LibraryMailanka/WeaponsOfOrichalcum
Raptor's Glory:LibraryMailanka/WeaponsOfOrichalcum/B>
- Artifact ••••
- Orichalcum Daiklave
- Speed +4 Accuracy +3 Damage +5L Defense +3 Requires: Strength •• Commitment: 8
Constructed in the First Age by a powerful sorceror, the Raptor's Glory isa blade of elegant design meant to convey an appearance of grace while channeling raw power through its slim structure. The weapon is complex by design, made of the finest orichalcum, gold, and feather steel, as well as the feathers of a Garda Bird and arcane ores found deep with the Imperial Mountain. It is long, curving near the tip of the blade, with the crossgaurds fashioned in the image of a birds back-swept wings, the head of the raptor molded onto the base of the blade. The hilt is a curling design, protected by the stylized wings of the bird, and with a hearthstone socket in the pommel.
The blades powers are many. The most obvious and most used is the weapons superb balance, and penchant for awe-inspiring actions. Any time the blade is used for a special, flashy manuever, the wielder gets 3 automatic successes added to his roll. These successes only apply to succeeding at a fancy manuever, such as carving initials in someone's coat, or slicing and peeling a tossed apple before it hits the ground. These successes NEVER add to damage, or to any action that DIRECTLY aids combat (such as disarming attempts).
Any uses of the blade that "shows off" grants the user a +1 to any roll involving impressing an audience.
But it is when the wielder pronounces a challenge that the blade's real might is revealed. The blade must be unsheathed, and the target must be visible, but once the challenge is spoken, the target will hear it, even if the challenge is softly whispered in a caucaphonous room. Once the challenge is spoken, there is a glittering flash from the blade that announces the sanctity of the challenge, and the target is at -3 dice to attack anyone other than the wielder of the blade. However, he is also at -3 to BE attacked by anyone other than the wielder of the blade. These bonuses and penalties apply to the wielder of Raptor's Glory as well.
Further, once the challenge is made, the wielder can sharpen his will, focus his mind, and enhance his swordsmanship through the sword. He may spend up to 3 willpower, and for each willpower spent, the blade gains a +1 speed, accuracy, damage and defense.
The effects of a challenge and the enhanced blade last for a scene.
I like this weapon a lot, it seems just like what some Solar would have. However, don't you think it's a little weak for artifact 4? -- DaveFayram
I tend to assume low rather than high, but lets break it down? +3 successes works out to better than +6 dice, a level 3 power. It's a bit of a wierd power, but a level 3 power (if not higher. That can be extremely useful if you're clever). That'll let you cut belts off, cut curtains so they fall onto foes, etc.
+1 to impress people is just a nifty level 1 power, if that.
Then the challenging power is pretty useful. -3 dice to everybody like that is definitly a level 3 power.
And finally, +3 to speed, accuracy, damage, and defense (that's Speed +7 accuracy +6 Damage +8 Defense +6) is AWESOME. Yeah, it costs willpower, and willpower ain't cheap, but I've found it RELATIVELY easy to get back, especially with a blade that just gave +3 successes on that stunt...
So no, I don't think it's TOO weak. :) I think a wielder of this blade could hold his own with Soulmirror.
But thanks for your input!!
oh, by the way, this is the sword of the character I just made and should HOPEFULLY be able to play, so since I was making myself a blade, I tended to assume low. You could up a few things if you wanted if you used it. Speed would be decent.
<b>Vendetta
- Artifact •••••
- Orichalcum Reaver Daiklave
- Speed +3 Accuracy +3 Damage +9L Defense +0 Requires: Strength •• Conviction ••• Commitment: 10
In the height of the Old Realm, there were two renowned and feared enforcers of the Realm's Law. One served as the burnished gauntlet of the Unconquered Sun's justice, and the other was the shadowy inquisitor that sought out criminals by night. They were fast friends, incorruptible in their duties.
Or so one thought.
Unbeknownst to the ancient warrior, the cunning inquisitor had found an irresitable source of power in the guise of the enemies of the Old Realm. For centuries, he conspired with these Infernal traitors, gaining greater and greater sorcerous power. But, to be safe, he knew he had to destroy his friend. The plot took over a hundred years to design, and it bore its fruits in the waning days of the First Age.
The warrior returned home from a long journey to find his reputation shattered, his honor tainted, his friends disgusted. But worst of all, his home was broken... his family slain.
It didn't take this Solar long to learn that his friend was behind it. Stripped of the power necessary to bring the traitor to justice, and further stripped of all desire to live, he forged a blade in the flames of his own hate, and quenched it in the blood of his slain family.
The battle that followed is not recorded, but the results are known. Both were destroyed, the traitors secrets revealed. The hero was buried with his blade, and his tomb sealed not out of fear for his ghost, but fear of the power of his weapon.
Vendetta is a savage looking weapon, with an angular blade and a simple, inornate hilt. The weapon has indecipherable carvings running up the center of the blade that look worn with age. It's golden metal has an almost blood colored hue to it when it catches the light of the rising sun, the sacred time of the Dawn Caste creator.
