The Black Blade of Disaster enables a wizard to create and wield a long sword that acts as an enchanted and magical weapon with additional powerful abilities.
“ | This spell enables the caster to create a black, blade-shaped planar rift about three feet long. It jumps into the caster's hand and is used as a normal sword, remaining there for the duration of the spell. | ” |
— Excerpt |
Statistics[]
The blade can be summoned with a casting time of 4 – in the original Shadows of Amn, without its expansion Throne of Bhaal installed, it's 9 – and will remain equipped for 18 rounds.
Being a magical weapon of a +6 enchantment, the long sword inflicts 2d12+5 slashing damage, with improved THAC0 by 5 points and with a speed factor of 1 at a 1-ft. range in all games. Its on-hit abilities, however, differ from game to game and edition, though they are always of the Offensive damage type — blocked by the Cloak of Mirroring.
The Disintegrate and Level Drain effects are also blocked by SI Necromancy.
In addition to this, the effects are also coded as Power level 9, and thus can be absorbed/deflected by appropriate spell protections such as Spell Deflection, Spell Turning or Spell Trap. Repeated attacks from the blade will however rapidly exceed the protective capacity of these spells and take them down.
Shadows of Amn[]
In the original Shadows of Amn, without its expansion, the spellcaster's base THAC0 is set to 12 for the duration of the spell and every hit may slay the target if no save vs. death is made with a bonus of 4.
Throne of Bhaal[]
After the installation of the original expansion Throne of Bhaal or in any "complete" package of the original Baldur's Gate II, the slaying effect remains, but the fixed THAC0 is removed. Instead, grand mastery with Long Swords is applied, which will improve the THAC0 by 2, add 4 to the damage dealt and reduce the speed by 3; warrior/mage multi- or dual-classes will also benefit from an additional half attack per round.
On top of this, there's a 10%-chance that the target has 4 Level drain effect. A saving throw negates. It bypasses magic resistance, and the wielder simultaneously gains a +20 current Hit point gain.
Enhanced Editions[]
The Enhanced Editions change the slaying effect to disintegration, still with a save vs. death at a bonus of 4, and the imbued grand mastery will apply the following bonuses: improve THAC0 by 3, add 5 to the damage and reduce the speed by 3; warrior/mage multi- or dual-classes will also benefit from one additional attack per round.
The chance of Level drain and healing is unaltered.
Locations[]
The spell scroll is only sold by a few merchants and cannot be found elsewhere.
Shadows of Amn[]
- Sold by Ribald from his secret stock after having returned from the Underdark (×1)
Throne of Bhaal[]
- Sold at Arcana Archives (×2)
- Sold by Karthis al-Hezzar (×1)
- May be cast once by the Skeleton Mage[1] in Forest of Mir – The Temple
- May be cast once by Semaj[2] during the Pocket Plane challenge Possibilities
Gladiators of Thay[]
- Known (and cast) by Lea Gosh'Aar
- May be cast up to two times by Pol Pyrrus[3]
- Sold by the Book Merchant (×6)
Unused references[]
- Two additional scrolls would have been available for purchase – one in the Copper Coronet, one at the Anvil of the Right –, but the connected stores aren't accessible.
Gameplay[]
- Beware: If the victim is Level drained to zero or disintegrated there's a good chance that non-plot items will be destroyed. Disabling "gore" in gameplay options will prevent items from being lost due to the Disintegrate effect.
- Effects and gear that boost APR can be used to improve damage output. For example, dual-wielding characters (who haven't hit the APR cap) can increase damage output by wielding Belm or Kundane in the offhand.
- Because the Whirlwind Attack and Greater Whirlwind Attack HLAs set a character's APR to the cap of 5, damage output can be maximized by unequipping any offhand weapon prior to using these HLAs.
- The spell is a counterpart of the Blackrazor long sword with different specifics.
- Despite the fact that Black Blade of Disaster, as a spell, is an evocation, the save vs death on-hit benefits (or is hindered by, in the case of enemy mage specialists) from a specialization in necromancy (in BG2EE, at least).
Notes[]
- Spell and weapon are present in the game code of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition and its expansion Siege of Dragonspear, but don't make an appearance in these games.
- The Black Blade of Disaster is written down in the Mage Book of Elminster, though he won't cast it.
