Morganti weapons?

[Heretic Apostate]

In Brust's Taltos series (Vlad Taltos, Easterner witch-assassin with his wisecracking jhereg familiar), there are soul-devouring weapons. I kind of like the idea, especially since

Spoiler

Vlad now has himself a Great Weapon, Godslayer, or as he calls it... well, read the latest novel, and you'll know

.

I was wondering if there was a way to approximate a Morganti weapon, using just the stuff from WOTC?

Basically, I don't want the 'insta-kill' aspect of the Morganti, but the fear it produces, and the (most likely story aspect) perma-death attribute. The nine-lives-slayer, for instance, isn't what I'm looking for.

Just a weapon whose very presence disheartens enemies...

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Design the weapon so that it steals the victim's soul only in this situation:

The victim is alive and a blow from the weapon drops the victim's hit points below zero. If the victim's hit points are already below zero, then any successful attack with the morganti weapon steals his/her soul. The weapon has no effect on a creature that is already dead.

Having the soul stolen prevents any form of resurrection/reincarnation.

Note, designing the weapon this way prevents inst-kill (since you still have to whittle down the opponent's hit points), but opponents should immediately sense the danger from the weapon. This would prompt most intelligent creatures to seriously consider running away as fast as possible.

 

[Coredump]

I would also give it some soul stealing ability on a critical. Otherwise there isn't that "any touch may mean my end" feeling from the books.

OTOH, perhaps losing the soul isn't totally debilitating until dead. Like being in the VOID from the Deck o many things.

 

[Paragon]

one of the newer books has a metal very similar to that. basically if you land the killing blow with the weapon it sucks their soul into it.
i think it's in the underdark book, sorry i'm not more specific i've looked through a ton of books lately.

 

[SkidAce]

I have used Morganti weapons for quite a while. For me what worked was making it so that any damage done by them could not be healed by magic, and if you were killed by one it was permanant.

This had the effect of PCs healing over time if they survived...but still being very cautious around them.

I have a whole desert in my world called the Morganti desert...they started off as such nice "white" magic mecromancers too.../sigh...but then they started making all those powerfull necro weapons, and then there was this life draining ritual spell that got out of control.

Greater Morganti weapons have the ability as above, with extra abilities such as nine lives stealer, level drain, wraith touch, etc tacked on.

you should see the players run when bad guys pull out black bladed weapons that seem to "shimmer" like water.

Of course possessing such a weapon is a capital offense in all the known kingdoms of the world.

 

[Heretic Apostate]

I've considered having a critical effect of causing a "negative level," with any death blow causing a soul-sucking...

I kind of like the "no magical healing" idea, though...

 

[Thomas Hobbes]

Love those books.

Complete Warrior has "Thinaun," which looks awfully similar.

This dark, glittering steel alloy holds an attraction to souls recently released from their bodies.

Anyone touching a Thinaun weapon when they die (whether you're killed by one or holding one when you die) it holds your soul in the weapon. New souls replace old ones, with the old ones freed. No ressurection unless you have the weapon, in which case the material component cost is halved. The cost for making a weapon out of it are 10,000, 15,000, and 20,000 for light, one-handed, and two-handed weapons respectively.

Maybe someone in WotC reads the same books we do.