Hey! I'm seeking opinions on how to adapt the legendary Blackrazor from White Plume Mountain to pfrpg. In my campaign we did that classic dungeon with one of my players switching roles as a temporary game master using the wotc 3.5 conversion. My problem with the three magic weapons in that conversion are that they are pretty under"whelm"ing (get it??) In the sense that Blackrazor doesn't actually do what blackrazor should do as listed in the original module (until level 20 or whatever). I've been playing around with using a modified stat set-up from the magus archetype, but I feel as though that I takes away from the fun of any magus character that might join my party in the possible future. So then I was thinking of keeping it simple and just making it a basic enchanted weapon but there is a lot to consider when developing an iconic item like blackrazor using the current enchanents available in pathfinder.
So I suppose the big challenge for me is
1) How can I make pathfinder Blackrazor be immediately recognizable as Blackrazor from the original module
2) Should be treated as a fully fleshed out intelligent weapon or as an enchanted sword?
3) ideally the weapon should already be awesome and come with its known abilities, but the character that got it is merely 8th level. I'm not too concerned about balancing, but I don't want him to be taking all of the glory in every encounter.
I'm just curious to know what the community would come up with. And feel free to include your ideas for Whelm and Wave. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the player who claimed Blackrazor is an arcane bloodline sorceror! The paladin certainly didn't want the weapon, nor did the druid or the bow-focused ranger. So im trying to think of fun stuff that could also benefit Blackrazor being wielded by a magic user. Thanks!
First off, there was a change in design philosophy from then to now. They'd probably be artifacts as they were. Not something your 8th level should probably have their (soon to be very short lived) hands on.
That being said, the main reason they were so cool back then is "balance" didn't really exist, it was more about story and cool toys. The change to 3.0 put a fairly radical spin on things to get the game more widely accepted/played via enforcing a more balanced approach to the gaming system. If you are okay with handing out artifacts to the players, by all means do so, but realize that means all other items they get will be let downs from that point, unless you tailor everything from that point on. "Raising the bar" like that isn't for every group and can be detrimental.
If you don't plan on playing to 20th level, I could see the disappointment in the rewrites Wiz did for the now current rule set. If you do plan on running a long game, I'd suggest using the rewrites and maybe consolidate the level span from 20 to 15, that way to the characters get the shiny toys to play with for a few levels but they still maintain a semblance of "balance" at the lower to mid levels where each + counts and special abilities really shine.
Thanks for the input! This is what I came up with. I decided to go with using all of the available abilities and listed stats in WPM, but somewhat limiting them and adding a progression similar to the Magus archtype and the 3.5 Blackrazor. I went with Bastard Sword because 1) this makes it exotic and requires some training (I allow for bonus weapon feats if the players take enough downtime to train with them) 2) it is listed simply as a "sword" in S2, and I've chosen to go with a sword that can be used with one hand if needed, but that is huge enough to utilize two. I also let the player know that Blackrazor is an intelligent weapon that I can use as a npc as needed, having it elaborate into a possible side story. Anyways, here's the weapon stats-
Chaotic Neutral
+3 sword (bastard)
Intelligence 17
Ego 16
1) Souleating- essentially Death Knell but instead of gaining 1d8 temporary hp, I went with the remaining victim's hp. 3/day
2) Use sword bonus to save vs. charm and fear
3) Telepathy with wielder
4) Haste (limited) 1/day- same as haste but last for # of rounds equal to Blackrazor's INT modifier
5) Detect life within a 60ft diameter
6) teleport to wielder after making a will save (DC current ego score)
7) can use sword's intelligence modifier to aid in skill checks pertaining to knowledge Arcana, Planes, Religion, Spellcraft, and Use Magic Device
Ego increases by +1 each week that the sword doesnt drink a soul. The wielder needs to make a check everytime the ego score increases. If the wielder fails to dominate, the sword will find its victim.
Blackrazor's progression
Wielder level
10 or less int 17, +3 enhancement, ego 16
11-12 int 18
13-14 int 19, +4 enhancement, ego 20
15-16 int 20, haste 2/day
17-18 int 21, +5 enhancement, ego 24
19-20 Souleating (Death Knell) becomes mythic and unlimited, haste 3/day
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I suggest reading the Elric series of books by Michael Moorcock to see how Blackrazor should be portrayed, considering Blackrazor is direct copy of Elric's sword Stormbringer.
If the sword is intelligent, its alignment should be Chaotic Evil.
I would add a Dominate Person ability for the sword usable against the wielder only. If the player fails the save, the sword takes over and commands the character to kill everyone around it, including ally's. This ability harkens back to the sword's AD&D roots.
I suggest reading the Elric series of books by Michael Moorcock to see how Blackrazor should be portrayed, considering Blackrazor is direct copy of Elric's sword Stormbringer.
If the sword is intelligent, its alignment should be Chaotic Evil.
I would add a Dominate Person ability for the sword usable against the wielder only. If the player fails the save, the sword takes over and commands the character to kill everyone around it, including ally's. This ability harkens back to the sword's AD&D roots.
I've read every main Elric story and I am a big Moorecock fan in general. Stormbringer is definitely an evil weapon, but I'm keeping Blackrazor seperate from it. Maybe my players will encounter it someday? I just went with what was in the module, which is a +3 Chaotic sword. I'm still planning on using the sword as an npc I control which will definitely pull some random acts of violence/feeding, especially if my player fails to dominate the blade
CE is definitely the swords alignment if you read the fluff. All Blackrazor cared about was absorbing the souls of those it killed. It was pretty voracious, so the ego increase should be per day not week if you are trying to remake the original.
The Return to White Plume Mountain made the blade Chaotic Evil. Given that you have artifacts in 10th level APs making appearances (Kingmaker comes to mind), I think that Blackrazor granting the temp HD of whatever you kill to you as hp makes sense, but it only grants you those HD for 1 turn (aka 10 minutes) per HD. It grants haste as a 10th level caster 1PD, makes you immune to all charm (not compulsion) and fear effects, speech and telepathy, lifesense+deathwatch(as per the undead or necromancer ability/spell 60 feet). Int 17, Ego 16, which increases by 1 per every three days the blade doesn't drain souls. All of the weapons from White Plume Mountain are artifacts for the most part, especially Wave and Whelm. The Arms and Equipment guide knocked them down to intelligent weapons, but that lessens their appeal and power in my eyes. If you are going to go for the Mcguffin style adventures like White Plume Mountain, then making the Mcguffin something that can't be duplicated with money (which is far easier to get then just about any artifact), then make the Mcguffin worth the effort.