Tuesday Magic Item – Soulshard weapons

As All Hallows Eve is right around the corner (so to speak), today’s magic item is something terrible and frightening.  A weapon forged in pain and despair:

Soulshard Weapon

These, often crudely made, weapons are set with a gem that almost seems to pulse. The gemstone is ever in flux, it pattern changing from moment to moment, for it contains a tortured soul and it is the torment of the soul that powers the weapons.

A Soulshard weapon is a +1 vicious weapon, it also has the bane quality for the race that the soul used to create it came from.

However, these weapons are flawed and dangerous, as the trapped soul only seeks escape. Whenever the wielder rolls a critical threat or a natural “1”, they must make a Will save (DC 18) or the weapon explodes as the soul wretches itself free. The exploding weapon causes 2d6 damage to the wielder with no save and 1d6 to everyone within 5′ of them, Reflex save (DC 15) for half.

Creating a Soulshard weapon requires a dark ritual where the person who is going to be tied to the weapon is forced to make the weapon that they will be bound into. It is an exercise in cruelty and despair concluding with the victim being slain by the weapon and their heart’s blood crystalizing into the gem that decorates the weapon.

Moderate necrourgy [evil]; Caster Level: 9th; Prerequisites: Enchant Arms and Armor, animate dead, bestow curse; Market Price: 9000 + weapon value (4,500 + 360 xp); Weight: by weapon.

Notes: There are a group of demon smiths who can make these weapons, or teach others how to make them, who are happy to sell their service to any who wish to pay.