Connor's Weapon-a-Week Thread- Finally Updated 12/5!

[ConnorSB]

Hi Everybody! Hi Doctor Connor!

My campaign crashed and burned a few months ago, but I have all these cool ideas floating around in my head that may not see the light of day. A lot of them are ideas for magic weapons with cool, funky powers. See, I'm a fan of unique magic items, so to me a generic +1 sword sucks, and will never fall into the hands of anyone in my campaign. Now, a +1 sword that resonates with a character's voice, helping thier musical performance with a +4 bonus to Perform, and which can cast silence 1/day; that is interesting to both me and my players.

And its even better when the characters find out it enjoys singing Gilbert and Sulliven... on a stealth mission. (Maybe)

So... here I go!

 

[ConnorSB]

Note: this is straight out of what I wrote in my opening post

Morrin's Mixed Blessing

This +1 Shortsword was crafted for Morrin, a human bard of some standing, by the minotaur blacksmith Kalos. Theirs was an odd friendship. Once in his underdark travels Morrin had stumbled upon a dying Kalos and healed him out of what could be called stupidity or kindness. Luckly for Morrin, Kalos felt he owed the human a blood debt, and repayed it by crafting for the bard this sword.

Knowing his friend's strengths, he crafted it to be resonant with the human voice. When within 15 ft of a performer, it grants a +4 bonus to any perform check involving spoken word, whether it be song, poetry, or prose.

But knowing Morrin's penchant for singing at the worst possilbe times, and the frequency with which he fought spellcasters, Kalos crafted one ability in particular to keep Morrin out of trouble. Once per day, Morrin's Mixed Blessing can cast silence as a 4th level bard. The command words for this ability is the phrase "There are times for not talking."

Finally, a whisle is built into the handle that 1/day casts message (as a first level bard) when blown, and functions as a regular whistle at all other times.

The blade is incribed with Minotauran runes that read "Know when to use something, but know also when not to."

-----------------

Requirements: Craft Magical Arms and Armor, 3rd level caster, ability to cast silence, message

Cost:
Masterwork Short Sword: 310gp
+1 weapon bonus: 2000gp
+4 bonus to perform: 640gp
Silence 1/day (command word activated) : 5760gp
Message 1/day (command word activated) : 720gp

=

9430 gp

------------------

Wow... that wasn't hard at all. I could do a whole bunch of these.

So tell me what you think! Maybe make some weapon suggestions too!

{edit: math was messed up}

 

[Anabstercorian]

I think some of the math is wrong, but it's a wonderfully creative item.

 

[ConnorSB]

The silence ability is slightly more expensive than it could be because I made it as a 4th level bard rather than the bare minimum 3rd level cleric, so it ends up being...

Level * Spell Level * 1800 / (5/1) = 4 * 2 * 1800/5 = 2880 gp.

I'll double check my math. Oh, this is third edition too.. not 3.5. OH WAIT! I have to double the price on all the funky extra things because they are secondary abilities. I'll redo that in a bit... {EDIT: I just did.}

Thanks,
Connor

 

[Ferret]

Very coolness. When I heard it minotaur crafted I assumed it was Dragonlance, but maybe not... Very cool...

 

[ConnorSB]

No, not Dragonlance. I just think Big cow dudes crafting stuff is cool.

Anyway...

Nonoal, The Flame of Mephistopheles

This +2 flaming Sickle is the favorite weapon of Joel Twofinger, a halfling bounty hunter. He found it long ago on the corpse of an orc chieftan, and assumes it was crafted by some deranged orc shaman.

It appears as a normal sickle, like a farmers but slightly thicker and stroger. When enflamed, the blade grows red and orange with heat, rather than actually becoming shrouded in flames. When flaming or heated by a conventional fire, orc runes appear on the blade and read as follows:

Hear me, O Lord of Death and Flames, O Archduke. I am Your fire and and I shall roast this land asunder.

The command words for the flaming ability, are, simply enough "I am your fire." spoken in orc.

Two things seperate Nonoal from conventional sickles. Firstly, it is edged on outside and blunt on the inside. Secondly, it has a crossguard, or more accuratly the blunt inside edge continues past the hilt, forming a protective guard for the handle. These features combine to with the weapons magical properties to give the user a +2 enhancement bonus to AC. This ability is automatic while Nonoal is activly being used in a fight.

These two properties were all the blade origionally had, until Twofinger found it and took it as his own weapon.

In his profession, Joel found it useful to be able to stun his opponents nonlethaly, such that he could bring them in. Therefore he hired a wizard from the local cities Mage Guild to enchant the blade. Twice per day, Nonoal can cast hold person as a 5th level wizard (Will save DC 17, 5 round duration).

Additionally, the blade was enchanted so that once per day it could transform into a set of masterwork manacles for up to two hours. This transformation is especially useful during the rounds in which an opponent is held, as at that point they are attuned to the size of the creature held, and therefore increase thier DCs to the following: Escape artist check DC 38, Strength check DC 30. The blade's magical enhancement give it a Hardness 11, HP 15 while in manacle form. The command words for this ability are "Nostros Diemon", Draconic for "Welcome to Hell"

---------------
Requirements: Craft Magical Arms and Armor, 9th Level Caster, Must cast Fireball, Hold Person, and Arcane Lock.

