The Bondblade 3.5

This Class was created by Holly E. Gray.

Bondblades are fighters that have become so attached to a single weapon that it starts to exhibit intelligence, and eventually, other, stranger abilities. Often this occurs after both the potential Bondblade and her chosen weapon have survived a magical attack, and dispatched the troublesome magician. Something about the residual magic seems to bring about the changes in weapon. Bondblades have been known to carry on entire conversations with their blades, and often consider them to be friends and equals, though it often confuses others when the Bondblade insists that they consider a sword's opinion too.

Fighters and Barbarians are the most common Bondblades, with Clerics, Paladins, Rangers, and Rogues also in the ranks. Bards, Druids, Sorcerers, and Wizards are much less common, and Monk Bondblades are virtually unheard of.

Requirements:

Skills: Craft (Weaponsmithing) - 6 ranks
Feats: Weapon Focus*, Alertness, Quick Draw
BAB: +5
Special: Must have used a single martial or exotic melee masterwork weapon (or a mace, spear or morning star) consistently and primarily** during the last three levels leading up to taking this prestige class.
Special: Must have had an unusual magical occurrence happen to them. Examples include: Being the target of a failed spell (often with bizarre side effects), wetting the sword in the blood of a highly magical creature (like a dragon) or another highly magical substance, having the blade experimented on by a magician or magical creature, or any other unusual occurrence. DM's discretion.
Special: The Bondblade must have either created the weapon herself (and if it has magical abilities, she must have created those as well) or repaired the weapon at a Craft check of 25.

* The weapon must be a masterwork martial or exotic melee weapon (or a mace, spear, or morning star). No ranged weapons are allowed due to the close bond that has to form with the weapon during the heat of close battle. (This could be changed at the DM's discretion)
** More than half the battles fought during this time period have to be fought with this weapon for it to be considered primary.

Class Features:

Weapons and Armor Specialization: The Bondblade gains no extra weapons or armor specialization.

Hit Dice: d10

Class Skills: Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis)
Skill Points per Level: 2+Int mod

Awaken the Blade I: During their time together, the weapon and the Bondblade have gone through a lot together. Now the weapon becomes intelligent, communicating by semiempathy (tingling and throbbing). (The weapon gains Int, Wis, and Cha, two at 2d6+7, one at 3d6). It shares the Bondblade's Sense Motive, Listen, and Intuit Direction skills and also her Alertness feat (For checks of these abilities, the Bondblade essentially gets to make them twice, once for her, and once for her sword.) Also, the blade is now considered to be magic for the purposes of bypassing damage reduction. (Note that the alignment of the blade will always be identical to the Bondblade. Also note that the weapon will only communicate and share its abilities with the Bondblade and no other.)

It's a Kind of Magic I: The weapon now becomes a +1 defender (as the class progresses, the defending abilities scales, thus becoming a +2 defender at 3rd level). (Also +5 hit points to the weapon, see Soul of Steel). (SP)

If the weapon is already magical or intelligent, abilities gained do not stack except for the following:

* If a weapon is already magical, it doesn't gain any magical pluses to this class until the given bonus is greater than what the weapon already had. Ex. if a Bondblade has a +2 shortsword, it would only gain part of the abilities from the It's a Kind of Magic I: becoming a defender at its +2 bonus.

* If the weapon is already intelligent, nothing changes, except for its alignment, if different from the Bondblade, begins to shift toward hers. (SP)

Always Yours: Because the weapon and the Bondblade hate to be separated, she learns to hold onto her weapon. She gains a +1 competence bonus per Bondblade level versus any attempts to be disarmed. (EX)

Weapon Specialization: A Bondblade now gains a +2 to damage with her chosen weapon as per the weapon specialization feat. If the Bondblade already has Weapon Specialization, she gains an additional +1 competence bonus to hit. (EX)

Brothers in Arms: A Bondblade can repair her chosen weapon with confidence, even restoring its magical abilities if they have been drained away. The DCs are normal if the weapon just sustained moderate damage (see Craft skill for DCs), and higher if more damage was sustained. The weapon can always be repaired, as long as the Bondblade has at least a shard of her chosen weapon. If the magical abilities have been drained away, the Bondblade may restore them (as they are extensions of her own spirit). A Craft check must be made at a DC five higher than normal, to prepare the weapon. Then two points of Con and Cha are temporarily drained to restore the weapon's magical abilities.

At 4th level the Bondblade can combine her chosen blade with another metal to help her combat creatures that can only be hurt with certain kinds of metals. For example at 4th level Kay could break down her longsword Kernith, and using some of the original shards reforge it combined with adamantine in order to bypass the damage reduction of some fiends.

