Dungeons and Dragons, a return

[Rich Parsons]

The playtest material is online, but it will be published in book form when it is officially released.

Well of course not. Unless you're part of the playtesting, you wouldn't.

Online resources are wonderful.

Here's a link to a 6th level Circle of Dreams Druid I play.

D&D Beyond Character Sheet

The World's most intelligent Dungeons and Dragons Character Sheet.

ddb.ac

Want to check details on a spell? You can grab the PHB and flipping pages, only to find out that this spell is from one of the supplements, you can just click on the spell. Boom.

Character info? It's there, but you still change it yourself. The big difference is you won't wear out your Current HP by repeatedly erasing the field.

I prefer to roll my own dice. Because I just do. And so I generally do. But it's also nice to know that I could, if I wanted, join a game using nothing other than my iPhone.

And there's nothing better for beginners. Making a new character but some of the details are unfamiliar to you? No worries. The system will not allow you to break the rules.
[Edit to add]
The character I linked is a good example. Not sure how the Circle of Life healing bonus interacts with the Druids Goodberry spell? The system knows, and you will learn.

Don't have all the sourcebooks? Also no problem. D&DBeyond, at least, allows a player to share their online sourcebooks with everybody in their group. I have all the online resources (and most of them in paper as well). I created a campaign called "Marks Materials Management". I can send that link to people, they join, and they have access to all of those sourcebooks, same as if I handed them the book across the table.

Not to worry. The availability of online sources will not affect paper publishing.

I use the online and PDF versions far more than the paper, but there's nothing stopping you from using a pencil. Or a quill and ink bottle, if that's how you roll.

Good info, thanks. And yeah, there are so many supplements now, it seems you never have it all. I can see that as an issue.

I just like books. 😁

Before 5th was rolled out they play tested "Next" at Gen Con and Origins and other places.
It was also rolled out online for some basic information .

They have kept their online material for play testing - Unearthed Arcana - is the area they use for this material.

I would like to play, only Work and other games would not allow for the time. So please enjoy and keep us posted.

 

[MetalBoar]

Does anyone have experience with the Adventures in Middle-Earth RPG? It takes place during the 60-year time period after the Battle of Five Armies and before Bilbo’s eleventy-first birthday. Looks like it came out in 2016, they published two rule books and a dozen or so adventure books, each one taking place in a different region in ME. Then they stopped publishing over some licensing issues, sold it to a different company who is now publishing it as a new edition called One Ring or something.

Anyone know where this is headed? I have a few questions:

How different is the new edition from the original?
Are the old adventure books compatible with the new edition? They have become expensive.
Will the old adventure books be re-published for the new edition?
Are there plans for new adventures that weren’t part of the original?

Would love to get some info so I know where this is headed.

The original version was The One Ring (first edition), which has its own ruleset that is very different than D&D, then they published Adventures in Middle-Earth RPG based on WOTC's OGL d20 rules to appeal to the people who are already familiar with D&D. Then there were the licensing issues you spoke of and both died until Fria Ligan got the license to do a 2nd edition. I've played the 1st edition of The One Ring and think it is by far the best of the various Tolkien inspired RPG's that I've tried, though some parts of the rules needed a little refinement, which I hope has happened with 2nd edition.

I've ordered the 2nd edition of The One Ring but haven't seen it yet. I also haven't seen any version of Adventures in Middle-Earth. In general, from what I've read in the reviews, and based on my experience with The One Ring, and being aware of my ignorance of how they implemented the d20 system in Adventures in Middle-Earth, I suspect that the original version does a better job of recreating a Middle Earth flavor than the D&D port. I don't know what the 2nd edition of The One Ring is like at all, but I'm happy to let you know when I get it.

I've recently really gotten into Fria Ligan's 'Year Zero' game engine games (I've just started running a Forbidden Lands campaign), and I can say that the production value they put into the physical product is fantastic. Great binding, high quality paper stock, beautiful art, just really nice books. I expect that the same will be true for The One Ring. I've also been pretty impressed with their game design skills. I don't know how much they are just publishing someone else's work with The One Ring, and how much input they had on the changes for the new edition, but both their own games and the third party games they publish all seem to be pretty good.

