Mystic Cauldrons

In the Harry Potter series, cauldrons are standard school equipment, used in potions class. Cauldrons, however, have an ancient history in fantasy. The Mabinogion is the oldest work of prose literature in English and these stories include mystic cauldrons. Dagda’s Cauldron of Plenty is a stable of Celtic mythology. The cauldron given to King Matholwch of Ireland by Bran the Blessed as an apology could raise the dead, through bereft of the power of speech. Readers may remember the Chronicles of Prydain, the second book of which is The Black Cauldron which also appeared as a Disney film that was not well received. In this post, we look at the potential for cauldrons to add something to your fantasy campaign.

A cauldron is a huge cooking pot and most of them are not mystical, just a good way to make soup or stew for a whole lot of people. Those that are mystic artifacts are large, hard to move around, and typically unique. Many are made by gods or sorcerers of immense power to service an obsession or great need. In a fantasy game, it is good for cauldrons to have layered powers, as with the example cauldrons shown below.

Example Cauldrons

The Cauldron of Plenty is a cast iron pot a meter across at its greatest diameter with a brass rim, three iron feet, and with runes engraved around the edge. It weights 200kg and can be lifted by three strong men. Placed over a fire and filled at least one-fourth full with pure water and good meats and vegetables, it will transform these into a savoury stew and come to be filled to the brim as the stew matures. If emptied, the cauldron sleeps, but if left at least one-fourth full over a good fire, it will continue to generate stew. Adding a potion to the stew, while it is active, will permit all who partake of the stew to enjoy the effects of the potion; the potions effects fade after a day. A person who adds poison to the stew will be sucked into the cauldron and cooked. The stew will become vile in both taste and color; the cauldron must be scrubbed with white sand to restore it.

The Chimera Cauldron is a strange creation of a mad god. It is a bronze cauldron of great size, weighing 1000kg, decorated with images of strange beasts, and set in a stone base. Filled with blood and carefully chosen ingredients, and with a fire set about its base, the cauldron will generate a type of life known as a slime whose exact properties depend on other ingredients throw in with the blood. The Cauldron has a companion item, the Athame of Blood. This is a mystically hard bronze athame. If the cauldron is filled with water and blood and the athame is used to prick two creatures and then thrust into the boiling mixture in the cauldron, a chimera of the two creatures forms. Such creatures, if intelligent, are obedient to the owner of the cauldron — who is the holder of the athame of blood.

The Cauldron of Death is a large, metal cauldron weighing 600 kg, on five feet, with a pentagram inscribed in the bottom. Filled with blood and swamp water and placed over fire it can transform a bone into the animated dead body of the creature that supplied the bone; it cannot be more than man sized or it will become stuck in the cauldron. The Staff of Arawn, made of black oak and capped with a lead skull, permits the holder to summon wraiths out of the steam of the cauldron. If they know the proper chant, and spend mana, they may summon more powerful dark spirits out of the steam. The undead summoned by the cauldron are obedient to their summoner or anyone he touches with the staff.

The Cauldron of Life is made of carved stone and is shaped like a bath some two meters long and a meter wide, weighing 1200kg. Filled with pure water and placed over a fire of ash, rowan, and oak logs the cauldron has the ability to bring the dead back to life, though in a weakened state that requires weeks or months of rest to regain their strength. Bathing in the cauldron will also heal and reverse the effects of disease. If a living character is anointed with sacred balms and oils and bathes in the cauldron then they may, if their will is strong enough, dissolve and reform themselves. This permits a character to change the details of their physical appearance and move their primary statistics around. Some dissolve and do not reform, so this is perilous.

The Cauldron of the Horned God is a 50kg silver vessel decorated with grape vines and bunches of grapes. The rim resembles a running design of twisted horns. Over a small fire, pouring fruit juice into the cauldron yields wine, pouring in wine yields brandy-wine, and pouring in pure water and speaking the name of a maenad summons her to do the will of the horned god. This may not be helpful.

Tactical notes on cauldrons

Unlike the school-supply version of a cauldron in Harry Potter, mystic cauldrons are one-off objects. A moving crew, or more, is needed to move one. Possibly a friendly giant. The layered functionality can require additional quests to get the “rest” of the cauldron or may require intensive library work or substantial fees to a sage. It is likely that a cauldron will have a current owner, possibly with his own defensive fortress, making the cauldron a wonderful McGuffin for a whole adventure. A cauldron may also be in the biggest temple of the most important god in the imperial capitol and under the tight control of a priesthood. The possibilities are endless, but remember to incorporate peril into the design of your cauldrons.

This is Dan of Dan and Andrew’s Game Place. Let me know what you think about this post in the comments. If you get ideas from this post, give us a pointer!