Lifeblood Stealer:
Int: 18
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Ego: 36
Abilities:
Telepathy (common and language of holder)
Drains blood (kinda goes with the dagger's name)
Detects lifeblood(see below)
Detects magic (in 60' radius)
Magic-User bonuses (see below)
+2 to hit and damage
Protection bonuses (see below)
The Lifeblood Stealer, like its cousin the Gem Sword, is not distinguishable from an ordinary weapon. That is, it looks just like any other dagger, with no special markings or adornments.
The dagger was created by the same wizard that empowered the Gem Sword. The Lifeblood Stealer was also taken under control by the Staff of the Undead, and now serves to further the goals of the staff's master. This is done by storing energy within itself, which eventually is given to the staff when the two come into contact.
The dagger's telepathy ability enables it to communicate with its current holder, and also with the owner of the Staff of the Undead. The dagger will quickly learn whatever language it needs to so that it will be able to direct the current user towards its evil purpose.
The Stealer obtains power by draining the blood of a living creature (much like a vampire). All it needs to do is deliver a piercing wound to start consuming blood, at a rate of 1d6 per round (this is blood loss only, roll seperate for the normal 1d4 of damage from the dagger itself). This need not be a constant contact, but can just be the normal hack and slash of combat (yes, the dagger drains that fast). When the victim is completely drained of blood, that person (or creature) will of course die (but will never turn undead).
The powers of the dagger to detect the lifeblood of a living victim, bonus spell levels and spells, and the protection bonus change as it gains more power. Use the following chart to track these abilities per the amount of hit points the dagger has consumed:
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of blood drained |
of victim radius |
level bonus and spells |
(maintain points) |
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Detect lifeblood is the daggers ability to sense a living victim that has actual blood. This means that some monsters will be totally ignored. It will always go for the biggest target it can find, only as long as the wielder can overpower it.
The numbers under the Magic use spell level bonus and spells column apply to Magic-Users and also non-spell casters.
For Magic-Users: The number to the left indicates the bonus applied to the characters spell casting level. That is, a first level M-U who has a bonus of +1 will cast spells as if he were second level. This applies only to spell effects and does not allow the caster to use spells beyond his true level of ability.
The right number is the amount of extra spells the caster can memorize in addition to his normal amount. The bonuses listed are cumulative, so that when the dagger has drained 150 hit point of blood the magic-user will have 2 extra first level spells and 1 second level spell.
For non-spell casters: The numbers listed act a little differently.
The left number shows the level at which the character can start casting magic-user spells. This means that he/she can actually start to learn spells just like an actual magic-user. However, this is not automatic in that the character will have to find spells to learn.
The number to the right shows how many spells the character can memorize on a daily basis. As described earlier , the numbers are cumulative, so that at 75 drained hit points the character can cast 2 first level spells as if he/she were a first level magic-user.
The ability to cast spells works for all classes and races.
The protection bonus is of course applied to the characters AC, making him/her harder to hit as the dagger rises in power.
This column also shows how many of the stored hit points the dagger uses up to maintain the characters extra abilities. This applies on a daily basis, so that when the dagger is at 150 drained points it will use 4 of them, leaving 146 points.
Like the Gem Sword, the Lifeblood Stealer will slowly change a character once he/she is taken over.
The stronger the dagger gets, the more it will force the character to search for victims to be drained. Near it's peak of power, it will only go after stronger creatures, totally ignoring lesser beings.
The physical changes that will occur develop over a period of time as the dagger grows in power. A few of the physical changes include: skull shaped eye pupils, pale skin, loss of weight (becoming almost skeletal), loss of body hair, etc. (make up stuff as it goes).
Along with the physical changes, the character will slowly consume less and less food, till eventually he needs no more (the dagger will provide the energy to continue with life).
The dagger will also gradually change the character's alignment to that of Neutral Evil over a period of time.
Of course when the dagger is gone, the character will eventually revert back to his normal self.
When the dagger has enough energy, it will make the current holder seek out the Staff of the Undead. Then it will leave that character and give up its stored energy to the Staff.
The Lifeblood Stealer is only vulnerable to cold based magical attacks, saving as normal metal (which is at a 2!). If the dagger does fail a save against cold, it explodes violently. However, when it does so, it scatters Lifeforce all over within a 120' radius. What this does is cause all characters within the blast to be healed from 10-100 hit points of damage (yes, it heals people when destroyed).
(c) 1994 by David Flemming