Akbitanian steel . . . Where is it??? I have tried looking on several occasions now and I seem unable to find where the stats for Akbitanian Steel might be!!! Any help you might be able to provide would be most appreciated!
Conan the Mercenary page 21. 
Its pretty hard to get and I would make Akbitanian steel at least a mini quest to find it.
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I actually just gave it to him after they choose not to kill the sorceress at the end of the last adventure. It will be nothing but a hassle as everyone and their dog soldier tries to get their grubby little paws on it!! 
And thank you so much for the reference pages!!
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If people find out he is carrying it the will want it.
paraphrasing the Hound, “Is that Valyrian Steel? I’ve always wanted a sword made of Valyrian steel.”
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First, they have to realize that he is owning some. And that might not be so easy.
Second, they have to get it. And this is also not so easy.
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If the akbitanian steel has fearsome 1 its appearance adds to any display damage that the character does. So it may have special qualities like a Damascus blade or whatever really suits the makers fancy. It’s definitely not a 5 gold piece blade from any smith. Most warriors would see that.
I just liked i @Dadtokes420 last comment
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As I said, they have to realize, that this weapon is made of Akbitanian steel. I really doubt that some could identify a sword in scabbard as being made of akbitantian steel from sevewral feet away. You have to see thepatterns on the blade and that’s not an easy task from a distance. And it is very hard to spot forgery.
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Didn’t say someone could tell it was akbitanian steel while in someone’s scabbard.
Normally an ax doesn’t have a scabbard. A spear sometimes but not always. There are a lot of weapons that do not utilize a scabbard at all due to bulk, design, or weight.
What if story wise word actually spread of a person wielding a weapon that could cut a man in half.
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So, my hope with this is to really add “Reputation” into the mix of our group. In each of the last “campaigns” although I’m not certain that is an accurate description, one PC has sort of been a focal point to the roleplaying in between any particular adventure. In the first, I choose the player who was most initially resistant to trying a new system. He was a Hyrkanian horselord who eventually chased Hyrkanians all around Hyrkania trying to convince them he should be the one they follow. We were all very new to the 2d20 rules but we were all willing to jump in and give it a shot. Things were pretty basic. Lots of killing! 
The second set of characters were ones who were supposed to be in a pirate theme . . . They all played Vanir . . . But one . . . who played a sorceress . . . Now there was even more killing!!! Ragnar was the son of a noble, ignored by Horsa the Black, the ignoble king of the Vanir but ended up as Horsa’s right hand of Doom. They pillaged and murdered throughout the other kingdoms, any thoughts of a “pirates” campaign (I was really thinking more like Princess Bride . . .) were gone. Ragnar gained many followers (although sycophants is an under used word that seems apt) none of them were really upstanding men of character but rather those willing to go along with the wake of blood and terror that would accompany the Vanir. I was really going to allow his growing “reputation” to provide its own complications in following sessions. (Did I mention they were slavers to?? Obviously, they became slavers once offered the opportunity . . .) Ragnar’s plan was to become powerful enough to defeat Horsa the Black and rule the kingdom himself but he asked for new characters . . . Perhaps he sensed he was going to end up with a kingdom of ashes . . . (I am not really all that subtle as a GM!!!)
To get back on topic, I thought having such a weapon in the campaign could add an interesting twist, especially as they are all playing new characters. My plan is to keep track of when he uses it and bystanders. Many would (possibly correctly) consider him unworthy of such a blade and I think such a tale could be quite interesting! The other two characters this go around are a female loremaster (Lara Croft? Not really, since he specifically went out of his way to minimize combat skills and I have promised to allow some sort of non combat resolution available to the characters . . . But close!!) and a beastmaster of lowly Aquilonian decent. I think they might all be Aquilonian, tbh . . .
The next adventure id going to be Kidnapping in Corinthia and I am very much looking forward to running it.
I think I am going to have ninja’s try and steal it first . . . Khitian merchant is present during and encounter where it is used and suddenly (three nights later) BOOM!! there are ninja’s in your room!!! (They will spend copious amounts of doom to make an observation check. . . It is fantastic!)
