Compass of Shattered Vows

Wondrous item 18 · Legendary

A grim magic item for Pathfinder 2e.

Even the smallest lie makes its needle tremble.

Stats

  • Level: 18
  • Price: 120,000 gp
  • Usage: Held
  • Bulk: 1
  • Activate: 1 action

Description

The Compass of Shattered Vows is a brass orrery of interlocking gears, each etched with sigils of binding. The central needle never settles; it whirls madly whenever a promise—an oath, pact, or vow—within 6 miles approaches its breaking point. **Detect Fracture** (1 action): The holder activates the compass. The device points its main arm toward the nearest promise about to break and whispers the distance (rounded to the nearest mile) and a vague description of the parties involved (e.g., “two merchants, a blood pact”). This effect is automatic; no roll is required. While the compass is active, the holder gains a +2 item bonus to Perception checks to locate that promise. **Mend the Fracture** (3 actions, once per day): The compass emits a resonant tone that attempts to reinforce the failing oath. The user makes a Religion check against DC 32. Critical success: the promise’s breaking point is delayed by 24 hours. Success: delayed by 8 hours. Failure: no effect. Critical failure: the promise shatters, and each party involved takes 4d6 mental damage. **Curse of Guilt**: Each time the compass is used (any activation), the holder takes a –1 status penalty to Will saves that persists until a successful DC 25 Will save is made (once per hour). Penalties stack up to –3. The item bears the Cursed trait and the Magical trait.

Lore

For a century, the city‑state of Drahm’s Hold has whispered of a brass instrument that never points north but instead seeks the cracks in mortal oaths. Legend says a disgraced priest of the Covenant forged the first compass from the shattered remnants of a broken marriage contract, binding the lingering threads of that vow to the gears. The device has been quietly corrected by an unseen hand—perhaps a lingering spirit of the betrayed—so that no promise can escape its watch. Scholars who have tried to map its needle’s path have all failed; the compass seems to rewrite the very notion of direction, pointing not to places but to the inevitable collapse of trust. Those who have possessed it speak of sleepless nights, of hearing the faint clink of gears in their dreams, and of an ever‑growing sense that every lie they utter feeds the compass’s relentless spin. To own the Compass of Shattered Vows is to carry a reminder that every oath is a ticking clock, and that some clocks are cursed to never be silenced.

Craft Requirements

Crafting this item requires the Crafting skill, master proficiency (+20), and the following components: • A fully functional brass orrery of at least 2 ft. diameter. • One vial of blood from a person who has knowingly broken a solemn oath. • A focus worth 1,000 gp of rare components (e.g., shards of a shattered oathstone). • The spell *True Seeing* (level 6) cast during the final binding. • The creator must inscribe the Cursed trait, accepting the associated risk. The final item must be blessed (or cursed) by a priest of the Covenant at level 18, and the process consumes an additional 10 days of uninterrupted work.

Tags: wondrous, cursed, oath, legendary, brass

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