Need help identifying an AD&D weapon... I think.

[Nerull]

Here we go then. About 6 years ago I was in an AD&D campaign. I was playing a LE Cleric. THe DM decided to give each player a gift from their deity, my deity was Nerull. Nerull gave me a Mace that had several magical properties. I will list them below.

Powers:
1. +5 vs Humanoids.. I had to keep track of how many humanoids I killed, the DM would not tell me why
2. Did not have to eat
3. Did not have to breath
4. Did not have to sleep
5. Twice a day I could turn ethereal
6. The Mace could talk to me.. it was always telling me to kill.

Does anyone have an idea of what this Mace is called or do you think my DM just made up some weapon?

Thanks,
Nerull

 

[Da_Schwartz]

Flexes geek muscles...okay. Im pretty sure he made that up unless he found it in dragon magazine or something. The eat breath and no sleep are properties of a weapon of substance i beleive. The +5 gives it away as something he made up. There are few +5 stock weapons in the dms guide or even unearthed arcana, tome of magic etc, but plenty of them in those 4 part encyclodeidas they put out...anyway. The ethreal thing..no idea. And its homicidal. It just doesn't fit. Okay it's nerull i guess but this could just be some random rolls off a weapon chart. Then he made it tell u to kill cause he thought it would be cool. Which is silly cause your lawful evil with a chaotic weapon. U don't need a weapon to tell u who lives and who dies. if anything there would be a constant battle of wills and ego between u and your weapon. You would think Nerull would of realized that...k enough. lol

 

[NeutralDrow]

Here we go then. About 6 years ago I was in an AD&D campaign. I was playing a LE Cleric. THe DM decided to give each player a gift from their deity, my deity was Nerull. Nerull gave me a Mace that had several magical properties. I will list them below.

Powers:
1. +5 vs Humanoids.. I had to keep track of how many humanoids I killed, the DM would not tell me why
2. Did not have to eat
3. Did not have to breath
4. Did not have to sleep
5. Twice a day I could turn ethereal
6. The Mace could talk to me.. it was always telling me to kill.

Does anyone have an idea of what this Mace is called or do you think my DM just made up some weapon?

Thanks,
Nerull

Hmm... I think he made it up.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

It sounds a lot like some type of homebrew weapon, which is the best kind. This also means that you can name it anything you want. I made the mistake of allowing a PC to name his enchanted axe. "Chattanooga's Revenge" is not something you want a villain getting killed by.

 

[sighh]

When I read the title, I immediately thought "Well, why don't you just cast Identify on it??"

yeah me too!

 

[Undead Dragon King]

A homicidal talking mace? Looks like your DM liked Baldur's Gate II, because there's a homicidal talking sword in that game.

"Find someone rich, then kill him! Then find dsomeone richer, and kill him too! Hack and slash your way to fortune! WOO-HOO!"

"We've got a gusher! Toss a coin into that fountain!!!"

 

[NeutralDrow]

It sounds a lot like some type of homebrew weapon, which is the best kind. This also means that you can name it anything you want. I made the mistake of allowing a PC to name his enchanted axe. "Chattanooga's Revenge" is not something you want a villain getting killed by.

Better than the villain getting killed by "Montezuma's Revenge"...

 

[khain13]

Looks to me like he either made it up, or rolled it randomly from the 'book of artifacts'. In AD&D most, if not all, artifacts with bunuses of some kind are +5. I recall rolling the 'no need for food/drink' was a minor power that had a high chance of coming up in random roll on one of the tables.

 

[Altorin]

He made it up.

It's a mace of Nerull (itself a little weird as Nerull's favored weapon is the sickle). Nerull is the god of Death, so it gives you similar attributes that would befit an archon of the God of Death

1. +5 vs Humanoids.. I had to keep track of how many humanoids I killed, the DM would not tell me why

Nerull wants you to go out and bring more death into the world. Killing humanoids is the best way to bring more zombies and skeletons into the world.

2. Did not have to eat
3. Did not have to breath
4. Did not have to sleep

All features of the undead.

