Currupting a sentient magic weapon

[SMac8988]

So, I have a player in my current game whom Is attempting to sway the party towards his evil ambitions. He is doing it very slowly and over the course of the past few sessions has started to get the paladin start fall. But he has presented me with a new idea.

The paladin is wielding Dawn Edge, as many of you know is a divine, good weapon. With the paladin beginning to fall he has asked if there is a way to get the sword to "fall" or become evil.

Was wondering if anyone has gone down this path before and have suggestions. I'm 100% on board with this idea so.

[Unoriginal]

That weapon preasumably had to endure attempt at corruptions for centuries, and by greater beings.


Making it corruptible by any random dude with an agenda would utterly cheapen both the weapon and the idea of good beings existing.


I would have the weapon tell the Paladin on which path he is, and if he continues despite the warning, the weapon would abandon him.

[No brains]

In general there's little that one can threaten/ bribe an inanimate object with, so corrupting it is going to be a major undertaking. It's going to take so much effort the player should really just destroy a good artifact.

If they want to make a Rube Goldberg device of corrupting a magic item, my best idea is to use Nystul's Magic Aura to make a bunch of non-evil monsters appear evil and get the weapon to slay them. That's going to take a lot of effort to magically costume a bunch of creatures.

Even with that solution, the weapon would probably just stop working for its current wielder. It would just shut off and wait for a more competent person to activate its powers. Unless it has some way to bite its wielder, a weapon is really only 'responsible' for activating its powers for someone.

[Spiritchaser]

This needs to be extremely difficult, a ritual involving sporking the weapon with a forcibly taken tooth from a demon lord, performed in that beings realm might be hard enough

[Fire Tarrasque]

Yeah, most likely, the sword would function as the Paladin's lifeline. Giving him warnings about his path, and once he has reached a certain point, abandoning him to give him full knowledge of what he's done.
When you're an ancient magic piece of metal that cannot be threatened, bribed, and is extremely difficult to trick, some rando isn't going to do much good at corrupting you.

[Expected]

That weapon preasumably had to endure attempt at corruptions for centuries, and by greater beings.


Making it corruptible by any random dude with an agenda would utterly cheapen both the weapon and the idea of good beings existing.


I would have the weapon tell the Paladin on which path he is, and if he continues despite the warning, the weapon would abandon him.

I second this. As a sentient weapon, it can make its own choices and being presumably of lawful good alignment, should abandon your Paladin if they continue to be evil if the player ignores its warnings and threats to leave.

[JackPhoenix]

Not that weapon has much of a choice in being used...it can start personality conflict to stop using its abilities or even control its wielder (but good luck doing that against paladin), but it could still be used like any other sharp (or blunt) object. It can't exactly decide to leave.

[Unoriginal]

Not that weapon has much of a choice in being used...it can start personality conflict to stop using its abilities or even control its wielder (but good luck doing that against paladin), but it could still be used like any other sharp (or blunt) object. It can't exactly decide to leave.

It could call for divine help, and they would send someone capable to defeat the Paladin in a 1vs1 duel with the sword for prize.

[SMac8988]

I'm really into letting my players go for the try.

My idea would be he has to like perform a super dark ritual or remove the soul and trap a new one in it. Maybe even remove the magic all together, a high level dispelling magic, and then it becomes an empty vessel a soul can be bound into.

[JackPhoenix]

It could call for divine help, and they would send someone capable to defeat the Paladin in a 1vs1 duel with the sword for prize.

Well, it's got about the same chance of getting an answer as everyone else who's not a cleric, so I wouldn't be worried about that. And I wouldn't put my hope on *oathbreaker* accepting challenge to a duel and fighting fair.

[iTreeby]

I'd allow the corruption under very specific circumstances. First, the paladine would have to fall after ig Orting the weapons (three) warnings. Second, the other player would need to get possession of the weapon. Third, the player would need to have a eldrich knight weapon bond or a pact blade boon established with the weapon. Fourth the player would need to use the weapon to completely subvert its own ideology, destroying it. Fifth, the player would need to reforge the blade with a new soul. It is possible at this point that the player would need a new character because of his old one becoming a sentient sword.

[SMac8988]

I'd allow the corruption under very specific circumstances. First, the paladine would have to fall after ig Orting the weapons (three) warnings. Second, the other player would need to get possession of the weapon. Third, the player would need to have a eldrich knight weapon bond or a pact blade boon established with the weapon. Fourth the player would need to use the weapon to completely subvert its own ideology, destroying it. Fifth, the player would need to reforge the blade with a new soul. It is possible at this point that the player would need a new character because of his old one becoming a sentient sword.

I actually brought that exact idea up to him, and he said maybe. I told him I would let him pick some the effects of the blade, so we may go that direction.

[Falcon X]

Duskbringer: The Revanent Blade

I’ve done it. I did it to Dawnbringer, a sentient sunblade from Out of the Abyss. The blade was sundered and the sentience killed in a spectacular event.
The players decided they wanted the blade reformed.

The took Dawnbringer to the Great Forge of Gauntlgrym for the dwarves to do their magic. They said they would try and it would take a month.

Something went horribly wrong.
The revive magic used for the sentience was imperfect and brought Dawnbringer back as a Revanent Blade. Much like a Revanent, the blade had a singular purpose of destroying the evil involved in her sundering and then the evil beyond that. She only would work properly if you were ultimately on such a quest.

Her properties changes to draw from the plane of Ash instead of Radiance, which makes sense because they are both fire planes, but one draws from Unlife instead of Life.
Her personality was more Neutral than Good, willing to compromise in pursuit of her goal. “Death to Evil” was her new battle cry.