Aardvark Magnum Revolver

“Some sidearms settle arguments. This one excavates them from the wall afterward.”

Description

The Aardvark Magnum Revolver is a legendary heavy sidearm built for overwhelming force, brutal reliability, and the sort of targets that do not go down politely. Its frame is massive even by magnum standards, with a slab-sided upper assembly, vented muzzle housing, oversized cylinder, and mounted combat optic that give it the unmistakable silhouette of a weapon designed to punch far above the weight expected of a sidearm. Blue-lit chamber canisters glow behind reinforced cylinder windows, hinting at an arcane power source or advanced alchemical charge system rather than ordinary powder and brass alone. This is not a revolver for concealment, subtlety, or half-measures. It is a hand cannon for people who intend to end a problem decisively.

In the hand, the Aardvark feels dense, anchored, and unapologetically committed to recoil. Yet despite its size, the weapon is intelligently balanced. Much of its mass rides through the barrel shroud and cylinder housing, letting the revolver settle with surprising confidence once brought to bear. The grip is broad and aggressively contoured for retention under punishing discharge, while the trigger is bright and deliberate, tuned for shooters who know that one clean pull matters more than six hurried ones. The hammer, cylinder, and internal action cycle with a mechanical certainty that feels closer to industrial machinery than delicate gunsmithing.

As a Legendary weapon, the Aardvark is more than a heavy revolver with clever engineering. Its enchantments are built around impact supremacy, anti-armor lethality, and control under pressure. The magic worked into its frame reinforces the weapon against catastrophic force, smooths the follow-through after each shot, and makes its already savage impacts feel almost contemptuous of lesser defenses. Shooters who have survived prolonged use often describe the same sensation: that the revolver does not merely fire harder than expected, but insists the target accept the full weight of the hit.

Across Aetheris, a weapon like the Aardvark would be associated with elite monster hunters, siege-break specialists, artificer-marshals, bounty officers tasked with bringing down magical brutes, and heavy enforcers operating where armor, barriers, and sheer size make lesser sidearms irrelevant. Some claim examples trace back to advanced contract forges in Rhonadral or militarized artificer circles elsewhere. Others insist it belongs to a rarer lineage of hand cannons built only for exceptional operators, people expected to carry a secondary weapon capable of stopping things that should have required a long gun or a prayer.

Magical Properties and Features

1. Enchanted Magnum Ballistics

The Aardvark Magnum Revolver grants a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon.

Its legendary enchantment binds chamber pressure, recoil path, and impact force into one disciplined sequence, ensuring each shot lands with extraordinary authority.

1. Breach-Core Cylinder

The glowing chamber cells within the cylinder refine each round into a punishing strike designed to break more than flesh.

Once per turn, when you hit a creature with this weapon, the attack deals an additional 2d10 force damage. If the target is wearing heavy armor, is a construct, is behind magical protection, or is within 30 feet, the extra damage becomes 3d10 force damage instead.

1. Anti-Cover Verdict

The Aardvark was built for the ugly truth that dangerous targets hide behind things.

Attacks made with this weapon ignore half cover and three-quarters cover. In addition, the revolver deals double damage to objects, mundane barriers, locks, and constructs of Large size or smaller.

1. Heavy-Hand Dominion

This revolver does not surrender its authority when a fight gets close.

You do not suffer disadvantage on ranged attack rolls made with this weapon while a hostile creature is within 5 feet of you, provided that creature is no more than one size larger than you. In addition, when you hit a creature within 20 feet, you may force it to make a Strength saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier, your choice) or be pushed 10 feet or knocked prone.

1. Stabilized Follow-Through

The weapon’s immense recoil is tamed by runic compensators and internal force regulators.

If you hit with your first attack using this weapon on your turn, you gain a +2 bonus to the next attack roll you make with it before the end of that turn. If that second attack hits the same target, it deals an additional 1d8 force damage.

