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Ninjutsu 47 of the Whispering Cleaver

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by

Dale
in
  • Lore: Forged within the hidden kitchens of the Silent Lotus clan, this culinary implement was developed by shinobi who operated under the guise of traveling banquet masters. In the volatile markets and taverns of Saṃsāra, these infiltrators used the art of food preparation to gather intelligence, obscure their presence, and silently eliminate targets. The steel was quenched in water drawn from mist-shrouded mountain springs and infused with basic shadow arts, allowing a practitioner to slice through flesh and vegetable alike without producing a single sound or leaving behind a distinct scent.
  • Description: A slightly curved kitchen cleaver measuring eleven inches in total length. The blade is forged from a dark, matte-charcoal alloy that does not reflect ambient light, etched along the spine with fine, flowing kanji for silence and vapor. Its wooden handle is wrapped tightly in grease-resistant midnight-blue cord, fitted with a hollowed pommel designed to hold a small measure of ground seasoning or blinding powder. When brought close to the ear, the blade emits a faint, rushing whisper akin to steam venting through a narrow crack.
  • Detailed Stats:
    • Item Tier: Common (Tier 1)
    • Resilience: 10
    • Hit Points: Avatar maximum Hit Points + 10
    • Damage: 1d6 Slashing (Mundane Base) + 1d4 (Tier 1 Tier Die)
    • Weight: 2 pounds
    • Attunement: Automatic upon being held
  • Specific Slot: Hand Slot (Right or Left)
  • Passive Magics:
    • Silent Preparation: Any culinary action, mundane slicing, butchering, or chopping performed with this blade generates zero audible sound within normal hearing range, preventing detection while preparing food or harvesting biological fluids from carcasses.
    • Scentless Dressing: Meats, plants, and herbs processed by this blade have their natural odors suppressed for up to one hour, masking the aroma of toxic ingredients, foul fluids, or distinct spices from nearby observers and creatures relying on scent.
  • Activable Magics:
    • Smoke Seasoning Veil: As an action, the wielder strikes the flat of the blade against a hard surface or cutting board, releasing an instantaneous 10-foot radius cloud of aromatic culinary smoke. The smoke heavily obscures the area for two rounds, granting the wielder the ability to disengage or attempt a stealth roll to break line of sight.
    • Ghost-Cut Flensing: As an action during an attack, the wielder executes a swift, deceptive slash. If the attack hits the target, the strike bypasses up to 2 points of the defender’s physical armor check, treating the strike as a precision incision on anatomical weak points.
  • Tags:
    • Weapon, Hand Slot, Cleaver, Kitchen Tool, Common, Tier 1, Ninjutsu, Stealth, Obscurement, Alchemy Ingredient Harvesting, Culinary Art, Infiltration, Shinobi Gear, Smoke Screen, Precision Edge, Concealed Weapon, Shadow Magic, Fluid Collector Reagent Prep, Slashing Weapon, Silent Strike, Edged Tool

Commerce and Trade Venues for the Whispering Cleaver

  • Specialty Culinary and Butcher Outlets: In municipal market districts, small family-owned butcher shops and culinary supply stores often stock specialized preparation tools. These vendors cater to traveling chefs, banquet cooks, and beast harvesters who need reliable implements to process tough monster meats and toxic flora. Because the market operates on buyer-beware principles, an uninitiated buyer typically pays between 80 to 120 silver coins for this tier 1 item. A seller presenting the cleaver to an NPC merchant will encounter haggling based on their character’s tier, typically receiving a 10% reduction per tier against the merchant’s purchase price, with final funds transferred directly to the seller’s account in the World Bank.
  • Guildhall Provisions and Quartermaster Stores: Located in larger cities within certified guildhouses, these official outlets supply registered guild members with certified utility tools, hunting knives, and alchemical cooking gear. Members of the relevant trade guild or culinary faction receive a standard 10% discount per character tier off the retail price, bringing the acquisition cost down to approximately 70 to 90 silver coins. Non-members must pay the full list price of 100 silver coins or more. All transactions at these establishments are formally logged and settled through the World Bank system, requiring legitimate identification.
  • Back-Alley Black Markets and Shadow Fences: Unregistered subterranean bazaars, covert harbor stalls, and rogue safehouses deal extensively in tools favored by infiltrators and assassins. In these illicit venues, the cleaver is marketed purely for its silent execution and obscurement properties rather than its kitchen utility. Buyers must purchase the item using physical coinage—principally electrum or gold—at elevated costs ranging from 12 to 18 gold coins, with no questions asked regarding the customer’s identity. Individuals selling the cleaver to a black-market fence can bypass World Bank tracking, potentially securing between 10 to 20 gold coins in physical metal depending on the fence’s immediate demand and the discreet nature of the transaction.

