Sacrificial Dagger(Item)

[mikoto]

Sacrificial Dagger
Minor Artifact

This is a +3 silver dagger.
When used to perform a coup de grace on a creature, it allows a cleric to apply a +1 caster level bonus to any spell she casts within the next 8 hours.Only a cleric of an evil deity may use it in this fashion. The effects of the sacrifices are cumulative. Certain creatures may grant additional casler level bonuses, ie a cleric of Gruumsh may get a +2 bonus when killing an elf while a cleric of Hextor may get the same bonus for sacrificing worshippers of Heironus(sp?). Certain prominent individuals may grant even larger bonuses(The king of the elves or the High Priest of Heironus).

the high priests of the more powerful deities would have one. And only the cleric of the deity that made it could use it.

Each deities knife would be different. On top of each knife having the holy symbol on it, the would differ also. Example: the knife of Vecna might be a thin stilleto while the knife of Erythnul might be a thick and heavy knife.

[Lord Iames Osari]

What kind of bonus does the dagger grant, and to what? Caster level? Save DC? Both?

[mikoto]

Caster level(range, duration, damage ect)

[Eighth_Seraph]

You might want to edit the description to state that. The item is beautifully simple, but it requires fluff. What is the history behind this dagger? Why is it so powerful? Why can it be used by worshippers of different deities for different purposes with the same effect? Fluff is what makes a weapon, and if you want some help with that, I've got my fluffing hands on.

[mikoto]

I was thinking that the high priests of the more powerful deities would have one. And only for the cleric of the deity that made it

[Eighth_Seraph]

Again, you can use the 'Edit' function to specify that in the original post, so if this thread gets big, we don't have to look through all the posts to find out what the dagger does. Now, maybe this thing should have a cap on the bonus. I can definitely see an evil cleric cause a blanket sleep effect to capture a whole bunch of kobolds and then kepp 'em in hold until he has about three dozen of them, then prepare a whole bunch of Word of Chaos or Blasphemy spells, sacrifice all of them and then be able to kill every creature within an entire enemy city. Or instead of that, prepare enough Mass Inflict Serious Wounds to make sure everyone in the city is unconcious, then save them for the next group of sacrifices. That's just for a pure cleric. Imagine a semi-epic wizard with a single cleric level casting disintigrate on a castle wall. Now if that was the kind of potential you wre going for, Mikoto, then you want to change this to a major artifact; if not then you'll be wanting to give it a cap on how high you can pump up your caster level, or specify that it can only be divine spells that are enhanced.

[fangthane]

Looks good as far as balance generally ,with the 8-hour limit and the fact it's only a bonus to caster-level for spells being cast, not for the purposes of preparation or anything else. Most spells with damage dice already have a cap built-in so all this allows is a bit of maximisation there.

I do think the fluff should explicitly mention that the appearance of these daggers varies greatly according to the deity to which the specific blade is consecrated; I'd think at minimum such a deity would require that his/her/its symbol be on such a weapon, at the very least, and likely a far more expressive sign of its dedication.