Try these new figurines of wondrous power for your Tales of the Valiant or 5E game! As a refresher, here are the standard rules for figures of wondrous power, as seen in the Tales of the Valiant Player’s Guide:

A figurine of wondrous power is a statuette of a beast small enough to fit in a pocket. If you use an action to speak the command word and throw the figurine to a point on the ground within 60 feet of you, the figurine becomes a living creature. If the space where the creature would appear is occupied by other creatures or objects, or if there isn’t enough space for the creature, the figurine doesn’t become a creature.

The creature is friendly to you and your companions. It understands your languages and obeys your spoken commands. If you issue no commands, the creature defends itself but takes no other actions.

The creature exists for a duration specific to each figurine. At the end of the duration, the creature reverts to its figurine form. It reverts to a figurine early if it drops to 0 HP or if you use an action to speak the command word again while touching it. When the creature reverts to a figurine, its property can’t be used again until a certain amount of time has passed, as specified in the figurine’s description.

Chalcedony Cat

This piece of orange chalcedony is about 2 inches across and has been carved into the form of a cat, curled up asleep. This magic item is often found in urban environments, as it makes a useful scout or spy, appearing to be nothing more than a wandering stray or lost house pet.

CHALCEDONY CAT

Wondrous Item, Rare 7,000 gp

This statuette can become a cat for up to 8 hours. The cat has an INT of 11, advantage on DEX (Stealth) checks, and can speak Common. Once it has been used, it can’t be used again until 7 days have passed. The cat can cast the sleep spell as a 1st-level caster. If it does, it immediately returns to statuette form, no matter how long it has been in use.

Ways to introduce the chalcedony cat into your campaign:

• The PCs are recruited by the city watch to investigate a local crime boss. They are provided with a chalcedony cat to assist in their endeavors. Should the PCs succeed in their mission and the target is brought to justice, they receive the figurine as a reward.

• A rash of burglaries in upper-class neighborhoods has city officials offering a sizeable reward for anyone able to assist them in the capture of the burglar. (A similar offer may come from the thieves’ guild, as the perpetrators are breaking guild rules and robbing protected citizens.) The burglar scouts his targets using a chalcedony cat, which the PCs can claim if they capture the thief.

Petrified Wood Elk

This figurine is usually found in northern regions, often crafted by druids or shamans to assist and protect their people. It is especially valued by those who live in regions plagued by cockatrices, gorgons, or medusas.

PETRIFIED WOOD ELK

Wondrous Item, Rare 8,500 gp

This 4-inch-long statuette is carved from a piece of petrified wood, a beautiful, if rough, portrayal of a proud elk with glittering agate antlers. The statuette can become an elk, and willingly serves as a mount. The statuette has 24 charges, and each hour or portion thereof it spends in beast form costs 1 charge. While it has charges, you can use it as often as you wish. When it runs out of charges, it reverts to a figurine and can’t be used again until 7 days have passed, when it regains all its charges.

If you are mounted on the elk and fail a save against a spell or effect that causes the petrified condition, as a reaction you can spend 8 of the figurine’s charges to succeed on the save instead. If the figurine currently has 8 or fewer charges, you can still use this ability, but the elk reverts to a figurine, and you must succeed on a DC 15 DEX save or fall prone.

Ways to introduce the petrified wood elk into your campaign:

• A remote tribe’s territory has been invaded by gorgons. Many of the tribe’s best hunters and warriors have fallen to the creatures. The tribe’s shaman offers PCs the petrified wood elk, asking them to use it to kill or drive off the creatures before they destroy the tribe.

• Lost in a series of seemingly unending caverns, the PCs stumble into a cave full of statues, various humanoids in poses of shock, terror, and surprise. One statue, unusually, wears a look of disappointment on its face, lying on the floor looking upward. Beside it sits a magical figurine, which is recharged and ready to aid the PCs once the medusa that lairs here discovers them.

Quartz Crocodile

Typically found among people living along major rivers, coastlines, and on islands in tropical and subtropical climes, this figurine can be created by nearly all spellcasters. However, it’s most often attributed to clerics of deities with crocodilian traits or to whom crocodiles are sacred.

QUARTZ CROCODILE

Wondrous Item, Rare 3,500 gp

This 6-inch-long figurine is crafted from clear quartz, depicting a crocodile in all its toothy glory. The statuette can become a crocodile for up to 2 hours, following your commands to the best of its abilities. Once it has been used, it can’t be used again until 5 days have passed.

While in crocodile form, you can use an action to climb inside the crocodile’s mouth if you are Medium-sized or smaller. While inside the crocodile, it is transparent to you, allowing you to see the surrounding area as clearly as you could while outside.

If the crocodile submerges, you have enough air to breathe for 15 minutes. This air supply replenishes if the crocodile spends at least 1 round on the surface or out of the water. While inside the crocodile, you cannot cast spells that require somatic components, or material components you do not have in hand when you first enter. You can’t use melee attacks, and only ranged spell attacks or crossbows are useable while inside the crocodile, firing out through the crocodile’s open mouth.

You have total cover inside the crocodile. However, if you make a ranged attack or ranged spell attack on your turn, this is reduced to three-quarters cover until the start of your next turn.

You can exit the crocodile by moving your full speed. If the crocodile reverts to statuette form while you are inside it, you take 1d10 force damage and are shunted into the nearest unoccupied space.

Ways to introduce the quartz crocodile into your campaign:

• Open conflict between two rival religious sects leads one group to hire the PCs to defend their temple against their enemies. The PCs are either rewarded with a quartz crocodile, or they retrieve it from the priest leading the attack, depending on which side they’re on.

• A sage requires information about the habits of a particular species of crocodile for a new book she is writing. She provides the quartz crocodile to PCs to allow them to get close and observe the animals in their native habitat.