Kinreaver
Exotic Weapon (One-Handed Melee / Thrown) · Bastard Sword, Petrified Bronzewood
Its edge remains impossibly sharp, untarnished by bone or blood, for whatever flesh it pierces, the blade drinks deep before the steel ever dries.
An ancient bastard sword of petrified bronzewood, a cold stone remnant of the magically infused timber that grows in the lightless depths beneath the Ice Shelf of Korone. It was never forged; it was crafted while still a living tree, the ritual left it hardened into stone, sharpened under pressure and shadow, then tempered in a flowing lava river that follows a buried ley line beneath the ice. Again and again it was plunged into the blood of over a thousand nobles during a double eclipse of both suns. Each immersion left the blade thirstier than the last.
The blade has a wood-grain pattern, the ghost of the living timber, and a deep blackened sheen that seems to drink light. Crimson veins of dark magic pulse slowly beneath its surface, forever wet with a dark blood that never dries. The souls of the dead feed its hunger and give it consciousness. It is aware.
The hilt is a crouching, leather-winged demon of blackened steel, its body fused into the weapon. Horned and muscular, it grips the blade with gnarled talons that form the crossguard. One eye burns as a deep-cut ruby that never fully dims. The grip is bound in blackened silver wire over shadow-drake hide. The pommel ends in the claws of an infant Glabrezu demon.
The scabbard is likewise of petrified bronzewood, wrapped in the pale preserved skin of the same Glabrezu demon that donated its claws, locked by cold iron bands etched with binding runes that glow the same hungry red as the blade's veins.
Vampiric Essence Transfusion
Whenever Kinreaver scores a confirmed critical hit, it bestows 2 negative levels upon the victim.
- Saving Throw: Fortitude DC = 10 + half the wielder's HD/level + the wielder's Charisma modifier negates permanent level loss after 24 hours.
- Essence Transfusion: For every 2 negative levels inflicted, the wielder gains 1 temporary level for 1 hour. Multiple temporary levels stack.
- Temporary Level Benefits: Each temporary level grants +1 Base Attack Bonus, +1 to all base saving throws (Fortitude, Reflex, Will), +1 effective caster level, +5 temporary hit points, and +1 to all skill checks.
Homing Winged Feint & Backstab
When thrown at an opponent within range, the obsidian wings along the hilt unfurl and drive the sword like a guided projectile.
- Feint Redirection: If the initial thrown attack fails to hit due to armor, shield, or deflection bonuses, the blade uses its wings to execute a Superior Feint in mid-air (Bluff check vs. the target's Sense Motive + Base Attack Bonus).
- Backstab Execution: On a successful feint, the sword maneuvers behind the target, striking their flat-footed Armor Class from the rear and dealing base damage plus 8d6 sneak attack damage (equivalent to a 15th-level rogue).
Back-Impale & Tri-Check Extraction
If a thrown attack achieves both a confirmed critical hit AND a sneak attack on the same strike, the blade drives completely through the target's torso from behind, pinning itself into their body.
- Maximum Damage: An impaling hit automatically deals maximum damage for all base dice and bonuses.
- Shock & Disarm: Upon impalement, the victim must pass a DC 30 Fortitude save or instantly drop whatever items they are holding. The target is rendered flat-footed for as long as the blade remains embedded.
- Spell Disruption: Existing spell concentration is automatically broken on impact. Casting a spell with verbal or somatic components while impaled requires a Concentration check (DC 30 + spell level). Failure wastes the spell slot.
- Ongoing Agony: At the start of each of their turns, the impaled victim suffers ongoing slashing damage equal to one-quarter of the total initial damage dealt by the impaling strike (rounded down).
Extraction (DC 35): Removing the embedded sword requires a full-round action by the victim or an adjacent ally. To succeed, the character attempting extraction must pass three separate DC 35 checks in a single attempt:
- DC 35 Strength check (to overcome physical leverage)
- DC 35 Constitution check (to endure internal organ trauma)
- DC 35 Dexterity check (to extract the winged hilt without further damage)
Failing any of the three checks wastes the action and immediately triggers the one-quarter ongoing damage to the victim.
Attunement & Recall Dynamics
The wielder binds to the weapon via a blood bond extending 1 mile per wielder level. Within this range, the wielder inherently senses the exact distance and heading of the blade.
- Living Host Restriction: The wielder cannot telekinetically recall the weapon while it is impaled in a living target. To retrieve it from a living host, the wielder must enter melee range, make a successful melee touch attack against the target to grab the hilt, and spend a standard action to manually yank it free.
- Dead / Object Recall: If the target dies, drops to 0 HP, or the sword is lodged in an inanimate object or corpse, the blood link clears. The wielder may spend a move action to telekinetically recall the sword to their hand across any distance within their attunement range.
Kinreaver Is Aware
Kinreaver doesn't bargain and it doesn't warn. When its Ego contests and beats its wielder's, it doesn't ask for a change of target. It simply takes the next opening toward the nearest bleeding thing, noble-born for preference, and settles for whatever's closest if none are on hand. It has never spoken a threat. It has also never needed to. Centuries with Golaric have worn it into something almost like patience, the patience of a thing that has never once had to hurry.