Riftscar, Sword of Refracted Planes (5e Equipment)
Weapon (longsword), artifact (Requires attunement to spellcaster)
Forged by the last paladin of Aoskar long after the god’s death, Riftscar was meant to be a weapon capable of avenging the deity by slaying his killer. To that end. The paladin carved pieces of planar tapestry out of dozens of portals strewn across the Outlands for blade shards, gathered the foul lifeblood of a coven of ancient hags for mortar, and won a broken sword of the planes off an arcanaloth in a casino. With these elements, she made Riftscar, A sword with a solid enough hilt, but a perfectly formed collage of portal fragments making up the blade. While undoubtedly powerful, Riftscar proved unstable and would randomly harmonize with different planes connected to its pieces while empowering and debilitating its wielder with its presence. As for its original purpose, the paladin did challenge the Lady of Pain, but was reduced to a blood smear on the street before she could ever complete swing of the sword. Afterward, Riftscar ended up lost in the hustle and bustle of Sigil before randomly appearing around the planes, usually leaving madness and destruction in its wake.
Random Properties. The Riftscar, Sword of Refracted Planes has the following random properties:
- 2 minor beneficial properties
- 1 major beneficial property
- 2 minor detrimental properties
- 1 major detrimental property
Astral Attunement. You can only attune to Riftscar, Sword of Refracted Planes while within 1 mile of Aoskar’s corpse in the Astral Sea, or at least a piece of it weighing at least 1 lb. When you attune to this weapon. You must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or fail to attune to the weapon, take 3d10 force damage, and are banished to a random location on the plane associated with the damage roll’s result on the Planar Alignment Table. Everything you are wearing or holding, except Riftscar, is banished with you.
Pioneer of Planes. This weapon has the properties of a Sword of the Planes, but regains the use of its property to create planar rifts after 1 hour instead of the next dawn. You can use a magic action to expend a spell slot and reduce this duration by 6 minutes x the spell slot’s level. Additionally, its +3 bonus applies to both your attack and damage rolls with this weapon and to your spell attack modifier and spell save DC.
Edge of Reality. This weapon deals 3d8 force damage when wielded with one hand or 3d10 when wielded with two hands and can act a spellcasting focus for you. You can add your spellcasting ability modifier to your attack and damage rolls instead of your Strength modifier when attacking with the weapon. After you roll a 20 on an attack roll against a creature with this weapon, you can force the target to make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, you can banish the creature and everything it is holding to a random location on the plane this weapon is harmonized with.
Harmony of Rings. When you attune to this weapon and daily at dawn, roll 3d10. This weapon becomes harmonized to the plane indicated by the result in the Planar Alignment table below until the next dawn, causing the blade to take on a specific color. You have a damage resistance based on the plane the sword is harmonized with. If you already have resistance to the same damage type, you have immunity to it instead. Additionally, this weapon has 15 charges and regains 1d10 + 3 expended charges daily at dawn (minimum 1). While holding the sword, you can use a magic action to expend 1 or more charge and cast any of the spells based on the plane the sword is harmonized with without material components. These spell use your spell attack modifier or spell save DC.
Curse of the Extremes. This weapon is cursed and cannot be relinquished willingly. If moved more than 1 mile from its wielder, automatically teleports to within 10 feet of its wielder. When the sword harmonizes with a plane, the wielder gains a character flaw that overrides any contradictory character traits until the next dawn. To end attunement, remove curse or a similar spell must be cast on the weapon, then the wielder must use an action to make a DC 30 Charisma saving throw within 1 minute. On a success, the attunement ends with no effects. On a failure, the attunement ends but the wielder rolls 3d10 and gains the flaw associated with the result from the Planar Alignment Table permanently. This flaw can only be removed by the wish spell or similar magic.
Destroying the Riftscar, Sword of Refracted Planes. Riftscar, Sword of Refracted Planes can only be destroyed by opening up a gate on the site of the long since destroyed temple of Aoskar in Sigil connecting to Aoskar’s corpse in the Astral Sea, placing the blade of the sword halfway through the portal, the collapsing the spell upon the blade. Riftscar’s destruction will likely leave behind permeant but unstable portal to a random part of the multiverse. You are strongly encouraged to take this escape hatch to flee before The Lady of Pain finds out what you just did.
