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Mother's Venom

by JD Wiker
Editing: Stan!
Layout and Typesetting: Marc Schmalz
Artist: Clarence Harrison

Mother's Venom is a free legendary sword offered in promotion of Swords of Our Fathers, the first publication from The Game Mechanics, Inc.

Mother's Venom, the Blade of Spite

Once the sword of a great hero, crafted by his own hand from the wall of his prison, the poisonous blade Mother's Venom is truly a double-edged sword--slaying its wielder's enemies as it slowly kills its wielder.

The Doom of the Dawn Prince

The most ancient of legends tell of the First Kingdom, at a time when the Age of Heroes was young. The Queen of the West had died, giving birth to her son, the Dawn Prince. The King of the East was grief-stricken, but found solace in the arms of the Queen of the North. And, as though he had forgotten his first love, the King made the Queen of the North his wife.

The King of the East choked to death at his wedding feast. The Queen of the North was in truth an evil sorceress, with a heart that dripped poison. She murdered the King with her heart's blood, then imprisoned the Dawn Prince so that he could never claim his kingdom. For ten years the evil queen ruled the First Kingdom while the Dawn Prince languished in the darkest dungeon. He spent his every hour clawing at the walls, carving with his bare hands an implement through which he might avenge his father.

Ten years to the day after the North Queen's treachery, the Dawn Prince completed his rough-hewn sword. He struck down the iron door with a single blow and stormed upstairs to do battle with the evil Queen of the North. After an epic struggle, the Dawn Prince finally drove his homemade blade through her venomous heart. The First Kingdom was safe, and the Dawn Prince became its new King--taking as his symbol of office the very sword with which he had slain his evil stepmother.

Check Required: Knowledge (local) DC 15.

But the poison of the Queen's heart had seeped into the Dawn Prince's blade. Every day he wielded it, he grew weaker and weaker. Too late, he realized what it was that was killing him. With his last breath, he tried to warn his own son, the Twilight King, to destroy the sword. But his son misunderstood, hearing only "... the sword ... the sword ..."

And so the poisoned blade passed from ruler to ruler, killing some, sickening others, until the First Kingdom was just a memory. But the sword survived, driven by the Dawn Prince's determination and perverted by the hatred in the North Queen's poisoned heart. It became the quest of countless murderers and assassins, and only those who knew its secret could survive wielding it long enough to unlock its greatest powers.

Check Required: Knowledge (local) DC 20.

Requirements

To wield Mother's Venom as its swiftblade scion, a character must fulfill the following criteria.

Alignment: Neutral or evil.
Base Save Bonus: Ref +3.
Skills: Hide 6 ranks, Move Silently 6 ranks.
Feat: Weapon Focus (longsword).

Restrictions

Beginning as soon as a character becomes the swiftblade scion of Mother's Venom, the sword begins producing small amounts of a contact poison that slowly seep into the wielder's hands through the hilt. By the time the wielder reaches 2nd level as a swiftblade scion of Mother's Venom, she finds her food has a slightly smoky taste to it.

By 3rd level, the smoky taste has become so pronounced that the swiftblade scion must make a successful Will save (DC 12) to force herself to take in sustenance. A character who goes for three days without food begins suffering the effects of starvation (see Starvation and Thirst Dangers in Chapter 3 of the DMG). The DC of this Will save increases to 16 at 4th level. No one else who eats of the same food notices this unusual taste.

By the time the swiftblade scion reaches 5th level, the taste has become more like ash than smoke, and the character must make a successful Fortitude save (DC 15) to keep her food down. The Fortitude save DC increases to 18 at 8th level, and 20 at 10th level. These are saves against poison, so any bonuses on saves against poison apply (including the increased tolerance ability supplied by Mother's Venom itself).

A neutralize poison spell cast on the swiftblade scion (or ingested as a potion) prior to eating obviates the need to make either a Will save or Fortitude save; the spell purges the contact poison from the wielder's system. The character can eat normally for 24 hours after which time the poison in Mother's Venom has crept back into her system again.

Attributes

Mother's Venom has the following attributes.

Hardness/Hit Points: 13/8.

Value: To anyone other than its swiftblade scion, Mother's Venom appears to be worth as much as a +1 longsword (2,315 gp).

Table X-1: Abilities Granted by Mother's Venom

Special Abilities

Mother's Venom provides the following special abilities to its wielder, depending upon the character's level in the swiftblade scion prestige class (see Table X-1: Abilities Granted by Mother's Venom).

Initial Abilities: When first acquired, Mother's Venom functions as a +1 longsword. Anyone who wields it, whether a swiftblade scion or not, benefits from this ability.

First Cut (Sp): Beginning at 1st level, the swiftblade scion of Mother's Venom may cast inflict moderate wounds a number of times per day equal to her swiftblade scion level. Once activated, this effect is permanent until it is discharged. The wielder must make a successful melee touch attack with Mother's Venom in order to discharge this effect. The target may make a Will save (DC 15) to halve the damage.

Poisoned Blade (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, Mother's Venom begins continually secreting poison along the length of its blade. This poison (Injury DC 12, initial and secondary damage 1d4 Con) coats the blade so that any damage dealt with Mother's Venom delivers the poison to the target. Once the poison has been delivered, the blade remains clean of poison for 1d4 × 10 minutes.

At 5th level, this poison increases in potency (Injury DC 15, initial and secondary damage 1d6 Con). The potency increases again at 9th level (Injury DC 18, initial and secondary damage 1d8 Con).

Increased Tolerance (Ex): At 3rd level, the swiftblade scion of Mother's Venom gains a +2 equipment bonus against poison. At 7th level, this bonus increases to +4.

Enhancement Bonus: Mother's Venom's enhancement bonus increases to +2 when the swiftblade scion reaches 4th level, and to +3 when she reaches 8th level.

Goodnight Kiss (Sp): At 6th level, when the swiftblade scion of Mother's Venom strikes to subdue (by using the flat of Mother's Venom), she deals an additional 1d8 subdual damage. As always, striking to subdue with a weapon that deals normal damage incurs a -4 attack penalty.

Goodbye Kiss (Sp): At 10th level, the swiftblade scion of Mother's Venom may cast destruction once per day. When the spell is cast, this effect remains on the blade until it is discharged. The wielder must make a successful melee touch attack with Mother's Venom in order to discharge this effect. If the target makes a successful Fortitude save (DC 20), it instead takes 10d6 points of damage.

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System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

 

Swords of Our Fathers Copyright 2003, The Game Mechanics, Inc.

 

Mother's Venom Copyright 2003, The Game Mechanics, Inc.