Whispersong Blade [3.5][Minor Artifact][PEACH]

[Amechra]

Do you hear it, child? Whispering through your heart, your veins? It is the musician, you are merely its instrument; let it play through you, and we shall see what will happen.

No one knows when it was forged; no one knows if it even was forged. This blade seems to be an Executioner's Sword, though it is slightly too narrow and light to be used to execute criminals. Also, there is the fact that, due to its mysterious process of creation, it isn't solid; it is more of a metal lace than a solid sheet.

The blade hides itself well; it only reveals itself to those with a song in their heart and on their lips, and then... well, do you believe in fate? Will the reaction of this blade to truly exalted music change your mind.

CRUNCHY BITS:
The Whispersong Blade is a +3 Harmonizing Longsword that grants a +5 Insight bonus to Perform (Song), with the following extra abilities:

While wielding the Whispersong Blade, the wielder may elect to use their ranks in Perform (Song) in place of their BAB.

While fighting with the Whispersong Blade, the wielder may, once per encounter, begin to sing; if they do, they roll a Perform (Song) check. They get a Morale bonus on all future attack and damage rolls in that encounter equal to 1+(check result -15)/5.

If the Whispersong Blade's wielder can use Bardic Music, they may expend a single use of Bardic Music to use a Strike Sung Before; as a standard action, roll three attack rolls, and check the following table:

# of Attack Rolls that hit	Effect
1	Normal Attack
2	Threaten a Critical Hit (Ignore Critical Immunity and Fortification)
3	Automatically have a Critical Hit (Ignore Critical Immunity and Fortification)

Despite the fact that they are rolling 3 attack rolls, only one attack is made.




Alright, I made this on a whim. What do you think?

[Bibliomancer]

Why an Executioner's Sword?

Mechanically, the power range seems about right for a minor artifact, although I'll admit that I'm not a very experienced assessor of homebrew. It has one ability that is fairly powerful (can overcome fortification and critical immunity) and a few other interesting ones. I would rank this as a minor artifact, personally, but by D&D precedent (which often sets a fairly low bar, see 'eternal wands above level 3, Secrets of Xendrik'), it could be major.

[Veklim]

I like it. Seems more than reasonable as a minor to me also. Mid-high level character is looking at about +5-6 average from the morale bonus, pretty safe but nice. Using perform ranks in place of BAB is sweet, but you'll want to mention how this affects iterative attacks. Perhaps mention where to find an Executioner Sword (i.e. book/s).

Originally Posted by Bibliomancer

It has one ability that is fairly powerful (can overcome fortification and critical immunity)...

This is class feature specific though, so you can't take that too heavily into account imho (accepting however, that UMD can ignore this proviso). Very useful ability none-the-less, I'm liking the roll 3 attacks, check number of successes, it's a little D10 in it's approach, but that's not a bad thing in my eyes.

[Amechra]

An Executioner's Sword is just a sword type. The Whispersong Blade itself is a longsword mechanically.

[NeoSeraphi]

I assume the three attack rolls made with the Sure Strike feature use the bard's highest attack bonus (or ranks in Perform (Song)?) instead of following the normal iterative attack penalties. However, I must request that you clarify this for the sake of all of us, please.