30 Axes

1-Axe Stave

The Axe Stave looks like a sturdy staff for walking with, but it has a concealed axe head inside, that is held in place by an ingenious piece of clockwork. If one presses a concealed catch, the axe-head springs out and locks into position. To make the axe back into a staff, the catch is pushed again to retract and hide the axe-head. As one can imagine, these are banned in several countries and city states, due to the fact that they can be easily concealed. They are a favorite weapon of several vicious criminal gangs.

2-Ent-Killer

Humans often have a desire to cut down forests for firewood, housing, ships or to make other things, and this can bring them into conflict with those mighty forest defenders, the Ents. This large double headed battle axe is enchanted so that when fighting an Ent, the blade bites deep even if swung by a weak person. Deep enough to chop off small branches with one swipe, and to bite even into the trunk if the wielder can get close enough. Groups of trained soldiers and mercenaries can use these to kill an Ent, and not surprisingly Ents hate these axes and anyone carrying them with a passion.

3-Copper's Axe

In city states and countries with liberal laws on weaponry, a wooden truncheon is not much good against a sword, but arming police officers with deadly weaponry can lead to the wrong people getting killed. This axe when used in combat at first strikes out with the wooden haft or the flat of the axe head to try and knock out the target without resulting in death. Only if the fight escalates to the point where it is legal to kill the offender can the sharp blade of the axe-head be used. Since it was introduced, this has cut down the numbers of people killed by the police in questionable circumstances.

4-Bronze Axe

Before iron was common, there was bronze, and whilst iron rapidly rusts away to uselessness in the ground, bronze only blunts slightly and turns a dark green. If resharpened and polished, the weapon is as good as new even after thousands of years in a barrow or tomb. PCs are most likely to come across this weapon when raiding said barrow or tomb, perhaps in the bony hands of a long dead noble or king of the distant past, or used against them by a barrow-wight. Whilst it is not as strong as iron, it is more flexible and does not rust even when it has been underwater for a long period.

5-Silver Axe

In a land where werewolves and other weres are common, striking them with this will do extra damage, as the axehead is made of solid silver. It can also be used against other beings, some of which perhaps can only be harmed by silver weapons. And it certainly looks impressive. However, it costs a lot to buy, is relatively soft and weak compared to other metals, needs frequent resharpening, and tarnishes very easily.

6-Gold Axe

This is most likely to be encountered as the ornamental weapon of a king or great noble, or as the first prize in some sort of competition. It looks amazing, but gold is a very soft metal, so the gold axehead won't be very good in combat, or even for chopping inanimate objects that don't fight back. It will also be very expensive to make. As a status symbol it is very impressive.

7-Jade Axe

The green jade axehead on this ornamental weapon would shatter if it hit anything hard. This is a status symbol only, something for a king, a high priest or a great noble to carry around to show that the bearer is a Very Important Person. Perhaps something that would be found held by a living royal or found as part of the grave goods in a royal tomb.

8-Jitte Axe

This double headed battle axe has a deep groove in the center, and the idea is that a strong enough and skilled enough user can catch the opponents sword blade in the groove, twist the axe and break said sword blade in two. In practice the user would have to be very strong and skilled to break somebody's sword blade, but it is possible to do.

9-Muscle Axe

This axe has a strength spell cast upon it so that the user can use it to chop through even plate armour and helmets. A truly fearsome weapon indeed. However, a serious drawback is that the spell gains the energy to work from the user's strength, sapping it rapidly within a short time. If the user does not stop chopping and rest for several hours to allow his or her body to recharge, then the axe will start sapping the life force of the user, causing him or her to die within minutes unless the user stops using the axe in time. As long as it is not used for too long, there are no lasting ill effects.

10-Glowing Pickaxe

Despite the fact that it glows in the dark, users need not worry that the axe is radioactive. The glow comes from a luminous paint. In deep mines, candles can either use up all the oxygen present and suffocate the miners, or ignite any firedamp or other flammable gas in the tunnels, blowing up miners and tunnels allike and causing serious delays in productivity for the mine owners.

11-Triple Battle Axe

A military experiment by a military-minded monarch, this double-headed battle axe has not one but three axe heads on it. Intending to make it three times as efficient in battle, in fact the result was to making it top-heavy and tiring to wield for long. Only a hundred or so of these axes were ever made.

12-Executioner's Axe

This axe has beheaded a score of nobles condemned for High Treason, and it is has an aura of fear on it not because of any magic, but because of what it is used for. Only the Royal Executioner is ever allowed to use it, this is not an axe for battle and certainly not one to be used for mundane wood chopping. It is kept razor sharp so it can remove heads with one blow.

13-Nunchuck Axe

One of the strangest weapons ever devised, this consists of two very sharp axeheads linked together by a short chain. In the trained hands of the skillful Ninjas of Ka-Phum, it is a truly fearsome weapon. In the hands of most people, it is much more likely to injure the user then his or her foe. It takes years of training to use properly and training is done with a blunt wooden version for safety.

14-Ent Axe

It's massive haft made from an already dead tree, it's massive blade six feet long, this is a weapon made by the Ents, so that their woodcutter foes can find out for themselves what it is like to be chopped in two. Strong as they are, the Ents have no trouble wielding this weapon with their branch-hands, but it is too heavy for even the strongest most muscular barbarian hero to pick up let alone use to fight with.

15-Worker's Axe

Many countries ban weapons for all but soldiers, police, and perhaps the nobility, but there are several legal uses for an axe. Without axes, unwanted trees cannot be cut down. So one court wizard perfected a spell that would make the axe of a worker jerk in the hand if it was used to fight anybody or anything. In game stats terms, those who fight with one of these axes get a -3 penalty in any strike that they make in a fight. If used in work, it is unaffected by the spell.

