In my ambitious attempts to construct a first D&D campaign, I was inspired by "Critical Role" to introduce a subplot regarding sentient weapons.
For those in the know, "Critical Role" had a certain weapon (which we will refer affectionately to as Bacon), which caused a bit of concern for several characters. It was a weapon with a mind of its own, obsessed with consuming blood.
It wasn't the first instance of the whole "sentient" or "living" weapon...Stormbringer comes to mind from novels..."Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire" had Mogwyr...even "Soul Eater" explores the concept from an anime perspective.
My interest is in the origins of such weapons...where does their sentience come from? Did some part of a once living person become infused into the weapon? Or was the weapon given a personality when it was created...?
My concept is this: Perhaps the player characters hear tales about a legendary group of adventurers, who after venturing out into the wilderness, were never heard from again.
Throughout the campaign, my plan is for the party to uncover little bits about these "legendary heroes"...their names, accomplishments...and have them loosely based on the player characters.
Then, through engaging with the main conflict, they uncover weapons belonging to the heroes themselves...and each weapon contains a fragment of the hero's personality. These sentient weapons vary wildly...the lost shield of Aldred the Devoted, fabled paladin,for example, has been nearly cleaved in half, and rusted...the shield is confused, scared, and traumatized...it does not know why it is broken, or why it no longer has a warrior to hold it.
And then the dagger of Lorenzo the Erudite, famed rogue, is stained with blood, and seems to have tremendous guilt over some killing it cannot remember...but it was found next to the skeletal body of a cleric, holding a mace filled with zealous anger, and seems to thirst for revenge. Or a massive battleaxe belonging to Orvek the Implacable...which strangely seems to be filled with depression and sadness, and is incredibly heavy to wield, as though weighed down by it.
The idea is...something happened to this legendary group of adventurers, and through the shattered personalities of these sentient weapons, the player characters can get a sense of what happened to those fallen warriors...as though these weapons are haunted by their spirits.
Depending on the players who wield these sentient weapons, they can form a bond with the chosen weapon, and choose how to develop the relationship...perhaps the player will try and help the traumatized shield regain some measure of their courage...and slowly, through defending their allies, the shield will rebuild itself, and shake off its rust, and become strong again...or maybe the player will be selfish, and the shield will continue to degrade until it permanently shatters.
Or maybe the cleric holding the mace becomes consumed with rage...but if they resist the urge, and choose to heal instead if hurt, they will calm the voice inside the mace. Or if the barbarian overcomes the melancholy of the battleaxe, through Rage, they will overcome the sadness that consumes it.
The reward for developing these weapons (be it good, neutral, or evil), is giving them plus 1-3 on attack and defense ratings, along with special powers unique to their class.
In addition, they will be given glimpses of the ultimate fate of the former heroes who wielded the weapons...and a big reveal as to who it was that led the heroes to their demise.
What do you all think? Does that idea hold promise?
What are some of your encounters with sentient weapons that have been memorable?
I'm not going to lie, but I did skim a lot of this. But to answer your question about how sentient weapons are made, they originally came from the Raven Queen. She has her own warlock subclass, though i think it may be unearthed arcana at the moment, and the hexblade patron also mentions her. While I haven't looked that deep into a sentient weapon's creation, looking up the Raven Queen will probably give some insight.
I don't think *all* sentient weapons come from The Raven Queen. They're mostly just highly magical weapons who, through sheer magic potency, developed consciousness and personalities of their own.
Weapons like Blackrazor, Wave, and Whealm from White Plume Mountain all have different backstories depending on the culture they originated from.
I'm not going to lie, but I did skim a lot of this. But to answer your question about how sentient weapons are made, they originally came from the Raven Queen. She has her own warlock subclass, though i think it may be unearthed arcana at the moment, and the hexblade patron also mentions her. While I haven't looked that deep into a sentient weapon's creation, looking up the Raven Queen will probably give some insight.
For this particular setting, the sentient weapons are more a result of the conditions surrounding the deaths of the heroes that held them.
However, should one of the players choose a Hexblade, they will have advantage on identifying their quirks, due to their affiliation with their patron.
Any sentient weapon can be any personality for any reason. For funsies (if it were me and it's not), I'd go the cursed route to get players stuck with weapons that clash with them. I'm a mean person, though.
Reminds me of a talking, self-actualizing, autonomous, obnoxious blade that the wielder (a weak, low-level wizard) kept trying to throw away ("Wheeee!") and would reappear in his hand. ("I'M YOUR EVERYWHERE!!")
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Any sentient weapon can be any personality for any reason. For funsies (if it were me and it's not), I'd go the cursed route to get players stuck with weapons that clash with them. I'm a mean person, though.
Reminds me of a talking, self-actualizing, autonomous, obnoxious blade that the wielder (a weak, low-level wizard) kept trying to throw away ("Wheeee!") and would reappear in his hand. ("I'M YOUR EVERYWHERE!!")
