Azurewrath, the Sword of Souls [Legacy]

[The Demented One]

Azurewrath

Azurewrath is a greatsword made from iridescent blue crystal. Its hilt and crossguard are made from what would look to be supernaturally smooth obsidian, while large gem, a sapphire of some sort, its embedded in the pommel.

Nonlegacy Statistics
+1 crystal greatsword

Omen
A faint blue glow emanates from the wielder of Azurewrath’s chest, seeming to come from his heart.

History
The sword known today as Azurewrath was forged by a half-celestial named Oantir, who forged it from a strange blue substance he carved from a crystalline island floating in the Positive Energy Plane, which he called the Bastion of Souls. He never truly understood why he did this–it seemed as if the Bastion itself called out to him to forge a blade from it. (DC 15)

Oantir became somewhat frightened of the sword, and left it unused for a decade. However, ten years to the day after he crafted the blade, he felt an inescapable yearning to return the blade to its source. He returned to the Bastion of Souls, only to find it under attack by a tiefling incarnate, followed by a legion of necrocarnum zombies, who sought to absorb the soulstuff of the bastion into himself. Oantir fought nobly to defend the bastion, but he had no access to the true power of Azurewrath. Outnumbered and overpowered, he fell. With his dying breath, he desperately flung Azurewrath into the central node of the Bastion. The blade amplified the power of the node, releasing a nova of incarnum that destroyed both Oantir and his foe (DC 20, Blade of the Bastion).

The next century of the sword’s history is relatively unknown, but it eventually came to the hands of the illithid Shuluth. Shuluth, never the sanest of individuals, was driven mad by the blade. He shaped soulmelds drawn from the Far Planes, and went on a demented crusade, slaying those in whom he saw some special quality of the soul, hoping to steal their power. A group of occultists seeking to end Shuluth’s reign of terror studied the history of his sword, learning of Oantir. They decided to resurrect him, and send him into battle against his own blade. Oantir, armed with a lesser replica of Azurewrath, dueled Shuluth, seeking vengeance for his own death at the hands of the tiefling he fought decades ago. Oantir’s blade was no match for the true Azurewrath, but he new secrets of it the mad Shuluth could never have guessed. In another desperate action mirroring his noble death a century ago, he through himself upon Azurewrath. He did not, however, die–instead, his soul was drawn into the blade itself, merging with it. Through the blade, Oantir was able to purge the madness from Shuluth in a burst of incarnum, leaving Azurewrath drained and all but powerless (DC 25, Power of Purity).

Shuluth, fearing vengeance from the weapon he had abused, buried it beneath a stone cairn. Oantir’s soul still resided in it, driven into dormancy. It remained there until a young azurin, following lore gathered from the same occultists who had resurrected Oantir, unearthed it, seeking to defend his home from an onslaught by an evil incarnum dragon, Peori. The azurin charged headlong at the dragon, but was slain by a single blast of its breath. As his body crumbled to dust, he slipped the blade between the scales of the dragon, gravely wounding it. The dragon fled to its lair, where it spent days attempting to tease out the blade. A second blast of his breath successfully loosened it, and it has resided in the Peori’s hoard from that day since (DC 30, Breath of the Dragon)

Legacy Rituals
3 rituals are required to unlock all the abilities of Azurewrath.

Blade of the Bastion
You must seek out the Bastion of Souls*, and immerse Azurewrath in the flowing soulstuff found there for at least 24 hours.
*See Magic of Incarnum, pg. 207
Cost 2,500 gp. Feat Granted: Least Legacy (Azurewrath)

Power of Purity
You must seek out and slay singlehandedly an aberration with a CR equal to or greater than your level. Azurewrath is the only weapon you may use. You must then ritualistically burn its body in a week-long process.
Cost 12,500 gp. Feat Granted: Lesser Legacy (Azurewrath)

Breath of the Dragon
You must endure the breath weapon of an incarnum dragon with a CR equal to or greater than your level.
Cost 40,500 gp. Feat Granted: Greater Legacy (Azurewrath)

Wielder Requirements
Azurewrath is of most use to Incarnates and Soulborns, though any combatant who makes use of incarnum feats may find it useful.

