Shardbearer

 

Mythos and History

In the darkest abyssal plane, a demon devised a plan to harvest the souls of mortals without ever setting foot in the material world. Through dark ceremonies, he splintered off a shard of his being and shaped it into a weapon a mortal would desire, tempting them with personal power. Then, the demon released it into the world, reaping the benefits from the slayings committed.

Nature

While not a true religion, those who wield the blade are as tied to it as any priest.

Organization

There is no real organization to speak of - the possessor of the sword and the demon form a symbiotic relationship. Though some may seek such an unholy entanglement, the demon determines who he distributes swords to.

Membership

Standard. In addition, to advance to the Acolyte level, they must have a Desire (harvest souls for the sword) at 50%. Priests must have this passion at 75%, and High Priests must have and maintain this at 100%. There are no Common members of this cult.

Restrictions

The blade whispers promises of power and of its hunger for more souls. This manifests as a special Passion of Desire (harvest souls for the sword), which starts at 20%. Every time the character succumbs to this passion (either by failing a willpower roll to resist or by not resisting), it gains 1d4+1%, as if the character had spent experience in it. Conversely, if the character resists this passion, they reduce this passion by 1d4+1%. The character can spend 1 XP to either increase or reduce this passion.

Skills

Combat Style (Demon Blade), Devotion, Exhortation, Folk Magic, Influence, Lore (choose one appropriate to the demon)

Magic

Initiates learn the Folk Magic spells Bladesharp, Demoralize, Darkness, Pierce, Shock, Shove, Tire, and Witchsight. Acolytes learn the Theist spell Perseverance, Priests learn Dismiss Magic and True (Sword), High Priests learn Berserk and Steadfast. All these spells must be cast while holding the sword, which replaces the need to gesture.

The sword itself acts as a portable shrine, The act of donating magic points to the donation pool takes an hour and provokes a roll against the Desire to harvest souls once complete.

Gifts

Demon Blade - Initiates able to manifest a special greatsword into their hand or, while holding, dismiss at will as a free action. This weapon behaves in all ways as a normal greatsword, save that it is indestructible and counts as magical for the purposes of overcoming defenses. If it is more than 2m from the initiate for a minute, it disappears as if they had dismissed it.

While using this sword, if the initiate wins a standard offensive special effect, they may cast a folk magic spell they know as a free action instead of a special effect. The attack roll must be below their folk magic skill and still costs magic points as appropriate. This may only be done once per attack. The spell is applied with the attack after the defense is rolled but before the damage is rolled and may affect the damage and, if resistance is called for, is rolled against the attack roll.

In addition, shardbearers gain physical benefits from the weapon as their tie to it increases. At each rank above Initiate, they gain a gift from the list below.

• Unholy Strength - The bearer’s Damage Modifier is recalculated, based on the sum of STR, SIZ and POW.
• Unholy Eye - The bearer gains the Dark Vision creature ability.
• Unholy Health - the bearer’s healing rate is doubled.
• Unholy Speed - The bearer gains an additional action point.