Nine Lives Stealer 5e

Weapon (any sword), very rare (requires attunement)

You gain a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon.

The sword has 1d8 + 1 charges. If you score a critical hit against a creature that has fewer than 100 hit points, it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be slain instantly as the sword tears its life force from its body (a construct or an undead is immune). The sword loses 1 charge if the creature is slain. When the sword has no charges remaining, it loses this property.

Commentary by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

My first guess as to what this sword did was efficiently slay cats; fortunately, it isn’t that grim, and instead just slays anyone when you crit. Nifty!

You don’t get to choose when the sword executes creatures; if you critically strike with the weapon and the creature has fewer than 100 hit points, it’ll activate, regardless as to whether or not you want it to.
The charge is only consumed if the creature is killed by it, which is a huge perk.
A sword with no charges will still maintain the +2 to hit and damage.
This weapon can take the form of any sword; at minimum that includes shortswords, longswords, and greatswords.
Rapiers, daggers, scimitars, and other weapons that fit the definition of “a weapon with a long metal blade and a hilt with a hand guard, used for thrusting or striking” could qualify as well.

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