BAB: +5
Skills: Concentration 4 ranks, Spellcraft 2 ranks
Special: Must have an essentia pool.

{table]
[tr][td]Character Level[/td]
[td]Attack Penalty[/td]
[td]Save Penalty[/td]
[td]HP Loss[/td]
[td]Special[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]5th[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td]
[td]–[/td][td]Detect incarnum[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]6th[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]4[/td][td]–[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]7th[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]+1 soulbound crystal greatsword[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]8th[/td][td]–[/td][td]-1[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]9th[/td][td]-1[/td][td]–[/td][td]2[/td][td]Essentia pool 1[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]10th[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]11th[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]Bolster soul[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]12th[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]2[/td][td]Essentia pool 2[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]13th[/td][td]-2[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]14th[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]Soultouched blade[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]15th[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]2[/td][td]Sword of souls[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]16th[/td][td]–[/td][td]-2[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]17th[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]Essentia pool 3[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]18th[/td][td]–[/td][td]-3[/td][td]2[/td][td]–[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]19th[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]2[/td][td]–[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]20th[/td][td]–[/td][td]–[/td][td]2[/td][td]Midnight swordthane[/td][/tr]
[/table]
Detect Incarnum (Sp)
At 5th level, you may use detect incarnum^MoI at will.

Essentia Pool (Su)
At 9th level, Azurewrath gains its own essentia pool of 1 point of essentia. By default, this essentia is invested in Azurewrath, increasing its enhancement bonus by 1 due to its soulbound special ability. It does not count against the maximum amount of essentia that can be invested. However, you may invest any of Azurewrath’s essentia as if it were your own. Azurewrath’s essentia pool increases to 2 at 12th level and to 3 at 17th level.

Bolster Soul (Su)
At 11th level, Azurewrath’s soul bolsters your own, granting you a +4 enhancement bonus to Constitution.

Soultouched Blade (Su)
At 14th level, Azurewrath gains the alignment special ability–anarchic, axiomatic, holy, or unholy–that corresponds with one aspect of your alignment of your choice. Once this choice has been made, only wish, miracle, or similarly powerful effects can change it. If you are true neutral in alignment, you may choose any of the four special abilities.

Sword of Souls (Sp)
At 15th level, you may use rend essentia^MoI three times per day. The DC is 16 or 14 plus your Cha modifier, whichever is higher. When you use Azurewrath to rend essentia, it does not actually cause permanent damage to the victim’s soul, as he regains any lost essentia once all the temporary essentia you gain is lost. Thus, using this ability is not an evil action.

Midnight Swordthane (Su)
At 20th level, you may use a swift action to call forth the soul of Oantir in the form of a Midnight Construct. You are treated as having invested an amount of essentia equal to the essentia invested in Azurewrath when he is summoned to determine what essentia modifications the construct receives. The construct fights for you to the best of its ability, remaining with you until dismissed (a standard action) or killed. Once it has been killed, you may not summon it again for 24 hours. You may never have more than one construct summoned at a time through this ability.

[Fax Celestis]

Perhaps the concordant ability might be nifitier than choosing one of the alignments. Concordant's from the MM-IV: acts like anarchic, axiomatic, holy, and unholy.

Beyond that, I'm sorry to say I can't pass better judgement: I don't know Incarnum at all.

[Gralamin]

woah, this looks great, and MoI really needs some love.

[The Demented One]

Perhaps the concordant ability might be nifitier than choosing one of the alignments. Concordant's from the MM-IV: acts like anarchic, axiomatic, holy, and unholy.

Beyond that, I'm sorry to say I can't pass better judgement: I don't know Incarnum at all.

Nah, incarnum's more focused on non-neutral alignments. Heck, soulborns, the intended wielders of this weapon, can't be neutral at all.

[Gralamin]

and incarnates have to be neutral good/evil/law/choas