This is a new item for use with Cities of Sundara.

Gemstones are one of the most prized treasures of the earth, with many different types of gems in many different lands. Dragongems only occur in the lands where dragon steel, from which they gain their name, can be found, which makes them difficult to get at the best of times. Even scarcer than dragon steel, the volcanic nature of the dragon steel lands adds to the danger of finding dragongems. Only in Ironfire are dragongems dug up with any regularity and even there they are scarce, and the subject of fierce bidding should they come onto the market.

Dragongems are an extremely rare form of diamond found in igneous rocks, and are commensurately valuable as a result. The carbon of the diamond contains inclusions of dragon steel that reflect the light in unusual ways and give the gems a strange, steel-like colour when light is shone on them. Peering into a dragongem will reveal tiny crystals of dragon steel inside it.

Dragongems are not quite as hard as diamonds, as the dragon steel inclusions slightly weaken the gemstone’s structure. This does make them easier to shape than diamonds, but not that much easier, as they are as hard as rubies and sapphires.

A dragongem will be worth at least twice what a diamond of the same size and quality would be. Though dragongems can be used to make unusual pieces of jewellery, they are rarely used for such mundane purposes. The sorcerers and spellusers of Archbliss have discovered that dragongems are unusually potent when it comes to enchanting them for magical use. They have a natural ability to enhance magics that have to do with sharpness and hardness, and can be found embedded in the hilts of dragon steel swords, where they can improve even a non-magical weapon, or in rings and amulets that are intended to improve various martial abilities and defences.

Dragongem Pommel

Wondrous item, rare

A dragongem pommel is a pommel- or hilt-mounted enchanted dragongem that can be attached to a sword of any type. The sword or dagger to which it is attached will gain a +1 bonus to damage rolls and 10 hit points and will also be classed as a magic weapon for attack purposes. The bonuses stack with any that already apply.