History

        This suit of armor was forged over four hundred years ago by the priests of the assassin god Iris as a tribute to the power and majesty of their lord.

        To forge this armor, Iris's highest-ranking priests sent out their finest assassins on an unholy crusade. Their goal, use specially constructed adamantine daggers, blessed by the high priests to give them the power of murder, and use the fell weapons to slay one person guilty of wronging another in the most grievous ways. One by one, the assassins killed rapists, thieves, and murders, corrupt politicians, paladins, druids and anyone who had made another cry out for vengeance.

        When each life was taken, the blade consumed some of the victim's blood, pain and soul. The daggers were then used to harvest the teeth and skin of the victim, as well as to collect pieces of the creature's bone. Once the task was completed, the assassins would return to their masters, hand over the grisly trophies and the dagger, and then go out again to claim another victim.

        Each time a new trophy was taken, a series of priests would use their magic to examine the trapped essence in the daggers. If the trapped energy was not what each priest along the line was looking for, the dagger was destroyed. If it met the standards of every priest, it was set aside. Similarly, the skin, teeth and bones of countless victims were examined, and similarly, many were destroyed for some unknown imperfection. Those that were perceived to be worthy of use were set aside.

        For ten years this process went on. Thousands of people, monsters and other creatures were slain in this dread crusade, and the priests only kept a handful of the spoils of the murderous crusade. Then one day, the priests called forth the assassins who had preformed the collecting, and told them that there needn't be anymore. Each of the assassins was given one last dagger, and asked to spill his or her lifeblood onto the collection of daggers, bone, skin and teeth that they had all collected. Without hesitation, each assassin slit their own throat, pouring their lifeblood onto the collected items. After each assassin emptied his veins onto the grisly pile, the priests divided into four groups, each taking one type of object.

        They then went about preparing them for the construction of the sacred armor of Iris. The daggers were melted down, and then reformed into an ornate set of breastplate armor, as well as a pair of gauntlets, greaves, four deadly blades and a helmet, all of which resembled the body of the Assassin himself. One of Iris's black beads was also incorporated into the metal, though the exact location is unknown. The skin and teeth were magically grafted together and used to construct the studded-leather padding of the armor, while the bones were magically ground down into a fine dust, and mixed with powdered rubies, diamonds and sapphires, and formed into the likeness of Iris's body gems. Once all of the pieces were constructed, they were brought together and, with the greatest of care, united. Their task completed, all but four of the most powerful pulled out a gem, and, calling upon the magic of their god, drained their own life energy and poured it into the armor to strengthen it and infuse it with the power of their evil souls.

        Then, the four remaining priests took the armor to an unknown location sacred to the Assassin, some say where he was born. It was there that they spent sixteen years enchanting the armor, each day subtly weaving the most delicate of magic into the armor. After the sixteen years had ended, they called upon the most powerful and loyal member of Iris's assassin guilds, and commanded her to don the armor and take their lives with it. The assassin did so, draining the life from the armor's creators. When the last of the priest's life faded from the shriveled husk of their bodies, the God Armor of the Assassin lord Iris was complete.

Description

        Iris's God Armor is a most unusual object. The breastplate resembles the torso of the Assassin, complete with the five gemlike structures located on the chest. Two long finlike projections come from the shoulders, and below them, on the armor's back, four arrow-shaped blades attached to metal orbs fit snugly into four small indentations in the back, but detach and float about when commanded to by the suit's wearer. The gauntlets each have a long, spear-like spike on the back, which normally extends off to the rear of the gauntlet, but can be extended like a lance when worn. Like the gauntlets, the greaves of the armor resemble the legs of the Assassin. The visor on the helmet resembles Iris's face, and has a single, glowing eye in the center. All of these parts are connected and lined with a set of earthy brown, studded-leather armor.

Use

        In order to use the God Armor, the entire suit must be worn. Until the last piece is donned, it remains completely powerless. However, once the last piece is placed on the character, he or she becomes completely aware of all the powers and abilities of the armor, but not its curse.

        Like most magical armor, the God Armor shrinks or grows to fit any humanoid creature that wears it.

Powers

        The God Armor itself is a +5 Glamered, Moderate Fortification, Shadow (Greater), Silent moves (Greater), Adamantine Breastplate that allows the caster to fly at a speed of 90ft. with perfect maneuverability.

        Once per day, the character wearing the armor can cast one of the following spells as a standard action as a 20th level cleric: Dimensional Anchor (DC 20), Divine Power, Freedom of Movement, Greater Invisibility, or Poison (DC 20). Once per week, the armor can cast Destruction (DC 32).

        Additionally, the possessor of the armor can use the spears on the gauntlets to attack. No proficiency is required to use the spear arms. Each spear arm functions like a +3 lawful evil wounding adamantine longspear save the armor wearer can shorten and lengthen the spears so that she can strike adjacent foes in combat. Every time the character makes a critical hit with the spears, she inflicts one negative level on the creature struck and regains 1d6 hit points. Hit points over her max are gained as temporary hit points, which fade after 24hrs. Negative levels fade after 24hrs without any chance of becoming permanent. The armor's wearer cannot use any other weapons so long as she wears the armor.

