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Here is a free pdf of xanathars guide to everything

Here is a free pdf to monsters manual

Here is a free pdf to tashas cauldron of everything

Here is a free pdf to dungeon master’s guide

Here is a free pdf to volo’s guide to monsters

Here is a free pdf of mordenkainen’s tomb of foes

Leaf-bladed swords are a very popular fantasy style and were real, though unlike modern hand-and-a-half longsword versions, the real things were mostly if not always shortswords.

Here are Celtic bronze swords…

…Ancient Greek Xiphoi…

… and a Roman “Mainz-pattern” gladius…

Saw or downright jagged edges, either full-length or as small sections (often where they serve no discernible purpose) are a frequent part of fantasy blades, especially at the more, er, imaginatively unrestrained end of the market.

Real swords also had saw edges, such as these two 19th century shortswords, but not to make them cool or interesting. They’re weapons if necessary…

…but since they were carried by Pioneer Corps who needed them for cutting branches and other construction-type tasks, their principal use was as brush cutters and saws.

This dussack (cutlass) in the Wallace Collection is also a fighting weapon, like the one beside it…

…but may also have had the secondary function of being a saw.

A couple of internet captions say it’s for “cutting ropes” which makes sense - heavy ropes and hawsers on board a ship were so soaked with tar that they were often more like lengths of wood, and a Hollywood-style slice from the Hero’s rapier (!!) wouldn’t be anything like enough to sever them. However swords like this are extremely rare, which suggests they didn’t work as well as intended for any purpose.

I photographed these in Basel, Switzerland, about 20 years ago. Look at the one on the bottom (I prefer the basket-hilt schiavona in the middle).

A lot of “flamberge” (wavy-edge) swords actually started out with conventional blades which then had the edges ground to shape - the dussack, that Basel broadsword and this Zweihander were all made that way.

The giveaway is the centreline: if it’s straight, the entire blade probably started out straight.

Increased use of water power for bellows, hammers and of course grinders made shaping blades easier than when it had to be done by hand. This flamberge Zweihander, however, was forged that way.

Again, the clue is the centre-line.

Incidentally those Parierhaken (parrying hooks - a secondary crossguard) are among the only real-life examples of another common fantasy feature - hooks and spikes sticking out from the blade.

Here are some rapiers and a couple of daggers showing the same difference between forged to shape and ground to shape. The top and bottom rapiers in the first picture started as straights, and only the middle rapier came from the forge with a flamberge blade.

There’s no doubt about this one either.

The reason - though that was a part of it - wasn’t just to look cool and show off what the owner could afford (any and all extra or unusual work added to the price) but may actually have had a function: a parry would have been juddery and unsettling for someone not used to it, and any advantage is worth having.

However, like the saw-edged dussack, flamberge blades are unusual - which suggests the advantage wasn’t that much of an advantage after all.

Here’s a Circassian kindjal, forged wiggly…

…and an Italian parrying dagger forged straight then ground wiggly…

There were also parrying daggers with another fantasy-blade feature, deep notches and serrations which in fantasy versions often resemble fangs or thorns.

These more practical historical versions are usually called “sword-breakers” but I prefer “sword-catcher”, since a steel blade isn’t that easy to break. Taking the opponent’s blade out of play for just long enough to nail him works fine.

NB - the curvature on the top one in this next image is AFAIK because of the book-page it was copied from, not the blade itself.

The missing tooth on that second dagger, and the crack halfway down this next one’s blade, shows what happens when design features cause weak spots.

So there you go: a quick overview of fantasy sword features in real life.

Here’s a real-life weapon that looks like it belongs in a fantasy story or film - and this doesn’t even have an odd-shaped blade…

Just a very flexible one…

If you want more odd blades, Moghul India is a good place to start…

It comes in double too:

This one is called itakalaka:

See the Doomslayer inspiration?

Unfortunately the etymology gets a bit muddy because of colonialism and clickbait but here’s some more beauties you can find by searching “congolese swords” or “african swords”.

"Nothing, she thinks they're a divine gift and should be displayed to show that she is blessed as a prophet.

GM: So, you know people are going to try and kill her.

"Definitely, she also fervently believe she us divinely protected and anyone trying to harm her is an enemy of that divinity."

GM: So what does she normally do?

"Flies around in full view looking for anyone she thinks needs help because her divine mandate is to help those in need."

Cool is a very subjective concept but personally I would go for the red and black AX-Edge Keytar. There's enough grim fantasy liches with their souls bound to obsidian swords and horned chalices, this is something for the synth metal lich that wants to really stand out (and maybe take a level in Bard just to throw the heroes off)

Item: tin of Stauffer’s Nifty Butter Pretzels & Some Spiders; contains ten servings. Roll d10:

1-6: delicious pretzels

King did not name his son as his heir because his son is an idiot. Said idiot son keeps trying to kill his cousin or uncle that was named as heir but keeps failing because he’s not good at this. Everyone is annoyed at the king for not imprisoning him

New political marriage in the court and the new spouse from outside the kingdom brought a chef with them that cooks weird

Some religious authority and the king keep going to war with each other and making up again like an on again off again toxic couple

Everyone thinks that one of the ladies in waiting got pregnant out of wedlock but she doesn’t even look pregnant and she keeps being like guys it’s been ten months

Someone important in the court keeps throwing really big parties that they can’t afford and people lower down on the ladder keep trying to find ways to stop them without technically disobeying them

Monks come complaining to the king that they’re not being fed enough when in fact they usually eat better than the king does

One of the servants overheard something really embarrassing and they really wanna tell someone so they’ve gotta figure out how to do that without getting in trouble

One of the members of the royal family has gotten obsessed with something (fashion trend, food, etc.) that the rest of the court hates but they have to pretend to like it or they’ll get in trouble

The queen mother (king’s mom) keeps annoyingly trying to interfere with how things are going and the king and the new queen keep running away and hiding whenever they hear her coming and it’s getting ridiculous

Biggest brain on this post is the person saying the lich keeps their blood in a jar near their reliquary.

Bloatmages can cast extra spells each day with the power of their vital fluid. Beyond that, they have the ability to drink sorcerer blood and gain the sorcerer’s unique powers! A dragon’s descendant might give them wings, while an aberrant sorcerer could allow the bloatmage to grow their arms incredibly long.

This sharpened wooden spike is carved from a vampiric rose bush, and has the same monstrous thirst. This serves prospective slayers well during their hunt, but creates new problems if not dealt with afterward.

Vampiric stakes are quite rare. They require special treatment to protect the wielder, but apply a +4 bonus on attacks against vampires, as they seek out the heart. It requires a DC 22 Strength check to remove a vampiric stake once the vampire is pierced through the heart, and each hour the monster must make a DC 22 Will save or be permanently destroyed by the diablerie of this stake. If they succeed the save, they may choose to resist for this hour or have their body destroyed and let their spirit possess the stake.

SPRAY (kik toyz) - source

These beasts were engineered by a cleric of the medicine god, and they hunt down plague in between eating and sleeping. You might see a herd of Spritzosauri thundering across a valley in pursuit of a dozen zombies, or one of them looming over the wall into a quarantined district.

The stand requires ten full-round actions to set up, and can only be aimed in a straight line (any more would require some kind of horse ballistics training). To have your horse fire the gun, it must be combat-trained, but learning the trick only takes 3 days, as it becomes a subcategory of the Attack trick. Horses are, however, not naturally proficient in firearms.

The skeleton says “get me a beer and a mop.”

The dracula says “I do not drink… wine. Get me an English realtor and a mop.”