Chellan, Sword of Greed

Aura strong transmutation; CL 16th Slot none; Weight 25 lbs.

DESCRIPTION

For centuries the transmuters of Shalast idealized the arcane pursuit of transfiguring lead into gold. Upon unlocking that secret, they sought even more challenging and dangerous transformations, among which was the quest to turn gold into living flesh. Presenting their master with the petrifying blade they'd created, the arcanists of Runeforge included a second wondrous gift, a woman of living gold they called Chellan. She excelled at all things—art, dance, song, magic, swordsmanship—and it seemed fitting that she would bear the blade that birth from Runeforge made her sibling. But Chellan's time proved short, and after 5 brief years of reducing the enemies of Shalast to rubble, her unperfected animating forces dissipated—all except for those vestiges of calculating fanaticism that imprinted upon the blade that came to bear her name.

A blade of magically hardened gold tempered to incredible durability, Chellan is a +5 keenscimitar that functions as an adamantine weapon for purposes of overcoming damage reduction and bypassing hardness. The ornate sword is incredibly dense, causing it to deal 1d8 points of damage as though it were a Large scimitar, but it can only be properly wielded by characters with a Strength of 18 or higher—all other characters must either wield it as a two-handed weapon or take a –2 penalty on attack rolls with the weapon. Whenever Chellan strikes a foe, the target must succeed at a DC 20 Fortitude save or be affected by the spell slow. If the sword instead scores a critical hit, the target must make a DC 25 Fortitude save or be turned into a crystalline statue, as if by flesh to stone. Characters turned to crystal by Chellan appear to be made of ruby, diamond, or some other valuable gem, but are in fact merely colored quartz of little value.