Roleplay Applications of the Whispering Cleaver in Diverse Environments

  • Urban Taverns and Crowded City Markets:
    • Offense: Within the dense confines of a bustling city bazaar or crowded tavern kitchen, the wielder operates in plain sight disguised as a simple line cook or prep worker. When an altercation begins, the wielder draws the cleaver in one seamless action from a kitchen block or hip wrap, utilizing the Ghost-Cut Flensing to swiftly bypass an adversary’s light armor. The strike appears as nothing more than a routine, rapid chopping movement toward ingredients, allowing a lethal offensive strike before nearby city guards or bystanders register a weapon has been drawn.
    • Defense: When cornered in a confined banquet hall or narrow street stall, the wielder slams the flat blade onto an iron prep table or chopping block, instantly triggering the Smoke Seasoning Veil. The dense cloud of pepper-scented culinary smoke fills the narrow corridor, completely breaking line of sight and masking the wielder’s retreat through a back kitchen door or into the bustling crowd without alerting the local authorities.
  • Subterranean Cave Systems and Deep Under-Cities:
    • Offense: In the pitch-black tunnels of subterranean habitats, sound echoes endlessly off stone walls. While hunting cave beasts or clearing rogue monster nests, the wielder uses Silent Preparation to dissect subterranean flora, carve up bait, or strike targets from the shadows without generating metal clatter or echo. An offensive strike delivers standard slashing damage combined with the Tier 1 die, slicing cleanly through thick fungal hides without alerting neighboring creatures that hunt through echo or vibration.
    • Defense: In the narrow, enclosed choke points of a cavern, the wielder faces swarms of predatory cave beasts. By activating the Smoke Seasoning Veil, the wielder floods the enclosed shaft with thick smoke. Because the smoke is heavy and concentrated, it confuses creatures relying on light or visual tracking, providing the party with a barrier to fall back into a fortified chamber or set up an ambush while the enemy chokes on the obscuring fumes.
  • Floating Megacities and Sky-Dock Scaffolding:
    • Offense: High above the earth on airborne walkways and suspended platforms, wind patterns make stealth difficult. The wielder steps forward into melee reach along narrow gangways, striking an enemy sentry or rival crew member with precision. Because the blade produces no audible sound on impact or during the swing, the wielder can eliminate a sentry guarding a cargo hold or balloon mooring without alerting crew members inside the airship’s pressurized cabins.
    • Defense: When surrounded by multiple hostiles on an open skydock or mage tower bowl, the wielder triggers the culinary smoke charge. The swirling smoke intermingles with the natural mist and clouds forming at the base of the floating towers, creating an expansive visual shroud. This allows the wielder to disengage safely along support cables or duck behind supply crates, avoiding ranged attacks from overwatch positions.
  • Wilderness Swamps and Monster-Infested Jungles:
    • Offense: In wild wetlands where apex predators track prey by blood scent, the wielder hunts dangerous beasts by utilizing the Scentless Dressing passive trait. Slashing into a quarry and harvesting its raw organs or biological fluids with a fluid collector creates zero scent profile, preventing other carnivorous monsters in the area from smelling the kill and swarming the party’s location.
    • Defense: If ambushed in dense marshland by territorial beasts, the wielder strikes a nearby log or wet stone with the cleaver to generate a localized smoke cloud. In addition to obscuring vision, the pungent, seasoned aroma of the magical smoke overwhelms the sensitive olfactory senses of tracking predators, masking the party’s natural scents and allowing them to break away through the dense underbrush unseen.

Perception of Activation:

  • User’s Perspective:
    • Sight: The matte charcoal blade subtly darkens, absorbing ambient light while faint, indigo-tinted script pulses along the spine. A sudden plume of translucent, seasoned smoke billows outward upon impact, swirling in controlled eddies around the wielder’s hands without obstructing their forward vision.
    • Sound: The physical strike against a surface produces no audible impact noise, replaced entirely by a low, rushing exhalation like hot steam escaping through a copper valve.
    • Smell: A sharp, dry bouquet of toasted peppercorn, scorched bay leaves, and crushed star anise fills the user’s nostrils, cutting through foul environmental odors.
    • Taste: A light, savory sensation akin to salted fat and aromatic broth coats the back of the palate immediately upon striking the surface.
    • Touch: The braided midnight-blue cord on the handle shifts from room temperature to a pleasant, gentle warmth, accompanied by a faint harmonic vibration humming into the palm.
    • Mind’s Eye: The internal numerical feedback confirms the attunement link, displaying the activation cost, current charge consumption, and a distinct tactical border highlighting anatomical vulnerabilities on target entities within reach.
    • True Sight: The cleaver and the surrounding cloud emit a soft, vibrant ultraviolet radiance, highlighting the specific elemental air and fire weaves flowing through the steel into the smoke.
    • Soul Sight: The wielder senses the faint, lingering energetic impressions of biological matter previously sliced by the weapon, glowing in muted hues of pale lavender.
  • Observer’s Perspective:
    • Sight: The blade appears to blur for a fraction of a second before a sudden burst of opaque, grey-white smoke erupts from the point of impact, expanding rapidly into a ten-foot sphere that completely obscures the wielder from view.
    • Sound: Observers hear nothing from the physical impact of the cleaver hitting a surface, only detecting a subtle, brief hiss that is easily lost in the ambient noise of a busy kitchen or battlefield.
    • Smell: A heavy, nose-tingling aroma of rich spices and burning herbs washes over the area, momentarily overpowering any nearby scent trails, blood odors, or rot.
    • Taste: Anyone caught within the immediate perimeter notices a dry, spicy taste in the air that induces an urge to swallow or cough.
    • Touch: Those engulfed by the initial cloud feel a dry, warm puff of air brush against their exposed skin, carrying micro-fine particulate that does not leave a greasy residue.
    • Tremorsense: Burrowing or vibration-sensitive observers register an unnatural void of surface vibration at the moment of contact, as the blade dampens kinetic transfer into the floor or cutting surface.
    • Darkvision: Through monochromatic vision, the expanding smoke cloud manifests as a solid, impenetrable wall of dark grey that completely blocks structural details behind it.
  • Positives:
    • The total dampening of impact sound enables immediate tactical disengagement or preemptive strikes without alerting adjacent rooms or guards.
    • The potent culinary spice scent completely neutralizes the scent tracking abilities of feral beasts and predatory monsters.
    • The wielder retains clear vision through the generated veil, allowing precise navigation and follow-up strikes against disoriented opponents.
    • The lack of physical recoil or kinetic shock eases weapon recovery for immediate subsequent actions.
  • Negatives:
    • The distinctive herbal aroma lingers in enclosed areas for several minutes, providing investigative authorities with clear olfactory evidence that specialized seasoning magic was employed.
    • In well-lit environments, the sudden eruption of dark smoke immediately draws line-of-sight visual attention from long-range observers outside the cloud’s radius.
    • The intense spice particulates can cause mild eye irritation or involuntary blinking to allies who enter the perimeter unprepared.
    • The active magical signature radiates an unmistakable ultraviolet bloom visible to any entity utilizing higher-tier arcane sight.

Recipe: Forging of the Whispering Cleaver

  • Materials Needed:
    • Base Mundane Cleaver: A forged carbon steel or iron heavy culinary knife with balanced weight distribution.
    • Tier 1 Magic Crystal: One magic crystal approximately the size and weight of a standard coin, used as the primary arcane catalyst to power the infusion.
    • Reagent Fluids:
      • 2 fluid ounces of distilled shadow-bog sap, harvested via a fluid collector from wetland ironwood trees.
      • 1 fluid ounce of fresh predator beast blood, harvested from a nocturnal stalker or feline beast.
    • Alchemical Seasoning Powder: A measured blend of dried powdered star anise, crushed black peppercorn, ground saltpeter, and dried nightshade leaves.
    • Grip Material: 6 feet of reinforced, oil-treated dark cord or leather wrapping.
  • Tools Required:
    • Standard blacksmithing forge, anvil, tongs, and hammer.
    • Alchemical crucible and glass mixing beaker.
    • Fluid Collector (syringe extractor tool for precision reagent measurement).
    • Fine etching stylus or engraving chisel.
    • Quenching trough.
  • Skill Requirements:
    • Blacksmithing or Weaponsmithing skill level of 5 or higher.
    • Alchemical Crafting skill level of 5 or higher.
    • Arcane Weaving or Rune Inscription skill level of 5 or higher.
  • Crafting Steps:
    • Step 1 – Blade Preparation and Engraving: Heat the mundane cleaver in the forge to a dull cherry glow. Using the etching stylus, carefully inscribe the precise arcane runes for silence, obscurement, and vapor along the upper spine and flat of the blade. Ensure the channels are clean and deep enough to receive liquid reagents without structural cracking.
    • Step 2 – Catalyst and Reagent Compounding: In an alchemical crucible, heat the shadow-bog sap and beast blood over a controlled flame. Crush the Tier 1 coin-sized magic crystal into fine dust and stir it into the liquid mixture until it dissolves completely, creating a glowing, indigo-tinted metallurgical flux.
    • Step 3 – Quenching and Magical Infusion: Reheat the engraved cleaver to forging temperature. Plunge the blade into the prepared alchemical flux for the quench. The arcane properties from the consumed crystal and harvested biological fluids transfer directly into the matrix of the steel, permanently bonding the properties of silent slicing and scent suppression to the blade.
    • Step 4 – Handle Assembly and Secondary Core: Hollow a small cavity within the wooden handle scales or pommel. Pack the alchemical seasoning powder into the compartment and seal it with the brass end-cap. Wrap the handle tightly with the oil-treated cord, weaving the binding over the tang to anchor the grip.
    • Step 5 – Final Sharpening and Stabilization: Hone the cutting edge on a wet whetstone until razor-sharp. Focus through the Mind’s Eye to verify that the magical weave has settled uniformly across the item, confirming its status as a fully functional Tier 1 enchanted culinary weapon.