5. Twice a day I could turn ethereal

Nerull is normally associated with corporeal undead, but ghosts are part of his portfolio as well, and this would certainly fit

6. The Mace could talk to me.. it was always telling me to kill.

Killing is necessary to spread undeath, and the mace wants you to do that.



All in all, it's actually a decent relic (I wouldn't call it an artifact, from its list of powers, it's not strong enough to be an artifact). Would have made more sense as a sickle, and it would certainly fit a cleric of the undead.

DMs have to make up almost everything they do.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

I hope he made that curse suitably frustrating to counteract how badass the weapon is.

 

[McClaud]

He made it up.

It's a mace of Nerull (itself a little weird as Nerull's favored weapon is the sickle). Nerull is the god of Death, so it gives you similar attributes that would befit an archon of the God of Death

1. +5 vs Humanoids.. I had to keep track of how many humanoids I killed, the DM would not tell me why

Nerull wants you to go out and bring more death into the world. Killing humanoids is the best way to bring more zombies and skeletons into the world.

2. Did not have to eat
3. Did not have to breath
4. Did not have to sleep

All features of the undead.

5. Twice a day I could turn ethereal

Nerull is normally associated with corporeal undead, but ghosts are part of his portfolio as well, and this would certainly fit

6. The Mace could talk to me.. it was always telling me to kill.

Killing is necessary to spread undeath, and the mace wants you to do that.



All in all, it's actually a decent relic (I wouldn't call it an artifact, from its list of powers, it's not strong enough to be an artifact). Would have made more sense as a sickle, and it would certainly fit a cleric of the undead.

DMs have to make up almost everything they do.

Nice.

You said exactly what I was going to say.

I think I know why the DM didn't make it a sickle, though. He's a DM who grew up with the base rules from AD&D that clerics don't wield bladed weapons, only blunt ones. Which is a fallacy - a priest/cleric can wield any weapon, as long as their God permits it. There's a group of knights of Helm that use swords, for example.

 

[Abedeus]

He made it up.

It's a mace of Nerull (itself a little weird as Nerull's favored weapon is the sickle). Nerull is the god of Death, so it gives you similar attributes that would befit an archon of the God of Death

1. +5 vs Humanoids.. I had to keep track of how many humanoids I killed, the DM would not tell me why

Nerull wants you to go out and bring more death into the world. Killing humanoids is the best way to bring more zombies and skeletons into the world.

2. Did not have to eat
3. Did not have to breath
4. Did not have to sleep

All features of the undead.

5. Twice a day I could turn ethereal

Nerull is normally associated with corporeal undead, but ghosts are part of his portfolio as well, and this would certainly fit

6. The Mace could talk to me.. it was always telling me to kill.

Killing is necessary to spread undeath, and the mace wants you to do that.



All in all, it's actually a decent relic (I wouldn't call it an artifact, from its list of powers, it's not strong enough to be an artifact). Would have made more sense as a sickle, and it would certainly fit a cleric of the undead.

DMs have to make up almost everything they do.

Nice.

You said exactly what I was going to say.

I think I know why the DM didn't make it a sickle, though. He's a DM who grew up with the base rules from AD&D that clerics don't wield bladed weapons, only blunt ones. Which is a fallacy - a priest/cleric can wield any weapon, as long as their God permits it. There's a group of knights of Helm that use swords, for example.

Didn't Domains/Deities give weapon proficiencies?

 

[NeutralDrow]

He made it up.

It's a mace of Nerull (itself a little weird as Nerull's favored weapon is the sickle). Nerull is the god of Death, so it gives you similar attributes that would befit an archon of the God of Death

1. +5 vs Humanoids.. I had to keep track of how many humanoids I killed, the DM would not tell me why

Nerull wants you to go out and bring more death into the world. Killing humanoids is the best way to bring more zombies and skeletons into the world.

2. Did not have to eat
3. Did not have to breath
4. Did not have to sleep

All features of the undead.

5. Twice a day I could turn ethereal

Nerull is normally associated with corporeal undead, but ghosts are part of his portfolio as well, and this would certainly fit

6. The Mace could talk to me.. it was always telling me to kill.

Killing is necessary to spread undeath, and the mace wants you to do that.



