Scales of Famine

Staff, Legendary (Requires Attunement by a spellcaster)

“The third Horseman held a pair of scales.”
-Revelation 6:5

Forged from the sheer willpower of the Horseman of Famine, this metal staff is cold to the touch and is topped with an ancient pair of scales (used by merchants in ancient times to weigh currency and merchandise). Wisps of gray-blue smoke emanate from the scales at the top of the staff, which is an incarnation of the Horseman’s consciousness and willpower. Thus, even if the Horseman is destroyed, the staff will live on, seeking a new host to carry out its mission.

This staff can function as a spellcasting focus, and you gain a +1 bonus to spell attack rolls and your spell save DC while you wield this staff. The staff has 20 charges for the following properties. The staff regains 3d8 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff vanishes and teleports to a location determined by the GM. On a 20, it regains all of its charges.

Balance. As an action you can slam the staff into the ground and expend 7 charges to reverse the fortunes of all creatures within a 10 mile radius. Within this radius, all copper pieces become gold pieces, and all gold pieces and platinum pieces disintegrate into ash. Furthermore, all creatures find their quality of life changed to “modest,” regardless of their previous lifestyle. A creature that already had a “modest” lifestyle finds its quality of life unchanged. Once you have used this feature, you cannot do so again until you have finished 1d6 Long Rests

Spells. While holding the staff, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC and spell attack bonus: blight (4 charges), blindness/deafness (2 charges), contagion (5 charges), control weather (7 charges), fog cloud (1 charge) insect plague (5 charges), ray of sickness (1 charge).

Sentience. The Staff of Famine is a sentient neutral weapon. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet, and can communicate telepathically with its wielder using images and feelings, but not language. If the Staff of Famine is required to make an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma check, it uses the stats of the Horseman of Famine.

Personality. The Staff of Famine desires to bring poverty, drought, and ruin to the wealthy, prosperous, and powerful. The staff is comforted in environments of emptiness or desolation, and cannot abide the arrogance of people in positions of power or privilege. The staff’s motivation to bring down the mighty and lift up the lowly is not altruistic,

Scales of Famine

Scroll of bittersweetness

but rather stems from an obsession with balance and equilibrium: a natural state of harmony wrought by the ravages of a blighted world. The staff cares not for right and wrong - only the equality of ruin.

Azrael's Guide to the Apocalypse, printed pages 173, 174.