Ashenblade

Salister Kane keeps a vast collection of magical items which he provides to his associates. Some are wielded by his lieutenants, others he can provide to the players. Salister can make copies of any of these items—they aren’t unique—but he takes great pains to avoid advertising that, instead pretending that the items were recovered from ancient ruins. The specific item's flexible—you can change plate armor to studded leather or a crossbow into a greataxe. The important thing's to create items that excite your players. In addition to their listed properties, all of these items've the following additional traits:

• Cursed Attunement. Attuning to an item from Kane’s reliquary safely requires the blessing of Salister Kane. If a creature attunes to 1 of these items w/o that blessing, they're cursed. While cursed, the item can't be unattuned. Any special abilities of the item can't be used, any bonuses the item'd normally grant instead become penalties, & any resistances or immunities to damage granted instead cause the wearer to be vulnerable to those damage types. These vulnerabilities override any resistances or immunities the wearer already has. For example, the Blacksun Plate would inflict a -2 penalty to AC & make the wearer vulnerable to fire & cold damage. Removing the curse requires casting remove curse at 5 level or higher, which ends the attunement & allows the removal of the item.
• True Colors. Salister can revoke his blessing for an individual to attune to 1 of these items at any time, no action required. If he does so, the wearer of the item's immediately cursed, as detailed above.
• Scrying Conduit. Salister Kane can cast scrying as a 10-min ritual, but only targeting an item from his reliquary. The scrying sensor appears inside the item, allowing Salister to see everything around it. The sensor can’t be seen, even w/ truesight or see invisibility, but casting detect magic while scrying's active reveals the presence of divination magic in the item.

Salister eventually gains access to a more powerful set of magic items. These items aren't initially available for him to hand out—they're unlocked as he completes some of his schemes. Unlike the standard magic items, these're all unique & can't be copied. Salister'll only give them out if he believes the party can be of exceptional use. They'll also aid him in eventually taking them down. Unlike the standard magic items, no contract's necessary for the party to make use of these items. Attuning to 1's considered implicit agreement to the terms of use &, once attuned, the item can’t be dropped or given up unless remove curse's cast on the wielder.

Properties. Once attuned, the dagger vanishes from existence. As an action, you can call the dagger into being & make an attack on a surprised creature. If the attack hits, the target suffers necrotic damage = to its max hp. If this attack reduces a creature to 0 hp, it's slain instantly & its body crumbles to ash. The dagger gains a small notch on its hilt for each creature killed in this way. After the attack, the dagger vanishes again & this ability can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Benefit to Salister Kane. Once 7 creatures've been reduced to ash by this dagger, the wielder’s soul's trapped in the dagger & the wielder must obey every command given by Salister Kane. This change can only be detected w/ a successful DC 29 Insight check.

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

Notes: Replace Damage Type: Necrotic, Finesse, Light, Thrown, Nick