Advantages as "Enchnatments" or artifacts?

Jaware · 09-29-2016, 12:57 AM

Alright guys and girls, I once again consult the collective on matters that I wish to know and or understand.

I was driving home when I got a thought for a neat idea for a boss monster for a current high fantasy that's borderline cinematic.

The idea was for a swordsman of untold skill and prowess on the battlefield. He was said to be (insert lengthy explanatory here).

Anyway. Long story short. I wanted his sword to be legendary. Or something akin.

The idea came as a "what if I could...."

My thought was have the sword (a katana) be a fine or very fine depending, weapon. It was beautifully made and fancy etc. but the part that really sets it apart from every other sword is the blade. It looks to be made from scales of some great beast. They are almost as big as a mans thumb overlapping and wickedly shaped. But they are just a part of the sword blade. They don't do anything in particular on their own besides make the blade recognize able to people that know the "old tales."

In combat when the sword is used, the user can spend 1 FP and activate its ability. What it does is shroud the sword in a negative aura for the rest of the users turn. When it lands in a foe, after cutting through Dr and into flesh, the scales on the blade ruffle from it and rake through the victim. This action in turn causes the victim to suffer from the hemophilia disadvantage for X amount of time.

Game mechanics, I would assume this would be built just like an advantage. With the various modifiers to make it a follow up with blood agent, accessibility with this weapon, and. Gadget can be stolen etc or something along those lines.

But how would one put a price on such a weapon?

What if the PCs want to try and make their own weapons similarly. Like maybe a dagger of striking str+2 or something similar.

Also I was thinking of making it impart a disadvantage on the user as well. Maybe bloodlust, or callus, or sadism or something to suite. Like maybe a whip that has vicious thorn blades of some vicious venom of some ancient thing would cause the victim to lose hp normally and Hp/Fp after so many doses of posion had been applied. But doing so would cause the user to suffer from delusions and sadism or something.

If the players couldn't make one, but could find them, I would have to have some sort of reason why they exist but couldn't be recreated (easily). Maybe an ancient God, or evil, or demon, or what have you was tricked into sealing it's soul into the blade or object (could be armor or a shield) and doing to is to difficult to do nowadays.

Another example is a weapon made by some sort of the sealing of some sort of vampire arch fiend into a weapon. Then used by its arch enemies to help them in their cause to defeat the other undead. Aka, a leech "enchantment" as a follow up to any weapon strike made with it. But the blade doesn't want to help its user if it's user is a slayer or similar, so a will roll to force it to comply is required.

Or maybe some weapon holding a deity of trickery and shenanigans that turns the blade invisible. Or all the other limitless possibilities that the good ole gurps advantages give rise to.

So, after all of that, does it sound to broken to make/use? Does it sound like something that can be done in a balanced way? Etc?

09-29-2016, 12:57 AM	#1
Jaware Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Everywhere and Nowhere	Advantages as "Enchnatments" or artifacts? Alright guys and girls, I once again consult the collective on matters that I wish to know and or understand. I was driving home when I got a thought for a neat idea for a boss monster for a current high fantasy that's borderline cinematic. The idea was for a swordsman of untold skill and prowess on the battlefield. He was said to be (insert lengthy explanatory here). Anyway. Long story short. I wanted his sword to be legendary. Or something akin. The idea came as a "what if I could...." My thought was have the sword (a katana) be a fine or very fine depending, weapon. It was beautifully made and fancy etc. but the part that really sets it apart from every other sword is the blade. It looks to be made from scales of some great beast. They are almost as big as a mans thumb overlapping and wickedly shaped. But they are just a part of the sword blade. They don't do anything in particular on their own besides make the blade recognize able to people that know the "old tales." In combat when the sword is used, the user can spend 1 FP and activate its ability. What it does is shroud the sword in a negative aura for the rest of the users turn. When it lands in a foe, after cutting through Dr and into flesh, the scales on the blade ruffle from it and rake through the victim. This action in turn causes the victim to suffer from the hemophilia disadvantage for X amount of time. Game mechanics, I would assume this would be built just like an advantage. With the various modifiers to make it a follow up with blood agent, accessibility with this weapon, and. Gadget can be stolen etc or something along those lines. But how would one put a price on such a weapon? What if the PCs want to try and make their own weapons similarly. Like maybe a dagger of striking str+2 or something similar. Also I was thinking of making it impart a disadvantage on the user as well. Maybe bloodlust, or callus, or sadism or something to suite. Like maybe a whip that has vicious thorn blades of some vicious venom of some ancient thing would cause the victim to lose hp normally and Hp/Fp after so many doses of posion had been applied. But doing so would cause the user to suffer from delusions and sadism or something. If the players couldn't make one, but could find them, I would have to have some sort of reason why they exist but couldn't be recreated (easily). Maybe an ancient God, or evil, or demon, or what have you was tricked into sealing it's soul into the blade or object (could be armor or a shield) and doing to is to difficult to do nowadays. Another example is a weapon made by some sort of the sealing of some sort of vampire arch fiend into a weapon. Then used by its arch enemies to help them in their cause to defeat the other undead. Aka, a leech "enchantment" as a follow up to any weapon strike made with it. But the blade doesn't want to help its user if it's user is a slayer or similar, so a will roll to force it to comply is required. Or maybe some weapon holding a deity of trickery and shenanigans that turns the blade invisible. Or all the other limitless possibilities that the good ole gurps advantages give rise to. So, after all of that, does it sound to broken to make/use? Does it sound like something that can be done in a balanced way? Etc?