The Swordsmith's Forge

Here you will find magical swords for your campaign.  Some are unique, some have been copied through the years, so there may be more than one in your campaign.


Sword List

Erielon

Lawbringer

Lightbringer

The Sword of Curses

The Sword of Souls

 


Erielon (Elvish for Eternal Rest)

by Rick Underwood

Longsword +1/+3 vs undead/+4 vs wraiths

Special Purpose: - slay wraiths

Intelligence: 16 Ego: 21 Personality: 37 Alignment: - Chaotic good

Abilities:

  1. Detect undead 60' radius (blade glows).
  2. Detect wraiths 60' radius (blade hums).
  3. Does double damage to wraiths.
  4. Detects gems 20' in given direction (gem on pommel flashes).

Special Purpose Power: Ray of light once per day, does 3-30 points of damage to undead (treat as Armour Class 10, but include modifications due to dexterity of wielder and undead, if any). Range of beam is 40 feet.

Languages: - Common, elvish

History: Erielon was created over two centuries ago by an unknown elvish wizard in the Greycloak Hills area. The sword fell into the hands of a young human warrior shortly after its creation, the elvish owner was killed by a trap in a dungeon. The warrior, Korudon Wraithsbane as he became known, toured the North searching for wraiths to slay. There is strong evidence to suggest he was dominated by the sword's strong personality, and he finally disappeared after setting off on an expedition to the eastern Heartlands. At this time Korudon was well past middle age. The sword turned up at Waterdeep two decades later in the possession of an unknown elven warrior, and again seven years after that, owned by a half- elven bard. Erielon then disappeared for over a century, with only hints of its possible whereabouts being recorded. The last sighting was in the city of Arabel, Cormyr, in the Year of the Prince (1332 Cormyr Reckoning, 1357 Dale Reckoning, and 325 North Reckoning) in the hands of Murdoch Flamebeard, a warrior who leads the adventuring group "The Seven Hands". This group makes regular forays into the Stonelands.

The personality of the sword is believed to be quiet, with a touch of elvish arrogance. It is a little moralistic, always urging its owner to take the "proper" course of action. It likes elvish owners, but prefers an owner of any race who is strong and skilful, and just a bit stupid.


Lawbringer

by Rick Underwood

Bastard sword +1/+3 vs chaotic aligned beings

Intelligence: 15 Ego: 15 Personality: 30 Alignment: - Lawful neutral

Special Purpose: - slay chaotic aligned beings

Abilities:

  1. Detect chaotic aligned beings 60' in one direction. Being must be in sight.
  2. Cure serious wounds once per day by touch.
  3. Detect lie (as spell) three times per day, duration 10 rounds. The sword announces a lie with a string of abuse.

Special Purpose Power: (useable only against chaotic aligned beings) Lightning bolt as sixth level mage, once per day. The lightning bolt starts from the tip of the sword.

Languages: - common

History: The origins of this sword are unknown. Lawbringer came into prominence as the weapon of Garus the Avenger, a noble warrior and crusader against evil (or anything he thought might be evil). A clash of personalities led to Lawbringer being discarded in favour of a more compatible weapon. Lawbringer turned up in the independent city of Calaunt, where it was sold to a young noble warrior, Ziggy Arusun of that city. Ziggy Arusun and his small entourage were killed by a large force of bandits while en route to Tantras. Rumours of its location have come from Waterdeep to Procampur. The powerful Arusun family would like to obtain the sword, which could tell them the circumstances of Ziggy's death and perhaps the identity of the perpetrator (they suspect another young noble of a rival family led the bandits). If Lawbringer were to turn up, the rival family (if the suspicions are true) would no doubt also greatly desire the sword.

Lawbringer has no distinctive markings, save a large moonstone in the pommel, which will glow when chaotic beings are detected. Lawbringer will then insist on the death of the being, even attempting to dominate the wielder to do so. Lawbringer has no sense of humour, only the strong desire to slay all chaotics. It becomes moody if thwarted in its mission. Any monsters seen at a distance, and generally known to be chaotic in alignment are demanded by the sword to be charged and slain. If a chaotic being holds the sword, Lawbringer will attempt to dominate him/her/it, and force them into a suicidal charge at something or someone big and powerful (preferably another chaotic).

