Post by donosaur on Sept 1, 2016 17:45:07 GMT
So Tolkien really set the tone for weapons with enemy-detecting benefits when he invented Sting, but I am really fond of another one of his inventions from Farmer Giles of Ham: "Caudimordax is the Latin name of "Tailbiter", the sword of Farmer Giles. The sword cannot be sheathed when a dragon comes within five miles of its bearer's presence."
In my campaign, I'm considering giving one of my players (a ranger) a +1 rapier as payment for a job they're performing. To give this weapon additional flavor, I've tried to think up a detection benefit akin to Caudimodax up there, and came up with the following:
Limitations:
Concerns: is this too powerful? Will my party go around constantly pulling the sword in and out as a constantly enchantment detector?
Options:
What do you guys think?
In my campaign, I'm considering giving one of my players (a ranger) a +1 rapier as payment for a job they're performing. To give this weapon additional flavor, I've tried to think up a detection benefit akin to Caudimodax up there, and came up with the following:
Mind Piercer: a +1 rapier that cannot be sheathed while in range of any enchantment magic, or within 30' of a charmed person. This weapon was created for a noble who was paranoid about members of his court being turned against him.
Limitations:
- Mind Piercer does not distinguish between friendly and non-friendly magic. It responds to ANY enchantment.
- Trying to use it as a test requires drawing the weapon, something you may not be able to do easily in front of say, a king or a business person.
Concerns: is this too powerful? Will my party go around constantly pulling the sword in and out as a constantly enchantment detector?
Options:
- Make the sword only detect Charm Person spells, not enchantment at large.
- Make it impossible to unsheath the sword in the presence of enchantment spells. This is a more interesting weapon imo, but might be too frustrating. It requires one to be a bit more clever and coordinate with teammates. I would need to establish a different backstory for the weapon as well, but I have no idea why anyone would desire such a feature on purpose.
What do you guys think?