I'm not sure if you've been following the discussion. To reiterate: The RAW say that the Swords work as focus items - focusing the faith of those who believe in the crucifixion.
And the Nail is the focus and power source of the blade.
In my example, the sword is still the focus - focusing the extreme love and devotion and desire to protect his family possessed by our unknown Sikh; his heartsblood invigorates and empowers the blade.
Why would that not be good enough? IoPs can be made at the whim of random gods or sidhe or
your player character if you really work for it.
No, not everyone can use them. If you can't hit this mental state: "may only be swung with true selfless purpose in mind and heart; if this is not the case, the bond between the Knight and the Sword is broken and may only be restored by undergoing some sort of trial of faith."
then you can't use one. Personally, I think that the vast majority of the world's population couldn't swing a sword without hatred (or at least revenge) in their hearts - meaning that they couldn't use it.
We're in a fantasy gaming environment, and you're allowed to have aspects like PURE AND SELFLESS HEART. So every single PC and NPC could use one, yes. I doubt that such games are run very often (although it could be interesting: DnD's Blood War with Evil switched to Good meets Stepford Wives kind of thing?) but they're possible. I grant not likely.
But I'm illustrating the extreme of the range because it's important to understand its full scope.
To use a more reasonable example, the PCs form a seven-man Blessed Scooby Gang each wielding a Sword-equivalent attuned to one of the seven holy virtues, and their antagonists include a demonic Knight Templar who dual-wields Sword-equivalents which require the same devotion to evil that regular Swords require to good.
Do we? Personally, until/unless we see the breakout I'm of the opinion that there are prerequisites to use the blade and that the ACaEBG "power" exists only in the Swords of the Cross. That's what makes them so special.
Richard
I mean, you can hold that opinion, but it's unsubstantiated. We can't definitively say it's X Refresh, but we know what range it's in, and we know the effect is allowable and has no Musts, which provides a strong basis for argument. It wouldn't be RAW, but we'd have RAW's support. Do I think it's a good idea? Not
really, but at the same time, I wouldn't be too upset if a PC asked for it. It's hardly the only questionable thing in the game; it just means I structure BBEGs differently and keep it in mind. It's a balance issue, but not a game-crippling one unless abused, at which point it becomes an OOC communication issue instead.