Swords & Wizardry: Count Krugerov

Many years ago I introduced Count Krugerov into one of my D&D games.  Krugerov was a very bad man who was far too well versed in the necromantic arts for his own good, and in my head I always pictured him to look like Jafar from Disney’s Aladdin.

Krugerov wielded a “signature” weapon: a magical curved dagger (which I later discovered was actually called a jambiya) which increased its magical bonus with each killing blow that it landed.  I never considered the weapon to be intelligent or have an ego, nor did I ever give it an alignment.  If I were to use it in my game again, I’m pretty sure it would remain unintelligent and unaligned but it would definitely carry with it some sort of lingering malignancy; maybe its new owner would suffer from nightmarish hauntings at the hands of the blade’s victims or something.

Krugerov had a “signature” spell as well which granted him doppelganger-esque abilities at a disgusting price.

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Krugerov’s Dagger: this magical jambiya begins each day with a +0 enchantment.  With each killing blow the weapon lands, it gains a +1 bonus to a maximum of +3.  With the coming of dawn, the weapon’s bonus “resets” to +0.  Krugerov’s Dagger is unintelligent.

Krugerov’s Cannibalistic Mutation
Spell Level: Magic-user, 3rd Level
Range: Caster
Duration: 1 hour or Referee’s discretion
This spell enables the Magic-user to alter the appearance of his or her form to that of another human or humanoid being.  Exacting detail is maintained; even normally hidden or undiscovered birthmarks and blemishes will be recreated by this spell.  The material component for this spell is a chunk of flesh from the human or humanoid who is being duplicated, which must be eaten by the Magic-user as the spell is cast.