an untainted shield blocks a tainted sword in combat), the chance increases to 5 in 10 Once the taint has spread to the new item, use the following effects: Type infestation, touch; Save none (iron or steel magic items make a DC 20 Fortitude save) Onset hour; Frequency 1/hour Effect 1d4 hit points (ignores hardness); Cure none When the object has been reduced to half its original hit points, it has the broken condition When it loses all of its hit points, it is destroyed Ganshyer, the Black Steel Items made from ganshyer are never sold in a campaign; it must be found as rare treasure Furthermore, selling items made of ganshyer brings in remarkable profits Treat this as fire-forged steel, as detailed in the “Special Materials” section of Chapter 1: Arms and Armor of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Equipment book, for the purposes of cost adjustments only (weapons and armor made from ganshyer have no special properties; they function as iron or steel in all respects) Mirages Hesheyel, the Water Spice Mundane mirages can be countered by getting to a higher elevation (climbing a rock formation, using a levitate or fly spell) A successful DC 12 Will saving throw allows a character to disbelieve the effects of a mirage, and prior suspicion that the phenomenon is a mirage grants a +4 bonus Once a mirage is shown to be such, a character cannot be fooled by it again and future attempts to disbelieve are automatic Consuming too much hesheyel can result in hesheyel poisoning Fire Rain Hesheyel Poisoning Type poison, ingestion; Save Fortitude DC 10 + number of previous doses consumed over three times as many days Onset day; Frequency 1/day Effect 1d2 Con damage plus see below; Cure abstinence for as many days as three times the previous doses consumed When the effects of hesheyel poisoning drop the afflicted creature to 2/3 its maximum Constitution score, the creature becomes confused When the creature’s Constitution drops to 1/3 of its maximum, it becomes dazed The dazed and confused effects persist until the Constitution is restored to above 1/3 and then 2/3 of the maximum score, respectively Getting Lost and Desert Hallucinations The descriptions of places in the desert coming and going in time and space are prime material for adventuring and quests, but how such things occur can be attributed to a couple of different mechanics, depending on the needs of the game The first option is inadvertent planar travel or comingling See “The Planes” in Chapter 3: Environment in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook for more information on how connections between different planes can exist In particular, points in the desert that exhibit strange characteristics might be the sites of weak barriers between coterminous or coexistent planes You can also attribute the odd sightings and experiences in the desert to wild forms of magic Perhaps they are the sites of older, more ancient magical “hot zones” and function much like certain spells from the illusion school, in particular mirage arcana and permanent image Any character seeing the black clouds in the distance that presage fire rain may discern their true nature on a DC 15 Perception check Any unprotected creature caught in fire rain suffers 2d6 points of damage each round, and all combustible materials catch fire Characters trying to protect equipment or weapons at risk of burning must succeed at a DC 15 Reflex save each round during use, and they suffer a –2 penalty to the appropriate check (skill check, attack roll, etc.) Ghost Lightning Characters in the vicinity of a charged area can succeed on a DC 12 Will save to detect the static charge in the air Anyone caught in a region of ghost lightning must make a DC 12 Reflex save each turn to avoid suffering damage from discharges Each time a save is failed, the character in question suffers a number of d6 damage equal to the amount by which the save failed For example, if the save result is a 9, then the character suffers 3d6 points of electrical damage (12 – = 3)