The Colors of Fear

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The Colors of Fear


Aura moderate necromancy; CL 7th
Slot none; Weight 1 lb

DESCRIPTION
This ominous ship’s pennant radiates an aura of supernatural dread when unfurled. When flown from a seagoing vessel, The Colors of Fear projects a field of terror out to a radius of 250 feet. Any enemy creature within this area who can see the flag must succeed on a Will save (DC 16) or be affected as though by a fear spell (as cast by a 7th-level wizard).

Creatures that successfully save against this effect are immune to that specific flag for 24 hours. The effect persists continuously so long as the pennant is clearly visible and properly mounted on a vessel’s mast or rigging. Lowering, covering, or otherwise obscuring the flag immediately ends the effect.

The aura only affects creatures considered hostile to the ship or its crew, as determined by the DM. The flag has no effect in conditions of total darkness, heavy fog, or other circumstances that prevent it from being seen.

CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, fear; Cost 60,000 gp + 4,800 XP

PRICE
120,000 gp

Lore

The first of these dreadful pennants is said to have been raised by a nameless corsair who vanished from all charts, his ship returning only as a drifting ruin crewed by the dead. Sailors claimed the flag itself moved as if alive, snapping in wind that did not exist, and that those who gazed upon it felt the certainty of their own deaths creeping ever closer. From that voyage onward, the design became synonymous with terror on the open sea.

Over time, pirate captains and naval tyrants alike began commissioning their own versions of the Colors, each tailored with personal sigils - skeletal beasts, crowned skulls, or weeping saints rendered in crimson thread. Though the magic remains consistent, no two flags are ever truly identical, and seasoned sailors insist that each carries a fragment of the fear it has inflicted. Some whisper that the more a flag is used, the stronger its presence becomes.

Legends persist of entire fleets scattering without a fight at the mere sight of one such banner breaking the horizon line. In many ports, possession of such a flag is punishable by death, for its use marks a captain not merely as a pirate, but as something far worse - a herald of dread whose reputation alone can shatter morale before a single blade is drawn.

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