[Giants] Item - Jump Agaric (Patreon)

How did you get this? Either you’ve got friends in high places or you’re in some deep monkey business because you had best believe someone will come looking.

——

At Gilded Will

Weapon (Quarterstaff), Rare

You must be a Monk or have a Strength score of 15 or higher to wield this magic weapon. The first time you hit a target with it on your turn, you deal an extra 1d8 Force damage. The weapon has the following properties.

Shrink! You can speak this weapon's command word and transform it into a 2-inch needle. It returns to its staff form when you speak its command word again.

Grow! While wielding this weapon, you can speak its command word to magically change your size to Large if you're in a big enough space. Anything you wear or carry changes size with you until you drop it. You remain Large for up to 1 minute or until take a Bonus Action to dismiss it. For the duration, this weapon's reach increases by 5 feet while you wield it and your Long Jump distance is tripled. This property can't be used again until the next dawn.

——

DESIGN COMMENTARY

This staff is a less-than-subtle reference to Monkey King Wukong's favored weapon and grants a sliver of his size-changing abilities. Suppose he could have been seen as a giant during one of his battles?

The weapon is fairly straightforward, granting bonus 1d8 damage per turn. This is on par with (or less than) some of the other weapons (e.g. Flametongue) and is roughly similar to an Uncommon +1 weapon. The Large size grants immunity from Small grapples (by virtue of size), increased Reach, and some mobility - given this lasts only 1 minute, is a minor enough benefit to not exceed the Rare range.

Wukong's staff is described as a massive gold pillar of a Dragon King shrunken to size. I decided not to veer too far from its original influence, looping a dragon around each end of the staff. The ends of the staff is similar to a pillar base design one might find in a palace. A set of "giant runes" round out the staff's grips. This time I paid more attention to the silhouette, ensuring the dragon's body and whiskers struck a more dynamic/interesting pose by veering far from center. The process for this art was more methodical and rigid than my two previous entries in this theme and honestly, despite the extra time it took, I believe it looks better and more detailed. Maybe it's just because I have more experience rendering gold materials or maybe it's just luck, but it's a very pleasing design that can even be re-used in other contexts (which I like).