---------------
Price:
Masterwork Sickle: 302gp
+2 Flaming: 18000gp
Secondary abilities:
+2 AC bonus: 4000gp x2 = 8000gp
Hold Person 2/day (command word): 1800 x 3 x 5 / 2.5 = 10800 x 2 = 21600
Manacle Transformation (rough estimate) = 1000 gp x 2 = 2000 gp

=

49902 gp, or slightly less expense than a +5 weapon. But its pretty cool regardless. And its usefulness as an intrument of torture is... intriguing...

 

[reapersaurus]

What's the point of pricing these, other than academic purposes?

Extra abilities are very over-charged in magic items, so this weapon is nowhere near the fenctionality of a +5 weapon.

I certainly hope you wouldn't give this weapon to a PC in the place of a +5 equivalent weapon.

Having said that, I REALLY like the idea, as long as the extra abilities are basically just perks thrown onto normal weapons to make them unique.
If you hold the overpriced "treasure cost" against the PC, I'd say "screw it - I can commission better ones on my own", or something more PC but getting that idea across.

 

[ConnorSB]

I agree completly. The pricing I do out of anal retentiveness more than anything else, but it helps a bit to keep the party's power level even. Its like the captain in Pirates of the Carribbean : "We like to think of them as... guidelines."

My games are so overpowered anyway that the DMG "wealth/level" tables are thrown out the window. I just like that power to be internally consistant, so if one pc has a sword "priced" at 10000 gp, it is good thing that everyone elses "primary magic item thing" is about 10000 gp as well.

Mostly, the extra abilities are there because I think they're cool, not because I'm out to screw the PCs.

I'm working up a new thing, as I would like to keep this thread's title as inaccurate as possible (in the good, overproducing sense).

But thanks for the support!

Connor

 

[ConnorSB]

Siren's Song

(Note: Treat at Siren as a Female Merfolk with the Harpy's Captivating Song ability, aproximatly CR 2)

Sad is the tale of this +1 thundering rapier, as it is one of forlorn love. A siren, one of the fair maidens who sing sailors to thier doom, fell prey to her own profession. She fell in love with a handsome pirate, whom she would often visit in her youth. As not to allert her siblings, she would make him be silent as they courted. And thier love was a beautiful thing. That is, until her sisters found them together.

He had his tongue ripped out as fitting punishment, and she was taken far away, to the ends of the oceans, on a rocky precipace that jutted out and up from the edge of the world, where she was chained, and her eyes were ripped from thier sockets, to keep her from viewing any man, ever again.

She sang melencholy dirges for many months and years, but as the years passed she forgot most of her love, and returned to the pleasant songs she had sung in her youth.

Meanwhile, the daring young pirate survived his ill fate, drifting ashore on an island. He was found by the local inhabitants and nursed to health. After many months of help, he built a boat and set out to find her love.

It took him years, but finally he came to the ends of the earth. But alas, she could not see him, and he could not call out to her to stop singing, and as he drew close he fell under the siren's song. So focused on his love that he did not notice his boat crash onto her island. Nor did he notice its pieces and himself slip to the side and fall off the edge of the earth. His eyes were trained steadily on her, his empty mouth silently screaming her name as he fell through the mists, never to be seen again.

As the siren made her way around the island, singing, she came upon the sailor's sword, which had accidentally fallen ashore when the boat crashed. Holding it, she knew what must have happened.

And so she took her own life in grief, letting out a beautiful scream of pure sorrow as she plunged the rapier into her chest. (Years later it was found by a group of saugin on a mission to survey the ends of the oceans, who brought it back to thier Shell City)

And from that final forlorn act, the sword gained its power. The thundering roar it makes when it strikes with a critical hit is not the normal primal "I'M ANGRY!" scream, but instead it is the siren's final song, her sorrowful scream.

In addition, the sword provides a +4 bonus to saves against effects related to sound, including a Harpy or Siren's Captivating Song, to the user and any ally within 30 ft. The Siren's Song achieves this bonus by singing a beautiful song which focuses the user's (and his ally's) mind(s) on the task at hand, whatever that may be.

Finally, it can cast sound burst, as a 4th level bard, once per day, the burst being the siren's mournful screams. The command word is not so much a word, as the user must think melencholy, sad thoughts to activate it. (same amount of time as a standard command word, just without speaking)

---------
Requirements: 9th level caster, Must be able to cast sound burst, must have personally encountered a Siren and heard its song (but not neccessarally fail the Will save involved)

Price:
Masterwork Rapier: 320 gp
+3 bonus = 18000 gp
+4 save bonus = 8000 gp
Sound Burst 1/day (command word) = 5760 gp

=

32080 gp

 

[Dakkareth]

I really like these weapons. Far more style than a simple '+5 sword'.

-dak