Gems


Dragon's Eye

A dragon's eye appears to be a small multicolored gemstone, perfectly spherical in shape and about a half-inch in diameter. A jeweler will not be able to estimate its worth, and it seems to be made of no known mineral or substance. When held up to the light and closely examined, some specimens of a dragon's eye may be seen to have a design within the stone that resembles the silhouette of a dragon in flight (which may be given as a clue to how the item functions).

When cast into the air at the same time a command word is spoken, a dragon's eye will vanish in a puff of smoke. In 1-3 rounds, a young adult dragon of random color (without spellcasting abilities) will be summoned, appearing 10 feet away from where the character who cast the dragon's eye is standing. The dragon will initially be well predisposed to the summoner, and will obey any reasonable commands of the summoner that are spoken in the common tongue. However, the dragon will only remain for a certain period of time before it vanishes forever. The greater the difference between the summoner's alignment and the alignment of the dragon summoned, the less time the dragon will remain. The following table gives the different types of dragons that be randomly summoned by this device:

D20 Roll Dragon color Alignment
1-2 gold lawful good
3-4 silver neutral good
5-6 copper chaotic good
7-8 brass chaotic neutral
9-10 red chaotic evil
11-12 black neutral evil
13-14 blue lawful evil
15-16 bronze lawful neutral
17-20 green true neutral

Any dragon summoned by a dragon's eye will remain with the summoner for 6 turns if the alignment of the summoner and the dragon are identical. For every step between the summoner's alignment and that of the dragon, counting the latter but not the former, the duration of the eye's effect is reduced by 1 turn. For example, lawful good is four steps away from chaotic evil: from LG to LN or NG = 1 step; LN or NG to N = 2; N to NE or CN = 3; NE or CN to CE = 4. Thus, a lawful good summoner who received a red dragon after casting the eye would have its services for only 2 turns.

The summoned dragon will generally behave in a manner consistent with its alignment, unless commanded to do otherwise by the character controlling it. All of these dragons are of average size and have 4 hit points per hit die. They can use their breath weapon, claw, and bite attacks in combat. None of them will have the fear aura that dragons gain upon reaching adulthood. Each can detect hidden or invisible creatures within a 40-yard radius. None of these dragons, because of the special nature of their summoning, can be subdued in battle; if commanded to do so, a dragon will fight to the death on behalf of the summoner.

A dragon's eye can only be used once. It is 90% likely that only one will be found in a treasure hoard; otherwise, two will be discovered.


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