The blade is formidable enough, but it's real powers are revealed only when the wielder's righteous fury reaches such a peak that he is willing to sacrifice a piece of his soul to the weapon. In a ritual at dawn, the wielder speaks of the crimes that have been committed against him, and speaks the name of his sworn nemesis. After wiping his own blood upon the blade, the character must sacrifice a point of PERMANENT willpower. This point is gone, and can only be replaced through experience.
Once this ritual has been down, the text on the blade slowly reforms to recite a litany of the crimes of the wielder's nemesis, and the wielder knows in which direction his enemy lays, insinctively, and how far. Further, his emotions are at a greater high. Any limit gained for resisting Compassion, Conviction or Valor are doubled, as the blade whispers, nay, demands that its blood thirst be slaked.
When the wielder meets his sworn foe, the true power of Vendetta is unleashed. The wielder need only draw his blade, and for the remainder of the scene, it gleams with an aura of blood and fire. In this state, the blade does Aggravated damage against the target. Further, the blade can "accept" the damage dealt to the wielder. All damage taken is noted, but not marked on the sheet. The damage appears on the body of the wielder, but his injuries do not slow him, and he does not feel them. During this state, the Exalted cannot fail valor rolls, is immune to all forms of fear and supernatural mind control. He is utterly relentless.
Once the battle (the scene) has finished, the blades glow fades, and the damage is returned in full to the wielder. All damage given in this manner is Aggravated. If this takes the wielder past incapacitated, he is dead. The power of the blade has disappeared in full, and if the nemesis still lives (through some miracle) the weapon must be fed another Permanent Willpower to reactivate its power.
Those who know of this blade covet its extraordinary power. Used correctly, it is believed there is nothing it cannot kill. In particular, one of the Deathlords is, in fact, the traitor of so long ago, and though he/she may remember little, the blade and its power is burned into his/her memory. The deathlords desire for it, though he/she is perhaps silent about it, knows no bounds.
Victory's Price
- Artifact •••••
- Orichalcum Daiklave
- Speed +4 Accuracy +3 Damage +5L Defense +3 Requires: Strength •• Compassion ••• Commitment: 8
This damnable blade is not recorded in known history. It's power was so great, so terrifying, that it is said that, after the Primordial war, the Gods cast it into Kukla's maw so that it would no longer trouble the world. Whether this is true or not is unknown, but there are very old beings that still listen to the rumors of Creation, fearing for its return.
What is known about the blade is that it was created before the First Age, for the Primordial war. It is one of the blades that snuffed the life from the Primordials, and its image is eternally scarred onto the nightmares of one of the slumbering Malfeans. Who constructed it is not known, though some suspect Autochthon himself had a hand in the crafting of the weapon.
Tales of it speak of a grotesquery, a twisted thing of nightmare. Others speak of its impossible beauty and perfection. But, in truth, it is a simple daiklave. It has a straight and narrow blade, with a slightly exaggerated diamond shaped tip. The hild and crossgaurds are of practical, rather than fanciful design. One might even mistake it for a normal blade where it not for its size. And its color. The gold of the orichalcum is mixed with an underworld ore. The composition of this ore isn't known, but it is known it isn't the same substance as Soulsteel, though perhaps it is a more primitive version. Regardless, the blade has a dark golden hue to it, one that speaks of virtue and dark intentions.
The blade has few unusual powers. It's greatest strength, however, comes when the wielder of the blade is in love. Should the wielder truly be in love, during any scene in which he chooses to protect the weak, fight for true love, or otherwise fulfill his compassion virtue, he may spend a willpower point and add his compassion to ALL rolls for that scene. This lasts until the character is no longer defending his Compassion, or the scene ends. During such a time, the gold of the blade seems greater, brighter than the darkness.
But this is not the true power of the blade, that which made the Gods hide it away.
Victory's Price can slay ANY being. So long as a single die of damage passes the soak of the target, it is destroyed. Anything less than a Primordial or a Behemoth is annihilated, it's soul cast into Oblivion, and a Primordial and Behemoth is cast into the Abyss, to roam the underworld untill the end of the world frees them.
But this terrible power comes at a terrible cost. To activate this power ONCE requires the soul of the wielder's true love. The wielder must stab his greatest love through the heart, and watch her soul drain out of her body, her eyes slowly dying, as the blade feeds. Then, the darkness of the blade overwhelms the gold, and it is ready. After this sacrifice is made, the next being the Exalted wishes to die is dead, as sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. After this has been done, the blade's light fades, and it loses all power except for being a standard diaklave until the wielder should love again.
It must be noted that this love must be TRUE. Merely slaying a passing fancy is not enough. The sacrifice must be utter and complete, the need of the enemy's death far outweighing the need to love. It is up to the Storyteller to decide if the character's love is "true" enough. It is suggested that if the character would not be traumatized for life by this act, then it is not true love.
It is said this blade has been used in this manner three times, and each time, it has driven the wielder mad, until the Gods finally put it to rest.
It is not known if Abyssals can attune to it as easily as Solars. However, most Deathlords have dismissed the notion. No Abyssal could truly love anyone other than themselves (and if they can, the Deathlord must watch them VERY carefully...)
You might consider this more a plot hook than a real artifact. In which case, I would make it Artifact NA. I saw a similar sword in GURPS Magic Items, and so I just HAD to expand on it. Hope you enjoyed it. ;)
