D&D 5E Curse of Strahd - Sunsword alternative

[toucanbuzz]

Gearing up to run Curse of Strahd and I really need a replacement/modification to the Sunsword. Why? Well, we're finishing Out of the Abyss and it featured early on...a Sun Blade. This has been a core weapon for one of my players, including a side-quest to bond with it. So it's prominent.

If we hadn't run OOA, the Sun Sword as-is would've been just fine. But, artifacts need to be unique and another Sun Blade, I'm worried, is a bit anticlimactic. However, I know the Sun Sword is iconic in Ravenloft.

Ideas?

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Maybe some sort of special stake, made from a shard of the old sun that shined over Strahd's former kingdom? Or maybe a Decanter of Endless Water to stuck in his mouth and create a running river INSIDE of him? Or a dagger made from one fang from a Dark Power?

 

[Guest 6801328]

Use Holy Avenger as a prototype and scale it down a bit.

 

[iserith]

Swap it for a detachable chainsaw hand.

 

[Tormyr]

Gearing up to run Curse of Strahd and I really need a replacement/modification to the Sunsword. Why? Well, we're finishing Out of the Abyss and it featured early on...a Sun Blade. This has been a core weapon for one of my players, including a side-quest to bond with it. So it's prominent.

If we hadn't run OOA, the Sun Sword as-is would've been just fine. But, artifacts need to be unique and another Sun Blade, I'm worried, is a bit anticlimactic. However, I know the Sun Sword is iconic in Ravenloft.

Ideas?

I have not read Curse of Strahd, but why not make the PC's sun blade the sun blade from prophecy, lost across the planes, and now it has found its way home.

 

[Quartz]

Failing that, how about a Holy Hand Grenade?

 

[Irda Ranger]

Have the blade be a +2 sentient longsword with Sergei's spirit in it. You can summon the spirit and when he manifests he shines out true sunlight. Once Strahd is defeated and Tatyana reunited to Sergei at the magic pool, it reverts to being a regular +2 sword.

 

[WarpedAcorn]

My first thought is to just change the Sunsword to any other favored weapon that one of your PC's use. Like change it to an Axe if you have an Axe loving Dwarf. But you keep it as is.

My second thought would be to have the Sunsword in Barovia be extinguished or depleted. Your Players find it like normal, but it does not work. Then, through an existing NPC or new one of your own making, maybe there is a sidequest to "Reignite" the Sunsword using your Player's Sun Blade. This could be a reason why no one was able to defeat Strahd before, one of the key weapons was broken.

My third thought would be to reveal that the Players already have the Sun Blade during the Tarot reading. Have like a surprised Gypsy tell them that the cards reveal the weapon is already there.


Just some thoughts to get your own creative juices flowing. =)

 

[toucanbuzz]

My third thought would be to reveal that the Players already have the Sun Blade during the Tarot reading. Have like a surprised Gypsy tell them that the cards reveal the weapon is already there.

Musing aloud here.

In the old AD&D version, there was a reading where a player was already carrying the blade and they needed to reunite it with the hilt. Of course, that wouldn't work if everyone used axes. In the older edition, the blade went missing and Strahd was left with the hilt. I like things to make sense, so in character creation, if this is the option, would need a character to have a "legacy" blade passed down generations or the like, made of the original crystalline steel. The mists didn't just randomly grab them, it acted with purpose to wrap up this loose end. The weapon would be ordinary until touched to the hilt.

Not a fan anyways of the light saber sun blade as it (1) kills my verisimilitude every time there's a jedi reference and (2) well that's really it. Plus, the character currently wielding the sun blade in our OOA campaign is planning on playing a fighting bard, which creates a very high likelihood if I do nothing to change the Sun Sword she ends up with the exact same "special & unique" weapon again.

So suppose powers need to be changed as well for us. In old AD&D, I think it was like a Bane weapon, doing extra damage to Strahd, but no sunlight.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I don't think the OP is saying the PCs already have the Sunsword, I think he means his players just saw a Sunsword in the last campaign.