This ring has two modes of operation-at night and underground-both of which work only in relative darkness. During night hours, under the open sky, the shooting stars ring will perform the following functions:
- Dancing lights (once an hour).
- Light, like the spell of the same name (twice a night), 120' range.
- Ball lightning, as the spell of the same name (once a night).
- Shooting stars (special).
The ball lightning function releases 1d4 balls of lightning, at the wearer's option. These glowing globes resemble dancing lights, and the ring wearer controls them as he or she would control dancing lights. These spheres have a 120' range and a four-round duration. They can be moved at 120' each round. Each sphere is about 3' in diameter, and any creature it touches or approaches within 5' dissipates its charge. (A successful save vs. spell halves damage-the contact was across an air gap.) The charge values are:
- 4 lightning halls 2d4 points damage each
- 3 lightning balls 2d6 points damage each
- 2 lightning balls 5d4 points damage each
- 1 lightning ball 4d12 points damage
Release can be one at a time or all at once, during the course of one round or as needed throughout the night. The shooting stars are glowing missiles with fiery trails, much like a meteor swarm. Three shooting stars can be released from the ring each week, simultaneously or one at a time. They impact for 12 points of damage and burst (as a fireball) in a 10' diameter sphere for 24 points of damage.
Any creature struck takes full damage from impact plus full damage from the shooting star burst. Creatures within the burst radius must roll a saving throw vs. spell to take only one-half damage (12 points of damage, otherwise they, too, receive the full 24 points of damage). Range is 70', at the end of which the burst will occur, unless an object or creature is struck before that. The shooting stars follow a straight-line path. A creature in the path must roll a saving throw vs. spell or be hit by the missile. Saving throws suffer a-3 penalty within 20' of the ring wearer, -1 from 21 to 40', normal beyond 40'.
Indoors at night, or underground, the ring of shooting stars has the following properties:
- Faerie fire (twice a day)-as the spell
- Spark shower (once a day)
The spark shower is a flying cloud of sizzling purple sparks, which fan out from the ring for a distance of 20' to a breadth of 10'. Creatures within this area take 2d8 points of damage each if no metal armor is worn and no metal weapons are held. Characters wearing metal armor or carrying a metal weapon receive 4d4 points of damage. Range, duration, and area of effect of functions are the minimums for the comparable spell unless otherwise stated. Casting time is 5.
In a Spelljammer Campaign: This ring always functions normally in space.