I'm planning to give Serithiel to one of the first level characters in my new campaign. It would be his father's sword.
At first it would be a common sword as the sword's "soul" is dormant, and it would grow in power as the PC fights against the minions of Zon-Kuthon (ie advances in the AP).
From Golarion World Wiki, Iomedae entry: "Common folk in need of a weapon to defend themselves may happen upon an old, rusty blade that still has the strength of a new weapon and grows shinier the more it is used in the name of justice and honor."
I plan to make it a +1 weapon when the queen is first met, but I would like some advice for other points in the AP that would be appropiate to level up the weapon. I think it should be perhaps +4 for the time Scarwall is found, and that a ceremony in Scarwall should be needed to give it the other abilities (holy, Zon-Kuthon bane, and maybe the glow and empathy). This would make the whole Scarwall adventure more tied to the PC's story and more appealing.
I also need some ideas of how the pc's father found the sword and how to develope the whole thing. Perhaps he was a shoanti with some or full knowledge of the sword, was sent to Scarwall to recover it (by Thousandbones??) and died without explaining his son the meaning of the sword (slained by the Cinderlander??). As you see I'm a bit lost here.
I considered doing Serithiel as a legacy item also, but decided against it as none of my players at the time had a good background for it to work. We know Mandraivus was the last wielder of the weapon and that he was a hero of Lastwall, and supported by the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye (EOPE). I would begin there. Perhaps your PC has an ancestor who was a survivor and escaped with the sword, or the EOPE recovered it and your PC ancestor is "keeping it safe" for them.
In the 3.5 Weapons of Legacy there are several great ideas on how to "unlock" the weapons potential. If you dont have a copy u can ebay it for about $25.
Unlocking the weapons potential is the key to problem with making Serithiel a legacy item and that is it completely eliminates the major motive to travel to scarwall in the first place, so it should be clear as the PC discovers his swords potential and legacy that to unlock its final potential he must go to scarwall and "do something". Otherwise you will be doing some additional rewriting.
I would do the potential somthing like this
Start MW
End of EoA +1
End of 7Days Holy
End of Escape +2
End of Ashes +3
End of Skeleton full potential
Have fun with it and let us know how it goes!
In the 3.5 Weapons of Legacy there are several great ideas on how to "unlock" the weapons potential. If you dont have a copy u can ebay it for about $25.
There are also OGL "legendary weapon" rules from Unearthed Arcana, for what it's worth.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/legendaryWeapons.htm
One thing you might do is change the locations of Gug and Mandraivus. To unlock the full power of Serithial, the current wielder must lay to rest the previous owner/defeat the previous owner in 1 on 1 combat. If you do the 1 on 1 combat, I would suggest that instead of fighting a Dread Wraith, the PC and Mandraivus are instead locked into a spiritual combat. Role up a character of equal level, I would suggest Paladin or Fighter, and they duel, but with only mundane items and their own abilities. For example, If they have any magical items, they don't function, but any spells or other abilities they have do.
Cinematically, it would play out with the corpse of Mandraivus laying where Serithial normally would, and when the PC that wields Serithial approaches, his spirit rises up with a ghostly form of Serithial in hand. He brings his weapon to bare, and charges the one who now wields the blade. The spirit crashes into the PC and then his mind is transported to a misty white landscape with no defining features. Before him stands Mandraivus, his sword raised in a guarded stance. You lock eyes with the former Champion of Lastwall and begin circling each other, never breaking eye contact.
Roll initiative, prepare to fight.
I would play it out as those who wish to master the sword could challenge Mandraivus once a day until he is defeated. However, if the PC is defeated, Serithial reverts to a normal sword until he can defeat its former master. If Mandraivus is defeated, he kneels before the PC and says something about how he can rest knowing Serithial is in trustworthy hands, before he fades away.
I don't like the idea of giving a first level PC a artifact of any power.
But I have a few ideas. Someone suggested it was someone who escaped Scarwall, but you could have more fun by having it decended from a pc. For instance, if you ran the AP and one of the characters took the weapon with them and kept it in the family.
One thing you might do is change the locations of Gug and Mandraivus. To unlock the full power of Serithial, the current wielder must lay to rest the previous owner/defeat the previous owner in 1 on 1 combat. If you do the 1 on 1 combat, I would suggest that instead of fighting a Dread Wraith, the PC and Mandraivus are instead locked into a spiritual combat. Role up a character of equal level, I would suggest Paladin or Fighter, and they duel, but with only mundane items and their own abilities. For example, If they have any magical items, they don't function, but any spells or other abilities they have do.
Cinematically, it would play out with the corpse of Mandraivus laying where Serithial normally would, and when the PC that wields Serithial approaches, his spirit rises up with a ghostly form of Serithial in hand. He brings his weapon to bare, and charges the one who now wields the blade. The spirit crashes into the PC and then his mind is transported to a misty white landscape with no defining features. Before him stands Mandraivus, his sword raised in a guarded stance. You lock eyes with the former Champion of Lastwall and begin circling each other, never breaking eye contact.
Roll initiative, prepare to fight.
I would play it out as those who wish to master the sword could challenge Mandraivus once a day until he is defeated. However, if the PC is defeated, Serithial reverts to a normal sword until he can defeat its former master. If Mandraivus is defeated, he kneels before the PC and says something about how he can rest knowing Serithial is in trustworthy hands, before he fades away.
I would caution against one-on-one duels, especially when story elements are involved. Yes they are climactic, and yes it would be awesome, but you'd be leaving the other 3 PCs to sit on their thumbs while the "hero" has his duel. The worst part, is that if he's unlucky, they can't even help him!
If you still wish to use the duel, I'd suggest giving the other 3 players something to fight while the PC with Serithtial has his duel. I've used this set-up before, and it generally works well unless the group finishes their enemies off early, at which point they'll be chomping on the bit to join in the duel.
One thing you might do is change the locations of Gug and Mandraivus. To unlock the full power of Serithial, the current wielder must lay to rest the previous owner/defeat the previous owner in 1 on 1 combat. If you do the 1 on 1 combat, I would suggest that instead of fighting a Dread Wraith, the PC and Mandraivus are instead locked into a spiritual combat. Role up a character of equal level, I would suggest Paladin or Fighter, and they duel, but with only mundane items and their own abilities. For example, If they have any magical items, they don't function, but any spells or other abilities they have do.
Cinematically, it would play out with the corpse of Mandraivus laying where Serithial normally would, and when the PC that wields Serithial approaches, his spirit rises up with a ghostly form of Serithial in hand. He brings his weapon to bare, and charges the one who now wields the blade. The spirit crashes into the PC and then his mind is transported to a misty white landscape with no defining features. Before him stands Mandraivus, his sword raised in a guarded stance. You lock eyes with the former Champion of Lastwall and begin circling each other, never breaking eye contact.
Roll initiative, prepare to fight.
I would play it out as those who wish to master the sword could challenge Mandraivus once a day until he is defeated. However, if the PC is defeated, Serithial reverts to a normal sword until he can defeat its former master. If Mandraivus is defeated, he kneels before the PC and says something about how he can rest knowing Serithial is in trustworthy hands, before he fades away.
I would caution against one-on-one duels, especially when story elements are involved. Yes they are climactic, and yes it would be awesome, but you'd be leaving the other 3 PCs to sit on their thumbs while the "hero" has his duel. The worst part, is that if he's unlucky, they can't even help him!
If you still wish to use the duel, I'd suggest giving the other 3 players something to...
Well the idea was that fighting Mandraivus wouldn't be a lethal event. If you lose, you revert back to your body, and Serithtial no longer functions for him until he defeats Mandraivus. He could re-challange Mandraivus the following day, and continue to do so until he defeats him.
To get the party involved, one might create some mental link between the 'Hero' and the party. Something like, if another character links up, the Hero gains the benefit of a unique form of Aid another from that character and must determine where he is aiding. For instance, the Wizard, uses Aid another to add to his to hit, the Cleric Aid another and gives him a bonus HP equal to his level, the Rogue gives a bonus to his AC. Give a max of 2 Aids for each category, so only 2 people can Aid his to hit, only 2 can aid his HP, only 2 can aid his AC, etc.
Check Unearthed Arcana's Item Familiar feat. I used this as a character to give my Paladin an intelligent item, but it took quite some time for my Masterwork Sword with an Engraved Pommel to actually become more, so as to not overbalance. It may need some tweaking of course, but it could give you another point of reference.
That being said, I can see how tweaks will be needed to actually make the story run smooth. It could be that no one actually knows until you get to Scarwall that the blade your PC carries IS Serithtial. I'd play it as by apparent "chance" the PC ended up with it. Maybe Mandraivus had a cohort flee with it in order to keep the Orcs from obtaining such and artifact. It could also be that the last Orc who fled so many years ago happened to have had it in his hands at the time, and through a series of events had it end up in Korvosa. Keep in mind Serithtial can change shape as needed to add to the mystery of her passing from hand to hand, as well as being so old she could have completely forgotten her original purpose until facing the spirit of her former master of so many years ago. Could make for a very interesting roleplay.
Well the idea was that fighting Mandraivus wouldn't be a lethal event. If you lose, you revert back to your body, and Serithtial no longer functions for him until he defeats Mandraivus. He could re-challange Mandraivus the following day, and continue to do so until he defeats him.
But that's rather anti climatic: if you don't suceed, just try again. in fact that's an encounter you cannot loose, and therefore an encounter nobody needs. and as the group on the other hand _needs_ to claim Seristial I wouldn't go for that duel kind of solution for the problem. I like the idea of Seristial being an ancestor's weapon, though, but that doesn't sounds like the best option for finally awaken the weapon.
I decided to run with this idea, except serithiel is the weapon on the bladebound kensai in the group, it came into his possession via his parents, who ran the magic shop in town, after the weapon was determined to be non magical, the character has taken it as his own, insisting everyone is wrong and the weapon is in fact very special. His master at the academae laughed at him, and cast him out (he has the drop out trait) and he has become more and more obessed with the blade and using it (thus a magus instead of a wizard.
The only issue with this idea is making sure they don't sell the item for big bucks! (no whammies!)
And what happens if the PC in question dies or the player drops....
You'd have to arrange some clues of what the sword really is... when appropiate.
And what happens if the PC in question dies or the player drops....
Then you get to chortle with glee when the PCs scramble to find that sword that used to be right in their hands!