This is true but the great thing about being GM is you get to decide who really knows stuff and not. I think it will be great fun having that sword be as much headache as help!!! If he ends up in a situation where he pulls an alternate weapon, I will think I have done my job!
I’ve got a problem with nearly every one wanting to do really everything to get a blade of Akbitanian steel. It is simply unrealistic (or extremely anachronistic). It is the hyborian version of Damascus steel, the Ulfbert swords and other legendary steel variants. Forgeries of those exist but I’ve never heard that people tried to steal such blades or murdered their owners just to get them.
Conan owned a dagger of Akbitanian steel and REH never wrote that he had to fight of hordes of thugs and thieves just to keep it.
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This character is no Conan! (yet!) and so we will see how he wields it and whether he is seen as worthy of such a blade or not.
That does not matter! If weapons made from Akbitanian steel are so precious and rare that their owners are robbed and even murdered over these then this would have been mentioned either in one of REH’s Conan stories or in the sourcebooks. But neither is the case!
You are joking, right?
@Caranfang No one in the whole history of humankind has ever wanted something someone else had? We understand you don’t like it. Don’t bother to steal weapons that are a status of its user’s wealth or position of power in your games.
Other people can do what they want in their stories to without you beating them over the head with a REH Conan book. I’ve read them too. He is surrounded by thieves and brigands and pirates all the time. It is just Conan is very unique in the fact that he is is usually aware of danger that borders on a primitive preternatural level and will dodge or intercept practically any attack sent against him.
Crafting Akbitanan Steel
Akbitanan steel is a petty enchantment and follows all the rules for such things. It takes a minimum of three ingredients to make, and the work cannot be completed without a dedicated workshop. Both a Daunting (D3) Alchemy and a Daunting (D3) Craft test are needed to complete the process. Failure of either test, or a Complication, creates a poor-quality forgery (see table above). Failure of both tests leads to a complete failure where nothing is produced. Success produces a battle-worthy forgery (see table above). Spending 2 Momentum will transform the blade into actual Akbitanan steel, with a random table result of 0. This number can be increased by 1 for every additional point of Momentum spent.
The Master smith needs to be skilled at both Alchemy and Craft and know the metallurgical make up through Master of Formulae in order to make such a weapon. That doesn’t sound like every Smith and farrier in any town or village can just make akbitanian steel so common.
Blockquote
If weapons made from Akbitanian steel are so precious and rare that their owners are robbed and even murdered over these then this would have been mentioned either in one of REH’s Conan stories or in the sourcebooks. But neither is the case!
No one in REH’s books is killed for their sword? Really?
I never said that. I just said that it is completely unheard of that specific weapons were stolen just because some one else wanted it. The only known thefts of swords happened in modern times. (With one exception: after Charlemange prohibited the export of swords to the Vikings and the Slavs, they would do everything to get an Ulfberht blade, which led to many forgeries of these blades. But this was not a case of “I see that blade, I want that blade” but “we need better blades”.)
You forget that the rules allow all PCs all of this too. Most enemies are minion who die very easily allowing fights in which a single hero easily defeats an overwhelming force.
And that’s the main reason forgeries of Akbitanian steel exists. And this is not anachronistic, becuse the Ulfberht blade, which in the beginning were made from Damascus steel, had been faked.
They have been killed because their killer was in need of the sword and they had the bad luck being in range, not because they own a specific sword. That’s a huge difference.
I think that it is in very bad style if a GM gives a PC something like a weapon of Akbitanian steel as a “reward” and then constantly tries to take it away again. If this happens too often the whole focus of the campaign shifts to keeping the blade and on this particular PC which will eventually cause discontent among the other players.
That is fair. I am a terrible GM and there will be plenty of discontent for everyone!!! 
(I just happen to be the only one willing to do it! 
)
I had a GM, who really loved to throw our characters in jail. If one of them had a special weapon, the corrupt captain did not put them in the armory but in his private collection. In the end we always got the weapons back, but even then we really hated this.
Ask yourself if it is really a good idea to reward someone with a special weapon only to take it away at the next possible moment?
If done right, it can actually be a really entertaining element of the campaign. Maybe the blade has a history and is a family heirloom that the family wants back and has sworn a blood oath to get it.
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