Dungeon Plunder: Red Blade of Kir-Kiroth

Powerful magic items with subtle drawbacks are one of my favorite treasures. Players have to decide if the benefits outweigh the costs. This is one such item.

In the old school tradition, a +2 bonus is nothing to sneeze at.  This blade is one such blade, but that bonus comes at a price.  The Red Blade of Kir-Kiroth has a long and glorious history of serving its master well. In all that long history, the companions of its master don't fare so well.  All of the tales include the graphic and gruesome deaths visited upon the sidekicks, faithful friends, and loyal underlings of the hero who chopped his way into the tales of man wielding this blade.  As a result, those who own this sword incur a -1 to the Charisma bonus of its owner's, when it applies to allies.  That means that reaction tests are not affected, but all morale checks for hirelings, indeed for the number of hirelings the owner can possess, all of it.  No one wants to end up another corpse-shaped footnote in the long saga of the Red Blade of Kir-Kiroth.