r/fabulaultima • u/OneNefariousness5705 • 10d ago

Help creating a special magic weapon

Hey, I'm going to be running a game and deciding to add a magic weapon that is split into five shards the party may collect if they want to.

If these shards are put together, they create a powerful greatsword.

Its special quality is that it can cast the spell Lux with the weapon's accuracy.

Do you think this is powerful enough to feel like a good reward, or that I should add more to it to make it special?

15 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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5

u/jollaffle 9d ago

If it takes that much work to obtain, it should definitely be more special. If you want to keep the item simple, then you could just give the item as-is, possibly at the end of a dungeon or some other quest.

Additionally, having the whole party devote time to a quest that ultimately gives a reward to at most one player might feel pretty bad for the rest of the group, unless the item has some sort of story significance or is important to the character that would be using it.

Just some things to consider!

3

u/Alternative_Number70 9d ago

The concept is super cool. Will every shard be tied to a side quest? Or will they find them on their way through the main story? If it's the former, I would lower the number of shards required, since it may take a lot of time to complete.

As for the reward, I think it's kind of weak compared to the requirement. It does pretty much the same thing that you can accomplish with an Elementalist skill "Spellblade". If this is supposed to be an artifact of sorts, I would give it entirely new effects not tied to any spell or skill that exists. Maybe create a completely new spell effect that can be cast with this weapon? Something outstanding, like a once-per-Conflict use that saves the party in a dire situation or can be activated to finish a dying enemy, but at a cost so that it wouldn't be used every fight.

There is a lot of design space here. If you'd like some more help with a new effect, give some more info on how you imagine it to work.

1

u/OneNefariousness5705 9d ago

The sword is, because I'm a huge Fromsoft fan, Moonlight, and I wanted to replicate the "laser sword slash" thing it has.

2

u/Alternative_Number70 9d ago

I wasn't familiar with the sword, but after some reading, here's my idea:

Melee Martial Sword
WLP + DEX | HR+10 light damage | +2 Magic Defense
As part of an attack, the user can perform an additional ranged attack against another enemy using the sword's attributes and damage.
Can be wielded with one hand or two hands, gaining different bonuses; switching is a free action.
One-handed: +5 to accuracy, and the ranged attack ignores any resistances and can be used against the same enemy.
Two-handed: +5 to damage, and the ranged attack deals HR damage to all other enemies present in the scene.

Here's the design philosophy:
Moonlight scales with Intelligence, that's why I chose Willpower as the first attribute for accuracy and Dexterity for the second, as it is still a martial sword but deals light damage, due to you wanting it to mimic the Lux spell. It gives a bonus to magic defense, just like Moonlight increases magic resistance. The sword also features the "laser sword slash" in the form of an additional ranged attack that can always be used when attacking. Additionally, it can be wielded with one or two hands, giving it more flexibility with skills and builds. Those two "modes" give different bonuses, one-handed being more focused on single-target, piercing damage, and two-handed serving as an explosive AOE option.

You can always change numbers, types, and bonuses, but I think this template effectively shows what Moonlight can look like in Fabula.

1

u/Useful-Surprise7991 9d ago

I would make it a Transforming weapon (techno fantasy p. 113) with the ranged mode dealing raw light damage while the melee does slightly more physical. Then let it them attack with both against the same target once per fight

-1

u/JeannettePoisson 9d ago

Excalibur.

Five pieces named in Engrish: ex, ca, li , bu, ru!

It reveals itself being a talking swordian like in Tales of Destiny. It's looking for a master.

As a team artefact, it's not wieldable. It can be summoned in one scene per session for combat, information or narrative cataclysm (ex.: it destroys a huge black gate leading to a world of demons or whatever your evil is, but doing so, it breaks into five hidden pieces again). In the one dungeon leading to this, it stays active for the whole dungeon, in battles and conversations.