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SHIELD OF THE HIDDEN LORD5,,IELO OF T,_,E
HIOOEN LOJ'lOArmor (shield), legendary (requires attunement)
The Shield of the Hidden Lord is of celestial origin and
serves as a prison for the pit fiend Gargauth, whose mor-
tal followers revere it as a god. Over time, Gargauth's
evil has warped the shield's appearance, so that its
celestial motif and designs have become twisted into a
fiendish face that subtly moves in disturbing ways.
While holding this shield, you gain a +2 bonus to ACand resistance to fire damage.
Sentience. The Shield of the Hidden Lord is sentient
as long as it imprisons Gargauth. While sentient, the
shield has the following properties:
The shield has an Intelligence of 22, a Wisdom of 18,
and a Charisma of 24, as well as hearing and true-
sight out to a range of 120 feet.The shield can speak, read, and understand Common
and Infernal, and it can communicate telepathically
with any creature it can sense within 120 feet of it. Its
voice is a deep, hollow whisper.
The shield has 3 charges. You can use an action to
expend 1 charge to cast fireball or 2 charges to cast
wall of fire from the shield (save DC 21 for each). The
wall of fire spell lasts for 1 minute (no concentrationrequired). The shield regains all expended charges
daily at dawn.
Anytime during your turn, the shield can choose to
radiate an aura of dread for 1 minute. (This is not a
power of the shield that you control.) Any creature
hostile to you that starts its turn within 20 feet of the
shield must make a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw. On a
failed save, the creature is frightened until the start of
its next turn. On a successful save, the creature is im-mune to this power of the shield for the next 24 hours.
Once the shield uses this power, it can't use it again
until the next dawn.
Gargauth's Personality. Gargauth desperately seeksfreedom but can't escape on its own. The pit fiend won't
reveal its true nature, referring to itself only as the Hid-
den Lord. It drops hints and subtle suggestions that it is
an angel trapped in an unholy prison. If released from
the shield, the pit fiend honors the terms of whateverbargain it struck to facilitate its escape.
While trapped in the shield, Gargauth carefully steers
the shield's current owner toward committing acts of
cruelty and domination, hoping to condemn the individu-al's soul to the Nine Hells. Conflict occurs if the shield's
owner does anything that would make it more difficult
for Gargauth to escape its prison, such as leaving the
shield in a place where others are unlikely to find it.
Gargauth doesn't know how to escape from the shield.The pit fiend believes (incorrectly) that it can break free
of the shield if it's brought to the Nine Hells, for it's con-vinced that the shield's powers are weaker there.
Freeing Gargauth. Casting dispel evil and good on
the shield has a 1 percent chance of freeing the pit fiend,or automatically succeeds if the spell is cast by a solar, a
planetar, or an archdevil. A god can release the pit fiend
by touching the shield and speaking Gargauth's name.
When released, Gargauth appears in a random, unoccu-pied space as close to the shield as possible.
SouL Corn
Wondrous item, uncommon
Soul coins are about 5 inches across and about an inch
thick, minted from infernal iron. Each coin weighs one-
third of a pound, and is inscribed with Infernal writingand a spell that magically binds a single soul to the
coin. Because each soul coin has a unique soul trapped
within it, each has a story. A creature might have beenimprisoned as a result of defaulting on a deal, while an-
other might be the victim of a night hag's curse.
Carrying Soul Coins. To hold a soul coin is to feel
the soul bound within it- overcome with rage or fraught
with despair.An evil creature can carry as many soul coins as it
wishes (up to its maximum weight allowance). A non-evil creature can carry a number of soul coins equal to
or less than its Constitution modifier without penalty.
A non-evil creature carrying a number of soul coins
greater than its Constitution modifier has disadvantage
on its attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.
Using a Soul Coin. A soul coin has 3 charges. Acreature carrying the coin can use its action to expend
1 charge from a soul coin and use it to do one of the
following:APPENDIX CI MAGIC ITEMS
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