Let me know if you've got any questions that I might be able to help with!

EDIT: I should also let you know that if you buy the physical books through Fria Ligan directly you get the PDF's included for free. I'm not sure that's true if you buy through Amazon or someone else. I will also say that they are a tiny company and can be a little flakey on fulfilling electronic orders like the free PDF's but they are very nice and if you contact them through their forums they'll make things right.

Their forums are also worth mentioning, because the community and the game designers themselves seem to be pretty active in answering questions and replying to the threads. You could probably get a lot of information about the game with just a post or two over there.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Does anyone have experience with the Adventures in Middle-Earth RPG? It takes place during the 60-year time period after the Battle of Five Armies and before Bilbo’s eleventy-first birthday. Looks like it came out in 2016, they published two rule books and a dozen or so adventure books, each one taking place in a different region in ME. Then they stopped publishing over some licensing issues, sold it to a different company who is now publishing it as a new edition called One Ring or something.

Anyone know where this is headed? I have a few questions:

How different is the new edition from the original?
Are the old adventure books compatible with the new edition? They have become expensive.
Will the old adventure books be re-published for the new edition?
Are there plans for new adventures that weren’t part of the original?

Would love to get some info so I know where this is headed.

Two of my trading brothers are very well acquainted. The saying is, “when the smoke clears, middle earth appears”.

 

[Flying Crane]

The original version was The One Ring (first edition), which has its own ruleset that is very different than D&D, then they published Adventures in Middle-Earth RPG based on WOTC's OGL d20 rules to appeal to the people who are already familiar with D&D. Then there were the licensing issues you spoke of and both died until Fria Ligan got the license to do a 2nd edition. I've played the 1st edition of The One Ring and think it is by far the best of the various Tolkien inspired RPG's that I've tried, though some parts of the rules needed a little refinement, which I hope has happened with 2nd edition.

I've ordered the 2nd edition of The One Ring but haven't seen it yet. I also haven't seen any version of Adventures in Middle-Earth. In general, from what I've read in the reviews, and based on my experience with The One Ring, and being aware of my ignorance of how they implemented the d20 system in Adventures in Middle-Earth, I suspect that the original version does a better job of recreating a Middle Earth flavor than the D&D port. I don't know what the 2nd edition of The One Ring is like at all, but I'm happy to let you know when I get it.

I've recently really gotten into Fria Ligan's 'Year Zero' game engine games (I've just started running a Forbidden Lands campaign), and I can say that the production value they put into the physical product is fantastic. Great binding, high quality paper stock, beautiful art, just really nice books. I expect that the same will be true for The One Ring. I've also been pretty impressed with their game design skills. I don't know how much they are just publishing someone else's work with The One Ring, and how much input they had on the changes for the new edition, but both their own games and the third party games they publish all seem to be pretty good.

Let me know if you've got any questions that I might be able to help with!

EDIT: I should also let you know that if you buy the physical books through Fria Ligan directly you get the PDF's included for free. I'm not sure that's true if you buy through Amazon or someone else. I will also say that they are a tiny company and can be a little flakey on fulfilling electronic orders like the free PDF's but they are very nice and if you contact them through their forums they'll make things right.

Their forums are also worth mentioning, because the community and the game designers themselves seem to be pretty active in answering questions and replying to the threads. You could probably get a lot of information about the game with just a post or two over there.

I guess my biggest question is, would it be worth it to snatch up the rules books and adventure books for the older version, or are they going to be included in the new version? Since the older version is no longer being published, the price is going up when you can find them. If they were worth playing, might be a good idea to grab them while they are still sort of affordable and before they become crazy expensive and simply are lost?

But if they will be translated and re-published essentially in-tact with the new version, then buying those would be more economical.

 

[MetalBoar]

I guess my biggest question is, would it be worth it to snatch up the rules books and adventure books for the older version, or are they going to be included in the new version? Since the older version is no longer being published, the price is going up when you can find them. If they were worth playing, might be a good idea to grab them while they are still sort of affordable and before they become crazy expensive and simply are lost?

