Corsair14
2016-11-29, 10:54 AM
I have given one of my characters(a barbarian) a daemon weapon. Now I am coming up with ideas for what it does. Initially it will not be super powerful but will gain power as the character levels with it. Here is my rough draft on it. Many of the abilities are arbitrary based on what the DM wants. I am a full believer in the DM making things up on the fly to reflect a changing situation, I drive rules lawyers up the wall, its my playground. Note my combats are usually fairly vicious and it isn't uncommon at all for half of them to be on the ground or barely standing when its over.
Draknalfiegn’kaljur-Delrago’Benolch-Karadeign-polifican
An ancient two handed sword imbued by the fae with an imprisoned powerful daemon. Was done in an ancient war to combat the daemon. The sword travels between owners eventually deciding whether the owner is worthy to carry it. It has been known to purposely fail its owner in order to be possessed by a more worthy opponent. It has very little ability to communicate with its owner and its doubtful the owner with notice anything odd about it outside of its exquisite workmanship and the nigh unreadable glowing runes(you need an ancient fae to read it) on the blade. Owner cannot willingly part with the weapon. Leaving the immediate area of the sword will send it back to its owner in a scabbard if need be.
When first encountered it calls out to the character it(the DM) chooses. If player doesn’t voluntarily go pick it up the calling is more powerful and player needs a DC13 wisdom save to avoid picking it up and suddenly realizing how awesome the sword is and after the first fight he has no clue what he ever did without it.
General benefits-
Sword when obtained is a +1 great sword. For every three levels gained with its use it gains an additional +1.
If a fumble is rolled weapon will be thrown, but upon the player’s next turn it reappears in his hand and player will drop any secondary weapon to the ground to take it. Will never take damage from a fumble.(In my game a fumble throws the weapon across the room or in the case of a missile weapon used against something in melee will hit a friendly.)
Character has a bonus +2 for any horror or fear checks they are forced to make.(I do ravenloft horror checks)
Gains a +2 bonus on saves vs any kind of spell that holds, charms, or entangles. The spell entangle does not work at all and the vines and roots will wither as the character passes.
After possessing the weapon for a level, if the carrier is knocked out he recovers as if rolling a 20 on a 19 and 20.
While it doesn’t grant the owner alertness, if the player gets to roll to see if surprised he gets a +2 to the roll.
Negatives-
It is a jealous weapon and will not tolerate other weapons outside of a dagger or hand axe in the owner’s possession. They will subtly think to get rid of or drop any other weapons. It allows the hand axe and dagger as they can both be used as tools and it doesn’t want to be just another tool.
It instills a massive dislike of missile weapons on its owner and it hates such opponents to include enemy offensive casters and believes them to be highly dishonorable. In battle once wounded by a ranged weapon or spell, a Wisdom check at DC 10 must be made or the character will make a beeline towards any missile or offensive magic user and will attack with Relentless attack. If character is in a Rage(barbarian) this roll is automatically failed. If an opponent is in the way he will hack them down with relentless attack and ignore the risks of attacks of opportunity. However so brutal and fearsome is the charge that AOOs do not gain advantage as he goes by.
Feelings of possession-The sword will never fully take over the carrier. It does however begin to guide them with feelings and impulses that get stronger the longer the weapon stays in the owner’s care.
Essentially this is the old devil and angel on the shoulders routine except the angel is getting progressively weaker.
1-2 levels- if a moral choice comes up the carrier gets a strong urge to do the more bloody or brutal option and gets a feeling of satisfaction if that option is taken.
3-4 levels-If a moral choice comes up the carrier gets a very strong impulse. To do the bloody or brutal option. Gains +1 wisdom for the day if he chooses the sword’s preferred choice and feels this was the wise thing to do(word it according to the situation). Character will steadfastly defend his choice.
5-6 levels- If a moral choice comes up carrier not only gets a strong impulse, he must make a wisdom check at DC 10 or do the brutal option. Gains +1 Wis and +1 strength for the day.
7-8 levels- same as above but with DC 13 and so on.
Fae and magical woodland creatures react negatively to the player.
General Info
The sword is not cursed so remove curse will not remove it. The sword instead bonds with the soul of the user. Some sort of very high level anti-daemon spell has a chance of severing the bond between the sword and user as will wish and limited wish. A spell that destroys the sword will release the daemon(pit fiend or other very high level daemon) who then goes on a rampage before returning to his home plane. Note that the owner will never voluntarily allow any of this to happen. A high level (intentionally arbitrary) lawful good Knight or cleric can resist the bond for short amounts of time but need to make wisdom checks at DC13 once a day after the first day of having it on their person.
Player will start to distrust anyone who says the sword is bad and will think they want to possess the sword for themselves. After only a level of ownership if there is an attempt to forcefully remove the weapon, player rolls a wisdom check at DC 20. Failure means he will fight to protect it with it appearing in his hands, passing means he recognizes his friends and will try to stand down.
The owner never realizes the sword is sentient. It never directly speaks to him but instead guides his emotions and judgement and thinks them their own. This can eventually shift his alignment towards evil. Sword is lawful evil by nature but will hint that the user should go after the most powerful opponent they can within reason. The sword is not suicidal usually and won’t just send the bearer against an opponent he cannot win against.
At night every few nights the owner will dream about being in a battle on another plane of existence against three or four CR(owners level) daemons. He is not expected to win. On the off chance that he does, bump his strength up by +1 until his next battle dream. In the fight the player gets all of his normal powers and abilities. When he awakens he awakens as if from a normal long rest. A particularly good fight might result in a new scar he never noticed before.
Consult with the player to see his characters long term goals. Another dream he might have is a particularly vivid dream of completing his lifetime goal, sword in hand, possibly a battle to achieve this that he will win. It is possible the dream might give hints or insights to the campaign’s goals as well. Makes a useful story arc crutch if the PCs get off track or are lost.
