D&D 5E Need fun cursed sword ideas!

[MNblockhead]

I created the following Battle Axe that starred in an adventure in my current campaign. It is based on the legendary Sword from Ainu mythology. It was created for a very specific purpose in my campaign. It is a sacred relic for a society that practices arctolatry, and whose leaders are werebears. It is used for the annual ritual slaughter of a chosen adult bear.

Ipetam ("Sword that Devours Humans") [I made it into a battle axe for my campaign, so adjust stats below to fit the weapon type you prefer]

A legendary battleaxe of the Atpakaynu, to be wielded by the Abbott of the Ruyampe-sir Monastery.​

Once drawn, even by someone without any martial skill, this sword cannot help but kill someone close to it, for the sword itself wants blood.

Alignment is Neutral Good​ [Good within the context of this culture. Probably NE under traditional understanding of alignment, or just N, depends on how your interpret alignment in your campaign]

​INT: 18
WIS: 12
CHA: ​16

​Communicates by transmitting emotion.​
​Has hearing and normal vision out 120' ​

​Mannerisms: Get's excited at the sight of blood. ​
Personality Traits: Bloodthirsty​
​Ideals: Slaughter, Balance​
​Bonds: Dedicated to freeing of spirits through ritual sacrifice. ​
​Flaws: Seeks blood indiscriminately.​
​Special Purpose: Sacrifice. The axe was created for ritual sacrifice. It needed to cleanly and humanely kill a great brown bear in a single stroke.​

​Any blood on the axe is absorbed. Therefore the axe is never bloody. ​

​Sacrificial Hit: Once per year the Ipetam must serve its purpose to make a blood sacrifice. The urge is over whelming and if wielded in this state, it will automatically behead any large or smaller creature containing blood (blooded) that has upto 150 hit points. Otherwise it will deal 150 HP. Blooded creatures include: beasts, dragons, fey, giants, some monstrosities, and humanoids. Non-blooded creatures, include aberrations, celestials, contructs, fiends, some monstrositites, oozes, plants, and undead. For non-blooded creatures damages is as a normal great axe.

The person weilding the axe can choose who is to be sacrified, but it has to attack something. If the weilder resists and refuses to attack, the Ipetam will attempt to charm the weilder, who must make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw. On a failed safe the weilder is charmed by the Ipetam for 1d12 hours, or until the Ipetam's sacrificial target is dead. The Ipetam will force the weilder to attack the nearest blooded creature. If there are no blooded creatures nearby the Ipetam will have the weilder sacrifice himself.

If the sacrificial hit is not enough to kill the target, the Ipetam will demand that the attack continue until the creature is dead, attempting to charm the weilder, forcing him to continue to attack even if his own live is endangered and even if it requires tracking the target down.

Once the targeted creature is dead, the Ipetam will be sated for the year.

Compelled Attack: Even if the Ipetam is sated, its purpose is to sacrifice and it will still weakly be drawn toward blood. The weilder will experience its pull toward bloodshed and any time the axe is wielded the weilder must make a DC 5 saving throw. Upon a failed saving throw the weilder will be charmed into making an attack, even if that attack is on himself. The attack, however, is that of a normal battleaxe. ​

Damage Lycanthropes: ignore lycanthrope damage immunities when attacking with this weapon.

 

[rgoodbb]

On every crit, it unlocks new features for every good one it unlocks an unfortunate one:

Crit No.

1 Becomes sentient. Gain Abyssal language and talks
1 Middle toe drops off

2 Becomes a +1 Sword
2 Left ear drops off or keeps sliding down

3 Tells fables of forgotten lore
3 PC must talk with Pirate speak on DM’s command

4 Sword vanishes and reappears (bonus action)
4 Your skin takes on a slight green, ashen form

5 Gain resistance to poison (Held)
5 Gain vulnerability to turn undead and radiant

6 Gain ability to breathe underwater (Held)
6 On Social skill roll you cough up 1d4 mudfish

Etc. Etc.