But if they will be translated and re-published essentially in-tact with the new version, then buying those would be more economical.

That's a good question. From what I can tell on the Free League forums and looking at the upcoming product discussions, it sounds like they're mostly or entirely focused on producing new content. I'd guess that they won't be revisiting the old stuff, or if they do it will be fairly different. So, there's a 2nd edition of The One Ring and there's a 5e D&D variant (The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying 5E), but they don't seem likely to re-publish the original materials. If you can find the old settings guides and supplements, and want them, I'd buy now because they're probably not coming back around.

Again, I haven't seen the Adventures in Middle-Earth version of any of the supplements, but I've got more or less everything that was published for The One Ring and the material ranged from good to really good, maybe even really great. I feel pretty confident that they'll be publishing more good stuff for the new version, so you'll still likely be able to get some quality Middle Earth based materials, but they'll be different than what was put out before. Either way, you may want to get the core rule book (for whichever edition you choose) even if you intend to use the supplements with standard D&D because I believe that they really, intentionally, tuned things to be low magic and I expect it would be helpful to see what they did to make that function in a D&D framework.

If you can get a deal on The One Ring (either edition) version of the rules you might find them worth your while. It's a different take on how an RPG should work. With the first edition there are some parts I love, a few rough edges, and maybe a few things that I think are rough edges that would be great if I played it more and really figured them out. Regardless, I think playing with other systems can open your mind to new ways to think about playing RPG's even if you stick with D&D.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Related, but tangential topic:

I feel like D&D is sort of the McDonalds (in both a good sense and a bad sense) of RPG's. It's super popular, has a lot of players, you can buy the books anywhere, all the VTT's etc. support it, etc. You know what you're going to get and it's probably never going to go out of business (though an edition change might leave you unsatisfied). I currently own the 1st, 2nd, 3.5, and 5th edition of D&D and used to own the 3rd edition and the original Basic system too, so I'm not trying to drag it down. It's a solid game that let's you create a lot of different stories.

Its popularity also has a cost. That predictability limits what they can do with the game. You don't get the innovation that you do from smaller companies and you definitely don't get the same engagement with the community that you do from many of the indie developers. You get the D&D model of classes and levels, super powered spell casters and super heroic characters in general. If you want to GM a game where getting in fights has consequences and might get you killed for example, you can do that with D&D, but you're playing at cross purposes to the design and the system fights you. It's simply a poor tool for some genre's and flavors. It's great for what it does, but I only GM it when that's what I want to do.

 

[Flying Crane]

That's a good question. From what I can tell on the Free League forums and looking at the upcoming product discussions, it sounds like they're mostly or entirely focused on producing new content. I'd guess that they won't be revisiting the old stuff, or if they do it will be fairly different. So, there's a 2nd edition of The One Ring and there's a 5e D&D variant (The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying 5E), but they don't seem likely to re-publish the original materials. If you can find the old settings guides and supplements, and want them, I'd buy now because they're probably not coming back around.

Again, I haven't seen the Adventures in Middle-Earth version of any of the supplements, but I've got more or less everything that was published for The One Ring and the material ranged from good to really good, maybe even really great. I feel pretty confident that they'll be publishing more good stuff for the new version, so you'll still likely be able to get some quality Middle Earth based materials, but they'll be different than what was put out before. Either way, you may want to get the core rule book (for whichever edition you choose) even if you intend to use the supplements with standard D&D because I believe that they really, intentionally, tuned things to be low magic and I expect it would be helpful to see what they did to make that function in a D&D framework.

If you can get a deal on The One Ring (either edition) version of the rules you might find them worth your while. It's a different take on how an RPG should work. With the first edition there are some parts I love, a few rough edges, and maybe a few things that I think are rough edges that would be great if I played it more and really figured them out. Regardless, I think playing with other systems can open your mind to new ways to think about playing RPG's even if you stick with D&D.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Related, but tangential topic:

I feel like D&D is sort of the McDonalds (in both a good sense and a bad sense) of RPG's. It's super popular, has a lot of players, you can buy the books anywhere, all the VTT's etc. support it, etc. You know what you're going to get and it's probably never going to go out of business (though an edition change might leave you unsatisfied). I currently own the 1st, 2nd, 3.5, and 5th edition of D&D and used to own the 3rd edition and the original Basic system too, so I'm not trying to drag it down. It's a solid game that let's you create a lot of different stories.