Silent Kettle and Slicing Tool of Iron Fog

Long times before the counting of the sun was written down upon the flat rocks, there lived a small walking person named Master Juro who was not a warrior of the spear but a maker of hot broth and chopped roots. In the middle kingdom where the high stone walls had seven great gates and many proud lords who wore silver hats, there was great noise in all places. The royal pot-stewers would bang the iron basins, the fat birds would scream before being plucked, and the wood-choppers made loud sounds of cracking timber that went up into the sky so that even the birds fell down from the clouds in great fright. The King of that palace was a man of very sour humors and large ears who had an anger in his belly whenever the pot made a clatter, declaring that any man who made a sound while skinning a river-beast would be tied to a pole and given no porridge for forty mornings.

Master Juro had a great desire to remain with his head attached to his shoulders and his skin free from the whipping-tree. He walked into the dark wet mud-forest where the trees grow upside-down and the water does not run downhill because of the old elemental spells that remained sticky upon the mud. There he met a very old spirit who was shaped like a badger wearing a straw cloak, who sat upon an iron rock and was eating bitter plums without making any chewing sound in its mouth. Master Juro gave the badger three measures of dried fish and a cup of warm water that was boiled with sweet leaves. The badger-man made a small nod with its ears and spoke in a voice that sounded like dried reeds rubbing against an empty turtle shell, saying that metal is only noisy because it is angry at being beaten with hammers, and if metal is given the juice of dark-running sap and the breathing of the quiet night-mist, it will forget how to make a scream when it cuts into flesh.

The badger took a heavy iron tooth from a dead river-dragon that was five hundred years buried under the black gravel. He placed this tooth into a bowl made of volcanic glass and told Master Juro to crush a magic pebble that smelled like cold wind until it was soft like flour. Master Juro took his grinding stone and turned the magic pebble into dust, throwing it upon the boiling black sap of the ghost-willow tree that wept thick tears only when the moon was hidden behind the great round sky-ball. The metal was plunged into this boiling soup with a hiss that was not a hiss but a small sigh of a sleeping infant. When the iron came out of the liquid, it was dark like charcoal that has forgotten the flame, and when Master Juro touched the sharp part of the edge against a large melon, the melon fell into twelve even slices without even the seed making a click upon the wooden tray.

Master Juro returned to the city of the loud lords and hid the dark iron blade inside his cooking sash. In that season, a great and wicked general from across the wide salt-water arrived with five hundred iron-clad soldiers, seeking to cut the throat of the King while the King was waiting for his evening soup of salted duck and mountain herbs. The guards at the iron gate were sleeping because they had drunk too much fermented bean-wine, and the treacherous soldiers crept into the kitchen passages where the fire burned low and only the grease was shining on the floor.

When the first five enemy soldiers entered the kitchen with their drawn blades to silence the servants, Master Juro did not run away into the pig-pens. He stood beside the chopping block of white oak. He struck the dark flat side of the cleaver against the salt-jar. Instantly, an immense cloud of thick grey steam and the sharp dust of crushed pepper-corns blew out from the iron like the breath of an angry mountain furnace. The kitchen was filled with white fog so thick that a man could not see his own fingernail, and the fog smelled so strongly of scorched spices and burning bitter-bark that the traitor soldiers dropped their swords and clawed at their own noses, thinking that the god of the kitchen had cast down a burning skillet upon their heads.

