Five magical swords trying to do interesting things with game mechanics and allow for interesting tactics in old school games. I'll leave the specifics up to you:
Rusted Blade
A successful blow leaves a mortal wound-- even to fiends and fae-- but only five times before it rusts completely away.
Burdensome Blade
Each day the blade draws no blood it becomes heavier to bear.
Needle
It never misses its mark but only leaves the tiniest mark.
Friendsward
Useless in battle unless next to a fast friend, in which case it will block every blow that tries to harm them.
Huller
Barbed blade, balanced oddly, bane of foe's armor.
I like them, especially the Friendsward! It's the kind of sword everyone wants in their party, but no one wants to wield.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the Needle I immediately saw the inversion: a sword that does no damage whatsoever, but leaves hideous scars whenever it hits ("Not the face, NOT THE FA- awww man!")
Awesome, I'd only hope my players are willing to put in the creative effort necessary to make these as fun as they can be.
ReplyDeleteThe needle makes me think of the scene in the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes where Blackwood nearly stabs Watson with a sword so thin you can't even really see it. That, along with poisoning the needle, are clearly where its real strengths lie.
Perhaps the rusted blade can be renewed by drinking the owner's blood.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it's down to the Rusted Blade and the Huller. Rad!
ReplyDeleteNeedle and Friendsward - consider these scooped for my campaign. Great ideas!
ReplyDeleteI like these a lot. They remind me of the boons you granted us when we played in the Undertavern at the MiniCon. They've got a lot of fairytale logic to them, I think.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Very evocative! Some food for thought, here.
ReplyDeleteWell done. I love magic items like these, much much, very evocative indeed.
ReplyDeleteThanks, all.
ReplyDelete@Jensan: great, players sometimes care how their characters look, permanent scarring might be worse than wounds.
@Seth, ahh yeah, forgot about that deadly thing.
@Matt: My thought was more like-- if a sword had limited uses like a scroll, what would it be like. But you could certainly make a sword that recharges somehow.
@Staples: exactly, trying to make them simple but interesting.
Thanks again everyone.
These are quite evocative, and I can see a number of different ways they might be interpreted. Very cool...
ReplyDeletenice!
ReplyDeleteThanks to both
ReplyDelete