The Real Swords of Findalay
This month’s RPG Blog Carnival theme is “Weapons of Legend” chosen by Scot Newbury over at Of Dice and Dragons. Who doesn’t love this theme? Definitely check out Of Dice and Dragons at the end of the month to see all of the carnival offerings from this month piled together.
Here on World Builder Blog the Free Game Resources section of this site is brimming with all sorts of glorious weapon options for your fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons game. There’s firearms, bombs, siege weapons, mechs, mounts, magic weapons (including firearms and bombs), new conjuration spells, and artifact weapons for you to arm your PCs with. What am I missing? That’s right, intelligent magic items. Well the wait is over. Prepare to meet four new magic swords straight out of the upcoming Exploration Age Campaign Guide. These are the swords used by Canus’ international peacekeeping quartet, The Swords of Findalay. Read on!
Who Are The Swords of Findalay?
So if you’re new to the blog and don’t want to go down the rabbit hole of reading older posts about Canus, Findalay is a continent comprised of four countries. Aeranore, a kingdom of humans and gnomes, Taliana, a democratic republic of elves and halflings, Bragonay, an empire of dwarves and their warforged slaves, and Marrial, a true democracy of dragonborn. All of these four countries have warred on and off for thousands of years and so they established a group of peacekeepers known as The Swords of Findalay to police the governments of the continent. Each country sends one hero to serve a ten-year term as a Sword. New Swords are granted special intelligent magic weapons when taking on their mantle presented to them by the outgoing Swords.
The Blades of Findalay
Weapon (longsword), legendary (requires attunement)
Each of The Blades of Findalay was forged by a master smith of its namesake country. The blades of these longswords are large, brightly colored gemstones. While the swords share some similar properties, each blade is imbued with its own unique personality, look, and a defining magical attribute.
Each of The Blades of Findalay is a magic longsword which grants a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it and can be used as a spellcasting focus. When used as a spellcasting focus the item grants a +1 bonus to spell attack rolls and spell save DCs of your spells. When all four of the blades are within 500 feet of each other the bonuses to attack rolls, damage rolls, and spell save DCs rises to +3.
As a bonus action while holding on of The Blades of Findalay you can cause the weapon to shed bright light in a 30-foot radius and dim light in another 30 feet after that. It takes another bonus action to extinguish the light.
The Blade of Aeranore
The blue sapphire Blade of Aeranore sings “Aeranore the Bold,” the country’s national anthem, when being swung in battle. It’s gold hilt features the flag of Aeranore on its pomel and the phrase “Power in Knowledge” is carved on its cross-guard in Gnomish.
Flight. While attuned to the Blade of Aeranore you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. You can use the sword to fly for up to 1 hour, all at once or in several shorter flights, each one using a minimum of 1 minute from the duration. If you are flying when the duration expires, you descend at a rate of 30 feet per round until you land. The sword regains its hour of flying after you complete a long rest.
Sentience. The Blade of Aeranore is a sentient weapon of neutral alignment, with an Intelligence of 14, a Wisdom of 10, and a Charisma of 18. It has hearing and darkvision out to 120 feet.
The weapon can communicate telepathically with its wielder and it can also speak, read, and understand Common and Gnomish.
Personality. The Blade of Aeranore is unrelentingly patriotic, but not overtly nationalistic. It has a love for Aeranore, but it respects the other nations of Findalay. It critiques the other nation’s more harshly, but will grudgingly admit when push comes to shove that Aeranore is not perfect.
The Blade of Aeranore loves good strategy and is always nervous if its wielder acts without a plan whether in battle or diplomacy. The sword will always give its own thoughts and opinions about a plan even if its opinion is not invited. It cannot resist giving advice for the sword feels it is better to over-prepare than to have things go awry.
The Blade of Aeranore desires peace amongst the kingdom and believes knowledge is more important than strength. It is always searching for new tomes to read particularly those which deal with Aeranore’s history. The sword has a vested interest in learning about the other Findalayan countries as well since the right cultural fact or historical reference can turn a diplomatic encounter from unfavorable to favorable.
The Blade of Bragonay
The serrated, ruby Blade of Bragonay revels in combat and laughs wildly when it is surrounded by the red mist of blood. Its adamantine hilt is encrusted with small diamonds and glowing red Dwarvish runes which spell out the word, “Power.”
Thrower. The Blade of Bragonay has the thrown property with a normal range of 30 feet and a long range of 90 feet. Immediately after a ranged attack is made with the weapon it appears back in your hand.
Sentience. The Blade of Bragonay is a sentient weapon of neutral alignment, with an Intelligence of 10, a Wisdom of 14, and a Charisma of 18. It has hearing and darkvision out to 120 feet.
