Item: Penultimate Heartbeat
Activate 1 (manipulate)
This small hunk of slightly rusted iron gives off a faint reddish glow that occasionally pulses when touched. Tales of penultimate heartbeats say that the metal attracts a creature's spirit at the moment of death and channels it outward for a grisly display. Once applied to a weapon, a penultimate heartbeat's effects last for 1 hour.
When you reduce a living creature to 0 Hit Points with a weapon under the effect of a penultimate heartbeat, it doesn't perish immediately (though is visibly on the brink of death). You can Reposition the creature up to 10 feet as a free action, after which it dies in a dramatic fashion appropriate to the injury that killed it. Foes in a 30-foot cone you direct originating from the creature's final position are sprayed with gore, taking 9d10 spirit damage from the release of the creature's soul. An affected target attempts a Will save against your class DC or spell DC, whichever is higher. This effect has the emotion, fear, and mental traits.
Critical Success The creature is unaffected.
Success The creature takes half damage and is Frightened 1 from the shock.
Failure The creature takes full damage and is Frightened 2. For the remainder of the penultimate heartbeat's duration, the creature can't reduce the value of the frightened condition below 1 if it ends its turn where it can see you.
Critical Failure The creature takes double damage and is Frightened 3. For the remainder of the penultimate heartbeat's duration, the creature can't reduce the value of the frightened condition below 2 if it ends its turn where it can see you.
Trait Effects
Consumable: An item with this trait can be used only once. Unless stated otherwise, it’s destroyed after activation. Consumable items include alchemical items and magical consumables such as scrolls and talismans. A character can Craft consumable items in batches of four.
Magical: Something with the magical trait is imbued with magical energies not tied to a specific tradition of magic. Some items or effects are closely tied to a particular tradition of magic. In these cases, the item has the arcane, divine, occult, or primal trait instead of the magical trait. Any of these traits indicate that the item is magical.
Spirit: Effects with this trait can affect creatures with spiritual essence and might deal spirit damage. A creature with this trait is defined by its spiritual essence. Spirit creatures often lack a material form.
Whetstone: Whetstones are magically enhanced items designed to increase a weapon’s effectiveness, sometimes taking the form of literal stones, but often instead constructed of materials with a metaphorical link to the whetstone’s effect. They’re similar to talismans, though unlike talismans, they don’t need to be Affixed ahead of time. Whetstones have the whetstone trait. Click here for the full rules on Whetstones.
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