Swordtember 9: Vassal’s Blade

A common magic weapon so that your boss can always let you know when it's time to come to work.

Nine days of Swordtember already! The prompt today was “Summoned“ and I wanted to do something different to my first impulse, which would have been to design some sort of infernal or demonic weapon. Instead, I challenged myself to design a common magic weapon, because I don’t think there are enough of them. Was this whole homebrew an elaborate way to get to the “pager“ pun? maybe yes.

Vassal’s Blade

Weapon (Any Sword), Common

This magical blade always comes with a paired an ornate signet ring. Traditionally, this sword was given by kings or nobles to their knights so that they might be summoned to service. In contemporary times, a nickname has been coined for these blades; “Pagers” as they are often the first swords given to pages or squires.

A person wearing the ring can whisper the command word to cause the gem in the hilt of the blade to emit 5 feet of dim light, or to deactivate the light. The bearer of the sword can use an action while holding the blade to cause it to automatically point in the direction of the ring while the light is active.  

Variant Rules: Some Vassal’s Blades are all connected to a single ring, rather than each being connected to their own. There is a separate command word to cause the light to emit or extinguish for each blade, as well as a command word to cause all the swords connected to the ring to emit light at once.

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If a ring is lost while the gem in the sword’s hilt is not lit, it is a simple enough process to get one replaced with any magical artisan. It costs about 10 gold. The connection cannot be severed to replace a ring if the gem in the sword’s hilt is lit.