[Divine] Artifact - Witherstep

These boots are a fragment of Brodduix the Dustcaller, worn by a worthy champion of the God of Earth and Decay. The boots hold no ill will or intent towards the living; it exists only as a necessary part of the cycle's eternal push and pull. Champions bestowed with these boots seek to return all things to their original natural state — scattered among stones as part of the earth.

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Witherstep
Wondrous item, artifact (requires attunement)

To attune to these boots, you must wear them and spend the duration of the attunement period partially buried in natural earth or darkness. If you are not a follower of Brodduix, you must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom (Nature) check to attune to the boots. On a failure, you take 4d8 necrotic damage.

Envoy. While you are an Envoy of Brodduix, the boots grant the following benefits:

• You become proficient with the Nature skill if you aren’t already.
• While you wear these boots, you can use an action to gain tremorsense out to 30 feet until the end of your turn. You leave behind a noticeable trail of decay with each step.
• While you wear these boots, you can cast bane, ray of enfeeblement, or spike growth from them (spell save DC 13; +5 to hit). Once you use the boots to cast a spell, that spell can't be cast from it until the next dusk.

Herald. While you are a Herald of Brodduix, the boots grant the following additional benefits:

• The saving throw DC for the boot's DC spells increases to 15. The boots' spell bonus to hit increases to +7. While you wear these boots, you can also cast blight from it. As normal, once you use the boots to cast a spell, that spell can't be cast from it until the next dusk.
• You have resistance to necrotic damage. Whenever you take necrotic damage, you can use your reaction to disperse it to all creatures and nonmagical plants within 5 feet of you, forcing them to them to take necrotic damage equal to the damage you took unless they succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw.

Champion. While you are a Champion of Brodduix, the boots grant the following additional benefits:

• The saving throw DC for the boot's DC spells and necrotic dispersal increases to 17. The boots' spell bonus to hit increases to +9.
• The range of your tremorsense increases to 60 feet.
• Whenever you walk with these boots on, you can choose to spend 10 additional feet of movement for every 5 feet moved to infuse your steps with divine sigils. The sigils form a trail of decay that fade after 1 minute. When you form a closed circle with this trail before it fades, you can immediately use a bonus action to activate the sigils and fill the area with decay. This decay lasts for 1 minute or until you take this bonus action again. For the duration, a creature that starts its turn in the area must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 4d8 necrotic damage on a failed save or half as much on a success. Additionally, nonmagical plants in the area instantly die; nonmagical materials decay or rust as if a week has passed for it.

Destroying the Boots. To destroy Witherstep, they must be brought to an archelesh, a colossal plant titan, and absorbed into its body. The boots periodically casts blight on the archelesh to escape this predicament. If the archelesh captures the boots for a continuous 24 hours, the boots finally crumble into golden dust.

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DESIGN COMMENTARY

It's actually kinda hard to name things that haven't already been taken by Brando Sando. Anyways, Brodduix made his debut in Unearthed Gems as a God of the Earth, later combined with decay.

I modeled these boots after the Greek god sandals, kinda like Hermes', but I still call them "boots" because it's cooler. If I went back again, I'd probably add a little more gold design above the boots, just so there's more structure and interesting silhouette.

The boots start out strong with tremorsense, though not usable in battle as it requires an action. The real cool benefit comes later: the ability to deal damage when you walk a circle around creatures (at a slower pace). Very simple, strong, and adds a dimension of position to battles.