Why can't Viconia use Varscona?
Communard
Member Posts: 556
In reference to the item's description:
Long sword +2: 'Varscona'. Blades of this type were used by Sharran priests during the sacrificial rites of Feast of the Moon ceremonies. Legends say that, when she passed on, the remains of this sword's wielder were mummified and the blade was placed within her chest as a symbol of power. In the first stage of a long forgotten ritual, she was to have been exhumed in a season, born again in some new form. Unfortunately, cult wars killed the few that knew of her existence ; her tomb became a prison where she was forgotten, and there she developed a rage that bordered on insanity. Her grave was eventually found, but it was deserted and gave no indication of her whereabouts. Some venture to say that her anger was so concentrated, she became one with the very blade of her weapon. Regardless, after hundreds of years surrounded by constant hate, the sword harvested a power of its own. It is now exceedingly deadly in combat.
Long sword +2: 'Varscona'. Blades of this type were used by Sharran priests during the sacrificial rites of Feast of the Moon ceremonies. Legends say that, when she passed on, the remains of this sword's wielder were mummified and the blade was placed within her chest as a symbol of power. In the first stage of a long forgotten ritual, she was to have been exhumed in a season, born again in some new form. Unfortunately, cult wars killed the few that knew of her existence ; her tomb became a prison where she was forgotten, and there she developed a rage that bordered on insanity. Her grave was eventually found, but it was deserted and gave no indication of her whereabouts. Some venture to say that her anger was so concentrated, she became one with the very blade of her weapon. Regardless, after hundreds of years surrounded by constant hate, the sword harvested a power of its own. It is now exceedingly deadly in combat.
4
Comments
the priests might have used it as a ritual implement but not as a weapon
I actually think that EE should have created a custom NPC kit for all of the NPC's.
But they chose to stick with the generic cleric instead. And gives us HLAs. Oh well...
I'm sure the original issue is all about balance. In original White Box D&D there was no such thing as weapon specialization (it was introduced in a late 1E supplement, Unearthed Arcana). That meant, with every character starting with a 20 Thac0, there was no difference in first level fighting ability. So weapon restrictions were a big deal. The fighter was the only class that could use weapons doing more than 7 points of damage on a hit.
Once weapon specialization was introduced I think those weapon restrictions were obsolete; fighters now had something special that no simple cleric could compete with. Even if a cleric were wielding a two-handed sword, without weapon specialization he'll never be as good as a fighter. Even a fighter with a smaller weapon he IS specialized in.
2E actually made the allowance for this. The core books describe specialty clerics that can use different weapons based on their religion. So a cleric of an archery Deity may use a bow. A cleric whose Holy Symbol is a sword can probably use a sword. And an evil cleric of a God of War and Destruction can probably use any weapon, poison, nuke he can get ahold of. It makes perfect sense, and I've played in a number of PnP games that have well thought through priesthoods and restrictions.
But the generic cleric remains as it always was. And that's what IE uses. Bummer.
I played enough D&D back in the day it actually makes me a little nostalgic for how things used to be...
But really, I wish the different priesthoods had actually been better developed like most PnP I've played in the last 30 years.