        At will, the armor's owner can will the four adamantine blades on the back of the breastplate to detach and attack. She can direct the blades as a free action, and they can travel up to 30ft. away from the armor, and can travel 10ft. per round. Each blade attacks with the wearer's base attack bonus. Each blade inflicts 1d6 points of damage with a successful hit, have a critical range of 19-20, and each possesses the following enchantments +2 and wounding. Spellcasters who wear the armor can use these blades to deliver touch attacks as if they were their own hands.

        The character can use the blades defensively, like shields. For each blade that she doesn't use for attacking, she receives a +1 deflection bonus to her AC against one opponent, as the blades move in to parry attacks at the wearer's mental command. Additionally, each blade can be used like a Shield of Arrow Deflection, allowing the wearer to deflect one ranged attack once per round with a successful reflex save (DC 20) as a free action. The character must be aware of the attack and not flat-footed. Exceptional missiles, such as rocks thrown by giants or magic effects cannot be deflected.

        Any character wearing the armor can automatically detect the general direction a creature that has injured it previously is located in. If an enemy injures the character in combat, she can automatically sense the direction that creature goes in if it retreats from combat, and can detect the general vicinity of the creature when within a mile. This power derives directly from the black bead embedded in the armor, and cannot be blocked by a non-detection spell or mind blank.

        Characters who have levels in the assassin prestige class and worships Iris who wears this armor is considered proficient with its use, doesn't add the armor's weight to her encumbrance, and is considered to only be wearing padded armor for purposes of Maximum Dexterity Bonus, Armor Check Penalty, Arcane Spell Failure and Movement penalty. Also, so long as an assassin is wearing the armor, both the spear arms and blades gain a further +2 enchantment and deal an additional 2d6 points of damage against any foe struck, like a bane weapon, save the damage is inflicted regardless of type, and also count as epic weapons for purposes of overcoming damage reduction.

        Finally, when an assassin devoted to Iris lands a critical hit with the spear arms, she can chose to absorb one of her opponent's special powers once per day. Stolen powers only last for 24 hours. A special power is any exceptional, supernatural or spell-like ability. If she uses this power on a spellcaster, she can take one of his spells and use it once per day as a spell-like ability at the previous owner's caster level. She cannot use any power that requires anatomy that she lacks, such as swallow whole. Breath weapons can be absorbed, but they emanate from the gems on the chest of the breastplate. Range, area, saving throw difficulty and uses per day remain the same as the original attack. These abilities are only useful as long as the character wears the armor.

Curse

        The using the God Armor of Iris is not without risk. Forged of metal and flesh harvested from countless murdered creatures, the armor literally is stepped in hatred and pain. Few beings that are not devoted to the Assassin can stand to be in the armor for very long, and those who continually use it risk their very minds and souls as the armor works its insidious influence upon them.

        The first and most often encountered curse of the armor is the fact that it will not let its wearer let an enemy live once that creature has drawn blood. Once the creature wearing the armor is injured in combat, she must slay the opponent that harmed her or suffer excruciating pain. For each round that the character does not pursue her foe or work towards exacting revenge, the armor's owner suffers physical pain, while her mind is flooded with thoughts of murder and rage. Essentially, until all foes that have injured the character are dead, she suffers the effects of a Symbol of Pain and Emotion: Hate, except she receives no saving throw to resist the effects, and there is no limit to how long the character suffers the pain and emotional warping. To make maters worse, the pain begins to increase for every day the character does not peruse his assailant. For every day that the character does not actively seek out the creature who injured her, the penalty for the Symbol of pain doubles. So if the character refused to partake in the vengeance quest for 2 days after she was injured, the penalty would become -16 (-4 initial, -8 for the first day, -16 for the second day). If she continued to refuse to hunt down her assailant, the next day the penalty would increase to -32. Once the penalty rises above -10, the character must make a Will save (DC = the pain penalty for the day), or suffer the effects of an Insanity spell. Also, once this curse effect is activated, the character cannot remove the armor, but doesn't need to eat, drink or sleep. Once all foes that have drawn the character's blood while the armor was donned are dead, she no longer suffers the pain and she can remove the armor normally. This curse has no effect on characters that are worshipers of Iris.

        The armor's second curse is far more subtle and much more insidious. Every day the character used the armor, the DM must make a secret Will save (DC 16). Failure means the character's alignment has shifted one step towards Lawful Evil. For each day that the character makes her save, the DC of the Will save increases by 1 point. Once the character fails a save, the DC drops back to normal, but the character must continue to make saves until her alignment reaches Lawful Evil or she removes the armor. This effect occurs even while the character is under the effects of the first curse. Once the character's alignment reaches Lawful Evil, Lawful Neutral or Neutral Evil, she automatically becomes a worshiper of Iris. Even Iris worshipers are affected by this curse, turning them into mirror images of the dark lord they serve.

        If for some reason the character wearing the armor attacks Iris himself, the character is instantly annihilated, as if struck by a Destruction spell. The character does not gain a saving throw to resist this effect, and cannot be brought back to life, even with a wish spell.

Destruction

It is unknown how the God Armor could be unmade. The armor is completely immune to all physical damage, repairing itself instantaneously when breached. Even if the armor is disintegrated, it will reform within a day's time.

Legends say that to destroy the armor, one must find the black bead embedded within and somehow destroy it. However, finding and extracting the bead is an unlikely venture, as rumor says the armor will actively move it around to avoid detection. Even if the bead is found, the indestructible nature of the material the beads are formed from makes destroying it an unlikely proposition to say the least.