Certain magic items possess an animating spirit. These driven and often malevolent spirits work through magic to bring about their own goals, utilizing their mortal owners as pawns to this end.

An object with animus has its own nature rating and descriptors. Once per session, the GM may force you to test the object’s nature in place of your Nature or a skill if a descriptor from the animus applies. The player may also choose to willingly use the item for additional tests applicable to the object's nature. Log passes, fails, and tax to the object’s nature.

If the animus nature reaches zero, the object is destroyed, banished, sundered, or lost. If the animus nature reaches seven, the object completely dominates the wielder’s psyche. The character becomes an NPC controlled by the GM, solely focused on the goals of the animus.

Willfully disowning an animus object requires a Will test against the animus’ nature.

Sword, artwork by Matt Gibeault

The Crawling Sword 

NATURE 3 (Clinging, Tricking, Wounding friends and lovers)

The crawling sword cannot be disarmed by a maneuver. It otherwise functions as a standard sword in conflicts (+1D to a single action for the conflict.)

A blade cursed to cling to the bearer, the crawling sword has strange segmented digits near the crossbar. The steel tendrils clasp the hand of the wielder, granting +1s to versus rolls against maneuvers. Furthermore, if the wielder should ever be disarmed, the appendages work to drag the weapon back to the wielder. At the beginning of the following round, the sword becomes available as a weapon again.

 

chaos reigns

lord mordeth

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Topics: Mordite Mondays, Torchbearer, TB Hacks