I have many, far too many, unfinished posts. Here is one of them - if it ends up in your game, let me know!
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Most DnDish campaigns make use of magical items, so here is one you're welcome to use in your campaign.
Balefire is a ancient blade that has appeared time and again throughout history, always in the hands of a tyrannical warlord leading an army of the damned. Eventually, champions arise who put the tyrant down and the threat is gone until the next would-be emperor arises.
This is because the spirit bound to Balefire is an ancient lich-king who failed in making the sword its phylactery, instead making it his eternal prison. When not in active use, it waits patiently for the next fool to take hold of it, and then Balefire's reign of terror begins anew.
Balefire is sentient bastard sword that does not normally speak aloud - it is perfectly capable of speech, but prefers to use telepathy with its wielder and appear in dreams in whatever form the lich inside thinks will work best to persuade the wielder to continue the cyclical rampage that the sword causes.
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Mechanically, Balefire is a flaming bastard sword, whose flames burn an ugly green and purple. In addition to fire damage on the initial strike, the flames continue to burn the target, dealing a bit of fire damage, but more importantly, the fire burns the essence of the target, dealing temporary Constitution and Charisma damage. Balefire is very much Lawful Evil, to the point where nonaligned - especially Chaotic Good - sorts experience these flames just by drawing the sword from its scabbard.
Sentient beings slain by Balefire rise under the sword's - NOT the wielder's - control. Often, blade and wielder goals align, so it amounts to the same thing, especially if the wielder is chasing dreams of empire.
Dreams implanted and reinforced by the spirit within Balefire, itself.
On occasion, the spirit within enjoys the irony of being trapped in a bastard sword.
The lich inhabiting Balefire has a full complement of spells - the wielder cannot cast these spells, but can bargain for help. At times, Balefire casts spells of its own accord, for its own inscrutable reasons.
In addition to its offensive capabilities, Balefire heals after a fashion - with every sentient being slain with Balefire, the wielder gains half its hit points back or has a disease or condition cured. This healing has the side effect of granting virtual immortality to its wielder. As such, the best way to kill the wielder involves disarming the wielder and keeping the blade out of anyone else's hands - a challenge when undead under the sword's command are actively trying to rearm the wielder.
Still, heroes arise and the sword disappears from history for a century or two.
True heroes would destroy the blade, but to date, no one has learned how.
Perhaps your PCs will be the ones to do so.
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