Thuld’s Pattern Awl

UncommonMagical

Price 30 gp

Usage held in 1 hand; Bulk —

An engraving awl has a pointed steel tip, an ornate brass grip, and a round turquoise-inset endcap bearing an old dwarven maker’s mark. Under raking light, tiny lines along the grip appear to rearrange themselves into intersecting runes.

Activate 1 minute (concentrate, exploration, manipulate)

Frequency once per 10 minutes

Requirements You remain adjacent to a visible inscription, engraved seal, rune, sigil, ward marking, or other engraved symbol no larger than a 5-foot square throughout the activation. The marking can be mundane or magical.

Effect You learn whether the marking bears signs of later physical alteration, deliberate erasure, or concealed over-engraving, and which portions were altered. No check is required. Ordinary wear and accidental damage do not count as deliberate alteration.

Original Pattern

Frequency once per day

Trigger You activate Read the Cut.

Effect If physical traces of the previous design survive, a faint outline appears over the marking for 1 minute, showing its form immediately before the most recent deliberate alteration, to the extent those traces allow. The outline is visible to everyone and can be copied. Missing portions remain incomplete; if no traces survive, the enhancement yields no outline and its daily use is still expended.

Limitations This activation does not translate text, reveal otherwise invisible writing, identify a spell or rune, disable a hazard, or reveal who altered a marking. An effect protecting the marking against magical detection can conceal tampering at the GM’s discretion. It does not create or activate functional runes or restore wards.

Source: Impossible Magic pg. 48

Runesmith

Item benefit While holding Thuld’s Pattern Awl, a runesmith gains the benefits of this feat. The benefits do not stack with the feat if already known; the awl grants no additional runes and does not change class limits.

You are well-versed in magical runes used in traps and hazards. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to Perception checks to find magical traps. Even when you aren’t Searching, you get a check to find magical traps that normally require Searching; you must still meet other requirements to find the trap.

As long as you’re holding or wearing an artisan’s toolkit, you can use Crafting instead of Thievery to Disable a magical trap, treating your proficiency in Crafting as your proficiency in Thievery for requirements.

If you trigger a trap by critically failing a check to Disable it, you can Trace a Rune on yourself as a reaction, gaining the benefits of the rune before the trap affects you.

Source: Core Rulebook pg. 362

Item activation 1 minute (concentrate, manipulate); Frequency at will; Requirements holding Thuld’s Pattern Awl. The awl casts the spell without requiring you to be a spellcaster.

CantripDetectionDivinationElemental

Traditions Arcane, Divine, Occult, Primal

Cast 1 minute (somatic, verbal)

Range 30 feet

Targets 1 object

You focus on the target object, opening your mind to perceive magical auras. When casting is complete, you know whether that item is magical, and if it is, you learn its school of magic.

If the object is illusory, you detect this only if the effect’s level is lower than the level of your read aura spell.

Heightened (3rd) You can target up to 10 objects.

Heightened (6th) You can target any number of objects.

The awl activates this spell at rank 1; the heightened entries are included for rules reference only.

Special No investment or spellcasting is required. The feat benefit functions only for a runesmith holding the awl; it does not grant the Trace a Rune ability or alter normal class limits. The once-per-day Original Pattern use belongs to the item and does not refresh when it changes hands. Read aura works at rank 1 only and does not automatically identify a specific magical effect or item.

Custom homebrew permanent item.

Thuld’s Pattern Awl

Read the Cut

Seek the Hidden Glyphs

Read Aura