Arduin: Ten Magik Weapons

This post is part of the RPG Blog Carnival: Wondrous Weapons and Damning Dweomers.

Arduin Grimoires by Dave Hargrave were notorious supplements for OD&D published in 1977 and onwards. They were filled with crazy tables that definitely were not everyones cup of tea.

But I certainly love some of them—like his Special Ability Charts that we used in our game for years—and even when I didn't use them, I certainly was inspired to make something of my own.

This week I decided to use the “Random Chance Chart For Magik Weapons” from The Arduin Grimoire Volume (scroll down for legend and explanation of the chart):

  1. Alrika's Cleaver: Battleaxe +1 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Lawful; INT 4; EGO 17; COM none; MOT renown; POW none. An elegant dwarven battleaxe made of finest dwarven steel. Forged for famed dwarven battle-priestess, Alrika Frigasniz. Although it lacks communicative abilities, it will become noticeably dull and darker if it isn't flattered and praised regularly. It will attempt to assert control over the owner whenever they take a swing against any dwarf.
  2. Blackblade: Hand and a Half Broadsword +5 to hit, +2 to damage; AL Neutral Good; INT 9; EGO 13; COM empathy; MOT renown; POW none. Wicked looking bastard sword made of blackened mithril. It has an obsession with sheaths made of exotic leather. It will demand at least dozen of sheaths to be taken on every adventure. It will be very unhappy unless it is told a gory bed time story every night.
  3. Deepthrust: Rapier +1 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Neutral Evil; INT 18; EGO 16; COM telepathy within 12”, speaks one language; MOT renown; POW Clairvoyance, Detect Life, Flight, Frost Giant Strength. Diamond studded thin blade with gilded guard and exquisite sheath (worth 4 000 gp). Deepthrust enjoys duels and will refuse its powers to anyone whom it deems cowardly or unfit in any way. It will always demand a full share of treasure, which is to be spent on sheaths, oils, and bards. It hates clumsiness and will refuse to serve any such person (with DEX less than 12)—in fact it will viciously mock them, hoping to incite a duel. Deepthrust is not stupid, so it will see through insincere flattery and react accordingly. Deepthrust allows the wielder to fight with strength of a Frost Giant, meaning it attacks as 10+1 HD monster and hits for 2d6+1 damage.
  4. Hellfire: Sling +2 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Chaotic Evil; INT 18; EGO 18; COM telepathy within 12”, speaks one language; MOT renown; POW +1 versus Undead, Paralysis, and Life Drain attacks, Detect Life, Haste, Fire Giant Strength, Treat all armor classes hit as AC 9. This hateful weapon has been forged in the very core of the planet by Ammonuz, a fire giant cleric, to wage ware on Overlanders. It is a simple Y-shaped sling, with body made of black rock. The sling itself is of unknown material. Hellfire cares for nothing but destruction, and will instantly attempt to dominate anyone who dares touch it. And destructive it is: not only does the wielder strike with power of a fire giant (as 11+3 HD monster for 2d6+2 damage), but any living target counts as if it had AC of 9. That means that they are automatically struck, unless they have means of reducing the attacker's attack probability. Hellfire might be sufficiently impressed by new “owner” if the latter destroys everything and everyone, including its allies, upon picking it up. But its appetite for destruction is endless, and no owner has survived it.
  5. Moonlight: Light Crossbow +1 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Lawful Evil; INT 9; EGO 17; COM empathy; MOT renown; POW none. Ultralight crossbow with mechanism that doesn't require any maintenance nor oiling. It is so perfect it can be fired and reloaded with a single hand. Used to be a favourite weapon of notorious assassin Mateis Fluoniope. Moonlight will refuse to shoot “shoddily” made quarrels, which it is very particular about (roll a d4, on 1 it refuses to shoot a bolt). It will happily spend hours inspecting bolts for use, and will occasionally demand special-made bolts.
  6. Nedbryn: Shortbow +2 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Lawful Evil; INT 20; EGO 1; COM telepathy within 12”, speaks four languages; MOT renown; POW Detect Alignment (like cleric spell Detect Evil but at double range and can detect any alignment), Flight, Haste (Cursed). Made from hangman tree hardened in blood of one hundred demi-humans. Bowstring is enchanted spidersilk. Nedbryn possesses alien-like intelligence, and revels in causing prolonged suffering. She will introduce herself to any adventurer within range and seek help, playing to their ego. Although she can impeccably detect alignment, she will hide her own. Only clerics of name level and higher can correctly detect her alignment—and only if they spend number of months equal to the difference between her intelligence and their wisdom. Nedbryn will adjust to her wielder. Her patience is endless. She can tolerate abuse. She will learn everything there is to learn about her owner. She will give out genuinely helpful advice, but always in the service of her agenda. There is nothing she enjoys more than building up an aspiring adventurer into respected ruler and then slowly ruining them. If she gets bored she will malfunction at the most inappropriate time, e.g. when flying over a precipice or running away from a horde of monsters.
  7. Princekiller: Lance +3 to hit, +2 to damage; AL Neutral; INT 8; EGO 16; COM empathy; MOT renown; POW none. By all account a mundane lance, indistinguishable from others. Forged by vengeful wizard Cullen Leeper whom was slighted by a local king. He planted the lance for tournament organised by the king, in which king's son was participating as well. Leeper ensured the lance ended in a dull man's hands, and son was “accidentally” killed. Princekiller has a sizeable ego, and will demand tournaments organised in its favour at least bimonthly. It will also demand the best of horses and the best of challengers.
  8. Red Sun: Two Handed Battleaxe +3 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Neutral Good; INT 5; EGO 16; COM none; MOT renown; POW none. Large two-handed double-bitted battleaxe with ironwood shaft and bright red blades. It hates prolonged exposure to darkness, and thoroughly enjoys sunbathing. When happy, the blades look as if sun rays are bouncing within them. When unhappy, the blades look like dimmed sun.
  9. Sarioin: Halberd +3 to hit, +1 to damage; AL Neutral; INT 10; EGO 16; COM speaks two languages; MOT renown; POW none. A halberd with iron shaft and tempered steel blade. Sarioin will introduce himself as “warrior's finest weapon, but strategist's true weapon!” It is quite spendthrifty, and will always look for reasons why something else should be bought too, e.g. “quality costs!”, “buy thrice, cry once!”, “are you sure we don't need another one?” Sarioin will not demand anything be spent on it, but will greatly appreciate that. What it will demand every single time is to be consulted on battle plans and course of action. It will speak out of order and let anyone know if it disagrees with the approach, plans, or ideas. Sarioin is the prototypical armchair general, and will always have something to say.
  10. Volmago the Vampire Vanquisher: Spear +4 to hit, +2 to damage; AL Neutral; INT 18; EGO 8; COM telepathy within 12”, speaks two languages; MOT renown; POW Detect Distance, Detect Undead, +2 versus Undead, Paralysis, and Life Drain attacks. A silver tipped spear with shaft of cold iron. Volmago is still grieving its former owner, great paladin Cladus Eacham, whom was betrayed by his party and slain by a mated pair of vampires. Volmago desires only to be left to grieve and will refuse cooperation. If the new to-be owner is able to get it to open up and avenge Cladus, then Volmago will serve that person with undying loyalty. Volmago knows a lot about undead and will share that information.

