ulfberht creation

[Adhar]

Im running a Norse based pathfinder campaign. I have taken the ulfberht which was much superior to normal viking era swords a different route. Instead of being well crafted swords im adding that a smith invokes the will of thor or one of the other norse gods that sends some kind of power into the crafting process. So im hitting a road block with what kind of items should be sacrificed and what kind f ritual should the pc go through?

[TheFamilarRaven]

It sounds like a "special weapon" category magic item. I'm imagining a minimum +1 weapon, with either the Thundering property or the shocking property (or both, because maybe there is a Greater Ulfberht. The wielder is also able to cast Divine Power, or similar effect, with the caster level equaling the creator's caster level of course.

Now as for what items need sacrificing, i Would argue that the standard method of creation would be sufficient. I.e, total up the market price using the rules for doing so.

Not happy with that? then I would say the smith needs to temper the sword with Jotun blood, and must perform the ritual on top of a mountain in the middle of a storm.

[Debihuman]

First, you could say that all ulfberht are masterwork weapons.

Then you could determine that some might be magical in nature, but that would depend on how your campaign handles magic. What would invoking the name of Thor actually entail? This could be a minor placation to a deity for luck so these would gain a temporary +1 morale bonus to attack and damage for the wielder of the weapon for example. Norse gods are almost as fickle as Greek gods. Thor's blessing might need to be renewed before every battle for example. If the wielder is an actual follower of Thor, the bonus might include a bonus to saves against fear as well.

Debby

[Adhar]

its a moderate magic level campaign. and the ulfberht is supposed to be of a extreme quality so normal magic weapon creation feats and cost are being ignored infavor of story and pc religion. the main idea im runing with is a rite that would get Thor or another Norse god to supply the magic and stamp the inlaid name of Ulfberht to the blade. the sacrifice is supposed to gain favor with the gods. the Norse prefer to sacrifice in threes to match the three sacrifice holidays so most of the time things are sacrificed in mulitples of 3. so i was thinking since a PC of mine wants to make the ulfberht he would have to sacrifice 3 precious gems, 3 hides of great beasts (predatory animals) killed by him and then i draw a blank. there needs to be a third item besides the mats for the sword to be crafted.

after the ritual and items are sacrified the pc would craft a master work sword and for example if thor gives favor he would strike the weapon being forged with his hammer once giving it the magical abilities which will be done at random using the moderate or high chart for random weapon abilties. also i am really bad about coming up with rituals so i need some ideas besides just saying oh you pray and drink mushroom tea for 3 days.

my pc's are loving how much of the old norse culture im using which is why im doing this instead of just following item creation rules.

heres a link to the historical ulfberht if that helps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulfberht

[Stellar_Magic]

Well if you're making them so that they're basically blessed by a deity... or at least partially made by one, then you're talking about something at least in the 'Artifact' category of magical items. I'm imagining a lightning bolt coming down on the newly forged blade and transforming it somewhat.

As a general rule, I'd have it so such artifacts have an alignment in line with the deity helping in their forging and therefore would often times be intelligent. So an Ulfberht that has been blessed by Thor has his general alignment. At the same time it should have qualities in line with the deity (Thor? Bonus sonic and electrical damage). It would also require very specific circumstances to destroy (can only be sundered by a follower of Loki?)

Look at some example artifacts and change them up to fit the Norse Ulfberht... At least that's what I'd suggest.

[super dark33]

Well, its nothing more than a masterwork longsword.

[Debihuman]

ts a moderate magic level campaign. and the ulfberht is supposed to be of a extreme quality so normal magic weapon creation feats and cost are being ignored in favor of story and PC religion.

This is the problem with homebrew that doesn't follow the rules. It's not something that can be adequately judged. My inclination is that it should either be a masterwork longsword with a fancy name or make it a true magical item. This is just feeding the Monty Haul campaign otherwise and adds to the power creep that is already too easy to access. I am not a fan of it under any circumstances.

Debby

[enderlord99]

Ingelrii are better.:smalltongue: