Nox (5e Equipment)

By DangerousLadies

Weapon (scythe), artifact ((any) neutral)

This scythe is a duplicate of the scythe of Luna, who left it in the hands of a priestess. It has a fraction of the true deific power within Luna's scythe, and is the only known magic item to display even a fragment of her potency. Hence the name, it is meant to embody the dark and harrowing night. The priestess who was entrusted with the weapon was said to have lost her humanity wielding it for several decades, as it drained on her soul. With Luna's blessing, the priestess was essentially immortal. However, the loss of her humanity resulted in her will being twisted by the cold hunger lying within the weapon. This drove her to eventually use it to threaten people into becoming followers for The Order of the Moon. If they were non compliant, the deathly powers imbued in the weapon served to steal and seal their souls away within the cold recesses of the blade, leaving their husks servants to the Order.
Random Properties. The Nox has the following random properties:

• 1 minor beneficial property
• 2 major beneficial properties
• 1 minor detrimental property
• 1 major detrimental property

Soul Rend. When this weapon successfully hits another creature, it is unable to regain hit points until the end of its next turn. Its hit point maximum is also reduced by the amount of damage dealt. In order to regain their hit point maximum, a creature must complete a long rest to regain up to 10 of its lost hit points and repeat for every 10 points lost.

Night Blight. The attuned wielder of the scythe gains the power to cast the darkness spell up to 3 times, without expending material components or a spellslot. This property recovers use at midnight everyday.

Silverbane. Attacks with this weapon are considered magical (silvered). This weapon emits out bright moonlight for up to 10 feet of its attuned wielder.

Soul Eater. When a critical hit is made with this weapon, any creature with 50 hit points or less automatically dies, has their soul eaten by Nox, and can no longer be revived, save by means of the wish spell. Creatures killed by this weapon also have their souls devoured in a similar way. When a creature is killed and their soul eaten by Nox, if the creatures leaves behind a corpse, the corpse is risen immediately as a shadow under the control of the attuned wielder of Nox.

Photophobia. The attuned wielder of this scythe becomes vulnerable to radiant damage.

Night Shade. Those too weak to wield the scythe will eventually have their own souls stolen as well by its cold void. When the attuned wielder drops to 0 hit points, they must succeed a Wisdom saving throw of 15 or have their own soul stolen by the scythe, and die, unable to be revived save by the wish spell. This does not turn the wielder into a shadow.
Destroying the Nox. The Brotherhood of light, which stands in direct defiance of the Order, seeks to return the scythe to the goddess, which will then take it from any wicked beings wishing to use it for ill. It cannot be physically broken. The goddess can release any souls stolen by the scythe.

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