Stake of the Tree
A mystical stake capable of delivering devastating blows to vampires, the Stake of the Tree is carved of wood taken from the Tree of Life itself. Even though this stake has been cut and fashioned into a deadly weapon, it still sprouts with living flowers and can even grow additional stakes ready to use at a moment’s notice. As the stake was taken from the Tree of Life itself, this weapon actively avoids harming living creatures, but holds no such compunctions about undead and makes exceptions for fiends.
Base Stats
STR, DEX, or AWR Weapon, One-Handed, Light
Range: Thrown 40 ft
APC: 6-STR, DEX, or AWR, min 2
Damage: 1d8 sharp
The Stake of the Tree is considered a silvered weapon. You have +1 to attack and damage rolls with the Stake of the Tree.
You may spend 2 AP on your turn to recall your Stake to you if you are not holding it and it is within its thrown distance.
This Stake has a +2 crit range against vampires. When you crit with the Stake, if the target creature has the fiend or undead tag, it takes +1d10 radiant damage. If you attack a creature that does not have the undead or fiend tag using the Stake, you are Sickened until the end of your current turn.
The Stake also has the Stabilize ability.
- Stabilize (1/Recoup). Touch a willing Bloodied creature with the Stake. They regain +1 HP.
Enhancements
Each time you gain an enhancement for this artifact, choose from the following list of enhancements. Note that some have prerequisites, such as being a certain character level or having another enhancement feature already.
Branches of Life
Enhancements from this grouping enable the Stake’s budding flowers to produce magical food and herbs with healing properties.
| Enhancement | PreReq | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bounty of the Tree | Your Stake gains 4 charges. You may spend these charges to cast the following magic, or other magic that you learn from this track. You regain Xd4 charges at dawn each day, where X equals the number of enhancements you have taken from this track. Use AWR if you have no magic attribute.
| |
| Copious Abundance | Bounty of the Tree | Gain +8 charges. |
| Forest Growth | Bounty of the Tree | Your Stake gains +2 charges. You gain access to the following magical abilities to spend charges on.
|
| Joy | Bounty of the Tree | Your Stake gains +2 charges. You gain access to the following magical abilities to spend charges on.
|
| Protective Bough | Bounty of the Tree | Your Stake gains +4 charges. You gain access to the following magical abilities to spend charges on.
|
Roots Run Deep
Enhancements from this grouping allow you to plant your Stake in the ground, temporarily growing a replica of the Tree of Life.
| Enhancement | PreReq | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Holy Ground | When you Take a Rest, you may plant your Stake in the ground. It grows into a facsimile of the Tree of Life over the course of 10 minutes. Its flowering branches glow faintly with soft, radiant light, shedding dim light in a 30 ft radius. Creatures that Take a Rest in this light are considered to be in a Haven, gaining no Fear and not needing to resolve Fear in excess of their Fear Threshold. (1/Week) | |
| Shrine to the Tree of Life | When you Take a Rest, you may plant your Stake in the ground. It grows into a facsimile of the Tree of Life over the course of 10 minutes. Its flowering branches glow faintly with soft, radiant light, shedding dim light in a 30 ft radius. By expending 1 vial of holy water to water the tree, a hero may remove 3 Fear. A hero may only benefit from this once per Taking a Rest, but any number of heroes may expend holy water to gain this benefit. | |
| Everblossom | Holy Ground, Character Level 13 | Holy Ground becomes 1/Rest.
Creatures that Take a Rest within the dim light radius of Holy Ground remove 1 Fear upon completing their Rest. |
| Flowering Protection | Holy Ground or Shrine to the Tree of Life | While the facsimile of the Tree of Life is active, creatures with the undead or fiend tag take 1 radiant damage upon entering the dim light or starting their turn within it. Creatures that take this damage also gain Burning 1d10, taking radiant damage instead of fire damage.
When you use this ability, you may designate any number of creatures by name to be Immune to this effect for the duration. |
| Tovare's Embrace | Shrine to the Tree of Life | A hero that benefits from Shrine to the Tree of Life may choose to remove one Psyche talent without the soul scar tag rather than removing 3 Fear. When you use the Shrine to the Tree of Life, create 1 vial of holy water immediately. |
Sapling Growth
Enhancements from this grouping enable your Stake to rapidly grow ready-made stakes that you can break off and allow your allies to wield.
| Enhancement | PreReq | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bloom | When you Take a Rest, you may cause the flowering sprigs on the Stake to produce garlic cloves. You produce 3d4 doses worth of garlic that can be applied to a creature’s food or drink. | |
| Dew | When you Recoup, you may cause the leaves on the Stake to produce dew that you can collect into 3 vials of holy water. (2/Rest) | |
| Splinter | You may cause the living sprigs on the Stake to rapidly grow into additional stakes that shoot out to impale your foes. Make an attack roll against the REF of each creature with the fiend or undead tag in a 30 ft cone. On a hit, deal 2d8 sharp damage. On a miss, deal 1⁄2 damage. (2/Recoup) | |
| Vine and Branches | Each time you Take a Rest, you may produce a number of stakes (using the stats of oak or pine stakes) equal to double your AWR. These stakes have a +3 crit range against creatures with the fiends or undead tag instead of a +2 crit range, but otherwise are completely mundane stakes. |
Tree’s Unerring Memory
Enhancements from this grouping enable your Stake to deal additional damage against specific targets and improves your ability to track them.
| Enhancement | PreReq | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Hunter's Blessing | If you damaged a creature that survived combat against you, you may mark it. Your crit range against marked creatures increases by +1 with any weapon.
You may have a number of marked creatures equal to your AWR; if you would mark a creature in excess of this number, choose a previously marked creature to no longer be marked. | |
| Kindling | When you crit against a creature with the fiend or undead tag, it gains Burning 1d4, taking radiant damage instead of fire damage. | |
| Piercing Stake | Character Level 9 | The Stake becomes +2 to attack and damage rolls. Your crit range with the Stake against creatures with the undead or fiend tag increases by +1. |
| Piercing Stake II | Piercing Stake, Character Level 17 | The Stake becomes +3 to attack and damage rolls. |
| Stakeout | Hunter's Blessing | When making any DEX, AWR, or INT checks to recall information about a marked creature, track it, spot it, or stealthily approach it, you may add a bonus to your d20 rolls equal to double the number of enhancements that the Stake has. This includes Initiative rolls.
When you use the Stake to damage a marked creature that has not yet acted in combat, it is considered a crit. |