BogModWeapons/KuklasClaw

Kukla's Claw
Artifact 5

White Jade Daiklaive

Speed 5, Accuracy +3, Damage +6L/1+Ess, Defense +2, Rate 3 Min Str 2, Sta 3, Attune 5, Cost 5, Tags 0

This white jade weapon was crafted in the First Age by 5 famed Dragon Blooded swordmakers. They had meditated, fasted and used enlightening herbs to decide what to forge next. They were inspired by visions of the Kukla and his might. This weapon came to them from that and they spent 44 years crafting it.

This weapon draws on the strength and rage of that Greater Elemental Dragon of the Earth. It has many powers drawn from that.

First of all this weapon has an Overpowering rating of 1 + its users Essence.

Its blows can not be resisted. Anyone struck by it or who parries this weapon must roll (Dexterity or Stamina) + (Athletics or Resitance) at difficulty 2 to stay standing up. A perfect defense will counter this.

Just as a sweep of the Kukla's tail can send a man miles so too does this weapon send back all against it. Anyone hit by it or who parries it will be knocked back a number of yards equal to the raw damage of the attack. In the case of those who parry count the raw damage as just the Strenght + Damage of the weapon. A perfect defense will counter this.

As imperishable as the Kukla's hide is so it the wielder. They may use the highest of their three soaks against any attack.

Mundane materials can not stop this blade. The player can opt to attack a person's armor or weapon. They can parry or dodge this attack as normal. If the Kukla's Claw beats their defense and the armor or weapon is not of the 5MM then it shatters leaving them without weapon or armor.

The final power has been described as Kukla's Breath. 10m spent through the weapon will cause a 10m earth aspected Elemental Bolt to strike one foe. 20m will cause a 20m earth aspected Elemental Burst to go off. 30m will cause a 30m Elemental Burst to go off but with a x20 area modifier. It is said there were more levels but how to perform those moves has been either lost to time or sealed away. Either way its very dangerous for the user and for the land around.

Comments

Please tell me that the weapon is at least artifact 4 or 5? ~ haku

I have read over the write up several times. I really like the history and inspiration of the daiklaive. The only impressive power it really has is it's boost on Overwhelming. But even then, at essence 4, I roll 4 dice anyway, essence 5 I will roll 5 dice naturally. This power grants me only 1 extra die of damage when I am pinging people. The other powers are knockback/knockdown, highest soak option and destroying mundane stuff. I always feel function should match form, so the "highest soak" power doesn't sit well with a sword, as it is not a soaking/armor item. It's goal is to inflict damage, not absorb or minimize damage when parrying and dodging were not enough. Knockback/knockdown are nice, but not awe inspiring enough to get lvl 4 or 5 ranking. Destroying mundane swords and armor should be very easy to do if the wielder is exalted and using a weapon made of the 5mm. I swing my 50 pound diakliave at your ordinary 5 pound sword, your sword breaks naturally. Same goes for your armor. Usually special powers and charms are made to break 5mm items. When the charm text says, "If this attack is parried with a mundane weapon, it is destroyed" that is a side benefit to the charm's main power. Madoka

I would say that, while this weapon doesn't have any major powers, it does have a lot of them. The soak boosting power is awesome (Soak Agg with your Bashing total? Sweet.). Still, this isn't Artifact 5-worth. I'd say Artifact 4. - FrivYeti

While normally an artifact-crazy man, I'd say 5 - that Soak thing is almost level 4 armor on it's own, plus it's a fairly great sword. -- GL

I'd say artifact 4, myself, just from the fact that there are lots of powers. I don't see ping-increase as particularly huge, and the knockdown is fairly easy to resist (if your ST lets you, many exalts will take an autosuccess on that - whether the ST should or not is another question entirely, mind you.)

The knockback is quite nice a moderate power. The actual stats of the blade themselves look slightly better than a daiklave, and the attune is (comparatively) very low for this sort of spread of cool abilities.

So, the two impressive and level-defining powers are the highest-soak, and mundanity-shattering. Both of those are largish powers, but I don't think either of them counts as a level 4 on its own. The highest soak power is very useful IF you have a high bashing soak, but you might not. That power would be much less useful to a dodgemonkey MAist who doesn't wear armour, they'd increase their soaks by perhaps 2-4 points. The mundane shattering needs to be targetted, and can be defended against as usual... These various factors are why I put it at a fairly high rated artifact 4.
-- Darloth

Just chiming in again - I'm interested to see the general theme of "Artifact 4" across this weapon. My 'artifact calibration system' must be off. I could've sworn it was Artifact 5, and even high powered at that, but obviously I'm wrong. Time to re-calibrate my artifact system again.... -- GL, depressed that he is so far off

Yes, it is originally meant to be a level 5 artifact whipped up on the fly for someone and yes I do think it needs some sort of additional power. The important thing to me though is that its theme is strong and the idea behind it is cool. Adding strength to a weapon is really relatively easy once you have that. - BogMod

Does anyone know of a canon artifact that adds to, increases or modifies a person's ability to soak damage? Madoka

You mean like Perfected Kata Bracers, or generally a lot of the bracers out there? Or do you mean a weapon that affects soak? -- GreenLantern

I am a jack ass, I meant canon artifact weapons, such as daiklaives, gore mauls, spears, staves and such. Madoka

Then no, I don't believe there are any. Canon weapons are notoriously vanilla - why people care about things like Lightning Torment Hatchets is personally because so few of the canonical weapons are interesting. -- GreenLantern

You are definitely correct. I have never been all that crazy about any canon artifact weapons, there are a few exceptions of course. I usually make custom weapons, but still stick to form meets function. Madoka

Unless I am mistaken, in Aspect Book Air, if you look at Tepet Arada's charater sheet, specifically at his soak, it indicates that he gets a soak bonus from his daiklave. Does this count as a canonical artifact weapon? That's your call.-Ambisinister

I think it is the sheath for his daiklaive that provides the bonus. I think whenever his daiklaive is sheathed, he takes no damage from mundane sources. Madoka

I don't think he's got a living scabard. If I had my book in the same state as myself I'd check, but I think if you check his soak it says soak:XL/XB (XL/XB Name of daiklave)-Ambisinister

Even if form follows function this is a weapon of Earth Jade. Making you tougher is definitly in the theme of that material. - BogMod

In theme for an earth jade armor yes, for a weapon I have to respectfully disagree. I would say the other powers that give more damage, knockback, knockdown and auto-breaking mundane items upon a successful attack would be the "earthy" benefits of this jade. When I look at these powers I think mudslides and avalanches. The force of the earth!! Maybe even a power that resembles Earth Shaker Attack or Hungry Earth Strike from Earth Dragon Style. If it was an armor, greaves, gauntlets, even a shield, I could understand a soak boost or effect of some sort. To me it seems like a combination of 2 artifacts in order to save on mote commitment. Madoka

Still, I'd think that artifacts needn't follow our limited understanding of things. After all, if we've got a sword, with no moving parts, nor electricity moving through it, that, through sheer force of magical will of it's user, can say, cause avalanches, and knock opponents back many yards, you've got to accept that there's things going on there that we don't quite understand. A sword that can shoot beams and blasts already breaks the definition of 'sword'. What's so wrong with making that definition include the strength of earth, or even the hide of the Kukla? I worry that people force too much on an artifact based on it's shape, when, quite frankly, so much of an artifact isn't part of its shape. Just saying that I respectfully disagree with Madoka on this one. -- GreenLantern