Firmament Shield (3.5e Equipment)

Forged by the high mystics of Selûne, goddess of moon, stars and navigation, Firmament Shields are the greatest artifacts of the clergy, granted to the most prodigious of the Faithful to aid them in their divine given duty.

Being an effective +5 protective heavy kite shield, a firmament shield offers its wearer a +10 shield bonus to AC, at a maximum Dexterity bonus of +3, an armor check penalty of -4 and an arcane spell failure chance of 50%. The wearer of the shield gains spell resistance equal to 10 + either his base attack bonus or divine caster level, whichever is higher. Furthermore, the shield bestows the wearer with damage reduction 5/- and resistance 10 to all five types of energy.

A firmament shield is a hand-held map of the celestial sphere with the local sun as the center, conferring to its wearer an innate understanding of astronomy and stellar positions. The stellar indicators on the shield subtly shift along with the heavenly motions of the stars, and if laid down on a flat, horizontal surface and turned in alignment with the real stars overhead, the shield's long 'kite point' will indicate true north. As such, by consulting the shield for 1 minute, the wearer can divine his precise location and bearings, as well as the exact astronomical time, provided he is on the material plane. When on a different plane, the star symbols on the firmament shield revert to their default positions and cannot be read.

When used by a cleric, the firmament shield grants access to the Travel domain, including its domain power. This is in addition to the cleric's usual domains, but he still receives only a single domain spell slot per level. If the cleric already possesses the Travel domain, he may use its domain power for up to twice the normal amount of rounds per day, and casts any of its spells at +4 caster level.

Non-cleric wielders do not get the domain power, but may use each of the domain spells once per day at a caster level equal to their character level, up to the highest level spell said caster level allows.

In Faerûn, the more influential conclaves of Selûne established a network of teleportation circles to help their faithful traverse the world. As such, the firmament shield is able to attune to up to 20 permanent teleportation circles that exist on the material plane. While any of those circles are active, the shield can be used to instantly transport its user and up to 8 people making physical contact to an attuned circle. This recall ability may be used at will but requires 1 minute of preparation.

The shield's recall ability and any abilities associated with the Travel domain only function when on the material plane.

Prerequisites: CL 19th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor; All the spells in the Travel domain plus freedom of movement and teleportation circle. Market price 197,250 gp; 98,675 gp + 7,890 XP.