I created this nasty artifact to inflict on my players. Let me know what you think. it’s a long one, so bear with me:
ATHORGRANOGG, OF THE STARS
Close, Two-handed, 2 Weight
Solitary, Small, Magical, Planar, Intelligent, Construct
Special Qualities: Impervious
A black two-handed flamberge sword that seems to absorb all light. An all-seeing eye and a tentacle motif decorates the crossguard and hilt. Small pinpricks of light can be seen in the depths of the blade. Tiny unknowable eldritch runes etched in silver trace the wavy blade’s edge. The blade will not tolerate being sheathed, and destroys any sheath it is placed in.
Athorgranogg, of the Stars is not a cursed blade, per-se, but it will follow its chosen wielder everywhere, whether it is left behind, locked away, banished, etc, it will always turn up. If its chosen wielder refuses to use it, in favor of another weapon, the wielder takes -1 ongoing until they wield Athorgranogg again. Athorgranogg is a chaos demon forged into the form of a sword. It is both a sword and a creature at the same time and therefore defies attempts to identify it by magic. Its alignment is Chaotic. A successful 10+ Spout Lore roll will begin to learn the secrets of Athorgranogg.
Every time the sword kills an intelligent creature it gains +1 Hold. When the blade has Hold, its powers increase as follows:
1 Hold grants +3 piercing.
2 Hold grants +1d6 damage.
3 Hold: The wielder heals 1d8 HP.
Further Hold has no effect.
The following move triggers automatically when the wielder takes the Make Camp move, or at the End of Session. It may be triggered at any time by the wielder after the first time it triggers automatically.
Clear Hold – When you focus your will and attempt to calm the blade roll+WIS minus Hold as a penalty. On a 12+ you can set the hold to whatever level you like, on a 10+ the Hold is reduced to 0, on a 7-9 the Hold is reduced to 0, but you must choose one of the following, on a 6- the GM chooses one or more from the list, or something else:
* Take damage from the sword (2d6 mental damage, ignores armor).
* Gain the alignment move, “Cause suffering for its own sake or destroy something beautiful” until the End of Session. If you hit your alignment move, mark XP, if you do not, take -1 ongoing until you do, or until the following End of Session.
* Open a gate to the stars and let 1d6 chaos demons into the world.
Submit: If you would take your Last Breath, the sword brings you back to full HP, grants you immunity to metal weapons, and you must defeat all enemies that stand before you. If you refuse to fight, take Hold d6 damage which ignores armor per round. If you fight and win, you may mark XP and roll Last Breath +hold. If you fall from damage again, you treat your Last Breath as if you had rolled a 6- and your soul is condemned to the Void.
What is the consequence to having holds? Why would I want to “Clear Holds” anytime?
I like the alignment changes, maybe implementing that into the 4+ Holds could make for interesting story and give the wielder a desire NOT to use the sword and “Clear Holds”
What is the consequence to having holds? Why would I want to “Clear Holds” anytime?
I like the alignment changes, maybe implementing that into the 4+ Holds could make for interesting story and give the wielder a desire NOT to use the sword and “Clear Holds”
The reason you’d want to Clear Hold regularly is that you take the amount of Hold as a penalty to the Clear Hold roll, the failure of which could result in some nasty choices and/ or a hard move from the GM. Once the blade has 5 hold it becomes extremely unlikely that you’ll succeed, and at 8+ you’re almost guaranteed to fail.
The reason you’d want to Clear Hold regularly is that you take the amount of Hold as a penalty to the Clear Hold roll, the failure of which could result in some nasty choices and/ or a hard move from the GM. Once the blade has 5 hold it becomes extremely unlikely that you’ll succeed, and at 8+ you’re almost guaranteed to fail.
I see now. I think some formating issues disguised that for me.
Two dashes will cross out a word, disguising the minusI see now. I think some formating issues disguised that for me.
Two dashes will cross out a word, disguising the minusAha, yeah. I didn’t mean to strike out that stuff, I just copypasta-ed from Word. I think I fixed it.
Aha, yeah. I didn’t mean to strike out that stuff, I just copypasta-ed from Word. I think I fixed it.
Sorry, I posted by accident a second ago. Here is what I meant to say:
“Athorgranogg” is a pretty epic name!
I would probably drop the +3 piercing to just +1 or +2. +3 seems a little too powerful to me. The other Hold benefits seem fine.
Overall, I like it, but I have to imagine the possession of this item would start to consume a lot of the party’s time and oxygen. If you were playing a one-player game (1 GM, 1 Player), it would be pretty cool.
Sorry, I posted by accident a second ago. Here is what I meant to say:
“Athorgranogg” is a pretty epic name!
I would probably drop the +3 piercing to just +1 or +2. +3 seems a little too powerful to me. The other Hold benefits seem fine.
Overall, I like it, but I have to imagine the possession of this item would start to consume a lot of the party’s time and oxygen. If you were playing a one-player game (1 GM, 1 Player), it would be pretty cool.
I think they will start out enjoying it and quickly devolve into trying to find a way to get rid of it or destroy it. The wizard in my game has been taking “draw unwanted attention” far too much, and this is the sort of creature that pays attention to that kind of thing.
I think they will start out enjoying it and quickly devolve into trying to find a way to get rid of it or destroy it. The wizard in my game has been taking “draw unwanted attention” far too much, and this is the sort of creature that pays attention to that kind of thing.
Jason Cordova Maybe I’ll make the piercing equal to the current hold the sword has, up to a maximum of +3. Or maybe you’re right and I’ll just drop it to +2 instead.
Jason Cordova Maybe I’ll make the piercing equal to the current hold the sword has, up to a maximum of +3. Or maybe you’re right and I’ll just drop it to +2 instead.