Swords of Answering

The Swords of Answering or "Final Word" swords are a collection of 10 named magical swords introduced in the campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. There existed one original Sword of Answering and 9 others that were created as duplicates of the original.

Publication History

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st EDition (1977-1988)

The Swords of Answering first appeared in the Temple of Elemental Evil. The original Sword of Answering, Fragarach is described as a "hefty steel broadsword". One of six of Fragarach's duplicates, Scather is also introduced as a treasure that the players could possibly gain though the names of the other five are mentioned.

The Swords of Answering, appeared next in Unearthed Arcana and renamed "Final Word" Type broadswords. The number of duplicate swords that exist is raised from six to nine.

Lastquip makes an appearance in the module H4: The Throne of Bloodstone as possible treasure found while exploring the layer of Orcus.

Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition (2003-2007)

The next appearance was in Dungeon Magazine . Here, Scather is reintroduced as a minor artifact and a [...] sword. The number of existing swords stay the same with all nine described as [...] swords and each "has a different-colored 10,000-gp gem set in its pommel."

In Game Information

History

In the Temple of Elemental Evil, Fragarach is found on top of a sarcophagus but an illusion spell cast over it disguises it as a silver cross. Within the sarcophagus (also disguised by illusion as a vampire) is Prince Thrommel, Grand Marshall of Furyondy, Provost of Veluna, a Paladin Lord. Prince Thommel is the owner of Fragarach and if "the broadsword Fragarach is in sight, he simply speaks—and it comes to his hand." If rescued, Prince Thommel later on gives the players gifts as rewards and Scather to the player that "recovered the broadsword Fragarach and was gladly willing to allow or help Thrommel to regain it". Fragarach is later on described as being created by a demigod elsewhere and eventually ended up in the Forgotten Realms world. Fragarach is also described as Chaotic Good, implying there was a mistake on either its alignment or Prince Thommel's character class as Paladins in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons could only be Lawful Good. Fragarach's unique power which coined it the Sword of Answering is that it would strike unerringly as many opponents that had struck its possessor's. But the trade-off was that Fragarach always struck last in the round. Fragarach is also described as possessing a hilt of silver and gold wire with seven perfect emeralds set in its pommel.

The duplicate Swords of Answering made in honor of Fragarach are of lesser power and gem values. Each separate sword having amethyst, aquamarine, garnet, peridot, topaz, and tourmaline stones set in their pommels respectively. Their names were Rebutter, Scather, Replier, Retorter, Squelcher, and Back-Talker.

In Unearthed Arcana, the Swords of Answering are called "Final Word" types and still were broadswords. Here, they number nine, one for each of the nine alignments. They all still are patterned after a more legendary sword called Fragarach. All nine have a single gem set in their pommels, again with each gem differing from each other. And the names of these nine are Answerer, Back-talker, Concluder, Lastquip, Rebutter, Replier, Retorter, Scather and Squelcher.

Dungeon Adventure reinvented the Swords of Answering for Dungeons & Dragons third edition. In this magazine, the nine Swords of Answering became creations of the god Kelanen. Fragarach is described as a sword that Kelanen stole from an alien god and then used it as a template to create the other nine. Afterwards, Kelanen passed Fragarach down to his worshipers. The nine Swords of Answering are re-written as [...] swords but keeping the different colored gems set in their respective pommels. And all nine are again of each alignment. Dantalion is a master swordsman introduced as an antagonist in the Dungeon issue who wields Scather.