Magical sword names have been a popular subject in literature and fantasy for centuries. These names often hold significance and meaning within the context of the story. The naming of a magical sword can help establish its origin, power, and role within the narrative. One common approach to naming magical swords is to use ancient languages or mythical inspiration. For example, a sword imbued with fire may be named "Flamebringer" or "Inferno's Fury." These names not only describe the sword's ability but also evoke a sense of power and might.
Omarannin the Laughing Blade: This sword belongs to the famous rogue Rakehell Chert and is featured in Dragon #299. What makes this short sword unique is every hit forces a saving throw or the target busts out laughing like the spell Tasha's Hideous Laughter. Yeah, this one sounds quite fun. I'm gonna bookmark that sword.
Sureguard Swiftdoom Mentioned earlier, I can t ever separate these two swords since they are my favorite sentient blades and best friends of Kelanen, hero-god of swords. Sureguard Swiftdoom Mentioned earlier, I can t ever separate these two swords since they are my favorite sentient blades and best friends of Kelanen, hero-god of swords.
" These names not only describe the sword's ability but also evoke a sense of power and might. Another approach to naming magical swords is to draw from historical or legendary figures. This can add a layer of depth and connection to the story.
Magzcal sord nqmes
Greetings Greyhawkers! Coming off the heels of a very good Legends & Lore show with Joe Bloch from Greyhawk Grognard, I realized I'm behind on posting. This is mainly because I've been plugging away at a Sea Princes article for Oerth Journal. So let's do an easy one, one of my A-Z lists of named magic swords in Greyhawk! The setting has many, many named magic swords and surprisingly I can't find a sword to fit every letter of the alphabet. If I overlooked one, please correct me. In the meantime, I will fill the empty slots with honorable mentions. Let's get started:
Afterglow: The flaming sword of Lendor, god of Time. Not sure why he needs a sword if he can just stop time and stuff. Look at him though, a god of Time who can straight up strangle a chimera with his bare hands!
Blackrazor: The most dangerous, most iconic and THE most evil sword in all D&D. Plucked from White Plume Mountain, Blackrazor currently in use for my Greyhawk home campaign and may very well be the end of it too!
Crowdpleaser: This is the short sword of Nazarn hero-god of gladiators. It is not certain this is a magic sword, but given his ascension, it must be! Also, Nazarn, first seen in Living Greyhawk Journal #3. is the only half-orc deity that I can think of in any publication.
Dreamsinger: One of my favorites. This white-steel sword, tied to bards, is one of the five Blades of Corusk. It is also the one that sets off the adventure to gather them all in Five Shall Be One. In the original module I believe it's a broad sword, but in my own adaptation for 5E I decided to make it a rapier, given the popularity of that weapon in recent editions.
Edge: Speaking of Blades of Corusk, this is one of the five which when combined allegedly allows the owners to summon Vatun the Great-God of the North. *spoilers, it might not* Edge is an extremely sharp bastard sword that can fire daggers from its pommel. Whoever wrote Five Shall Be One must've been a fan of the movie Sword and the Sorceror.
Fragarach: Known as "the Answerer", this sword from celtic legend, was dropped into Greyhawk lore by Gygax. It has ties to Prince Thrommel, Kelanen and has been copied several times. For more info, check out this comic I did way back on the subject.
Greenswathe: Another Blade of Corusk. I am partial to these swords, so you may see them all in this list. Greenswathe was very unique in that it is a scimitar, it is tied to druids and its a golden blade. It's rather out of place in a module that is about viking barbarians.
Harmonizer: Yes, that's right, another Blade of Corusk. Harmonizer is a confounding weapon though. It's a two-handed sword, but made for thieves/rogues. This is because it's very light. But before you jump for joy, Hamonizer likes to play fair, matching opponents skill. Very un-rogue-like. It's also a Defender blade, so yeah, it's probably my least favorite of the three, because it's a mess to DM.
Incarnadine: So this sword is new to me, I only discovered it in making this list. Incarnadine is from Return to the Tomb of Horrors (Bruce Cordell) and is one of a pair of dragon-slayer long swords that can be found in this sequel. The text says Incarnadine prefers to slay red dragons, which is interesting. I don't recall swords specifying type of dragon, but I kind of do recall arrows of dragon-slaying had to be specific. If anyone can clarify I'd like to know. Also interesting, the adventure says this sword may have additional powers or sentience at the DM discretion. Nice!