16-Cursed Axe

This was used to cut down the roof timbers of an old witch who was unable to pay her rent, and she cursed it and whoever uses it. Since then, woodcutters and bailiffs have had it slip in their hands and cut themselves to the bone, and criminals have found themselves caught for their crimes committed whilst welding this axe and been executed or given long prison terms. On the one occasion it was used by an executioner, it flew off when he raised the axe and buried itself in the head of the king who was nearby. A new axe was found and there were two executions that day, of the culprit and the would-be executioner. It was thrown away in a forest and lies there waiting for someone to pick it up. The witch was found and burned at the stake, but her dreadful death has not stopped the curse on the axe.

17-Tomb Axe

The kings of Segren were buried in barrows with rich treasures, and servants were sacrificed with them and left with these axes in their hands to guard the treasure for all eternity. When light of any kind falls on these dormant mummified undead, they rise up and strike out at the living with these axes. And even a scratch from one of these axes rabidly goes septic. With any major wound, amputation or death is near certain unless good medical care happens very quickly, and even a healed wound leaves a nasty scar, marking the person out as a tomb robber. The penalty for captured tomb robbers is to be executed, mummified, and turned into a tomb guard armed with one of these.

18-Axe-Exe

This is a very nasty computer virus. Not content with destroying all manner of files and back up files, it then places banned material from the Darknet on the affected computer, be it banned pornography, terrorist material, dissident activity or all three. Meaning that when the computer is taken in to be repaired, the user is likely to get in trouble with the police, courts or both and perhaps even ends up with a prison term for crimes he or she did not commit.

19-Invisible Axe

A woodcutter who did not want his axe to be stolen had an invisibility spell cast on it, and then forgot where he put it. Apart from the invisibility spell it is an ordinary axe, but someone who attacks the owner of this axe thinking that he or she is unarmed may get a very nasty surprise indeed.

20-Xan-Axe

A wizard by the name of Xan had a friend who wanted to be an adventurer but was too scared. So he cast a spell on the friend's axe which became named after him. Whoever holds the Xan-axe will not be frightened by anyone, but it comes at a cost. Overuse of the Xan-axe leads to sleepiness, lassitude, and fear whenever the axe is put down for more then a short time, meaning that the user needs the Xan-axe to face the normal fears and worries of everyday life.

21-Gang Axe

This axe bears the gang colours of a very serious criminal gang. If members of the gang find a non-gang member with the axe, they may well beat up or even kill him or her to get the axe back. As far as they are concealed, only they can wield this axe.

22-Clean Axe

When this is used to cut off a limb, be it as a punishment for crime, to stop someone dying of gangrene or just in battle or for revenge, it at once heals and purifies the wound within seconds, leaving no pain, itching or infection in the stump. The wounded one still suffers all the other penalties of a missing limb however. Should it be used to cut off a head, the same thing applies. The body dies at once, but the head remains alive for three minutes after being cut off and can even speak during that time.

23-Axe of Command

This poleaxe is used by NCOs in the army and gives the NCO added *command powers* meaning his or her soldiers are more likely to obey. It also has an effect on non-intelligent creatures, making them less likely to attack the bearer when told to back off, but has no effect on hostile intelligent enemies.

24-Tax Axe

This axe is made of copper and not the best at cutting anything, but it has a spell cast on it so that it points at whoever is cheating on or not paying their taxes. It is carried by royal tax collectors whilst making their rounds to point out the defaulters so that the tax collector's bailiffs can seize their goods for nonpayment or arrest them.

25-Multi-Tool Axe

This axe is the axe equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife, with a shovel, a chisel, a blade, and a hammer built into the axe to take out and use when necessary. It is rather heavy to carry for short periods, and is not really meant for fighting with as the weight makes it unwieldy

26-Armour Piercing Axe

More of a war-hammer then an axe, this is custom made for piercing the helmets and armour of mounted knights. As such, it costs a lot of money, and may be frowned on at best and illegal at worst for a non-noble to carry one of these, as the local noble would fear that it might be used against him.

27-Anger Axe

This axe was made for berserker warriors to carry in the days of old before such warriors were banned in most civilized countries by treaty. It has a potent spell of anger cast upon it, and was traditionally handed out only two or three days before battle. Over time, carrying one of these will make even the most mild mannered person get irritated, then annoyed, then angry, then furious. Most people will end up snapping and dealing out death dealing blows on the nearest person, even if this person is very close to them. Rage Mages who can find one of these will knowingly carry it so it can build up their anger and thus their magical power, but for anyone else, buying one of these in most circumstances is not recommended. Rarely, one of these is stolen from a barrow, or found in an attic and traded at a market, resulting in murderous axe rampages sooner or later. Buyer beware.

28-Chainsaw-Axe

A combination of chainsaw and axe, this axe has a sharp chainsaw build into the axehead. Because the blade is smaller then with a typical chainsaw, the user is less likely to injure himself or herself by accident, and it holds enough fuel for an hour of use at a time. Whilst not designed for fighting as such, it can deal out some very nasty wounds in combat, but a sword strike directly on the chainsaw with a sturdy sword is likely to break the chainsaw blade. It can bite into even plate armour however. The sort of weapon that one might encounter in a Mad Max setting.

29-Orc Axe

More a cleaver then an axe, this is a favorite weapon and all purpose cutting tool of the Orcs. With a three foot blade of Orcish Steel, it can parry blows from the sharpest of swords with only minor notching and chipping.

30-Seam Axe

This enchanted pickaxe can sense where seams of gold, silver, or coal are and jerks in it's users hand when within six feet of said minerals, making it a lot easier to know where they are to dig down to. It is rather expensive but could be well worth the cost when used for prospecting and mining.