From: Paul Caley <100555.345@compuserve.com>
Subject: Hymnsinger: a Lawful Runesword
System: Elric
Hymnsinger is a truly powerful weapon. It is used to rival Stormbringer, Mournblade or any
other Chaotic runeswords. In the example below the weapon was created when Mournblade was
used to kill Callundus, knight of Donblas, the runesword absorbing so much power that it
became what it destroyed. The sword could be created by any means or just be a gift from
the gods. Its high characteristics are reflective only of the power of Callundus. Feel
free to make this weapon fit into your games; it has endless possibilites and a thousand
stories that could accompany it.
HYMNSINGER
The Sword of Calandaur
"The blade was made from white silver, emitting a strange pale blue light. It had
intricate golden runes carved into it. It was pure perfection. To those not aligned with
Law this sentient weapon was painful to gaze at; for lawful followers, the sword was
beautiful and celestial, almost mesmerising.
"Rarhl now held the weapon. So great was his loss that he felt uncertainty in himself
and in his ability to continue. Chaos had taken everything from him and yet he now had
this sword. He knew it to be powerful; he had seen what it had done to Callundus. He had
also seen it change. It was as if Callundus had become part of it, for it seemed to
radiate pureness. He was unsure as he had reached for the sword whether it had come to his
hand or not; that of which he was clear of, was its beauty. He watched the pale blue light
flicker as it danced around the blade. A very faint and tranquil sound of music could be
heard coming from within. Rarhl spoke 'You shall serve me, for together we have purpose.
We shall protect one another from the darkness of Chaos and serve the good of humanity. I
have waited long for you to arrive. Now that you have, I shall wield you in the name of
Law, my Law. From this day on you shall be known as Hymnsinger and I shall be your only
master.' And then the sword replied, 'Yes.'"
Hymnsinger
Created from the death of Callundus, this runesword was once host to the demon Mournblade;
now it is host to the soul of Callundus, the lawful god. The blade is made from white
silver and it emits a strange pale blue light. It has intricate golden runes carved into
it that seem to be in constant motion. It is a picture of pure perfection. To those not
aligned with law, this sentient weapon is almost painful to gaze at. For lawful followers,
the sword is beautiful and celestial, almost mesmerising.
Chaos 0, Balance 0, Law 999
STR 180 CON 160 SIZ 3
INT 220 POW 2034
DEX 180 APP 190 HP 160
Damage Bonus: +10D6.
Skill: Great Sword 1000%, 10D8+1D8+DB
Abilities:
10D8+1D8+DB.
Lift = STRx2.
Communication.
Plane travel.
Allegiance.
Drain power, POW:POW roll.
Store soul.
Transfer strength.
Pureness.
DAMAGE: Hymnsinger can inflict any amount of damage that its wielder
wants, although this must be within its own damage limits. Thus it is
capable of doing from 1pt-148pts, not taking any armour values into
account. The sword can also heal/repair itself once a day.
MOBILITY: The sword is sentient and thus capable of its own actions,
with its own skill. It can, if need be, fight on its own, though it
much prefers to join with its wielder. When the sword and wielder join
together they effectively become one and are capable of unimaginable
feats, ie, parrying attacks that come from behind, etc.
COMMUNICATION: Hymnsinger can communicate with its wielder via a form
of sound. Although to the wielder, this can be understood like any
normal language, to others it sounds like a musical triangle or wind
chimes gently ringing. Hymnsinger is inquisitive by nature, and so
will often strike up a conversation. It also has an insurmountable
amount of knowledge that can be used and is constantly looking to
increase this.
PLANE TRAVEL: Hymnsinger has the ability to both open plane rifts and
travel the moonbeams, at will.
WARNINGS: In times of anticipation a warm, yet pale blue-white glow
can be seen dancing around the blade. This is a warning that something
is about to happen that may effect its wielder.
ALLEGIANCE: The wielder of the sword can gain 1d6 law points or lose
1d8 chaos points per week. This comes from the purification effect
that Hymnsinger has on its wielder's soul. What is more, the wielder
can, if he so chooses, grant these blessing to another, although they
must willingly accept it. Due to the perfection of the sword and the
fact that it is the prison of a lawful god, it cannot be used by any
mortal who is not a Lawful champion. Further more, the wielder of
Hymnsinger must have a skill level of at least 200% in the use of
greatswords, plus they must posess good Lawful intentions. Hymnsinger
is incredibly loyal. If stolen or even given away, the sword will
return to its owner as long as they are alive. It is the sword's
belief that it takes a life time to be wielded properly and the
perfection of the relationship between it and wielder must be
maintained.
PRESENCE: The sword's presence and perfection incites the wrath of
demons. It makes champions of chaos indignant and disquiets allies of
chaos. To all of these, the sword is painful to look at.
PURENESS: Hymnsinger is pure Law and thus can bring about order to
that which has none; this is the power to stabilise and normalise, ie,
to stabilise the chaos mass or elements that have been mutated from
the normal. This power can even go as far as to do extra damage
against elementals by disrupting or negating their form.
DRAIN POWER: The runesword sucks away D100 POW from a target each time
it takes one or more hit points from the target. If it does not
exhaust the target's POW, it can stay in the target until the next
DEX-rank it could strike, then drink again, until the unfortunate soul
has been drained dry. This is only automatic when fighting chaos.
STORE SOUL: Drained of all POW, each soul drained which is chaotic in
allegence is stored within Hymnsinger, there to commingle forever with
all the runesword's other victims. When a soul is thus absorbed,
Hymnsinger emits a bright flash, this can be seen easily across any
battle field and the effects of this can cause problems to an enemies'
moral.
TRANSFER STRENGTH: For each two points of POW the runesword drinks, it
can feed one point of STR or CON until one's limits have been reached.
When the owner is wounded in battle, first remove the extra hit points
so created. Being of Law, Hymnsinger dislikes this power and its use,
thus it will only use it when in a dire situation. For each point thus
transfered the wielder gains an equal amount of chaos points.
Thanks,
Paul.