Signup
Welcome to... Canonfire! World of GreyhawK
Features
Postcards from the Flanaess
Adventures
in Greyhawk
Cities of
Oerth
Deadly
Denizens
Jason Zavoda Presents
The Gord Novels
Greyhawk Wiki
#greytalk
JOIN THE CHAT
ON DISCORD
    Canonfire :: View topic - A Death Knight Question
    Canonfire Forum Index -> World of Greyhawk Discussion
    A Death Knight Question
    Author Message
    Apprentice Greytalker

    Joined: Mar 11, 2011
    Posts: 29


    Send private message
    Wed Mar 18, 2015 6:29 am  
    A Death Knight Question

    Hello!

    I'm certain that the original 14 greyhawk death knights have phylacteries of some sort, I remember Gary Holian mentioning it in the greytalk chatroom to me more than once but for the life of me I cannot remember what he called them. I think they were made from the eyes of those that Kargoth tricked into joining him so I think they were something Opti-ish... Any help would be appreciated!
    GreySage

    Joined: Aug 03, 2001
    Posts: 3310
    From: Michigan

    Send private message
    Thu Mar 19, 2015 6:12 am  

    Well, the WotC website still has this ecology of the Death Knight article on it. This article says that a death knight's phylactery is known as a "soul weapon."

    Quote:
    The ritual to become a death knight tears the ritual caster’s soul from his body and binds it to the weapon used in the ritual. The ritual caster dies as the living parts of the body are consumed in unholy green fire. From that conflagration rise the soulless bones of the living person, guided by an evil intelligence that no longer needs a brain for its vile thoughts and an endless hatred that no longer requires a heart to drive its dark passion.

    A soul weapon is similar to a lich’s phylactery in that the death knight’s soul resides there instead of in its body. But in most other ways, the soul weapon is the opposite of a phylactery. For a lich its phylactery is a weakness that allows its permanent destruction, but the soul weapon is the death knight’s greatest strength. A death knight literally wields its soul as a weapon. The soul weapon's strikes burn with death, and at the death knight's command it can become immaterial, passing through armor and shields to strike at its foes' unprotected flesh.

    A death knight need never fear its soul weapon’s destruction, for with a thought the knight can restore the weapon to wholeness and unwholesome power. If the weapon is taken, a death knight becomes weakened and distracted, distraught by the loss of its soul and consumed by the need to recover it. However, no other creature can wield a death knight’s soul weapon without feeling despair, so few can withhold a soul weapon from a death knight indefinitely.


    That said, this doesn't seem to be the case for all death knights. Lord Soth of Krynn's phylactery is the adamantine coffer from which he stole the rod of omniscient wisdom.

    From DL16 World of Krynn:

    Quote:
    The adamantite coffer that held the rod bore the inscription “He who removes this artifact from its resting place shall replace it with his soul.” Believing himself on a holy quest, Soth cracked open the coffer lid and peeked inside. He was the only one to see the purple drawstring bag, bearing the five segments of the rod, and 13 gold circlets. He reached in and removed the purple bag. Suddenly, the room became unbearably hot. Soth and his thirteen Knights passed out in a delirium. When they regained consciousness, Soth could not help but wonder if he had just lost his soul.
    GreySage

    Joined: Aug 03, 2001
    Posts: 3310
    From: Michigan

    Send private message
    Fri Mar 20, 2015 11:29 am  

    If you want to go the eyeball route, something like opticon would probably work. Or, depending on your players' tolerance for Harry Potter references, just call them horcruxes.
    Display posts from previous:   
       Canonfire Forum Index -> World of Greyhawk Discussion All times are GMT - 8 Hours
    Page 1 of 1

    Jump to:  

    You cannot post new topics in this forum
    You cannot reply to topics in this forum
    You cannot edit your posts in this forum
    You cannot delete your posts in this forum
    You cannot vote in polls in this forum




    Canonfire! is a production of the Thursday Group in assocation with GREYtalk and Canonfire! Enterprises

    Contact the Webmaster.  Long Live Spidasa!


    Greyhawk Gothic Font by Darlene Pekul is used under the Creative Commons License.

    PHP-Nuke Copyright © 2005 by Francisco Burzi. This is free software, and you may redistribute it under the GPL. PHP-Nuke comes with absolutely no warranty, for details, see the license.
    Page Generation: 0.33 Seconds