The Bane of the Inevitable

[Diomeneus]

I'm trying to make a sword which is extremely specific to avoiding/destroying the inevitables (specifically marut but i'm pretty sure this would apply to all of them). And not just a normal magical weapon, were talking about a intelligent +4 adamantine weapon.

Anarchic +1 adamantine longsword of construct bane is what i have so far for 32,000g

adding intelligence (oh and by teh way this is not anything i plan on simply 'buying' in a campaign or anything like that... nothing this powerful or specific can be created so casually on the market lol) is where i'm stuck... mostly i just want suggestions for what would be a good personality/alignment/abilities(and how powerful, ie how many lesser and greater) a sword meant to cheat death (or even slay its messenger) should be.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/intelligentItems.htm

lots of fun stuff in there, i just wanted opinions and ideas for it. Should it have minor intelligence and just invoke a feeling of panic whenever the Inevitables are near or should it be an all out chaotic evil sword that is quite aware and talkative, desiring to kill the enivatables.

 

[werk]

mostly i just want suggestions for what would be a good personality/alignment/abilities(and how powerful, ie how many lesser and greater) a sword meant to cheat death (or even slay its messenger) should be....or should it be an all out chaotic evil sword that is quite aware and talkative, desiring to kill the enivatables.

I dunno about chaotic evil, but if it's anarchic it should definitely be very chaotic....so talkative sometimes, silent and nonresponsive others.

 

[Diomeneus]

lol strangely i forgot completely that i made it anarchic... so ya it pretty much has to be chaotic... but is avoiding death (as in you left the death plane, and the inevitables are upset by that, they aren't usually by one person but sometimes) or just defying the inevitables to be considered evil? i imagine it can be neutral, good seems a little far off because chances are they shouldn't be trying to kill you if you are good.

 

[TheGogmagog]

Cheating death is predominatly the domain of the evil. The good or even Neutral exceptions are few and far between. The sword however could be one of these exceptions. Depending on DM's views.

I would say it would have to be pretty powerful (epic/artifact) in spite of the pricing guidelines.

It should have some self preservation abilities. Probably have a unique power that makes the sword seem insignificant to the inevitables should they suceed in recalaiming thier target. There is a spell (apathy?) that does this but is probably mind effecting making the inevitables immune to it. An alternative would be a teleport object that it could activate upon demise of it's posessor.

Another ability would be spells that made constructs subject to critical hits and sneak attacks.

 

[Diomeneus]

yeah, artifact level sounds about right. It doesn't need to be specific to that character though, the sword could even desire to help those the inevitables are trying to slay (either through desire to help them survive or desire to kill inevitables, either or) and simply attempt to find its way to its next partner when one is slain by an inevitable. The inevitables would probably not realize the sword is intelligent and i doubt the same one would ever come in contact with it twice from two different weilders (even if it did, twice would not necessarily be enough to realize the swords true nature).

could even do a campaign around the sword... seeking it out to save an NPC or a PC even. I even have a dungeon drawn up that could accomadate this whole idea pretty easily...

I spend a while drawing a fairly detailed topdown view of a three layer dungeon, in a large abandoned manor with temple like features. Even has puzzles and traps and such. Rooms are all functional rooms that an establishment of that nature would have (barracks, kitchen, garden, latrine etc).

If anyone is interested i could upload the maps later (i still have to blow them up and overlay a hex grid on them... i can print giant maps at my school for free on the plotter)

 

[Vuron]

Why not make an intelligent Mace of Smiting? The mace of smiting has better destruction potential (vs constructs) and you can supplement the base mace through intelligent item abilities. You could also give the mace the construct bane ability (although adding effects to specific magic items is somewhat tricky price wise).

Oh BTW the cost on a +1 adamantine anarchic construct bane longsword is actually 35,015gp as a base adamatine longsword costs 3,015 before enchantment.

Note that when you get into intelligent weapons especially those with special purposes the price goes up very very quickly.

 

[AuraSeer]

Avoiding death is not necessarily evil. A good cleric who freely uses raise and resurrection spells is also thwarting death, and might get visited by a Marut if he overdoes it. So I think the sword should be CN.

As far as intelligent item qualities, how powerful do you want the sword to be? Is this going to be effectively a minor artifact, or something a mid-level adventurer will be getting his hands on?

If there are no limits, I'd grant abilities as for the 100 line of the table. Give the sword a special purpose of "Destroy inevitables," with the dedicated power that allows true resurrection once per month. For greater powers, dimensional lock and magic circle against law will help nullify some of a Marut's powers. Lesser powers are not as easy to pick, but to stick with the theme I'd choose cure moderate wounds, deathwatch, and 10 ranks of Knowledge (the planes).

Such a sword will have Ego 26, which means it will likely dominate almost anyone who wants to wield it. Even a Ftr20 with Iron Will, a decent Wisdom bonus, and magical assistance will fail the save more than half the time.

If my math is right, this works out to a market price of 290,515 gp, most of which comes from the true res power.

 

[Diomeneus]

ya i knew about the price, just typed in the wrong figure, i have all the numbers on paper in front of me. plus, the mace of smiting is more expensive and it isn't a whole lot better, again'st constructs yes, again'st inevitable no.

anarchic will bypass that silly damage reduction they have as well as deal +2d6 damage to them. That alone is better then a +5 enhancement (for damage anyways)

the bane gives you +2 attack and another +2d6 vs constructs.

so pricing is 75,312 for something that does +5 attack and damage vs a construct with a chance for disintegration.
vs
35,015g for something that does +3 attack , +4d6 extra damage and bypasses DR/15

warranted all of the latter is only really useful again'st a inevitable (adamantine was thrown in because the way i see it, all weapons that cost more then 24,000 aught to be made from something special)

 

[Bad Paper]

You are completely missing something very important about this item:

HYPOCRISY

Intelligent magic items are essentially constructs. Immortal constructs. And this one is smashing immortal constructs meant to hunt immortals. oh the brain, it hurts

 

[Diomeneus]

ya that true rez is a whopping 200,000 isn't it? The character i intend on weilding it actually does have the iron mind feat as well as (ironically because of the fact that the sword is trying to dominate the weilder) the feat indomitable soul (two throws keep the higher). Its mostly monk so will is pretty good anyways. I don't think true rez is really a requirement... i mean everything you just said is perfect for its intended purpose (i had thought about the destroy inevitables higher purpose but wasn't sure if that would raise the power way too much). knowledge of planes and such is pretty much a must, as well as the cure.

the true rez would be a littel funny though... i mean imagine the inevitables each month coming to kill this person then each time he is stolen away again... seemingly by nobody lol.
That would REALLY piss of a marut.

Maybe i can make three different scales for the intelligence part of the sword, a lesser, moderate and greater one to match the scaling of the campaign itself (i've pretty much decided that it will be in the campaign i'm making)