Merella backed unsteadily down the hallway, her left arm hanging limp from the repeated batterings of the zombies. She had taken quite the beating from the zombie back, but they were down to just two now. 'Where are the rest of my party?!', her mind raced. She raised her holy symbol, a bronze radiant sun and invoked the Sun God's clerical powers to banish the zombies, but she had no effect on the pair lumbering towards her. Finally, her backwards steps brought her to a closed and locked door, a dead-end. She raised her mace in her right hand and took up a defensive stance.
As the zombie pair began to lunge at her, a bright flash of light filled the corridor. Merella felt the power of the Sun God surge through her body, mending her wounds. In front of her, one of the zombies toppled forward, a glowing gash had been torn through it's spine. And before she could react, another flash, and another healing surge washed over her. As she stood confused by what was happening around her, the other zombie fell to it's knees, then onto it's side. From the hallway's shadows stepped Scinis, her halfing rogue companion. 'It looked like you needed some help there Merella' he said with his usual smirk. 'I did Scinic... but where did you get that dagger? And what exactly is it?' she replied. 'Funny story actually, you remember when we met in Llandem? ...'
History
The Sky-Kiss of the Sun God is a holy site in the remote wilderness. Sparsely maintained, it is no more than a couple erected pillars around the rim of a meteor impact site. The meteor-iron is said to be blessed by the Sun God. Some of this metal was 'recovered' and brought back to the city of Llandem, where the renowned blacksmith Gavin Ferrig got his hands on it. Said to be the most difficult metal he's ever worked with, it took Gavin two months to smelt and work the metal into a usable form, from which he created a half dozen weapons: 3 daggers and 3 short swords. The weapons are highly prized by the church of the Sun God.
Effects
The Pierces are masterfully crafted weapons, although very 'bland' looking, save for the darker than usual metal blades. When wielded by a rogue/thief type, the weapon allows the user to strike Undead with their special attack/backstab-type damage. It also emits a bright flash of light that has a chance of 'blinding' undead as well as healing nearby followers of the Sun God for a small amount.
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? Responses (8)
-1 for the classes
+1 for the baclstory.
I especially liked the intro and the backstory, but, unfortunately, you didn't give enough details. You gave us the bare minimum to be able to use the Pierces in our games, but we usually like a little bit more to work with.
For instance, who was it that 'recovered' the star-metal in the first place? How did Gavin Ferrig get his hands on it? Did he just buy it off the street? Was it given to him because of his skill as a smith?
You might also think about giving us one or two plot hooks, some ideas as to exactly how we could fit the Pierces into our games.
I still like it, though. And Welcome to the Citadel, kleric!
I do find it odd that this weapon which is pretty much a gift from the Sun God is apparently unusable by the clerics of the sun god.
Well I thought about making it add damage to undead by anyone wielding it, but then it'd just become some sort of 'undead-bane' weapon. Instead, it's a weapon usable by rogue-types to enhance undead combating abilities, all in the name and glory of the sun god.
Interesting take on an anti-undead weapon. I think it could have been developed a little further. I, as well, liked the backstory. Welcome to the Citadel, kleric.
I would definitely emphasis the background and other unique aspects to the item as opposed to the D20 specific nature. As it stands it is a feat-on-a-stick item which makes it a bit too specific to D20.
There is a lively debate here about the line between system specific and generic items but the general concensus is that you should be able to fully understand the item without having to refer to a specific set of rules.
It is quite possible that there are game systems where the thief/rogue subtype does not have a special attack from behind capability, though I cannot immediately recall one :)
If the item were perhaps coached to injure the undead as it would when they were in life, then that becomes less system specific. Now you can cause bleeding criticals (rolemaster), D20-style back attacks or other special attacks that depend on functioning human-ish anatomy.
But welcome aboard and thanks for your submission - I do like the idea of the item.
I really like where this is going. Come back and work with us again!!