Aiming to make a fighter archetype with typical abilities that’s been given a little more pizzazz.
As part of the final peace agreement with the Adversary, he was forced to surrender a portion of the magical arms and armor his dread warlocks had forged for his dark hosts. To satisfy terms, three thousand “swords of the indemnity” were given as tribute, previously unknown weapons of great beauty and power. These came to be known as Black Blades. Over the years they have become the mark of rank and prowess among swordsmen, and having an armsman with a Black Blade is an easy bump to the prestige of any minor Lord
Black Blade
Starting Equipment: Black Blade, hardtack recipe, gifted ring
Each Template, +1 to hit, +1 Reflex
A: Inured to Violence, +1 attack
B: Powerful Sunder, Notches in Your Soul
C: Invest Blades, Leech Life
D: Legend of the Black Blade, +4 Initiative
Black Blade: Choose what form your Black Blade takes, they say no two look alike. The blade, hilt, everything, is made of a single piece of peculiar metal, black as moonless midnight. It will never break or grow dull. If you choose a light blade, a mundane search cannot find it concealed on your body. When it slays a foe, a black viscera shoots out of your opponent and into the blade. Black Blades are famous and remarkable, be careful who you show them to.
Inured to Violence: Ignore the first point of damage you would take each round. +4 to saves to ignore pain and fear. You gain these bonuses immediately after killing a foe with your Blade for the first time.
Powerful Sunder: Your Black Blade devastates inferior weapons. When you use it to score a critical hit, you may shatter an adjacent opponent’s weapon or shield. If it is magical, your foe may choose to take 1d10 damage or else you knock it out of their hands and clean across the room.
Notches in Your Soul: Record the HD of creatures you kill with your Black Blade. At certain milestones (10, 30, 60, 100, 150, 210, etc), gain a bonus of your choice:
+1 Damage with your Blade
+1 Crit Range
An ability you negotiate with the DM
Invest Blade: In a ritual that takes one minute, you may break a magic sword to invest its arcana into your Black Blade. The magic sword crumbles into dust. Your Black Blade uses the highest bonus to hit and damage from any magic sword you have invested in this way. Your Black Blade imitates the other magic effects of one blade you have invested, and you may change which once per round.
Leech Life: When you slay a foe, gain HP equal to their HD. The more you use this ability, the more your blood looks like ink, smells like coal, and tastes like bile.
Legend of the Black Blade: Slay a monstrous foe with more HD than you, then get back to town and let the tale be told. In gratitude, your Black Blade will give you a magic helmet, pauldrons, gauntlets, or breastplate with a special power appropriate to the creature slain. (A dragon helmet that can shoot a cone of fire 1/day, gargoyle pauldrons that grow wings that let you glide, ooze gauntlets that let you reach through stone like it was goo, gorgon breastplate that reflects beams and rays back towards enemies)
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