Invented by a pragmatic clothier and a wizard-for-hire, the Tourniquet Tunic is made for use on the battlefield.
During the Zamarkian War, things were not going well in the Kingdom of Sur. The king had called every available citizen who was not a soldier to help in the home-front war effort. One man, a clothier named Yasya Mahn, had been assigned, with his wife, to a battleground medical tent, helping victims of the brutal combat.
Yasya and his wife were oftened completely overwhelmed with wounded. Sliced and diced men would pour in through the tent-flaps, and Yasya could not handle them all. While he helped some men, others died of blood loss, and he could not help them.
Yasya eventually became fed up with this. He conceived an idea from seeing the makeshift tourniquets that some soldiers fashioned for themselves. As he was a clothier in his civilian proffession, he decided that he could, with the aid of magic, create a garment with a similar function.
During a lull in combat, Yasya roused himself from his tent and went over to the mercenary section of the army camp. He searched and searched until he found a wizard of some skill, named Boteck. He presented Boteck with his ideas, and the wizard immediately saw the wisdom in the idea.
So the two set out on their task, crafting at nights, during lulls in combat, at any moment they could spare.
Finally, every soldier in the camp was girded in their splendid new tunics, and, lo and behold, the medical folk were less hurried, more relaxed. Warriors' wounds were less urgent. Stress reduced, healing mounted. In this way, the war was won.
Examples of the original Tourniquet Tunic are few today, as time and wear have reduced their number. Most Tourniquet Tunics are tattered silken tunics in black and green (The colors of the Kingdom of Sur), with red hems. Many kingdoms, however, do manufacture their own Tourniquet Tunics.
Magical Properties:
The Tourniquet Tunic is a boon to any warrior.
The sleeves of said Tunic are singularly, enchanted, so that when they sense the spurting of blood, they tighten greatly above the wound, forming a tourniquet and cutting off blood loss. If the wound is less severe, the tunic will exert more gentle pressure.
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Links to this article 2
- Generic Magical Items manfred linked by manfred
- Items of War valadaar linked by valadaar
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How long ago was this?
So how many of these tunics are hanging around?
Are they part of this countries military uniform, or does every country (or mercenary unit) have a similar item?
If they have been around a while, are there civilian versions for dangerous professions like mining?
I dunno...
Didn't really put any thought into any of that.
A nice little item :)
You could create a pretty good army by getting some of the items in the citadel and combining them.
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As an undergarment comes the tourniquet tunic. Useful for when that axe cleaves through your chainmail and digs into the flesh beneath.
To protect your regiments head, can come the Helms of communication. This allows commanders to communicate with their soldiers, and can be sure that every one of the soldiers can hear the commands clearly - saves against a loss battle because of distorted communication.
Your Phalanx will, of course, need to use the Ally Shield to protect against arrows and to get to inaccessable places (See Ylorea's reply) --- Imagine this with that shield: The front line of the enemy has thousands of pikemen lined up ready to skewer the soldiers charging towards them. But then the soldiers link their shields and run head-long into the group - pikes will be shattered on the steel, and then the enemy will be crushed by the wall of shields charging towards them.)
And what army is without the War Paint Of Dothkar? Not only does it give a delightful glow to your skin, but its also 30+ sun protection!! Oh... and it can also make those wounds constricted by the tournique tunic not as deadly. Plus it can deaden the pain caused by wounds to allow a warrior to continue fighting.
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And there you have an army with a great defence, very good wound protection, and good communication with each other (the helms should be tweaked that only the commanders and officers helms can communicate to the soldiers and not the other way - you dont want 10000 warriors screaming "ARRRRGGGGHH!!!" In your ears.)
Very nice indeed. An unusual minor item that is genuinely extremely useful. I guess you could extend the effect to your trousers to, to help with leg wounds.
To add to Shadoweagle's "killer army":
Your military band will need to be using the Drums of the Inferno march. Not only do they allow the army to march for days without tiring, carrying the battle in to the heart of the enemy, they also confer fire resistance and even have offensive capabilities.
Ouch, so many magic items, for each and every soldier 2-3?
For lower magical campaigns though, I can well imagine the Tunic used by the wealthy and powerful, as additional protection, and better for heroic action (it takes more wounds to kill the hero...).
Good low-power item, Captain. I like those.
Personaly I would combine this with a said tourniquette set of trousers.
I realy like the idea especialy without the use of an excess of other magical items.
This item isn't really in the same vein as most of what I do...
After all, you guys know how much I LOATHE the D&D approach to magic... But this is somewhat D&D style item.
*shrugs*
You know what? My jadedness has changed somewhat and now I am jaded in the way that I am exhausted by the onslaught of anti-DnD items. DnD style items are actually... alright. Well, some at least.
*ZAP* *SLAM* I open the dungeon masters guide and go straight to the magic item list. A ring of wizardry (tm) is hereby awarded to CP for his excellent contributions. It gives you the option to post 4 more items and 2 more forum posts each day.
Congratulations ;)
BUMP! to a useful low-powered item.
On the one year anniversary of manfred's BUMP, I BUMP again. Good item!
A fine BUMP, Mr. Murometz!
Now that I look at it, the comments are marred by many uncouth links to other items... actually, if someone would collect these, even find a few more, and create, say, a Warfare Codex, for sure no one would object! Anyone willing to make one?
Very useful as long as it does not mistake water for blood, or the PC might have to cut him/herself out of it, ruining it in the process.
Already have such a codex Items of War, formerly known as Armory Arcanis- am linking!
To balance the item, one might note that real Tourniquets must be relaxed regularly to keep the limb from dying. Failure to do so results in the need to amputate the limb. Still, it will save lives at the cost of more surviving cripples.
This item is also easily adapted to Sci Fi by making it a Nanotech device, and being reasonably plausible in my opinion.
val and Cheka: most likely, the enchantment would incorporate such checks into themselves. After all, most wounds only need to be tourniquet'ed long enough to let a clot form. Besides, depending on the wound, the tourniquet tunic applies only moderate pressure.
Anywho, very nice item CP. Very useful.
Well, I don't like the flavor of the backstory or even particularly enjoy the effect of the item itself, but I just had to go where my creativity was taking me at the time.
Your creativity is taking you on many strange places, Captain, but we are not complaining. :)
The effect may not be spectacular, but is precisely of the kind that would be mass-produced. I guess more fun can be had with those unique and extraordinary items, but this will have larger impact on the world than many an item of great power.
Anyway, it's a good submission.