Magical Weapons of Magnamund for 5th Edition

The lands of Magnamund were created by Joe Dever for the 1984 Choose Your Own Adventure novels of Lone Wolf, a Kai monk who finds himself the sole survivor of a massacre that killed his friends, colleagues and mentors. In the series, Lone Wolf travels the world, facing Dark Lords and retrieving the lost knowledge of the Kai monks of Sommerlund. Over nearly 2 dozen books, Lone Wolf encounters numerous magic items and in the later books crafts new items for the New Kai Order. Below you will find a range of items usable in your 5th edition games.

For more information on the world of Aon, the lands of Magnamund, and the Lone Wolf Adventure Gamebooks, including a Kai monk class designed for 5th edition, link over to "The Kai Monks of Summerlund". 

Sommerswerd

Weapon: longsword, legendary (requires attunement by a Kai monk)

"The sommerswerd is a holy, magical artifact brought to Magnamund by the Sommlending, a race of fair-skinned humans with special powers, and it has tremendous effects against the minions of Naar. It was forged by the Nuoma, a race of people now known as gods in Magnamund. It greatly increases one's combat prowess. It has the ability to absorb any magic used against its bearer and is able to slay Darklords and the undead. It increases one's Sixth Sense. It is said only a true son of Sommerlund can release the powers that lie within the blade. The sommerswerd's powers can be contained and hidden in Korlinium. It draws its power from the sun. It is one of the few weapons, other than those created by the Nadziranim, capable of killing a Darklord?"

The sommerswerd is a beautifully crafted broadsword forged from an unknown metal alloy with a golden sheen and enchanted to focus the power of the sun. In the hands of a Kai monk, the sommerswerd grants +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls, as well as an additional +3d6 radiant damage against fiends and undead. Once per day, the sword can focus sunlight (including that created by a daylight spell) into a beam of intense radiance. The beam is 5 feet wide and 100 feet long and forces all creatures in the line of effect to make a DC 15 Reflex save or take 10d6 radiant damage (6d6 radiant damage if powered by a daylight spell). This damage is halved on a successful save. The sommerswerd must be in direct sunlight or within a daylight spell for this ability to be used, though the target does not.

Any Kai monk with proficiency in shortsword, longsword, or greatsword may use the sommerswerd with proficiency.

Protection from MagicThe sommerswerd absorbs magic, granting the bearer advantage on saving throws against spells and magical effects. If you succeed on a saving throw against a spell or magical effect that deals damage, you can make an Intelligence saving throw against the same DC as the original spell. If successful, the spell is redirected back at the spellcaster. The spell uses an attack bonus or saving throw DC based on your Intelligence modifier and all other effects are chosen by you. This ability may be used once per short rest and may only be used against a spell that targets only you (not an area effect).

Reflected Spell Attack Bonus = your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier
Reflected Spell Save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier

Enhanced Sixth SenseA Kai monk attuned to the sommerswerd who possesses the Sixth Sense discipline may add their Wisdom bonus to their Initiative rolls in addition to their Dexterity.

Self-Defense
If held by a fiend or undead creature, the sommerswerd deals 3d6 radiant damage to the wielder at the beginning of their round and forces them to make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, they must let go of the sommerswerd.

Developing the Sommerswerd and Other Magical Weapons of Magnamund

The sommerswerd is the most powerful and significant item in the Lone Wolf series. In the original books, the sword could not and should not be wielded by anyone except a Kai monk. Anyone who attuned the sword who was not a Kai monk would destroy the sword's powers forever. That is severely limiting in a D&D game so I simply limited the attunement to a Kai monk, ala: the holy avenger. If you wish to adapt these weapons to your home campaign without using the Kai monk class, feel free to either remove the attunement class requirements, or alter it to whatever class you wish (monk, eldritch knight, paladin, and sorcerer would all be interesting).

When converting the sommerswerd and other weapons from the series, I used a standard conversion based on the Combat Skill bonus these weapons granted.

• +1 to +3 CS: +1 bonus to attack and damage.
• +4 to +6 CS: +2 bonus to attack and damage.
• +7 CS and higher: +3 bonus to attack and damage.

Not all weapons that grant a CS bonus in the Lone Wolf series were magical, like the silver bow of Duadon and the bronin hammer. Since 5th edition is inherently a more magical setting, I decided that weapons which granted only a +1 bonus to Combat Skill would not be magical; similar to masterwork weapons in previous editions.

For some weapons, such as skarn-ska and those created by Lone Wolf for the New Kai Order, a simple bane weapon-like quality was used as the base effect. Since a tabletop RPG allows for more subtle magics and a wider range of in-game effects, I decided to give each of these legendary weapons a small selection of spells that support their theme. If you are looking to use a classic duplication of these weapons, you are welcome to remove the charges and spell effects.

For over a dozen other magic items from the land of Magnamund, link over to Rich's Gameroom for the full article.