Armor of the Greys

Description: A truly formidable suit of heavy, angular onyx plates, reinforced with visible, dark metallic alloys. It presents an imposing, unyielding form, often featuring integrated, inert crystalline nodes at the shoulders, chest, and knees. The entire suit feels dense and unnaturally heavy.

Functionality: Provides superior physical protection (comparable to full plate). This armor was designed for shock troops or critical personnel. Once per day, the wearer could activate a localized resonant field for 1d4 rounds, causing any creature that strikes them in melee to make a Constitution saving throw (DC 14) or suffer 1d4 thunder (vibrational) damage as the armor vibrates violently. This heavy construction also makes the wearer difficult to move, granting a +2 bonus to saves or checks against being pushed, pulled, or knocked prone.

Description: More slender and segmented than the Aegis Suit, this armor consists of thin, overlapping onyx plates interwoven with a fine, almost invisible mesh of crystalline filaments. It clings closely to the wearer’s form, emphasizing agility. Its surface occasionally shimmers with barely perceptible internal light.

Functionality: Offers modest physical protection (comparable to leather armor). Its true purpose is sensory and aetheric. The interwoven filaments allow the Grey to subtly perceive unseen energies, granting them a passive +1 bonus to saving throws against psychic attacks and magical compulsion effects. It also provides a +1 bonus to Wisdom checks made to perceive invisible creatures or detect residual magical auras within 20 feet.

Description: This full-body suit is composed of perfectly interlocking, seamless plates of polished, dark grey onyx, appearing almost fluid despite its rigidity. Its surface subtly absorbs ambient light, making it seem almost a deeper shadow. It features fully sealed joints and a smooth, featureless helmet that integrates seamlessly with the body.

Functionality: Provides strong physical protection (comparable to chainmail or light plate for Basic Fantasy). Its primary advanced feature is a passive energy-dampening field, granting the wearer resistance to damage from energy attacks (fire, cold, lightning) by half its usual value. It also provides environmental sealing, protecting against vacuum, extreme temperatures, and most airborne contaminants.

Description: A sealed, bulkier, form-fitting suit of greyish-black onyx plates with visible, reinforced joints and embedded crystalline sensors that faintly pulse with inert energy. It features an integrated, featureless visor that merges with the helmet.

Functionality: Provides physical protection comparable to chainmail. This suit is designed for hazardous environments; it offers complete environmental sealing (protection against vacuum, extreme temperatures, and most atmospheric toxins/corrosive gases). Additionally, its internal systems mitigate some of The Skein’s disorienting effects, granting the wearer a +1 bonus to all saving throws against confusion or illusion spells or effects.

Description: More a sophisticated harness than full armor, this rig comprises a few perfectly molded, polished onyx plates over vital areas (chest, shoulders), connected by thin, almost invisible conductive filaments to a central cranial coif or neckpiece. It feels oddly responsive to thought.

Functionality: Offers minimal physical protection (comparable to no armor or very light padding). Its true power lies in mental interface. The wearer gains a +1 bonus to Initiative rolls due to enhanced situational awareness and rapid thought processing. Furthermore, once per day, as an action, the wearer can attempt to override the programming of a single non-combat, automated Grey construct (e.g., a Cleaning Drone Shell, a repair bot, a data courier) within 60 feet. The construct must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 13); if failed, the Grey can issue one simple, non-harmful command which the construct will obey for 1d4 rounds.

Description: A small, round buckler crafted from a single, seamless piece of dense, polished black onyx. It has no straps or obvious handles, but seems to adhere to a Grey’s forearm through unknown means. Its surface feels strangely soft to impact, yet completely unyielding.

Functionality: Functions as a light shield, granting a +1 bonus to AC. When struck by a physical melee attack, the buckler subtly absorbs and dissipates the kinetic energy. Once per day, as a reaction, the wielder can choose to reduce the damage from one successful physical attack by 1d4 points, as the buckler momentarily phases or dampens the impact.

Description: A small, perfectly smooth onyx sphere, about the size of a fist, that subtly floats or remains inert near the Grey’s body (perhaps clipped to a belt, or embedded in armor). It emits a faint, high-pitched whine that is usually imperceptible.

Functionality: This item projects a protective field. While active (requires 1 round to activate, then functions passively), it provides a +1 bonus to the wearer’s saving throws against ranged attacks (both mundane and magical projectiles) as it subtly distorts their trajectory. Once per day, as a reaction to being targeted by a spell, the wearer can choose to gain a +2 bonus to their saving throw against that specific spell. The field then deactivates and cannot be used for 1d4 rounds.

