# Nightblood ## A Quirky Sentient Weapon Inspired by Brandon Sanderson's *Warbreaker* *Artifact, +3 Longsword* ### Awakened Steel Nightblood is a Lawful Neutral sentient weapon with the following ability scores: Int 14, Wis 8, and Cha 18. It speaks telepathically; all creatures within a radius of 200 feet can hear and understand him in their mind, provided they understand at least one language. He can also implant images or minor mental impressions such as direction and distance through this method of communication. #### Senses ​ Nightblood cannot see, hear or feel anything in the traditional sense. Instead, he can read the minds of those within 200 feet of him. From this he can gain all surface thoughts, including sight, sound, and touch. He typically focuses his attention in this regard on his wielder or carrier, but he is eccentric in those he includes in his telepathic radar. This telepathic sense allows him another: Nightblood can sense the direction and distance between himself and all minds within 200 feet of him, unless they are protected by a ring of mind shielding, the thought shield spell, or similar magic. #### Personality ​ Nightblood was created with a single purpose and magical command: destroy evil. However, being an object of steel that has never lived, he doesn't understand what evil is, although he tries his best to fulfill his purpose. He is childish and inquisitive; many questions that others might ask as an insult or as a statement leading to their perception of the truth he asks honestly (for example: "That lady killed the squirrel that stole plants from her garden. Is she evil?"). He loves being used to slay things and is extremely extroverted, getting sad when he is left alone. He loves destruction and cleverly encourages it when possible, picking at his wielder's sense of morality, or rather, what he knows of it. While he has little conscious idea of what evil truly is, he tends to subconsciously know who is pure of heart and trust them to answer moral questions and dilemmas he has, as well as quickly take a liking to them. He tends to say whatever is on his mind, letting his wielder and those he trusts know anything new that arises for him. Additionally, he has no real sense of time, and often refers to any event that happened on a day before the present one as having happened “yesterday,” even if it had been hundreds of years ago. \columnbreak ### Dark Weapon ​ When Nightblood is not being worn or wielded, he exudes an aura that entices the unpure to take him up to destroy themselves in the process and frightens the good to get them away from the carnage to come. When this happens, each creature that starts its turn within 30 feet of Nightblood must make a Wisdom saving throw against a DC of 16; creatures of evil alignment have disadvantage on this saving throw, and unaligned creatures (not true neutral) automatically fail this saving throw. Good and unaligned creatures that fail this saving throw become frightened by the sword for 24 hours, and neutral and evil creatures that fail it become enticed by it for 24 hours. Enticed creatures sense the weapon's power and desire to wield it against their enemies; they must move at least 5 feet closer to the weapon every round and they must pick it up and at least partially unsheath it as soon as they are able to do so “safely” (based on the creature's personality and motivations). Creatures that succeed this saving throw are immune to this effect for 1 hour. Creatures that succeed the saving throw three times in a row are permanently immune to it. ### Soul Eater ​ Nightblood has three different forms he can be used in: sheathed, unsheathed, and partially unsheathed. #### Sheathed ​ Nightblood's sheath has a clasp that keeps him inside. While this clasp is done up with him inside, he is considered sheathed. While sheathed, he counts as a +1 longsword that deals bludgeoning damage instead of slashing. #### Partially Unsheathed ​ When the clasp holding Nightblood in his sheath is undone and an inch of his blade shows, he is considered partially unsheathed. Black smoke leaks from what is shown of the blade and his power is let out but restrained. In this form, he is considered a +2 longsword that deals piercing or bludgeoning damage as the wielder chooses. The wielder has advantage on all attack rolls made with him, he gains the finesse and light properties, and all creatures that are hit must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or take 2d12+2 necrotic damage; creatures that succeed take half that. All creatures reduced to 0 hit points by Nightblood in this form die instantly and cannot be resurrected. >##### Distinct Scarring > >Nightblood leaves easily distinguishable wounds on his victims and his mark on those that use him. Blackness surrounds each wound, and those that wield Nightblood have black veins that run up the arms that are holding the sword that dissipate after 24 hours. When Nightblood takes full control, the color starts to bleed from them, starting with the hands holding the blade and gradually moving up their arms. \pagebreakNum However, to fuel this immense power of destruction, Nightblood drains the magical essence of his wielder. At the beginning of each round that Nightblood is partially unsheathed, his wielder must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or he consumes one of his wielder’s lowest-level spell slots. If Nightblood's wielder has no remaining spell slots, Nightblood instead consumes a single hit die of his wielder. Once his wielder has no hit dice and no spell slots at the end of their turn, Nightblood takes complete control of his wielder's body and goes on a rampage: he attempts to kill all creatures within 60 feet of him. When this happens, Nightblood has access to all the features that his wielder has access to, including his own magical nature. Once there are no other living creatures within 60 feet of Nightblood, he stabs his wielder through the chest, killing them instantly. Disarming Nightblood from his wielder stops this effect, and creatures not directly touching him (for example using a handkerchief between hand and handle) do not engage any part of this effect. If the wielder wishes to resheathe Nightblood from this state, they must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 13) as Nightblood attempts to will them to keep going. On a failure, they