Mavinnar’s Flail
A weapon constructed by a wizard for his friend, the legendary warrior, Mavinnar . He succeeded in powering it with his magic but not quite as intended. Magic isn’t always reliable.
A steel rod extending two feet. From long chains dangle three small metallic balls shimmering with green light. Using the weapon is awkward until you have used it in combat six times or trained with it. When you strike someone with Mavinnar’s Flail you gain an additional effect. Roll 1d4:
1. The flail smashes with a powered force gaining the tag forceful
2. The flail strikes against your opponents armor spreading cracks that emanate the green light. Your opponents armor is reduced by 1. If their armor is at 0, they take 1 damage.
3. The flail bursts with green energy dealing 1d6 damage to you and your opponent.
4. The flail stimulates the amygdala dramatically increasing your opponents fear. They will try to escape if all possible; if not, aggressive actions are likely. This may not have an effect on alien minds.
Nice. I like that the random effects can sometimes harm the player, too. I think a countdown would be fun for this in place of the “six times or training” condition. Let the player mark a box on each 10+ roll on Hack and Slash with it and they become an expert after 3 boxes are filled. Something like that?
“stimulates the amygdala” are… unusual words to find in a Heroic RPG. What’s wrong with “causes fear in a person it hits”?
I know my campaign’s definition of “person” may well be different to yours, but that’s a good thing.
I like the phrasing. Adds to the weirdness. Is it magic or some sort of tech that is mistaken for magic?
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