Lawbringer considers lying to be the next greatest sin to being chaotic. It will always tell what it believes to be the truth, even if doing so would be undiplomatic ("On the contrary Mr. Dwarven Battlerager, my young wielder has often spoken disparagingly of dwarven intellect in general, and dwarven battleragers in particular!").


Lightbringer

by Craig Stanley

Longsword +2/+4 vs undead, shadow creatures, Illithid, Drow and Duergar.

Intelligence 16 Ego 18 Personality 34 Alignment Neutral Good

Special Purpose: Slay undead affected by sunlight

Abilities:

  1. Detect undead in a 30' radius (blade glows).
  2. Detect magic in a 10' radius (items glow).
  3. Does double damage to undead affected by direct sunlight.
  4. Restoration of two life levels once per week.
  5. Dispels darkness on contact.
  6. Glows with a radiance equal to torchlight on command.
  7. Any creature slain by Lightbringer cannot be animated as an undead creature.

Languages: Common, Drow, Duergar, Shadow Dragon, Snirfneblin.

History: Also known as the Dawnsword or Lathander's Light, this longsword is one of only two known weapons forged in Lathander's name, the other being the Blade of Lathander, a broadsword specially forged to defeat Tyranthraxus the Possessor.

The hilt is unremarkable except for a reddish yellow gem set in the pommel. The blade, however, is highly distinctive, being pinkish red (similar to rose quartz) in colour with streaks of gold and orange.

Any cleric of Lathander of 7th level or higher will recognise Lightbringer for what it is, as will any specialty priest of Lathander irrespective of level (they will not necessarily know its powers). Likewise, any intelligent undead (vampires, spectres, etc), shadow dragons of adult maturity or older and high level drow/duergar (9th lvl and up) have an 80% chance of recognising it and will act accordingly (usually attempting to kill the wielder and/or remove/destroy the weapon).

Lightbringer demands only that it current owner takes at least one quest a year in the service to the Morning Lord. The quest must be given by a cleric of Lathander of at least 9th level. Once the quest has been given Lightbringer compels its wielder to complete it as soon as possible.

Lightbringer will continually try to convert its current wielder to the worship of Lathander, extolling the Morning Lords virtues at every opportunity. Anyone with a personality weaker than Lightbringer's will automatically renounce the god/goddess they currently worship to venerate Lathander. Anyone whose personality drops below that of Lightbringer's (due to injury, etc) must save against spells to avoid conversion. Anyone who failed their first save is entitled to another once their personality returns to full. If the second save succeeds the character reverts to the worship of his original god, if the check fails the character is permanently converted. This change of gods results in no change of alignment or abilities except in the case of paladins. Any converted paladin immediately ceases to gain experience until he completes his first quest and thereby proves his worth to both Lathander and Lightbringer. At the moment of conversion, however, the paladin is able to turn undead affected by direct sunlight at his listed level rather than two below. Paladins of Lathander are known to Lathanderites as Dawnblades.

Lightbringer was last seen over thirty years ago by the sage Elminster. It was then in the possession of the young female paladin Dalyana Justheart who was passing through Shadowdale to fulfil a quest somewhere in the Dragonspine mountains. Neither Dalyana or Lightbringer have been since. She was, apparently, not worthy after all.

Personality: Lightbringer has the annoying trait of being the eternal optimist, to the point of being foolhardy. It will compel its owner to enter all and any situation without hesitation. For it no situation is to dire. Even worse if things start to go badly it will be very forgiving of its wielder making him/her think that it was their decision after all ("You know, charging in on that vampire lord wasn't a very smart move, you really should form a plan of attack next time, but nevermind, it all turned out for the best in the end once the rest of the party had found where you went galivanting off to.").


The Sword of Curses

By Col Cattell

(#) refers to notes at bottom of page.

+1 two handed sword, +3 vs wizards, +5 vs dragons

This sword is almost always found in the hand of barbarians who, being suspicious and fearful of magic, believe the sword to be cursed because it contains the souls of their ancestors, and because it can speak. In fact it more than speaks - it curses, screams out war crys and chants battle poems, giving it also the label of "The Howling Blade".

