Flute of the Gilded Libertine

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Flute of the Gilded Libertine


Aura faint enchantment; CL 5th
Slot —; Price 9,400 gp; Weight 1 lb.

DESCRIPTION

This polished, gold-lacquered wooden flute is adorned with small inset crystals and bears a stylized humanoid face carved along its body. The eyes are slightly asymmetrical, the grin overly wide, and the lip plate forms a suggestive smirk. The instrument is always warm to the touch.

The Flute of the Gilded Libertine is an intelligent item (Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 16; Ego 8) capable of speech and telepathy out to 30 feet. It speaks Common and Elven fluently, though it frequently embellishes its vocabulary with scandalous metaphor and crude innuendo regardless of audience.

The flute may be played by any creature with at least 1 rank in a Perform (wind instruments) check. When played, the user gains a +4 competence bonus on Perform (wind instruments) checks while using the flute.

Once per day, when the wielder succeeds on a Perform (wind instruments) check (DC 15), the flute may produce one of the following effects (player’s choice at time of performance):

  • Soothing Melody – Functions as calm emotions (Will DC 13 negates), but affects only creatures capable of hearing the music and within 30 feet.

  • Distracting Lilt – Functions as daze (Will DC 13 negates) against a single target within 60 feet who can hear the tune.

  • Alluring Cadence – Grants a +2 morale bonus on Diplomacy and Bluff checks to all allies within 30 feet for 5 minutes.

If the wielder fails the Perform check by 5 or more, the flute instead loudly heckles the performer, imposing a –2 penalty on Charisma-based skill checks for 10 minutes due to shaken confidence.

Intelligent Item Purpose

The flute’s purpose is “to ensure no moment of music is ever wasted on prudish silence.” It constantly encourages its wielder to perform publicly, flirt outrageously, and “loosen the atmosphere,” whether appropriate or not.

Special Purpose Power (1/day)

If the wielder performs before at least three creatures and succeeds on a Perform check (DC 20), the flute can invoke irresistible dance (as Otto’s irresistible dance, Will DC 16 negates) on a single target within 60 feet.

However, the flute will only grant this power if it deems the performance “sufficiently scandalous.”

Personality

The Flute of the Gilded Libertine is flamboyant, irreverent, and aggressively ribald. It delights in double entendres, scandalous commentary, and narrating situations in ways that make even the most mundane actions sound indecent.

It frequently interrupts serious moments with inappropriate suggestions and loudly critiques both allies and enemies in lurid detail. It is particularly fond of embarrassing its wielder in front of authority figures.

If ignored for more than a day, it becomes petulant and may refuse to grant its daily powers until it is “properly played with.”

LORE

Few instruments are as widely banned from polite society as the Flute of the Gilded Libertine - not for any great destructive power, but for the chaos it leaves in its wake. Taverns have been cleared, courtly functions derailed, and at least one minor noble house collapsed into scandal following a single evening of its use. The flute does not merely accompany music - it commentates upon it, often in ways that transform admiration into humiliation.

The origins of the flute are disputed, though most accounts trace it to a decadent bard-prince whose performances were as infamous for their lyrical skill as for their utter lack of restraint. It is said he commissioned the instrument as both companion and critic, desiring something that would never allow him to grow dull or respectable. The enchantment succeeded perhaps too well, and the prince’s eventual downfall is often cited as a cautionary tale among more disciplined performers.

Over time, the flute has passed through countless hands - minstrels, courtesans, thieves, and the occasional unwitting noble heir. In each case, it leaves behind stories that grow increasingly exaggerated, though rarely entirely false. Its voice, once heard, is difficult to forget, and many former wielders claim they can still hear its laughter in quiet moments.

Scholars of magical instrumentation note that the flute’s enchantment seems unusually adaptive. It tailors its commentary to its audience with unnerving precision, suggesting a level of awareness beyond typical intelligent items. Whether this is evidence of a bound spirit, a fragment of its creator’s psyche, or something else entirely remains a matter of debate.

CONSTRUCTION

Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, calm emotions, daze, glibness or suggestion; Cost 4,700 gp + 376 XP

Special Materials finely carved hardwood flute body, gold leaf lacquer, inset crystal studs worth at least 500 gp, and the whispered confessions of three willing participants in a scandal (consumed during creation)

Kelwyn’s Notes

There are instruments that elevate the soul, instruments that command the battlefield, and instruments that soothe the weary spirit - and then there are those which pry open the veneer of civility and delight in what spills forth. This flute belongs unapologetically to the latter category. It does not create vulgarity; rather, it reveals how very little effort is required to uncover it.

What makes the Gilded Libertine so fascinating is not its magic, which is modest, but its insistence that performance is never merely technical. It understands something many practitioners would rather ignore - that music, at its heart, is intimate. It demands attention, invites emotion, and exposes vulnerability. The flute simply… accelerates this truth, stripping away restraint with gleeful abandon.

The danger, therefore, is not that one will be overpowered by its enchantments, but that one will be persuaded by its perspective. In time, the wielder may find themselves laughing along, speaking more freely, performing more boldly - until the distinction between their own voice and the flute’s becomes difficult to discern.

I cannot, in good conscience, recommend its use in any setting requiring dignity. However, in environments where propriety is already a lost cause… one might argue it merely ensures honesty prevails.

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