Description: The Nightmare Blade has a black hilt, a black guard, and a black pommel with a black metal blade. The only color comes from ten tiny onyx gemstones that are built into the hilt and pommel. The blade’s wicked edges curve like a fiery flame. Infernal runes etched into the blade read, “Now I lay you down to sleep. Watch my dreams so you may weep” in common.

History: The Nightmare Blade is very old. There are three popular stories as to how it came into being.

The first tale is that many years ago there lived a mighty warrior who had fought in many battles and wars. The fighting left the warrior scarred in both his body and mind. He suffered from terrible nightmares so that he couldn’t sleep. The warrior was very proud and he tried to hide his problem. Weeks passed without rest and the warrior gradually lost his mind. A priest friend tried to help by taking all of the warrior’s insane nightmares and banishing them into the warrior’s sword. The warrior was freed of his nightmares and he regained his mind but he was so deeply afraid of sleep that he cut off his own head.

The second possible origin of the nightmare blade is that it was a gift from Vecna. The story goes that Vecna wanted a particular item that belonged to another deity. The details of who and what vary but they all have the same general jist; An unnamed soldier retrieves an item for the dark god, who offers the soldier whatever reward he wanted in exchange. The soldier asks for a weapon to strike terror in his enemies. Vecna then crafts the nightmare sword as both a gift and a punishment. The first time the soldier used the sword he did indeed strike terror in his enemies but then he too fled from the battle in fear. This is probably the least likely of the three origin stories as the details vary greatly (soldier’s name, item, etc..) between storytellers and the whole thing is merely a variant of on old morality tale. The lesson: Evil bites the hand that feeds it.

The third origin of the nightmare sword is perhaps the most likely. This story argues that the sword is not from the mortal plane. Rather, it begins with a creature from the realm of dreams called a Fright. These creatures look like foul imps made of shadow and terror. Frights cannot leave the realm of dreams unless summoned. It is said that some unknown wizard dragged a Fright into the material plane but since they lack substance, the Fright began to disappear. It fled to a nearby smithy where a powerful blacksmith was crafting a magic sword. The Fright bound itself to the sword just as the final rituals were cast enabling it to stay in the material plane in the form of the sword.

Curse Description: The Nightmare Sword is a magic longsword that grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls. On a roll of 19 or 20, the sword deals an additional 1d10 psychic damage and casts the Fear spell on the target(Wisdom Save DC 18). On a roll of 1 or 2, the sword deals the wielder 1d10 psychic damage and the sword casts the Phantasmal Killer spell on the sword’s wielder (Wisdom Save DC 18). Both positive and negative effects take place even if an ability or spell allows the player to reroll or change the dice roll. All spells are cast as if the sword is a 12th level sorcerer. Attuning to the sword causes 6d10 psychic damage. The biggest drawback to the nightmare blade is that no one can take a long rest within 300 feet of you or they will suffer terrifying nightmares that cause one level of exhaustion.

Spells: The sword wielder can use an action to cast the following spells (Save DC 18) from the Nightmare Blade: Darkness, Dream, and Minor Image. After you cast the spell, you can’t cast it again until the next dawn.

Nightmare Essence: The Nightmare Blade ignores all forms of damage reduction and can affect creatures on both the material and ethereal plane.

Sentience: The Nightmare Blade is imbued with a neutral-evil spirit that has an Intelligence of 17 and a Wisdom of 14. The blade cannot speak except through dreams and images. The blade can read minds and uses its telepathic powers to discover the deepest, darkest fears of the people around it.

Fear Thirst: The Nightmare Blade drinks the fear of the people around it. It must feed. Once attuned, if the sword has not cast Fear or Phantasmal Killer over the course of five days, it will cast Dream as if it were a 12 level sorcerer targeting the sword wielder during their next long rest. The spell will cause a nightmare to appear (Wisdom save DC 18 with disadvantage) regardless of whether the creature is asleep or not and the spell ignores all resistances or immunity to fear and psychic damage.

Destroying the Nightmare Blade: To destroy this blade, you must enter the realm of dreams while carrying the sword and defeat the Fright who controls it. The sword must be left in the realm of dreams.