Oathkeeper

From Valwiki

“	I fight for Order, I fight for Retribution, I fight to continue the continuity of an order that should be His. Where I walk, the corrupted shall tremble, I am the Condemner of Evil, I purge the world of Chaos. No enemy will go unscourged, No abomination will escape His vigilant servant, My will is indomitable, My faith is unquestioning, My body exists as a weapon of righteousness in His name. I am His Judge. I am His Condemner. I am the executioner of His foes. I am the gavel in his mailed fist. I am a Paladin.	”
— Caediath's variation of 'The Oath' Contents 1 Traits 2 Powers

Oathkeeper is a well known Runic Blade known for its infamous wielder and capability, prominence during the plague. Among the weapons used by the new sentinel inhabiting his body, this is second to none in favorites. The weapon is unique in the sense that it carries a soul that is willingly bound, turning itself into a literal weapon of good in order to redeem itself in the eyes of its Patron, giving up a chance at rest in order to serve the cause forever.

The blade supports five runes on each face, each one a slot that can be locked and unlocked as the wielder sees fit. It should be noted that Oathkeeper is an interesting case of the practice of Soul-Binding, as the redeemed Infernalist-turned-Paladin, Sil'Fer Telios locked himself in the blade of his own free will to be the backbone of whatever cause Caediath chose to pursue, knowing that he had birthed a weapon of righteousness.

The last owner was a soldier from Meridiem named Renault Astaldo, which was stolen from his tomb and later ended up in the hands of a merchant, and through a chain of events went to another soldier of Orrovan, this one still an aspiring stripling. The weapon itself also boasted a series of replicas due to its ease of use and simple, but elegant design.

This holy sword is the original weapon of Renault Astaldo. It ended up in the hands of Sil’Fer Telios of Valdyr, and later in the hands of Caediath, the Condemner. The ancient characters on it shine with holy magic, and the blade itself seems unravaged by time. The weapon seethes with its own purpose and personality. The weapon is treated as Lawful and Good aligned, and thus deals additional damage to Evil and Chaotic targets. It also cannot be wielded by Chaotic Aligned or Evil Aligned characters. The weapon also cannot rust, tarnish and is of excellent quality, it is difficult to break. The wielder is capable of summoning the weapon with a full round action, as long as they are on the same plane of existence. It makes an intimidating racket when forming in their hands.

Traits

Runic
Oathkeeper has a set of slots meant to support runed talismans. It essentially allows Caediath to assign special abilities to the weapon itself and offers a greater flexibility than enchanting it normally since for example, an electrical enchantment is optimal for water elementals, but what about fire elementals? The runes are sustained by a soul who bound their self to the weapon. Essentially, the soul uses the weapon as a vessel to become the backbone of their wielder. Runes serve as passive abilities granted to the weapon that normally stay on there until reforged. The weapon itself is very vague with its choices and instead of choosing runes, the wielder 'locks' the ones he wants put on until the blade 'refreshes.' They stay on for a three day cycle after being 'locked' and cannot be removed until the three days have passed. The "power source" (soul) sustains the attributes granted by the runes and can utilize or 'burn' them where they remain inactive until refreshed at a powerful source of energy, otherwise it takes a three month cycle for the soul to regain the power to share with the blade. 'Blank' runes (completely blank talismans) are usually burned first, in order to continue utilizing special effects. When out of 'blanks,' Caediath must designate the rune he is disabling to burn. Some abilities require a specific type of rune burned, and cannot burn 'blanks.' It should be noted that Caediath can disable runes as a free action on his turn.

The soul is intelligent, and whispers to the wielder in Common and whatever other languages it possessed in life. While they have a sense of self and sees its surroundings, the soul now no longer has a sense of time. To them, the world temporally fluxes between being extremely quick and extremely slow, and everything is blurry. They can see only the living spirit of things as well as large concentrations of mana, such as Liches or Golems. For other things, they rely on their wielder. It is considered comparable to an Abyss blade due to the soul-capturing core, but with no desire to leave, and no real binding rituals, the blade cannot capture anything.

Powers

Oathkeeper's Runes are divided into three types. Warding, which is defensively oriented to himself or allies, Empowerment, which bolsters attack power and destructive potential and Judgement, which are typically self-enhancing abilities that allow him to gain an edge in otherwise hopeless situations.

Rune of Vigilance [Warding]
[Rune Scribing- Shield: potency I, Enchantment, Defensive, Movement Dependent]
[Requires Two Warding Runes]
The blade seems to move of its own volition to protect its allies, and the wielder begins to respond in kind.
Activation: Attack Action
Duration: Passive
Range: 10 feet
Effect: The weapon's intelligence seems to instinctively move to defend a designated target. As an attack-equivalent action, Caediath can attune the blade to defend a target in range of his standing position. For the duration of the encounter, as long as the ally remains in range, he can shift into position to parry or block. When a target is being designated, he may defend himself, but cannot attack. In addition, he must have his weapon in hand when designating the target. ((Approved by Chris))

Rune of Force [Empowerment]
[Rune Scribing- Knockback: potency II, Aura, Enchantment, Offensive, Utility]
[Requires Four Empowering Runes]
The blade's surface ripples with a faint golden force until it gets to the tip, where some sort of energy disappates.
Activation: Attack Action
Duration: Passive
Cooldown: Four rounds
Range: Self
Effect: The surface of the weapon ripples as the energy begins to store itself, and seems to pulse. When an attack is launched once the ability is stored, there is a thunderous sounding explosion of force that causes the enemy, and the user if they are not properly grounded (i.e. stepping into the strike) and has the potential to deal knockback or knockdown dependent on the weight of the enemy. On any round that the potential energy is unleashed as kinetic energy, the runes lose their light and each require a round of energy from the blade to reactivate them, and another round to reset. (Five round recharge) ((Approved by Chris))