Item Of Power - Nuada's Sword Of Light

[cgodfrey7]

One of my players is making a Knight Of The Sidhe from a court that was forced to leave Ireland 1000 years ago by the Milesians, they have gone to the Otherworld (a section of Nevernever in Dresden terms.)  The Knight is being sent into this world to gather up the 4 treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann so that the banished court may return in full power.  He has The Sword Of Light Of Nuada.
The four treasures are: The Dagda's Cauldron, The Spear of Lugh, The Stone of Fal, and The Sword of Light of Nuada.

This is from a quick skim of various web sites (last one rants a little):

Findias Uiscias or Uscias Sword (claideb) which belonged to Núadu No one ever escaped from it once it was drawn from its sheath, and no one could resist it.

To Nuada at his coronation was given a sword forged by the druid Uscias in the island of Findias. This sword, known as the Sword of Light, was irresistible to any man who laid eyes on it and promised death to every man who stood against it.

  "From the homeland, the people brought the Bright Sword. Its singular spirit cannot be escaped. O how wretched life increases when it (the sword) is unsheathed (or revealed).   In summation, the Bright Sword was a symbol rooted deeply in the history and consciousness of the Tuatha de Danann, long before their arrival on the Emerald Isle in the 13th century BC. It held the magical qualities of not only protection, but also was a symbol of illumination, wisdom, skill, creativity, speech and honor.         What then is the central theme of this Sacred Symbol? What one thing could possibly contain the various qualities of wisdom, illumination, skill, creativity, speech and honor? It is a simple answer really. It is nothing less and nothing more than TRUTH! What illuminates more brightly than TRUTH? What engenders wisdom more than TRUTH? What slays false speech more quickly and more thoroughly than TRUTH? What makes life more wretched for those who would avoid TRUTH? What is more honorable than TRUTH?

Using the Item Of Power idea, I was thinking that the sword, when drawn, would offer the wielder the choice of Alertness +4, or Presence +4, or Rapport +4, or Might +4.  Would that be a refresh of -2 for the +4 basic skill then another -1 because of the choices?  Should it cost 1 Fate point to activate, or would 1 Fate point give +2 and 2 Fate points give +4?  Oh, and do you think I have the basic idea of the sword, or would a different interpretation be better? 
Also, I wanted the sword to help locate the other treasures somehow, any ideas on that without making it too easy?

Sword Of Light:
Musts: You must be a Sidhe to wield the sword's powers, blessed by the King
Effects: When drawn, either Alertness +4, or Presence +4, or Rapport +4, or Might +4
Holy symbol against creatures of chaos
It's a sword
Unbreakable
Total refresh?

[Belial666]

OK, let's say you got a sword that's giving you a +4 to one of those skills. How, exactly, is that helping you in combat? Otherwise it would function as a normal sword and it would not help at all in combat. Here is another version of the sword that copies one of the powers my scion of Asha Vahishta (True Wisdom) has plus is a holy sword;


[-2] Sword of Light
      One-time Discount: +2 rebate (included in the price)
      It is what it is: an exquisitely crafted sword of meteoric iron and crystal. Despite its being smaller than medieval swords, it is weapon 3
      Indestructible: unless used in a ritual violation of its purpose, it cannot be normally destroyed.
      Divine Purpose: the sword's true powers (see below) only work if the wielder has never said a lie
      and has never intentionally deceived another of his kind. Ever.
      Symbol of Order: The sword is a holy symbol of the powers of order in the universe. Against profoundly unnatural creatures and beings
      that violate that order, the Sword of Light serves as their bane (catch), ignoring any and all toughness and recovery powers.
      In Truth's Light No Lies Abide: In combat this artifact is more than a sword; the wielder can call upon the power of his belief that he is
      right and must prevail or esoteric knowledge and profound truth to combat his enemies. This ability works exactly like Incite Emotion with the
      Lasting and Potent upgrades only instead of an emotion it invokes Truth and instead of using Intimidate or Deceit, it uses the wielder's
      Conviction or Lore, allowing them to perform maneuvers, blocks and attacks at their skill +2 at weapon 4, dealing mental stress (if appropriate)

[ralexs1991]

OK, let's say you got a sword that's giving you a +4 to one of those skills. How, exactly, is that helping you in combat? Otherwise it would function as a normal sword and it would not help at all in combat. Here is another version of the sword that copies one of the powers my scion of Asha Vahishta (True Wisdom) has plus is a holy sword;


[-2] Sword of Light
      One-time Discount: +2 rebate (included in the price)
      It is what it is: an exquisitely crafted sword of meteoric iron and crystal. Despite its being smaller than medieval swords, it is weapon 3
      Indestructible: unless used in a ritual violation of its purpose, it cannot be normally destroyed.
      Divine Purpose: the sword's true powers (see below) only work if the wielder has never said a lie
      and has never intentionally deceived another of his kind. Ever.
      Symbol of Order: The sword is a holy symbol of the powers of order in the universe. Against profoundly unnatural creatures and beings
      that violate that order, the Sword of Light serves as their bane (catch), ignoring any and all toughness and recovery powers.
      In Truth's Light No Lies Abide: In combat this artifact is more than a sword; the wielder can call upon the power of his belief that he is
      right and must prevail or esoteric knowledge and profound truth to combat his enemies. This ability works exactly like Incite Emotion with the
      Lasting and Potent upgrades only instead of an emotion it invokes Truth and instead of using Intimidate or Deceit, it uses the wielder's
      Conviction or Lore, allowing them to perform maneuvers, blocks and attacks at their skill +2 at weapon 4, dealing mental stress (if appropriate)

what cost did you stick on that symbol of order i'm just asking because if you have a player that's creative enough he could probably find a reason to make any and every monster against order unless the GM states before hand which enemies are anti-order

[Belial666]

Symbol of Order has the same cost as "Holy", which is -1.  Generally speaking, only beings that violate the 5th, 6th and 7th laws with their existence would be against the order of the universe. So, the living dead, paradox-associated entities, and outsiders. Most of which have the "Faith" catch anyway.

[ralexs1991]

Symbol of Order has the same cost as "Holy", which is -1.  Generally speaking, only beings that violate the 5th, 6th and 7th laws with their existence would be against the order of the universe. So, the living dead, paradox-associated entities, and outsiders. Most of which have the "Faith" catch anyway.

ah ok that sounds more than reasonable then

[Belial666]

Also note that since the sword deals mental stress through the power of Truth if you use it that way instead of like a physical weapon, toughness powers are useless against it in any case.

[ralexs1991]

hm that never even occured to me this has the makings for one hell of an IoP

[Belial666]

Well, it depends on the skill of the wielder, really. It can be deflected when physical, resisted when mental. But yes, if you got high enough skill and fill the hefty requirements for using it, it is really powerful.

But again I mention the hefty requirements; the wielder must have never said a lie and never intentionally deceived another of his kind. Ever.

[ralexs1991]

true I wonder how that would work mechanically the not telling a lie thing i mean

[Belial666]

Seeing as every mortal and most immortals that can lie have lied in the past, only creatures that cannot lie would be wielders. Like the fey.


Also, it would be limited to only good fey that don't care about deceiving other fey - which would be rare.

[ralexs1991]

Seeing as every mortal and most immortals that can lie have lied in the past, only creatures that cannot lie would be wielders. Like the fey.


Also, it would be limited to only good fey that don't care about deceiving other fey - which would be rare.

well you put that part in there about intentionaly decieving another and there are plenty of examples from the books where Fey have used word play to trick Harry they might even be more deceitful than the average human