abyssalbrews

Gorshun's Gaze

Added 2024-02-22 16:00:08 +0000 UTC

Greetings adventurers!

Well, my latest stock is a bit unorthodox, and I say that as someone that deals in unorthodox on the regular. Now, don’t be too frightened by it. I’ve been assured by the wizards that it’s probably completely safe. Yes, that is the still living eye of some infernal being you’re seeing strapped to an eyepatch. It’s certain to cause a stir in some circles, but for the right individual I’m sure it could be the most fetching accessory. Where did I get it? Uh, well a particularly rambunctious tiefling delivered it. I didn’t catch her, name, but she seemed quite adept at dealing with demons.

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Design notes from Matthew:

I’ve always wanted to explore some more infernal mechanisms in 5E and PF2E, but finding the right avenue can be difficult. I don’t like going the standard routes of tools used for the blood war or something like that as they can feel a bit played out. In this case, I thought something that might be more interesting was playing with vision. What is it that a demon can observe? That’s what got me down the path of eyeballs and well from then on it was just creepy development time!

For 5E, this one has the potential to be a bit nastier. I wanted to give it a bit more power to allow it to fall firmly into its rarity while also making the curse something interesting. Having it potentially summon Gorshun, but then potentially giving you the tools to banish him back to his realm for the time being seemed like an interesting way to play a bit of risk and reward. The exhaustion is sure to be a bit of a problem though if people are having particularly bad rolls. It seems perfect for a campaign plagued by the infernal.

In Pathfinder 2E, something that I have noticed in their general philosophy is that curses should have an effect, but they also shouldn’t take over the game. I toned the curse down quite a bit for this version, but also toned down the use cases for the item itself. This narrower focus allows it to be a bit more direct without having to sacrifice the power. It would be perfect for a campaign that has a lot of demons and devils within it, especially those that are pushing into other worlds for some reason.

I’ve always held that designing for 5E and PF2E should be completely separate writing exercises. While I can carry some of the flavor between them, the actual mechanics should be the best thing they can be for the system. That’s my philosophy anyways and I think it makes for stronger items on the whole. Next week we’ll have our last item of February as well as a new creature for you all!

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