D&D 5E Scabbard of... Silence?

[MrZeddaPiras]

The players in my Tiranny of Dragons campaign acquired the intelligent sword Hazirawn and decided to use it. The sword is evil and it is currently held by a paladin, so it has been unable to charm him, but it started to complain and speak out in very bad moments. For example, it got the party into a fight the dragon at the end of HotDQ, while the players were trying dupe him. I thought it was very clever on my part, but one of the players almost rage-quit . Go figure. So the party wants to have a magical scabbard crafted, that will silence the sword as long as it is in it. I looked up the crafting rules in the DMG and I figured it would cost 2000 gp all included, considering the scabbard should have to be made with expensive materials to start with. So the artisan could start by asking 4000 gp, and drop down the price a little if the negotiations go well.

Any advice or suggestion on all the above?

 

[SkidAce]

I would create it as an Uncommon item (max spell level 3, Silence is 2) (DMG pg 285)

Crafting Magical Items on DMG pg 129 says "500 gp" for creation cost.

Calculate the time from that cost.

Just a quick WAG on my part, but that is where I would start.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Wait, your party is carrying around an evil talking sword, and they get upset when this leads to the evil talking sword trying to get them killed?!

I don't get that. That sounds like a classic game moment, not something to rage-quit over.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Wait, your party is carrying around an evil talking sword, and they get upset when this leads to the evil talking sword trying to get them killed?!

I don't get that. That sounds like a classic game moment, not something to rage-quit over.

But they're dealing with the problem in-game, by trying to craft the scabbard. Seems fine to me.

 

[iserith]

The players in my Tiranny of Dragons campaign acquired the intelligent sword Hazirawn and decided to use it. The sword is evil and it is currently held by a paladin, so it has been unable to charm him, but it started to complain and speak out in very bad moments. For example, it got the party into a fight the dragon at the end of HotDQ, while the players were trying dupe him. I thought it was very clever on my part, but one of the players almost rage-quit . Go figure. So the party wants to have a magical scabbard crafted, that will silence the sword as long as it is in it. I looked up the crafting rules in the DMG and I figured it would cost 2000 gp all included, considering the scabbard should have to be made with expensive materials to start with. So the artisan could start by asking 4000 gp, and drop down the price a little if the negotiations go well.

Any advice or suggestion on all the above?

I tend to make such things lead to adventure rather than a scene involving haggling with an artisan e.g. "the legendary bard Falsetto Jones, said to have fallen in the Lair of the All-Seeing Orb after slaying the Eye Tyrant, owned such a scabbard because his singing sword would belt out show tunes at inopportune moments. It may be there still."

But if you're not up for side quests or other diversions from the ToD storyline, simply buying it seems reasonable. You might consider having the artisan reduce the cost by half if the PCs can help settle some problem or dispute he or she is having, something that is especially suitable to the PCs' background features (Criminal, Guild Artisan, etc.) that can be resolved without taking too much emphasis away from the ToD plotline.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Falsetto Jones always blamed the sword, refusing to acknowledge his own flamboyance...

 

[Ovinomancer]

But they're dealing with the problem in-game, by trying to craft the scabbard. Seems fine to me.

Well, given that a paladin is wielding said evil talking sword and looking to overcome it's habit of, well, being an evil talking sword so he can continue to use it, I'm not sure 'in-game' is really the solution set this belongs to.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

I tend to the opinion that incredibly powerful magical weapons should NOT have their inherent weaknesses taken away. The party is generally capable of destroying or at least throwing such things away if they become a problem.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Perhaps its use by the Paladin will give the sword a split personality...

 

[Ovinomancer]

Perhaps its use by the Paladin will give the sword a split personality...

That's an interesting idea, and I'd even pursue it if the Paladin was working with the sword to temper it's alignment and was generous about it's acting out. However, what he's doing is trying to gag it. That's not really something that leads me to think that the sword's just going to spontaneously half-decide the Paladin's a good role model.