Pipes of the Sewers 5e
Wonderous item (musical instrument), uncommon
You must be proficient with wind instruments to use these pipes. While you are attuned to the pipes, ordinary rats and giant rats are indifferent toward you and will not attack you unless you threaten or harm them.
The pipes have 3 charges. If you play the pipes as an action, you can use a bonus action to expend 1 to 3 charges, calling forth one swarm of rats (see the Monster Manual for statistics) with each expended charge, provided that enough rats are within half a mile of you to be called in this fashion (as determined by the DM). If there aren't enough rats to form a swarm, the charge is wasted. Called swarms move toward the music by the shortest available route but aren't under your control otherwise. The pipes regain 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn.
Whenever a swarm of rats that isn't under another creature's control comes within 30 feet of you while you are playing the pipes, you can make a Charisma check contested by the swarm's Wisdom check. If you lose the contest, the swarm behaves as it normally would and can't be swayed by the pipes' music for the next 24 hours. If you win the contest, the swarm is swayed by the pipes' music and becomes friendly to you and your companions for as long as you continue to play the pipes each round as an action. A friendly swarm obeys your commands. If you issue no commands to a friendly swarm, it defends itself but otherwise takes no actions. If a friendly swarm starts its turn and can't hear the pipes' music, your control over that swarm ends, and the swarm behaves as it normally would and can't be swayed by the pipes' music for the next 24 hours.
Commentary by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Want to go full Pied Piper? You’ll need a set of the Pipes of the Sewers to truly bring that fantasy to fruition. It isn’t always a consistent tool to get friendly rats, but sometimes all you need to stir up chaos in a situation is a dozen of these critters to come crawling out of the walls!
After an action to play the pipes, you can use a bonus action to expend a charge and summon a swarm of rats (should rats exist within a half-mile of you). This bonus action can occur on any turn you use an action to play the pipes. This means you can summon additional swarms as you control others as you continue to spend actions playing the pipes.
The swarms don’t go away when you stop playing the pipes; they’re there for good, and you and your allies may have to deal with the consequences of this action should you fail to control them!
Swarms don’t instantly appear; they take however long the DM determines to assemble. If you’re in densely populated areas overrun with rodents, this may be instantaneous. Areas with sparse foliage and sprawling space for them may require more time to get them from their dens to you.
Each swarm gets one contest to determine if you control it or not; if it fails, you have control over it for however long you keep playing the pipes as an action.
You can command swarms with no action required by you. If you have multiple obeying your commands, you can command them to take different or the same actions, your choice.
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