Through this rolling fog, Master Juro moved with feet that made no thumping upon the stones. He swung the dark iron cleaver through the mist. The blade made no singing sound in the air; it made no bone-breaking noise when it struck the iron collars of the bad soldiers. It moved like a fish sliding through river grease. One by one, the evil soldiers fell upon the floor with their belt-buckles cut and their armor laces flensed away, yet the King in the high sleeping chamber above heard not even the rustle of a mouse in the grain bins. When the morning light shone through the grease-paper windows, the King came down the stone steps with his golden spoon in hand, expecting his hot broth. He found fifty enemy soldiers tied up in bundles of wild hemp like dried onions, with Master Juro quietly stirring the duck soup over the dying embers, the dark cleaver resting upon a bed of parsley without a single drop of red stain upon its black spine.

The King was so filled with wonder that he offered Master Juro a high seat of gold and three boxes of heavy yellow coins, but Master Juro shook his sleeves and said that a man who cuts meat in the dark has no need for a shiny chair that squeaks when one sits down. He took his dark cleaver and his little bag of pepper, walking out through the broken postern gate into the grey morning, leaving behind only the recipe written upon a piece of dried fish-skin which was later chewed by palace dogs and scattered to the four corners of the mud.

Moral of the Story: A sharp tool that speaks no words fills more bellies and takes more heads than a hundred noisy swords that shout before the striking.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

Shinobi Preparation Cleaver (Enchanted Artifact)

  • Skill: Fighting (Brawl) or Fighting (Knife)
  • Damage: 1D4+2 + Damage Bonus (Impaling)
  • Base Range: Touch
  • Uses per Round: 1
  • Cost: 1 Magic Point per activation / 1 Sanity Point on initial attunement/use

Game Mechanics & Syntax:

  • Silent Butcher (Passive): When used to butcher a carcass, harvest organic fluids, or make an attack from stealth, the action produces zero sound. Any Stealth rolls made to conceal the killing or harvesting action receive a Bonus Die.
  • Scentless Masking (Passive): Biological matter and fluids harvested by the cleaver emit no biological odor for 1 hour. Tracking hounds or Mythos entities that track purely by scent cannot trace the harvested materials without an Extreme Track or Idea roll.
  • Pepper-Fog Burst (Active): The user strikes the flat of the blade against a solid floor or wall and spends 1 Magic Point. A dense 10-foot radius cloud of stinging herbal vapor erupts instantly. Anyone in the cloud except the wielder suffers a Penalty Die on all visual and combat rolls for 2 rounds, and all combatants gain one free Opportunity to attempt a standard Dodge/Flee maneuver without suffering a counter-attack.
  • Anatomical Incision (Active): By declaring a precision strike before rolling to hit, on a Hard or Extreme Fighting success, the blade bypasses up to 2 points of natural armor or protective hide on the target.

Blades in the Dark

The Silent Hawker’s Cleaver (Fine Arcane Melee Weapon / Tool)

  • Item Load: 1 Load (Light / Concealable)
  • Quality Tier: Tier I + 1 Quality (Fine)
  • Tags: Arcane, Concealed, Edged, Alchemical Reagent Harvester

Game Mechanics & Syntax:

  • Stealth Preparation (Passive): When carrying out violence or slicing components in close proximity to unaware marks, you operate with Potency regarding sound suppression. You never suffer increased heat or compromised position purely from the auditory noise of cutting or butchering.
  • Aromatic Veil (Active – Spend 1 Stress or tick 1 Charge): Strike the flat of the steel against a hard surface. The blade expels a thick screen of stinging spice-infused smoke, instantly providing Great Effect on any Prowl or Finesse roll made to break line of sight, slip past guards, or disengage from a desperate melee engagement.
  • Flensing Edge (Active – Spend 1 Stress): When engaging a target with mundane or light armor, push your action with the cleaver to ignore 1 point of target Armor protection by exploiting anatomical weak points revealed through fine culinary precision.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Whispering Cleaver of the Shadow Chef

  • Weapon (Scimitar or Handaxe), Common (Requires Attunement by a character proficient with Cook’s Utensils)
  • Damage: 1d6 Slashing
  • Properties: Finesse, Light
  • Weight: 2 lbs.

