Blade Soul
“The mind is a blade as keen as that of any swordsman. Lightness, speed and accuracy are our weapons but also our knowledge, as sharp as the edge of any paper. A mage can be too distant, too remote, standing apart and shaping the world with nothing but thought. We can do more, we can stand together, rather than apart, side by side with our brethren.”
Book of the Edge
The leather tome is bound with metal and embossed with crossed swords over an intricate sigil. Its pages contain spells that form a different kind of magic, the summoning and forming of blades from the material of the planes, imbuing them with power and force that channel’s the mage’s power.
Petrius Van Caladorn was a mage who was deeply invested in the adaptability of magic. He saw the specialisations and profusion of different foci in different schools of magic to be a weakness rather than a strength. “Adaptation…” so one of his aphorisms goes “…should stem from the magic, not the mage.”
To that end, rather than encouraging his students to pursue powerful specialist knowledge (Prestige classes) he encouraged them to remain generalist wizards and sorcerors and to find ways to use magic to do the things they wanted to in the form of new spells.
Van Caladorn’s legacy includes many spellbooks of unique or relatively unknown magicks, of which The Book of the Edge is but one.
Sword Spells & Edge Spells
The Blade Soul spells summon a blade into existence with a gesture. The caster can simultaneously cast 1+ Intelligence modifier Edge spells to enhance the blade and can even cast multiple Blade Soul spells – as edge spells – to enhance to sword’s bonus. The blade can be further enhanced – one spell a turn – on following turns if the character so chooses but the duration of the spell is only as long as that of the first blade casting.
EG:
Morgan has a +2 Intelligence modifier. He can cast a Sword Spell and three Edge spells all at once to summon his blade. He calls up a Silver Bladesoul and enhances it with two Corona of Power spells (+2d6 electrical damage) and an additional +1 from a second Silver Bladesoul spell.
Sword Spells
School: Conjuration Level: Sorceror/Wizard 1-9
Casting Time: Swift Action
Components: S
Range: Touch.
Target: Self.
Duration: 1 minute/level.
Saving Throw: N/A
Resistance: No.
Edge Spells
School: Conjuration
Casting Time: Swift/Conjoined with with Sword Spell.
Components: S
Range: Touch
Target: Sword Spell
Duration: As Sword Spell
Saving Throw: N/A
Resistance: No.
Sword spells can be extended, maximised etc, but cannot be made permanent.
0th Level
Bladesoul – Creates a magic blade (as a longsword) with no bonus to hit or damage, though it counts as a magic weapon against creatures vulnerable to that.
1st Level
Firefly Edge – The blade glows, shedding a greenish-yellow light in a 10 ft radius.
Lurid Razor – The blade takes on a noisome appearance of clashing colours and gains a poison effect. Injury; save Fort DC 10+caster level; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d2 Stat damage (caster’s choice); cure 1 save.
2nd Level
Elemental Infusion – The blade takes on a damage type according to the whim of the caster (Dark, Light, Holy, Fire etc). This cannot be changed without the casting of a new spell that overrides the old.
3rd Level
Silver Bladesoul – As Bladesoul, but counts as a +1 magic weapon.
Screaming Blade – The sword shrieks and screams when it tastes enemy flesh. Anyone hit by the sword – damaged or not – must make a Will Save against a DC of 10+Caster level or become Frightened.
Corona of Power – The blade crackles with magical electrical energy and does 1d6 electrical damage in addition to its normal damage.
Archon’s Sword – Your summoned blade gains an additional +1 to hit, provides you with a +1 bonus to save checks and a bonus of +1 to your AC.
4th Level
Elemental Burst – Driving the blade into the ground (a standard action) creates a blast around you, 5ft in radius doing the sword’s damage +1d6 to anything in the radius that fails a Reflex save against a DC of 10+caster level.
Hellforged – The blade gains a corona of yellow, flickering flame and does 1d6 fire damage in addition to its normal damage. As a full-round action you can unleash a 10 ft cone of fire that does 2d6 fire damage plus the normal damage of the sword if the target cannot make a Reflex save against a DC of 10+Caster level.
5th Level
Golden Bladesoul – As Bladesoul but counts as a +2 magic weapon.
Blade of the Storm – The blade crackles with powerful energy and rumbles like thunder. In addition to its normal damage it does 1d6 electrical damage and as a full round action it can unleash a 5d6 damage lightning bolt (plus the normal damage of the sword) with a range of 120 ft.
Binding Blade – The blade can be flung out on the end of a chain, allowing it to reach, and attack, up to 15 feet away. Anyone struck by it must make a Reflex save against a DC of 10+caster level or become Entangled. Breaking free of the chains requires a Strength or Escapology roll against a DC of 10+caster level. The blade can attack others, it simply leaves extra lengths of magic chain to bind those it strikes.
Heatwave – The sword is white hot and radiates heat that can hurt those around you. It does 1d6 fire damage in addition to its other damage and anyone in 5 ft of you must make a Fortitude save against a DC of 10 + Caster level or take 1d6 fire damage.
6th Level
Shadow Razor – The blade is black as night and deepens the shadows around the wielder making them effectively Invisible in shadow or darkness.
Kiss of Darksteel – The blade gains an oily, beguiling sheen and when it strikes a target they must make Fortitude save against a DC of 10+Caster level or be drained of energy taking one negative level.
7th Level
Diamond Bladesoul – As Bladesoul but counts as a +3 magic weapon.
Shattering Blade – The blade thickens and hardens. When it strikes a target wearing armour that target must make a Fortitude save against a DC of 10+Caster level or the armour is cloven, falling off and losing half its hit points. The blade does double damage against constructs.
Ringing Blade – The blade can be struck against the floor to ring like a terrible bell as a full round action. This creates a burst effect around you with a radius of 30 ft. Anything within that radius must make a Fortitude save against a DC of 10+Caster level or be stunned for one round. The blade also does an additional 1d6 sonic damage in addition to its normal damage when striking in combat.
8th Level
Earthtearing Blade – The sword can be slammed into the ground as a full-round action, tearing a boulder free and hurling it at the enemy as a ranged attack. If it strikes it does 2d6 damage plus the normal damage that the sword does in close combat. It leaves craters in its wake and can be used to tear at stone battlements or fortifications doing the same damage to the hit points of the structure and what the boulder is flung at. You can even strike a fort – or an Earth/Stone elemental or construct with parts of itself.
9th Level
Adamant Bladesoul – As Bladesoul but counts as a +4 magic weapon.
Raging Stormblade – The blade is a frozen arc of lightning. It does 3d6 electrical damage in additional to its normal damage and anyone struck must make a Reflex save against a DC of 10 + Caster level or take Caster level xd6 extra electrical damage. If this succeeds and there is another target within 5ft of the target just struck, the lightning arcs to them. They make a Reflex save again and if they fail take the damage. Continue until each available target has been struck once or a save has been made.
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