Description: This two handed sword is finely crafted, six feet in length with tribal symbols engraved along the length of the blade on each side. The symbols include the name of the sword and its history, in the language of barbarian shamans. There may be room on the blade for more engravings of the sword's history, including the names of its wielders, its deeds, battles it has fought in, and great foes slain. There are two six inch blades protruding at a 45 degree angle from the hilt forming the crossbar. The hilt has a textured two handed grip of durable dragon hide leather. There is a large ruby placed in the centre of the hilt (street value 10,000 gp). This is called the Heart of the weapon and glows if within 60 feet of wizards or dragons, regardless of their disguise or shapeshifting ability. The sword will lose its magic permanantly if the Heart is removed (however it can be re- enchanted).

Characteristics:
Intelligence: 12 Ego: 24
Personality: Bloodthirsty
Alignment: Chaotic neutral

Languages: Celtic (1), Tribal (1), dragon common

Magical Properties:

  1. Gives wielder +2 on saving throws versus spells and dragon breath.
  2. +2 to hit if charging.
  3. -2 penalty on roll if used to parry.
  4. Weapon speed for first round of every combat is 3, all other rounds weapon speed is 6.
  5. Sword induces involuntary berserker rage when fighting wizards and dragons.
  6. Sword can produce lightning bolt once per day for 3d10 damage. This ability can only be used against dragons.
  7. Returns to shaman of tribe of origin on the death of the user.
  8. Acts as a normal +1 two handed sword for any but barbarian fighters or shaman.

History: The first of these two handed swords was created less than a century ago by a shaman of the Wolf (2) tribe. The tribal Warlord instructed the shaman to create a such a weapon after his home village was flattened and tribal artefacts stolen by a wizard and a black dragon working together. The shaman and a band of followers went on a quest to gather perfect jewels and a pilgrimmage to all the sacred sites to pray for knowledge on the making of such a weapon. It took 15 years for the quest and the pilgrammage to be completed and for the first of such a weapon to be produced. Most of the original group of followers guarding the shaman died protecting their charge, although this was the expected blood price for such a quest. The barbarians believe that the souls of those who died on that quest were placed into the sword. Because of the immense cost (for a materially poor tribe) only two swords were produced. One is kept by the tribal warlord, and the other is given to a tribal warrior to use as he sees fit, as long as it includes slaying wizards and dragons regularly. This means the selected warrior must roam far and wide. Since the swords were created, only two warlords and six warriors have used the swords. All the warriors have been hailed as tribal heroes after dying at the claws/weapons of enemies. One of the warlords died through misadventure, and the other from infighting within the Wolf tribe. When the current rightful owner of the sword dies it teleports back to the tribal shaman one round later, taking with it anyone or anything touching the sword. What happens to such unfortunates can only be guessed.

Notes:
(1) Celtic or any wide ranging barbarian tongue. The tribal tongue will be specific to whichever tribe the sword from which the sword originates.
(2) Or any barbarian tribe the DM nominates from his world.

Col's Player Profile is here..


The Sword of Souls

by Adrian Smith

Shortsword +2/+4 verses clerics

It is believed that this sword is one of the special weapons that was utilised by the mythical monster, the godslayer, who is believed was created by a greater god to oppose anyone who challenged him for power. It was last noted in the Battle of Running Spring, being wielded by a cleric of evil who perished in a blazing fireball. When the flames cleared there was no sign of the body or the weapon.

Intelligence: 16 ego: 17 Personality: 33

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Primary Abilities:

  1. Detect Magic 10' radius.
  2. Know Alignment 10' radius.

Extraordinary Abilities:

  1. Slay Living (as per the spell) once per week.
  2. Heal (as per the spell) once per week.

Languages: Common and Elven

The sword's special power is that on a natural roll of twenty, the sword can absorb the soul of the attacked and use one of the abilities of the character for its own. For example for a fighter, it can fight at that fighters ability level. For a mage or cleric, it can cast one of his potent spells, for a thief it can aid the wielder in moving silently and gives him the ability to backstab as per the thief's level. Victim does get a saving throw versus spells at +4 and only one soul can be in the weapon at any time. If there is already a soul in the weapon, it can enter the body of the new victim. (System shock required). Returned soul has all of his abilities if the new body could have been of that class.