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Cut Rate Weapons

April 18th, 2012

Alex Riggs

Magic Market Archive

            Hello, and welcome back to Magic Market. There are a lot of things that go into a good Magic Market article. The items here should be entertaining and fun to read about, and should spark some creativity in you, the reader, whether you’re a GM thinking about cool treasure or adventure ideas, or a player, daydreaming about all the cool things your character could do with a certain magic item. Above all, though, we want the things you find in Magic Market to be something that you, as a player or a GM, can use in your game.

            As a result, today I’m going to cater to two things that I know are common to most games. First, we’re going to look at weapons, because everyone knows that weapons are something that just about every adventurer wants and needs. And second, we’re going to look at cheap weapons, because, let’s face it, most campaigns start at relatively low levels, and, if we’re completely and brutally honest, a good number of them never really make it past that stage, as everyone dies to a single ogre or ankheg that gets a few good rolls.

            Note that the following weapons are special: they break a few rules in order to be able to provide fun, magical effects at a lower level. As such, none of the following weapons have an enhancement bonus of any kind, even though they would normally need to in order to have other abilities. Further, unless specifically indicated to the contrary, they aren’t even masterwork. The ones that are masterwork can be further enchanted as normal, and even those that aren’t can become enchanted, though an additional 300 gp must be spent to prepare the weapon (this technically doesn’t make the weapon masterwork, but instead mystically cleanses it and makes it able to accept enchantment).

Bleeding Blade

Bleeding Blade

            This rapier features a number of razor-like barbs along its length, though at a glance they appear to be simply an intricate and decorative pattern carved onto the blade. They are especially prized by cultists devoted to gods of pain and torture, as well as by vampires, who find them ironic.

            Whenever a character scores a critical hit with a bleeding blade, the weapon leaves a vicious tear in the target’s flesh, inflicting them with 1 point of bleed damage.

 

Bloodroot Blade

Bloodroot Blade

            This unassuming dagger has a natural-looking wood handle, which curves slightly and seems to naturally mold to the grip of whoever is holding it. The blade resembles that of a butcher’s cleaver: large and flat and unsubtle.

            Once per day, as a free action when drawing the bloodroot blade, its wielder can cause it to coat itself in a dose of bloodroot poison. The next time the blade deals damage to a creature, that creature is exposed to a dose of bloodroot poison (Fort DC 12; onset 1 rd.; frequency 1/rd. for 4 rds.; effect 1 Con and 1 Wis damage; cure 1 save). This poison lasts for one minute or until the first time the blade hits a creature, and there is no chance of the wielder accidentally poisoning himself.

 

Portalfinder

Portalfinder

            This short sword is broad but straight, in the form of a gladius. Whenever a portalfinder is taken within 30 feet of a secret door, it begins to glow a faint purple. Additionally, within this range the sword can be used like a dowsing rod, glowing more brightly when pointed towards the secret door, and brighter still the closer it gets. This grants a +2 bonus on Perception checks made to find a secret door, as well as on checks made to find a way to open it, but does not automatically reveal the method of opening the door.

 

Secret Slayer

Secret Slayer

            This masterwork dagger has a black, wrought-iron blade and handle, though the grip is made of a soft, black silk. When the dagger is passed over a page of writing or drawings, its wielder can speak a command word. If he does so, the text on the page is erased, as the spell erase. Further, erased pages can be “stored” in the blade, and, by passing the blade over a blank sheet of paper and speaking a second command word, the secret slayer can magically cause the erased text to appear on the page. Only 5 such pages can be stored in this way at any given time, and if a 6th page would be stored, the oldest page currently stored is lost. The secret slayer cannot copy magical text in this way, such as that found in a spellbook or scroll, or a glyph of warding,though it can erase such writing (within the restrictions of erase).

 

Witherer

Witherer

            This masterwork dagger is rusted along the edges, but its handle is black as midnight, and carved so that the pommel resembles a screaming (or possibly wailing) face, twisted in agony. Once per day, when the wielder hits a creature with witherer, before rolling damage, instead of having it deal its damage as normal, he may choose to have it deal an amount of Strength damage equal to 1d4 plus his Strength modifier.