All in all, it's actually a decent relic (I wouldn't call it an artifact, from its list of powers, it's not strong enough to be an artifact). Would have made more sense as a sickle, and it would certainly fit a cleric of the undead.

DMs have to make up almost everything they do.

Nice.

You said exactly what I was going to say.

I think I know why the DM didn't make it a sickle, though. He's a DM who grew up with the base rules from AD&D that clerics don't wield bladed weapons, only blunt ones. Which is a fallacy - a priest/cleric can wield any weapon, as long as their God permits it. There's a group of knights of Helm that use swords, for example.

Didn't Domains/Deities give weapon proficiencies?

I think domains were a 3e addition, as was the concept of proficiency granting usage of a weapon instead of ranking its effectiveness (in other words, 2e proficiency means you hit better with x weapon, 3e proficiency means you can use x weapon without penalty). Back during AD&D, the general rule was only bludgeoning damage for clerics. Because nothing says "I don't spill blood" like smashing your enemies' brains out.

 

[Xvito]

He made it up.

It's a mace of Nerull (itself a little weird as Nerull's favored weapon is the sickle). Nerull is the god of Death, so it gives you similar attributes that would befit an archon of the God of Death

1. +5 vs Humanoids.. I had to keep track of how many humanoids I killed, the DM would not tell me why

Nerull wants you to go out and bring more death into the world. Killing humanoids is the best way to bring more zombies and skeletons into the world.

2. Did not have to eat
3. Did not have to breath
4. Did not have to sleep

All features of the undead.

5. Twice a day I could turn ethereal

Nerull is normally associated with corporeal undead, but ghosts are part of his portfolio as well, and this would certainly fit

6. The Mace could talk to me.. it was always telling me to kill.

Killing is necessary to spread undeath, and the mace wants you to do that.



All in all, it's actually a decent relic (I wouldn't call it an artifact, from its list of powers, it's not strong enough to be an artifact). Would have made more sense as a sickle, and it would certainly fit a cleric of the undead.

DMs have to make up almost everything they do.

I didn't find the weapon, but this guy is probably right... It fits perfectly (almost).

Also, don't clerics only wield maces?

 

[electric discordian]

Wow D+D conversations from an ere I knew about it! Back when it was AD+D and not the horrible on size fits all abomination that was the D20 system.

And now the new system just apes Wow! But anyway. Surely Knights of Helm would be Paladins and not Clerics hence the swords!

 

[Altorin]

Also, don't clerics only wield maces?

from 3rd edition onwards Clerics tend to wield weapons associated with their diety. It was a variant rule in 2nd edition, but the "mace wielding enemy of the undead" fell onto sun worship in 3rd edition in the form of the diety Pelor.. Other dieties had other weapons they favored, such as the sickle for Nerull

 

[Altorin]

Wow D+D conversations from an ere I knew about it! Back when it was AD+D and not the horrible on size fits all abomination that was the D20 system.

And now the new system just apes Wow! But anyway. Surely Knights of Helm would be Paladins and not Clerics hence the swords!

knights of helm would be fighters, maybe a couple paladins, but mostly fighters.

When I think of paladins, I think of Sir Lancelot.. That one man in 120 who has that special spark of selfless nobility.

Even in 2nd edition (the big black books edition) there was a variant rule for diety based weaponry for clerics. I remember because I once played a cleric whose spere of influence was nature that used a bow

 

[McClaud]

Surely Knights of Helm would be Paladins and not Clerics hence the swords!

The Knights of Helm from the old days was a combination of priests, clerics and paladins. But they granted the proficiency to wield swords to all three (Helm loves blades and hammers, after all).

knights of helm would be fighters, maybe a couple paladins, but mostly fighters.

When I think of paladins, I think of Sir Lancelot.. That one man in 120 who has that special spark of selfless nobility.

Even in 2nd edition (the big black books edition) there was a variant rule for diety based weaponry for clerics. I remember because I once played a cleric whose spere of influence was nature that used a bow

Later versions of Helm included fighters, but they still had clerics.

And the variation for alternate proficiencies for clerics came in the Complete Handbook for Clerics in 2nd Ed AD&D. I basically bought/inherited every book of the game through years of college friends leaving them behind and finding them for $2 in the discount bin at my FLGS.