Ha ha ha...that's pretty good, actually...a clingy weapon. Maybe I could spin that as a hand axe with abandonment issues.
Perhaps a quarterstaff with a swearing problem, as well...have to make sure the table is fine with profanities, though.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Greetings all!
In my ambitious attempts to construct a first D&D campaign, I was inspired by "Critical Role" to introduce a subplot regarding sentient weapons.
For those in the know, "Critical Role" had a certain weapon (which we will refer affectionately to as Bacon), which caused a bit of concern for several characters. It was a weapon with a mind of its own, obsessed with consuming blood.
It wasn't the first instance of the whole "sentient" or "living" weapon...Stormbringer comes to mind from novels..."Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire" had Mogwyr...even "Soul Eater" explores the concept from an anime perspective.
My interest is in the origins of such weapons...where does their sentience come from? Did some part of a once living person become infused into the weapon? Or was the weapon given a personality when it was created...?
My concept is this: Perhaps the player characters hear tales about a legendary group of adventurers, who after venturing out into the wilderness, were never heard from again.
Throughout the campaign, my plan is for the party to uncover little bits about these "legendary heroes"...their names, accomplishments...and have them loosely based on the player characters.
Then, through engaging with the main conflict, they uncover weapons belonging to the heroes themselves...and each weapon contains a fragment of the hero's personality. These sentient weapons vary wildly...the lost shield of Aldred the Devoted, fabled paladin,for example, has been nearly cleaved in half, and rusted...the shield is confused, scared, and traumatized...it does not know why it is broken, or why it no longer has a warrior to hold it.
And then the dagger of Lorenzo the Erudite, famed rogue, is stained with blood, and seems to have tremendous guilt over some killing it cannot remember...but it was found next to the skeletal body of a cleric, holding a mace filled with zealous anger, and seems to thirst for revenge. Or a massive battleaxe belonging to Orvek the Implacable...which strangely seems to be filled with depression and sadness, and is incredibly heavy to wield, as though weighed down by it.
The idea is...something happened to this legendary group of adventurers, and through the shattered personalities of these sentient weapons, the player characters can get a sense of what happened to those fallen warriors...as though these weapons are haunted by their spirits.
Depending on the players who wield these sentient weapons, they can form a bond with the chosen weapon, and choose how to develop the relationship...perhaps the player will try and help the traumatized shield regain some measure of their courage...and slowly, through defending their allies, the shield will rebuild itself, and shake off its rust, and become strong again...or maybe the player will be selfish, and the shield will continue to degrade until it permanently shatters.
Or maybe the cleric holding the mace becomes consumed with rage...but if they resist the urge, and choose to heal instead if hurt, they will calm the voice inside the mace. Or if the barbarian overcomes the melancholy of the battleaxe, through Rage, they will overcome the sadness that consumes it.
The reward for developing these weapons (be it good, neutral, or evil), is giving them plus 1-3 on attack and defense ratings, along with special powers unique to their class.
In addition, they will be given glimpses of the ultimate fate of the former heroes who wielded the weapons...and a big reveal as to who it was that led the heroes to their demise.
What do you all think? Does that idea hold promise?
What are some of your encounters with sentient weapons that have been memorable?
I'm not going to lie, but I did skim a lot of this. But to answer your question about how sentient weapons are made, they originally came from the Raven Queen. She has her own warlock subclass, though i think it may be unearthed arcana at the moment, and the hexblade patron also mentions her. While I haven't looked that deep into a sentient weapon's creation, looking up the Raven Queen will probably give some insight.
Also known as CrafterB and DankMemer.
Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.
I don't think *all* sentient weapons come from The Raven Queen. They're mostly just highly magical weapons who, through sheer magic potency, developed consciousness and personalities of their own.
Weapons like Blackrazor, Wave, and Whealm from White Plume Mountain all have different backstories depending on the culture they originated from.
For this particular setting, the sentient weapons are more a result of the conditions surrounding the deaths of the heroes that held them.
However, should one of the players choose a Hexblade, they will have advantage on identifying their quirks, due to their affiliation with their patron.
Any sentient weapon can be any personality for any reason. For funsies (if it were me and it's not), I'd go the cursed route to get players stuck with weapons that clash with them. I'm a mean person, though.
Reminds me of a talking, self-actualizing, autonomous, obnoxious blade that the wielder (a weak, low-level wizard) kept trying to throw away ("Wheeee!") and would reappear in his hand. ("I'M YOUR EVERYWHERE!!")
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Ha ha ha...that's pretty good, actually...a clingy weapon. Maybe I could spin that as a hand axe with abandonment issues.
Perhaps a quarterstaff with a swearing problem, as well...have to make sure the table is fine with profanities, though.