Its popularity also has a cost. That predictability limits what they can do with the game. You don't get the innovation that you do from smaller companies and you definitely don't get the same engagement with the community that you do from many of the indie developers. You get the D&D model of classes and levels, super powered spell casters and super heroic characters in general. If you want to GM a game where getting in fights has consequences and might get you killed for example, you can do that with D&D, but you're playing at cross purposes to the design and the system fights you. It's simply a poor tool for some genre's and flavors. It's great for what it does, but I only GM it when that's what I want to do.

Great info and insights. Thank you.

 

[donald1]

Dnd looks so cool. I have a few books, but I never bother to read them. I don't know anyone that plays the game so knowing the dungeon master's guide and player's handbook don't have a lot of helpful information for me at the moment. Plus all the rules and stuff is extremely overwhelming to take in.

Why buy them if you don't use them?

I dunno... I like the artwork and I might read them one day. On the plus side, since I rarely open them, they're in really good condition.

I also own The wild beyond the witch light and the spell jammer books. The new races look really cool. I really like the baldurs gate references and the new slime race. I've never cared for elves much but the space elves look cool. My favorite race overall probably has to be the changelings. If I ever made a character I'd either go human or changeling.

 

[Flying Crane]

Dnd looks so cool. I have a few books, but I never bother to read them. I don't know anyone that plays the game so knowing the dungeon master's guide and player's handbook don't have a lot of helpful information for me at the moment. Plus all the rules and stuff is extremely overwhelming to take in.

Why buy them if you don't use them?

I dunno... I like the artwork and I might read them one day. On the plus side, since I rarely open them, they're in really good condition.

I also own The wild beyond the witch light and the spell jammer books. The new races look really cool. I really like the baldurs gate references and the new slime race. I've never cared for elves much but the space elves look cool. My favorite race overall probably has to be the changelings. If I ever made a character I'd either go human or changeling.

Well, if you aren’t actually playing, then I guess you are just collecting them.

You need people to play with. There may be local groups that you could get into and that would be a great way to start. Then you can jump in as a player and learn how the game is played and how the flow and creativity work within its parameters, without the extra work of being the Dungeonmaster.

If you have never played before and want to start your own group, I recommend you get the Starter Set. It has a very abridged set of rules that make it much much easier to get going with it. The truth is, the full rules are very complex and it can takes weeks to read through them, never mind actually getting comfortable with them. If you start with the Starter Set, you can become comfortable with how the game is played and then when you begin using the complete set (Dungeonmaster’s Guide, Player’s Handbook, and Monster Manual), it will be much easier to add in the expanded rules. The Starter Set comes with an adventure that you can play, and can get weeks or even months of play out of it, depending on how often you have sessions. After you finish with that, I recommend the Essentials Kit before you go to the complete rules. The Essentials has a bit more expansion in the rules than the Starter set but is still very abridged, and has another adventure that you could again play for months. I found that adventure to be not as well written as the one in the Starter Set, the challenges for the levels of play were rather weak. But the beauty of D&D is the flexibility, you can really do whatever you want with it once you understand how it works. I began writing all kinds of extra adventure and challenge into some of the segments of that story, to make it more interesting for my players.

Even if you have played before, but never played the role of Dungeonmaster, I recommend you go this route. The DM needs to have a stronger mastery of the rules than the players and needs to referee the game and acts as the primary storyteller. It is a much more involved role to play. So starting with the easier sets first is a good way to ease into it.

 

[Flying Crane]

How is this for a new magical weapon? I just came up with the idea. Details are not yet solidified, but the concepts are there.