Game Mechanics & Syntax:

  • Silent Dressing (Passive): While handling or attacking with this magic weapon, every cut, slice, and impact is completely noiseless. In addition, organic fluids and meat carved with this weapon produce no odor for up to 1 hour, granting advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made while harvesting ingredients or hiding biological remains.
  • Smoke Seasoning Veil (1 Charge/Short or Long Rest): As an action while holding the cleaver, you strike the flat of the blade against a surface. A 10-foot-radius sphere of aromatic, seasoned culinary smoke extends outward from you. The sphere is heavily obscured. The smoke lasts for 1 minute or until a moderate wind (at least 10 mph) disperses it. You can see through this smoke without penalty.
  • Ghost-Cut Flensing (Passive): When you hit a creature wearing nonmagical light or medium armor, you can choose to make a precision cut. The attack deals an additional 2 slashing damage as you slice past armor straps and vital weak spots.

Knave (2nd Edition)

Master Juro’s Iron Fog Cleaver

  • Item Slots: 1 Slot
  • Damage: Direct d6 Slashing (One-handed weapon)
  • Durability / Quality: 3 Quality Points (Breaks on roll of 1 on attack when out of durability)

Game Mechanics & Syntax:

  • Quiet Processing (Passive): Occupies 1 inventory slot. Any physical action involving slicing, chopping wood, or butchering game makes zero audible sound within dungeon hearing distance (negating wandering monster checks triggered purely by butchering noise).
  • Herbal Smoke Screen (Active – 1 Use per Delve/Rest): Strike the flat iron against a floor or shield. The blade produces a 15-foot cloud of choking, peppery mist for 2 rounds. The mist breaks line of sight completely; hirelings and player characters inside the cloud can automatically disengage from melee without taking free attacks, and enemy ranged missile attacks through the cloud automatically fail.
  • Bypass Armor Check (Passive): When rolling an attack against a defender wearing mundane leather or gambeson (Armor Points 1 to 2), a successful hit treats the defender’s Armor Class as if they were unarmored (base AC 11).

Fate Core / Fate Condensed

The Silent Hawker’s Chopper (Personal Extra / Stunt Gear)

  • Aspect: Noiseless Blade of the Shadow Pantry
  • Type: Arcane Culinary Implement & Weapon
  • Cost: 1 Refresh (Stunt slot) or allocated as an Extra

Game Mechanics & Syntax:

  • Silent Preparation (Passive Stunt): You gain a +2 bonus to Stealth rolls when attempting to prepare food, harvest monster components, or butcher carcasses in hostile or guarded territory without being detected by sound.
  • Scentless Dressing (Passive): By spending a moment carving an organic substance with the blade, you place the temporary situation aspect Completely Scentless Remains on the harvested material with one free invoke. Scent-tracking pursuers cannot detect it without an active Overcome roll opposed by your Crafts or Stealth.
  • Pepper-Fog Veil (Active Action): Once per scene, you may use Crafts or Fight to Create an Advantage by striking the flat of the chopper against a solid surface, placing the situation aspect Choking Spice Screen on your current zone. The first invoke on this aspect to aid an escape, defend against a ranged attack, or conceal your movement is free.
  • Anatomical Incision (Combat Benefit): When you attack with Fight and succeed with style against an armored opponent, you may forgo the standard boost to reduce the target’s Armor rating by 1 for the remainder of the exchange.

Cypher System / Numenera (Discovery & Destiny)

Vapor-Quenched Meat Cleaver (Cypher System Artifact)

  • Level: 3 (1d6 + 2)
  • Form: Dark, non-reflective heavy iron culinary cleaver with a tightly wrapped blue chord grip and etched runes along the spine.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check upon activating the Vapor Burst)

Game Mechanics & Syntax:

  • Silent Processing (Inherent Passive): The wielder is trained in stealth tasks related to butchery, harvesting biological fluids, and meal preparation. The cleaver dampens all impact sound, reducing the difficulty of sound-based stealth tasks while wielding or using it by one step.
  • Scent Suppression (Inherent Passive): Any biological fluids or tissues harvested with the blade have their scent fully masked for one hour, asseting all defense tasks against creatures tracking by smell by one step.
  • Seasoning Vapor Burst (Artifact Activation): As an action, the wielder strikes the flat of the blade against a hard surface. A dense, stinging spice-fog expands into an immediate area (up to 10 feet across). The cloud heavily obscures vision and irritates respiratory tracts. All attacks into or through the cloud are hindered by two steps for one minute. The user can see through the cloud without penalty. Roll for depletion upon activation.
  • Precision Flensing (Combat Effect): Attacks made with this medium weapon (deals 4 points of damage) ignore 1 point of Armor on fleshy, organic targets due to precision edge alignment against anatomical seams.

