When discovered, a helm of brilliance appears to be nothing more than an ordinary piece of armor for head protection, viz. a helmet, basinet, sallet, etc. of iron or steel. 

When worn, it functions only upon the utterance of a special command word. When so empowered the true nature of the helm is visible to all. 

The helm is armor of +2 value. It is of brilliant silver and polished steel, and set with 10 diamonds, 20 rubies, 30 fire opals, and 40 opals — each of large size and magicked — which perform as explained below. 

When struck by bright light the helm will scintillate and send forth reflective rays in all directions from its crown-like spikes set with gems. The jewels' functions are:

Each gem can perform its spell-like power in but 1 segment, but each is usable only once. The helm may be thus used once per round. The level of the spell is doubled to obtain the level at which the spell was cast with respect to range, duration, and such considerations.

Until all of its jewels are magically expended, a helm of brilliance also is capable of the following magical properties when activated:

Once all of its jewels have lost their magic, the helm loses all of its powers. The gems turn to worthless powder when this occurs. Removing a jewel destroys the gem. They may not be re-magicked.

If for any reason the wearer fails to make his or her saving throw versus a magical fire attack, he or she must attempt another saving throw for the helmet without magical additions. If this is failed, the remaining gems on the helm will all overload and detonate, causing in multiple whatever effects the gems would normally have.