At 8th level the Bondblade can add an additional metal to her weapon. For example, at 8th level Kay could break down and reforge Kernith again, this time adding cold iron to the mix. Now Kernith can bypass both adamantine and cold iron damage reduction.

If, for some reason the blade is destroyed past all ability to recover, like being thrown into a Sphere of Annihilation, the Bondblade immediately loses 200 XP per Bondblade level (Fort DC 20 for half), all class abilities, but still retains all class hit points, saves, and BAB. She essentially becomes a Bondblade without a chosen weapon. If, by some fluke (divine intervention or other) the chosen weapon is returned, all class abilities are returned, but the lost XP still remains lost. Some gods of the forge might be willing to grant the return of a Bondblade's annihilated weapon for the appropriate sacrifices. (SU)

Awaken the Blade II: The weapon now awakes to empathy, communicating through emotions and urges to the fighter to encourage or discourage certain courses of action. (SP)

Soul of Steel: The weapon draws its own physical strength from being bonded to the Bondblade. Multiply the base hit points for the weapon by four (use Table 8-13, in the PHB). Also, for each It's a Kind of Magic ability gained, add five extra hit points to the total. (But even though the weapon has gained five extra hit points by this time, do not multiply them for this ability).

Because the Bondblade and the weapon begin to share characteristics, not only does the chosen weapon gain more ability to take punishment, like their wielder, but also the wielder becomes more like the weapon. A Bondblade gets an extra save against mind-affecting spells, reflecting her bond to an "inanimate object." (EX)

It's a Kind of Magic II: The weapon now gains a +3 bonus, and now chooses one facet of its alignment to bypass damage reduction with. For example, Kay and her bonded sword Kernith are both Lawful Good. Kay can choose to have Kernith be able to bypass damage reduction as if it were a lawful blade. Once chosen this cannot change. If the Bondblade is True Neutral, they may pick one of anarchic, axiomatic, holy, or unholy, whichever they and their bonded blade decide would be best to harm their enemies with. (SP)

Awaken the Blade III: Now the weapon awakes to full blown speech. It speaks Common (or whatever the base tongue is for the character) plus one language per point of Intelligence bonus. There is also a 20% chance that the weapon will gain telepathy in addition to speech. If the character has psionic powers, the chance raises to 50%. By now the weapon has a name and a distinct personality. (SP)

My One and Only: Because the weapon and the fighter have been through so much together at this point, the weapon would be extremely insulted if the Bondblade choose to use any weapon but them in melee. If the Bondblade uses any weapon but their chosen, the weapon will sulk (essentially denying the Bondblade access to all class abilities until she apologizes or gives a very good excuse why she couldn't use her chosen weapon). Sulking typically lasts one day per fight where the weapon was denied use, unless the Bondblade makes amends.

By Your Side I: Because the Bondblade rarely uses ranged weapons, the bonded blade gains the ability to help out the Bondblade even at a distance. It gains the throwing quality with a range increment of 30 ft. as well as the returning quality. If the weapon and the Bondblade are separated so that the returning quality could not work (the Bondblade has had to move, or is grappled, etc), she can mentally call the weapon back to her hand as a move-equivalent action. The weapon flies in a straight line back to her hand (Max range 30 ft.). If there are any intervening items or beings, the weapon makes an attack at the Bondblade's highest BAB. If this enough to dispatch the obstacle, the weapon continues on, if not, it falls, and the Bondblade may try again next round. If the blade cannot fly into the Bondblade�s hand, it will set on the ground next to her. Useable 5/day. (SU)

It's a Kind of Magic III: The weapon gains two powers from the Intelligent Item Lesser Powers list on page 269 of the DMG 3.5. The powers should be appropriate to the character and the weapon (subject to DM approval). (SP)

True Purpose: The weapon has now found its purpose in defending the Bondblade, and will consider communicating to someone who is not the Bondblade if it will help the Bondblade in some way. (I.e. if the Bondblade has been captured and the weapon left behind, it might consider working with a rescue party.)

Also whenever the Bondblade falls to 0 hit points or less, or is the target of a sleep, hold person/monster, or paralyze-type spell, the weapon becomes a dancing weapon. It only dances under those conditions, and cannot be commanded to dance by the Bondblade otherwise.

