Is Corwin The Bad Guy

Drascus · October 16, 2009, 12:35:21 PM

Quote from: weilide;338592In a bringing up pattern swords I wasn't thinking of them specifically in RPG terms but rather alluding to the fact that they are actually re-formed spikards -- a fact Corwin conveniently fails to mention in his series.

I don't know that they had the same function, I think they were just on the same level of power.

scottishstorm · October 16, 2009, 12:35:49 PM

Quote from: weilide;338592In a bringing up pattern swords I wasn't thinking of them specifically in RPG terms but rather alluding to the fact that they are actually re-formed spikards -- a fact Corwin conveniently fails to mention in his series.

Ah! I can see the issue there!

In all honesty, I only take the second series as canon in respect to the characters it introduces. I recently reread the Merlin series and found the best way to get though it was to enjoy the character and largely ignore the storyline and plot points. Spikards makes me cringe. As you may have read in other posts, I'm not a terrific fan of sorcery, either(*).

(* I like sorcery just fine, actually... as a 15 point utility power that has combat applications and lenbds to the diversity of one's character. i openly dislike "I have sorcery. You die now!" characters and players who utterly fail to grasp the power fundamentals and take up tedious game time each and every time while the GM has to (yet again) try to explain to them how their power does and doesn't work)

weilide · October 16, 2009, 01:46:08 PM

Quote from: Drascus;338659I don't know that they had the same function, I think they were just on the same level of power.

In the short story Coming to a Cord Frakir explains, "Long before there was Werewindle, it was the spikard Rawg." Elsewhere Corwin points out to Luke that Grayswandir has a similar history.

RPGPundit · October 20, 2009, 12:10:31 AM

Yeah, but the implication is that these spikards were transformed or bound in the form of the Swords.

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weilide · October 20, 2009, 09:07:16 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;339420Yeah, but the implication is that these spikards were transformed or bound in the form of the Swords.

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Sorry, I just woke up and I'm feeling a little muzzle-headed. Aren't we in agreement on this point?

Trevelyan · October 20, 2009, 11:58:42 AM

Quote from: scottishstorm;338534For one, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that a pattern sword is any more lethal to an Amberite than another weapon of high quality.

For what it's worth, there isn't really much evidence that a pattern sword is any more lethal to a Chaosite than any other weapon of high quality either. Again, the assumption that the sword is what makes Chaos blood burn is an Erickism, and in the Merlin series we see that a Chaosite cut with a knife can find his blood flaming equally well as one cut with a pattern sword. Merlin even comments that flaming blood is a natural feature of a Chaosite. When Corwin stabs his Chaos victims with Greyswandir, he is just inflicting an otherwise fatal wound which allows the flaming blood to flow freely and consume the corpse.

Ivanhoe · October 21, 2009, 05:45:35 AM

An obvious advantage of a pattern sword is that it disrupts logrus tendrils. Therefore a logrus master can not disarm the wielder of a pattern sword where normal sword users can be easily disarmed.

JongWK · October 21, 2009, 07:41:09 AM

Quote from: Ivanhoe;339652An obvious advantage of a pattern sword is that it disrupts logrus tendrils. Therefore a logrus master can not disarm the wielder of a pattern sword where normal sword users can be easily disarmed.

I wonder what would happen if a pattern sword user empowered it with Confer Quality. On paper, it looks good and like a nasty surprise to some foes, but...

jibbajibba · October 21, 2009, 08:14:14 AM

Quote from: JongWK;339665I wonder what would happen if a pattern sword user empowered it with Confer Quality. On paper, it looks good and like a nasty surprise to some foes, but...

If you mean we have a blade like

Primal damage to creatures of Chaos (16)
Embued with Pattern - the blade has tracery of the pattern within it making it unique and resistant to magics and attacks of lesser powers - (16)
Confer Power (

total cost 40 points.....
I would say this weapon would effectively confer a permanent pattern defense on the weilder and you might get pattern lens sight by default. But hey it costs 40 points and to boot its like the biggest Chaos beacon in the multiverse.

Trevelyan · October 22, 2009, 11:06:53 AM

Quote from: jibbajibba;339667But hey it costs 40 points and to boot its like the biggest Chaos beacon in the multiverse.

Indeed. I dare say that there might be the odd Logrus master who'd be curious to see whether that thing could stand up to primal chaos.

RPGPundit · October 26, 2009, 01:03:50 AM

Quote from: weilide;339452Sorry, I just woke up and I'm feeling a little muzzle-headed. Aren't we in agreement on this point?

Well, my point is that the "energy" of these items is completely taken up by their form as Swords, they are used in that function, and not as spell-slinging devices like the Spikards.

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