 

[randrak]

I found this curse

The Revenant Blade
+1 to Attack and Damage
All Magical Damage used by the wielder becomes Necrotic.
Deals an additional 3d6 Necrotic Damage to targets bellow 20 HP.
Targets slain by the blade return as Revenants one week later with the sole purpose of killing the wielder. The revenants always target the cursed wielder, even if it is a new one. If the curse is lifted, all revenants will remain dormant until a new wielder is cursed or a year passes. If the wielder dies while cursed, all Revenants die and the wielder will become a revenant that hunts down the next wielder. A cursed wielder cannot be resurrected unless with a wish spell.

Thoughts?

 

[Ancalagon]

If it has any association with devils, the logical thing here is corruption - devils delight in people losing faith and turning to evil.

 

[Ganymede81]

The sword is haunted by the ghost of a haughty nobleman. Having it in your possession gives you the flaw "Sometimes I speak over my shoulder to someone that isn't there."

 

[amerigoV]

The magic of the sword is via a bound demon. Every crit hit results in an extra die of damage, but the demon pushes beyond the bonds of the sword and has to be defeated to get it back in (if they win, well, its truly free). Treat this as a summoned creature.

Over time the demon gets stronger. The base plus of the sword increases, but so does the strength of the demon (so pick a weak, moderately tough, and powerful demon to represent this).

Thus, the sword gains power about the same pace as the PC, but the thread does too.

 

[cmad1977]

A fun-cursed sword.
Upon drawing the weapon the player rolls a DC: 17 wisdom save. On success he may act as normal. On a failure the player must move up to his maximum movement towards the nearest hobby store for a TTRPG.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Edwin Suijkerbuijk]

The sword was part of a collection by a drow blacksmith said to have been aided by a devil. It was made as a last desperate act of a dying kingdom during a long forgotten war. The party found the sword in an massive abandoned duergar forge and before the forge was forced to be abandoned, the duergar were trying to replicate the sword's powers without the additional curse.

The players have encountered another sword that was part of the same collection in a previous campaign. At the time I made it a Sword of Wounding with a ghost that possessed it and attacked the wielder every 24 hours. I want something more interesting this time around.

Wel the drow smith might have built in a safe guard to stay on the good side of loth, if the sword is used aganst a spider or spider like creature the damge the weapon deels is reduced to 0.

It was made as a desperate act maybe ment to me used on a suicide mission, but is powerfull enough that the duergar wanted to copy it's powers.
Each time you hit with this weapon you deal 1d8 extra damage, unknow to the user each time this happens one of the wielders healing hitdice is spent.
If the wieldser has no unspend hitdice left he takes 1d8 damage instead.
But the user refuses to use any other weapon when attuned to this weapon.

if the wielder of this weapon dies he can not be raised or resurected by the normal means as the Devil put in a way for him to imidiately claim the wirlders soul on deat as continuing payment for helping to create the weapon.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

When we were little kids, my twin brother took a pair of pinking shears to my arm and I can confirm that yes, they leave zig-zag cuts.

As for adding some layers to the curse, I like to give cursed items both advantages and drawbacks. Going with the possessiveness, maybe the two-handed sword gets jealous if the paladin uses a different weapon, giving them disadvantage on the attack roll. But if they do something that the sword likes (your choice on the goals of the blade), they get some temp HP.

consider pinking shears. now make a pinking sword: it cuts zig-zag lines, even when you move it in a straight line. not sure it's a curse, but it's certainly confusing.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The sword was part of a collection by a drow blacksmith said to have been aided by a devil. It was made as a last desperate act of a dying kingdom during a long forgotten war.

It's maybe just a little odd for a Drow to work with a Devil, rather than invoke Lolth in some way. It certainly points to desperation, though, so that's good (er, evil).

Is the Curse intentional, or did the Devil sneak it in or require it as a price? If the former, it may have been meant to afflict the enemy after their victory (something like a non-Drow who claims the blade first becomes obsessed with it, then is slowly twisted to fear, then hate, betray, and ultimately destroy his allies). Or it may be a curse only from the perspective of someone /not/ going out to martyr themselves in some brutal last stand (a long-term affliction, for instance; or, alternately, rising as an undead to continue fighting). If the curse is a diabolic trick or price, OTOH, it's probably about getting the wielder's soul, or the souls of his victims (or allies).