Got your Back: The weapon now looks out for the Bondblade. She can no longer be flanked, except by a rogue four levels higher than she is. (SP)

By Your Side II: As By Your Side I, except with a range of 60 ft. on both the throwing and the conditional returning superceding By Your Side One. Still 5/day. (SU)

It's a Kind of Magic IV: The weapon gains one power from the Intelligent Item Greater Powers list on page 270 of the DMG. This power should be appropriate to the character and the weapon (subject to DM approval). (SU)

I Didn't Know You Could Do That!!: The weapon now gains one ability from the medium column of table 7-14 Melee Weapon Special Abilities (pg 223) in the DMG 3.5. Defending, dancing, throwing, or returning abilities obviously should not be picked, as should any ability that imitates the alignment ability chosen in It's a Kind of Magic II. (SU)

Till Death Do Us Part: By now the weapon and the Bondblade are the best of friends, and the way they work together is nearly supernatural. Now the Bondblade can always unerringly tell where her weapon lies, exact direction and approximate distance. In addition both the weapon and the Bondblade can transfer hit points to each other as a move-equivalent action. The weapon may sacrifice no more than half its hit points to heal the Bondblade (and visa-versa for the Bondblade).

When a Bondblade dies, the weapon will explode into shards of metal (or other) that deal 3d6 slashing damage to all within a 20 ft. radius, unless the Bondblade chooses a rather unusual option.

She can choose to enter the weapon, bonding with the spirit of her blade. If this option is chosen, the weapon's Int, Cha, and Wis become the average of the two entities. Thus the weapon becomes a mixture of the two spirits, with all the attendant magical abilities. Weapons passed down this way in a family often have names stretching back through the ages.

"Ah yes, my name, youngling, is Kernith- Kay-Weldor -Jarsen -Illyan -Hardeth -Belbrite -Garvon -Sevzek -Verquy the Bold, but most call me the Icespider."

A family member (or random adventurer) picking up a old Bonded Blade in this fashion (or from a monster's hoard) can become Bondblades, but instead of rolling for the appropriate abilities, the weapon simply reveals them at the appropriate levels, as their trust in the wielder grows.

Roleplaying Notes:

The weapon becomes like a cohort. The player should note that while it has the same alignment as the character, and has shared much of the same experiences, differences in opinion or even outright disagreement could and most likely will arise. Arguments between blade and Bondblade are usually quite fun to watch!

Epic Progression:

For Further Fun:

Please see Gumbo T's original information below for more fun with the Bondblade's weapon.

Originally posted by Gumbo T

Weapon Personality

It's said that pets come to look like their owners. But if your halberd starts to look like you then you're in trouble. Still, weapons could always pattern themselves after you....

The following are charts that determine certain "aspects" of your weapon.

Weapon Voice (d20 roll)

Voice Quirks (d20 roll)

There is a 25% chance that the weapon will inherit one of its wielder's voice quirks. In addition, make a roll on the following table:

Mood Weapons (d20 roll)

Weapons aren't any better than people at hiding emotions. They make up for a lack of expressions in other ways.... As a note, ONLY the wielder can detect these conditions. (IE, monsters cannot smell your weapon and track you by it, etc.)

Motivators (d20 roll)

Your weapon could have a secret agenda. In general, its agenda is the same as yours, but occasionally it gets a "mind of its own..."

Personality:

There are too many possible personalities for a weapon to list in one place. A few guidelines:

Daggers are known for their piercing wit.
Clubs tend to be blunt in conversation.
Spears also like to get "to the point".
Throwing weapons like to toss ideas around.
Axes have no bones about chopping your ego down to size.
Whips..........I'm not going to go there.

Additional ways a weapon could start to become magical:

Originally posted by Gumbo T

1. If you want to go the terrible mistake route, you could require that the character be the (intended) target of a failed spell whilst wielding the weapon. This works well for worlds where spells can have wacky side effects.

2. Fairies. It's always fairies. The same fairies that saved your fighter from death after he accidentally ran off the castle roof at the start of what was supposed to be a long and epic adventure. You know the ones.

3. Blood of a spellcaster does work. So does the blood of an extraplanar being. The weapon could inherit traits from the victim.

4. For a Ranger, perhaps taking out a magical ring leader of favored enemies.

5. For clerics, the character could make a mistake of some kind while praying to his or her god. Smart aleck weapon is punishment and the result.

5. For bards, perhaps the character must use a supernatural perform ability on the weapon. ... Perhaps he is a narcissist and uses his sword like a mirror in the shower?

6. Exposure of the weapon to any number of materials. "Hey! Get out of the holy water, you crazy adventurer!"

7. A strange magical item combination. (Weapon gets left in bag of holding with wand of magic missiles and casks of flaming oil. Boom.)

8. Adventurer attempts seppuku with said weapon and fails.

9. Weapon is the repeated subject of bless weapon spells by the character for a prolonged period of time.

10.On a general note, it's easy for the DM to invent functions at which the PCs must check their weapons. Who knows what the clerk does with them after he gets them?
Cheers!