Hollows Weapons: the Sword

“There are fighters and there are warriors and you, friend, are a warrior. You are a professional. You have earned the right to lead an army, to seize the reins of civilisation, to cut and stab and kill. In your hand is the Sword, the tool of a master, and the key to victory. Show them what you can do.”

For millennia, the Sword has been a symbol of power and authority beyond measure: a tool for the masters of men to wield with skill and grace. To cut away the weakest parts of society and to do what must be done to ensure civilisation’s survival and prosperity.

What is the Sword?

The Sword’s almost as good at attracting attention as it is at actually causing harm. It’s flashy. It catches the eye. In game terms, it manipulates Threat (mostly attracting it). Whether it’s a Noble rapier, a Mighty claymore, or a Short but wicked gladius, its core ability is to earn some advantage by placing a Threat token on its area. That ability varies – restoring Resolve, dealing extra Resolve damage, or extra Wound damage – but the origin is the same: “look at me,” the Sword says, “see me,” and when the Entity plays into its attention-seeking behaviour, it makes the Sword stronger. 

The Sword’s Tier 1 abilities are all about leadership. Charge into close combat and rally your allies, helping them Focus or inspiring them to deal extra damage. The other early abilities rely on the Entity’s attention. You can spend Threat to Focus, stand on guard when the Entity spends Threat, or direct the Entity’s attention either to or away from you when you miss it.

At Tier 2, you can choose one or more ways to attract Threat to you, or flank the Entity to hamstring it – which fully clears Threat from one area of the grid as it howls in pain and loses focus. 

The Sword’s Tier 3 abilities represent extensive drills and formalised schools of combat. Each one has a stance, which is active at the beginning of the Hunt, and a tactic: a special, one-use move that changes the battle significantly. Choose Fulcrum of War to resist damage, then gather your allies to you, unnerving the Entity with your display of unity. Take Noble Sacrifice to deal extra damage then reposition all Hunters, restoring their Resolve and dragging them out of harm’s way. Alternatively, select One Perfect Strike to keep your Focus, before drawing most of the Threat on the board straight to you and converting it into bonuses on a single, lethal attack. 

What is the Sword Really?

The Sword believes in heroes and strives to convince its wielders that they stand proudly amidst their ranks; that there are those who are born to lead, thanks to some indefinable spark of greatness deep within their being, and it is their duty to shepherd the people beneath them. It tells you: you alone are meant for greatness. The pitiful creatures of the feckless masses are nothing without you to lead them. You are worthy of the respect you see glinting in their bovine eyes.

It admonishes those who fight dirty and it births schools of duellists, manuals of techniques, and reams of rules designed to fashion the grim business of ending lives into something that demands admiration and grace. It is desperate to dictate the battlefield and hold onto its unfair advantage, because without it, it is nothing but a length of sharpened steel. The Sword knows its superiority is a lie. Spears outreach it. Knives carve and craft and make. It glances off Armour’s skin and every single gun outranges it.

That’s the Sword’s truth, the one it’s desperate to keep you from learning: it’s a relic, slipping into rite and ritual as the world marches on without it.