Situational Sword: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[Inuyasha]]'', the titular [[Half-Human Hybrid|half-demon]] was given a sword by his father that becomes much more powerful if he's trying to protect a human from a demon.

** 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]].

* 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.

* The [[Lone Wolf|Sommerswerd]]'s "supernatural powers increase the bearer's CS by 8 (prior to the application of weapon skill bonuses), and also increase the sensitivity of his Sixth Sense. It is [[For Massive Damage|doubly damaging]] to undead foes and [[Power Nullifier|absorbs hostile magic]]. Perhaps its greatest power is the ability to kill Darklords, and it's possible, as stated in ''The Curse of Naar'', that it might be able to kill [[Big Bad|Naar himself]]. Only members of the royal house of Sommerlund or a Kai Lord can wield it. If anyone else uses it in battle, it will slowly and irrevocably lose its powers." On the other hand, whip it out in the wrong spot, every Tom, Dick and Rubicante shows up to kick your ass.

** Fortunately, evil beings can't take advantage of this to depower the sword -- if you happen to be evil and try to hold the sword it will melt your fingers off.

 

== Literature ==

** Dragonslicer is the epitome, it only has magical powers when wielded against a dragon.

*** Stonecutter too. It's only "magical" property is the ability to cut through stone.

** Also, no one else can use it, and you will die if and only if you have killed a hundred men with it (at which point it turns on you and finds a new owner - they will then remain alive until their 99th kill, and so on until some poor soul is slain on first drawing the blade). At first the character is unnerved by not knowing how close he was and that he could die at any time. Later, the character realizes it was [[Age Without Youth]] and desperately tries to find a way to kill the last men. {{spoiler|Nothing that a youth spell wouldn't handle, though.}}

* 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}}.

* The black sword Dyrnwyn from the ''[[Chronicles of Prydain]]'' series can only be drawn by one of "noble worth". [[Heroic Wannabe|Taran]] at first assumes this means one born of a noble bloodline, but Gwydion later states that it is referring to character, not blood. In the hands of a worthy person it is an [[Infinity+1 Sword]] capable of slaying just about any evil being. Those who are unworthy tend to get themselves killed trying to draw the sword. Taran has to go through four or five books' worth of [[Character Development]] before he can wield it.

* 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.

 

 

* ''[[Baldur's 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).

** [[Infinity+1 Sword|Carsomyr]] also has a bunch of abilities which while ''technically'' always active only really come into play when facing spellcasters.

* The ''[[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.

* In ''[[Main/ptitlejlncbavd|3D Dot Game Heroes]]'', weapons are effectively useless unless you are at full health, at which point the upgrade abilities that either came with the weapons or were bought later kick in.