Consumable Swords

 "And Naegling snapped."

-Beowulf, line 2680

Magic swords have a rough reputation in the OSR. The humble +1 sword is the object of much revilement, and not without reason:

• It's a passive bonus the player has to remember
• It's fungible; get a +2 sword and toss the +1 aside like so much garbage
• It's BORING

Fair enough. Various solutions have been proposed. Let me add one:

MAGIC SWORDS ARE A CONSUMABLE RESOURCE.

Alas, poor +1 sword, we hardly knew ye

Plenty of rulesets have shield-breaking mechanics. Let your shield be shattered for a momentary defensive bonus. You block a dolorous blow, but you lose a piece of equipment. Sometimes the same is true for armor: sunder a helm or bracer to ward off a hit you can't afford to take.

Slap that same mechanic onto a sword. At any time you can shatter your magic weapon to release all its power, really lay on the hurt. Then it's gone. Good luck finding another one.

Another tenet of the OSR is a focus on resources. Combat drains HP, exploration drains torches and rations, social interaction drains... the patience of everyone at the table when the GM does funny voices? Couldn't be me.

Anyway the point is this is another resource to manage. If the ogre in the antechamber is giving you trouble, do you shatter your sword to cleave his thick skull, or save it for the warlock-king in the next room?

Bloodnail

Sword, 1d6 damage. Make all attack rolls twice, keeping the better result. You may choose to strike so hard that the blade shatters, rolling 2d6 damage dice instead of 1 but destroying the sword.

Ok, that's a little more than a +1. But magic swords are supposed to be impressive! A five percentage point increase in to-hit probabilities just doesn't cut it. Maybe automatic 5e-style Advantage is too much, but every buff to your characters is an excuse to pit them against fouler fiends on their next adventure.

Come to think of it, this reminds me of the first enchanted sword I crafted in Minecraft. It had a name; I husbanded its use with jealous fear of the day it would break. When it did, I mourned.

How much cooler if it had exploded, though?

-V