Cloak, Fireshield

Ultimate Equipment Guide II

Author Greg Lynch, J. C. Alvarez
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2005

A fireshield cloak, though it is a potentially lifesaving device, is also a cumbersome and troublesome item to wear. Regardless, many adventurers, particularly those without the financial and magical resources to acquire a sorcerous means of resisting the searing heat of fires, both magical and mundane, swear by these cloaks, and maintain that the time and trouble required to keep them operating correctly is a very small price to pay for the protection they provide.

When purchased, a fireshield cloak is almost as light as a normal cloak, but it is also useless as a protective measure against fire damage. In order for it to serve its purpose, a fireshield cloak must be immersed in water. The cloak itself is made of two layers of fine wool, between which is a thick layer of alchemically infused plant fibre, which is able to absorb and hold an amazing amount of water without substantially altering the bulk of the cloak, though naturally the weight increases. When filled with water (a process that takes about one full minute of immersion), the fireshield cloak weighs a full 23 pounds, 20 of which are water. As soon as it is removed from the water, the fireshield cloak begins to dry out, losing about one pound of weight every hour.

When full, the fireshield cloak offers the wearer a significant amount of protection against fire damage, reducing any incoming fire damage by one point per die of damage (with a minimum of one point of damage per die). Therefore, a fireball spell that would normally deal 5d6 points of fire damage instead deals 5d6-5 points of damage to the wearer of a fireshield cloak. This protection remains active until the cloak has lost about half the water it carries (roughly ten hours from the point it was filled), after which time the cloak is no longer able to protect against the intense heat of magical fire. The cloak will continue to protect the user against normal and alchemical fire for roughly another five hours, after which time the fireshield cloak is too dry to offer the wearer any protection whatsoever. Protecting the wearer against fire-based attacks also causes the cloak to dry out prematurely. For every die of damage reduced by the fireshield cloak, one ‘pound’ of water is evaporated from it. In the above example of a 5d6 fireball, the cloak would lose five pounds of water protecting its wearer against the attack. If the wearer of a fireshield cloak sustains a single fire attack which does more dice of damage than the cloak has water remaining, the cloak is destroyed.

Cloak, Fireshield: 150gp; 3 lb.