Magical Weapons in TROS

[MonkeyWrench]

Here's something I pulled from the Masterwork weapons thread.

Draigh wrote:

Wolfen's right there... hell, even with magic, I would find a sword with -2 to ATN or DTN hard to swallow. I liked the idea of giving magical weapons SAs...

I like this idea as well. It got me thinking about how magical weapons can be different in TROS. It's not just a sword that with a lower ATN or DR, but a weapon with a spirit and a purpose. You could spend SAs to make magic permenant or even imprison a spirit into the blade. Has anyone out there done something like this? I recently introduced a magical sword into my game, it's the classic flaming longsword. (+1 DR to unarmored flesh -4 to BL due to the fire searing the wound partially) After three sessions of investigation, questing, etc... the character finally recovered the blade of an ancient warrior saint.

Some other ideas for magical effects other than SAs could include:
-Always strikes first. In a contest of rolls to see who wins initiative the blade adds a number of dice to the roll.
-Of course it could always have spells embedded in it. A weapon with a healing spell would be valuable indeed.
-Swords with the properties of flails, allowing them to cleave through armor would be weapons worthy of many sessions of questing.

With the inclusion of weapon SAs you could have weapons that might not allow themselves to be weilded by some. You could have weapons designed with a significant purpose (for example:defend followers of ). You could even have a weapon that contains the spirit of it's former weilder. Imagine if such a weapon were used in a way that the sword didn't like.

What do you think? Would you allow magical weapons in your game or is it to high fantasy? Give me your thoughts, suggestions, and opinions.

[Brian Leybourne]

Check out this thread for some ideas we came up with previously about Magic Items.

That's not to say it can't be discussed again, by the way, I'm just trying to give folk some reference on what's been discussed before.

Brian.

[MonkeyWrench]

Thanks for the link. I suppose I should have used the search function first. Duh. ;)

[Draigh]

I have and probably will again, allowed magical weapons in my game.  My favorite was an axe that seemed to give the weilder more momentum on the attack, but was impetuous, driving the weilder to shed blood whenever he could.

The Axe of Hagrith

Stats: As per handaxe, -1 ATN, +1 DTN, +3 CP on attack.

Hagrith was a Savaxen cheiftan, and a Berserker.  His battle lust was the only part of his spirit that didn't go with him when he died, instead it stayed in his axe... urging whomever picked it up to always press the attack.  The first time the axe is picked up, the character must roll WP / TN 8 to avoid picking up the bloodlust/troublemaker flaw.  If the roll is successful, nothing bad happens, if failed they must take the minor version, if botched they get the major flaw.  The axe itself yearns to be swung again... to taste blood, and in order to do so, urges the weilder to turn almost any situation into a fight.

This axe can get a PC killed rather easily, but with such glory that it might not be that bad of a weapon for those who are hellbent on having skalds sing thier tale.

[MonkeyWrench]

Here's one I was thinking of:

Baneshield of Gilead Caradryan:
Gildead was Man-Elf warrior and wanderer. He travelled lands far and wide searching for clues about his heritage and lending his sword arm to those in need. He was strong and fierce in battle, but was quick to anger and slow to forgive. One day Gilead crossed the wrong man. A sorceror who went by the name of Andris held information that was important to Gilead, rather than negotiate Gilead challenged Andris to a duel. The one weakness for any warrior is magic, and Gilead barely escaped with his life. To counter-act this Gilead had a shield commisioned for him by the finest smiths in the land. It was light and agile despite it's size. Gilead then had the shield blessed by priests and enchanted by a wizard friend. Thus the Baneshield was born. The Baneshield absorbs magic and dissipates it harmlessly around the bearer. Ensorcelled with many spells and runes only the strongest of magics may pierce it. However the shield did Gilead little good. He hunted Andris for months, but once Andris learned of the shield he wouldn't enage Gilead. Finally after almost a year Andris came upon Gilead in his sleep, took the shield and withered his arms. Little is known about Gilead or the shield after this, but rumor has it that the shield awaits a new bearer, one who will help it rid the land of those who wield the arts of magic.

Large shield: TN: 5 AV: 8 -2 CP -2 Move
   Magical Properties: The shield allows the bearer to resist spells as though they were Gifted. Add the bearer's MA+EN/2 + 4 and this is the number of dice that the bearer has to resist an incoming spell. The TN is equal to the CTN of the attacking spell, and the defender must roll more successes that the caster. A tie means that the spell only takes half effect (lasts half as long, not as potent, half damage, etc...) This only applies to magical attacks and not to summoned creatures, physical objects hurled by magic or similar examples. If a Gifted bears the shield it adds 4 to his Art score.

For SAs I was thinking either Passion: Hatred of Spellcasters or Drive: Destroy Andris. It could be a very powerful item, but you obviously wouldn't just hand something like this out.

[Jaeger]

I my various adventures and old group we preffered a less"high fantasy" approach to magic weapons. It was more a matter of giving them unique properties rather than special abilities. (Yes, I feel there is a difference.)

 For instance I had one character who had a "magic" sword no better than a masterclass weapon, it just had one ability: It was indestructible.
Which while sounding cool was found to be of minimal practical value.

