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Cursed Artifacts/Items

anest1s

First Post
Well I was thinking....why not? Everyone who has a cool idea about something cursed, post it!

Zethros, the Soul Harverster

This Greatswords blade is made from a strange metal, black in color and cold at touch. The air around it freezes, forming a very thin layer of white mist. Sometimes through the fine mist you think that you see white figures moving within the darkness of the blade.


Trying to become a Lich, the evil Warrior-Wizard Zethros bound his soul to this Greatsword. Then, before completing the ritual he enchanted the weapon with necromantic energy, and tied it to the negative energy plane, thinking that the more powerful it would be the less likely to be destroyed. After completing the ritual however, the magic didn't work as intended and his soul is was bound in the Greatsword.

The Soul Harvester functions as a +3 Enervating Ghost Touch Greatsword, except that it collects the souls of every creature it slays. It can contain up to 100 souls at a given moment.

When 100 souls are collected Zethros can attempt to walk again on the material plane, once more. However he can attempt this only after he is attuned to the wielder (which takes 10 days), only on a moonless night, and only when the weapon isn't sheathed. (The weapon has no sheath accompanying it though) If the sword somehow goes into the negative plain, every condition is considered met, except for last one.

When these conditions are met Zethos can cause the sword to shake violently each round, until it falls to ground (Strength check to hold it). When no one holds it, a hand materializes from the blade of the Greatsword, and reaches for the pommel. The next round after it falls to the ground, a dark and shadowish figure looking like the attuned wielder, is ready for battle.

Out of the sword comes a Ghost version of the attuned wielder. Apply the ghost template to the base creature, to see what it is. The first round after the ghost manifests, it tries to use its Malevolence ability. If it succeeds then the soul of the victim is bound to the Greatsword. If not then it starts attacking using the Greatsword. The ghost can't use the Malevolence ability on anyone else though. In battle, Zethos will probably expect what tactics the PCs will use to defeat it, and this only makes the battle harder. If the weilder is slain, Zethos automatically gets in his body and the soul of the victim in the sword. The body is treated like having the hitpoints of the ghost in this case. If Zethos fails to get his wielders body that night, he looses 3 souls for each hd of the wielder.

After Zethos gets his new body, he can use with its full ability. He is tied to it for 100 days, and after them he returns to the Greatsword. If he dies before that, he returns to life with the same body after 1d10 days pass. He is not beyond bargaining for the return of the soul of the dead PC. In fact if he knows that the PCs care for each other he will request some kind of exceptionally evil act from them, and he will try to convience them that he (Zethos, not the PC) will be freed if they do it (just to make sure that they wont try to destroy the weapon, should he fail to collect 100 souls in time). Other than that, Zethos will spend most of his 100 days slaying as many people as possible, filling the sword with souls. If he gets 100 souls, he has 100 more days to collect 100 more etc, etc.

In the special occasion that Zethos wielder is some kind of Wizard, he will bargain with him after he traps his soul. He offers to let him go, if he manages to give him a permanent body. If the Wizard accepts then half of his soul remains in the sword, and he returns to life. Wizards wielding Greatswords remind him of himself, and they are the only ones which Zethos may trust enough.

_

So any thoughts on this one? :p Looks dangerous to me...a character will have to fight a stronger version of himself when he is most vanurable, only he will be unarmed and his stronger version will be armed. And the stronger version probably knows him well.
 

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Ravilah

Explorer
Sounds like an artifact to build a whole campaign around.

In one of my favorite campaigns, I included an intelligent great ax which called itself Envoy (though it never used its real name). It purported to be a dwarven ax whose maker designed it to help mediate peace between Elves and Dwarves. It was +3 keen weapon and had some other nice extra abilities (including a telepathic link to the wielder). It also had a Bluff bonus of +15.

But...it was actually designed by a follower of Vecna who hated dwarves. The ax would Detect Thoughts of its new owner and profess to be whatever seemed most appealing to him/her. Then it would wait (and wait) for exactly the right moment. In the middle of the owner's most desperate battle, when their wounds were already great, Envoy would cast Hold Monster on them (if the owner had wielded Envoy for more than a year, there was no save). As they stand there helpless, Envoy would whisper the truth into the owner's mind, just as their foe mowed them down.

