Soulbound Weapons and Armour
Introduction
This is a system that I devised for a campaign that I've been running for the last few years. It was my solution to modeling the mythical/legendary/fictional ideas of heroes developing their own weapons of renown. The seed of the idea is rooted in the Earthdawn system, but has been adapted to suit a d20 system.
A word of warning to any GM's that want to implement this: it results in a slightly slower level progression for characters (if they take advantage of the system), and allows players to essentially kit-build the perfect weapon and/or suit of armour for their characters. The magical items that this produces can produce balance problems, so be ready for them. Allowing NPC's to use this system as well goes a long way to correcting this, but it requires more thought in NPC development.
Soulbinding
Soulbinding is a technique developed by the Artificers that allows a person to merge a piece of weaponry or armour with their very being. While no physical connection is made, it does grant the Soulbound item the ability to grow in power and effectiveness as the person gains skill. The Soulbinding process allows the person to pour some of his or her life into the item, fuelling its magical abilities, but only in the hands of the person bound to it.
Requirements for Soulbinding
A weapon or suit of armour must meet a few requirements in order to be Soulbound to a person.
- Masterwork Item. The item in question must be of masterwork quality. Lesser constructions will not support the power of the magical abilities that the item will develop.
- Non-magical. The item must have no other enchantments placed on it. Items enchanted in the traditional manner are closed off to contain their enchantments, and will not accept the linkage necessary for Soulbinding.
- Named. The item must be named by its owner or maker. Names have a significant magical power, and the item must be identified by name to begin developing its personality.
- Used in Battle. The item must have been used in a battle where the owner risked death. Without the dependence on the item that such incidents create, the emotional linkage is not strong enough to join the person to the item.
If these conditions are met, then the item is eligible to be Soulbound to the person.
Process of Soulbinding
The Soulbinding process is a ritual conducted by a spellcaster with the Soulbind Arms and Armour feat.
Soulbind Arms and Armour (Item Creation)
You may Soulbind weapons and armour to people.
Prerequisites:
Spellcaster level 5th+, Craft Magic Arms and Armour
Benefit:
You have learned the rituals necessary to create the linkage between a person and his or her arms or armour necessary to allow the item to grow in power along with the individual. This creates the link necessary to allow the person Soulbound to the item to spend experience points to increase the power of the item. Soulbinding an item takes 24 hours of rituals, 2000gp worth of materials and sacrifices, a willing subject, and an item that meets the requirements for Soulbinding. The subject of the ritual must sacrifice 400 XP. The resulting item gains a +1 magical bonus.
Benefits of Soulbinding
A character with a Soulbound weapon or suit of armour may spend experience points to increase the power of the item in question according to the chart below.
| Equivalent
Bonus |
Total XP Needed
- Weapon |
Total XP Needed
- Armour |
|---|---|---|
| +2 | 1,600 | 800 |
| +3 | 3,600 | 1,800 |
| +4 | 6,400 | 3,200 |
| +5 | 10,000 | 5,000 |
| +6* | 14,400 | 7,200 |
| +7* | 19,600 | 9,800 |
| +8* | 25,600 | 12,800 |
| +9* | 32,400 | 16,200 |
| +10* | 40,000 | 20,000 |
* Magic items can't have an enhancement bonus this high. This number provides the experience cost for the appropriate bonus equivalent when special abilities rise the item's bonus that high.
Experience can be spent at any time, but a character may not spend so many experience points that he or she no longer has enough experience to qualify for his or her current level.
Improving Soulbound Items
When a character wishes to increase the power of a Soulbound item, he or she must perform a small ritual, lasting about an hour, wherein the character spends the necessary experience points and conducts ceremonial actions related to the improvement being added. For example, if the character is increasing an enhancement bonus, a weapon might be used in a drill form, or armour might be pelted by small stones. A sword that will become flaming might be plunged into a lit brazier, and a shield that is meant to become blinding may be polished to a high sheen.
