Additional Treasures - Fantasy Stones

Fantasy Stones

This month's Blog Carnival prompt from Wobblerocket is Magic Rocks.

I have catalogued stones less commonly known by people of our wondrous city. Some of these are only known to those of us who travel frequently, while others are already well known to us from songs and stories, but with their impacts vastly exaggerated.

Read on and learn.

-E

Large Stonework & Boulders

Oracular Stone

A large,  hollow stone with diagonal lines decorated with a particular type of insect or small animal.

Random decoration type:

Animal: 1. Mouse, 2. Wren, 3. Owl, 4. Ferret, 5. Asp, 6. Spider.

Insect: 1. Bee, 2. Ant, 3. Butterfly, 4. Moth, 5. Grasshopper; 6. Beetle.

Benefit:  An oracle puts their head in the stove, inhaling the smoke, then sharing their oracular statement.  These statements are often cryptic and open to interpretation, and so allow the GM to play both sides of the outcomes with the same message, while providing guidance to the player characters on where the god(s) believe the action should be.

Founding Stone

Founding stones are crystalline boulders in excess of a tonne.  Founding stones have veins of jade, gold, or emerald veins running through them.

Benefit: Founding stones provide the following benefits to an area within three miles of them: 

• Each stone has one to four patron spirits (angels, fiends, powerful ancestral spirits, or nature spirits) or deities. They and their agents are supporters of the settlement around this stone, and are unaffected by the stone abilities below. 

• Dimensional gates do not function, whether as natural phenomena, through spells, or through creature abilities.

• Supernatural creatures from dragons to giants to undead suffer disadvantage on all checks near them, and those saving against their effects gain advantage. 

• Supernatural creatures’ magical abilities such as breath attacks have their range and area of effect halved. 

These stones are so well known by traveled folk that they recognize those without 

Semi-precious 

Sunstone

Sunstone is a clear crystal, with a black dot painted on to it.  

Benefit: Master navigators can use it to locate the exact position of the sun when it is hidden by clouds, or when it has fallen to just below the horizon.

This is particularly useful in areas where magnetic compasses do not work reliably.

Wonderous

None of these gemstones radiate magic, but they have intrinsic effects that are fantastic.

Their value is strongly circumstantial, and dependent on buyers who recognize and value their properties.

Cat’s Eye Moonstone 

An iridescent stone with a narrow gold or bronze oval across most of its length.  These are always buffed but uncut.  

Benefit: If placed in an eye socket, provides lowlight vision to 5 ft, increasing by a foot a day to 30 ft.

A black rounded stone with red highlights.

Provides darkvision 15 ft. if replacing eye. 

Iridescent Calaverite Orb

This stone of grey and white patches with occasional small patches of gold has iridescent highlights.

Benefit: If placed in an eye socket, provides gold-vision 10 ft. Only sees gold in that range, although 1 inch of lead blocks that gold. 

Dull Black Diamond

This clear black diamond of high quality is oddly small for a diamond of 5 carats mass, and has a disappointing lustre. Benefit: It contains a soul, which is drained before the bearer loses their own to a soul drain, magic jar, etc. if it is touching their skin.  Inflicts nightmares that have a 1-in-6 chance per night per stone of insufficient rest if sleeping.  Beyond the other consequences of it, the bearer of this stone gets disadvantage to fear checks if they had a night of nightmares and bad sleep.  Those that know of its nature consider it an item of necromancy. 

Dull White Diamond

This clear diamond of high quality has a surprisingly dull lustre. Benefit: It contains a coldness, which gives the bearer advantage in saves against extreme emotions, including fear, and against scrying but also a -1 on reaction checks, as it makes the bearer emotionally colder.

Warping Cubic Zirconia

It is often mistaken for a diamond by those not using a jeweller's glass. 

Benefit: The first illusion each week the bearer touches with this stone is dispelled.  The bearer and the creator of the illusion each take damage equal to the level of the illusion (spell-like illusions use the level of the nearest equivalent illusion spell).

Elven Prism Crystal

This deep blue slant-ended triangular prism, often called an “elf-stone”, grants the bearer an effective level of magic-user per stone, up to three levels with three stones, if the bearer has elven blood.  

Benefit: The bearer needs a month per stone of in-game practice to always gain the benefit. Otherwise, roll a d8 for each stone: they provide their benefit on a 4+. 

If someone attempts to use more than three elf stones, the excess ones with the highest values do psychic damage to the user.

They may have additional effects in certain elven areas, and are especially coveted by the most powerful of magic-using elves for the additional raw power they bring. 

Destiny Orb

This stone sphere is the physical manifestation of a particular prophecy.  They appear as uniform opaque stone spheres ranging in size from a nectarine to a large apple.  Their color appears white to those who have been working to fulfill them, black to those looking to oppose them, and grey to everyone else.  Then the prophecy they embody is fulfilled, they sublime into mist.

Benefit: It provides advantage to all prophetic actions directly fulfilling a specific part of that prophecy within 30 ft. of the stone, and disadvantage to those within 30 ft. trying to stymy part of the stone's prophecy.  

Fluxenite

This metal looks similar to magnetite, with a black hue. 

Benefit: Unlike magnetite, it does not react to magnetic fields, instead reacting to dimensional fields.  If used to form a compass needle, instead of pointing to magnetic north, it points to the location of the closest warp disturbance, although this may be modified by scale.  If 20 ft. from a 10 ft. wide dimensional portal to the north and 10 ft. from a 1 ft. wide dimensional portal to the east, the needle will point exactly northeast.

Worked Jade

Large chunks of worked jade in contact with skin, at least half a pound, including bracelets, bangles, and large bracelets.

Benefit: The bearer gains advantage on saves against death effects, including death by immediate poisoning.  When the bearer dies after failing such a save, the jade worn becomes dark quartz.

© 2025 by Empedocles the Wizard