Figurine of wondrous power

A figurine of wondrous power was a small magical statuette ranging in size from that of a grown man's hand to the size of a little finger and similar in shape to the extra-planar creature that it turned into.

Powers
These rare items transformed into many types of bestial planar creatures that understood Common and followed the orders of the wielder of the statuette. These creatures were called by the name given to the creature upon the item's creation. They couldn't reside on the Prime Material Plane for large amounts of time and therefore were bound by the figurines to return to their home planes to rest after a set amount of time on the prime.

If the creature was slain while on this plane, it would revert back to statuette form and live on, but if the statuette was destroyed the item became worthless and lost all enchantment. Depending on the strength of the enchantment, this artifact's effects should be permanent unless passed through an anti-magic field, which could disrupt the base structure of any magic item.

Known Types

 * Black ice beholder : A figurine corrupted and twisted by black ice, this transformed into a beholder and reverted to figurine form in a violent explosion after 10 seconds.
 * Black spider figurine : Transformed into a giant green spider, called Kitthix, for five minutes once a day.
 * Blue quartz eagle : Transformed into an eagle for 24 hours per tenday.
 * Bronze griffon : Transformed into a griffon twice per week for 6 hours per use.
 * Coral dolphin : Transformed into an especially intelligent dolphin twice per tenday for 4 hours per use.
 * Ebony fly : Transformed into a fly the size of a pony three times per week for 12 hours per use.
 * Golden lions : Usually found as a pair, these transformed into two male lions once per day for an hour. If slain, they could not be brought back for a week.
 * Ivory goats : Usually found as a trio of items. Each one turned into a large goat with differing abilities.
 * Jasper spider : Transformed into a giant spider for up to 12 hours. This spider can be ridden by human-sized creatures.
 * Marble elephant : Transformed into an elephant four times a month for 24 hours per use.
 * Obsidian steed : Transformed into a lesser type of nightmare once a week for one continuous use of up to 24 hours. There was a chance it would take good-aligned riders to one of the Lower Planes.
 * Onyx dog : Transformed into a riding dog once per week for 6 hours.
 * Red boar : Transformed into an infernal boar, used as war mount.
 * Sardonyx stone flyer : Transformed into an adult stone flyer that could be ridden. The stone flyer persisted for up to one hour, each day.
 * Serpentine owl : Transformed into an owl or a giant owl once per day for eight continuous hours, however it would only ever transform into the giant owl three times.
 * Silver raven : Transformed into a raven for 24 hours a week.

Unique Figurines

 * Cassius: a wolf figurine with the name Cassius carved on its side.
 * Guenhwyvar: a statuette that summoned its creature rather than transformed into it. This could be due to the strange circumstances of its creation and the uniqueness of the beast, a particularly intelligent and powerful panther. She could be summoned by calling her name to the black onyx figurine, for up to twelve hours of every 48-hour period. Although it was possible for her to be summoned for longer than that or before the cycle of 48 hours began again, it was very draining and probably unwise to do so. Guenhwyvar also had the power to transport any creature she touched to and from her astral home or to the Ethereal Plane.
 * Howlite manticore: A figurine owned by Maready that was white in coloration, but had black veins. It transformed into a manticore for a comparable amount of time to a marble elephant.
 * Ivory steed: a figurine of wondrous power that dated to as eery as 350 DR and belonged to the once undead paladin of Tyr, Miltiades.

Appearances

 * Video Games
 * Warriors of Waterdeep