Just: because I can't find a "J" sword doesn't mean there isn't one in publication, so give me a comment if you know one. Just for fun I'm gonna name the nine Swords of Answering that are modeled off of Fragarach. Answerer, Rebutter, Concluder, Last-Quip, Replier, Retorter, Scather, Squelcher, Back-Talker. I believe you find these in AD&D Unearthed Arcana, but here is a link showing their alignments.
Kelmar: This is the two-handed blade of Kord, god of Strength. Kord likes to fight monsters so its fitting this is a dragon-slayer. It gets better. Kelmar is a vorpal dragon-slaying sword. Only versus dragons though. Yes even Tiamat! But not Bahamut, he is off limits. And if the wielder of Kelmar doesn't go after the dragon, well screw it, the sword jumps out of the sheath as a Dancing sword and kills on its own! Exciting stuff.
The Sword of Lyons: This magic short sword is from A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords and as I've never ran the module before, it tickled me to discover how cool this blade would be to use in a campaign. It's just a plain +1 sword, but it is always invisible. When in its sheath and carried the owner is invisible. Thus when the blade is used the wielder becomes seen again, but the Sword of Lyons is always invisible. That's wild!
Muspelblindir: This weapon is one you won't see every day. Muspelblindir, possessed by a fire giant in Against the Giants: Liberation of Geoff, is a giant-sized sword of giant slaying. This giant has trust issues I guess? Muspelblindir is a cool name, clearly invoking Muspelheim from norse myth, the text says the sword, whose steel glows like hot coals, is translated to "who slays with fire." Yes indeed!
Nurbilac: Say what? Yeah I never remembered this one either until I did some research. The magic sword Nurbilac comes from an article in Dragon #253, A Treasure Trove of Tomes by my good friend, author and bibliophile, Scott Casper. The article is an original study on literature and historical texts from the World of Greyhawk. the entry on the Historical Reign of Ulek tells of Count Cartair of the County of Ulek and his exploits. In this text he possesses a magic blade named Nurbilac. What does the sword do? We don't find out. But a bard can inspire troops by invoking the story of Cartair and Nurbilac, so that has to count for something.
Omarannin the Laughing Blade: This sword belongs to the famous rogue Rakehell Chert and is featured in Dragon #299. What makes this short sword unique is every hit forces a saving throw or the target busts out laughing like the spell Tasha's Hideous Laughter. Yeah, this one sounds quite fun. I'm gonna bookmark that sword.
Pillars of Heaven: Are a set of swords mentioned in LGJ #3 regarding Kelanen along with his acquiring Fragarach from an alien god. I'm not sure of the context of these swords and if Fragarach is one of the Pillars, but the text says Kelanen found the resting place of three of the Pillars of Heaven, implying there are more than three of them! If so, what are the other swords? Was Sureguard and Swiftdoom two of the Pillars? Or, perhaps they are the Blades of Corusk? So many swords.
Q: Why does Quaal not have a sword named after him? Just tokens? Ah well here's an article I did on the Sword of Kas.
Red Light of Hades: This is the sword of Pyremius god of murder and fire. It might be the coolest sounding sword name in all Greyhawk. What does it do? Well first it sheds a reddish light, so it lives up to the name. Second, it's a +5 sword that only Pyremius can hold. Impressive. The best ability however is if it hits a paladin that character must make a saving throw of lose all their paladin powers. I repeat, lose all paladin powers. Worse yet, it takes a Wish and an Atonement spell to get the powers back. Man, Pyremius can murder your career too!
Sureguard & Swiftdoom: Mentioned earlier, I can't ever separate these two swords since they are my favorite sentient blades and best friends of Kelanen, hero-god of swords. One is a frost-brand, the other a flame-tongue. Kelanen and his swords used to be some of my favorite comics to do back in the day. Check it out.
Tensers Sword of Deadly Strikes: Tenser is a wizard whose spell theme indicates he feels inferior to all the fighters he hangs out with. His named sword of Deadly Strikes is just one of MANY combat items created in the module Return of the Eight. This one is particularly potent for when the command word is spoken it deals maximum damage each first strike, for 1d6+3 rounds. That would be a nice one to convert from 2E to 5E.
Umbra: Remember Incarnadine from earlier? Well Umbra is the sister long sword of dragon-slaying from Return to the Tomb of Horrors. Umbra likes to kill black dragons though. Much like its mate, this sword may have additional powers. I may just skip this module and steal the pair of swords for my campaign!
Vilharian: Now this is a sword that somehow slipped past me over the years. Detailed in LGJ #4, Vilharian is an ancient Suel weapon that managed to find its way over to the Flanaess after the cataclysm and was lost in a duel versus Kelanen himself. Then it changed hands, once being lost in the swamp during the Siege of Westkeep and again lost in the sea Battle of Jetsom Island. This is an intelligent, wizard-bane +5 sword that also protects from fire and ice, and why not, controls the weather as well! Pretty powerful.
