You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. In addition, while you are attuned to this weapon, your Hit Point maximum increases by 1 for each level you have attained.
Curse. This weapon is cursed, and becoming attuned to it extends the curse to you. As long as you remain cursed, you are unwilling to part with the weapon, keeping it within reach at all times. You also have Disadvantage on attack rolls with weapons other than this one.
Whenever another creature damages you while the weapon is in your possession, you must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or go berserk. This berserk state ends when you start your turn and there are no creatures within 60 feet of you that you can see or hear.
While berserk, you regard the creature nearest to you that you can see or hear as your enemy. If there are multiple possible creatures, choose one at random. On each of your turns, you must move as close to the creature as possible and take the Attack action, targeting the creature. If you’re unable to get close enough to the creature to attack it with the weapon, your turn ends after you’ve used up all your available movement. If the creature dies or can no longer be seen or heard by you, the next nearest creature that you can see or hear becomes your new target.
Applicable Weapons:
Name | Type | Damage | Properties |
---|---|---|---|
Handaxe | Simple Melee | 1d6 Slashing | Light, thrown (20/60) |
Battleaxe | Martial Melee | 1d8 Slashing | Versatile (1d10) |
Greataxe | Martial Melee | 1d12 Slashing | Heavy, two-handed |
Halberd | Martial Melee | 1d10 Slashing | Heavy, Reach, Two-Handed |
Notes: Bonus: Magic, Bonus: Hit Points per Level, Combat, Cursed, Versatile, Topple
curses are not charms
A good Item for a barbarian encounter with level 13 or higher players.
So if a player has this, and begins to attack a friendly as they are the closest creature, do they have to attack after that friendly creature (read other player) hits zero, thus causing losses of death saving throws, or can they move on at that point to the next closest creature, and leave them at 0 making the throws?
I have a Chaotic Evil Zealot Barbarian who uses this (or rather, is going to use this as I have not actually played her yet) as her main weapon. She is a champion of the God Mogis from MOoT, so she views the curse as a blessing, given that Mogis is the God of Slaughter.
If you are a party member and also the one closest to her when the curse takes hold, RUN.
Oh yes, a cursed weapon that makes you murder the rest of the party.
what a fun, useful and totally worth it addition.
sure, it keys off a save you’re likely going to suck at, will be triggered repeatedly in a single round, makes you a danger to everyone around you and makes any ranged optionals horrifically sucky, but you get, like, 10% more hit points and a bit more damage.
100% worth it, would use again.
sarcastically, Sir harnonegon, Knight of the crown.
PS: sorry it took so long, I’m currently hiding in a ditch after the violent murder of an entire innocent family and my party, which caused a mob to storm the castle of poor Sir Brightblade in retaliation.
PPS: heading to the towers of high sorcery, i wouldn’t do it but desperate times call for desperate measures, and I must destroy this axe, if only to keep others from my fate, maybe then I can find redemption before death.
"or can they move on at that point to the next closest creature, and leave them at 0 making the throws"
My interpretation of the part that reads "moving to attack the next nearest creature after you fell your current target" is that as soon as the target drops to the floor, you move on. This is because of my subjective interpretation of the word "fell" in this context, but also because the description does not explicitly say "kill".
This leaves a couple of open questions now I think about it. If the target casts something like feign death, or by some other means is rendered unconscious (like a sleep spell from an ally), does that meet the conditions and the cursed attacker moves on because the target has been "felled"?
Thinking on it even more, the description says who the cursed attacker will attack, but it doesn't specify their intent to kill. So RAW the cursed attacker could indeed attack their allies, but state that they want to knock them out. SRD says "When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, the attacker can knock the creature out. The attacker can make this choice the instant the damage is dealt. The creature falls unconscious and is stable."
The description of the magic item does not state this is prevented, and again if being unconscious meets the required for being "felled" this would mean the attacker could move on to another target. Now I don't for a moment think this is what was intended, but RAW that is kind of what it says.
And whilst I'm being that guy, the final sentence is also unclear - "You are berserk until you start your turn with no creatures within 60 feet of you that you can see or hear." Now a room full of felled opponents is still a room full of creatures you can see (if not hear), which RAW implies that you stay berserked when surrounded by a load of dead or unconscious creatures (unless there is some 5e specific rule I've missed somewhere that explicitly states that dead things are not considered "creatures" anymore for the purpose of most other targeting rules).
So….my Reaper wizard/cleric was sorta the first person to pick up this axe in my party….things are gonna get interesting. My DM said made it auto attune to me the second I picked it up….oops…..
I feel like if someone is afflicted by this curse, it would require two remove curses to clear the effect. One for the item, and one for the user. And to my mind, you would HAVE to remove the curse from the item first.
Could I enchant this axe with flame?
Can you stack the hp effect when you have two berserker axes?
This item is awful
I'm considering adding this to my campaign as a reward for a tough fight. My party needs more magic items as they are about to face flesh golems and a horned devil, which have immunity to nonmagical weapons, and right now 2 of the party members would be unable to damage these monsters. It also seems a fun way to force them into roleplaying during fights, which they struggle with.
Would decreasing the Wisdom save to DC 12 make this weapon more balanced as right now I don't think any of them would want to attune to it?
What about adding a way for a PC to calm them down with a persuasion check, similar to how the Flesh Golem's creator can?
Also considering increasing the damage/attack roll bonus from +1 to +1d4.
So my paladin of conquest found this item and attuned to it. It is cursed as above but it also has the template of "weapon of warning" added to it. I haven't used it yet (just picked it and attuned as the session closed) but I am excited to use it - our party is in a dungeon crawl full of traps and undead (specters and wraiths etc) - the odd part of this whole setup for my paladin is he has the best perception and is usually some 10 to 15 feet out further than everyone else anyway - - so I guess I should either stay in the "rear" and guard our backs or stay true to his conquest oath and be seen as "leading the way" onward . . .
Is my paladin going to be spending quality "alone time" because of the curse but gets the benefit of not needing to post a watch - - will he develop an anxiety about going berserk on his allies - - will he embrace his aura of fear ability and go berserk in the midst of his enemies becoming a vicious warrior of renown?
Interested to read others' thoughts on how this could play out - meaning me role playing during the session and how he might function in combat
The party is a all 4th level currently: my triton paladin, a satyr druid, a water genasi ranger, an elven wizard, and a half elven fighter.
Interestingly enough- my class path progression was probably going to stop at 5th for the paladin and I was going to start levels in warlock (patron from the unfathomable depths) and there have already been two instances where the patron has interceded (sort of) to set the stage of my class change. Is it a "cool" idea to have the curse on the weapon actually come from the pact with the patron?