The Arms of Roesone

[LeifVignirsson]

Not sure if this goes here but I want to run this by everyone and get their opinion on the matter.

I have a character that is quite beloved of mine that was based out of Roesone. I managed to get him to be a beloved friend of the Baroness and quite accomplished at the art of war. As her "champion", he was charged with finding the Arms of Roesone, which he did after some skillful hunting.

My question is this, seeing that I have converted him but not the arms, what would you say would be the proper conversion for these items?

Full Plate Mail +2 (w/ gold filigree and the black hart)
Rhynact, bastard sword +1, flametongue
Shield +2 w/ aura of courage (+1 to morale checks)

Plate Mail I am not having an issue with, it is the other two that I would be... Thoughts? Opinions?

DISCLAIMER: This information is pulled off of the Player's Secrets of Roesone, incase someone was unaware.

[Question]

Converted him.....from/to what again?

[ausrick]

The armor would be full-plate +2, (maybe make it out of mithril as per the dmg so it would have the weight and encumberance stats of the dwarven plate in the DMG, if mithril doesn't exist in your campaign, just make it a rare and unknown metal)

The sword would probably be a +1 flaming burst bastard sword.

The shield would be a +2 large metal shield that functions as an Amulet of Inspiration when all three peices are posessed.

This is just what I would do to preserve the flavour and possibly bump the powerlevel just a wee bit to feel more d20 and like the relic those arms should be. I know I got a little Diablo-2-esque with the shields main flavour ability being pumped a bit but only functioning with the set, but hey, I kinda liked it.

BRCS playtest, wonderous items:

Amulet of Inspiration:

This item provides a +4 bonus to allLead checks, and a +1 bonus to domain resolution checks for the Agitate action. A military unit led by the wielder of this amulet receives a +4 bonus to its morale.

Question, to answer your question, the Players Secrets of Roesone that mentions the ancestral arms of Daene Roesone is a 2nd Edition, AD&D printed supplement to Birthright. I got the impression that Leif was playing a 3.5/d20 rulebased BR campaign and wanted to know ideas of what to make them. Most 2nd Edition magic items can be directly translated, but seem just a little bland to the magic items of d20, so I was assuming he was looking for ideas of just that little bit of spice to brighten them up but not enough to make them Uber magic items or campaign imbalancing, while maintaining if not enhancing flavour.

[LeifVignirsson]

Question, to answer your question, the Players Secrets of Roesone that mentions the ancestral arms of Daene Roesone is a 2nd Edition, AD&D printed supplement to Birthright. I got the impression that Leif was playing a 3.5/d20 rulebased BR campaign and wanted to know ideas of what to make them. Most 2nd Edition magic items can be directly translated, but seem just a little bland to the magic items of d20, so I was assuming he was looking for ideas of just that little bit of spice to brighten them up but not enough to make them Uber magic items or campaign imbalancing, while maintaining if not enhancing flavour.[/size][/font][font=TimesNewRoman][size=2]

Yes, thank you... Sometimes I forget myself when I make these posts to be a little more discriptive. Thank you for your input on this, that is something I am looking for. Now, here is another question. That Bastard Sword seems a little, eh, especially with a metal shield... In other words, thinks might get all wonky with it after a few minutes so I wonder if I can downgrade it to a longsword or something more "one handed", to use the 3.0 term. Thoughts?

[irdeggman]

Bastard sword can be used one handed with the exotic weapon - bastard sword feat. This is a common feat taken by fighters, at least per the sample characters in the books.



Since the arms were "designed" for a fighter then it makes sense they should be harder to use for other classes.

And a bastard sword is a much more Anuirean weapon than is a long sword.

[ausrick]

Uh, What Irdeggman said, he beat me to it, the exotic weapon proficiency feat.

Long sword could work, but it doesn't quite have the feel of a leader's weapon. Longswords seem more of what a soldier would carry whereas hand-and-a-half swords seem more knightly. Thats just my opinion, there may be fact to back it up but I haven't really researched it. I do know though that when I've been to museums, especially in England. If they had a normal sized sword it was usually labeled as "a sword from Agincourt" or something of that matter, but the huge impressive ones always seemed to be king so-and-so's sword. If you were to make it a longsword though, I would think about upping it to +3 maybe, or add keen, just because it has such a cool name and is supposed to be impressive. That would help it overcome any issues of "sword envy"

[LeifVignirsson]

That was kind of what I was worried about in this overall. Bastard Sword is not a common "martial weapon", more specialized to a knight. Reading over Roesone's fluff, the original Roesone seemed more of a mercenary who took the region and made it Roesone.

