One Good Dagger!

[Annex]

Like many players, with the introduction of Sentient Jewels, I find myself often perusing lists of Named Weapons in the DDO Wiki. As a Cat Burglar, Named Daggers interest me most and Rogue Assassins may choose from a decent selection weapons.

As I inspected the various Named Daggers I began to consider the artistic form of each weapon and read their descriptions. I know such things matter not to the vast majority of players but...me. After a time, I realized that almost every dagger in DDO bears some connection to Evil--Blackness; Deception; Poison; Wickedness; Cruelness; and so forth. Only a very few, such as the Bejeweled Letter Opener, strike me as Neutral. Not one single Named Dagger bears a strong connection to the philosophy of Good.

I suggest adding a Named Dagger of strongly Good nature to DDO. In my mind, Queen Celestia serves as the Gold Standard of Good Weapons and would make an excellent starting point for designing such a dagger.

In my mind, a Good Dagger evokes images of Lightness, Quickness, and Elegance. Therefore, I envision a Good Dagger as a the Stiletto of a Lady with an unusually long, slender blade, becoming somewhat curvaceous near the elegant, restrained crosspiece. The hilt would offer functional utility but also remain restrained. No such weapon exists in DDO. The only current name stiletto, the Tenebrous Stiletto, clearly bears the blade of a normal dagger and so was misnamed.

My original desire was for a weapon composed of pure Light, exactly like Queen Celestia, but she deserves no challenger to her throne. As such, a Good Weapon should utilize materials such as Silver, Gold, White Marble, White Diamonds, and Light--all things associated with Beauty and Goodness. I envision a brightly polished blade of Cold Iron inlaid with Silver, sheathed in radiate Light. The crosspiece would consist of magically hardened White Marble inlaid with Silver and Gold. The hilt would consist of polished Cold Iron inlaid with White Marble, then wrapped with Silver and Gold thread work. The Pommel would bear a single White Diamond of exceptional size and glow with radiant Light just like the blade. Queen Celestia bears many of these properties but my proposed Good Weapon would look even more restrained.

I am not a developer and will not attempt to offer detailed statistics for such a weapon. However, I will suggest properties proper for such a weapon.

Damage Types: Good, Cold Iron, Pierce, Silver
I associate Slashing damage with bleeding and vicious wounds, both inappropriate properties for a Good Weapon. A Good Weapon must kill, but is designed to do so mercifully, quickly, and with the intent to minimize the suffering of the target. The blade consists of Cold Iron and Silver to combat the most voracious purveyors of Evil, Demons, Devils, and the Undead. The blade bears no trace of Adamantium because, though exceptionally hard, it takes on a black hue. Finally, radiant Light sheathes the long, slender blade, making it Good.

Critical Profile: As a weapon designed to kill with a minimum of suffering to the target, it makes some sense for the weapon to bear a better than normal Critical Profile. The unusually long and strong dagger blade seems like something that would fit through gaps in armour.

Armour Piercing: This seems like something more appropriate for an Adamantium weapon.

Good: As a Good Weapon sheathed in Light, it seems appropriate this weapon would inflict extra Good Damage.

Light: As a Good Weapon sheathed in Light, it seems appropriate this weapon would inflict extra Light Damage.

Bane Damage: I do not envision this weapon as purposefully designed to fight Demons, Devils, or the Undead, but rather, as a general foil against all Evil creatures.

Blinding; Sunburst; Fiery Detonation; Banishment: These properties all belong to Queen Celestia and should be avoided.

Other Ideas: I would really like this weapon to perform some new and unique function of an offensive nature but I am out of ideas.

Level: I envision this weapon as a companion to Queen Celestia, I would very much enjoy such a weapon for upper level Heroic, lower level Epic, and End Game quests, but that would require a minimum of three versions and that seems too much to ask for.

Since this proposed weapon bears so much in common with Queen Celestia and, in my mind, would compliment her, I propose naming this weapon The Queen's Handmaiden, Handmaiden to the Queen, or something similar.

Please consider everything written here as a starting point for creating something new rather than an ending point.

Thank you for your consideration!

[Saekee]

your description reminds me of Divine Vengeance in the hands of a pure pally:
http://m.ddowiki.com/page/Itemivine_Vengeance




in general in DDO there has been a tendency to make long swords good: http://m.ddowiki.com/page/Category:Long_Swords

Notable: Fellblade, Enduring Conviction

[Saekee]

Your description has the following features:

Blazing
Coruscating
Metalline
Expanded threat

Maybe add:
Good Blast

Aside from the expanded threat, I wonder if there is not some similar formula in greensteel, LGS or even a lucky Cormyrian combo. One could also craft: Light of Evil Outsider Bane on a metal type with augment

[Annex]

your description reminds me of Divine Vengeance in the hands of a pure pally:
http://m.ddowiki.com/page/Itemivine_Vengeance

That strikes me as a rather more forceful cousin to the dagger I envision.

I tried to avoid Holy, Lawful, or Vengeful properties as I envision my proposed Good Dagger as more of a resourceful handmaiden to a good queen rather than a vengeful weapon for a crusading holy warrior. This makes it more complimentary to a good Cat Burglar...urr...Rogue.

[PsychoBlonde]

Fell Shiv can pick up some of that stuff, but yeah, most of the named daggers are either assasin-focused or else caster items.

[blerkington]

I think your post is very imaginative, but I can't help thinking of killing as an essentially evil activity. There may be situations in which it's justified, but thinking of it as good is more than my admittedly meagre imagination can justify. Taking someone's life away against their will is a dreadful thing to do, even if you can tell yourself it was done painlessly.

At best a weapon is a morally neutral tool. But it is designed to maim and kill. It seems like a bit of a stretch to present such an item, mostly used for home invasion, robbery and murder, as a tool of goodness. Never mind the essential lack of decency in sneaking up to an enemy and killing it with a single blow without even giving it the chance to defend itself.

Very little of our in game activity consists of defending ourselves with violence when there is absolutely no other option available. Creatures are rarely if ever driven off, subdued, negotiated with, or given a chance to repent their wicked ways. They are put to the sword, or the knife, as the case may be.

So my advice is take your place in the shadows with the rest of us and acknowledge that being an assassin has nothing to do with goodness and light. While I'm not saying you must savour each death like some grisly, trophy-taking, blade-licking serial killer, let's not pretend what we're trained to do is something better than it really is.

Say a prayer for your victims if you must, otherwise just do your best to forget their screams and the agonised looks on their faces. And enjoy your canoe ride down the river of blood you've spilt as best you can.

Thanks.

[Aelonwy]

In our PnP games our DM came up with a Lawful variant prestige class that had many of the benefits of Assassin minus the required evil alignment and anything he deemed evil-oriented. He called it Secret Agent.

It sounds like you are trying to come up with something similar - an assassin style rogue dagger that is meant for missions with good intentions.