Canonfire!

Tue Nov 25, 2003 2:25 am Powers of the Crook of Rao

I admit I am being somewhat lazy here, as I do have material on the aforementioned artifact, but I would like any input on the powers of the Crook of Rao, especially if any DM here has dealt with it in their own campaign. And if the artifact has been used, where and how did it turn out?

Tue Jan 13, 2004 10:53 am

There was an overview of the powers in 3e in Dragon #294

Tue Jan 13, 2004 6:41 pm

The Crook of Rao resembles an ornate shepherd's staff. It is made of hornwood and set with several precious gemstones (jacinth, alexandrite, sard, topaz, and others). The shaft and headpiece are shod in iron and silver. The commonly known powers of the Crook are:

1. Any good-aligned being who grasps the artifact my turn evil outsiders as a 20th level cleric would turn undead. (Outsiders would be banished for 100 years to their home plane.)

2. Evil outsiders within 1-mile radius of the crook are unable to use their summoning and gate abilities.

3. The bearer of the crook gains a +4 deflection bonus to AC against attacks made by evil creatures.

4. The Crook of Rao serves as a +3 quarterstaff. Any successful hit will drive evil outsiders back to their home plane unless a successful Will save is made (DC 25).

5. When in the hands of a high-level cleric of Rao, the crook can also banish large amounts of evil outsiders just as Canon Hazen of Veluna did in Coldeven 586 cy. It is argued that this ability could only be manifested when a small group of high-ranking priests worked together in unison.

Sat Jan 17, 2004 11:19 pm

If you're looking for an alternate take on the Crook, bigby8, see my CF! article "Artifacts of Oerth Article: B-Sides and Errata" at http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=268
In it, I expand on some of the materials from the article from Dragon 294.
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Allan Grohe<br />https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html<br />https://grodog.blogspot.com/