Hero's Badge
The Hero’s Badge is a unique item added to the inventory of all guild members. When the guild was still little more than an idea in the minds of the Council of Time, it was agreed that such an organization needed more than a few noble deeds to identify its would-be members to the masses. They needed something immediately visible, something the public could recognize at a glance without needing to know the face behind it. Through Gilliam’s diligent guidance and obsessive need for simplicity, the founders went through dozens of iterations before finally settling on the badge the guild now uses.
The exact techniques used to craft the badge are not known, but the secrets of the fey, celestials, fiends, and all manner of powerful arcane forces have come together to create this curious item. Thus, these traits have caused the badge to manifest the peculiar ability to connect to the wearer’s soul without any need for attunement, read their “spark”, and display a meaningful measure of the hero’s skill and experience. A slew of other abilities have latched on to the badge since its initial creation, and for reasons none can explain – not even Gilliam – new abilities manifest time and time again in the wake of the guild’s actions. The Hero’s Badge has the following known properties:
Amauni Oath. The badge is marked by celestial power, and to accept it is equivalent to establishing an oath with the Hero’s Guild. While the oath itself is not binding, those unaligned with or uninterested in the guild’s greater goals will find no power within the badge. An individual recognized by the badge’s power may use their action to press on it, generating a torch-like aura that produces bright light out to a range of 10 feet, and dim light an additional 10 feet. The light is suppressed in areas of anti-magic and magical darkness, but otherwise lasts until you use your action to end it, you are knocked unconscious, or you are incapacitated.
Astral Link. The badge connects to a unique golem housed in the guild’s main corridor; an altar designed to secure the "15 stars" referenced in the Starstrider's Ballad. When one of these legendary artifacts has been obtained and added to the Astral Link, members of the guild ranked Bronze or higher may channel their influence through the badge as an attuning medium and manifest one of the linked items in their possession. The manifested item is identical to the source material, but lacks the item’s original sentience, if any.
You can change the Star you have attuned to whenever you complete a long rest. An attuned Star’s power is otherwise based on the guild member’s rank: at Bronze, the item is Dormant; Silver, Awakened; and at Gold or Platinum, the item is Exalted.
Echosight. A glimmer of draconic power manifests within the badge, drawing on draconic echoes to empower less experienced members of the guild and prepare them for the battles to come. The badge draws in the experiences of all those who wield it and manifests them as guiding echoes to direct and improve novice member’s understanding of the experiences they encounter. At the discretion of the game masters, guild members may multiply experience earned based on their current rank.
Heartseeker. The badge’s fey influences permit it to know the alignment of those who hold it, and it refuses to be held by individuals deemed truly evil. In such an individual’s hands, the badge becomes impossibly heavy and forces its way out of their possession, falling to the nearest surface or transporting itself instantaneously back to the guild if unable to do so.
Marigold’s Legacy. There was once a girl who left on a journey. In her hurry to depart, her friends knew not where she went … and before she realized it, she was lost with no one to help her. While she was never found, and her bygone spirit laid to rest, her essence latched to her badge and spread throughout the guild, hoping to prevent others from experiencing the same fate. Whenever a guild member is lost, they need only drop their badge. If the badge is separated from an individual for more than a minute, even in death, the badge will transport itself to a surface adjacent to a guild administrator. Provided the badge has been away for no longer than an hour, the administrator knows the original wearer’s approximate location as long as they hold the badge, satisfying the conditions for teleportation and similar effects requiring familiarity with the intended destination.
Ordning Rune. The magic of giants is laced throughout the badge and culminates in an obscure rune set at the badge’s center. The enchantment permits the badge to analyze the approximate strength and experiences of its wearer, then manifest a physical representation of that guild member’s rank within the guild in place of the rune. Curiously, this enchantment seems to restrict some elements of the badge’s power in accordance with the member’s rank. It is believed this is to limit less formidable adventurers to the power of greater magics, but whether this is true or not is anyone’s guess.
Provided you meet the prerequisite rank, you may choose any one of the following items and consider it attuned without taking one of your attunement slots. You may change your decision whenever you complete a long rest within the guild hall. These items are otherwise restricted in Chromatian lore and cannot be obtained by other means; if the item references a specific guild or location elsewhere in D&D literature (such as the guild keyrune), replace the reference with the Hero’s Guild and an applicable substitute (for example, the Dimir Keyrune instead resembles the guild badge, rather than the Dimir Guild Symbol).
- Emerald: Guild Signet, Guild Keyrune(Uncommon)
- Ruby: Badge of the Watch, Guild Keyrune (Rare)
- Bronze: Guild Keyrune (Very Rare)
Rarity
Woundrous Item, Artifact
Weight
0 lbs
Dimensions
3 inches x 2 inches