Tuesday Magic Item – Bellicose Gladius

Centurion Victoria Julian surveyed the situation, the barbarian hordes were pressing in all along the front and left flanks.  Missile fire and ditches has slowed them down, but still they came, they had bravery if not discipline.  The right could hold its own for the moment.

She drew her gladius, it had been her mother’s before her’s and her grandmother’s before that, always serving in defense of the Republic. “If you ladies are done with your hair,” she shouted, “we have some barbarian children who need to be taught why you fear Legion XVII, the Furies!  Fast march forward!”

As one, the legionaries moved to battle, ever confident in their centurion.

Bellicose Gladius

These soldiers’ swords are always well-used but also well cared for, the metal well oiled and the grips worn but well maintained.  They are hard wearing, functional weapons that have seen both victory and defeat in battle.

The Bellicose Gladius is a +2 short sword and only that, until the wielder leads soldiers into battle, then it gains the following abilities:

• All allies within 30′ gain a +1 morale bonus to Attack and Will saves, this bonus is also added to damage in the round after the Gladius’ wielder puts down an enemy or is wounded.
• When leading a charge, the Gladius’ wielder and all allies within 60′ gain a 5′ bonus to their ground speed if they are participating in the charge.
• Once per day, as an immediate action, when dropped below half hit points the wielder can gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the number of allies within 60′.  These temporary hit points last until the end of the engagement.

The Bellicose Gladius has a hardness of 15, 30 hit points and the wielder gains +2 to CMD to resist disarm attacks.

Aura strong transmutation; CL 11th
Slot none; Price 20,310; Weight 2 lbs
Construction Requirements
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, false life, haste, heroism, mending, creator must have served in the military for at least a year; Cost 10,000 + 310 for the gladius

Notes: The sort of magic weapon I can see being spontaneously generated from hard service.  The legions fought hard and even harder under veteran leaders.

Photo by MatthiasKabel from Wikimedia commons and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.