Nexus Crystal (Minor Artifact)

Slot none; CL 18th; Weight 1 lb.; Aura strong conjuration

DESCRIPTION

These cloudy, white crystals are believed to form spontaneously— though extremely infrequently— when a region of planar chaos drifts near a lawfully oriented one. When carried by a non-mythic creature, a nexus crystal bestows the ability to survive the conditions of a hostile plane as though the bearer were native to that plane. For example, the crystal would give immunity to the fires of the Plane of Fire and the life-draining radiation of the Negative Energy Plane. Any adaptation given protects only against the hazards of the plane itself, not the creatures within it—fire attacks from creatures on the Plane of Fire are still hazardous to the bearer. The crystal doesn’t provide protection against extreme conditions not normally experienced by inhabitants of the given plane, such as the vacuum of space on the Material Plane.

When carried by a mythic creature, a nexus crystal has the following additional powers.

• As a standard action, the bearer can bestow the crystal’s planar adaptation ability to another by touching the creature with the crystal and expending one use of mythic power. The protection can be withdrawn over any distance on the same plane with a standard action. The use of mythic power can’t be recovered while the protection remains in place. If another creature claims the crystal and uses this ability, any protection bestowed by the previous owner immediately ends.
• As a standard action, the bearer can use plane shift to move herself and up to seven other willing creatures to any plane she is familiar with by expending one use of mythic power. If traveling to a location she’s already visited, she can reduce the inaccuracy of plane shift by expending two uses of mythic power when she does so, in which case she appears 1d6–1 miles (minimum 0 miles) from her destination.
• As a standard action, the bearer can touch another creature with the nexus crystal and expend three uses of mythic power to use plane shift to move the target to a random plane (Reflex DC 27 negates).
• As a standard action, the bearer can expend two uses of mythic power to create a widened dimensional lock centered on the crystal instead of on a point in space. The lock lasts for 24 hours or until dismissed.
• As a full-round action, the bearer can attempt to draw back other creatures that teleported away by expending four uses of mythic power. If she succeeds at a DC 40 Knowledge (planes) check, the bearer can draw back up to one creature per mythic tier she possesses that departed via a conjuration (teleportation) effect in the previous round. To draw back a creature, the bearer must be within 15 feet of the location the creature left from. If the creature resists, it can attempt a Will save (DC 25 + the bearer’s tier) to avoid returning.

The bearer can choose freely which creatures from a group to pull back, and can even pull back creatures that departed with different means or to different destinations, as long as their points of departure are within range.

DESTRUCTION

A nexus crystal can be destroyed by invoking its plane shift power as the bearer steps through a gate. Doing so destroys the crystal and the gate, and the resulting magical explosion causes 18d10 points of damage to creatures within a 2-mile-radius burst of either side of the gate (Reflex DC 27 for half damage). Permanent gates between planes could potentially be destroyed in this fashion, at the GM’s discretion.