Feast and Famine (Patreon)

Weapon (shortsword), legendary (requires attunement)

A pair of swords, one engorged and opulent with engravings of abundant fruit, the other thin and gaunt fashioned from bone and sinew with teeth lining the base of the blade. You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls you make with these magic weapons. These two swords are a single item for the purposes of attunement. These weapons share a single pool of charges and can hold up to 6 charges at a time. While these weapons have at least 1 charge you do not need to eat or drink.

Feast. As a bonus action you can spend any number of charges to touch yourself or another creature with this blade to infuse it with gluttonous fulfillment. The target regains 3d4 +3 hit points per charge unless it is an Undead or Construct, and any excess healing becomes temporary hit points for the target. Additionally, this effect reduces the exhaustion level of the target by an amount equal to the number of charges spent. If you spend 2 or more charges the target is also cured of any disease or poison it is suffering from.

Famine. While these weapons have 0 charges, this shortsword deals an additional 2d6 necrotic damage to any target it hits. The first time each turn you hit a creature with this weapon, the target must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature gains a level of exhaustion. These levels of exhaustion last until the creature takes a long rest or consumes a day's worth of rations. If a creature dies while under this effect these weapons gain a charge provided its CR was 3 or greater.

Curse. While these weapons have 0 charges, you become ravenously hungry as no amount of food or drink can satisfy you. During this time, you gain a level of exhaustion after each day that passes due to your inability to satiate your hunger and finishing a long rest does not reduce your exhaustion level. Once these weapons gain a charge your exhaustion level is reduced to 0. While these weapons have 0 charges you cannot willingly unattune from them.

To survive, one must eat and consume another. A universal law of life, one that we all are subject to in one manner or another. For those who cannot, survival is a tenuous proposition that brings desperation as famine consumes them in turn. And on the other side of the scale, those that feast gluttonously without regard for waste or excess. Binding these contradictory existences together in unnatural fashion, this pair of swords can bring both waste and prosperity at a whim, stripping away that which we all require to survive as easily as it can provide it in exorbitant amounts.