I used Envoy to fulfill a prophecy on a PC which said that someone they trusted would betray them to their death. They spent a year suspecting everyone in the party. It never dawned on him to doubt the ax.
 

kitcik

Adventurer
I can't XP buy very nice.

I like the "cumulative upkeep" (to steal am MTG term) type. Basically, it has a good ability with a known cost - what isn't known is that the cost increases over time as does the DC of the Will save to drop the iten.

So, maybe a +X Valorous item, but every time you charge with it you become fatigued after 10 rounds. Oh... I meant 8. No 6. Oops you're just fatigued. dazed? Oh and it's now DC 35 to drop...
 

xigbar

Explorer
Spider Queens Fang;

Forged from a demonic spider queen (go figure)

+3 Keen Acid Burst Rapier

Wielder must make a fortitude save on a critical hit, or take the effects of a colossal monstrous spiders venom. You get the enhancement bonus on the save though.
 

anest1s

First Post
Sounds like an artifact to build a whole campaign around.

In one of my favorite campaigns, I included an intelligent great ax which called itself Envoy (though it never used its real name). It purported to be a dwarven ax whose maker designed it to help mediate peace between Elves and Dwarves. It was +3 keen weapon and had some other nice extra abilities (including a telepathic link to the wielder). It also had a Bluff bonus of +15.

But...it was actually designed by a follower of Vecna who hated dwarves. The ax would Detect Thoughts of its new owner and profess to be whatever seemed most appealing to him/her. Then it would wait (and wait) for exactly the right moment. In the middle of the owner's most desperate battle, when their wounds were already great, Envoy would cast Hold Monster on them (if the owner had wielded Envoy for more than a year, there was no save). As they stand there helpless, Envoy would whisper the truth into the owner's mind, just as their foe mowed them down.

I used Envoy to fulfill a prophecy on a PC which said that someone they trusted would betray them to their death. They spent a year suspecting everyone in the party. It never dawned on him to doubt the ax.

I think I will steal this :) a smart way to make a prophecy come true too...


Spider Queens Fang;

Forged from a demonic spider queen (go figure)

+3 Keen Acid Burst Rapier

Wielder must make a fortitude save on a critical hit, or take the effects of a colossal monstrous spiders venom. You get the enhancement bonus on the save though.

any way to use the weapon without taking the poison?
 

xigbar

Explorer
I think I will steal this :) a smart way to make a prophecy come true too...




any way to use the weapon without taking the poison?

Well, it's a fortitude save, and if you play a B.S.F., and pump CON, you shouldn't have too much trouble. Protection from poison items/buffs would help too.
 

anest1s

First Post
Well, it's a fortitude save, and if you play a B.S.F., and pump CON, you shouldn't have too much trouble. Protection from poison items/buffs would help too.


Hmm...maybe one could raise the power of the weapon and the power of the poison gradually. 2d8 str damage could take you down if you are not prepared...however I like the idea of the item

(btw I can't exp anyone :p)
 

RedTonic

First Post
It wasn't cursed per se, but one of my PCs (a paladin) wound up with an intelligent weapon, good aligned, with pretty cool bonuses named "town saver." Its alternate name is "saint maker," because it compels (has a pretty high ego score) its wielder to defend to the death good/neutral settlements under attack. All of its prior wielders have died in the defense of towns. Under the tenets of her god, resisting the compulsion would probably be tantamount to apostasy and likely result in falling...
 

marcielle

First Post
Spite.

At dawn, anyone holding the sword designates a type of creature with a mental action. The weapon gains the bane property for that creature. Selecting the same creature a 4th time causes the bane bonus to double. At 6 times the bonus triples (from original). The times do not need to be consecutive.

Basically, this weapon gives a cumulatively bigger bonus everytime you use it against a specific type of creature.

However, unbeknownst to the player, the bane ability comes with a seething hatred for the type of creature. After 8 uses on the same creature type, the wielder becomes compelled to attack the type of creature on sight no matter what. He must rush the creature the second they see one unless they suceed on a ( very high) Will save. On the 10th time and onwards, he must actively seek out the type of creature and keep killing until they are physically incapable of continuing. No save allowed. Even then, after a good rest, the wielder must continue searching out and killing creatures of the specified type. Only by forcibly removing the sword (the wielder will not willingly part with it) or by somehow suppressing the sword enchantments (eg. an antimagic field) can the wielder be brought back to his senses. Letting go of the sword does not reset the count.
 

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