The weapon can communicate telepathically with its wielder and it can also speak, read, and understand Common and Dwarvish.
Personality. The Blade of Bragonay speaks only when necessary and usually in short, gruff sentences. The weapon has little patience for hi-jinx and tomfoolery that aren’t in celebration of a job well done, especially if there’s still a task which needs doing. That being said, the weapon has a soft spot for dwarves and dwarvish culture and is extremely protective of its wielder. If ever its wielder is personally attacked with words or steel, the sword comes screaming in to defend. It laughs at all of its wielder’s jokes and praises the smallest achievements like a fool in love.
While The Blade of Bragonay supports the mission for peace in Findalay it does love a good battle, particularly with monsters who have no tie to any of Findalay’s governments. The weapon encourages its wielder to kill first and ask questions never when a band of marauding giants or evil dragon threaten the land. The wielder of the sword finds the weapon publicly pushes for the harshest punishments for nations which violate the Treaty of Findalay including its namesake country.
There are those who believe The Blade of Bragonay to secretly send visions of Bragonay’s future world domination to its wielder. While these visions have never been proven, it would explain why Bragonay’s last Sword murdered the others at the behest of the nation’s empress.
The Blade of Marrial
The fine emerald Blade of Marrial chants prayers to The Sky Dragon as it swings through enemy ranks. The silver hilt of the blade is emblazoned with images of all manner of sea creatures as an homage to the nation of islands.
Amphibious. While attuned to The Blade of Marrial you have a swimming speed of 60 feet and can breathe underwater.
Sentience. The Blade of Marrial is a sentient weapon of neutral alignment, with an Intelligence of 12, a Wisdom of 12, and a Charisma of 18. It has hearing and darkvision out to 120 feet.
The weapon can communicate telepathically with its wielder and it can also speak, read, and understand Common and Draconic.
Personality. True to its democratic creators, The Blade of Marrial supports solutions which make the majority happy. It is easily the best negotiator of all The Blades of Findalay because it is the most-even tempered and patient. The sword listens to all opinions and facts before giving its own well-reasoned stance.
The Blade of Marrial makes it a point to not show any favoritism toward its wielder or its country. In fact the sword goes so far as to force a new wielder to earn its trust before beginning to impart telepathic thoughts to it. In battle the sword preaches mercy believing sparing a life to be the stronger option (when such an option is available).
The Blade of Marrial has a particular hatred of slavery. It is grudgingly accepting of Bragonay’s enslavement of the warforged because it has to be, but refuses to speak in the presence of any who support the enslavement other races, such as diplomats from Parian.
The Blade of Taliana
The wicked alexandrite Blade of Taliana offers bawdy curses in Elvish and Halfling as it cuts down enemies. The onyx hilt of the sword is studded with small emeralds and emblazoned with images of elf and halfling heroes of legend.
Invisibility. As an action you can cast invisibility on yourself while attuned to The Blade of Taliana. You can use this ability three times and then must complete a long rest before you can cast the spell in this way again.
Sentience. The Blade of Marrial is a sentient weapon of neutral alignment, with an Intelligence of 16, a Wisdom of 8, and a Charisma of 18. It has hearing and darkvision out to 120 feet.
The weapon can communicate telepathically with its wielder and it can also speak, read, and understand Common, Elvish, and Halfling.
Personality. The Blade of Taliana is the least formal and appropriate of all The Blades of Findalay. It is quick with a jest and must be silenced in diplomatic situations as often as it must be called upon for jokes to ease tension. It japes in good fun at the expense of its wielder and offends in poor taste at the expense of others.
The Blade of Taliana bores easily, so it’s a good thing it finds diplomatic situations fascinating. While on the road or deep in a dungeon, it implores its wielder to find some mischief to get into so they might have a story to tell. Likewise the sword pushes the wielder to take risks in its personal life not for glory or riches, but for the fun of it. It is no surprise that the sword loves pranks.
When things truly seem hopeless or without proper course, that is when The Blade of Taliana truly shines. For all its rudeness the weapon cares for all The Swords of Findalay and their mission and often gives rallying speeches to bolster its allies. Above all The Blade of Taliana does not want to see Findalay fall into another war on its watch and acts which could put the continent on such a course offend the sword to its very soul more than any bawdy tale told at a fancy dinner party.
You know what this calls for? A free PDF of everything above so you can easily add The Blades of Findalay to your game. While I’m at it, I’ll give the weapons to you in their own PDF and in a second PDF along with the other 80+ magic items I’ve created for Exploration Age. You can grab it in the link below or you can head on over to the Free Game Resources section of the site where it will live forever alongside plenty of other resources for your game like monsters, D&D fifth edition rules modules, backgrounds, spells, magic items, and more.
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