I was calling it a “grudge blade” but it could actually be any weapon. It acts as a typical +1 magical weapon, until an enemy scores a successful attack against you and wounds you. Then it becomes +3 or 4 on the hit and damage dealt, and delivers some additional amount of damage, like maybe an extra 2 or 3 die 8 or 12 of necrotic damage, maybe something else that is mean as well, poison or something.

It is a weapon that requires attunement. But it is jealous and resentful, so you must give up any other magical items you have that also require attunement. It is the only one you can have.

You must be free of other magical items that require attunement for at least 2 or 3 days before it will attune to you. You must use it for some period of time (a couple days?) as a non-magical weapon before it will attune to you.

Then, you belong to it.

 

[Rich Parsons]

How is this for a new magical weapon? I just came up with the idea. Details are not yet solidified, but the concepts are there.

I was calling it a “grudge blade” but it could actually be any weapon. It acts as a typical +1 magical weapon, until an enemy scores a successful attack against you and wounds you. Then it becomes +3 or 4 on the hit and damage dealt, and delivers some additional amount of damage, like maybe an extra 2 or 3 die 8 or 12 of necrotic damage, maybe something else that is mean as well, poison or something.

It is a weapon that requires attunement. But it is jealous and resentful, so you must give up any other magical items you have that also require attunement. It is the only one you can have.

You must be free of other magical items that require attunement for at least 2 or 3 days before it will attune to you. You must use it for some period of time (a couple days?) as a non-magical weapon before it will attune to you.

Then, you belong to it.

Make it a reaction, and if they hit they return the damage.
Make it a minimum threshold to trigger such as 10 / 12/ 15 etc.
The Reaction is provided free even if the character does not have a reaction (used in 5th or not the correct class in 2nd Pathfinder)

 

[Flying Crane]

Make it a reaction, and if they hit they return the damage.
Make it a minimum threshold to trigger such as 10 / 12/ 15 etc.
The Reaction is provided free even if the character does not have a reaction (used in 5th or not the correct class in 2nd Pathfinder)

Interesting idea, and I was mulling something similar over in my head.

I’m also thinking that perhaps if you willingly discard the weapon, it puts a curse on you giving you some negative repercussions on your attack and damage rolls until you get cleaned with a remove curse spell. It is a jealous and resentful weapon, after all. But if you respect it, it will take care of you.

How about this for extra damage: if the extra damage roll that you deliver is above a certain amount, your enemy begins to strangle, and needs to do a save vs. strangulation to break out of that or suffer disadvantage on further attack and damage rolls in the combat, and can potentially die of suffocation.

These are just sort of loose ideas at the moment.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Interesting idea, and I was mulling something similar over in my head.

I’m also thinking that perhaps if you willingly discard the weapon, it puts a curse on you giving you some negative repercussions on your attack and damage rolls until you get cleaned with a remove curse spell. It is a jealous and resentful weapon, after all. But if you respect it, it will take care of you.

How about this for extra damage: if the extra damage roll that you deliver is above a certain amount, your enemy begins to strangle, and needs to do a save vs. strangulation to break out of that or suffer disadvantage on further attack and damage rolls in the combat, and can potentially die of suffocation.

These are just sort of loose ideas at the moment.

Maybe you need to feed it or it feeds on you? Maybe it has a preferred diet. Maybe if it delivers a killing stroke, that victim cannot be raised. Maybe if the wielder is slain while attuned to it, they cannot be raised. This sounds like a weapon with a less than stellar personality, ala Blackrazor.

 

[Flying Crane]

Maybe you need to feed it or it feeds on you? Maybe it has a preferred diet. Maybe if it delivers a killing stroke, that victim cannot be raised. Maybe if the wielder is slain while attuned to it, they cannot be raised. This sounds like a weapon with a less than stellar personality, ala Blackrazor.

I’m actually considering re-naming it The Vengeful Spouse. It would require attunement with the help of a cleric, and the sacrifice of a diamond set in a golden ring with a gp value of two month’s worth of your adventuring haul…

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

How is this for a new magical weapon? I just came up with the idea. Details are not yet solidified, but the concepts are there.