continue using the weapon for one more round. Once a creature has succeeded on this save 5 times, they no longer have to make this saving throw. #### Unsheathed When Nightblood is freed from his sheath, his true power is unleashed. Black liquid drips like blood from his blade, turning to smoke and dissipating before hitting the ground, and colors visibly deepen within 10 feet of him. His wielder has advantage on all attack rolls made with him, his wielder can make one additional attack when they take the Attack action on their turn (including any additional attacks they get from class features or spells), and he gains the finesse and light properties. Creatures hit by him must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw, taking an additional 4d12+4 necrotic damage to them on a failure, and half that on a success. All creatures reduced to 0 hit points by Nightblood in this form die instantly and cannot be resurrected. However, to fuel this immense power of destruction, Nightblood drains the magical essence of his wielder. At the beginning of each round that Nightblood is unsheathed, his wielder must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or he consumes one of his wielder’s lowest-level spell slots. If Nightblood's wielder has no remaining spell slots, Nightblood instead consumes one of his wielder’s hit dice. Once his wielder has no hit dice and no spell slots at the end of their turn, Nightblood takes complete control of his wielder's body and goes on a rampage: he attempts to kill all creatures within 60 feet of him. When this happens, Nightblood has access to all the features that his wielder has access to, including his own magical nature. Once there are no other living creatures within 60 feet of Nightblood, he stabs his wielder through the chest, killing them instantly. Disarming Nightblood from his wielder stops this effect, and creatures not directly touching him (for example using a handkerchief between hand and handle) do not engage any part of this effect. If the wielder wishes to resheathe Nightblood from this state, they must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 18) as Nightblood attempts to will them to keep going. Creatures that don’t have to make his “partially unsheathed” Wisdom saving throw make this save at advantage. On a failure, they continue using the weapon for another round. Once a creature has succeeded on this save 10 times, they no longer have to make this saving throw. <br> <br> > I apologize for the crappy art. I don't have the digital art skills to create my own, and couldn't really find a sword that fully exemplified the source material. Thus, you get this hodgepodge here that's made of two bits of Google-searched clipart, one of which is from Pinterest. <img src='https://i.pinimg.com/originals/57/11/4b/57114be5c4020b6e44a16f4f450ca37e.png' style='position:absolute;bottom:50px;right:30px;width:500px'> <img src='https://i.stack.imgur.com/fZ956.png' style='position:absolute;bottom:50px;right:30px;width:500px'> \pagebreakNum ## Destroying Nightblood ​ Nightblood is impervious to all physical damage. In order to destroy the sword he exists as, he must be first disenchanted. To do this, a special ritual is required beyond the power of even the wish spell or similar magic. <div class='descriptive'> ##### Necessary Components * The ageless creator of Nightblood * The last horn of a fully grown unicorn, procured within the last year * The hand of the last person Nightblood killed * A single diamond worth 50,000 gp (optional) </div> ### The Ritual Once all the components are gathered, the following must be completed, in the order listed: 1. The diamond (if present) must be enchanted to trap magical essence prior to the ritual, and kept within 5 feet of Nightblood for the duration. 2. The hand must be touching Nightblood’s pommel for the duration of the ritual. 3. Nightblood must be unsheathed and laid in the prepared ritual space, within 5 feet of all performing the ritual. 4. The horn must be sincerely apologized to and thanked for its sacrifice, explaining why it was needed and why the sword must be destroyed (Persuasion DC very hard, advantage given for well-spoken words). If successful, the horn will hover point-down 5 feet above the cross guard. 5. *Dispel magic* must be cast at 9th level by at least one creature in the circle, then a spellcasting ability check made by each creature casting it (base DC 35, reduced by 10 for each additional casting of *dispel magic*). All creatures must succeed in their ability check to succeed the ritual. 6. The ritual is completed with Nightblood’s creator speaking the words, “Your Breath to mine; your life become mine.” \columnbreak > ##### Consequences of the Ritual > >​Once the ritual is completed, the following occurs, beyond the disenchantment of the >sword: > >* The the last creature killed with Nightblood is targeted with the effects of true >resurrection, with the new body growing from the hand. >* If the diamond was not present, all souls consumed by Nightblood are released, allowing >for one of two options of the DM’s choice: either the souls are each resurrected as if with true resurrection in the place of their death, or they simply find rest where they were meant to if they had not been slain by Nightblood, and can now be resurrected as normal. >* If the diamond was present and properly prepared, the souls leave one container only to be trapped in another. The souls leave Nightblood and are captured in the diamond, far more accessible for magic than the blade. Inside the diamond, the souls appear as wisps of energy, tinted according to their alignment: > > <div class='descriptive'> > >* Good-aligned souls glow with an inner brightness >* Evil-aligned souls seem to suck the light from the surrounding area >* Souls neutral to the struggle between good and evil appear as swaths of paint, simply reflecting light rather than absorbing or emitting it >* The color of the soul appears more red if the creature was aligned towards chaos and more blue if they were aligned towards law, with purple in-between. > </div> > >* Nightblood’s creator takes back the part of his soul expended in the weapon’s creation, causing him to grow in power. Alternatively, the portion of his soul residing in Nightblood was what kept him ageless, and he immediately dies knowing his abomination was finally destroyed.