What, exactly, is a magical sword? (And another fun poll)

Across all RPG games I have found that the concept of a "Magical Sword" exists. As much as I have always liked RPG's, there is one thing that I am not sure how to "interpret".

What, exactly, is a magical sword?

I have trained martial arts for many years. I use a sword that in terms of RPG's would be a long sword. More specifically (if there is any one out there who also trains with swords) a Chineese Long Sword.
(For those who don't know what it is, it's a slightly larger version of the sword you see in Crouching Tiger Hidded Dragon.)

I still can not imagine what a magical sword would do (or what physical property it would have) to help someone:
a) increase the chance to hit
b) make more damage

I can understand features such as:
a) glows blue when orcs are close
b) can "cast" a fireball
That is, after all, the magical property.

But what would be the physical effect of a magic sword to make it better in actual combat?

I truly believe that skill surpassess any magical property other than sheer luck!

Any ideas?

 

for over a century now

I kind of thought the magic made the blade sharper and stronger and was guided to vulnerable areas to a certain level.
Its magic, you just make it up. magic is left in the wounds after a hit and the magic turns into little bettles that eat the nearest thing or it just creates a bit of a heart attack.

 

If you had a sword which speed exceeds it's non-magic counterpart it would indeed increase your chance to hit. Also the sword might make the strike harder ie tougher to parry.

And remember what Terry Pratchett wrote: A sock with a brick in it is better than any two magic swords.

 

If you can have resurrected gods, portals that spawn creatures from other worlds and zombies emerging from graves, surely you can enchant a sword to make it hit better and harder.

Technology is scientific and explainable, Magic isn't.

 

Carlstar:
I like your interpretation. The magic makes the blade REMAIN sharp (which is not the case with a "normal" sword in the real world). It can also make it lighter, therefore swifter. But shouldn't it also cause a penalty for adjustment?

Dragoon: But the sword can not be faster than the arm wielding it. If it were, a combat would be like:
-"Ooops, excuse me, my blade just litterally flew out of my hand and slashed my companion. I'm going to pick it up and while I'm at it, you be a nice orc and wait right here ... "

Rat Keeng:
But what about the special effects? How would it look like? How would it feel like?
("Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!")


Thanks for the opinions.
I hope more come.

 

Sure, you'd be perfectly right if we were talking about some kind of super fast mundane sword, but we're talking magic. It magically speeds up the swing and magically avoids all the normal adverse effects. It's magic.

 

Why not? Magic is both spiritual as well as physical. If a magic sword has to make the wielder's arm swing faster, it'll do just that. Just like you have belts that improves your strength, rings that makes you more resistant to fire and poison, and gloves that improve your dexterity. It's........ MAGIC!!!

 

Well, it depends on how you treat magic.
Suppose you imbue your iron sword with a bit of a holy substance, say carbon, what do you get? A much stronger blade, that although it still requires skill to use, it has a much greater potential to turn your enemies to pulp. Or a weapon forged by cavemen (pre-historical men and not Talibans, please) from pieces of the sky.
Maybe there is a War Spirit bound in the weapon that gives a bit of his skill to its user? The weapon can have a mind of it’s own and slightly change its shape during combat.
There are tons of possibilities, as there are tons of ways to deal with magic.

 

Magic could make weapons do things that aren't physically possible, for example make the blade frozen to make people cold, you could make a sword out of ice but it would normally melt, but not with magic.

 

OK, so we pretty much agreed that the definition of *MAGIC* as we use the term justifies for pretty much everything that science can not, and a tad bit more, right?

I like the "Spiritual Possession" kind of magic in the weapon. So, when a person wields it, he/she becomes the "other" being who happens to know how to wield it better. The question is: how does the wielder know when to draw the line before he/she becomes another Stringy Pete?

I still like "simple" magic better. Any one remember an OLD movie called "Hawk: The Slayer"? That was a simple but effective magic sword. I have hunted that film for a long time without any success in getting it.

I wish there *were* magic swords just to test one out.

Any way, the voices inside my head still believe that magic is no match to skill (when it comes to sowrds alone).

 

As to what magic is very first chapters to Arcanum's manual explain it pretty well. Whenever magic is applied physic, logic and whatnot go to hell.

 

I was actually taking it beyond Arcanum (including D&D, AD&D, and all the spin offs).

 

Yeah, that's pretty much it. I mean, we are talking about magic here - you can define it in terms of other disciplines like science.

You should read the Sword of Truth series from Terry Goodkind. The Sword of Truth is a fucking awesome sword that gives a whole heap of great effects to the wielder, but will eventually destroy them if they don't master the sword. It isn't super light, but it is super strong, and it has some of that spirit possession you say you like, although not in the traditional sense. Very good series, and the conflict between Richard and his need to use the sword but also his hatred of it is a nice counterpoint (although frustrating at times).

 

You can do magic
You can have anything that you desire
Magic, and you know
You're the one who can put out the fire

dumdeedummdeedumm