[Necromancy] Weapon - Exsangutioner

The blade of this axe is forged from iron refined in a sloughs of enhanced blood and intricately carved to manifest resonance with nearby blood. Sanguinites carry multiple weapons of similar circular design, each attuned to a different density or type of blood.

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Exsangutioner
Weapon (greataxe), uncommon (requires attunement)

This magic weapon has 3 charges for the following properties and regains all expended charges daily at dusk.

Clot. While holding the weapon, you can use an action to expend 1 charge and cast cruor* from it.

Drain. When you hit a creature that has blood with this weapon, you can immediately use a bonus action to expend 2 charges and cast withering smite* on the target (spell save DC 13).

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DESIGN COMMENTARY

I love the word "exsanguinate" but it was impossible to come up with a good name for it. "Exsanguinutioner" was one tongue-twisty possibility.

The weapon is a basic Uncommon item - any item with 1d3 charges for spells generally falls into this category. This was an item essentially designed to make use of the two remaining spells from the new spells I created. I thought about adding more beyond just casting spells, but I was also conscious of the number of Uncommon vs Rare items in the theme. I stuck with Uncommon and limited its features.

The visual design was an attempt at creating a different kind of language for blood (and necromancy). I previously designed the bloody Heart Cleaver for the Infernal theme, which was jagged and organic. For this, I went in a different direction that's more rigid and manipulates blood in a different way (via resonance). I also love circles, so I gave that a shot. I think it's 80% designed; maybe some development integrate its visuals better with potential lore. By the time I finished, I realized the axe itself didn't scream "blood" in any way so I added some nice blood effects.