Sword that eats Money!

[The_Gunslinger658]

Hi-

I'm thinking about including a magical item in my campaign, a Red Dragon slayer that is an intellegent sword but the only draw back to this fine weapon is the fact that it will drain gems. coinage and any other monies with in a 30 ft radius, Including the players.

To that end, is this mean of me to include such an item? Will it cause too much strife for my players? and lastly, what would you guys suggest as far as rules go to make such a sword do such things? A will save perhaps? If the players passes, everybody keeps their gold and gems for the day...............


Thanks for any input.


Scott

 

[Asmor]

Unless your campaign features combat with red dragons heavily, it might not be reliable that the PCs would want to keep it in the first place. Given the drawback, the only way I could see that working would be if the PCs almost exclusively fought red dragons.

It could make a cool "trojan horse" kind of thing, though. Arrange for it to be given as a gift to a dragon, or trick the dragon into taking it, and then watch the dragon's horde dwindle...

Here's an idea... Instead of just randomly eating gems and coins, maybe it has to be fed... and it gains power when it's been fed enough. In game terms, the PCs can "enchant" the sword by feeding it as much money as would normally be required, but without having to seek out an enchanter. Even better, this has a strong dragon vibe to it since dragons like to horde money anyways... What if the sword was actually a gold dragon bound in sword form? Explains why it's effective against reds, why it's intelligent, and why it gains power by eating stuff. Not to mention it's just freaking cool. "By the blade of Aurumonix, Golden Wyrm, I will see you run through, foul red dragon!"

 

[Ry]

I agree w. Asmor.

If the sword needs to be fed, it's a choice for the players. Heck, it's not even an easy choice.

Choices are cool.

 

[Gwaihir]

I once ran a magic item like this for one of the greedier players, except that it had to be fed Magic Items rather than gems and coin. I figured that it would make him make difficult choices about what to keep and what to feed to the weapon.

He is one of the strongest personalities at my table and he basically talked the rest of the party into surrenduring loads of loot to increase his weapon.


Sigh.

 

[jester47]

I agree with Asmor.

Feed the sword, get the abilities. I would make the pommel look like a gold dragon's mouth, and you have to stuff the wealth in piece by piece. Thus it takes a couple of days to feed and the slaying abilities last until it has helped to kill a red dragon. Also you could have various levels of wealth, and I daresay various kinds of wealth, unlock various abilities. coins get you pluses, gems get you certain types of energy, magic items get you somthing else, and the deed to that castle you got in the last adventure makes you red dragon slayer #1 until you kill a red dragon.

This would be ideal, then that way your players can gain the sword earlier, gems look mighty tasty (speeds up the feeding process), but the sword is not a curse, just a little quirky.

 

[jester47]

Actually, I am going to use this in my next campaign. Thanks.

 

[Stalker0]

1) Put sword in bag of holding.

2) Approach red dragon lair.

3) Empty all pockets of gold and gems, place in another bag of holding.

4) Go kill dragon.

5) Snicker as you receive all your gold back with no penalty.

Choices are cool, but I could totally see a party doing this. However, if your sword has to be FED gems and coins to work, then that's a different story.

 

[der_kluge]

I'm all over the "feeding" it idea as well.

In fact, I'd opt for an exponential cost to increase the sword's power. Like, it has slots in the handle for gemstones, and the more you put into it, the more it does.

Swords starts off as an intelligent +1 sword.
100gp gem = +2 sword
200gp gem = +2 dragon bane
500gp gem = +3 dragon bane
800gp gem = +3 Frost dragon bane

etc, etc.

Watch your parties funds dwindle.

Lastly, it would be neat if the party could learn where all their money went. Have it all go some place.

 

[The_Gunslinger658]

Hi-

Some really kool idea's guys, I'm shure players all over the world are hating this thread right now

Anyway, I like the idea of the more gold sucked up, the more powerful the Weapon gets, I am also into the idea where the player, to control the swords money lust, must make a will save, I forgot how that Int. sword vs player thing works, perhaps some kind soul can refresh an old man failing memory.

As for the Sword itself, it is a Red Dragon slayer with the personality of a silver Dragon within
the blade. The Swords name is Glittering Flak, you know, like the metalic bits that were shot up at allied bombers during world war II.

Scott

 

[Prince of Happiness]

They make swords out of women now?

J/k

Wasn't there also a system for GP sacrifice upgrades in 3.0 OA? Either for the samurai class or for the wuxia-but-not-quite PrC?