I was calling it a “grudge blade” but it could actually be any weapon. It acts as a typical +1 magical weapon, until an enemy scores a successful attack against you and wounds you. Then it becomes +3 or 4 on the hit and damage dealt, and delivers some additional amount of damage, like maybe an extra 2 or 3 die 8 or 12 of necrotic damage, maybe something else that is mean as well, poison or something.

It is a weapon that requires attunement. But it is jealous and resentful, so you must give up any other magical items you have that also require attunement. It is the only one you can have.

You must be free of other magical items that require attunement for at least 2 or 3 days before it will attune to you. You must use it for some period of time (a couple days?) as a non-magical weapon before it will attune to you.

Then, you belong to it.

I have a campaign where one of the worst villains is an intelligent red weapon named Blood Lotus. It can alter its appearance and weapon type to attune itself to a new owner. It slowly saps the constitution of the owner until they die, only to return as an undead type with half as many hit dice as the victim had levels. under control of the weapon. The weapon will constantly try to get into the hands of ever more powerful owners, using telepathy and charm abilities to manipulate. It took the players quite a long time to realize that they weren’t looking for a “ person” that was causing all the trouble.

 

[Flying Crane]

I have a campaign where one of the worst villains is an intelligent red weapon named Blood Lotus. It can alter its appearance and weapon type to attune itself to a new owner. It slowly saps the constitution of the owner until they die, only to return as an undead type with half as many hit dice as the victim had levels. under control of the weapon. The weapon will constantly try to get into the hands of ever more powerful owners, using telepathy and charm abilities to manipulate. It took the players quite a long time to realize that they weren’t looking for a “ person” that was causing all the trouble.

Is this a home brew you developed, or something published? I haven’t contemplated anything nearly as conceptually complex as an over-arching story line as that. Pretty sweet idea. This is what I love about D&D: it is wide open to do what you want, as your imagination dictates. Consistency in the rules is important for coherent game-play, but to a certain degree I look at certain rules as optional. I play it as I see fit.

My concept for this weapon isn’t so much to make it evil, as to make it powerful but possessive. It is jealous of other magical items and demands a certain level of commitment from its Character. As long as the character is loyal to it, it will take care of the character. But if the Character discards it or shows greater favor to other magical items, it will carry a grudge and there will be a price to be paid.

I’m also thinking this is not a weapon appropriate for a lower level player, because the adversaries they would face would be far outmatched by such a weapon. But a character of eighth or tenth level would be facing more powerful adversaries and having such a weapon could be justified. So I might insert it somewhere in a more advanced campaign.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Is this a home brew you developed, or something published? I haven’t contemplated anything nearly as conceptually complex as an over-arching story line as that. Pretty sweet idea. This is what I love about D&D: it is wide open to do what you want, as your imagination dictates. Consistency in the rules is important for coherent game-play, but to a certain degree I look at certain rules as optional. I play it as I see fit.

My concept for this weapon isn’t so much to make it evil, as to make it powerful but possessive. It is jealous of other magical items and demands a certain level of commitment from its Character. As long as the character is loyal to it, it will take care of the character. But if the Character discards it or shows greater favor to other magical items, it will carry a grudge and there will be a price to be paid.

I’m also thinking this is not a weapon appropriate for a lower level player, because the adversaries they would face would be far outmatched by such a weapon. But a character of eighth or tenth level would be facing more powerful adversaries and having such a weapon could be justified. So I might insert it somewhere in a more advanced campaign.

Blood lotus is my creation. I have had it show up in different campaigns. No one has ever successfully destroyed it, but at least twice it was imprisoned or hidden in far flung place where no one would find it for a time…

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Is this a home brew you developed, or something published? I haven’t contemplated anything nearly as conceptually complex as an over-arching story line as that. Pretty sweet idea. This is what I love about D&D: it is wide open to do what you want, as your imagination dictates. Consistency in the rules is important for coherent game-play, but to a certain degree I look at certain rules as optional. I play it as I see fit.

My concept for this weapon isn’t so much to make it evil, as to make it powerful but possessive. It is jealous of other magical items and demands a certain level of commitment from its Character. As long as the character is loyal to it, it will take care of the character. But if the Character discards it or shows greater favor to other magical items, it will carry a grudge and there will be a price to be paid.

