Notched Spear

Illus. by M. Phillippi

This wickedly barbed longspear is carved out of a solid piece of bone. It’s decorated with coral, pearls, and sapphires. Flowing Aquan script runs the length of the spear, detailing its history and wielders stretching back thousands of years.

Nonlegacy Game Statistics: +1 longspear; Cost 2,305 gp. When set against a charge, Notched Spear deals an extra 1d6 points of damage on a successful attack against a charging creature (on top of the normal double damage). Omen: While you grip Notched Spear’s haft, you can always hear the sound of the ocean. HISTORY

The Notched Spear was crafted many thousands of years ago for one of the great triton princes of the Elemental Plane of Water. Carved from a single rib of an enormous sea serpent, the spear was powerfully ensorcelled against the tritons’ traditional enemies—the sahuagin. The spear was lost sometime after the majority of tritons migrated to the Material Plane, and it is now mentioned only in the legends and stories of that aquatic people. (DC 15) A year ago, seers in many coastal towns and port cities began to experience a singular vision in their dreams—a long, barbed spear carved out of bone, resting on the ocean floor amid a bed of waving seaweed. A voice in their heads then spoke in Aquan, saying, “The worthy shall be rewarded, and the many-toothed destroyed.” Those who recognized the spear as the Notched Spear of triton legend said the vision heralded the imminent defeat of the sahuagin and their evil allies below the waves. Most uniquely, the word for “worthy” used by the divine voice carries the connotation of a nontriton that has proven itself to the triton community. Some sages argue that the one destined to carry the Notched Spear will be an air breather, a highly controversial (and to some tritons, offensive) idea. (DC 18; Touch of the Sea Gods)

Five centuries ago, the ravages of a tremendous, fiendish shark destroyed the legendary city of Klordatha, a place where merfolk and tritons once dwelt together. Sahuagin priestesses of Sekolah summoned the creature from the black depths of the infernal planes. At the city’s last stand, its ruler and founder, the triton hero Oceaneid, bore the Notched Spear into battle against the great shark-fiend. The clash lasted for three tides. In the end, the shark swallowed Oceaneid whole even as the triton’s spear pierced its gullet and killed it. The monster’s carcass, along with the body of the king and his legendary weapon, was cast into the deepest rift in the ocean, the bottom of which not even the tritons have seen. (DC 25; Pierce the Unholy Devourer) The Notched Spear was seized as a trophy by a sahuagin warlord during one of the first battles between the tritons and sahuagin after the tritons’ migration to the Material Plane. Notched Spear’s loss was a terrible blow to the tritons, and many of their great heroes gave their lives in the search for it. After the roll of many years, a cunning rogue The Notched Spear was first forged for a great named Oceaneid took a small triton prince of the Elemental Plane of Water band of tritons and merfolk into the dark grottoes and blasphemous temples of the sea devils. At great cost to the party, Oceaneid and the merfolk bard Iara escaped, bearing with them the legendary Notched Spear. The pair received many honors for their deed. Some years later, they founded the first communal settlement inhabited by both their races. That town became the city of Klordatha. (DC 31; Unity of the Waters) LEGACY RITUALS Three rituals are required to unlock all the abilities of Notched Spear. Touch of the Sea Gods: Recovering the Notched Spear from its resting place on the sea bottom is an impressive feat, but you must also spend an entire day meditating and praying in a temple dedicated to a god of the sea. Cost: 4,000 gp. Feat Granted: Least Legacy (Notched Spear). Pierce the Unholy Devourer: Alone, you are required to engage a fiendish dire shark in combat

Table 3–32: Notched Spear

——— Personal Costs ———

Wielder Skill Check Hit Point

Level Penalty Loss Abilities

5th — — Parliament of fishes 6th — 2 Concealment of the kraken 3/day 7th –1 — — 8th — 2 +1 monstrous humanoid bane longspear 9th — 2 — 10th — 2 +2 monstrous humanoid bane longspear 11th — — Breath of the triton 12th — 2 — 13th –2 — +3 monstrous humanoid bane longspear 14th — 2 Scion of the sea 1/day 15th — — — 16th — 2 +4 monstrous humanoid bane longspear 17th — — Paths of the tides 18th –3 2 — 19th — 2 Command the sea children 3/day 20th — 2 +5 monstrous humanoid bane longspear to the death, using only the Notched Spear. Survival is not necessary to succeed. Cost: 13,500 gp. Feat Granted:

Lesser Legacy (Notched Spear).

Unity of the Waters: You have to spend one month living entirely below the sea. During this month, you must make peaceful contact with at least two nonevil aquatic races (tritons and merfolk are the traditional choices) and gain at least one rank in the Survival skill to represent learning the ways of the undersea wilderness. Cost: 38,000 gp. Feat Granted: Greater Legacy (Notched Spear). WIELDER REQUIREMENTS

Fighters, rangers, and barbarians, especially those dwelling or adventuring in coastal areas or on ships, find Notched Spear most useful. Clerics with an affinity for the sea also seek to master Notched Spear.

Notched Spear Wielder Requirements

Base attack bonus +3 Speak Language (Aquan) Swim 2 ranks

LEGACY ITEM ABILITIES

All the following are legacy item abilities of Notched Spear.

Parliament of Fishes (Su): Beginning at 5th level, you can understand and converse with all aquatic animals as if constantly under the effect of a speak with animals spell. Caster level 5th.

Concealment of the Kraken (Sp): At 6th level and higher, three times per day on command, you can use darkness as the spell. This gloom takes the appearance of a roiling cloud of pitch-black ink, even if used on land. Caster level 3rd.

Breath of the Triton (Su): Starting at 11th level, you can breathe water freely, as if continually affected by a water breathing spell. Caster level 10th.

Scion of the Sea (Sp): At 14th level and higher, once per day on command, you can summon a Huge shark as if you had used a summon nature’s ally IV spell.

Caster level 10th.

Paths of the Tides (Su): Beginning at 17th level, you persistently gain the benefit of a freedom of movement spell. Caster level 15th.

Command the Sea Children (Sp): At 19th level and higher, three times per day on command, you can use summon nature’s ally IX as the spell. You can summon only aquatic creatures. Caster level 20th. ADVENTURE SEED (EL 6)

While traveling aboard a ship, the most psychically sensitive PC has a vivid dream of a spear lying on the ocean floor, half buried at the bottom of the dark deep. The dream also contains a voice speaking in a strange language. Upon waking, casual inspection of the seabed reveals the ship is directly over the location the character saw in the dream. Assuming they have the means and the desire to investigate the matter, the PCs find the site seen in the vision approximately 100 feet down on a seafloor predominantly made up of sand and shell. Unfortunately, they are not alone—a pair of Huge sharks prowls these waters, and they are quite hungry and aggressive.

Huge Sharks (2): hp 65, 76 (see page 279 of the Monster Manual).