Legend: AL: alignment; INT: sword's intelligence; EGO: sword's ego; COM: sword's means of communication; POW sword's power(s).

As I wrote, for this article I decided to use the “Random Chance Chart For Magik Weapons” from The Arduin Grimoire Volume 1 (1977):

Even if you are familiar with OD&D some of the table entries might leave you a bit puzzled. There are no explanations or details beyond above table. Spell that don't appear in OD&D are also not detailed in the grimoires. For example Detect Alignment. I just assume it works the same as Detect Evil/Good in OD&D.

Weapon “character and alignment” is interesting as well. In the grimoires Dave explicated his views on alignment, which are kind of summarised in the following table:

Weapon intelligence and ego scores can be much higher than in OD&D, meaning much higher probability a player character might have really bad time. In fact, imagine rolling a chaotic evil weapon with high intelligence and ego. Yes, it might end up with many special powers, but since it would easily dominate even the strongest characters, it almost acts as a cursed weapon.

How many powers gets assigned is a bit ambiguous, especially regarding special powers. Number of “normal powers” depends on the weapon's intelligence:

INT Normal Powers
14–15 1
16–17 2
18–19 3
20–21 4
22 5

Number of “special attributes” depends on the weapon's intelligence and ego:

INT EGO Special Attributes
15–17 15–17 1
18–20 18–20 2
21–23 21–23 3
24 24 4

Finally, I interpret Dave's table as supplemental to procedures in the OD&D. I used those to determine weapon's purpose (1:10 for it to be special), communication abilities, and number of languages spoken. All three original Arduin Grimoires have been reprinted in the Arduin Trilogy.

#RPGBlogCarnival #Resource #Arduin #ODnD #SW #OSR

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