroud of the Unterwelt can freeze into stone as a move action, and unfreeze again as a swift action. There is no limit to how many times this power may be used. Out of combat, the time taken is inconveniently long, and can only be used perhaps twice in a standard skill challenge, such as while sneaking into a castle.

Once fully frozen, the wearer cannot move voluntarily or take actions requiring motion, but the Shroud grants the wearer DR/- and ER/- of 13 points each. This protection will stack with other sources of DR/- and ER/-.

Once fully frozen, the Shroud grants a +1 Circumstance bonus to Stealth rolls. It does not usually grant any concealment, although the GM may rule it does in certain rough or natural environments, and may increase or decrease the circumstance bonus by plus or minus one, depending upon terrain. Using a Shroud in the middle of a ballroom floor might gain a smaller bonus, but using it in a craggy stone cave might gain a larger bonus, for example.

Lastly, while NOT frozen into stone, the Shroud grants the wearer a Burrow speed of twenty feet.

The owner of this magic item must wear it continuously for 24 hours to attune it to their aura, and until that time has passed, it provides no benefits to the wearer.

Creation: Creator (Feat), Bailiwick Check (DC 36 (10 + double CL)), Pale (tier 2) remnant, An item symbolic of the enchantment, 11,375 gp (minus cost of symbolic item).