Situational Sword: Difference between revisions

* The Medicine Seller's sword in ''[[Mononoke]]'' can only be drawn when he learns more about the titular monsters. But once he gets the Shape, Truth, and Reason, [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|asskicking]] [[BFS|ensues]].

* ''[[Rave Master]]'' uses the Ten Commandments sword, which has a total of 10 separate situational swords. However, Runesave is the one that stands out the most, simply because it only cuts things that couldn't be cut, like the wind or magic.

** An even better example would be his brother's sword, a [[Healing Shiv]] that's useless against living beings but happens to be [[Revive Kills Zombie|the only weapon that can cut spirits or other enemies that are]] [[Made of Air]].

* ''[[Ranma One Half|Ranma 1/2]]'''s [[Old Master|Cologne]] owns the Poison-Cleaving Sword, a semi-sentient Chinese ''dao'' with a flower at the tip. This flower has a mouth, and it detects poison and warns the wielder when poison is nearby... and then tries to run away from it, pulling the wielder along if necessary. The reason? Although the Poison Cleaver can indeed cut through any poison and render it harmless, it dies after just one stroke. And, in <s> its own</s> [[Hamlet]]'s words, [[Shout Out|the rest... is silence]].

* Kaito from ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'' wields the... well, '''weapon''' [[Sentient Weapon|Crazy Slot]] which randomly takes the form of one of nine weapons when [[Hammerspace|materialized]]. These include a rifle, a [[Sinister Scythe]] and a club. He cannot dematerialize or switch it until used.

* In ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'', Yamamoto has two weapons like this: A baseball bat that turns into a sword when swung at a certain (fast) speed, and a bamboo sword that turns into a real one when he uses his special techniques.

 

 

* Among its many other properties, the sword named Need in [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series provides a considerable amount of protection from magic if it's wielded by a trained fighter. If wielded by a [[Squishy Wizard]], on the other hand, it gives no magical protection but instead makes the mage an [[Instant Expert|expert swordswoman]]. In the hands of someone with no particular talents in either direction, it does ''both'' (and some other neat tricks besides). What might have happened if Need were wielded by a genuine [[Magic Knight]] is never quite shown in the series, since by the time it's an option, Need {{spoiler|has regained full sentience and thus gets a say in how she's used}}.

* In ''[[The Neverending Story (Literature)|The Neverending Story]]'', Bastian receives the magical sword Sikanda. The sword is amazing, and quite possibly [[Empathic Weapon|alive]], evidenced by the way it guides Bastian's hand and makes peerless, flawless cuts once it leaps out of the sheath, but there are a number of limitations. First of all, only those who have eaten, drunk, and bathed in the flames of the Many-Colored Death, and ridden on his back, may touch the sword without danger (Bastian has to disappoint a few good men who wish to be knighted by the blade because of it). Secondly, Bastian may only draw the sword and use it when it leaps willingly from the sheath. At the height of his growing madness later in the story, Bastian attempts to use Sikanda to fight {{spoiler|Atreyu}}. The sword refuses to budge from the sheath, but Bastian continues to tug at it, and finally tears it out of its sheath by brute force. In that instant, a terrible sound echoes through the tower, and Sikanda's light is lost forever.

* In ''Blue Moon Rising'' by Simon Green, the hero finds a sword which, if its wielder is in a desperate situation ''and his concern is less for himself than for others'', will call down a magical rainbow that disintegrates the supernatural evils caused by the Blue Moon. He nearly gets killed trying to invoke the rainbow in a tight spot where ''he's'' the only one he's really worried about.

* ''[[Percy Jackson]]'s'' sword ''Anaklusmos'' (Riptide) is made from celestial bronze, and is only effective against monsters or those with divine blood such as other demigods. It is completely harmless if used against regular humans.

[Name of weapon] lets out a howl. [Name of special effect/attack] }}

* ''[[Baldurs Gate]]'' has one kind of sword that glows when enemies are nearby, though unfortunately it counts normal-sized rats and spiders as enemies even though they can't hurt you. Also, weapons 'Of Disruption' have a chance of instantly vaporizing undead upon contact. The oringinal also had a nifty 'Greatsword +1/+3 vs. shapeshifters' (which you fough a ''lot'' of).

* ''[[Dragon Age]]'' also has plenty of these. In fact, using runes the player can opt to make their weapon like this ie. +10 damage to darkspawn.

* The ''[[Dark Cloud (Video Game)|Dark Cloud]]'' series has the Lamb's Sword. In the first game, allowing the Lamb's Sword to reach critical [[Breakable Weapons|WHP]] transforms it into the much stronger Wolf Sword until it is repaired. In the second game, the sword becomes the Wolf Sword from 9PM until 6AM, again with a boost in attack power.