Non-Combat Magical Item - Potentially Sentient Sword

Master of Dungeons Blog just released a deck of cards based of our ongoing series of Non-Combat Magical Items. The deck is available here at DriveThruRPG. It is currently on sale for $5.99. If you want to support Master Of Dungeons, or just want a unique but cheap Christmas present, then I encourage you to check it out. The upcoming item is a more in-depth look at an item available in the deck.

Potentially Sentient Sword

Wondrous Item, Very Rare

Much has been written on sentient swords, their personalities, strengths, and faults. But where do these independently-minded weapons come from? While there are certainly multiple reasons why a weapon might become sentient, the recently discovered Potentially Sentient Sword is likely one of the more common ones.

When an adventurer attunes to a Potentially Sentient Sword, it doesn't yet contain a mind of its own. Over (hopefully) years of use, the sword will bond with the adventurer, copying the energies and patterns of the soul. As the hero grows in power, the sword too can become more powerful, fearing being replaced,  the sword might destroy a more powerful sword, gaining its strength.

The sword will change in appearance to match the personality and alignment of its owner the longer it is carried. A good person may have the sword change to radiant and angelic, while an evil person may have the sword become demonic in appearance. This is an oversimplification, as other aspects of a person's personality can be reflected as well. A greedy, fancy carrier may wake up to find their sword covered in gold and gems, a musician may find the sword has sprouted lute-like strings.

When the carrier dies, the final aspects of the person's soul are copied to the sword. The weapon becomes sentient, with the personality and mind of its former owner. Some may despair upon waking after death and finding themselves as an inanimate object, while others may rejoice at the chance to spend eternity in battle, or defending their descendants. 

The write-up of the Potentially Sentient is obviously far more in-depth than what can fit in the deck on the face of a playing card. If you pick up the Non-Combat Magical Items Deck from DriveThruRPG (and I would very much like you to). I recommend that you use the items as a jumping off point. For example, for this item you may want to think about whether a person can be raised from the dead after being transferred into the sword, whether they are trapped in there, or if it is a duplicate.

Non-Combat Magical Item Deck

Hello all, it has been a while since the last blog post. I've gotten married, gone on a honeymoon and dealt with real estate agents and lawyers to buy a house. I should have had more blog posts in the bank to post the past few weeks but I hope to be back now.

To celebrate the return of normal blog-posting (hopefully) of Master Of Dungeons blog, we have released our first commercial product. This product is somewhat of a test. There is no money in the Master Of Dungeons coffers, so there is no fancy artwork to speak of. However we believe that this product will improve your time at your table, regardless of what edition or game that you play.

The Master Of Dungeons Non-Combat Magical Item Deck

After reviewing the fantastic Encounter Decks 3 we realized the benefit of using physical printed cards at the table. They don't take up very much space, are easily shuffled and randomized, and they can be split up easily, even given to a player as a handout if necessary.

Master of Dungeons has had the ongoing series called Non-Combat Magical Items since our inception. For those of you unfamiliar with the blog, or those who need an update, we define non-combat magical items as items that aren't specifically created with combat in mind. Non-combat magical items can be used in combat by a crafty player, anything can be turned into a makeshift weapon and these are no different. The DM shouldn't limit the creativity of the players. Non-combat magical items however, are not typically weapons or armour, so they don't have stats for damage or armour. If this becomes necessary in some way a DM should be able to figure out what to give it.

In 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons, the introduction of "bounded accuracy" means that players shouldn't be given loads and loads of +3 weapons and armour. Otherwise, they may become incredibly overpowered. It still seems like most blogs and even the Dungeon Master's Guide itself focus on weapons and armour. Players still thirst for magical items, but that doesn't mean we should overpower our players, what we need is a new class of weapon: Non-Combat Magical Items.

Now that you've been primed on what Non-Combat means here at Master of Dungeons, lets get to the cards. The product, Non-Combat Magical Items Deck contains 32 different Non-Combat magical items. A huge increase over the 10 or so that have been posted on this blog. 

Since the items are contained in a physical deck of cards, they can easily be given to a player when they receive the item, allowing easier item management. They can be shuffled instead of using a roll table, and they can be mixed in with any potential future decks put out by Master of Dungeons (which will only happen if this one is successful).

Enough jibber jabber. Lets get to the 4 free cards to give you a taste of the deck. 

I would super appreciate anyone picking these up. Head on over to DriveThruRPG if you're interested. They will sell for $7.98 but for the first week it will be on sale for $5.99