Wand of Orcus
- Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024), Page 320
- Artifact at DnD Beyond
The staff of the demon lord Orcus is perfect for those who have always wanted to command a horde of undead. However, in order to attune to it, you risk becoming a zombie yourself.
To prevent that, you must succeed on a Constitution saving throw of 17. If successful, you take 10D6 necrotic damage, but you can live unscathed and use the power of the artifact. If you fail, you die immediately and rise again as a zombie. But that may not be a bad thing. That’s certainly a matter of perspective.
Once attuned, you automatically gain +3 to your armor class as long as you wield it. Additionally, you have access to 6 powerful spells with 7 charges that you can use freely. If you are blessed by Orcus, you even use fewer charges when casting spells.
Like the Sword of Kas, the staff has a life of its own and can communicate telepathically with its bearer. The staff exists to fulfill Orcus’s wish to kill everything in the multiverse. Therefore, it is also particularly cruel, nihilistic, and humorless.
To achieve Orcus’s goals, the staff feigns devotion to its current bearer and makes grand promises that it has no intention of fulfilling. So be careful when you connect with it.
If you can handle it, the staff gives you the ability to summon 15 skeletons and 15 zombies once a day with a magical action. They follow your commands until you destroy them or the next morning begins.
If Orcus uses his staff himself, however, he can summon any undead that do not disappear the next day. So be wary if you want to confront him.
To destroy it, it must be brought to the Plane of Positive Energy by the ancient hero whose skull crowns it. For that to happen, the lost hero must first be resurrected.
That is easier said than done, as Orcus keeps the hero’s soul captive, and it is well hidden and guarded.
