Weapons to be Wary of

There are a number of weapons which all decent folk should try to distance themselves from. They are made by bitter wizards, spells gone awry and in some cases they seem to simply have burst into existence of their own accord. They generally share a few common traits however; they generally have drawbacks which exceed their power and they often draw users who have a rather distinctive lack of morals.

———————————————————

Goretooth Weapons

A Goretooth weapon bears an interesting enchantment: any injury inflicted by such a weapon will spew gouts of blood, usually exceeding the amount within the victim quite quickly. The blood beyond what would normally result from the wound is actually magical in origin, although it will stay and dry normally.
The benefit to this is the psychological effect it has on foes. Seeing someone turned into a firehose of blood with one strike is unnerving at best. Carnage-happy warriors have also found use for the weapon, it is much quicker to get to the point where you're wading through gore with a weapon so ensorcelled. Finally, such weapons are very good at faking one's death, for previously mentioned reasons. A minor prick on the throat or wrist, a brief topple with some gurgling sounds and problem solved.

Goretooth weapons are usually made from either wrought silver or pitted iron, often a blend of the two. They often have irregular grooves and markings on them that become grisly patterns and images when the weapon is awash in blood. Axes and swords are the most common types of Goretooth weapon, no blunt Goretooth weapons have yet been found.
———————————————————

Berserker Blades

Berserker blades turn an average warrior into a frothy-mouthed, rage fueled killing machine. Despite the brutish purpose of the weapon, the way it works is rather sophisticated. Instead of magically reinforcing the wielder's muscles, it causes their body to start pumping adrenaline into the bloodstream at a dangerous pace. This has the benefit of making it difficult to dispel, because it doesn't actually increase the wielder's strength, it simply makes what they have go further. The drawback is that having so much adrenaline pumping through the system will damage it, and the wielder, in their berserk state, will not think of stopping. The state of mind is the other aspect that the weapon influences, locking off most of the brain except for the the basic animal instincts. While so affected, the user will fight until there are no living beings in the immediate area, or until death.
All of the effects of the weapon remain dormant throughout practice and testing, only activating when real combat is entered and the weapon is swung.

Most Berserker Blades are swords. The name is a little misleading, as the weapon doesn't actually have to be a blade. A club can support the enchantments just as well as a broadsword. Despite this, most Berserker blades tend to be claymores.
Whatever the form may be, all Berserker blades have one thing in common: the large, blocky runes etched into the business end of the weapon. Using the example of a claymore,the runes would reach down the flat of the blade, from the tip of the blade to the hilt. When the enchantments are active, the runes glow a dim red, like embers from a nearly dead fire.
———————————————————-

Sword of the Crusader

These weapons are solid proof that good intentions can lead to evil ends. Designed to reinforce the faith of holy crusaders, these longswords had a slight problem inherent in their enchantments: they caused their owners to be able to immediately justify to themselves anything they wanted to do. Under the influence of these weapons, good men did terrible things, convinced as they were that it was the right thing to do. People were murdered, the reason being that the bearer of the sword had a vague desire to own the land they lived on or that they had an attractive wife. Of course, to the wielder of the sword, he only saw that the man had been a criminal, or was involved in a plot to overthrow the crown. To them, the clues that were never there were as plain as day.

Today, the original owners of the swords are all dead, having been executed on various murder charges. The swords themselves surface from time to time, always accompanying a rash of murders. Mercifully, they have yet to find their way into the possession of someone with power an authority. A kingdom could quickly go to war if it's ruler was under the influence of such a blade.