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[Shadow] Item - Cavern Crawler's Bracer
🕑 Added 2023-10-23 14:00:04 +0000 UTCAfter attunement, the bracer manages to remain attached to one's wrist despite the lack of latches or buckles. The cool metal occasionally tickles the skin as if it had briefly moved.
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Cavern Crawler's Bracer
Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)
While you wear this bracer, you ignore movement restrictions caused by webbing, and you have a climb speed equal to your walking speed.
This bracer has 2 charges and regains all expended charges daily at dusk. As an action while wearing this bracer, you can expend 1 charge and cast spider climb on yourself. Damage cannot break your concentration on this spell.
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Rare Variant. The rare version of this item has 4 charges instead. Additionally, while wearing the bracer, you can use an action to expend 1 charge to transform the bracer into a spider-like construct. It has the statistics of a spider, except it is a Construct with immunity to poison and psychic damage, as well as the blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, and poisoned conditions. It acts independently of you and can't attack, but can take other actions as normal. You can communicate with the construct telepathically while it is within 500 feet of you. You can use an action to see and hear through the construct's senses until the start of your next turn. The construct transforms back into a bracer after an hour or if it is reduced to 0 hit points.
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DESIGN COMMENTARY
This item (and the upcoming one) are designed to not embody shadows, but to occupy the space of shadows. It's mainly important to the Azira setting since everyone lives in caverns, but cool in any setting nevertheless. This item is meant for utility/exploration, allowing you to easily traverse any cave wall.
Two castings of a 2nd-level spell would be on the low side for uncommon attunement, but protection from concentration saves is extremely useful for cave-fighting martials and bumps that up. The climb speed incentivizes players to keep it attuned. Ignoring webs is fun but a big situational ribbon. The rare version adds extra castings as well as (effectively) a find familiar spell without the material cost, in line with that rarity.
Design-wise, I originally got halfway through a more geometric-looking spider body without much thought as to whether it was a contraption or a living bracelet. I was eventually dissatisfied enough to scrap and redo it, choosing a rounder body and slightly less articulated limbs. The peridot gemstone looks way better than before and adds a much-needed splash of eye-catching color.
![[Shadow] Item - Cavern Crawler's Bracer](https://img10.patrefans.com/storage/11/ox/va/563145-019e84be-86cb-7c2f-a6b7-7490831e99bf.jpg)
![[Shadow] Item - Cavern Crawler's Bracer](https://img10.patrefans.com/storage/7/ml/vk/563145-019e84be-86d1-7016-8892-d546a1badc20.jpg)
