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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
Chapter 5: Treasure Trove / Relics / Discovering a Relic / Campaign Relics / Relic Aspects

Relic Gifts

Source GM Core pg. 309 2.0
Gifts are divided up into three tiers. Minor gifts grant useful, often scaling abilities and are available early in a character's career. Major gifts define a relic, determining its true purpose and granting powerful abilities. Grand gifts are the pinnacle of power, and most relics never have more than one.

The more gifts there are of one aspect, the more the relic reflects that aspect, and the more influence the aspect has on the character who wields it. An item with multiple shadow gifts might begin to lose its color. With four or five, the character that wields it might take on an ashen tone and the relic might become entirely made of shadow.

Gift Saves and Spell Attack Modifiers

Source GM Core pg. 309 2.0
Many gifts allow for a saving throw or have other abilities that change as the relic goes up in level. The DC for any saving throw called for by a gift is the higher of its owner’s class DC or spell DC. The spell attack modifier of a gift is 10 lower than that DC. A relic’s counteract modifier is equal to its owner’s counteract modifier.

Player-Driven Relics

Though these rules assume you as the GM are providing relic gifts as a form of treasure with input from the players, you can instead have the players make all the decisions for their relics. Encourage the players to choose different styles of items and aspects to match their characters' themes, rather than simply choosing the most powerful combination of options. Have players describe how their relic gets more powerful in the story. What acts from previous sessions lent the relic power? What special meditations or practices did they perform to unlock new gifts? How does it feel to have the relic grow?

As the item and the character level up, the player chooses which gifts the item gets from the list as a part of character advancement. You still adjust treasure as normal for incorporating relics into your game. In fact, if the player tries to optimize the combinations, they will likely be more powerful than under the standard method

Runes as Gifts

You can substitute runes for gifts. If you choose to allow property runes on the relic, you'll want them to take up rune slots. Otherwise, you can give as many or few as you prefer, just like any other gifts. Runes are sorted into minor, major, and grand categories, but you should use their normal level and Price when you adjust treasure, instead of the number and levels on the Relic Gifts table. If you're using the player-driven relics variant, it's recommended you do not include this option.

Air


Armor (Major) energy-resistant or greater energy resistant (cold or electricity), invisibility; Armor (Grand) winged
Weapon (Minor) returning; Weapon (Major) animated, shock, thundering; Weapon (Grand) greater shock, greater thundering

Celestial


Weapon (Major) holy

Death


Weapon (Minor) ghost touch, wounding

Earth


Armor (Minor) energy-resistant or greater energy resistant (acid); Armor (Major) fortification; Armor (Grand) greater fortification
Weapon (Minor) shifting

Fiend


Armor (Minor) energy-resistant or greater energy resistant (acid, cold, or fire)
Weapon (Major) unholy

Fire


Armor (Minor) energy-resistant or greater energy resistant (fire)
Weapon (Minor) flaming; Weapon (Major) greater flaming

Life


Weapon (Minor) vitalizing; Weapon (Major) greater vitalizing

Mind


Armor (Minor) raiment; Armor (Major) invisibility

Plant


Weapon (Minor) shifting

Shadow


Armor (Minor) shadow; Armor (Major) greater shadow;
Armor (Grand) major shadow

Water


Armor (Minor) energy-resistant or greater energy resistant (cold or fire), slick; Armor (Major) greater or major slick
Weapon (Minor) shifting