Shadow Weapon
Solid to the hand, false to the wound
Shadow Weapon pulls a blade out of the dark and puts it in the caster's hand in a single tick, in the middle of doing something else.
The weapon is solid. It has weight, it catches on things, and a hand closed on it finds something to hold, so no test of touch reveals anything. What a creature can refuse to believe is not the blade. It is the cut.
Until a target disbelieves, the shadow weapon ignores DR. Armor stops what it sees coming, and it does not see this coming.
A creature makes its illusion Save the first time the weapon strikes it, under the ordinary rule for illusions (see 12): the GM rolls once at the start of the day and reuses that value. On a success, that creature's DR works normally against the blade for the rest of the day. The weapon stays solid and goes on cutting. It simply stops lying.
The Shadow Arm
The spell also grows an arm of shadow from the caster's back, as strong as their own. It carries, holds, grips, and steadies—a shield, a torch, a rope, a ledge—and it can hold the shadow weapon while both of the caster's hands stay free to cast.
The arm grants no additional attacks. It changes what a caster can do at once, not how often they strike.
Progression
| Level | Fundamental bonus | Shadow arms |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | +8 | 1 |
| 5 | +16 | 1 |
| 7 | +32 | 2 |
| 9 | +64 | 2 |
The bonus follows Enchant at the same spell level and adds to damage. The weapon grants no Reflex bonus.
Quality
The caster imagines the weapon, so their mind decides how well it is made.
| Intelligence | +1–3 | +4–7 | +8–11 | +12–15 | +16 or higher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | M1 | M2 | M3 | M4 | M5 |
Quality then behaves as it does for any crafted weapon (see 10).