Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Wailing Blade

This long sword is an old weapon, said to have been gifted to the champion of an army of the dead. The blade itself is pitted and its edge appears to be in dire need of sharpening. The hilt is longer than normal, though little more than rotten wood. The Crossguard is made of nicked and dinged bone.
The sword, due to its poor condition suffers a -1 penalty to damage(minimum 1 damage). When the weapon strikes however, the victim must make a save vs. death magic. Those who pass the save suffer no ill effects. Those who fail the save are drained of a level or Hit die.
The wielder of the blade must drain at least 1 level/HD a day from foes with the blade or begins to hear the sword wailing in his head. The wielder is the only one who can hear the blade. The wailing causes a -3 penalty to Surprise checks as well as any check dependent on hearing. Each day that the blade wails, it drains the wielder of 1 point of both intelligence and wisdom. Undead are immune to this drain. A living creature that reaches 0 in INT or WIS dies and rises within the hour to become a Blade Slave.
Blade slaves are undead creatures with the same Hit Dice, THAC0, and Saves as the original character. The Slave however is a mindless killing machine, wandering aimlessly seeking to destroy all life. A Blade Slave who is carrying the sword, as well as any other undead using the blade may Wail as the banshee ability once per week per Hit Die.

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