In Dungeons and Dragons, inspiration can truly come from anywhere. We Game Masters have the endless, but rewarding task of filling our worlds with rich, detailed lore for our players to explore, hopefully understand, then use to bludgeon the monsters of the countryside. It's in this creation that we need inspiration, fuel from the stories we take in to translate into something else.

As that book once said: “there is nothing new under the sun”. I've heard a lot of Game Masters feel ashamed and confused when admitting what they were inspired by. To that I say no. It's impossible to not be given an idea from something, that then translates into your games.

Here on the Apotheosis Studios Blog, there has been a lot of talk about Wizards of the Coast's other great game: Magic the Gathering. A game that deep in fantasy fiction is a treasure trove for those that want to brew something for their games, to make something new for their games. When looking at some iconic cards within Magic cards, there's few more iconic than the “swords”.

Sword of Feast and Famine

When you ask, nearly, any Magic player the question “what is the greatest equipment ever printed?” There are, in my opinion, two acceptable answers, but even then, one is kind of a trick answer.

Those answers are Sword of Feast and Famine, and Batterskull. Batterskull, while being an absolute powerhouse of a card, the fact it has living weapon means that it's almost always treated like a creature. It's such an interesting design and cool idea, but it doesn't fully feel like an Equipment card to me. So the crown has to go to the sword.

Sword of Feast and Famine has been a staple in every Voltron style Commander deck since the dawn of the format, and was instrumental in the infamous Caw Blade deck that saw the banning of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic. It's power is evident. Giving yourself extra mana after attacking, and taking resources away from your opponent, all the while protecting a strong attacking creature from Black kill spells. It's a very powerful card that a lot of players both rightly love and understandably fear.

In the story of Magic, it was forged under the Black and Green suns of Mirrodin. For my own games, these swords have a long and storied history as to how they were made, and their place in the wider world. What they each do is translated as well as possible into the mechanics of our favourite role playing game, and it's what adds to their immense power.

Forging a Legend

As I said earlier, it's important to think of where powerful magic items came from when adding them to the worlds you Game Master. With the Sword of Feast and Famine, I decided that a Magic Item this powerful and grandiose could only come into being through a story as powerful and grandiose as itself. Take this as inspiration to weave the sword into your setting, or as the frame work to bring similarly powerful items into your world.

Helix Pinnacle Ritual — The Druids in the throws of their ritual to heal the world - Helix Pinnacle by Dan Scott

In the distant past, of my own Dungeons and Dragons setting, when the gods wandered the world, those of a particularly nefarious alignment wandered the earth. Gods of death and decay toyed with the first forms of mortal life. These dark gods wove the first necromantic spells into existence, and humanoid beings learned the pain of an agonising and untimely death.

One glade of druids said enough to this tyranny. The Verdant Sisterhood was a collective of seven druids gathered together. Their efforts were felt across the early world. Many flocked from across the continent and over oceans to have their festering wounds healed and deep black necromantic curses lifted from their weary shoulders. Sister after sister worked tirelessly for a hundred years, passing their hands, aglow with green, regenerative magic, over the deep black, pulsing wounds that covered each visiting patient.

It was the consistent pain that the people were in, and the consistent anguish on the grieving parents' faces at the sight of their withering, diseased children that drove the chief of The Verdant Sisterhood to say enough. It was extremely difficult for her to rally the other sisters to her side. Never before in the history of the world had a mortal defied the will of a god, even ones that thrive on the suffering of mortals. As the night drew in and the patients slept, the matron of the Sisterhood gathered the others and informed them that this deity must be defeated. The first words from the other druids was immediate dismay and disagreement. Going against a god was, and in the current day for Dungeons and Dragons is still unthinkable. The arguing among the druids is cut short as their youngest acolyte reveals her hand under her robes, the pale skin had been blackened by the death god's curse. This was the first time one of their own had been tainted, which brought the shock to each member enough to bring them to action.

The druids all gathered that night in a circle, even the younger acolyte who's curse grew worse as the sun set. They said a collective prayer of healing, extending their cleansing energy outward, instead of healing someone in particular, their benevolent energy went out to the world, and its effects were immediate and effective. Plants grew verdant and thick all around their grove, and a column of green light rocketed up to the sky, lighting the night. This light drew the death god, standing one hundred feet tall, striding across the wilderness as the black ichor dripped down and infected the land, which was quickly being healed by the collective prayers of the druids. As the god lumbered up, the light in the pillar begun to flicker. The pain of the young druid, afflicted by the curse, built more and more as the god drew closer. With their efforts combined, the druids angled the beam of healing light down and into the chest of the oncoming god. The immense being of deep blackness was destroyed by green light. The point where the two forces met became concentrated into a single stone. The god appeared defeated, with the source of healing light and corrupting dark fused into a stone about the size of a marble. The druids collected this stone, and hid it among their treasure, until it vanished along with The Verdant Sisterhood itself...

The Sword of Today

It's unclear what happened to The Verdant Sisterhood. They existed many thousands of years ago. As some of the first druids in my fictional setting, they set a lot of precedents but also faded into history. The only thing that is known after the many eons is the of the moment of fusion between the healing energy and the death god. The ingot of two contradictory magical energies fused together into a source of intensely powerful magic. This magical ingot was seized by unknown forces to create something special.

The original ingot of healing power and necrotic wellspring was shattered. No one knows why or how. These shards went on to craft a very small number of weapons infused with both healing and necrotic magic. Favoured by a master of neither forms of magic, the wielder can channel the healing and harming energies in the form of a deadly blade. The user of the Sword of Feast and Famine can gain the benefits of regeneration and deadly necromantic magic.

Depending on where it was made, the weapon can resemble a classical longsword. With a blade that extends upwards from the hilt, but in two slices. One being a vertical green beam of light that flashes with the original healing power, while the other blade saps light from the surroundings and the light from those who feel its sting. For some, there have been a slight variation in its craft. Two blades of the differing energies appear on either side. The double bladed sword has been a staple of warrior Elf societies and its use is highly skill intensive. As for a double bladed sword like it, it works the same as a longsword would, with the versatility coming when you need to drive one of the blades in for a finishing jab. The skill comes from being able to parry and strike with the differet heads of the sword at the same time.

The Sword of Feast and Famine, in games of Dungeons and Dragons is ancient and powerful. It can lift its user and level enemies with the power of two contrasting magics brought together in deadly craftwork.

Now we want to hear from you. Where would your players find a Sword of Feast and Famine? What other iconic items and cards from Magic the Gathering would you like to see translated to Dungeons and Dragons? Let us know in our discord server or in the comments below.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com, they write all kinds of gaming press, while they write news about the League of Legends Card Game on RuneterraCCG. On Youtube, they can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Find where they dwell by climbing their Linktree.