Polarity Shard (3.5e Equipment)

Polarity Shard
Tales tell that the original creator decided that personally creating the gods was just "too much work". Thus, it decided to create a Polarity Crystal, letting anyone with enough enthusiasm, skill, and luck become a god. In order to prevent an overflow of deities, the Polarity Crystal explodes every time it is used. Of course, this explanation is probably hogwash.

Glowing with power, Polarity Shards are powerful items that grant useful bonuses when embedded in a subject's flesh or weapon. Their very existence wreaks havoc across the world, as characters claim them and do major acts of heroism or depravity to realign the Shard's alignment with their own.

The alignment of a Polarity Shard is measured as a pair of numerical values: an ethical value with good being positive and evil being negative, and a moral value with lawful being positive and chaotic being negative. The alignments of all Polarity Shards any individual character uses are identical; When a character equips a Polarity Shard, the alignments among the different shards are averaged together.

A character cannot shift a Polarity Shard's alignment beyond 10 points per level away from Neutral (Thus, a level 4 character with -40/27 Shards who slaughtered a village because he was told to do so would end up with his Shards having an alignment like -40/30, not -50/30). When a character does an action that shifts the alignment of his Polarity Shards, the alignment shift is the same value independent of the number of Shards (A character who slaughters a village shifts all of his Shards 10 points towards evil, whether he possesses 1 or 27).

In general, any action which makes people angry or sad shifts the Polarity Shard towards evil. Minor evil actions, like stealing or lying for personal gain shift the Shard about 1 point towards evil. Major evil actions, like murdering an important character or annihilating a village, shift the Shard about 10 points towards evil. Incredibly evil actions, like destroying a planet, shift the Shard about 50 points towards evil.

In general, any action which makes people happy or healthy shifts the Polarity Shard towards good, as does any action which requires personal sacrifice without care for reward. Minor good actions, like feeding the poor or rescuing people when it's convenient shift the Shard about 1 point towards good. Major good actions, like going into a burning building or dragon's lair (assuming that such things pose a risk of death to you) in order to rescue someone, shift the Shard about 10 points towards good. Incredibly good actions like martyring yourself in an irredeemable fashion shift the Shard about 50 points towards good.

In general, any action which gives people more freedoms and fewer duties shifts the Polarity Shard towards chaotic. Minor chaotic actions, like forgetting to pay for something, giving someone stolen goods, or driving someone insane shift the Shard about 1 point towards chaotic. Major chaotic actions, like overthrowing a government or convincing an important character to give up on their ideals, shift the Shard about 10 points towards chaotic. Incredibly chaotic actions like destroying a law of physics or annihilating an important god shift the Shard about 50 points towards chaotic.

In general, any action which gives people a sense of security or purpose shifts the Polarity Shard towards lawful. Minor lawful actions, like arresting someone or obeying an order despite one's own best judgment shift the Shard about 1 point towards lawful. Major lawful actions, like establishing a government or risking your life or freedom for the benefit of your own group or nation, shift the Shard about 10 points towards lawful. Incredibly lawful actions like creating a law of physics or sealing an important god into a chamber that can't be opened for a hundred years shift the Shard about 50 points towards lawful.

Now for the benefits: Shards can be stuck into all sorts of places, granting bonuses depending on the alignment of the Shard.

Equipping and Unequipping Shards: Applying or removing a Shard is a standard action. Removing a Shard from someone else can be done during a grapple with a standard action and a successful Strength or Dexterity check (each character chooses Strength or Dexterity separately).

Recreate the Polarity Crystal!: If a character possesses all 50 of the Polarity Shards, and the Shards have the same alignment as they do, that character can become a Lesser Deity. Doing so shatters the Polarity Crystal, scattering the Polarity Shards across the world.

Anti-Deific Field: In order to prevent the gods from simply making Polarity Crystal-recreation impossible, all of the Polarity Shards are protected from direct interference. Deities cannot observe or interact with anything within 1 mile of any Polarity Shards. As a side effect of this, all characters with a Wisdom of 3 or greater can identify whether or not there are any Polarity Shards within 1 mile.