D&D 5E Realigning a magic item

[robus]

So one of my players has Hazirawn, an evil aligned sword (featured in HotDQ), she likes the sword but doesn't like what it does to her when it feels the bite of flesh. (A bit of interesting role-play).

Anyway she's dropped it off with the Arcane Brotherhood in Waterdeep for them to work on re-aligning it. She'd prefer it to come out Good, but Neutral would be fine too.

I'd like to leave the result up to chance but a single die roll seems a bit too swingy. Especially as the Arcane Brotherhood has a few days to work on it.

Any thoughts on how to make this random yet interesting?

 

[Hathorym]

To me, it would have to be much more involved than just a therapy session or two for the sword. Rather than leaving it to a die roll, I would use it as an opportunity to begin a quest to obtain something for a ritual to foster the change in alignment. Use it to engage the players rather than wave your hand about it. That way, the character will know that they had to work for it and that it will mean even more to them.

Something along the lines of Holy Water from an ancient temple of Tyr, a willing participant to replace the "soul" within the sword, dirt from the grave of a righteous man, or a feathered totem from a secluded sect of Avriels. Or even all four.

Point is, consider the potential of it.

 

[CydKnight]

I am thinking the Arcane Brotherhood would want more than a few days to assess the sword before even deciding if they could attempt realigning such a legendary artifact and then perhaps several weeks to decide on the best approach to take.

So I am thinking initial roll(s) to see if it's possible with the target DC lower the more time the Brotherhood is given to assess it. Then I am thinking several roles pitting the swords constitution versus the Brotherhoods arcana possibly with advantage to the sentient entity contained in the sword since it already occupies it. Maybe you could make it interesting by additional wisdom checks of the Brotherhood against being influenced by the swords evil and thereby thwarting the re-alignment?

In short, assuming this is a legendary, sentient artifact, it should be very hard to impossible to change the alignment of this sword though I admit not being familiar with it so take my advice with a grain of salt.

 

[Tainted Powers]

Isn't the Arcane Brotherhood in Luskan?

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Changing the alignment of an intelligent magical item should happen the same way as getting a humanoid to change alignment; by convincing them that their existing alignment is wrong and that there's a better path.

Doing it by a ritual or other magical means might qualify as an Evil act since you'd be brainwashing something that's essentially a person.

 

[jasper]

This is quest if the players want to take it up. I don't know the realms but I would have the pcs globe trotting to get the alignment change.
hmmm
Hi my name Hazirawn, And I Evil but want to be good.
All, "hi hazirawn"
Tyfling, "Here SWords Are Good, we love you Hazirawn. SWAG will help you over come your desire to be Evil"

 

[robus]

Isn't the Arcane Brotherhood in Luskan?

They're where I need them to be

 

[robus]

To me, it would have to be much more involved than just a therapy session or two for the sword. Rather than leaving it to a die roll, I would use it as an opportunity to begin a quest to obtain something for a ritual to foster the change in alignment. Use it to engage the players rather than wave your hand about it. That way, the character will know that they had to work for it and that it will mean even more to them.

Something along the lines of Holy Water from an ancient temple of Tyr, a willing participant to replace the "soul" within the sword, dirt from the grave of a righteous man, or a feathered totem from a secluded sect of Avriels. Or even all four.

Point is, consider the potential of it.

That is a cool idea - however we're in the middle of Rise of Tiamat. I'll see if I can combine it with some upcoming mission.

 

[Quickleaf]

So one of my players has Hazirawn, an evil aligned sword (featured in HotDQ), she likes the sword but doesn't like what it does to her when it feels the bite of flesh. (A bit of interesting role-play).

Anyway she's dropped it off with the Arcane Brotherhood in Waterdeep for them to work on re-aligning it. She'd prefer it to come out Good, but Neutral would be fine too.

I'd like to leave the result up to chance but a single die roll seems a bit too swingy. Especially as the Arcane Brotherhood has a few days to work on it.

Any thoughts on how to make this random yet interesting?

Hazirawn

Weapon (greatsword), legendary, requires attunement

A sentient (neutral evil) greatsword, Hazirawn is capable of speech in Common and Netherese. Even if you aren’t attuned to the sword, you gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls made with this weapon. If you are not* attuned to Hazirawn, you deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage when you hit with the weapon.

Increased Potency. While you are attuned to this weapon, its bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls increases to +2, and a hit deals an extra 2d6 necrotic damage (instead of 1d6).

Spells. Hazirawn has 4 charges to cast spells. As long as the sword is attuned to you and you are holding it in your hand, you can cast detect magic (1 charge), detect evil and good (1 charge), or detect thoughts (2 charges). Each night at midnight, Hazirawn regains 1d4 expended charges.

Wounding. While you are attuned to the weapon, any creature that you hit with Hazirawn can’t regain hit points for 1 minute. The target can make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending this effect early on a success.

*Steve Winter commented on the missing "not" in the third sentence of the first paragraph.

Don't leave it up to chance.

Create 2 challenging side quests. Each side quest your PC completes (and delivers the needed component/ritual/riddle answer/whatever to the Arcane Brotherhood) shifts Hazirawn's alignment one step from NE > N > NG.

If it's a blade forged in Netheril, then maybe Hazirawn was made as part of the dreams of Netherese rulership over superstitious non-mages who "fear and do not understand magic"? So perhaps part of the quest to change the sword's evil nature requires revealing false pretenses under it which created. Maybe Hazirawn thinks it was forged to defend mighty mages (rightful rulers) from persecution/uprising by the misguided, when it was really made to subjugate non-mages? That would fit for an aristocratic/magocratic interpretation of Neutral Evil and could make for some fun roleplay.

There also might be an NPC who suffers and enduring wound from Hazirawn's wounding feature. Easing this NPC's suffering or securing their forgiveness of Hazirawn / its former owner might be another quest.

And then you can bring in Bahamut and/or a golden dragon as the final step. The PC might need to bear Hazirawn into the flames of a gold dragon's breath. This could be an Indiana Jones-esque act of faith – the flames look like they'll kill but they do not harm a true believer.

 

[Caliban]

You have to get it up on the lift and take accurate measurements. If it's out of alignment, you can usually fix it by re-wrapping and tightening the hilt and crossguard, but if the blade itself is out of true you need more drastic measures. Heavy rollers, a lathe, reheating and tempering...whatever it takes.