True, bastard sword WOULD fit here, but with the fluff, I am thinking it should be more of the "common man's sword" seeing that Roesone is so new and related more towards the "common man".

Then again, there could always be the Arms of Roesone the nation and then the magical arms of the first baron... hmmm... That could be interesting indeed.

Any other thoughts on this? By the by, this is all appreciated!

[ausrick]

A great mercenary general has to have a great sword, thats all there is to it.

With a bastard sword being a 2handed martial weapon or a 1 handed exotic, it pretty much just represents the additional training needed to wield it in that style. Commanders, especially the really high up ones often seem to have special weapons that set them apart from the average Grunt or special training and combat prowess, especially during times in warfare where the commanders engaged in dangerous combat similar to their men. I'm reminded of General Patton having those pearl handled pistols he carried with him all the time.

I would immagine though that such wonderfull arms were probably crafted for Daene after he became the Black Baron, as opposed to when he was a mercenary commander. Mainly because they are so fancy, and because they have the symbol of the Black Hart, almost as if they were a gift to commemorate his achievements in forgeing a nation. And I am sure that after he did what he did he probably had some great sword moves like the likes of which the people have never seen.

Another funny thing, In my campaign, one of my players is a Rjurik Druid who carries around a fancy sword that he's not proficient with just because it is a symbol of the station of his political office. And he blew a decent amount of money having it crafted mainly for the role play value of flaunting himself at court.
Ultimately though, you can make it a longsword and it wouldn't be out of place . . . If it was a dang fine longsword. I'm just thinking though that since Bastard Swords in 2nd and 3rd edition really aren't all that different from each other other than the fact that they require a feat in D20 to wield 1 handed, it's not an issue that I, personally in my own opinion/choice/flavor felt would need any alteration to be converted. However, it could, and that would be fine too.

I like what you are saying about playing off the fact that Roesone, out of all the nations, seems to be the most egalitarian between the classes. As the wording of his arms stands as written, with the gold filigree platemail when common soldiers probably wore padded/leather/chain seems to contradict that.

If you wanted to throw a twist, you could kind of do like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in the scene where they were in the room trying to choose the holy grail. You could have the fancy shiney stuff be the false armor, and maybe anybody who wears it into battle thinks they will get those bonuses but it is really "armor of missle attraction" or some cursed item like that. The "Real" arms could be like common soldier or conscript's gear, maybe a bit fancier in stitching, but when Donned, it could glamour into really fancy armor, or just have some sort of added charisma bonus to let people know that the person wearing it is the chosen decendant of Roesone. This is by no way canon, just a possible way of handling it that might be fun that popped into my head after reading your post.

[Question]

Its my understanding that elemental burst weapons were a very bad idea as the burst doesnt discriminate between friendly and unfriendly.

Imagine striking an enemy in an army battle and the burst wiping out the rest of your unit.

[LeifVignirsson]

I like what you are saying about playing off the fact that Roesone, out of all the nations, seems to be the most egalitarian between the classes. As the wording of his arms stands as written, with the gold filigree platemail when common soldiers probably wore padded/leather/chain seems to contradict that.

Well, if you think of it this way that this was made well after Roesone was created and more often than not as a tribute to the greatness that was the Baron, then I could see that. Just as Roesone has thrown off the shakles of the Orthodox Church of Haelyn, this could be a symbol of thanks from the other Haelyn church for accepting them as the official faith (I am sorry, the name escapes me at the moment for the other church). It would make sense to me, at least.

If you wanted to throw a twist, you could kind of do like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in the scene where they were in the room trying to choose the holy grail. You could have the fancy shiney stuff be the false armor, and maybe anybody who wears it into battle thinks they will get those bonuses but it is really "armor of missle attraction" or some cursed item like that. The "Real" arms could be like common soldier or conscript's gear, maybe a bit fancier in stitching, but when Donned, it could glamour into really fancy armor, or just have some sort of added charisma bonus to let people know that the person wearing it is the chosen decendant of Roesone. This is by no way canon, just a possible way of handling it that might be fun that popped into my head after reading your post.

Which might just fit in with the "gift" idea from the church. They could have glamored it appropriately and used it as a test of faith for the newest Barons/Baronesses. No one said that it had to be that emaculate while the original Baron was alive... heh...

Awesome ideas, I think I can work out a mechanical D20 equation for all of that... Keep em comin, tell me where another flaw might be on this because I am planning on adopting this for the character and Roesone.