Break my game: Indestructible sword at level 1

[Aberzanzorax]

You must make the killing blow on the lich with the sword to destroy him permanently.

 

[jonesy]

You must make the killing blow on the lich with the sword to destroy him permanently.

And then it could be that the phylactery was the thing making it indestructible, and the death of the lich will undo that part of it.

 

[pawsplay]

Outside of movies, I don't think sundering weapons was a viable military tactic (beyond an attempt to destroy a polearm). Now, I could see the occasional weapon being sundered as a result of someone trying to parry an attack and having their weapon snap, but outside of that, I doubt it often happened intentionally.

Viable, yes. Common, no. It is a tactic more notable for the caution it inspired in others. For instance, the katana is an excellent cutting weapon, but a little weak on the block (as opposed to a parry) as a metallurgical necessity of the classic design. The wakizashi, however (the shortsword) which might be used a secondary weapon, a backup weapon, or a primary weapon, was often built with a stiffer blade. Although not as good a cutter, blade to blade contact, or blade to hilt, was likely to favor a stouter blade over the exquisitely tempered katana. Most katanta schools religiously instructed their practitioners to avoid blade to blade contact as much as possible. Traditional use of the jitte or sai, of course, instructs the user to make contact weapon to weapon when you are not striking your opponent. As these weapons are basically metal rods, they will quickly dull if not seriously damage cutting weapons, while being unlikely to suffer much damage themselves.

 

[pawsplay]

And then it could be that the phylactery was the thing making it indestructible, and the death of the lich will undo that part of it.

I like that. The lich could even offer to give someone the sword, imparting some knowledge of its workings or enchanting it, in return for simply keeping it far away.

 

[Relique du Madde]

I like that. The lich could even offer to give someone the sword, imparting some knowledge of its workings or enchanting it, in return for simply keeping it far away.

The only flaw with this idea is that the Lich would have to ensure that the person he gives it to isn't a total jerkass who would then sell the secret of the Lich to the first adventurering party who who enters town on a gold plated horse in exchange for said horse (or after loosing a hand of poker).

 

[Votan]

The only flaw with this idea is that the Lich would have to ensure that the person he gives it to isn't a total jerkass who would then sell the secret of the Lich to the first adventurering party who who enters town on a gold plated horse in exchange for said horse (or after loosing a hand of poker).

Or was simply unaware of the nature of the sword. After all, few people try to destroy their valuable magical items and a magic item in a distant land is a pretty hard thing to track down.

 

[pawsplay]

The only flaw with this idea is that the Lich would have to ensure that the person he gives it to isn't a total jerkass who would then sell the secret of the Lich to the first adventurering party who who enters town on a gold plated horse in exchange for said horse (or after loosing a hand of poker).

Did I forget to mention that the lich owns a dozen, identical, very durable if perhaps not indestructible blades he also distributed to other adventuring parties?


... Genre conventions suggest the Lich would overlook this flaw, since the multiple swords thing would probably actually be sufficient to kill the PCs.

 

[Relique du Madde]

True, but Genre conventions would also will ensure that the sword falls into the hands of an adventuring party that just happens to run across the lich.

 

[Present]

Ways that I see an indestructible sword being abused in game:
1. Trick some creature (like a dragon) into eating it, it can not then be digested and will move through the creature's entire digestive tract as a sword, probably killing them.
2. Use augmentation spells on it. The most obvious one seems to be one that makes it grow. Impenetrable full cover, blocks crushing or falling objects. I can't think of any other things that might break the game hard, but I'd encourage you to make the sword be unaffected by enchantments of any kind.