Special abilities may be added to a Soulbound item instead of an enhancement bonus. These abilities include:
Armour and Shield Special Abilities
- Acid Resistance. +3 equivalent bonus
- Animated. +2 equivalent bonus
- Arrow Deflection. +2 equivalent bonus
- Bashing. +1 equivalent bonus
- Blinding. +1 equivalent bonus
- Cold Resistance. +3 equivalent bonus
- Etherealness. +5 equivalent bonus
- Fire Resistance. +3 equivalent bonus
- Fortification, Light. +1 equivalent bonus
- Fortification, Medium. +3 equivalent bonus
- Fortification, Heavy. +5 equivalent bonus
- Ghost Touch. +3 equivalent bonus
- Glamered. +1 equivalent bonus
- Invulnerability. +3 equivalent bonus
- Lightning Resistance. +3 equivalent bonus
- Reflection. +5 equivalent bonus
- Shadow. +1 equivalent bonus
- Silent Moves. +1 equivalent bonus
- Slick. +1 equivalent bonus
- Sonic Resistance. +3 equivalent bonus
- Spell Resistance, SR 13. +2 equivalent bonus
- Spell Resistance, SR 15. +3 equivalent bonus
- Spell Resistance, SR 17. +4 equivalent bonus
- Spell Resistance, SR 19. +5 equivalent bonus
Weapon Special Abilities
- Brilliant Energy. +4 equivalent bonus
- Chaotic. +2 equivalent bonus
- Dancing. +4 equivalent bonus
- Defending. +1 equivalent bonus
- Disruption. +2 equivalent bonus
- Distance. +1 equivalent bonus
- Flaming. +1 equivalent bonus
- Flaming Burst. +2 equivalent bonus
- Frost. +1 equivalent bonus
- Ghost Touch. +1 equivalent bonus
- Holy. +2 equivalent bonus
- Icy Burst. +2 equivalent bonus
- Keen. +1 equivalent bonus
- Lawful. +2 equivalent bonus
- Mighty Cleaving. +1 equivalent bonus
- Returning. +1 equivalent bonus
- Shock. +1 equivalent bonus
- Shocking Burst. +2 equivalent bonus
- Speed. +4 equivalent bonus
- Spell Storing. +1 equivalent bonus
- Thundering. +2 equivalent bonus
- Throwing. +1 equivalent bonus
- Unholy. +2 equivalent bonus
- Vorpal. +5 equivalent bonus
- Wounding. +1 equivalent bonus
Inheritance
An item that has been Soulbound displays no magical properties for anyone other than the person who is Soulbound to it. This person may, if he or she desires, designate an heir for the item. This person will be able to Soulbind the item to him or herself if the original owner is no longer living. All powers that have been instilled into the Soulbound item will still be active for this heir. The ritual of becoming the heir of a Soulbound item takes eight hours, and the Soulbind Arms and Armour feat.
Merging
If a character with a Soulbound weapon or suit of armour dies, he or she may choose to forgo the afterlife, and instead move to inhabit the item. This creates an intelligent magical item with the personality, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and alignment of the Soulbound individual. All powers that have been instilled in the item become permanent and usable by anyone, at the whim of the item itself.
Dangers of Soulbinding
Soulbinding items is not without pitfalls. You are investing a portion of your life-essence into an inanimate object, and that makes for potential dangers.
Spontaneous Awakening
It is dangerous to pour so much of yourself into your weapons and armour. If at any time the total amount of experience points invested in your Soulbound items equal to or exceeding half your accumulated experience points, you must make a Will save (DC 20 + the total bonuses of all your Soulbound items). If you fail this save, the item that you have spent the most experience points on awakens to intelligence. It has Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma equal to yours, and can communicate in every language you can. Its other stats are determined randomly.
The personality of the item is a version of the character's, although it may be twisted into a different alignment. It is the shadowy, subconscious part of the character's mind, and may view the character as a trusted parent or as a cruel slavedriver. If the item gains control of the character in a personality conflict, its primary concern is in growing more powerful by drawing off all experience points it can from the character.
This save must be made once per week until the character has increased his or her accumulated experience point total.
Soul Dependency
If the total number of experience points invested in all Soulbound items ever exceeds the accumulated character experience total, the character becomes permanently dependent on the item to function. If an item is removed from the character's presence, the character must make a Will Save (DC 20 + total equivalent bonus of the item) each hour or lose 1d4 points of Charisma. In addition, each day the character must make a Fortitude Save (DC 20 + total equivalent bonus of the item), or lose 1d4 points of Constitution. This point loss is temporary, and can be regained at 1 point per attribute per day once the item is again in the character's possession.
