FrivYeti/CompassionAndRestraint
Back to Artifacts
Compassion And Restraint
"There's no enemy that can't be dealt with using a little compassion and restraint." - Twice-Forged Steel, Deathknight of the Lover Clad In The Rainment of tears, regarding the death of the entire Firgan Tribe in the Northeast.
Soulsteel Baneclaws, Artifact 4, Commitment 10 (for the pair; the sais must be committed as a pair).
Speed: 4, Accuracy: +2, Damage: +5L, Defense: +4, Rate 2, Tags: D, M
(Note: Stat line does not include Soulsteel magical material bonuses.)
Compassion and Restraint are a pair of powerful and dangerous soulsteel sais first constructed by the Lover Clad in the Rainment of Tears for one of her deathknights. Currently, they are believed to still be in his possession, but as he spends a great deal of time on long-term missions for her, they could easily have been captured or taken from him.
At first glance, the two sais are identical. Both are long, gleaming black weapons that absorb and reflect the light as it touches them. Their hilts are wrapped with white leather, taken from the back of a great behemoth, and their tips are razor-sharp. The only difference notable in them lies in their soulsteel. Within Compassion, the soulsteel faces that manifest themselves smile maliciously, laughing so softly as to be on the edge of hearing. Within Restraint, the faces are stern and solemn, and their voices quietly admonish watchers in a wordless drone. Each sai contains a single hearthstone slot at the base of its hilt.
In addition to the normal powers of soulsteel artifacts, the artifacts each have their own special power. Whenever a character armed with Compassion attacks, she may choose to have it ignore all non-magical armour and natural soak, and halve the soak of magical armor and Charm effects. If she chooses to do this, the sai blurs, its blade fading to a pale purple spike. Anyone struck by Compassion while this effect is in operation has their wound penalties reduced by -1 for each health level of damage they take. This lasts until the damage is healed. (In the case of taking wounds from multiple sources, the bonus fades with each wound level healed overall.)
By comparsion, Restraint stiffens the limbs of those it strikes, constricting them. Whenever a blow from Restraint hits, its wielder may choose to forfeit rolled levels of damage. For each level of damage forfeited, reduce the victim's Strength and Dexterity by 1. If this would reduce either Strength or Dexterity below 0, the victim is completely paralysed. This 'damage' recovers at a rate of one point per day, but cannot be healed by effects that heal health levels. Only magics that specifically deal with pool or Attribute reduction can counteract this effect. Damage forfeited in this manner CAN reduce the damage of the attack to 0. No more than the character's Essence in levels may be forfeited in this manner. If the target of Restraint is an Essence-user, she may choose to spend 5 motes to counteract each level forfeited; this causes the damage to be dealt as normal.