Pathfinder (Second Edition)

Whispering Cleaver (Specific Magic Weapon)

  • Item Name: Whispering Cleaver
  • Item Level: 2 | Price: 35 gp
  • Usage: held in 1 hand; Bulk: L
  • Base Weapon: Hatchet (Agile, Finesse, Sweep, Thrown 10 ft.)
  • Traits: Magical, Transmutation, Illusion

Game Mechanics & Syntax:

  • Etched Runes: +1 weapon potency etched onto the matte-black blade.
  • Silent Dressing (Passive): All strikes, chopping actions, and harvesting tasks performed with this weapon make no sound. The wielder gains a +1 item bonus to Stealth checks to Sneak or Hide immediately after attacking or butchering a creature. Organic items harvested with the cleaver omit all natural scents for 1 hour.
  • Activate—Smoke Seasoning Veil [two-actions] (concentrate, manipulate, visual); Frequency: once per day; Effect: You strike the flat of the blade against a solid object or the ground. A cloud of thick, peppery vapor spreads in a 10-foot burst centered on you. The area becomes concealed for 1 minute. A strong wind can disperse the smoke in 1 round. You can see through this smoke normally, and you can immediately attempt a check to Hide as a free action.
  • Flensing Cut (Passive): When you strike a target wearing light or medium armor, the cleaver’s precision cuts bypass 1 point of the target’s physical resistance to slashing damage.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition – SWADE)

Shinobi Field Chopper (Minor Magic Item)

  • Type: Hand Weapon (Str+d6 Damage, Min Str d4)
  • Weight: 2 lbs.
  • Major / Minor Upgrades: 1 Major (Smoke Cloud activation), 1 Minor (+1 to sound-based Stealth)

Game Mechanics & Syntax:

  • Silent Utility (Passive): Slicing, striking, or butchering game with the chopper produces no sound. The user gains a +1 bonus to Stealth rolls when attempting silent takedowns or field-dressing kills in hostile territory.
  • Masked Aroma (Passive): Rations, alchemical fluids, or meat harvested using the blade lose all natural scents for 1 hour. Beasts or enemies using the Notice skill to detect the carrier via the Smell sense suffer a -2 penalty.
  • Spice Fog Burst (Active Action): Once per encounter (or by spending a Benny), the wielder may strike the flat steel against the ground as an action. A Medium Blast Template of thick, pungent culinary smoke erupts centered on the user. The area counts as Pitch Darkness (-4 penalty to visual Notice and ranged attack rolls through the cloud), lasting for 3 rounds. The wielder ignores these visibility penalties while inside their own cloud.
  • Armor Seam Precision (Passive): The weapon possesses AP 1 (Armor Piercing 1) against flexible, leather, or organic natural armor.

Shadowrun (Sixth World / 6e)

Silent Lotus Monofilament Prep Cleaver (Enchanted Weapon Focus)

  • Item Type: Weapon Focus (Rating 1) / Edged Blade
  • Damage: 3P
  • Attack Rating: 9
  • Defense Rating: 2
  • Concealability: 0
  • Availability: 4 (Illegal)
  • Cost: 8,000 Nuyen (plus 6 Karma for Focus Binding)

Game Mechanics & Syntax:

  • Acoustic Dampening Weave (Passive): The blade is enchanted with a localized physical dampening field. All physical slicing, chopping, or harvesting actions performed with the cleaver generate zero acoustic decibels. Any Stealth Tests made to butcher organic material, harvest biological compounds, or perform close-quarters melee strikes receive an Edge bonus point if sound is the primary vector of detection.
  • Scentless Dressing (Passive): Any biomaterial, organ tissue, or alchemical compound harvested using the blade has its biological olfactory signature suppressed for one hour. Hounds, critter guards, or olfactory sensor cyberware suffer a -2 dice pool penalty when attempting to track or identify materials processed by this tool.
  • Aromatic Smoke Screen (Active Action): As a Major Action, the wielder strikes the flat of the enchanted blade against a solid conductive surface, triggering an alchemical-spell discharge. A dense, peppery cloud of culinary smoke erupts in an immediate 3-meter radius around the user. The cloud inflicts a -3 visibility modifier on all ranged and visual perception tests made into or through the area for 2 combat turns. The wielder is immune to this visibility penalty while within the cloud.
  • Precision Flensing (Active Combat): When attacking an opponent wearing non-hardened armor, the wielder may spend 1 point of Edge to bypass up to 2 points of the target’s Defense Rating, representing precision strikes against anatomical seams and joint linkages.

