Break the Evil Sword

[Dausuul]

So, my party recently (in-game) defeated a vampire lord by pushing him into the sunlight. The vampire lord had an attack which inflicted ongoing necrotic damage with no save, which ended when the vampire died. Now the party has taken his sword and they want to know what it does. They're 15th level.

Not having any stats worked out for it at the time--a foolish mistake, I know--I put them off while I came up with something. Having now come up with some stats, I thought I'd run it by the folks here to see if I've missed any loopholes that would make the weapon horribly broken in the hands of the PCs. I don't mind them finding occasional creative uses for it, I just don't want it turning into a +6 sword of continuous gamebreaking.

Here's what I've got:

• Magical fullblade. (We use inherent bonuses, so the "plus" is irrelevant.)
• Any living creature that touches, wields, or is struck by the Sword of Fane takes ongoing 15 necrotic damage whenever it is within 20 squares of the Sword. If the Sword is exposed to sunlight, this effect ends for all creatures currently subject to it.
• The Sword can instantly animate the corpse of any creature that dies while subject to the above effect, transforming it into a wight with full hit points under the Sword's control. (This is a template which grants the undead keyword, necrotic resist 10 + 5/tier, vulnerability to radiant 5/tier, darkvision, immunity to poison and disease, and the ability to drain a healing surge from any creature the wight hits with a melee attack.)

(An important point about that second ability is that the wight is under control of the Sword itself--not the Sword's wielder. The Sword has a deep and abiding hatred of all living creatures, so it's likely to use these wights against the party.)

Thoughts? Can anyone see a way to abuse this weapon on a consistent basis?

Edited to add: I guess I didn't make this sufficiently clear--for a living wielder, property #2 is a curse, not a benefit. Basically, anything that dies under the Sword's influence will instantly reanimate as a wight and try to kill you.

 

[aurance]

So, my party recently (in-game) defeated a vampire lord by pushing him into the sunlight. The vampire lord had an attack which inflicted ongoing necrotic damage with no save, which ended when the vampire died. Now the party has taken his sword and they want to know what it does. They're 15th level.

Not having any stats worked out for it at the time--a foolish mistake, I know--I put them off while I came up with something. Having now come up with some stats, I thought I'd run it by the folks here to see if I've missed any loopholes that would make the weapon horribly broken in the hands of the PCs. I don't mind them finding occasional creative uses for it, I just don't want it turning into a +6 sword of continuous gamebreaking.

Here's what I've got:

• Magical fullblade. (We use inherent bonuses, so the "plus" is irrelevant.)
• Any living creature that touches, wields, or is struck by the Sword of Fane takes ongoing 15 necrotic damage whenever it is within 20 squares of the Sword. If the Sword is exposed to sunlight, this effect ends for all creatures currently subject to it.
• The Sword can instantly animate the corpse of any creature that dies while subject to the above effect, transforming it into a wight with full hit points under the Sword's control. (This is a template which grants the undead keyword, necrotic resist 10 + 5/tier, vulnerability to radiant 5/tier, darkvision, immunity to poison and disease, and the ability to drain a healing surge from any creature the wight hits with a melee attack.)

(An important point about that second ability is that the wight is under control of the Sword itself--not the Sword's wielder. The Sword has a deep and abiding hatred of all living creatures, so it's likely to use these wights against the party.)

Thoughts? Can anyone see a way to abuse this weapon on a consistent basis?

Well, the most obvious thing is necrotic resistance + the first ability. With said resistance, the sword has an equivalent of a huge +something damage. If the PC has no resistance, then it's nigh-useless as it will burn through his hp no time.

I guess I'm curious if you're actually intending on the PCs to use this thing? Or just as a plot device for them to destroy or do something with?

 

[Dausuul]

Well, the most obvious thing is necrotic resistance + the first ability. With said resistance, the sword has an equivalent of a huge +something damage.

That was the first thing I thought of too, which was why I put in the second property. Basically, the price of that necrotic damage is that you have to kill everything twice, and the necrotic damage doesn't help you the second time around.

I guess I'm curious if you're actually intending on the PCs to use this thing? Or just as a plot device for them to destroy or do something with?

Well, it's not exactly a plot device since I don't have a plot built around it, but it's also not meant to be a regular magic sword for the party fighter. It's sort of a challenge: See if you can find a way to get some use out of this. I like giving the PCs items that don't have an obvious application, but can be used in clever ways under the right circumstances.

I just want to be sure "clever situational use" doesn't turn into "way to dominate every encounter."

 

[Ryujin]

I think that I'd scale back the raising of the wight, were I you. Maybe make it one or two creatures that were killed in the encounter, raised as minions until the end of the encounter. Even that is getting dangerously close to the Epic Destiny power from Prince of Hell.

 

[Dausuul]

I think that I'd scale back the raising of the wight, were I you. Maybe make it one or two creatures that were killed in the encounter, raised as minions until the end of the encounter. Even that is getting dangerously close to the Epic Destiny power from Prince of Hell.

That would make the sword crazy powerful. At that point, all you have to do is load up on necrotic resist and be willing to kill a couple extra minions, and you get to dish out 15 ongoing necrotic with no saving throw to everything you hit.

Remember, that second ability isn't a benefit for the PCs. It's a curse! The wight isn't under your control--it's under the sword's control, and the sword doesn't like being wielded by a living warrior. The second property can be best summed up as "Everything you fight, you have to kill twice, and the second time it's a nasty undead version."

 

[Ryujin]

Good point. I've never liked 'cursed' items, so my brain doesn't turn that way. The 15 ongoing without a save is definitely far too powerful though, downside or not.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

You could also get into trouble with the players convincing opponents to take the sword (or just plain throwing it at them), and then being saddled with a bunch of ongoing necrotic damage... so, you'll have to consider carefully what "handling" means.

Another way to deal with the sword it to have it attempt to dominate its wielder at inopportune moments (such as when they are facing undead). That way you could make the sword somewhat less powerful but still creapy, evil and dangerous. Alternatively, you could make the sword do nothing during the day, but control whoever was its wielder when they are sleeping.

I guess it depends on how much you want to be a dangerous mcguffin, and how much you want it to be something the party can actually interact with.

 

[Ryujin]

A thought: Are you going to play into Epic? I see some bad unintended consequences if someone takes an Epic Destiny like Archlich.

 

[Dausuul]

A thought: Are you going to play into Epic? I see some bad unintended consequences if someone takes an Epic Destiny like Archlich.

Probably not, and I can't see the party fighter going the lich route, but that's a good point to keep in mind. Thanks!

 

[erleni]

Remember, that second ability isn't a benefit for the PCs. It's a curse!

Hope you don't have revenants in your party. Otherwise a simple feat will be enough to overcome most of the drawbacks (just don't deliver killing blows and concentrate on weakening unbloodied target). Would be a fantastic item for a Bleak Cabal assassin...