Sky

[Brickwall]

Hm, it does say that. Guess I was wrong. *shrug*

 

[Coyotekin]

How about the ability to sever someone or something from its flow of Essence. Now a big deal to non-Essence wielders, but condemning for Essence users. The effect would not be permanent, unless the target's Essence rating was lower than the wielder's Essence. The target would get a save of Integrity and Essence vs the attack roll and should the target gain fewer successes than it has been severed from its connection. This kills spirits, elementals, and more that rely on Essence for their existence. The exception would be to Exalted as their shards were bestowed upon them by the Incarnae and nothing short of a Primordial may change that. It can still hinder an Exalted as they suddenly have been mystically crippled, lacking any ability to wield their numerous Charms and abilities for a certain duration.


This ability may be used 3 times day, requiring an expenditure of 10m, 1wp, and 1 AHL to empower as the sword siphons the wielder's understanding of Essence with its understanding of separating things from their original whole. This attack does not do damage, although it does ignore unnatural soak. It cannot be parried and is Unblockable by anything other than Essence-based abilities. The target's dice pool is considered 0 before the use of Charms and powers. The damage taken may be healed by Charms only as the wielder's very Essence has been harmed in this blatant act against the natural order of things.

 

[Coyotekin]

Oh, and the target also gets a Crippling effect added to them if this attack succeeds. In addition, whether the attack succeeds or fails the wielder still pays the surcharge for the effect and uses up one of its daily uses.

 

[Arthur]

Here is the version of the sword that I proposed to Tome:

Sky
History: There was a Yozi cult in the North called The Order of the Forbidden Flame. They were destroyed long ago by the Solar armies, but there was a tale among them, and that tale survives among the whispers of forbidden gods and other creatures forsaken by Heaven. It was a story about a sword called Sky. According to it, the Unconquered Sun, in the first day after the end of the Primordial War, left Creation for a small Elsewhere realm he had created. There, he meditated on the existence. During one impossible second, the unimaginable happened: he shed a single, perfect, tear, filled with perfect regret. That tear fell to Creation, and, from that moment on, the destiny of the world was sealed. The powerful were doomed to always be overthrown by the weak, until the day Creation was a land of no magic and no power, ruled by mortals dependent on a soulless, grey society to exist.


Whether that will happen or not is yet to be known, but the tale goes on. The tear fell somewhere near the Imperial Mountain, and the elemental energies there crystalized it. There, an elder among the Mountain Folk found it, and mistook it for a mere crystal. Still, he sensed the magical power within the gem, and decided to forge it into a sword. He gathered the Adamant and the Orichalcum, and shaped the blade and the hilt. When it was ready, he put the tear over it, and stroke it once with his hammer. An explosion of Essence sent him away, and when he managed to get up and see his work again, he understood what the crystal was.


It was crystalized perfection.


The sword had received an ethereal blue color, and golden sparkles erupted around its blade once in a while. It was then sent to master artisans for evaluation, and even they couldn't find a single flaw within it. As far as any of them could tell, it was the sharpest, best-balanced sword they had ever seen. The sword remained with the Mountain Folk as a valued treasure, kept in the chambers of the Imperial Mountain. Then, the Solars came to Meru, and all of it was ruined. One of them, a Eclipse, gained knowledge about the sword, by now called Sky because of its coloration, and demanded it as a gift. The Jadeborn had no choice but to give it, constrained by their creator to help the Chosen, even after the Primordial War. And so, Sky fell in the hands of the Solar that would soon reincarnate as Kendik Arkadi.


Appearance: Sky's blade is 1,12m long, with a hilt of 26cm. The blade is just a little broader than that of a traditional katana. It's of a semi-transparent, etheral blue. When an attuned user is holding Sky, small golden sparkles appear all over it, and the Essence that flows through the blade becomes visible as waves of blue energy that encompass the sword and form a small aura around it. The hilt is a featureless Orichalcum alloy shaped to maximize comfort and to guarantee a strong grip.


System: The sword is based in a Wavecleaver, but has its stats modified to reflect the excellence of its artisan and materials. It has Speed 3, Accuracy +4, Damage +10L/3, Defence +2, Rate 3, Attune 7 and it's Overwhelming and Piercing (due to the material bonus of the Adamant). That is just the outer shell of the Perfect Weapon, though. Its three other effects are what really make this weapon what it is. First, weapons of any kind can't get in the way of Sky's overwhelming perfection. The PDV of opponents wielding Melee weapons (but not opponents that somehow can defend Lethal attacks with their bare hands) is reduced to 0 before the application of other effects (i.e. it is a Perfect Attack against parries made with Melee Weapons). Second, the blue aura that surrounds Sky when it's being used can create powerful pulses of force that drive other weapons away. When Sky successfully parries a weapon, its wielder can roll a disarming attempt with full dice pool. Finally, it allows the user to treat First and Second Excellences natural abilities instead of Charms. This works like the Melee Essence Flow, but it works with Infinite Melee Mastery.

 

[Jukashi]

Seems a bit overwhelming to me. :?


Comparing it to other Artifact 5 weapons, in particular, it seems to be too strong. And you mentioned adding a drawback, but I don't see it in what you've offered there.

 

[Arthur]

The original drawback consisted in some decreased stats, since it was based in a Grand Daiklave, but I guess I took that away and forgot to add something else. I though of a drawback that seems to fit very well with the idea of the weapon. I actually liked it. Tell me what you think.

System: The sword is based in a Wavecleaver, but has its stats modified to reflect the excellence of its artisan and materials. It has Speed 3, Accuracy +4, Damage +10L/3, Defence +2, Rate 3, Attune 7 and it's Overwhelming and Piercing (due to the material bonus of the Adamant). That is just the outer shell of the Perfect Weapon, though. Its three other effects are what really make this weapon what it is. First, weapons of any kind can't get in the way of Sky's overwhelming perfection. The PDV of opponents wielding Melee weapons (but not opponents that somehow can defend Lethal attacks with their bare hands) is reduced to 0 before the application of other effects (i.e. it is a Perfect Attack against parries made with Melee Weapons). Second, the blue aura that surrounds Sky when it's being used can create powerful pulses of force that drive other weapons away. When Sky successfully parries a weapon, its wielder can roll a disarming attempt with full dice pool. Finally, it allows the user to treat First and Second Excellences natural abilities instead of Charms. This works like the Melee Essence Flow, but it works with Infinite Melee Mastery.
But Sky has a flaw. As everything that is too perfect, it's cursed with arrogance. Sky requires attention, it requires glory, and more than that, it requires a wielder that matches its skill and leads it to feats of legend. That leads to two system effects. First, during every day in which Sky is used in combat, it requires that at least one stunt is performed with it. Second, it requires being fed with stunt dice. It will take one die (that is, reduce the stunt level by one) once every eight dice of stunt received. That is, if a character has received 6 stunt dice without feeding Sky and then performs a three-dice stunt, the 3 dice stunt becomes a 2 dice stunt. Fail to meet these requirements causes Sky to lose one of its three abilities per scene in which it is used. When the requirements are met again, all abilities return.