3d10 | Plane | Color | Resistance | Spells | Flaw |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
2 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
3 | Abyss | Red | Poison | vitriolic sphere (4 charges), cloudkill (5 charges), contagion (5 charges), eyebite (6 charges) | My hygiene is terrible and I revel in how much I disgust other people. Come! Feel my stench! |
4 | Acheron | Silver | Necrotic | antagonize (3 charges), destructive wave (5 charges), geas (5 charges), reverse gravity (7 charges) | Violence is always the answer! Maybe I just haven’t been asking the right questions. |
5 | Arborea | Light Green | Thunder | wrath of nature (5 charges), transport via plants (6 charges), storm of vengeance (9 charges) | My mood shifts as easily as cloud floats on the breeze. Why is the cloud hogging the breeze? I’LL KLL THAT CLOUD! |
6 | Arcadia | Gold | Acid | moonbeam (2 charges), aura of purity (4 charges), sunbeam (6 charges), holy aura (8 charges) | I obsessively clean and ready my gear so that I’ll be ready for battle or inspection at any moment. |
7 | Astral Sea | Light Blue | Psychic | vortex warp (2 charges), steel wind strike (5 charges), telekinesis (5 charges), telepathy (8 charges) | I’m so boooorrreeeddd. Why does everything seem like its taking forever today? |
8 | Beastlands | Dark Green | Poison | guardian of nature (4 charges), locate creature (4 charges), polymorph (4 charges), animal shapes (8 charges) | I operate entirely on my instincts since actually thinking about my actions is unnatural. |
9 | Bytopia | Indigo | Fire | warding bond (2 charges), skill empowerment (5 charges), arcane gate (6 charges), conjure celestial (7 charges) | Rise and Grind! I won’t stop working until I drop from exhaustion, then wake up to do it over again. |
10 | Carceri | Bronze | Cold | armor of agathys (1 charge), evard's black tentacles (4 charges), forcecage (7 charges), maddening darkness (8 charges) | There are no innocent victims, for everyone is worthy of my punishment. Some more than others. |
11 | Elemental Air | Light Yellow | Lightning | wind wall (3 charges), galder's speedy courier (4 charges), investiture of wind (6 charges), whirlwind (7 charges)} | Gotta go fast! Can’t sit still. Cmon! Let’s go! Go. Go. GO! Later slowpokes! |
12 | Elemental Chaos | Variable | Thunder | elemental bane (4 charges), conjure elemental (5 charges), jallarzi's storm of radiance (5 charges), primordial ward (6 charges) | I daydream about how much better my life would be if all my wishes came true without considering how to achieve such aspirations. |
13 | Elemental Earth | Brown | Acid | earth tremor (1 charge), wall of stone (5 charges), investiture of stone (6 charges), earthquake (8 charges) | NO! I refuse to change my mind. I don’t care if I’m right or wrong because I already decided. |
14 | Elemental Fire | Light Orange | Fire | fireball (3 charges), wall of fire (4 charges), investiture of flame (6 charges), fire storm (7 charges) | The flames are so… beautiful. What else might I feed to them? They hunger. |
15 | Elemental Water | Dark Blue | Cold | wall of water (3 charges), water breathing (3 charges), investiture of ice (6 charges), tsunami (8 charges) | I can’t stop crying whenever my emotions start leaking out. Someone hand me a hanky. |
16 | Elysium | Teal | Radiant | create food and water (3 charges), control water ( 4 charges), aura of life (4 charges), mass heal (9 charges) | My heroic deeds have given me the right to rest on my laurels. Anyone who says differently is just jealous. |
17 | Ethereal | Light Grey | Acid | see invisibility (2 charges), blink (3 charges), etherealness (7 charges), demiplane (8 charges) | I am painfully shy and wish people would stop staring at me. I just want to hide. |
18 | Far Realm | Violet | Psychic | hunger of hadar (3 charges), summon aberration (4 charges), dominate person (5 charges), reality break (8 charges) | In my quest for unlimited knowledge, I am willing to accept unlimited risk. |
19 | Feywild | Dark Yellow | Radiant | summon fey (3 charges), mislead (5 charges), otto's irresistible dance (6 charges), wall of thorns (6 charges) | Yeah! PARTY! Who wants to watch me chug this wine barrel? |
20 | Gehenna | Dark Orange | Necrotic | erupting earth (3 charges), dimension door (4 charges), stoneskin (4 charges), meteor swarm (9 charges) | The only work I do for free is extracting payment from my clients. |
21 | Hades | Dark Grey | Poison | calm emotions (2 charges), bestow curse (3 charges), summon fiend (6 charges), power word kill (9 charges) | I am just a pathetic larva that deserves all the suffering I endure. Stomp on me like the bug I am. |
22 | Limbo | Magenta | Lightning | chaos bolt (1 charge), intellect fortress (3 charges), prismatic spray (7 charges), shapechange (9 charges) | Um… I think… maybe I can’t really make up my mind right now. Ask again later. Or…no later. |
23 | Mechanus | Copper | Lightning | detect evil and good (1 charge), summon construct (4 charges), blade barrier (6 charges), time stop (9 charges) | I will always follow orders given to me by any authority figure to the letter. |
24 | Mount Celestia | White | Radiant | zone of truth (2 charges), summon celestial (5 charges), heal (6 charges), crown of stars (7 charges) | I must right any wrong, no mater how small! The demon invasion can wait until I find that missing cat. |
25 | Nine Hells | Dark Red | Fire | summon dragon (5 charges), delayed blast fireball (7 charges), mindblank (8 charges) | I can never resist a good deal. Or a bad deal for that matter. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. |
26 | Outlands | Rainbow | Psychic | circle of power (5 charges), plane shift (7 charges), maze (8 charges) | I’m have no strong feelings, opinions, or tastes. |
27 | Pandemonium | Pink | Thunder | control winds (5 charges), bones of the earth (6 charges), psychic scream (9 charges) | I HAVE NO INDOOR VOICE FOR I CAN CONTAIN NOTHING WITHIN ME! VICTORY SCREECH! |
28 | Prime Material | Tan | Force | dispel evil and good (5 charges), teleport (7 charges), antimagic field (8 charges) | I feel homesick and want to abandon this stupid quest to go live a normal life. Maybe take up postage label collecting. |
29 | Shadowfell | Dark Grey | Necrotic | summon undead (3 charges), greater invisibility (4 charges), circle of death (6 charges), finger of death (7 charges) | All I see around me is pain and decay. We are just pre-corpses. |
30 | Ysgard | Cyan | Cold | revivify (3 charges), fire shield (4 charges), tenser's transformation (6 charges), mordenkainen's sword (7 charges) | Caution is for the dead and I will never die! |
Back to Main Page → 5e Homebrew → Equipment → Artifacts