Long ago, in the Dragonlance setting, elves and humans waged a terrible war against chromatic dragons. When the world seemed doomed, the wizards of the Towers of High Sorcery came together and forged five Orbs of Dragonkind to help defeat the dragons. One orb was taken to each of the five towers, and there they were used to speed the war toward a victorious end. The wizards used the orbs to lure dragons to them, then destroyed the dragons with powerful magic.

As the Towers of High Sorcery fell in later ages, the orbs were destroyed or faded into legend, and only three are thought to survive. Their magic has been warped over the centuries. Their primary purpose of calling dragons still functions, but they also allow some measure of control over dragons.

Each orb contains the essence of an evil dragon, a presence that resents any attempt to coax magic from it. Those who try to wield an orb’s magic but lack sufficient force of personality might find themselves under the orb’s control.

An orb is an etched crystal globe about 10 inches in diameter. When used, it grows to about 20 inches in diameter, and mist swirls inside it.

While attuned to an orb, you can take a Magic action to peer into the orb’s depths. You must then make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw. On a successful save, you control the orb for as long as you remain attuned to it. On a failed save, the orb imposes the Charmed condition on you for as long as you remain attuned to it.

While you are Charmed by the orb, you can’t voluntarily end your Attunement to it, and the orb casts Suggestion on you at will (save DC 18), urging you to work toward the evil ends it desires. The dragon essence within the orb might want many things: the annihilation of a particular society or organization, freedom from the orb, to spread suffering in the world, to advance the worship of Tiamat, or something else the DM decides.

Random Properties. An Orb of Dragonkind has the following random properties (see “Artifacts” in this chapter):

2 minor beneficial properties1 minor detrimental property1 major detrimental property

Spells. The orb has 7 charges and regains 1d4 + 3 expended charges daily at dawn. If you control the orb, you can cast one of the spells on the following table from it. The table indicates how many charges you must expend to cast the spell.

Call Dragons. While you control the orb, you can take a Magic action to cause the orb to issue a telepathic call that extends in all directions for 40 miles. Chromatic dragons in range feel compelled to come to the orb as soon as possible by the most direct route. Dragon deities such as Tiamat are unaffected by this call. Chromatic dragons drawn to the orb might be Hostile toward you for compelling them against their will. Once you have used this property, it can’t be used again for 1 hour.

Destroying an Orb. An Orb of Dragonkind has AC 20 and is destroyed if it takes damage from a +3 Weapon or a Disintegrate spell. Nothing else can harm it.