Item: Trickster's Mandolin
Sought after by many unscrupulous bards, this instrument is surprisingly light and easy to carry, but also empowered with a number of spells carefully selected to help with fooling others or making a hasty retreat. While playing the mandolin, you gain a +1 item bonus to Deception and Performance checks.
Activate 1 (concentrate)
Effect You change the instrument's color and shape to one you prefer, and you can turn it into a different handheld string instrument that takes two hands to play.
Activate Cast a Spell
Effect You expend a number of charges from this instrument to cast a spell from its list.
- Cantrip Prestidigitation
- 1st Illusory Disguise, Item Facade, Ventriloquism
Craft Requirements Supply one casting of all listed ranks of all listed spells.
Trait Effects
Coda: Instruments with the coda trait work mostly like staves and have the staff trait. There are two differences: Coda instruments are in the form of musical instruments, and they can be prepared only by bards. Because they're not physically staves, you can't attack with a coda instrument, nor can you etch it with weapon runes. The process of preparing a coda instrument involves playing significant portions of songs related to the spells within the instrument—either old standards or ones of your own creation. This leaves magical reverberations within the instrument that allow you to complete the songs by playing their coda later in the day.
Occult: This magic comes from the occult tradition, calling upon bizarre and ephemeral mysteries. Anything with this trait is magical. A creature with this trait is primarily constituted of or has a strong connection to occult magic.
Staff: This magic item holds spells of a particular theme and allows a spellcaster to cast additional spells by preparing the staff.
Related Items
| Name | Level | Rarity |
|---|---|---|
| Bagpipes of Turmoil | 4 | Common |
| Drums of War | 4 | Common |
| Entertainer's Lute | 4 | Common |
| Pipes of Compulsion | 4 | Uncommon |
| Seer's Flute | 4 | Uncommon |
| Bagpipes of Turmoil (Greater) | 8 | Common |
| Drums of War (Greater) | 8 | Common |
| Entertainer's Lute (Greater) | 8 | Common |
| Pipes of Compulsion (Greater) | 8 | Uncommon |
| Seer's Flute (Greater) | 8 | Uncommon |
| Trickster's Mandolin (Greater) | 8 | Common |
| Bagpipes of Turmoil (Major) | 12 | Common |
| Drums of War (Major) | 12 | Common |
| Entertainer's Lute (Major) | 12 | Common |
| Pipes of Compulsion (Major) | 12 | Uncommon |
| Seer's Flute (Major) | 12 | Uncommon |
| Trickster's Mandolin (Major) | 12 | Common |
| Kora of the Unending Story | 14 | Rare |
| Fiddle of the Maestro | 16 | Rare |
| Gasping Lament | 12 | Rare |