Astral Apparatus

Astral apparatuses combine several minor magical items to form a more complex system.

Base items house triggers and sockets connected in circuits with special filament that is capable of transferring magical energy. In order to form a usable astral apparatus the sockets must be populated with runic turbines and power sources.

Schematics, rather than formula, are required to craft any base item or component.

New Magical Items

ARC Cluster

Wondrous item, varies

An ARC (Alchemical Ruby Crystalline lattice) cluster holds altered rubies in an alchemical bath within a glass and metal enclosure. This structure is able to store magical energy for use by astral apparatuses.

ARC clusters are created with no charges and must be charged before they can be used. Each day of downtime spent charging an ARC cluster costs 25gp and restores up to 3 charges. Excess charges beyond the capacity of the cluster are lost. There is no risk of overloading a cluster charged in this manner.

A fully charged ARC cluster glows with silvery light; as the cluster’s energy is depleted the light fades away. Someone familiar with clusters can tell roughly how charged a cluster is at a glance.

While using a portable ARC charger to recharge a cluster it may become overloaded. Damaged or overloaded clusters are destroyed releasing their energy in a violent explosion dealing 1d4 damage of force damage per remaining charge.

ARC Cluster Energy Capacity

Energy Rarity 15 Common 30 Uncommon 60 Rare 120 Very Rare

Astral Apparatus Base Item

Wondrous item, varies

This item contains sockets and triggers connected into one or more circuits. Power source sockets and runic turbine sockets are not interchangeable. An item must have at least one of each type of socket.

Components attached to a base item may be reconfigured during a short or long rest. Reconfiguring the item takes about half an hour of effort.

The number of sockets determines the rarity of the base item: 2 (common), 3 (uncommon), 4 (rare), 5 (very rare), or 6 (legendary).

Portable ARC Charger

Wondrous item, rare

Portable ARC Chargers allow you to rapidly recharge ARC clusters without spending money on materials. Each round a caster may expand a spell slot to recharge an attached ARC cluster at a 3 spell levels per charge ratio.

A DC 15 WIS saving throw is required to stop charging. If the saving throw fails then the portable ARC charger continues to pull energy from the caster starting with the highest available spell slot first.

If the attached ARC cluster is charged enough to exceed its maximum energy capacity then it overloads and explodes.

Runic Turbine

Wondrous item, varies

Runic turbines are tiny (about quarter sized but thicker) turbines with magical runes engraved on their blades. When activated they turn rapidly and emit blue light (visually like Cherenkov radiation) while manifesting the magical effects of the spell they were engraved with. Runic turbines are able to maintain concentration on spells that require it (note: this alters PHB pg.141 rules around magical items that cast a spell & concentration; activating the item still takes an action).

Casting spells from a runic turbine requires a number of charges based on the level of the spell it is engraved with. To determine these costs refer to the “Spell Point Cost” table (DMG Pg. 288) with the following exception: if the spell targets a weapon or armor and has a duration of "up to 1 hour" or longer then fueling the turbine once will keep the spell going for 24 hours.

The rarity of a runic turbine is determined by the spell level per the “Magic Item Power by Rarity” chart (DMG pg. 285). Runic turbines can be fashioned to cast a spell at any level the spell can be cast at although the rarity and energy cost to cast the spell is linked to the spell level chosen during creation.

Schematic

Wondrous item, varies

Schematics are reusable and describe how to fashion a base item or astral apparatus component. The rarity of the schematic is one higher than the rarity of item it produces. You do not require a formula to craft a schematic.

New Spells

Magic Armor

4th-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 bonus action

1 bonus action Range: Touch

Touch Components: V, S

V, S Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

You touch a nonmagical suit of armor (light, medium, or heavy). Until the spell ends, that armor becomes magical armor with a +1 bonus to AC.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, the bonus increases to +2. When you use a spell slot of 8th level, the bonus increases to +3.