Wondrous Item Histories and Variants: Gem of Seeing

Background

The first gem of seeing was created several hundred years ago by Vizier Montlebahn of Barvonia when Barvonia’s nobility was infiltrated by a group of Rakshasas.  The gem of seeing allowed the king of Barvonia to sort out the Rakshasas and restore order to his court.

Variants

The Mad Diviner’s Gem of Seeing

More recently (going back only about 100 years) Igorka the Mad Diviner added several other Divination spells to the Gem of Seeing.  He was widely considered to be paranoid, and the additional spells are more evidence of that:

  • Detect Poison
  • Detect Secret Doors (a normal gem of seeing only detects magical secret doors.)
  • Detect Undead
  • Arcane Sight

While someone gazes through the Mad Diviner’s gem of seeing any or all of these other abilities may be used, subject to the same restriction as the original gem of seeing (no more than total 30 minutes of use per day.)

Moderate divination; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item, detect poison,  detect secret doors, detect undead, arcane sight, true seeing; Price 83,000 gp.

Other Variants

Other diviners have placed one or two of the additional spells from the Mad Diviner’s version of the gem of seeing on their own gems.  The cost of a variant gem of seeing is adjusted as follows: Detect Poison 1000gp, Detect Secret Doors 1000 gp, Detect Undead 1500gp, Arcane Sight 4500gp.  The spell that matches the desired power is also added to the item creation requirements.

Original Version

This finely cut and polished stone is indistinguishable from an ordinary jewel in appearance. When it is gazed through, a gem of seeing enables the user to see as though she were affected by the true seeing spell. A gem of seeing can be used for as much as 30 minutes a day, divided up into periods of minutes or rounds as the user sees fit.

Moderate divination; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item, true seeing; Price 75,000 gp.

[OGL Licensed. The above text uses OGL content, but only the “Original Version” section is open content.]