Swordtember 5: Emberglass Zweihander

A sleeping fiery spirit embedded in an obsidian sword… and an explosive curse to go with it.

Day 5 of Swordtember, and I cannot believe it took me this long to design a cursed weapon for the challenge. The prompt was “Lava“ by the way, but I ended up going in an obsidian direction.

The concept of an obsidian sword has always fascinated me, but I figure the reason they weren’t used historically is probably that they would shatter. That’s where the curse idea came to me. I think a sword that breaks and regrows is super fun and interesting — and my design philosophy with curses has always been to make the curse fun enough that you might reasonably still use the item. This one works really well with the barbarian, and the explosive properties of the curse might even be beneficial with a rage.

Emberglass Zweihander

Weapon (Greatsword), Rare (requires attunement) 

This sword was carved from a massive piece of obsidian which contains a sleeping volcanic spirit. It is very heavy, and requires 18 Strength to wield without making attacks at disadvantage. The obsidian is supernaturally sharp, so the sword deals an extra 1d6 slashing damage.

Curse: When you roll minimum damage on a damage roll with the sword or a critical miss on an attack roll with the sword, the sword shatters. Every creature within 5 feet must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 5d6 piercing damage as shards of obsidian radiate out in every direction. Creatures who succeed on the save take half damage instead. 

Each time the blade shatters, it shrinks in size and becomes a smaller type of blade. The first time it shatters, it becomes a longsword and adds 1d4 instead of 1d6 slashing damage . After that, it becomes a shortsword which adds +1 to damage rolls, and then a dagger that does not add any additional damage. If the dagger shatters, it is an unusable handle for a time. The blade regrows one sword type for every 1d4 hours that pass until it is a greatsword again. (from a handle to dagger, dagger to shortsword, and so on)

Until the curse is broken, you are unwilling to part with the blade. Addtionally, you have dreams of swimming through the roiling heat of magma flows deep beneath the earth.