Ember's Covenant
Forged at the mouth of a perpetually burning fissure by a maker whose name has since been lost to time, this bracer was never meant for war, it was shaped for the moment after war, when the living pick through the smoldering wreckage looking for survivors. The metal is a deep copper-bronze threaded with rivulets of orange that glow faintly like cooling slag, warm to the touch even in winter. Its maker believed that fire taken into the self need not destroy, that the same force that ends lives could, with precision and intention, preserve them.
Mechanics
A fire-wreathed bracer that converts incoming flame into restorative energy, pulses healing light to nearby allies on a hit, and once per dawn erupts in a selfless inferno that saves allies from death's edge.
Forge-Blessed Aura
While wearing this bracer, you and each ally within 10 feet of you have resistance to fire damage. Whenever you or an ally within 10 feet would take fire damage, visible warmth ripples across the bracer's surface as the heat is turned away.
Kindled Return
Whenever you hit a creature with an attack or a spell attack using this bracer's integrated mechanism, one creature of your choice within 30 feet of you (other than the target) regains hit points equal to 1d8 + your Intelligence modifier. The healing manifests as a brief flare of amber light that settles over the recipient like warm breath.
Pyre's Mercy
When a creature you can see within 60 feet of you drops to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to send a surge of concentrated fire-light into them. That creature regains hit points equal to 4d10 + your Intelligence modifier and stands immediately with 0 feet of movement expended, as though the flames refused to let them fall. This property can be used once per short rest.
Covenant Conflagration
Once per dawn, you can use an action to release the bracer's full reservoir of stored fire-warmth in a burst of protective radiance. Each ally within 60 feet of you gains temporary hit points equal to 30 + your Intelligence modifier. Additionally, for the next minute, whenever any of those allies takes damage that would reduce them below 1 hit point, they instead remain at 1 hit point. This last effect ends early for an individual ally the first time it prevents damage for them. The bracer goes cold and dark until the following dawn.
DM Notes
Balance consideration: Kindled Return triggers on every hit with no resource cost, which at legendary tier is appropriate but should be monitored in encounter-dense sessions, an Artificer with multiple attacks or cantrips firing each round could generate 8-10 healing events per combat. The DM should ensure encounters include enough pressure (multiple dangerous enemies, split-party scenarios) to make the on-hit healing feel earned rather than trivially stabilizing. Pyre's Mercy once per short rest is the workhorse emergency save; Covenant Conflagration is the climactic moment, it is most impactful when the party faces a boss fight where many members might drop simultaneously. The 1-hit-point threshold protection on Covenant Conflagration is intentionally a once-per-ally effect rather than a persistent ablative shield, to prevent it from trivilaizing sustained AoE fights. The fire resistance aura should be tracked carefully in encounters where the party faces fire-breathing enemies or environmental fire hazards, it will significantly reduce party attrition in those scenarios, which is exactly its intended role. Consider telegraphing late-game encounters with multi-target fire sources to make this item feel meaningful.
Generated with: Level 17 · Artificer · Artillerist · Healing or support focused · Heroic · Fire · Legendary · No curses