Warpaws's page

Don't tell the players how. Let them come up with all the hoops to jump through themselves. Just see how long you can string them along with promises that "it's possible", or "it's having an effect". An alignment change on what sounds more like an artifact than an enchanted weapon should take time and be gradual. Like having it develop a bond with a player then have that player sacrifice (or near as makes no difference) himself in order to save it. There should be no procedural way to do it since it is intelligent.

It is an artifact actually. Just something i came up with (obviously many rules had to be broken and bent.)

There exists a partial mitigation for the combat scenario described. Logically, it would be impossible to extract life energy from a wielder devoid of that energy. Using mindless undead or constructs may help with three issues simultaneously. You are not potentially risking permanent loss of an intelligent being to the corrupted weapon, the host will be unable to donate life energy, and specific override spells (that is, control undead/construct respectively) provide a failsafe in the event the weapon takes control. A possible tangential bonus is the possibility of less aptitude for avoiding Sunder attempts than your mercenaries.

There are a lot of things about this that just flat out can't work. It's a problem that i understand but my players aren't that hardcore about all of the rules so it isn't a big issue. I really do appreciate the feedback. It's really good to know for the future so i can make my story more accurate and realistic. Thanks for the feedback.

I'm thinking if the players want to redeem it they first jump through all the hoops you have defined for the destruction process, getting it down to 1 hp, and then have it reforged under special conditions. Those conditions shouldn't be much worse than the *bla bla bla* of the destruction process.

To (re)forge a blade you need a smith, an anvil, a hammer, a fire, and quenching fluid. Those should each be special but not (IMHO) incredibly so individually; it's getting them all together in advance that's hard.

Not all of them need to be alignment-focused. Maybe the smith must be a paladin or maybe someone with umpteen ranks in Craft(blacksmith). The fire might have to be a powerful fire elemental. The hammer should definitely be a holy weapon, because that exists. Anvil... a meteorite? And quench in the blood of willing angels as previously suggested---maybe magically preserved is ok, maybe it has to be fresh.

I have no idea how long it takes to (re)forge a blade, but I'm sure someone here does. If it's around an hour, someone should be casting atonement throughout (casting time one hour) and the climax comes when they lay hand on the newly reforged (and quenched) sword so the spell can take effect. The idea being that the other ingredients get it to want to be good and atonement fulfills that wish. If reforging only takes ten minutes, just drop this part, it's not worth rearranging things to cram it in somehow.

I really like this idea actually. I'll most likely use that. Thanks

This sword’s backstory sounds strangely like Soul Edge from the Soul Calibur franchise. Maybe have a piece of it that broke off before it turned evil being the key to turning it good. If they merge the broken good piece with the weapon, it’ll purify it.

I've never actually watched that at all funny enough. That could be a good idea.

You mentioned destruction as another option. How would they destroy it? Just apply damage until its hp reach 0, or do some special conditions have to be met?

Special conditions would have to be met. Even with the broken condition it cannot be destroyed by normal means. The players would have to fight the sword in a battle of the mind and of combat. They would first have to manage to not be controlled by the sword (It controls whoever tries to wield it (high dc)This effect bypasses normal immunities but not resistances) and then someone would have to sunder the weapon. Each round someone holds the sword it's influence grows stronger and stronger and it steals life to repair itself. So obviously this process would take a large amount of effort. Once broken it must be taken and *bla bla bla something i haven't entirely figured out yet because the players would most likely decide how it will work and depending on what they say is if it will work or not* Each day it is broken it slowly fixes a few hit points of itself from it's reservoir of blood

How did the sword change from good to evil in the first place?

It was used wrongfully by the wielder. They murdered many innocent people and used its powers for wrong doings. It absorbed all the blood of the fallen and became the way it is. (obviously intelligent weapons wont allow that (i think) but i've decided that is what happened.)

I'm running a campaign and the main boss of the campaign is an insanely powerful intelligent weapon. I've created two ways the group can deal with it, either fight it and destroy it that way, or turn it good again. I can't think of anything cool enough (and time consuming enough) to make the sword good again. Obviously you can't do this with normal intelligent weapons (I think) but it seems like a really cool idea and i want to try that.