This is the season of not letting the Perfect be the enemy of the Good. Nearly two full years ago I wrote this variant on the Sword-Saint as a magic school, in the standard GLOG format. I never ended up posting it for reasons that I can't quite remember, but it was a perfectly serviceable piece of work, so here it is now.
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| Judith and Holofernes, Goya. |
Sword-Saint (Again)
Perk: By the sword alone may you be slain. Other forces can conspire to bring you to 1 HP, but only a sword can put you down for good.
Drawback: You cannot own anything but swords. Tools of peace fall from trembling, insensate fingers.
Cantrips:
Swallow a sword whole, to be regurgitated at will. You may carry any number of swords like this.
Cause a held sword to reflect sunlight as if you were standing in an open field. Produces lighting roughly equivalent to a candle.
Whistle a tone on the edge of human hearing. As long as you hold the note, unsheathed swords in earshot will resonate and produce a clearly audible hum. You can tell their size and shape by the tone and volume.
Spell List:
Smite
R: A sword's length, T: A Man, D: 0
Deal [Sum]+[Dice] damage to a single man—if she is holding a sword, she may Save to avoid damage. On a successful Save, your blades lock together with a bassy, stomach-churning thunderclap; earth splinters, grass flattens, horsemen are unseated, and peasants look on in awe.Rite of Contest
R: [Dice]x10', T: —, D: See description
Draw a ring of blood and corpses up to [Dice]x10' in diameter. Standing in one spot in a pitched melee and killing everyone around you for a while will probably do the trick. When a worthy foe enters the circle, you may invoke the Rite of Contest. Neither you nor she may leave the ring until one is dead or [Sum] blows have been exchanged. Nothing from outside may harm anyone in the ring while the Rite is ongoing. If you and your opponent both survive the Rite, take +1 on Reaction Rolls with each other.Kusanagi
R: Arm's reach, T: ∞, D: [Dice] combat rounds
For up to [Dice] combat rounds, you can strike anything and everything within arm's reach once every round with your sword. This includes people, arrows, insects, droplets of liquid, germs—so long as it's in the macroscopic regime, it's fair game.The Rule of Beasts
R: 0, T: Yourself, D: However long you can hold a cool stance
Allow up to [Dice] blows to strike you unopposed; if you still stand at the end, you will return them [Dice]fold. All will know the terrible bargain you offer.Sword Glare
R: 60', T: Up to [Dice] men standing within 10' of each other, D: [Sum] combat rounds
When standing within the light of a source at least as bright as the full moon, catch the light with the edge of your blade and cast it into your foes' eyes. They take 1d6+[Dice] damage and must Save or be blinded for [Sum] combat rounds.Absolute Territory
R: [Dice]x50', T: —, D: [Sum] days
Plant up to [Dice]+1 swords firmly into the earth, with no two blades separated by more than [Dice]x50'. Anyone passing between them who has reasont o fear the blade (e.g. peasants, archers, gods) must Save or be overcome with a crushing sense of foreboding that forestalls their passage. The swords cannot be removed without significant effort, and require a Save at -4 each to simply approach close enough to try.Flying Sword
R: 0, T: A trusted sword, D: [Dice] exploration turns
Imbue a sword with the ability to soar like a bird—standing on it permits rapid aerial transport. At 1D, it flies like a vulture; at 2D, like a falcon; at 3D, like a biplane; at 4D, like a supermaneuverable fighter jet. Save to keep your footing when pulling high-gee maneuvers.World Splitter
R: See description, T: Spacetime, D: See description
Cut the span between worlds. With a sharp blade, open a wound in the world that allows instantaneous transit between spatially separated locales. At 1D, the rent can link to a point up to [Sum]x100' away for [Sum] combat rounds; at 2D, a point up to [Sum] miles away for [Sum] exploration turns; at 3D, anywhere you're familiar with within the same world for [Sum] days; at 4D, at any point in any world, forever.
Each time you use this ability, add +[Dice] to a running sum, then roll 1d20. If you roll equal to or under that number, your transgressions against reality provoke some sort of hostile response—reduce the sum by an amount equal to the rolled value. The GM will afflict you with some sort of monster or calumny; the higher the roll, the more dangerous.Blade-Turning Mantle
R: 60', T: [Sum] HD of enemies, D: 0
Turn [Sum] HD of swords as an exorcist turns undead. Swords with [Dice] HD or fewer fly away as if struck, or turn heavy and leaden in their wielders' hands. If cast with 4 MD, this spell destroys swords of 1 HD—they rust, shatter, or dissolve into a sharp, fine dust. Mundane swords (can there truly be such a thing?) have the HD of their wielder. Ancestral or spell-worked swords have their own HD to be determined at the GM's discretion.Caladbolg
R: As far as the eye can see, T: —, D: 0
A stroke of your sword that can strike anything you can clearly see. Deals +[Sum] damage to inanimate objects, and splits them cleanly.Sovereignty
R: ∞, T: A sword, D: 0
Call a sword's name to summon it to your hand. At 1D, it flies with the speed of a swallow; at 2D, a galloping horse, and tears through fabric walls; at 3D, like an arrow, and bursts through wooden and thin stone walls; at 4D, like a bullet, and can crack and rend through the living earth itself.
If an enemy has a sword in hand, they can Save at a penalty of -[Dice] to keep a hold of it. If they do not know their sword's name, they automatically fail this save.
The most famous swords will have hidden true names.Kintsugi
R: 0, T: [Dice] broken swords, D: See description
Take the shards of [Dice]+1 sundered blades and marry them, restoring their majesty. The resultant sword has the combined size and properties of all the swords and shatters on a hit roll of [Dice] or less.
Alternatively, repair a single blade of up to +[Dice] quality.
