Author Topic: Building a Vorpal Sword  (Read 3121 times)

Offline Lanodantheon

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Building a Vorpal Sword
« on: April 10, 2010, 06:18:58 PM »
I got a character and I don't know what to do with his primary feature Schtick.

The character is a Warden Pup, i.e. a 17 year old or so Warden. His age will fluxuate. When he became a Warden, he really wanted a sword, but with Luccio....yeah. So he went out and got one.

That is, the intrepid young lad did some research and embarked on a quest across the nevenever(What shaped him or His First Adventure) to recover a lost White Council artifact, Sir Alighieri's Blade.

In my interpretation, Luccio based her Warden Sword design off of the swords of one of her predecessors, Sir Antonio Alighieri. Alighieri was also a member of The Knights Templar, and those guys had really good swords. Historians have described the Templars as "Tank Battalions" and "The Delta Force of Their Day". I am taking this to 13 since Alighieri is a Templar AND the commander of the Wardens. A Mage in Shining Armor....Scary Thought. HE made swords like these because back in the Day, your sword was your only weapon of choice and for a Templar or a Warden you'd want nothing but the best. Luccio changed the paradigm because hers are cheaper.

The Nature of his Sword is to uphold The Laws of Magic. It can only be wielded by a Warden of The White Council and it cannot be used without just cause. It might be intelligent to be able to tell the difference (And it would make for witty banter). To unmake the Sword, you have to use it to break one of the Laws of Magic.

The Pup read somewhere that Sir Alighieri went off into the Nevernever to slay some great beast and was never seen again. Turns out the Beast was the Jabberwocky and his story was the basis for said poem, but it never said there was more than one...
The pup found out otherwise and almost died....obviously he won.

The problem I have is...Building Sir Antonio's Blade. It's obviously an Item of Power, but what should it have?  I have some ideas that make sense, but I could use some feedback.

I was thinking Worldwalker + 1 level of refinement for item slots to simulate the Warden's Sword base of it + 1 or 2 of the abilities the Swords of the Cross have.

Any other ideas?
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Offline Enjorous

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Re: Building a Vorpal Sword
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2010, 06:38:36 PM »
I would start off with the Wardens sword and then maybe make it ignore 4 shifts of block/armor since it clearly should be a little more powerful than a standard sword. Maybe it could also serve as a focus item for whatever element Alighieri used the most.

That's my 2 cents.
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Offline Deadmanwalking

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Re: Building a Vorpal Sword
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2010, 09:07:37 PM »
Well, are you thinking ridiculous enchanted item, or are we talking Item of Power here?

In the first case, up it's effects from 3 to 4 and have it cost 4 Enchanted Item Slots (this assumes Alghieri had a Lore of 7 for crafting purposes), and maybe toss in some Focus elements. Probably buy a point of Refinement (extra item slots) to pay for it.

If we're talking Item of Power, you still spend two Enchanted Item Slots to make it a Warden's Sword, and maybe put some Focus elements into it...and then you have it give a +1 to Weapons Skill (-1 Refresh), and any other 2 Refresh worth of powers (such as Worldwalker) that you want, and then apply the +2 Item of Power bonus. It winds up only costing a single point of Refresh, and being quite deadly.

Offline Lanodantheon

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Re: Building a Vorpal Sword
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2010, 06:56:04 PM »
Well, are you thinking ridiculous enchanted item, or are we talking Item of Power here?

In the first case, up it's effects from 3 to 4 and have it cost 4 Enchanted Item Slots (this assumes Alghieri had a Lore of 7 for crafting purposes), and maybe toss in some Focus elements. Probably buy a point of Refinement (extra item slots) to pay for it.

If we're talking Item of Power, you still spend two Enchanted Item Slots to make it a Warden's Sword, and maybe put some Focus elements into it...and then you have it give a +1 to Weapons Skill (-1 Refresh), and any other 2 Refresh worth of powers (such as Worldwalker) that you want, and then apply the +2 Item of Power bonus. It winds up only costing a single point of Refresh, and being quite deadly.

I was always talking about an Item of Power.

My implication was that The Vorpal Sword was an ancient artifact that was a really powerful sword, crafted to uphold the Laws of Magic and protect the Mortal Realm and that the Warden's Sword was THIS sword's cheap knockoff.

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Offline Vash the white

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Re: Building a Vorpal Sword
« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2010, 09:11:43 PM »
I would say make it cold iron and give it wordwalker and refinement, like you said earlier, but remeber that most gms would say thats too overpowering(well at least mine would) so give it a curse, or make it like my sword where it has a hunger of some type, and if you use its power a lot, it drains, exactly like a vamps hunger, except, if you lose all the hunger boxes, you lose say 2 mental or social. At least thats what i would do
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Offline Deadmanwalking

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Re: Building a Vorpal Sword
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2010, 03:54:10 AM »
Uh...that's just you dude. Nobody is screwed over for having a cool (-1 Refresh!) magic item at any game I play in. If they were, I'd walk.

And I did explain how I'd make it an Item of Power. Or did you have more specific powers in mind?

Offline Lanodantheon

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Re: Building a Vorpal Sword
« Reply #6 on: April 12, 2010, 09:16:53 PM »
I would say make it cold iron and give it wordwalker and refinement, like you said earlier, but remeber that most gms would say thats too overpowering(well at least mine would) so give it a curse, or make it like my sword where it has a hunger of some type, and if you use its power a lot, it drains, exactly like a vamps hunger, except, if you lose all the hunger boxes, you lose say 2 mental or social. At least thats what i would do

No offense dude, but either you play with really mean GMs or I play with really nice GMs.

I and my friends do not believe this would be overpowering because
1) It can't concealed (It's a BIG sword, probably a Flamberge),
2) I am paying for it in lieu of stunts or other powers, so it's not like it's free on terms of refresh
3) It's an Item of Power so it can be taken away/not available to my character for a scene (Which would give me a Fate point) and knowing my Friends it will probably happen every session...because
4) This item is costing not just an Item of Power refresh, but also 1 if not 2 Aspects to justify it (Sir Alighieri's Sword and/or Jabberwock's Bane) This is a core part of this character in lieu of other things. The sword will also be probably be like the Swords of the Cross in that everyone wants a piece of it.

The assessment of what I had in mind is pretty accurate.

Basically I was thinking an Item of Power with [-1] of basically refinement for 4 enchanted item slots of enhanced Warden's sword and then maybe Worldwalker[-2] like was previously suggested.

Later in the campaign, I might also advance the Sir Alighieri's Sword Aspect to Sir Alighieri's Regalia to take other fun powers in lieu of better spellcasting. But, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

But at the end of the day, the purpose of having the Vorpal is that I am interesting in being one of those Warden Pups which Harry describes as still not being old enough to drink and having a Warden's Sword which is currently impossible. AN Item of Power gets me around that and crafting a story around the Jabberwocky makes for a fun back story.
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Offline Vash the white

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Re: Building a Vorpal Sword
« Reply #7 on: April 12, 2010, 10:00:57 PM »
i agree its flat out awsome, and none taken. my gm just like to make it more challenging, a lot more, all though he offten makes it damn near impossiable, a vorpal sword would be a fun story, and plus its awsome, its the original warden sword, points to you for making it. ;D
i think that you are going to have a fun campaign, and your gm is proabably going to make a bunch of people try to steal it, which will be fun. and i need to tell my gm to lay off all the overpowering stuff  ;)
« Last Edit: April 12, 2010, 10:03:14 PM by Kincaid »
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