doomcaller

[bagori nd]

I was wondering whether there's a niche for an artifact mithril greatsword (not like it'd ever get found) and was toying around with this idea:

The Mithil Greatsword 'Doomcaller' (+7, 3d7) [+1] 4 lb.
-5 Dex, +5 Song
Vampiric, aggravates, grants Listen

The -5 Dex is meant to make stealth impossible and simulate the orignal's AC penalty. The goal is a weapon that is not necessarily more powerful than other endgame weapons, but is very dramatic: the huge hit to your evasion leaves you vulnerable, but you can hopefully kill things fast enough to recover the damage you take, and with Song of Battle or Song of Mastery going you become terrifying.

[Philip]

There's a better way to do that. Specifically, make it give negative evasion, which seems fair, and give it -5 stealth, if you really think that's necessary. Isn't aggravate sufficient? Also, it would probably get a much much smaller attack bonus, for obvious reasons.

It seems pretty strong though. I mean, it has an okay attack bonus, +2, a bad -4 evasion score, but not too horrible, and the type of character who wants this weapon doesn't care about stealth. It gives a massive boost to song, enough that I think you can be invulnerable without much effort. I'm not sure where Listen came from, by the way, but it's a nice ability to have, since Perception abilities are expensive.

[bagori nd]

Listen is meant to evoke the original's telepathy effect, and should heighten a sense of impending destruction.

The reason why it has a Dex penalty rather than negative evasion is so that it can still benefit from Parry. That way, the weapon leaves you vulnerable, but it still functions like a sword. (Also, it hurts your archery, thus drawing you even more into melee.)

Maybe the song bonus is too much, though. (Keep in mind that swords of shadow grant +3 in exchange for darkness, though.) Or maybe the song bonus wouldn't be as bad if its accuracy and damage sides were each bumped down a point.

[Philip]

Darkness is not a nice thing to have in a lot of situations involving demons, but not that much else. The aggravate is already compensated by the damage and the listen, which let you prepare for and kill everything that notices you anyway. I don't think it needs +5 song, since that's a lot less song you need to spend on mastery to get full freeze.

[taptap]

Too high numbers. (Shadows does not grant fixed +3, afaik. It is the maximum.) With the right build song (via Lorien or Mastery) substitutes evasion, so it isn't necessarily a downside to get evasion penalties.