“It hums when the stars are wrong.”

Description

The Abyssal Canticle is a longsword forged as though the void itself was taught to hold an edge. Its blade is long, dark, and faintly reflective, with hairline veins of violet radiance running through the steel like contained lightning. Those veins shift when viewed from different angles, forming fleeting, almost-organic patterns that never repeat twice, as if the sword is constantly rewriting the shape of its own hunger.

The crossguard is minimal and predatory: a compact collar of layered dark metal that looks grown rather than crafted, with small prongs and ridges meant to catch and break an opponent’s rhythm. The grip is wrapped in black cord and stitched leather, tight as a binding oath. Near the guard, a small ring of void-sourced crystal sits half-buried in the metal, pulsing softly like a second heartbeat whenever aberrant presence draws near.

When drawn, the sword does not shine. It drinks light, leaving a thin afterimage in the air where it moved. In silence, it emits a faint harmonic that prickles behind the teeth, a tone that becomes sharper near planar rifts, warped minds, and things that should not have learned how to speak.

Materials and Make

Void-Sourced Construction. The Abyssal Canticle is forged from a triad of rare substances harvested from the edges of unreality:

• Nullsteel Alloy: A star-dark metal quenched in planar absence. It holds enchantment like a seal holds wax, and it resists reality-warping effects.
• Astral Glass Filament: Threadlike inclusions that carry the violet “veins” along the blade, acting as conduits for anti-aberrant resonance.
• Nightfall Crystal Ring: A dense shard from a dead-pocket of the cosmos, set near the guard to “listen” for aberrant patterns and translate them into vibration and force.

Magical Properties and Features

1) Legendary Enchantment

You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon.

2) Voidbound Strength

While attuned to the Abyssal Canticle, you gain the following benefits:

• Your Strength score increases by 2, to a maximum of 22.
• You gain a +2 bonus to Constitution saving throws.
• You gain resistance to psychic damage.

3) Star-Sure Senses

The sword corrects your instincts when reality tries to lie.

• You gain advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks and Intelligence (Investigation) checks made to detect illusions, disguises, shapeshifting, or altered memories (DM adjudication).
• You also gain advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened by aberrations.

4) Aberrant Bane

The Canticle is a weapon of refusal.

• When you hit an aberration, the target takes an extra 2d6 force damage.
• In addition, aberrations hit by this weapon can’t benefit from teleportation until the start of your next turn (if the creature attempts to teleport, the effect fails and the spell or ability is wasted; no action required).
• If the aberration is concentrating on a spell or effect, it has disadvantage on the next Constitution saving throw it makes to maintain Concentration before the end of your next turn.

5) Void-Shear (1/Turn)

Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with this weapon, you can “shear” a sliver of reality from the strike. The attack deals an extra 1d8 force damage.

If the target is an aberration, the extra damage becomes 1d12 instead.

6) Sever the Unnameable (Critical Feature)

When you score a critical hit with the Abyssal Canticle, you can force the target to attempt a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier).

On a failure, choose one effect:

• Mind-Quiet: The target is stunned until the end of your next turn. (Aberrations have disadvantage on this save.)
• Anchor: The target’s speed becomes 0, and it can’t be moved or teleported until the end of your next turn (it is “pinned” to its current point in space).

Once you use this critical feature, you can’t use it again until the start of your next turn.

7) Nullward Parry (Reaction, PB/Day)

When a creature you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage by 2d8 + your Constitution modifier (minimum reduction of 1), as the blade “thickens” the air between you and harm.

If the attacker is an aberration, you also gain advantage on your next attack roll against it before the end of your next turn.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all uses at dawn.

Drawbacks and Risks

Void Resonance. The Abyssal Canticle is intolerant of uncontrolled planar exposure. If you finish a long rest within 1 mile of an active planar breach or significant aberrant lair (DM’s discretion), the sword’s hum grows louder for the next day. While it is louder, you suffer a -2 penalty to Dexterity (Stealth) checks, as the weapon’s resonance subtly “announces” you to sensitive creatures.

Lore and History

Legends claim the Abyssal Canticle was forged after an incursion where the world’s laws buckled and something with too many eyes tried to teach mortals new names for fear. The smith who made it didn’t attempt to match that horror with greater horror, but with negation: a blade designed to make aberrations feel what mortals feel when confronted with the unknown.

Some voidwalkers insist the sword is not “anti-aberrant” by nature. It simply carries a perfect, uncompromising definition of what reality is allowed to be, and aberrations… do not meet the requirements.

Additional Roleplay Features

1. The Teeth-Prickle Warning
   When an aberration is within 300 feet, the blade’s violet veins brighten and your teeth prickle faintly. You don’t learn the creature’s location, only that something “wrong-shaped” is nearby.
2. Starless Reflection
   The blade never reflects a true sky. If held beneath open air, its surface shows a dim, starless expanse, as though it remembers a night the cosmos refused to light.
3. Quiet the Noise
   If you spend 1 minute holding the sword point-down against stone and focusing on your breathing, you can steady your mind. You gain advantage on your next Intelligence saving throw made within the next hour (once per long rest).

Weapon Information

• Weapon Type: Longsword (Martial Melee Weapon)
• Damage: 1d8 slashing (versatile 1d10)
• Properties: Versatile
• Weight: 3 lb.
• Rarity: Legendary
• Attunement: Required
• Estimated Value: 60,000 gp+ (rarely sold; often claimed)

Summary of Weapon

The Abyssal Canticle is a Legendary +3 longsword forged from void-sourced Nullsteel, threaded with Astral Glass, and keyed with a Nightfall Crystal. It grants major boosts to Strength, Constitution saves, and psychic resistance, sharpens perception against deception, and specializes in destroying aberrations through bonus force damage, teleport denial, and concentration disruption. Its critical effects can stun or anchor foes, and it provides a powerful defensive parry that especially punishes aberrant attackers.

Proficiency with a Longsword allows you to add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll for any attack you make with it.

Notes: Bonus: Magic, Bonus: Strength Score, Bonus: Constitution Saving Throws, Resistance: Psychic, Advantage: Perception, Advantage: Investigation, Damage: Force, Damage: Force, Weapon Property: Versatile, Weapon Mastery: Sap (Longsword), Damage, Buff, Combat, Versatile, Sap