Dawnbringer

Dawnbringer is an intelligent sunblade whose purpose is to end the prophesied Long Night created by foes of the Church of Lathander/Amaunator. Its personality is based on that of Solus Dawnbringer, a kind but naive paladin of Lathander. Dawnbringer interprets the long night as the last obstacle restricting the reincarnation of Amaunator. The sword stands in direct opposition to the Church of Dusk and Dawn in Pandora and will stop at nothing to ensure its destruction.   Dawnbringer will happily chatter about the brilliance and glory of Lathander (or Amaunator, he sometimes forgets), and will often push its wielder to charge into battle and to wear bright and lustrous armor to better display the Morninglord/Keeper of the Eternal Sun’s radiance. While Dawnbringer is willing to go along with a stealth approach to battle, it will often sulk and loudly complain until placated. It will absolutely tolerate no stealth approach when encountering members of the Church of Dusk and Dawn or other evil heretics, however (unless they repent, which Dawnbringer is happy to lend its diplomacy check to aid in this endeavor). One quirk of Dawnbringer is a holdover from its original personality: Dawnbringer will refuse to teleport or plane shift, requiring an ego check to go along.   As Solus’ soul was trapped to create the artifact, the sunblade has the brilliant energy weapon special ability, except it can harm undead. Dawnbringer appears as a gilded sword hilt, but it reveals or conceals its blade of pure radiance as a free action.   LN brilliant energy sunblade
Senses 30 ft.; Perception +0
Aura overwhelming evocation; CL 10th; Weight 2 lbs.

Spell-like abilities
At will–chains of light (cl 11th; DC 19)
1/day–burst of glory (cl 10)

Special Abilities
Sunblade (see below), Empathy (Su), Speech (Su) (Common, Chondathan), Senses (30 ft.)

Special Purpose
Defeat/slay servants of the Church of Dusk and Dawn and other evil heretics of Amaunator.

Statistics
Ego 13
Ability Scores INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 12
Skills Diplomacy +11

Description
When the blade is visible, Dawnbringer is the size of a bastard sword. However, Dawnbringer is wielded as if it were a short sword with respect to weight and ease of use. In other words, the weapon appears to all viewers to be a bastard sword, and deals bastard sword damage, but the wielder feels and reacts as if the weapon were a short sword. Any individual able to use either a bastard sword or a short sword with proficiency is proficient in the use of Dawnbringer. Likewise, Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization in short sword and bastard sword apply equally, but the benefits of those feats do not stack.   In normal combat, the glowing golden blade of the weapon is equal to a +2 bastard sword. Against evil creatures, its enhancement bonus is +4. Against Negative Energy Plane creatures or undead creatures, the sword deals double damage (and ×3 on a critical hit instead of the usual ×2).   Dawnbringer also has a special sunlight power. Once per day, the wielder can swing the weapon vigorously above his head while speaking a command word. Dawnbringer then sheds a bright yellow radiance that acts like bright light and affects creatures susceptible to light as if it were natural sunlight. The radiance begins shining in a 10-foot radius around the sword wielder and extends outward at 5 feet per round for 10 rounds thereafter, to create a globe of light with a 60-foot radius. When the wielder stops swinging the sword, the radiance fades to a dim glow that persists for another minute before disappearing entirely.   Unlike other sun blades, Dawnbringer is an intelligent item with an alignment of Lawful Neutral, as it was dedicated (some say corrupted) to Amaunator, and so does not impose a negative level on evil creatures. However, any chaotic creature attempting to wield Dawnbringer gains one negative level. The negative level remains as long as the sword is in hand and disappears when the sword is no longer wielded. This negative level cannot be overcome in any way (including by restoration spells) while the sword is wielded.