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DireSickFish
2015-01-19, 12:15 PM
Hey Playground I've got an idea that I need help fleshing out. I want ways to make evil weapons. As in the components of the weapon or the method of crafting it can only be obtained in cruel ways.

The only thing I have right now is using blood to cool the steel when forging, or killing a person with the blade each time you need to cool it.

What other sorts of methods/materials would make for an evil weapon?

mr_odd
2015-01-19, 12:26 PM
Hilts/Leather can be made out of skin.

Jacque
2015-01-19, 12:32 PM
I once read a description of a sword that was made of iron extracted from human bodies. Most well-nourished people in industrialized countries have 4 to 5 grams of iron in their bodies, so that takes a lot of poor innocent victims.

hymer
2015-01-19, 01:15 PM
How magical can this be?
The metal could come from ore mined by slaves under appalling conditions. Maybe the mine is so dangerous that nobody goes there voluntarily. The bellows could likewise be worked by someone in distress; I'm thinking someone chained to it, who is informed that each mistake or break means a dead relative, and dying on the job brings another family member to take over on the same conditions.

Decorative gems could contain souls. Sentient swords could be melted down to be used. Ivory from a unicorn or other material from very noble or highly endangered species could go into the onstruction.

GorinichSerpant
2015-01-19, 01:16 PM
It's whetstone must be a skull that has been dripped in blood and frozen solid.

The part of the handle that is usually wood is made of bone.

And obviously you bind all the souls of the people you used to the weapon.

chadmeister
2015-01-19, 01:31 PM
Bones, gotta make your weapons from bones, preferably extracted from still-living sentients.

BWR
2015-01-19, 01:56 PM
In general, it depends on how evil and how esoteric you want to get. Simple quenching in blood and tears is a start - the more powerful the creature the fluids are taken from, the more powerful the resulting weapon. Then you can go for things like the despair of angels, the last breath of a good god, the anger of demons, the time of death of good race, etc.

L5R has the Anvil of Despair, an anvil made by sacrificing a clan of people to create it. Some rumors claim it was based on the head of a powerful demon, clad in flesh and fire, coated with solid hate in the form of metal from a powerful god. More reliable sources claim it's mostly normal metal infused with demonic blood from the most powerful demon lord ever. Others claim the trapped souls of the sacrificed clan - in constant pain - help create magical resonance in whatever is forged on it. Whatever the truth, it has been used to make some of the most powerful and nasty weapons in the setting.

DireSickFish
2015-01-19, 02:05 PM
How magical can this be?


Magical is fine. The situation I was thinking of is an armorsmiths son goes full psycho and kills his family to craft a murderblade. Make it a murder mystery with it not clear that the kid is responsible from the get-go. But I think it's an interesting topic in general, so any ideas are welcome.

For example the forced labor miners is nto workable in my situation but is an awesome idea if I want to scale it up for a later big bad keeping a running theme thought the game.

WrittenInBlood
2015-01-19, 02:39 PM
Another idea for later: there are stories (don't know how well documented) about people who, while being subject of exorcisms, weep, spit up or give off through their skin iron nails, spikes and other sharp metal things. Considering effort required to collect enough and its fiendish origin, this material should ping strongly on any Evil-o-meter around.

Wow, I'm not a lurker anymore :smallcool:

Honest Tiefling
2015-01-19, 02:41 PM
What if it isn't the materials, but the blade itself that is evil? For instance, it becomes more and more powerful with each life it takes. Now, you could take that sucker into battle with you, but wouldn't it be slightly tempting to kill a few villages before taking it into a situation where you might die. Or a blade that only becomes magical if you kill someone who trusts you first.

ExLibrisMortis
2015-01-19, 02:44 PM
Well, the Book of Vile Darkness (p. 33) contains the following:

"Each soul is the equivalent of 10 experience points needed to create an item. When the creator finishes making the magic item, it is tainted with lasting evil [...]"

In other words, even a moderately powerful magical item can consume hundreds of souls. You could make a ring of three wishes out of a small 1600 souls, or max out your inherent bonuses for a measly 15.000 souls...

Angel Bob
2015-01-19, 08:32 PM
Disease comes to mind as an especially nasty way to power a weapon. Release a vile and unstoppable pestilence on a defenseless people, wipe out an entire kingdom, and then seal the pathogens inside your weapon to instill it with dread power.

If you want a slightly more personal touch, go for cruel irony and twists of fate: kill an angel with its own weapon; forge the weapon out of metals looted from a plundered temple; polymorph a person into a weapon, use them to kill their friends, and tap into the power of their grief and madness; and so on and so forth...