Once I figure out what kind of daemon to stick in there I might add some other abilities, mostly purely cosmetic changes that might affect social encounters.
Draknalfiegn’kaljur-Delrago’Benolch-Karadeign-polifican
An ancient two handed sword imbued by the fae with an imprisoned powerful daemon. Was done in an ancient war to combat the daemon. The sword travels between owners eventually deciding whether the owner is worthy to carry it. It has been known to purposely fail its owner in order to be possessed by a more worthy opponent. It has very little ability to communicate with its owner and its doubtful the owner with notice anything odd about it outside of its exquisite workmanship and the nigh unreadable glowing runes(you need an ancient fae to read it) on the blade. Owner cannot willingly part with the weapon. Leaving the immediate area of the sword will send it back to its owner in a scabbard if need be.
When first encountered it calls out to the character it(the DM) chooses. If player doesn’t voluntarily go pick it up the calling is more powerful and player needs a DC13 wisdom save to avoid picking it up and suddenly realizing how awesome the sword is and after the first fight he has no clue what he ever did without it.
General benefits-
Sword when obtained is a +1 great sword. For every three levels gained with its use it gains an additional +1.
If a fumble is rolled weapon will be thrown, but upon the player’s next turn it reappears in his hand and player will drop any secondary weapon to the ground to take it. Will never take damage from a fumble.(In my game a fumble throws the weapon across the room or in the case of a missile weapon used against something in melee will hit a friendly.)
Character has a bonus +2 for any horror or fear checks they are forced to make.(I do ravenloft horror checks)
Gains a +2 bonus on saves vs any kind of spell that holds, charms, or entangles. The spell entangle does not work at all and the vines and roots will wither as the character passes.
After possessing the weapon for a level, if the carrier is knocked out he recovers as if rolling a 20 on a 19 and 20.
While it doesn’t grant the owner alertness, if the player gets to roll to see if surprised he gets a +2 to the roll.
Negatives-
It is a jealous weapon and will not tolerate other weapons outside of a dagger or hand axe in the owner’s possession. They will subtly think to get rid of or drop any other weapons. It allows the hand axe and dagger as they can both be used as tools and it doesn’t want to be just another tool.
It instills a massive dislike of missile weapons on its owner and it hates such opponents to include enemy offensive casters and believes them to be highly dishonorable. In battle once wounded by a ranged weapon or spell, a Wisdom check at DC 10 must be made or the character will make a beeline towards any missile or offensive magic user and will attack with Relentless attack. If character is in a Rage(barbarian) this roll is automatically failed. If an opponent is in the way he will hack them down with relentless attack and ignore the risks of attacks of opportunity. However so brutal and fearsome is the charge that AOOs do not gain advantage as he goes by.
Feelings of possession-The sword will never fully take over the carrier. It does however begin to guide them with feelings and impulses that get stronger the longer the weapon stays in the owner’s care.
Essentially this is the old devil and angel on the shoulders routine except the angel is getting progressively weaker.
1-2 levels- if a moral choice comes up the carrier gets a strong urge to do the more bloody or brutal option and gets a feeling of satisfaction if that option is taken.
3-4 levels-If a moral choice comes up the carrier gets a very strong impulse. To do the bloody or brutal option. Gains +1 wisdom for the day if he chooses the sword’s preferred choice and feels this was the wise thing to do(word it according to the situation). Character will steadfastly defend his choice.
5-6 levels- If a moral choice comes up carrier not only gets a strong impulse, he must make a wisdom check at DC 10 or do the brutal option. Gains +1 Wis and +1 strength for the day.
7-8 levels- same as above but with DC 13 and so on.
Fae and magical woodland creatures react negatively to the player.
General Info
The sword is not cursed so remove curse will not remove it. The sword instead bonds with the soul of the user. Some sort of very high level anti-daemon spell has a chance of severing the bond between the sword and user as will wish and limited wish. A spell that destroys the sword will release the daemon(pit fiend or other very high level daemon) who then goes on a rampage before returning to his home plane. Note that the owner will never voluntarily allow any of this to happen. A high level (intentionally arbitrary) lawful good Knight or cleric can resist the bond for short amounts of time but need to make wisdom checks at DC13 once a day after the first day of having it on their person.
Player will start to distrust anyone who says the sword is bad and will think they want to possess the sword for themselves. After only a level of ownership if there is an attempt to forcefully remove the weapon, player rolls a wisdom check at DC 20. Failure means he will fight to protect it with it appearing in his hands, passing means he recognizes his friends and will try to stand down.
The owner never realizes the sword is sentient. It never directly speaks to him but instead guides his emotions and judgement and thinks them their own. This can eventually shift his alignment towards evil. Sword is lawful evil by nature but will hint that the user should go after the most powerful opponent they can within reason. The sword is not suicidal usually and won’t just send the bearer against an opponent he cannot win against.
At night every few nights the owner will dream about being in a battle on another plane of existence against three or four CR(owners level) daemons. He is not expected to win. On the off chance that he does, bump his strength up by +1 until his next battle dream. In the fight the player gets all of his normal powers and abilities. When he awakens he awakens as if from a normal long rest. A particularly good fight might result in a new scar he never noticed before.
Consult with the player to see his characters long term goals. Another dream he might have is a particularly vivid dream of completing his lifetime goal, sword in hand, possibly a battle to achieve this that he will win. It is possible the dream might give hints or insights to the campaign’s goals as well. Makes a useful story arc crutch if the PCs get off track or are lost.
Once I figure out what kind of daemon to stick in there I might add some other abilities, mostly purely cosmetic changes that might affect social encounters.