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Fitz
2008-05-02, 05:28 AM
Ok for the game i'm running i'm creating some significant items for each character. 6 of the characters are sorted out, but the last one (the fighter with greatsword, not with leap attack etc) is stumping me.
It is going to be an intelligent greatsword: allowing cure serious 2/day and wraithstrike 2/day. but i cannot think about the standard powers (to match the other items looking for about +5 worth of powers and bonus total)

any suggestions would be appreciated, all the other items were easily fitted into the character concept , but i'm struggling with this one.

cheers
Fitz

Skjaldbakka
2008-05-02, 05:32 AM
More info would be nice. Of the cuff, Dancing or Vorpal. Anything that lets the fighter do things he couldn't do otherwise. The fighter has power attack, I'm assuming? That plus Wraithstrike will be nice. Keen, if he doesn't have I crit already.

Cuddly
2008-05-02, 05:33 AM
Give it the ability were you put it on chainsaw mode and it drills into your opponent. Can't remember what that one's called....

Fitz
2008-05-02, 05:43 AM
ok more info that i can think of.

Fighter : has weapon focus, wepaon spec, don't think he has power attack(will need to check) and wears full fortification full plate. he is the newest player in the group so the sword is party a way to help develop the character and offer advice (it will be able to speak).
Keen is fairly tempting since i don't think he has imp crit. Vorpal could be good (though very very dangerous). I don't remember what dancing does? (:smalleek:) but will look it up.

cheers for the ideas
Fitz

Skjaldbakka
2008-05-02, 05:46 AM
If he doesn't have power attack:

a) smack him. I mean, teach him the value of power attack.

b) have the sword give him power attack, and then when he takes it, have it give him an extra bonus when power attacking (perhaps a flat +5 damage when power attacking for at least 3).

c) it is very sad that power attack is so necessary, but it is.

d) Speed is also a good one, unless your caster uses Haste liberally.

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-05-02, 05:48 AM
Vorpal is a BAD idea. It can utterly ruin an encounter or BBEG you want to survive. What's his personality, as both a player and a character?

Skjaldbakka
2008-05-02, 05:49 AM
So can spellcasters, but I suppose Vorpal is a tad swingy.

Fitz
2008-05-02, 05:58 AM
personality: character :somewhat bland, hence the sword being intelligent and vocal to try and encourage him
Player: since he's the newest player (and youngest) i suspect he is a little slow at coming forward with opinions so again the sword is intelligent for that reason.
his character concept seems to be "hit things with a big sword" (while the rest fo the group include betrayed by the thieves guild and now out for revenge, escapee from a demon cult and innocent young cleric trying to come to terms with the world, so his character background is the weakest)

I agree power attack is a very good feat (especially with a 2 hander) I may grant a bonus to power attack on the sword (so he has an incentive to take the feat).

cheers again
Fitz

MorkaisChosen
2008-05-02, 06:11 AM
OK, it's a "Hit things with sword" fighter? Give it some Knowledge and make it a variant on the theme of "Sword that's cleverer than the wielder." For a new player, you don't want a smart-ass annoying sword- maybe give it Knowledge (Tactics) and use it as an excuse to give the player advice.

The Power Attack thing would work for that- maybe give it Combat Expertise as a bonus feat too.

Funkyodor
2008-05-02, 09:58 AM
For an intelligent sword, you could try Blind Sight 60' and have it communicate verbally, or via the Message spell when in hand. Give it a decent spot and listen check.

Tsotha-lanti
2008-05-02, 10:09 AM
Give it the ability were you put it on chainsaw mode and it drills into your opponent. Can't remember what that one's called....

One of the worst possible abilities, considering you have to let go of the weapon.

BadJuJu
2008-05-02, 11:01 AM
Base its abilities on its alignment(sp). If its evil, make it Vicious. If its good, make it holy or merciful. Or, you could give it a racial prefrence or hatred and let it shift its abilities off of that. Say it hates dragons or elves, let it grant some favorite enemy bonus and the vicious and bane properties when fighting them. If you fight the people it was crafted by, say humans from the Dale lands, let it grant merciful.

Danzaver
2008-05-02, 01:31 PM
Give it the ability were you put it on chainsaw mode and it drills into your opponent. Can't remember what that one's called....

Fleshgrinding. From The Book of Vile Darkness.

I remember once designing a dagger of Fleshgrinding, Bloodfeeding, Curse-spewing and Masterslaying. Good times.

EDIT: but to answer your original questions, make it extremely possessive of the player, and have it grow increasingly jealous of all the other weapons he has. Let it cast dispel magic, which it uses to periodically disenchant any other magical weapons he carries, but make its other abilities good enough that he never considers giving it up.

hamishspence
2008-05-02, 01:37 PM
Fleshgrinding has made reappearence in the Magic Item compendium. Stormwrack has a cutlass which is not exactly Fleshgrinding but works in a very similar way.

Telonius
2008-05-02, 01:47 PM
A little more flavorful for you ... the sword is intelligent because it's imbued with a small part of the spirit of a great Bard. As such, the sword absorbed a little bit of that Bard's personality and abilities. It can make Bardic Knowledge checks against each enemy the fighter is facing, as though it were a fifteenth-level Bard. If the sword makes a Knowledge check, DC = 10+HD of the enemy, it grants a +2 unnamed bonus to attacks against that enemy. If it beats the check by 5, that bonus improves to +4. If it beats the check by 15 or higher, the bonus to attack is +4 and the bonus to damage is +2.

McClintock
2008-05-02, 02:44 PM
Read RA Salvatore's Spear Wielders tale, this will give you great ideas on the personality of the sword. The spear in the book has tactical knowledge, ego, and an honor code it abides by. Check it out, I think it will help.

mabriss lethe
2008-05-02, 03:19 PM
The personality for the sword....

hmm...

The sword has the gravelly voice of a grizzled old veteran. The sword is very plain looking and more than a little battered. The blade is scored and nicked in a few places. Its wrapped leather hilt is worn smooth. The sword has a definite sense of masculinity. He tends to offer advice (out of combat) in the form of old war stories. He'll be plain spoken and blunt, but sometimes a little nostalgic.

As for powers, I'd say, among whatever powers you chose, Let it bestow the Power Attack feat on the character as soon as he wields it, but only until the next time the character levels up and gains a feat (fighter, bonus, whatever...) At that point the sword takes the power attack back permanently. If the character wants it after having a taste, he'll have to spend that empty feat on power attack. Even have the sword say gruffly "Ya gotta learn this stuff for yourself, kid, or you'll never amount to anything but a corpse in a shallow grave." Once the character selects power attack, the sword could then give some sort of bonus when power attacking.