So, a while back we finished our campaign and have been playing another game in the meantime, me being a player and one of the player running that game. Now, I'm starting to want to get back to being DM and have started to plan out how to continue. Which will be interesting since the alchemist got a fistfull of Disintegrate in the gut and, well, disintigrated. Then got reincarnated as a badger...
Anyway. I've been flipping through the pages of Classic Treasures Revisited and though I'm not particularly fond of Vorpal weapons, that chapter did give me an idea, and I'd like some opinions and thoughts on it.
The idea is this, there's an npc who is in possession of a specific Vorpal bastard sword. It is not an ordinary Vorpal sword however. The sword is in fact cursed or tainted. It might have been a 'regular' Vorpal sword once. Now, not so much.
It effectively renders its wearer immortal. A normally killing blow will kill the bearer, temporarily (even beheadings are included here). The only way for the wearer to die is to behead another warrior (any random person doesn't cut it. It must be a challenge). This is where stuff gets complicated. The bearer dies and fades away, and the defeated warrior becomes the new bearer, and as such, becomes immortal. Rince, repeat. (How the head is reattached is up to speculation)
The new owner will now realize more about the sword. Not only does it make you immortal, it also imposes some memories and knowledge from earlier owners. Not clear enough to give the bearer some added benefit, but enough to see the effects of immortality, almost purely negative. In effect, the sword drives its owner to pursue and kill 'worthy' opponents.
The sword does not bestow anything else than immortality, the memories and the original magical effects of the sword (not decided yet but it'll be around +3 Vorpal). The owner does not gain proficiency with the weapon, nor can it change form or size, and should it get lost the owner will be magically drawn to its location, and anyone else wielding it will suffer ill effects from it (not decided exactly how yet).
So the idea is that the group will run into the current owner of the sword (I've yet to stat him up) and he will find one of them to be acceptable, and then pursue them as the adventure goes along. This npc/sword will not be the main focus of the adventure, but rather an extra element. Of course, if he succeeds, the group will have an enitrely different problem on their hands.
I've been thinking about if there should be some other way to counter the sword. Maybe a sibling sword or some ritual to rid the taint. But I've yet to decide on something.
So, what do you think?
Bearer of the sword must defeat the headless horseman in combat.
For only then will the curse be broken.
Hm. Headless horseman needs more revisiting. I should stat him up sometime.
The new owner will now realize more about the sword. Not only does it make you immortal, it also imposes some memories and knowledge from earlier owners. Not clear enough to give the bearer some added benefit, but enough to see the effects of immortality, almost purely negative. In effect, the sword drives its owner to pursue and kill 'worthy' opponents.
What precisely are the negative effects of immortality, or more importantly, what are the negative effects that a player character is not going to shrug off and say "so what, I'm immortal..." (presumably never drawing the sword again, even if he has to wear it).
What precisely are the negative effects of immortality, or more importantly, what are the negative effects that a player character is not going to shrug off and say "so what, I'm immortal..." (presumably never drawing the sword again, even if he has to wear it).
It would be the curse of seeing friends and loved ones die and the inevitable dreariness of eternal existence. The owner of the sword does not stay sane for long, and some bearers might stay alive for decades or even centuries (though very, very rarely). Imagine getting glimpses from hundreds of different people (the sword is supposed to have been in circulation for a long time) and how they ended up, all at once and know that you are in the same position. Death might not look too bad after that.
Not to mention that it's a one-time thing, the memories would be in your head constantly. I've yet to decide exactly how to handle the inevitable insanity, but I've had insanity come in to play before. Also, the Gamemastery Guide has a section on it too. I'll get back on that when I've sorted that part out.
I was contemplating over restricting the user to only use that sword. Sort of a "All other blades will burn his hands" sort of thing. I'm not sure about it though. It's certainly evil enough for the concept, and would screw over a character pretty hard, which is not necessarily a bad thing. My players could take it.
What precisely are the negative effects of immortality, or more importantly, what are the negative effects that a player character is not going to shrug off and say "so what, I'm immortal..." (presumably never drawing the sword again, even if he has to wear it).It would be the curse of seeing friends and loved ones die and the inevitable dreariness of eternal existence. The owner of the sword does not stay sane for long, and some bearers might stay alive for decades or even centuries (though very, very rarely). Imagine getting glimpses from hundreds of different people (the sword is supposed to have been in circulation for a long time) and how they ended up, all at once and know that you are in the same position. Death might not look too bad after that.
Not to mention that it's a one-time thing, the memories would be in your head constantly. I've yet to decide exactly how to handle the inevitable insanity, but I've had insanity come in to play before. Also, the Gamemastery Guide has a section on it too. I'll get back on that when I've sorted that part out.
I was contemplating over restricting the user to only use that sword. Sort of a "All other blades will burn his hands" sort of thing. I'm not sure about it though. It's certainly evil enough for the concept, and would screw over a character pretty hard, which is not necessarily a bad thing. My players could take it.
There's a section on insanity in the GMG (among other Afflictions.). For when the item's wishes conflicts with that of the character, you probably want to take a look at the section on Intelligent magical items in the core rulebook, particularly the Ego and "Items against Characters" section. In short, unless the character makes a Will save, an intelligent magical item can take over its wielder and do things like force him into combat.
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I'm borrowing from a 2nd edition Ravenloft idea, but this bad guy (gal) concept freaked me but seemed to touch on your idea a bit (I'm recalling it from memory for those purists who do know it):
Ravenloft bad gal was cursed and beheaded. She arose to find her body was youthful and immortal, but her head would age (and could be detached, think it was held on with a magical scarf she always wore, a gift from the gypsies who cursed her).
In true bad gal fashion, this led her to behead various attractive females, take their heads, and wear them. For game stats, she could gain abilities of the head she was wearing, such as spells for a wizard head, etc. She kept some heads magically preserved (for a rainy day?) but inevitably no matter what she did the head she wore would age at an advanced rate.
Could be a guy or gal, could be a guy with a vorpal blade (either the blade is the curse, or he's cursed from something else), and he needs a head. Maybe one of the party members has a head he likes. Maybe he kills a lot of red-haired, green-eyed men under 40, and the party member gets wind as the red-haired player contemplates shaving his head.
However, you're going to have to construct a story plot wherein the bad guy doesn't just find the party member and decapitate them right there (or where the party says hey, let's fight, and gets beaten badly). Likely, he'd want the head undamaged. Anyhoo, tossing ideas.
Interesting concept that. Doesn't feel like something that would fit my idea though, even though the stealing heads and gaining powers from them bit is pretty cool.
However, you're going to have to construct a story plot wherein the bad guy doesn't just find the party member and decapitate them right there (or where the party says hey, let's fight, and gets beaten badly).
The opponent need to be killed in combat, so just assassinating them in their sleep won't cut it. I also figured I'd let him use his immortality to his advantage, i.e. losing on purpose on their first encounter, and then later track them down and take them on for real (by then they should also have leveled up two or three levels).
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It effectively renders its wearer immortal. A normally killing blow will kill the bearer, temporarily (even beheadings are included here). The only way for the wearer to die is to behead another warrior (any random person doesn't cut it. It must be a challenge). This is where stuff gets complicated. The bearer dies and fades away, and the defeated warrior becomes the new bearer, and as such, becomes immortal. Rince, repeat. (How the head is reattached is up to speculation)
So, If I'm reading you correctly what you're saying here is. . .
"THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!"