Magical Weapon

Basic Information

Unsurprisingly, a magical weapon is a weapon which involves magic somewhere in its function.

These seem to come in three broad varieties:

1. Enhanced weapons: these are those where the magic makes them better at doing whatever they would normally do - the sword is sharper the … well, in legends it's mostly swords, but there are also things like super accurate bows and thrown weapons which return to the user. That sort of thing. There are also structural enhancements that make weapons more durable and what have you that fit nicely into this category. The simplest enhancement is probably that which allows the weapon to harm things that normal weapons can't harm - the immaterial (like ghosts) or those with supernatural protection or healing that would make regular weapons ineffective. Infinite supplies of ammunition may also be included - although until at least the revolver appears, this is more likely to be a feature of a magical ammunition pouch instead.
2. Secondary effects: these are over and above the primary function of the weapon and include both things like weapons that wreathe themselves in fire and those that make the user invisible/able to fly/extra strong or do things like detecting enemies, shedding light or giving advice.
3. Purely magical attacks: these devices have little or no mundane damage dealing ability and either shoot magic blasts at the target or have some more insidious effect such as paralysis or curse sending.

Origins may vary - a weapon may draw its powers from the materials of construction (or those used in the manufacturing process), from spells worked on it during the forging process or afterwards, or from the character of the maker or long term user. In some traditions, a weapon may also have a spirit or demon dwelling within it, whether by choice or otherwise - Western traditions might limit this to the most powerful of blades, but more animistic cultures might consider it only natural that something that has been made with great care and effort should have a spirit of its own (or gain one though prolonged use as in the Japanese tradition of tsukumogami). A sapient inhabitant could potentially lead to a very dangerous weapon indeed. In some settings (and these are mostly fRPG) a demon may be forced to manifest itself as a weapon … technically, we would expect such a weapon to be made of ectoplasm but there may be ways around that. Anything made of that level of supernatural could be capable of all sorts of unnatural behaviour.

Examples by type:

Type 1

• Vorpal sword
• A kris that possesses supernatural powers may be one of these, or a type 2, depending.
• The gae bolg of irish mythology - said to be supernaturally accurate when thrown and to grow barbs, or even multiple heads, on hitting the target so that it tore them to pieces.

Type 2

• Elric's sword Stormbringer from the eponymous novels by Moorcock. Significant Type 1 properties plus the ability to consume the souls of its victims and provide the wielder with buffs … and bad advice (being both sapient and "a thousand times more evil than thou").
• The spear of Lugh from Irish myth, said to rage for blood unless kept sedated, and in battle to burst into flame and seek out targets… possibly without the need of a wielder.

Type 3

• Pointing Bone
• Instrument of Murder … in most cases where a magical instrument is involved.

Sources

Bibliography

1. full source reference

Game and Story Use

• The prevalence of these things will vary immensely by campaign setting and rules system - the stock fantasy common to "certain fRPG systems" will be awash with them, whilst in a wainscot fantasy or low magic campaign, tracking down even one enchanted blade to take on an opponent immune to mortal weaponry may be a sub-quest in its own right.
  • Interim measures include wainscot fantasy wherein an Enchanted Dagger of Blahblabla happens to be available on overnight shipping via your local new age curio shop (Mr Wheedon, please call your office) or where a temporary fix can be created using appropriate ritual magic.
  • Prevalence will also have a bearing on value - if every man and his dog has a +1 sword, then enchanted weapons will need to be a very big deal indeed to be remarkable. If you actually need to lay hands on Kusanagi or Durendal to get a magical weapon, much less so.
  • The Indonesian tradition is also something of a compromise - a strong strain of animism in their culture makes it not uncommon for a kris to possess special powers, depending on the nature of the spirit of the blade.
• The demon-as-weapon is very Eric Moorcock - they are a staple of his Young Kingdoms novels and the Elric/Stormbringer RPG that spawned therefrom. The abovementioned sword Stormbringer was very much one of these.
• A sapient, bloodthirsty sword capable of influencing its user is alarming enough … now imagine that same spirit inhabiting a handgun and turned loose in the black market of a major city… especially if it can also spawn its own ammunition¹.

Footnotes

1. Even if it takes ages … imagine a spirit that can spawn a round in the chamber of the gun it inhabits given a couple of days unsupervised. Even if the weapon is checked and made safe when put away, a few days later it is mysteriously cocked with a round in the chamber and the safety off… every hoplophobe's fantasies about firearms made real and a trained operator's example for why you always treat an unknown weapon as though it were live and loaded.