Description: A large, rectangular or kite-shaped shield constructed from a single, impossibly smooth slab of perfectly black, mirrored onyx. Its surface seems to absorb all light, yet simultaneously reflects its surroundings with crystalline clarity, displaying faint, shifting geometric patterns within its depths. It feels incredibly dense and heavy.

Functionality: Functions as a heavy shield, granting a +2 bonus to AC. Its reflective surface, coupled with subtle energy manipulation, grants the wielder advantage on saving throws against visual effects (e.g., Blindness, Color Spray, Hypnotic Pattern). Once per day, as a reaction to being targeted by a light- or energy-based attack (e.g., Magic Missile, Lightning Bolt, dragon’s breath), the wielder can attempt to reflect some of the energy. The attack still hits, but the damage is reduced by 1d6.

Description: A sleek, dark onyx cylinder, about the size of a human thumb, typically clipped to a Grey’s belt or integrated into their equipment. It emits a barely perceptible, rapid flicker in the air around it, almost like heat haze, that is only noticeable when actively sought.

Functionality: This device creates a subtle temporal distortion field around the wearer. While active (requires 1 round to activate, then functions passively), it provides a +1 bonus to the wearer’s AC against melee attacks by subtly shifting their personal timeline by fractions of a second, making them slightly harder to hit. Once per day, as a reaction to a critical hit from a melee attack, the wearer can choose to negate the critical hit, treating it as a normal hit instead, as the field briefly overloads to deflect the most impactful strike. The field then deactivates and cannot be used for 1d4 rounds.

Description: A small, perfectly smooth, unadorned onyx disc that sits flat against the Grey’s chest or back, adhering without visible fasteners. It is unnaturally cold to the touch and seems to absorb all light, making it difficult to discern its edges.

Functionality: This item generates a localized field that interferes with invasive mental energies. While active (requires 1 round to activate, then functions passively), it grants the wearer advantage on all saving throws against psychic attacks, mind-control spells, and telepathic intrusion. Once per day, if the wearer successfully saves against a psychic or mind-affecting spell, they can choose to reflect 1d4 psychic damage back to the originating caster, as the resonator forcibly rebuffs the mental assault. The field then deactivates and cannot be used for 1d4 rounds.

Description: A small, round buckler crafted from a single, seamless piece of dense, polished black onyx. It has no straps or obvious handles, but seems to adhere to a Grey’s forearm through unknown means. Its surface feels strangely soft to impact, yet completely unyielding.

Functionality: Functions as a light shield, granting a +1 bonus to AC. When struck by a physical melee attack, the buckler subtly absorbs and dissipates the kinetic energy. Once per day, as a reaction, the wielder can choose to reduce the damage from one successful physical attack by 1d4 points, as the buckler momentarily phases or dampens the impact.

Description: A small, perfectly smooth onyx sphere, about the size of a fist, that subtly floats or remains inert near the Grey’s body (perhaps clipped to a belt, or embedded in armor). It emits a faint, high-pitched whine that is usually imperceptible.

Functionality: This item projects a protective field. While active (requires 1 round to activate, then functions passively), it provides a +1 bonus to the wearer’s saving throws against ranged attacks (both mundane and magical projectiles) as it subtly distorts their trajectory. Once per day, as a reaction to being targeted by a spell, the wearer can choose to gain a +2 bonus to their saving throw against that specific spell. The field then deactivates and cannot be used for 1d4 rounds.

Description: A large, rectangular or kite-shaped shield constructed from a single, impossibly smooth slab of perfectly black, mirrored onyx. Its surface seems to absorb all light, yet simultaneously reflects its surroundings with crystalline clarity, displaying faint, shifting geometric patterns within its depths. It feels incredibly dense and heavy.

Functionality: Functions as a heavy shield, granting a +2 bonus to AC. Its reflective surface, coupled with subtle energy manipulation, grants the wielder advantage on saving throws against visual effects (e.g., Blindness, Color Spray, Hypnotic Pattern). Once per day, as a reaction to being targeted by a light- or energy-based attack (e.g., Magic Missile, Lightning Bolt, dragon’s breath), the wielder can attempt to reflect some of the energy. The attack still hits, but the damage is reduced by 1d6.