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quotemyname
2007-03-24, 01:15 PM
I am hoping to take a different route to this contest. I am assuming that many of the entries will be individual characters or NPC's or even organizations. My Entry, 'The Seeing Sword', is a weapon.

The Seeing Sword -

The Sword looks like nothing more than a long sword with an intricatly carved hilt. However, the blade of this weapon is polished to such a point that it acts as a very clear mirror. The blade will never dull or recieve any scratches due to any overuse or any other adverse influences.

In reality, The Seeing Sword is actually a powerful magic item. Periodically (at DM's discression) the sword will vibrate furiously in its scabbard (or wherever it currently rests). If the wielder of the blade gazes into the blade's reflective surface, they can see briefly into another time and place. The blade ceases to act as a mirror, and instead acts as a sort of scrying tool.

This sword has the power to see IMPORTANT events. These events may be ones that lead the observer to new discoveries about thier current goals/quests, or simply important world events that are occuring. In this way, the wielder of the blade truly cannot tell whether the events displayed in the blade are meant specifically to help him, or if they are just what is happening in the world around him.

The events displayed in the blade are as likely to lead the viewer to an important discovery about their current quest, as they are to lead him unwittingly into an ambush. The reason is this: The blade has the power to display events that are both happening at that time, or will happen in the near future. The events displayed in the blade may be as clear or vague as the DM wishes them to be. The character may see a man being attacked, but may see only his silouette and not be able to distinguish his identity. One thing is certain however, the viewer is always left with a sense of WHERE these events are happening, or will happen.

For example: A paladin that wields the Seeing Sword gazes into its blade after it vibrates, and sees a man traveling a wide open road on his horse. He cannot make out any features of the man, or the horse, only that it is a man riding a horse. The figures appear as a black silouette to him. As the man rides towards a large town, the sword show a group of bandits hiding along the side of the road. The paladin watches, horrified, as the Bandits attack, and overrun their unwitting victim.

After the vision, the paladin gets a sense that this occurance took place somewhere to the north. He journeys for a week northward, and finally finds himself on a wide open road approaching the same town that he saw in the blade of his sword. He discovers the partially decayed body of a merchant and his horse to the side of the road, and goes on to avenge the innocent man's death.

OR: After the vision, the paladin gets a sense that this occurance took place somewhere to the north. He journeys for a week northward, and finally finds himself on a wide open road approaching the same town that he saw in the blade of his sword. As he rides slowly looking for some sign of a man that was attacked here, he is ambushed by the Bandits. As he is overrun, he realizes that it was himself that he saw in the blade. He could not make out the features of the man, because it was his death he was seeing, and the blade had led him straight into it. He has become the silouette on the horse that was attacked by the bandits that he saw.

Once the sword has vibrated and shown a series of events, it constantly draws the wielder towards the location of these events. It may not vibrate or display any more events in its blade until the wielder either journeys to the location of the previous event, or relinquishes the blade to another willing recipiant, or the wielder is killed. If the blade is stolen or else unwillingly relinquished, it will never vibrate untill it is back in the hands of its previous owner (with the exception of that user being killed).

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Nitty Gritty: I fully intend for the Seeing Sword to be an important quest item gained by the characters near the beginning of the campaign. For this reason i will leave out most of the item creation requirements, and market price. It is not my intent for spellcasters to be able to craft this weapon, or PC's to be able to purchase this weapon. It is one of a kind, and can only be found.

The Seeing Sword: +1 - +3 long sword (as per DM), the wielder is constantly under the effects of a Know Direction spell, but only in relation to the events that he has seen in the sword. He is able at all times to feel himself being pulled towards the location. The wielder feels this pull until he journeys to the spot at which the events displayed in the sword occured. When gazing into the blade and seeing the events displayed, the wielder is under the effects of a true seeing spell. (limited by the amount of information the blade wishes to disclose to the wielder)

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Official contest stuff:

This is my first submission to the GITP contests. This makes me eligable for the Rookie award.

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Friendly Stuff:

Please let me know what you think of my post!

HealytheHealslime
2007-03-26, 02:22 PM
Well, it certainly is a nice entry, but it doesn't seem to be connected very well to the Tears of Blood setting, especially when you compare it to other entries in this contest. If you ask me, you should go over your entry and the project bible (as it were) and see how it could be better implemented in the setting. Right now I think it could be used in just about any setting, frankly.

Of course, this is just my opinion, and I'm probably being too harsh anyways :/

Meat Shield
2007-03-27, 08:45 AM
I'm afraid I have to agree with Healy. I am not seeing anything to tie this weapon to the Tears of Blood campaign. Definitely a good item to base campaigns off of, but not specifically for the ToB.

quotemyname
2007-03-27, 08:50 AM
Yea... at the time that i wrote it, i did not have time to review the ToB setting. I had used something like this in a home game, and i just kinda porting it over, wanting to show off one of my better ideas. The allowance being that it CAN be used in any campaign. Hopefully before this contest ends ill have the time for a revision, although it seems kind of unlikely owing to a reasearch paper that i have due in like a week :/

soylentplaid
2007-04-03, 06:57 AM
I really like it. It's just the sort of thing that players would crave as a source of easy side quests, only to end up shafted by a misread vision because they got greedy. Very nice stuff.