An unusual artifact from a bygone age.
History: The Rod of Oration is part of a two piece set. (See Crook of Ruling). In ancient times, the Rod belonged to a king from a long since disappeared kingdom. The king was a military genius who conquered all his kingdom’s neighbours and launched successful campaigns against powerful nations from across the sea. His armies became so vast that he was unable to address them all at one time. In exasperation, he turned to his court wizards to create something to help him address his people. Their reply was the Rod or Oration.
Description: The Rod is made of bronze and is 50 centimetres long, with a diameter of 5 centimetres. It has raised hieroglyphs all over its surface. These hieroglyphs spell out command words in a lost language. For its size, it is surprisingly light. One end is hollow, as if something was meant to fit into it. The Rod has two charges, which are replenished daily, but do not accumulate – thus it can be used up to 2 times a day.
Should someone hold the rod when making an orate roll, their base chance of success will increase by 15%. Thus if a character with an Orate of 10% holds the rod when making an orate roll, he will have to roll less than or equal to 25 (10 +15) on D100 to succeed. Orate rolls made with the assistance of the Rod do not allow the character to make a mark in their Orate check box.
The Rod has other drawbacks. Characters who use it regularly (more than once a week) will become addicted to it over time. They will try to orate (with the Rods help) whenever there is an opportunity. Glib loudmouths are not always welcome everywhere and interesting events could result. Its second major drawback is that as much as it helps a character orate, it will also make their fumble so much worse if they fumble. Fumbles are on the characters normal Orate %, not on the rod-adjusted %. EG: A character who fumbles a normal Orate may get booed, but a character who fumbles while using the Rod may get stoned.
Secret: The real secret of the Rod is in the hieroglyphs. If the activation word can ever be deciphered and spoken, it will immediately boost the speakers Orate by 70% and will allow the speakers words to be heard for a radius of 2.215 kilometres (1 Roman League). The speakers words will be heard as they are spoken – a whisper will be a whisper and a shout a shout.
This article was last updated XIII August MMII