  I much prefer my magic weapons this way as the PC's feel they are getting something special, but, it's never a adventure breaking weapon, or one that the PC's feel they have to use for everything. And magic items of this type tend to not arouse too much jealousy in those players without.

[Brian Leybourne]

The Axe of Hagrith

Stats: As per handaxe, -1 ATN, +1 DTN, +3 CP on attack.

Gary,

I like that, but (since we're talking about SA's and magic weapons) can I suggest an alternative?

Stats: As per handaxe, -1 ATN, +1 DTN, Passion: Press the attack in Battle (max 3).

The axe works as you've described, but instead of giving an automatic fixed bonus on attack, you track a seperate SA for the axe. Whenever you press the atack in battle, you can use the axe's SA as bonus dice. Once per battle, that SA might increase also (max 3) if you really went all out and attacked in a berserk manner. If you fight too defensively, you lose the bonus and the SA might decrease by 1.

That's just off the top of my head, of course. Just a thought.

Brian.

[Draigh]

Not a bad idea Brian, the only reason I didn't give it SAs is because I wrote it up before the idea of weapons with SAs came up on the forum. :)

*jab* Don't Passions have to be more specific than that? *jab*

How's this sound? Passion: Desire to shed blood: 3

oh, and this just occoured to me... for every 3 points of BL that the axe inflicts, give it a point of Passion...  sound good?

[Irmo]

The Axe of Hagrith

Stats: As per handaxe, -1 ATN, +1 DTN, +3 CP on attack.

Gary,

I like that, but (since we're talking about SA's and magic weapons) can I suggest an alternative?

Stats: As per handaxe, -1 ATN, +1 DTN, Passion: Press the attack in Battle (max 3).

The axe works as you've described, but instead of giving an automatic fixed bonus on attack, you track a seperate SA for the axe. Whenever you press the atack in battle, you can use the axe's SA as bonus dice. Once per battle, that SA might increase also (max 3) if you really went all out and attacked in a berserk manner. If you fight too defensively, you lose the bonus and the SA might decrease by 1.

That's just off the top of my head, of course. Just a thought.

Brian.

It's an idea, but what about an axe that REALLY wants to drink blood? Such as refusing to be held in a defensive stance, or only red-throws being possible? ;) An SA-vs-Willpower of the wielder maybe?

Edited to add: Or give the Axe a Willpower stat of its own....and increase it if the wielder fights too defensively.

[Draigh]

Sounds good... and while you're at it, add the Gherka knife stigma that it won't allow itself to be put up until it sheds blood... yours or theirs.

[Overdrive]

I my various adventures and old group we preffered a less"high fantasy" approach to magic weapons. It was more a matter of giving them unique properties rather than special abilities. (Yes, I feel there is a difference.)

Yes, I feel this is an approach that fits into TROS better.

Rather than increasing damage (the sword that cuts off fingers if you happen to place them on the blade), decrease the AV of the opponents armor (the sword that cuts through metal as it was butter). Or have the blade be sharp and void of rust even after being lost for centuries ("Ouch, it's still sharp!"). Or what if the "magic" is just superb work. Or perhaps the metal is sooo light and shiny, giving better ATN and DTN.

[Krammer]

In my TRoS group, one player managed to get a hold of a magical sword that is quite interesting. it is just a Doppelhander, with no boosted stats, or anything like that, but it has these two crystals on it, that hold crazy powers. he can activate their powers by the mere thought of it, and when he does, things get really interesting.
   when they are activated, he starts out by having to roll a WP test, to see if he can control the blade. it has a tn of 15, which is not very easy, and if he fails to get any successes, then he just goes nuts. to sum it all up, if he fails to get any successes, then the sword will try to kill his allies.
   on the other hand, when he does succeed in the WP test, he is nigh invulnerable. we don't exactly follow the rule of the TRoS battle system in this case, but Im trying to find a way that we could. he basically just kills everything right off. except for maybe something big, like a demon. but we have never pitted him againts a demon, so we haven't had to worry. I like the idea of giving it SA's. I'll have to talk to him about that.

[Rico]

That's not entirely how the crystals work Krammer. I was the Seneschal that gave the sword to the character that owns it.
There are three crystals that are Red, Blue, and Green. The Red crystal sysmbilyses the drive to kill, evil, power, attacking, physical, exc. When just the Red crystal is activated the character masters all of these things to an extent. The red crystal wants to kill everyone, including the character and his friends. A Wp roll must be made to keep the sword under control at a TN of 8. If succeded then the sword is under control, if failed then the sword is out of control for one round, if fumbled then the sword is out of the characters hands and basically killing everything.
The blue crystal symbilyses: good, loyalty, defending, humility, knightlyhood, exc. Unfortunetely the blue crystal is shy and not very forceful so when it is activated the red crystal gets jeolous and trys to take control with the same Wp roll as above.
The Green crystal was given to the character by the elves. It is meant to balance the other two crystals and lets the character activate both crystals mastering it all. Then you have the Wp roll at a Tn of 15 (the character has a high will power.
THis power is used for story only, will the character choose the bad, powerful side or the good, noble side? If the Seneschal doesn't want the character to activate the crystals then they don't activate, I don't care.
The Idea of using spiritual points in weapons is a good idea, I will put that into effect