Xan Yae: the Lady of Perfection from the Baklunish pantheon, has a pair of falchions with no names, but a very strange set of properties. One, they are knife sized but can grow to 3-feet in length at her will. Also in keeping with her balance aspect in battle, one blade is +6 while the other is +1 then the modifiers gradually shift each round from +5 to +2 until they are +1/+6 and then all over again. Never mind that she has five bare hand attacks that do 6d6 damage. The falchions are for show.
You: probably know a sword that starts with a "Y" but I'm not finding anything good. So instead let's finish off the five Blades of Corusk. One of my faves is Stalker, the long sword meant for rangers. This blade has many powers that make the PC stealthier and better at being a ranger, like handling canines. Oh yes, and the blade itself has a quirky shadowy aura when you stare at it too long. Fun!
Z: I'm out of gas at this point. If anyone has some swords they want to nominate feel free to use the comment section. This was fun when I started, but turned into quite an exercise. Until next time everyone!
Pillars of Heaven: Are a set of swords mentioned in LGJ #3 regarding Kelanen along with his acquiring Fragarach from an alien god. I'm not sure of the context of these swords and if Fragarach is one of the Pillars, but the text says Kelanen found the resting place of three of the Pillars of Heaven, implying there are more than three of them! If so, what are the other swords? Was Sureguard and Swiftdoom two of the Pillars? Or, perhaps they are the Blades of Corusk? So many swords.
For instance, a sword named "Excalibur" instantly conjures images of King Arthur and his legendary weapon. The name itself holds intrinsic significance and contributes to the sword's mythos. In some cases, authors may opt for more cryptic or enigmatic names. These names may not have an obvious meaning or reference but add an air of mystery to the weapon. The true nature and power of the sword are gradually revealed as the story unfolds. Examples of such names could be "Shadowstrike" or "Whisperwind." Additionally, authors may choose to incorporate cultural elements into the naming of magical swords. This can involve borrowing names or symbols from specific mythologies or folklore. By doing so, the sword becomes rooted in a particular culture's mythos, adding richness to the narrative. An example of this approach could be a sword named "Gungnir," which draws from Norse mythology. Overall, the naming of magical swords is an essential aspect of world-building and storytelling. These names not only help to differentiate and distinguish the weapons but also contribute to the overall ambiance and depth of the narrative. Thoughtful and creative naming can imbue these swords with a sense of power, history, and significance that resonates with readers..
Reviews for "Exploring the Possibilities: Innovative Magazine Name Ideas"
1. Emily - 2 stars - I was really disappointed with "Magzcal sord nqmes". The plot was convoluted and hard to follow, and the characters felt flat and uninteresting. The writing style was choppy and awkward, making it difficult to stay engaged in the story. I also found numerous grammatical and spelling errors throughout the book, which further detracted from my reading experience. Overall, I wouldn't recommend "Magzcal sord nqmes" to anyone looking for a well-written and captivating fantasy novel.
2. Mark - 1 star - "Magzcal sord nqmes" was a complete letdown for me. The world-building was poorly executed, with inconsistent rules and a lack of depth. The dialogue was stilted and unnatural, making it hard to connect with the characters. The pacing was also an issue, with the story dragging in some parts and rushing through others. I just couldn't get invested in the plot or the fates of the characters, and ultimately, I ended up abandoning the book before reaching the end. Save yourself the trouble and skip this one.
3. Sarah - 2 stars - I gave "Magzcal sord nqmes" a chance, but it failed to live up to my expectations. The writing felt amateurish and lacked polish, with repetitive phrases and weak descriptions. The plot was predictable and unoriginal, following common fantasy tropes without adding anything new or exciting. The characters were forgettable, with little development or depth. While the concept had potential, the execution fell flat, leaving me unsatisfied as a reader. I would recommend seeking out other fantasy novels that offer a more engaging and immersive experience.
4. Michael - 3 stars - "Magzcal sord nqmes" had some promising elements, but overall, it fell short for me. The pacing was inconsistent, with long stretches of slow-moving plot followed by sudden bursts of action. The dialogue felt forced and unnatural, making it hard to connect with the characters. There were also several inconsistencies and plot holes that detracted from the story's credibility. While it had a few redeeming qualities, such as imaginative world-building and a unique magic system, they weren't enough to salvage the overall lackluster reading experience.