The Infernal Machine of Lum the Mad

From Infernal Machine Rebuild, page 96.

Description
Wondrous item, artifact (requires attunement)

This strange device was once thought to have been built by gods long forgotten and to have survived the eons since their passing, for it is incredibly ancient and crafted by means unlike anything known today. However, its true origins derive from a planar craft that crashed in the Barrier Peaks, for the Infernal Machine once functioned as this craft's central command console.

Explorers who discovered the crash site removed the command console and brought it back to civilization, not understanding its true purpose or powers. In later years, the console came into the possession of Baron Lum. By experimenting with its many controls, he was able to achieve astounding and destructive magical effects in the building of his empire, and so the artifact came to be known as the Infernal Machine of Lum the Mad. Yet with Lum's eventual defeat, his great machine was destroyed.

The Infernal Machine is a delicate, intricate, bulky, and heavy device, weighing some 5,500 pounds. It can be operated using a control panel containing sixty levers, forty dials, twenty switches, and a number of jeweled components. These controls generate all kinds of powers and effects, as noted below.

Silver Wire. The Infernal Machine's great size makes it largely immobile. To make ongoing use of the machine (such as while adventuring), it can be connected to its attuned user by a silver wire, a supply of which can always be produced from the machine's inner workings. This silver wire shares the same general nature as the silvery cord of an astral projection spell, connecting to the body of the user and trailing behind them. When so attached, the wire becomes invisible, astral, and extends to virtually infinite length. As long as the wire remains intact, the attuned user can make full use of the Infernal Machine's powers, with their effects centered around the user. If the wire is cut—something that can happen only when an effect specifically states that it can cut an astral projection's silvery cord—the user suffers a sudden burst of feedback from the machine that kills them instantly.

Any effect of the Infernal Machine that requires concentration can be concentrated on by a remote user. The Infernal Machine's effects have a spell save DC of 14 or the attuned user's spell save DC, whichever is higher.

Summon Monster. When first used by Baron Lum, the Infernal Machine was known for its ability to unleash terrible monsters within the world. Specific combinations of its controls can still recreate the effects of various spells of the conjuration school, as follows:

1/day: conjure animals, summon lesser demons

1/7 days: conjure minor elementals, conjure woodland beings, summon greater demon

1/month: conjure elemental, conjure fey

Wish. The Infernal Machine has the ability to bend the nature of reality, with the proper combination of controls recreating the effect of a wish spell (including all side effects). Due to the complex nature of its programming, this feature can be used only once per month. Each time this effect is used, there is a cumulative 10 percent chance of the Infernal Machine malfunctioning, necessitating seven days' worth of repairs and reprogramming, as well as the expenditure of 500 gp in parts, before it can be used again. When these repairs are done, the cumulative chance of malfunction returns to 10 percent.

Random Properties. There are far more possible combinations for the Infernal Machine's controls than can ever be known or matrixed—especially as the controls shift position and reset themselves over time. At the end of each long rest of the user attuned to it, the Infernal Machine generates 1d4 + 1 random beneficial properties and 1d4 + 1 detrimental properties. Roll for each of these properties on the Infernal Machine Properties table. To keep things interesting, the DM might roll secretly for detrimental properties, revealing those properties only during the course of play. Once set, these properties last until the end of the attuned user's next long rest.

Destroying the Machine. The Infernal Machine of Lum the Mad is self-repairing of anything short of catastrophic damage, and how it was disabled in Lum's time remains a mystery. It is rumored that if one specific combination of controls is set, the Infernal Machine will enter a repair mode, allowing unfettered access to its inner workings—and preventing it from restoring itself if it is attacked. Alternatively, other combinations of controls might cause the Infernal Machine to teleport its most critical components to some hiding place deep in space and time, rendering it inoperable until those components are found again.