A kinder, gentler vorpal weapon.

[Taluron]

We recreated Sharpness. One plus less than Vorpal but roll for the extremety removed.

 

[Happiest_Sadist]

This is something I worked out a while back.

Slicing: Whenever a critical hit is confirmed with this weapon, the wielder rolls again as if they had threatened a critical.
Market Price: +3 bonus.

Ex: +1 keen, slicing, falchion wielded by a charachter with improved critical.

Rolls: 13, 17, 20, 12, 16, 18, 10. All hit. Does x7 damage because they keep threatening criticals again. It ends when they either miss or do not confirm.

 

[Grazzt]

What I’ve done is to give vorpal weapons a save DC of 28, Fort Save, modified by the size of the target. The save modifier is the AC modifier for size, only inverted (Large +1, Huge +2 etc.). If the target saves, then the hit is still considered a crit, and the weapon gets a +1 crit multiplier.

Sort of an aside, but kinda related to the above post (since it mentions creature size):

I wouldnt allow it to sever the head of a creature two sizes larger than the attacker. I mean, could a Medium-size human really reach the head/neck of a Huge creature if both are standing on the same surface? Now, I would allow exceptions (such as the fighter knocking the giant down and then obviously being able to sever its head), but in head-to-head combat on level ground, nope.

 

[Grazzt]

We recreated Sharpness. One plus less than Vorpal but roll for the extremety removed.

That's pretty much how I do it in my campaign. My players don't really seem to mind the vorpal weapon or sharpness weapons as they stand. We all grew up playing 1e and remember the original "evilness" those weapons could cause.

 

[kreynolds]

I wouldnt allow it to sever the head of a creature two sizes larger than the attacker. I mean, could a Medium-size human really reach the head/neck of a Huge creature if both are standing on the same surface? Now, I would allow exceptions (such as the fighter knocking the giant down and then obviously being able to sever its head), but in head-to-head combat on level ground, nope.

This is but one of the many reasons why I recreated Vorpal in my games.

 

[Whodat]

My players don't really seem to mind the vorpal weapon or sharpness weapons as they stand. We all grew up playing 1e and remember the original "evilness" those weapons could cause.

I don't remember vorpal weapons being inherently evil in 1E. Are you perhaps confusing them with Morganti weapons?

Vorpal weapons slice and dice, and it's all fun and games until someone loses a head.

Morganti weapons were just plain nasty. They were evil and intelligent weapons that subsisted on the souls of people who were killed by the Morganti weapon. The weapon actually consumed the soul, making any attempt at resurrecting the victim hopeless.
The consciousness of the weapon was supposed to grow stronger with each soul devoured. Slowly the consciousness would grow in strength until it began to influence the wielder.

The evil aura that the weapon exuded was so great that could be felt (the sensation is described as a cold shiver) by anyone else in the area when the blade was drawn.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I also created two versions of Vorpal (because the original version is just to much work to decide whether it should work now or not, and because I don't like the Idea that you could strike down almost anyone, including characters 200 levels above you, without them getting any defense)

The first variant triples the crit multiplyer: A vorpal longsword has x6, a vorpal greataxe x9, a vorpal scythe x12. It will force a save against massive damage, and (at least weapons with a higher multiplyer per se) will probably cut down almost anything it hits, but something with enough HP can survive it - and creatues immune to crits won't be bothered in the least by your strike.

The second variant makes every crit you make a coup de grace (except you don't have to spend a full round on it, and you won't provoke an AoO). The enemy has to save and die.


Both versions won't mention anything about severying heads (or the number of heads severed. Could be critical info in a fight versus a hydra...), and both won't work on creatures that are immune to critical hits. On everything else, they will spell _almost_ certain doom - but it's still possible to survive it.

 

[comrade raoul]

Again, I'd push for magic that prevents death effects (like Death Ward) to work equally well against vorpal decapitation. That way, vorpal weapons are still super-deadly, but there are countermeasures available.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Problem being: if you learn that the enemy has a vorpal weapon, it's already to late. (I know that you can gather information about enemies, but they're more likely along the lines of "wicked necromancer" "wielder of destructive magic" "dual-scimitar wielding drow ranger of mielikki", and less things like "Vorpal wearpon wielder")

 

[Grazzt]

I don't remember vorpal weapons being inherently evil in 1E. Are you perhaps confusing them with Morganti weapons?

I didn't mean evil as in Evil (hence the quotes around the word in my post above). I simply meant we all remember how deadly they were in 1e (1e DMG, page 166).