Scale of Endless Bureaucracy

Armor (scale mail), rare

The curious design of this +1 scale mail features rows of interlocking pieces of folded parchment that nonetheless moves with and protects the wearer as a suit of conventional armor.

There are 25 scales in the armor that are removable and capable of different effects.

Ten of these scales may be removed and unfolded into mundane sheets of paper. When these sheets are pressed against a page with non-magical writing or drawing for 1 minute, the scale parchment comes away as a perfect copy of the original.

These scales cannot be reused, but they may be refolded and stored in the scale of endless bureaucracy indefinitely. The copied page is immune to wear, water damage, and aging while stored in the armor.

Five scales appear as normal sheets of paper when removed, but they are covered in nonsense writing. The wielder may speak a request to the paper, and the gibberish disappears to reveal the written transcription of the spoken request. The scale must be given and accepted by a living, humanoid creature within 24 hours, at which time the recipient must see the writing (it need not understand it, but an illiterate target or one who doesn’t understand the language the letter is written in receives advantage on its save) and attempt a DC 17 Wisdom save or attempt to fulfill the written request as if affected by suggestion.

These scales cannot be reused or replaced once the request is put onto the paper.

The remaining ten removable scales have a 50% chance of being any one mundane legal document the wearer desires at a given time. The document is a perfect replica of the appropriate document for the time and region and unlikely to draw suspicion.

If suspicion is warranted, such as the wearer behaving suspiciously or an area under closed borders, then the wearer receives advantage to any Persuasion check made to convince someone of the document’s validity. These scales can be reused and replaced, but not if the wearer gives away or loses the document. For each scale not replaced, the chance to have the correct document needed drops by 5% until all the scales are gone.

The wearer of scales of endless bureaucracy has advantage on any Intelligence (History) or Wisdom (Insight) check pertaining directly to government laws or legal matters.

Missing scales have no effect on the armor’s functionality. If all removable scales are expended, the armor still functions as +1 scale mail and grants the skill advantages described above.