Replacement for Blackrazor?

[igor140]

So, for plot raisins and the fact that he was just stupidly overpowered, my stupidly overpowered Hexblade has gone on a solo journey to get RID of his pact weapon: Blackrazor. Ramifications of this are that he will be gone for ~3 levels (or about 5 months, the way we play), and that all of his future levels will be taken in the Mystic class (which will actually make him even MORE powerful... hence all the more reason to nerf his weapon a bit).

So he's wandered off... and he will eventually wander back with his new sword. I'm currently having difficulty decided what that sword should look like, though.

He'll be level 15ish by the time he gets back, and has given up what is (arguably) the most powerful sword in the universe... he needs something worthwhile. I looked at the possibility of Eiryka
https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Eiryka_(5e_Equipment), which would work fairly well, both in terms of personality and power. The biggest issues I have with this sword are:

a) the lightning theme really doesn't fit this character at all
b) the 6d8 attack seems... myopic or redundant somehow (even aside from being lightning elemental); the dude can already use use Eldritch Blast indefinitely for 3d10+15, and the attack modifier is higher because it's based off of CHA rather than DEX
c) I'm on the fence about another sentient weapon at all. We had Blackrazor in our party; we still have Whelm... from both a player and DM standpoint, sentient weapons are kind of a pain in the ass to play correctly, or just tediously overpowered if they're not. (I'm also adding in a semi-sentient cloak for our Druid, but that's largely a novelty.)

So, to respond to my own issues:
a) change the element to force (to fit the Warlock theme) or psychic (to fit the Mystic theme)
b) switch out that ability. Ok... but for what? It made sense to me to have it be some crazy Mystic-oriented blade-- to further reflect his journey and his personal change-- but what are some suggestions for this? Gives back INT modifier number of psi points back on a kill? Knows up to X (maybe two?) mystic disciplines that the character doesn't already know? That seems a bit overpowered...
c) well... just do it or don't. I also looked into a vorpal blade; but frankly, that seems like TOO much of a nerf after Blackrazor (first world problems...). So, for those of you more experienced than myself (most of you), what are some weapon effects (for either sentient or non-sentient weapons) more interesting that DOES MOAR DAMAGES!! I'm not opposed to a little more damage, but I don't want it to get out of hand, and I would like to to reflect the character a bit.

tl;dr

Help me think of/ create an interesting late-level (starting ~lvl 15, but intended to be the "final" weapon this character ever uses) for a Hexblade/ Mystic mercenary leader.

[leogobsin]

So my question would be: where is he getting this new sword? Are you just assuming that a level 15 character who wanders around is going to be able to find a magic sword somewhere? (Not necessarily a bad or incorrect assumption but seems like it would be easier to create an interesting sword if you've got some idea of where it came from)

What about this: the ritual or whatever he does to destroy Blackrazor destroys the intelligence but leaves behind the physical sword, which is "only" a +3 greatsword. Now this is about as boring as a magic weapon can get, but while it's boring mechanically it's more interesting from an RP perspective: he's now carrying around everywhere a constant reminder of what he used to be and the ordeal he undertook to destroy this hugely powerful entity, and it still opens up one attunement slot that you can use for some other magic item.

[igor140]

Thanks for the quick response!

My thought was that he could not DESTROY Blackrazor at all; if I understand the lore correctly, Blackrazor might have been one of the first objects created in (perhaps even a cornerstone of?) the mortal realm. His Hexblade oath was (when I designed the character) actually made WITH Blackrazor... before ever realizing that he would actually come to hold it. But now the sword's bloodlust and overpoweredness have reached a point that they are at odds with the the character's goals and the party's growth.

So in my mind, he can't destroy it, and he can't just put it down somewhere... so his journey focuses on how to break the pact with Blackrazor, and then how to safely keep it out of dangerous hands for as long as possible (I'm thinking throw it DEEP in the ocean, or something). Breaking the pact explains the continued leveling as a Mystic: it breaks part of his soul; I am toying with it changing some of his physical features as well (white hair, grey eyes, something along those lines).

He broke his pact with his sworn source of power, and it left him broken, literally wandering in the desert, both body and soul. Based upon that, the introduction of the new sword is fairly semantic. Because it doesn't directly pertain to the rest of the party, they may or may not ever get a full explanation (though I will sketch something out for my own purposes).

So! To answer your question, I picture him at some point being lost in the desert. Maybe he finds his new sword there... maybe he loses himself there... but it's going to be a thing. He also-- based upon his background and his heritage-- has near limitless resources to draw from, both in terms of knowledge and money. If he needs an entirely new legendary-level sword created for him, he can have that done... provided he later pays back the debt (which would actually be a good plot device...).

[leogobsin]

I'm not really sure how much solid lore there is about Blackrazor tbh: it's ultimately inspired by Stormbringer from Michael Moorcock's Elric Saga and your description of it is basically accurate for Stormbringer but it's hard to say how accurate it is for Blackrazor. Based on the Hexblade description Blackrazor and similar items are "manifestations" of The Hexblade. Going with that angle you could say you found a way to sever the link between the entity and the sword and then that leaves you with kind of the empty shell of Blackrazor (functioning as a +3 greatsword).

[Gorgo]

How about having him come back with a weapon that isn't a sword? If breaking his pact has the sort of emotional impact on him that you're describing, I could see him not ever wanting to touch a sword again.