The Dungeons and Dragons multiverse has grown to include many worlds with varying levels of technology both rooted in magic and science. As that multiverse continues to expand, so does the variety of magic items available for DMs to utilize and PCs to collect to further empower their adventurers throughout their journeys. Tasha's Cauldron of Everything is the newest expansion sourcebook for Dungeons and Dragons' fifth edition, and it's packed with new magic items. One such new item, an artifact to be specific, is a huge construct that can be piloted like an arcane battle mech.
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything has been out for several months now, and many Dungeons and Dragons players are still comparing its new additions with the likes of Xanathar's Guide to Everything to find both new options for PCs and items to utilize for DMs. One standout in the new sourcebook among the magic items added is the Mighty Servant of Leuk-O. This towering construct of magic and metal is powerful beyond what most PCs can achieve on their own and is set with mechanics and properties that make it a fun weapon for players to discover. It is also a tantalizing reward for a DM looking to grant a temporary (or permanent) boost to a party looking to overcome a powerful foe.
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The Mighty Servant of Leuk-O is the product of magical experimentation done by a powerful artificer. The now canonized (another welcome addition in TCoE) artificer class is one that focuses on magical tinkering. The most powerful artificers can imbue mundane items with powerful magic to do things like charge an unassuming stone with a Fireball spell, craft personal armor like the Armorer sublcass, or in the case of the Servant create an enormous suit of living armor that can be piloted to destructive effect.
Players will more than likely want to obtain the anime-style battle mech, and DMs have many options with how to provide access. One of the more interesting properties of the Mighty Servant of Leuk-O is its ability to be reconstructed after being destroyed. If the Servant is defeated in a battle or employs its incredibly powerful Self-Destruct feature, it is scattered across a random 1000-mile radius. Its six components (the left and right legs, left and right arms, and upper and lower) torso can be gathered together, and the Servant will magically reassemble. This can be used to create a tantalizing mystery if, for instance, while traveling through the desert, a group of adventurers stumble across one of these components and are led on a quest to gather the remaining pieces.
Once the Servant is assembled, it provides powerful boons to players. Regardless of player backgrounds, any PC will likely be interested in manning the enormous construct. Doing so requires for up to two creatures to spend two hours attuning to the item. This time is conceptualized as the characters fumbling with the controls once inside the Servant in an attempt to gain control over the construct. This process itself can be dangerous as any creatures or structures outside of the Servant have a chance to be attacked by one of Servant's powerful Destructive Fist attacks during this experimentation. Incidental chaos at camp can quickly ensue if players aren't careful in trying to understand the Servant.
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After spending the necessary time to master its controls, creatures attuned to the Servant have access to very powerful options while piloting it. It has a series of Destructive Fist attacks, in a fashion similar to how Artillerist Artificers can cause magical damage the Servant can deliver powerful punch attacks at melee range or arcane blasts up to 120 feet away that deal a whopping 4d12+10 force damage. An agent of destruction if the Servant targets an object or structure that damage is tripled. With the ability for both creatures piloting the Servant to act separately this can quickly stack up to four of these attacks inside a single round of combat. The Servant is also capable of Hulk-like leaps that crash down to cause even more damage to any creatures in its path.
The defensive capabilities of the Servant are as impressive as its destructive ones. Creatures that are not attuned to the Servant face a very high difficulty check in order to open the Servant's hatch in attempt to remove or attack its pilots. The Servant is also immune to almost all elemental damage types and resistant to any physical attacks. Immutable Existence also prevents any spells that would alter its physical form or banish it to another plane, features many Warlocks would seek to employ against the Servant. Coupled with its offensive options, the Servant is an incredibly formidable foe.
For players that do manage to assemble the Servant, they would do well to stay wary of it when not in use. Designed again purely for destruction, it's possible for the Servant to seek out that destruction on its own. If no creature pilots the Servant for a period of time, its Ghost in the Machine feature allows the Servant to move on its own, seeking to destroy any structures nearby or any creatures not attuned to it. Adventurers that are not careful to manage this feature can quickly be destroyed by the Servant as easily as any other creature. This need for careful consideration of its abilities make it one of the more interesting magic items in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.
The Servant also includes a powerful Self-Destruct feature that can deal upwards of 300 damage to any creatures unfortunate enough to be caught in its radius. Another fun idea for DMs included with this feature is that players who attune to the Servant are not automatically given the knowledge necessary to use the Self-Destruct feature. The sequence of commands needed to begin the Self-Destruct can be a separate quest on its own. As mentioned earlier, this does not destroy the Servant permanently but merely scatters its components again to be reassembled later.
These can be incorporated with other new rules and ideas from TCoE to create fun quest hooks like reassembling the Servant as part of a quest from the party's Group Patron. And destroying the Servant permanently requires magical help that can be similarly tied into any DMs game regardless of setting.
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything is available now in digital and physical formats.
