Elven swords as minor magic items

Decisions, decisions ...

Almost every GM must have at some point purloined the likes of Sting, Glamdring and Orcrist from The Hobbit. As a reminder, these are elven swords "made in Gondolin for the Goblin-wars. Their blades glow blue when orcs are near.

A neat magical item, then. But where's the catch? My view of magical items is that they're at their best when they bestow minuses as well as plusses. The best magic items in legends and literature are ambivalent: think of Stormbringer, Tyrfing or Andvaranaut.

Tolkien's elven swords don't have any obvious disadvantage in the books. Most GMs would probably include them as "+1 swords, glow when orcs are near" (or goblins - D&D's division of the species makes this tricky to translate!). Fair enough - but I think it's better to drop the bonus and make their magic more minor.

After all, a sword that acts as an early-warning system is a considerable advantage in its own right. So here's how I treat "elven swords" in our D&D games:

1. They glow when non-human and non-demi-human chaotic creatures are near. So they'll help detect a disguised demon but not an evil priest or chaotic bandit.
2. They give no mechanical advantages in combat; they are, however, elegant and well made.
3. They have to be fully drawn to glow (you can't just loosen one in its scabbard to check the edge).
4. As a result of 3 above, you have to have the sword readied as you advance with it. That means that you can't use a bow or crossbow, or a two-handed weapon, at the same time.
5. As elves are on the small side in D&D (unlike Tolkien), elven 'swords' are short swords or 'normal' (i.e. arming) swords. They do not come in bastard or two-handed varieties. Daggers are much rarer than swords.
6. You can carry a drawn sword in your shield hand, but you'll have to drop it to use the shield in combat; in our D&D games, shields are highly desirable thanks to Trollsmyth's tremendous 'shields shall be splintered' rule. So, if you have a better weapon for combat (a one-handed bastard sword, say), you'll need to weigh up whether the early warning trumps optimal combat readiness.
7. While you get an early warning, you also give an early warning: the blue light from an elven sword is fierce and bright.

There are still ways to optimise situations, of course. A shield-armed character might carry the drawn sword in his shield hand and a spear or axe ready to throw before switching to the sword. And an adventurer sneaking round the underworld with an elven sword might duck down empty corridors to inspect the blade safely. But characters still have to make decisions of minor difficulty. And that's just as it should be.

And it's always worth remembering that some people react to such swords very badly indeed:

The Great Goblin gave a truly awful howl of rage when he looked at it, and all his soldiers gnashed their teeth, clashed their shields and stamped. They knew the sword at once. It had killed hundreds of goblins in its time, when the fair elves of Gondolin hunted them in the hills or did battle before their walls. They had called it Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver, but the goblins called it simply Biter. They hated it and hated worse anyone who carried it.