(Repost)Eladrin weapon as broken key?

[MonkeySage]

Originally posted in homebrew, but if the sword is in pieces i suppose it doesn't serve well in combat.

I'm playing around with the idea of a sword or other weapon that is currently in pieces, a weapon that was once used by a Ghaele or other eladrin. That the weapon serves as a key, and the eladrin shattered it to prevent it from being used to open the door it's intended for. The two villain sides are both after this weapon. One of the villains wants to keep it's existence hidden from the other, who wants to use it. The players may act as unwitting pawns to fetch the pieces of this weapon/key for the one that wants to use it. Any ideas?

[Stux]

Just because it is broken, doesn't mean it couldn't make a decent weapon with some fiat.

For example, say it is a massive greatsword that no normal mortal would be able to wield anyway. The shards might be large enough to be used as sword blades in their own right, with new hilt attached to it. Different sized pieces used in different ways even. The individual pieces could still have enough magic in them to make the shard weapons pretty deadly in their own right.

[MonkeySage]

So a large Holy Greatsword +4, broken into pieces by the very beings that forged it... I'm wondering if the mere fact that the greatsword was magical to begin with factors in... It didn't start out as a key, but i'm thinking some sort of ritual transformed it into such. It doesn't open a physical door, but rather it's a means by which a certain obyrith can be set free from her abyssal prison... (For the purpose of my plot, a simple gate spell is not enough to do this)

[Stux]

There is no mechanical precedent for breaking up a magic weapon in to other smaller magic weapons, but it seems like a pretty cool setup for a campaign. I don't see any reason why you couldn't rule that this artefact is a special case.

Brainstorming here - feel free to use any of this:

Perhaps the sword originally belonged to a legendary Solar (large, explaining the sword's size), who battled your Obyrith centuries ago. At the climax of the epic battle they came face to face and fought in single combat for days. They fought to the point where both were near death. Fearing that he may be defeated, the Solar was able to use the last of his power (they have access to wish, so plenty of scope for fiat) to create a dead magic demi-plane, so once inside the Obyrith could not use its powers, and no one could gate in to the demi-plane either. The only way to enter the demi-plane was at the point where it connected to the plane where the battle was fought.

With the Obyrith's minions approaching fast, the Solar had no choice but to bull rush the Obyrith in to the plane. To keep the Obyrith from leaving, the Solar had to block the connecting portal with his body. He then ordered his Aasimar lieutenants to take up his own sword and use it to drain his essence from his body, thereby transforming his body in to a permanent barrier between the planes. This barrier could only be broken by returning the Solar's essence to his body, by plunging the sword back in to the barrier. This would only work with the complete essence of the Solar, so to prevent it from happening the lieutenants broke the sword and each took a piece.

Over the centuries that followed the lieutenants had scattered, fighting evil in different planes including the material plane. Some of the shards ended up in the hands of mortals, totally oblivious to their true origin, becoming family heirlooms and such.

[MonkeySage]

Love the ideas you're givin me so far(starting with the greatsword itself). I can tweak smaller details, but the general ideas are really good. My main reason for saying "eladrin" is cause the demon is Pale Night, so I still need to find a large sized type of eladrin that would fit the bill. I found a couple in the book of exalted deeds, but I probably would want to avoid that book if possible... I could downsize the sword but I like the idea of it being large sized. Hmm, any suggestions for where I might find a decent source on large sized eladrin?

I figure also, it could potentially be used as a weapon by the cleric, assuming he's willing to take the penalties for using a large weapon(he's the group's tank, surprisingly enough. Cleared a whole room full of goblin warriors in the dungeon i worked so hard on earlier today XD He's still level 1).


(Incidentally, I'm also looking for a good prestige class for mr. tanky cleric... he asked, and i'm wracking my brain for ideas. He's Kordian)

[Stux]

Ruby Knight Vindicator is always good for a cleric that wants to get stuck in. Technically you need to worship Wee Jas, but no reason you can't re-fluff it.

I believe the only published Eladrin are the two in the MM, which are medium, and those in the BoED. Perhaps you could still have a Solar champion leading an army of Eladrin?

[Vertharrad]

At 16hd the Ghaele Eladrin becomes large...

[shaikujin]

Use a Weapon of Legacy (from the book Weapons of Legacy). Say a +5 Flaming great sword.

Assign some of the original weapon bonus/abilities as mutable legacies. For example +4 comes from one component, and flaming comes from another component.

Components can be anything, eg pommel, hand basket, cross piece, holy symbol that fits into a depression in the blade, strips of leather tied to the cross piece etc etc.

Remove these components to turn it into a +1 great sword.

Have players find the broken components, then get a smith repair/reforge the components so that they can be added back to the sword again, making it "whole".

You can break it up into more components. Which you dole out to the players according to their levels so that they can have repaired a piece at a time. Allows it to scale towards your game.

There you have it. DnD rules for the quinessential "reforging a broken legendary sword" story telling.