Chaos Bow (3.5e Equipment)

Summary::The blue Chaos Weapon, which commands the attributes of water and ice.

Chaos Bow
''The shaft of this amazing longbow appears to be made of a blue crystalline material, yet it is sturdier than any known metal. Its gold-laced bowstring suggests its amazing power. As you pick it up, you notice that your arms feel steady and refined, and your eyesight appears to be guided by the water in the air around you.''

The Chaos Bow is one of the seven legendary Chaos Weapons, made by the Chaos Emeralds to assist heroes. Despite the name, they are usable by characters of any good alignment. (Neutral characters will find the Chaos Weapons slipping out of their hands, and evil characters will just get blasted away.) Each of the Chaos Emeralds controls a pair of attributes, and their corresponding Chaos Weapons share those attributes. The Chaos Bow was borne of the blue Chaos Emerald, and its attributes are water and ice.

The Chaos Bow, like any other longbow, works best in the hands of a character built to use it effectively. The most obvious choice is a ranger, but a fighter, sniper, or arcane archer would also be a good example of a class capable of making optimal use of the weapon.

Abilities of the Chaos Bow
Like all major artifacts, the Chaos Bow is indestructible.

The Chaos Bow's abilities are extremely potent; using it in a low-level campaign is not recommended. Furthermore, the Chaos Weapons only appear to heroes who will need to make use of their power; don't give the PCs any of the Chaos Weapons unless the challenges they're about to face would be way out of their league otherwise!

The following abilities work while the Chaos Bow is wielded:


 * The Chaos Bow has a +10 enhancement bonus.
 * +5 competence bonus to Dexterity
 * +4 insight bonus to Wisdom
 * +3 enhancement bonus to Intelligence
 * +2 insight bonus to attack rolls
 * Adds 2d8 cold damage to all attacks (physical, ranged, spell, spell-like, etc.)
 * Arrows fired from the Chaos Bow are infused with the essence of water. They can bypass 3 points of any damage reduction, unless the creature being struck has a special resistance to water. The Chaos Bow's arrows also do extra damage to creatures with a special vulnerability to water (such as fire elementals and vampires), as noted in the creature's description or dealing an extra 10 damage, whichever is greater. However, they do reduced damage to creatures that resist water-based attacks (such as water elementals and plants), as noted in the creature's description or dealing 10 fewer points of damage, whichever is greater (in terms of absolute value). As previously mentioned, the Chaos Bow's arrows do not benefit from its damage reduction penetration against water-resistant creatures (though, based on the kind of arrow being fired, it might still be able to bypass certain kinds of damage reduction).
 * Cold resistance 60 (increases to cold resistance 80 if you have 30 or more HD)
 * At will, you may summon a primal water elemental, as if casting Primal Calling. The elemental may be summoned or dismissed at will as a standard action, but you may only have the elemental for a total of 30 rounds each day, its hp is not replenished until the next day (unless you heal it manually through cure spells or similar methods), and it may not be summoned at all for the rest of the day (as if its duration had expired) if it is "killed" or dispelled. (As a summoned creature, the primal water elemental can't truly die.) If the 30-round duration is exceeded, 1 charge is expended for every additional round of the elemental's existence.
 * The Chaos Bow has 50 charges, which renew themselves at every new dawn. These charges are used for the Chaos Bow's spell-like abilities. The Chaos Bow's caster level is 40, but you may use your own caster level instead if it is higher. Any spell-like abilities which mimic psionic powers cannot be augmented. Spell-like abilities which mimic maneuvers can be used repeatedly, with no need to refresh, as long as sufficient charges remain; without enough charges, the spell-like ability cannot be used at all. With the Chaos Bow in hand, you can use these abilities:
 * Create Water: 1 charge/use
 * Torpor: 1 charge/use
 * Vengeful Flow: 2 charges/use
 * Chill Metal: 2 charges/use
 * Greater Wave Shot: 3 charges/use (treated as 3rd-level maneuver)
 * Column of Ice : 3 charges/use
 * Secret Silver Arrow: 4 charges/use
 * Fire Shield: 4 charges/use (cold shield only)
 * Rainstorm: 5 charges/use (This is a supernatural ability, not a spell-like ability. When you use this ability, you fire a single arrow high up into the air, and it falls back down as a downpour lasting 3 rounds. This consumes the arrow. In all respects, it functions like the arcane archer's hail of arrows class feature (albeit continuing by itself for 3 rounds), but also puts out nonmagical fires (as well as magical ones on a successful dispel check) and does everything else that a natural or magical rainstorm could do in 3 rounds.)
 * Cone of Cold: 5 charges/use (the Chaos Bow casts cone of cold as a 5th-level spell)
 * Drown : 6 charges/use
 * Ice Flowers : 6 charges/use
 * Extract Water Elemental : 7 charges/use (the Chaos Bow casts extract water elemental as a 7th-level spell)
 * Norton's Bone-Freezing Explosion: 7 charges/use
 * Monsoon: 8 charges/use
 * Blizzard: 8 charges/use
 * Tsunami : 9 charges/use
 * Obedient Avalanche : 9 charges/use
 * Visage of Chaos: 10 charges/use
 * Animus Blizzard: 10 charges/use
 * If you have a heart of water, you may exchange charges between the Chaos Bow and heart of water on a one-to-one basis. Transferring charges requires you to be holding the Chaos Bow (you can hold it one-handed for this purpose), and you must be attuned to the heart of water and have it in your hand or in an easily-accessible spot on your person (such as in a small pouch built into or attached directly to your robes). The act of transferring the charges (regardless of the amount transferred) is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.