Starfinder (Second Edition Playtest / Remaster)

Void-Chef’s Shinobi Cleaver (Level 2 Hybrid Item)

  • Item Name: Void-Chef’s Shinobi Cleaver
  • Item Level: 2 | Price: 750 Credits
  • Usage: Held in 1 hand; Bulk: Light
  • Base Weapon: Tactical Knife (Agile, Finesse, Analog)
  • Traits: Hybrid, Tech, Magical, Transmutation

Game Mechanics & Syntax:

  • Runed Micro-Edge: +1 item bonus to attack rolls.
  • Acoustic Suppression Matrix (Passive): Harvesting xeno-fauna samples, cutting ration packs, or striking targets generates zero ambient noise. The wielder gains a +1 item bonus to Stealth checks to Avoid Notice while actively using the weapon. Biological tissues carved with the cleaver omit all chemical scent trails for 1 hour.
  • Activate—Pepper-Vapor Screen [two-actions] (manipulate, tech, magical); Frequency: Once per day; Effect: You strike the flat of the composite blade against a deck bulkhead or floorplate. An alchemically charged aerosol cloud spreads in a 10-foot emanation centered on you. The area becomes standard concealment for 1 minute against optical and thermal sensors. You can see through this cloud without penalty.
  • Flensing Cut (Passive): Strikes made with this blade bypass 1 point of the target’s physical kinetic or slashing resistance on biological and unarmored targets.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition / Update 2022)

Imperial Scout Shinobi Survival Cleaver (TL 12 Experimental Blade)

  • Weapon Type: Blade (Melee)
  • Skill: Melee (Blade)
  • Damage: 2D+2 (Slashing/Piercing)
  • Weight: 1.0 kg
  • Tech Level: TL 12
  • Cost: Cr 1,200

Game Mechanics & Syntax:

  • Integral Sonic Nullifier (Passive): The blade incorporates an active field generator within its composite spine that captures and cancels all cutting vibrations. When used for hunting, field dressing alien game, or silent sentry elimination, all Recon and Stealth checks relying on noise suppression receive DM+1.
  • Organic Scent Neutralization (Passive): Biological fluids harvested using the blade are exposed to a broad-spectrum disinfectant-deodorizing field, neutralizing biological scent for 1 hour. Alien tracking predators suffer DM-2 to trace the user via olfactory cues.
  • Aerosol Spice Charge (Active): As a Minor Action, the user impacts the blade pommel against a hard surface to crack a replaceable chemical pellet in the hilt. A dense, obscuring cloud of aerosolized pepper particulate deploys across a 3-meter radius for 2 rounds. All ranged attacks into or out of the smoke cloud suffer DM-2, and line of sight is broken for breaking combat contact.
  • Monofilament Flensing Edge (Passive): The cutting edge possesses AP 2 (Armor Piercing 2) against cloth, soft leather, and natural animal hides.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition)

The Quiet Halfling’s Trench Cleaver (Practical Magic Weapon)

  • Weapon Group: Melee (Basic)
  • Reach: Short
  • Damage: +SB + 3 (Slashing)
  • Qualities: Fine (1), Practical, Concealable, Special (Acoustic Silence)
  • Encumbrance: 1

Game Mechanics & Syntax:

  • Silent Scullery (Passive): Slicing, chopping, and harvesting performed with this cleaver creates zero audible sound. The wielder gains a +10 bonus to Stealth (Any) Tests when performing butchery, component harvesting, or surprise melee strikes in quiet locations.
  • Scent Suppression (Passive): Rations, meats, and beast organs prepared with this cleaver lose all biological odor for 1 hour. Warhounds, Greenskin squigs, or Chaos tracking beasts suffer a -20 penalty to Perception (Smell) Tests to locate the prepared items.
  • Aromatic Pepper Veil (Active): Once per combat encounter, the wielder may take an Action to strike the flat of the cleaver against a floor, stove, or shield. A thick, pungent cloud of blinding herbal fog fills the wielder’s immediate Engagement zone. All opponents within the zone suffer the Blinded (1) and Distracted (1) Conditions. The wielder is immune to these conditions within their own cloud.
  • Anatomical Incision (Passive): The cleaver’s exceptionally keen culinary edge ignores 1 point of mundane non-metal Armor (such as Leather, Furs, or Thick Hide) on successful hits against biological targets.