Bugs[]
- The +5 damage bonus is not mentioned in any description, all games only state "2-24" (=2d12).
- Shadows of Amn (2000)
Content from the original Baldur's Gate II campaign Shadows of Amn In the original Shadows of Amn, the spell's description states a duration of "1 round/level", where it's actually a fixed 18 rounds. This is corrected since the original Throne of Bhaal. - Shadows of Amn (2000)
Content from the original Baldur's Gate II campaign Shadows of Amn Also, according to the description, the caster's THAC0 would be the same as a fighter's one of half their level – while it's actually set for all levels to the value from the example, 12.- A change to the base THAC0 is omitted since Throne of Bhaal, but a modification of the caster's weapon proficiencies applied instead.
- Shadows of Amn (2000)
Content from the original Baldur's Gate II campaign Shadows of AmnThrone of Bhaal (2001)
Content from the original Baldur's Gate II campaign Throne of Bhaal Although the description speaks of the disintegration of the victims, they are actually slain in the original Baldur's Gate II; the description is fixed in the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition. - Throne of Bhaal (2001)
Content from the original Baldur's Gate II campaign Throne of BhaalBaldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Shadows of Amn (2013)
Content from the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition campaign Shadows of AmnBaldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Throne of Bhaal (2013)
Content from the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition campaign Throne of Bhaal While the spell description states that the mage is treated as having "Grand Mastery in this weapon", it in fact grants this proficiency to all longswords for the duration of the spell, such as any long swords in the character's offhand. - Throne of Bhaal (2001)
Content from the original Baldur's Gate II campaign Throne of BhaalBaldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Shadows of Amn (2013)
Content from the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition campaign Shadows of AmnBaldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Throne of Bhaal (2013)
Content from the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition campaign Throne of Bhaal Dual-classing while under the effects of this spell permanently gives Grand Mastery in Long Swords. - In BG2EE, most magical weapons let you dual wield without THAC0 penalty, making Two Weapon Style redundant when using this spell. Moreover, while dual wielding, the effects of Single Weapon Style apply to both weapons, meaning both main and offhand weapons score critical hits on attack rolls of 19 or higher. The +2 AC bonus, however, only applies once.
- Throne of Bhaal (2001)
Content from the original Baldur's Gate II campaign Throne of BhaalBaldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Shadows of Amn (2013)
Content from the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition campaign Shadows of AmnBaldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Throne of Bhaal (2013)
Content from the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition campaign Throne of Bhaal If the character has invested any points into longsword proficiency, their innate proficiency level will override the Grand Mastery effect provided this spell. This takes place after attacking once, being attacked, casting a spell, or even picking up an item in that character's inventory - presumably any event that causes the game to recalculate stats.
Gameplay (community)[]
~Write your insights below, different from Gameplay section above, you may use your signatures, example page~
- This weapon is extremely powerful. A Mage, Sorcerer, Dragon Disciple or Cleric / Mage being weak in melee combat can become as powerful as a Fighter. The Mage can cast Time Stop and summon afterwards this powerful weapon and kill The Winged within the Time Stop Period. Each hit is about 40 Damage Hit Points. Even Enegar, the Bhaalspawn in the Black Pits II, gets badly wounded by this sword that lasts for a long time - 22 rounds. -- Added by Gejadus (talk • contribs) 05:46, April 29, 2018 (UTC)
Mod content[]
- This section is about unofficial content that is only available via fan-made mods.
Spell Revisions mod has changed this arcane spell - revising its casting time, duration, effects, and description. See below:
Black Blade of Disaster
Level: 9
School: Conjuration
Range: Personal
Duration: 1 round/level
Casting Time: 5
Area of Effect: Special
Saving Throw: None
This spell enables the caster to create a black, blade-shaped planar rift, about 5 feet long. It jumps into the caster’s hand and is used as a normal sword, remaining there for the duration of the spell. The caster wields the blade as if proficient with the weapon and brandishes it with a base THAC0 of 0. The sword deals 2d12 damage per strike and acts as a +5 magical weapon in all regards, including hit and damage bonuses. With each hit, there is a 15% chance the victim must make a save vs. spell at -2 or be disintegrated (40d6 points of magic damage, 5d6 on a successful save).
Mod gallery[]
References
External links[]
- Black blade of disaster on the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting Forgotten Realms.]]