1. Siegebreacher’s Charge

As a bonus action, you may command the Aardvark’s chamber to enter an overpressured state for 1 minute. While active:

• The bonus damage from Breach-Core Cylinder increases by 1d10
• Your attacks with the weapon score a critical hit on a 19 or 20
• The first time each turn you hit a creature with this weapon, it cannot take reactions until the start of its next turn

Once this property is used, it cannot be used again until the next dawn.

Weapon Bonuses

Attribute Bonus: While wielding the Aardvark, you have advantage on ability checks and saving throws made to resist being disarmed, shoved, or knocked prone by creatures you are actively threatening with it.
Magic Bonus: +3 to attack rolls and damage rolls
Skill Bonus: Advantage on checks related to breaching, heavy firearm maintenance, identifying elite magnum revolvers, or appraising military-grade enchanted weapons
Proficiency Bonus: Requires proficiency with firearms

Drawbacks and Risks

1. Impossible to Conceal

The Aardvark is enormous for a sidearm.

Its silhouette, optic, glowing cylinder, and sheer mass make it instantly recognizable as a specialist weapon. Concealing it without magic is exceptionally difficult.

1. Loud as Judgment

Even among magnum revolvers, the Aardvark’s report is ferocious.

Its shots echo through ruins, tunnels, streets, and strongholds with concussive force, often revealing the wielder’s position long before smoke or panic clears.

1. Demands Strength or Discipline

This weapon rewards composure and punishes sloppiness.

An unprepared wielder may find it exhausting over prolonged use, and neglecting the chamber regulators or internal action may temporarily suppress one of its special properties until it is properly serviced and recalibrated.

Lore and History

The Aardvark Magnum Revolver is believed to have emerged from a line of specialist heavy sidearms built to solve a very specific and dangerous problem: how to put rifle-grade authority into one hand without sacrificing reliability in close quarters. Some artificers claim the design began as a breach-team backup weapon for operators expected to fight armored brutes, magical constructs, and fortification-bound threats in confined spaces. Others argue it was born from private military commissions for elite hunters and marshals who needed a sidearm capable of ending a monster charge, punching through cover, or shattering a mage’s shelter in one brutal answer. Over time, the Aardvark earned a reputation not as an elegant duelist’s piece, but as a legendary problem-solver, the revolver carried when lesser weapons had already been judged insufficient.

Additional Roleplay Features

1. Weapon of Escalation

The Aardvark changes the tone of a scene the instant it appears.

It signals that the wielder expects serious resistance and has come prepared to answer it without compromise.

1. Industrial Prestige

Its glowing cylinder, optic mount, and reinforced frame make it look like the product of advanced artificer doctrine rather than traditional gunsmithing.

This can attract fascination from armorers, fear from experienced fighters, and greed from anyone who recognizes the value of advanced weaponcraft.

1. The Last Sidearm on the Table

Because of its size and obvious lethality, setting the Aardvark down during a negotiation feels less like disarmament and more like a reminder.

In roleplay, it becomes a visual statement that peace is being offered, not guaranteed.

Weapon Information

Weapon Type: Magnum Revolver
Weight: 6 lb.
Market Value: 24,000 gp
Black Market Value: 37,000 gp
Attunement: Not required

Summary of Weapon

The Aardvark Magnum Revolver is a Legendary +3 heavy sidearm built for armor-breaking force, anti-cover dominance, and brutal close-range control. With devastating bonus force damage, barrier-shredding utility, forced movement, superior recoil recovery, and an overcharged siegebreaching mode, it stands among the most formidable magnum revolvers likely to be found in Aetheris. It is not a graceful weapon. It is a weapon for when grace has already failed and only overwhelming certainty remains.

“A fine revolver wins respect. A legendary one makes walls, armor, and courage all begin to negotiate.”

Chambered for large-caliber bullets, Magnum revolvers pack the most kick possible into a single shot.

Notes: Bonus: Magic, Damage: Force, Damage: Force, Damage, Buff, Combat, Ammunition, Heavy, Reload, Slow, Firearm, Recoil