I’m also thinking this is not a weapon appropriate for a lower level player, because the adversaries they would face would be far outmatched by such a weapon. But a character of eighth or tenth level would be facing more powerful adversaries and having such a weapon could be justified. So I might insert it somewhere in a more advanced campaign.

I like that it comes with some negative effects. It doesn’t need to be evil. In fact, I think it could be even more difficult to deal with if it was neutral.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Is this a home brew you developed, or something published? I haven’t contemplated anything nearly as conceptually complex as an over-arching story line as that. Pretty sweet idea. This is what I love about D&D: it is wide open to do what you want, as your imagination dictates. Consistency in the rules is important for coherent game-play, but to a certain degree I look at certain rules as optional. I play it as I see fit.

My concept for this weapon isn’t so much to make it evil, as to make it powerful but possessive. It is jealous of other magical items and demands a certain level of commitment from its Character. As long as the character is loyal to it, it will take care of the character. But if the Character discards it or shows greater favor to other magical items, it will carry a grudge and there will be a price to be paid.

I’m also thinking this is not a weapon appropriate for a lower level player, because the adversaries they would face would be far outmatched by such a weapon. But a character of eighth or tenth level would be facing more powerful adversaries and having such a weapon could be justified. So I might insert it somewhere in a more advanced campaign.

Does the weapon communicate? How? Empathy, telepathy, speech, vibrations? What is the range of communication? Is the weapon self determinate? Can it move itself around? How? “Dancing sword” teleportation? What is its motivation for doing whatever it does? In the case of Blood Lotus, it is actually a prison for a particularly awful entity”The Lord of Flayed Skins”. It seeks someone powerful enough to destroy the prison, in the mean time it feeds and grows. This is the real hook, either the wielder succumbs to the weapon, or it finds someone able to destroy the prison, which frees the entity on the prime material plane. Only a high priest or high ranking paladin can destroy it. They would then have set free a great evil, and require atonement from their god which would likely only be given after a successful quest to recapture or banish the entity from the prime. Feel free to use any part of this you like. Most often the Blood Lotus will appear to have the colors, symbols, or motifs of a good god or sect. If a priest wielding a mace finds it, it will appear to be a mace. In one case a Wizard found it, to him it appeared to be an ornate dagger with a reddish cast to the blade.

 

[Flying Crane]

Does the weapon communicate? How? Empathy, telepathy, speech, vibrations? What is the range of communication? Is the weapon self determinate? Can it move itself around? How? “Dancing sword” teleportation? What is its motivation for doing whatever it does? In the case of Blood Lotus, it is actually a prison for a particularly awful entity”The Lord of Flayed Skins”. It seeks someone powerful enough to destroy the prison, in the mean time it feeds and grows. This is the real hook, either the wielder succumbs to the weapon, or it finds someone able to destroy the prison, which frees the entity on the prime material plane. Only a high priest or high ranking paladin can destroy it. They would then have set free a great evil, and require atonement from their god which would likely only be given after a successful quest to recapture or banish the entity from the prime. Feel free to use any part of this you like. Most often the Blood Lotus will appear to have the colors, symbols, or motifs of a good god or sect. If a priest wielding a mace finds it, it will appear to be a mace. In one case a Wizard found it, to him it appeared to be an ornate dagger with a reddish cast to the blade.

I haven’t given it any of this kind of depth of thought. Looks like I need to. Initially I just thought it was kind of a funny concept: the Grudgeblade, with which you can lay waste to all who have wronged you, slights both real and perceived, large and small. I think it is growing beyond that.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

I haven’t given it any of this kind of depth of thought. Looks like I need to. Initially I just thought it was kind of a funny concept: the Grudgeblade, with which you can lay waste to all who have wronged you, slights both real and perceived, large and small. I think it is growing beyond that.

It’s a great idea. I’m just revealing myself for the nut I am. I have spent too much time working on this stuff. For me to DM, the story has to make sense. I typically go too far in fleshing out story lines that the players might not even discover.