Rampager's Banded Pauldrons of the Lich

Rampager's Banded Pauldrons of the Lich cling to the shoulders like layered bone and iron, their banded leather stitched in arcs of ebony, riveted plates catching light with a dull gleam. A central ridge runs from collarbone to shoulder seam, where a bone-white crest—resembling a stylized skull—is embedded, etched with sigils that seem to shift when the torchlight hits them. The surface wears a patina from long campaigns, scratched with the fingerprints of scouts and necromancers who once wore them, the edges worn smooth as if the armor learned to hear every whisper in the field. In the whispers of the markets and the long corridors of memory, these pauldrons speak of a fallen order—the Lich’s Ward—an unlikely fellowship of scholars who chased echoes of power beyond mere flesh. The lore ties the armor to a time when wards and wards-in-spite-of-ward were stitched together by oath and omen. Some say a siege turned the plateau into dusk, and a single necromancer’s last breath pressed upon the metal, sealing both memory and curse into the curved plates. Others swear the sigils were not drawn by hands alone, but by a pact between bone and iron that survives the lapse of years, waiting for a wearer who can read the old language in the shine of a tarnished rivet. The pauldrons, then, are not mere armor but a conduit—both a relic and a responsibility, a story you wear at your shoulder as you move through streets, markets, and remote cairns where the dead seem to listen. That sense of history translates cleanly into gameplay. Put them on, and the world feels a little louder—your silhouette becomes a warning, and your strikes land with a determined edge. Rampager's pieces have long been favored by those who prize raw offense: boosted power and precision, with a ferocity that makes crits feel like small triumphs carved into the air. Wearing the Lich-touched version adds a shade of menace to every sprint and swing, a reminder that power in the field is never earned in isolation. They pair well with builds that lean into survivable aggression, letting you press into skirmishes with confidence as you trade blows with a hushed fanfare of bone and iron. In dungeons, expeditions, and even the wandering lanes outside settlements, the pauldrons serve not only as protection but as an amplifier of intent—the wearer’s will translated into a sharper, swifter motion. Market days add another layer to the tale. I’ve watched vendors at Saddlebag Exchange uncase a pristine set with patient hands, then haggle with a sense of community that makes price feel secondary to purpose. A storyteller might say the price tag shifts with the moon, but in truth the value lies in the story you’re willing to carry forward: the Lich’s crest, the patina, the weight that says you’ve walked through dust and danger to reach this moment. Those who seek a tangible connection to the past know to ask for the right left sleeve’s match, the same way a caravan and a tale are traded in the same breath. So the Rampager’s Banded Pauldrons of the Lich remain more than gear. They’re a chronicle pressed to the shoulder, a reminder that every battle is a chapter and every victory a continuation of a story that began long before the first blade sang.