Seven Days, Seven Blades of Luck - Luck Drinker

Luck Drinker is a scimitar of the finest craftsmanship. Sand dragon skin wrapped hilt and large hematite pommel counter balance the blade of folded meteoric steel. When drawn from it's matching ruby encrusted sand dragon skin scabbard it emits a "peening" sound like a tuning fork or every anime sword evar. When blocking or being blocked by another weapon it tends to throw white hot sparks. Created long ago by a Djinn in response to a poorly worded wish. It is none the less sought after by the greatest swordsmen who would rather rely on their skill than on the variegates of chance.

[the FUDGE rules] Attack rolls made with this sword will move one step closer to zero (e.g. +2 becomes +1, -3 becomes -2). In addition natural rolls of +4 and -4 become 0. So, the effective range of 4dF is +2 to -2. In other words this sword "drinks" both good and bad luck.

I'm not sure how to convert these rules into a d20's non-bell curve mechanic. For those unfamiliar with FUDGE the idea or this sword to remove some of the "luck of the dice" so those skilled with swords could get more consistent results. Fudge already emphasizes skill over dice with it's bell curve. This just took that a step further. Perhaps make it a bell curve. Use 2d10 instead of d20 for attack rolls with Drinker. Or shrink the high/low. Roll d10+5, no great rolls but no horrible ones either. Or both 2d6+3? It has to be and has to be obvious to a fighter with +10 to hit that using drinker will be better over time.


[From the series Seven Blades of Luck and examples of Magic Items Should be Magical. All seven blades were once part of an article I submitted to Fudge Factor a sadly defunct e-zine for FUDGE.]