Break my game: Indestructible sword at level 1

[Dannyalcatraz]

A simple demonstration should be enough for some noble somewhere to be willing to throw down gold for it.

"Hi, I'm Dannyalcatraz, and I'm here to show you the most amazing sword you've ever seen: it slices, it dices, it eviscerates! It cleaves and sunders! And it never rusts or needs sharpening! You can cut through an Antipaladin's mithril shield and the indestructible blade will STILL slice this tomato into vellum-thin slices! How much would YOU pay? Well, act now, and receive THIS special gift: ArmorOdor Eaters! That's right!! Now how much do you think this is worth? HOLD UP! There's more..."

 

[Relique du Madde]

Sure, it may take about as much force to break my arm as it does to break a sword, but I have another arm, 2 legs and my mind...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKhEw7nD9C4]YouTube - Monty Python-The Black Knight[/ame]



This only a flesh wound.

 

[On Puget Sound]

So I think the answer is:

Its unbreakableness is unlikely to overbalance your game; there is no significant combat value to that quality in game terms.

Its value as a unique item, a symbol and a plot point is what makes it worth a story. For those purposes, it could just as easily be an untarnishable sword, or a non-magical sword once used by the Lost King.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Technically, since tarnish is a form of corrosion, a truly indestructible sword would not tarnish. You could get it dirty, yes, but it should wipe clean with little effort, and there should be no etching.

Staining, however, is a different issue. Whatever it is made of may still be somewhat porous.

 

[Votan]

It is a rare event, at least in part because so few people would be trained in doing so quickly and efficiently. Easier to kill or disarm.

But if you know what you're doing...

D&D streamlines this- like all other aspects of combat- and makes this into a 2 Feat technique. This makes it more viable...and potentially more common.

As to the ease of sundering- presumably in reference to items' paucity of HP as compared to living things- I look at it this way: a sword has a LOT less mass and volume compared to even a small person, so it takes proportionately less damage to reduce it to uselessness. Sure, it may take about as much force to break my arm as it does to break a sword, but I have another arm, 2 legs and my mind...

I am still not sure about this. I have seen people break weapons but the idea of doing so without first taking the weapon away from your opponent and then giving them an opening seems like a challenge. The break moves I have seen require full control of the weapon and, at the very least, you have just engaged a lot of your body in the breaking of the weapon. Think of the muscular effort involved and that you have an opponent in physical close enough to be also touching the weapon (and we are taking steel swords). Can this be done fast and without concentration and without opening yourself to a joint lock?

What happens if your opponent is trained in both kenjutsu and jujutsu (the latter of which is actually designed to be used with a sword in hand)?

Or how are you closing to grapple range with a rapier?

There are stunts that can be done against an obviously inferior opponent that would be . . . dangerous versus a equally skilled opponent.

 

[Heathen72]

Staining, however, is a different issue. Whatever it is made of may still be somewhat porous.

Blood stains, no doubt, but then, it's an Al Qadim campaign. I suspect they will just use all the perfumes of Arabia to sweeten this little sword*. Ho Ho Ho...

*not that it will work.

 

[Raven Crowking]

[MENTION=10324]jonesy[/MENTION]: Let 'em toss it into the sea. Let 'em sell it to the bad guys.

Those can result in game play which as just as interesting as being pursued for the sword. Especially if the weapon shows up again inside the belly of a great fish.....


RC

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I don't have much to contribute but it could be used to bar a door or to fish something out of a deadly liquid (acid, poison, lava).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I am still not sure about this. I have seen people break weapons but the idea of doing so without first taking the weapon away from your opponent and then giving them an opening seems like a challenge. The break moves I have seen require full control of the weapon and, at the very least, you have just engaged a lot of your body in the breaking of the weapon. Think of the muscular effort involved and that you have an opponent in physical close enough to be also touching the weapon (and we are taking steel swords). Can this be done fast and without concentration and without opening yourself to a joint lock?

Again, quoting myself:

D&D streamlines this- like all other aspects of combat- and makes this into a 2 Feat technique. This makes it more viable...and potentially more common.

 

[jonesy]

...used to bar a door...

For some reason I read that as 'could be used as a bar door', and started wondering just what sort of bar that would be.