sigurd
2009-05-01, 09:55 PM
Seen from the perspective of intelligent undead the living are often dangerous thieves. On returning to their haunts the lord vampire might find his walls torn down his henchman killed and his armory raided.
The living have taken dangerous knowledge and perhaps powerful weaponry while the lord was forced to rest.
Wouldn't a vampire sleep better by day if he knew that the mucking great sword in the hands of his servitors was possessed to kill those that would plunder it and use it against them?
If the item was powerful enough, binding a servant into it would be an acceptable loss of his day to day powers - s sacrifice to place an evil spirit within that might exact vengeance upon the plunderers or allow the item to be recovered?
I see three situations:
1. Desecration - the item is rendered evil and simply cannot be used by those who are not undead.
2. Subversion - the item is made treacherous and will kill its wielder or the wielders friends given the opportunity. It also might be easily found and recovered by the undead.
This might also be used upon the most valuable or tempting articles. A subverted dagger might become a bribe or even be sold as a trap for the unwary.
3. Corruption - The item is intimately reshaped by the undead evil. Removed from the tomb it rapidly deteriorates. Turning to powder at dawn or crumbling to dust on its first hit.
The alignment of the item
The typical target for this sort of curse would be items without intrinsic moral alignment. A holy scimitar would most likely resist corruption and\or be destroyed by this process. Unaligned items could either be aligned to evil by this process or obscure their new alignment for the sake of treachery.
Evil Ritual - Dark Consecration - Hero Biter
This ritual desecrates an unaligned magic weapon, infusing it with betrayal and faithless sorrow. By black arts the weapon is empowered to overcome its wielder and slay the wielder's family, loved ones, or allies.
The caster must sacrifice an amount of experience equal to the items creation cost and then overcome it's original nature. The experience sacrificed need not be the casters however. By this ritual rebuked undead can be made to posses the item. The item is driven into or buried with the casters servant who is consumed by the ritual.
With a successful ritual there is no change to the weapons aura.
I think I'd like to stay away from the idea of an artificer for the undead (Although that might make an interesting PRC). Rather I see a creature with so much control over its minions that it can infuse whats left of their souls into items as a damning enchantment.
Its certainly an npc and very likely a do it yourself sort of path. Secrecy for the cursed items would make it unlikely that the one aiding the crypt defense would be allowed to leave.
The living have taken dangerous knowledge and perhaps powerful weaponry while the lord was forced to rest.
Wouldn't a vampire sleep better by day if he knew that the mucking great sword in the hands of his servitors was possessed to kill those that would plunder it and use it against them?
If the item was powerful enough, binding a servant into it would be an acceptable loss of his day to day powers - s sacrifice to place an evil spirit within that might exact vengeance upon the plunderers or allow the item to be recovered?
I see three situations:
1. Desecration - the item is rendered evil and simply cannot be used by those who are not undead.
2. Subversion - the item is made treacherous and will kill its wielder or the wielders friends given the opportunity. It also might be easily found and recovered by the undead.
This might also be used upon the most valuable or tempting articles. A subverted dagger might become a bribe or even be sold as a trap for the unwary.
3. Corruption - The item is intimately reshaped by the undead evil. Removed from the tomb it rapidly deteriorates. Turning to powder at dawn or crumbling to dust on its first hit.
The alignment of the item
The typical target for this sort of curse would be items without intrinsic moral alignment. A holy scimitar would most likely resist corruption and\or be destroyed by this process. Unaligned items could either be aligned to evil by this process or obscure their new alignment for the sake of treachery.
Evil Ritual - Dark Consecration - Hero Biter
This ritual desecrates an unaligned magic weapon, infusing it with betrayal and faithless sorrow. By black arts the weapon is empowered to overcome its wielder and slay the wielder's family, loved ones, or allies.
The caster must sacrifice an amount of experience equal to the items creation cost and then overcome it's original nature. The experience sacrificed need not be the casters however. By this ritual rebuked undead can be made to posses the item. The item is driven into or buried with the casters servant who is consumed by the ritual.
With a successful ritual there is no change to the weapons aura.
I think I'd like to stay away from the idea of an artificer for the undead (Although that might make an interesting PRC). Rather I see a creature with so much control over its minions that it can infuse whats left of their souls into items as a damning enchantment.
Its certainly an npc and very likely a do it yourself sort of path. Secrecy for the cursed items would make it unlikely that the one aiding the crypt defense would be allowed to leave.