Details
- Level:
- 1d6+2
- Form:
- A round coiled casing of brass with a lever which extends an extremely long segmented cable of thin metal bands bound by energy.
- Depletion:
- 1 in 1d20 (5%)
- Effect:
When activated by pulling the lever, this device extends a series of metal bands in a rapid succession which bind together with a stream of energy forming a cable. This cable can be used like a whip, targeting an object or creature up to a short distance. If the wielder uses it to attack a foe, upon a successful hit the cable deals damage equal to the artifact level and wraps around the foe holding them immobile. As an action the wielder can make a Might check on their turn to keep the foe bound or to reel the foe to them, the later of which forces the foe to target them on its next turn as per the Draw the Attack action. Additionally, a success on either of these checks deals damage to the foe equal to one half the artifact’s level.
If the wielder targets an object with the cable, they can automatically wrap and attach it to the object, though that object instantly takes damage equal to the artifact’s level. If the object is not destroyed by this damage it can then be reeled in to the wielder if it less than two times the weight of the wielder. The cable can still be attached to an object that is more than two times the weight of the wielder but it cannot be reeled in. In this respect, the cable can be used as a rope and grappling hook for massive or heavy objects or architecture.
Weight rules might he hard to implement and balance, but could be interesting. They might be better as an optional rule (though of course a GM can change anything they like about stuff) since weight isn’t an explicit stat in vanilla Numenera and a player might just say their character weighs tonnes to be able to pull anything. That could actually be really interesting; to have a character eat heaps of food to gain weight and make the weapon more powerful… but that might not be something a GM wants to deal with.