[3.5] Methods to bind a weapon?

[Drothmal]

Hello, last night, all of a sudden, I started wondering how many ways exist in D&D to bind a weapon. When I mean bind, I refer to making a strong weapon-wielder connetction, like THIS is your sword (or whatever) and you won't use any other weapon but THIS sword, because it is a holy relic/part of your essence/family memento/etc

In game mechanics, I'm thinking along the lines of weapons that allow you to sacrifice gold/xp to increase their enchantments or weapons that you loose xp or abilities if the weapon is lost or broken

So far, I was thinking of the following classes (source in parenthesis)

[This list has been edited (Many thanks!)]

1. Kensai (CW)
2. Soulknife
3. Annoited knight (BoED)
3.5 Ancestral weapon (feat form BoED)
4. An Occult Slayer (CW)
5. Item Familiar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/ma...mFamiliars.htm)
6. Psychic Weapon Master (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20020927a)
7. Psychic Warrior variant
8. Warrior of Darkness (evil Annioted Knight in BoVD)
9. Incarnum blade (MoI)
9.5 Binding weapons as according to Magic of Incarnum


Also, we have Bearer of the Ancestral weapon (homebrew from here). and all the legacy weapons (such as the 9 legacy from ToB or all the ones in Weapons of Legacy)


I'm sure there are a lot more, so I'm turning to the grounds for more resources. I also have 2 questions

If you were to convert to Pathfinder, would you just change any xp sacrifice by gp sacrifice but whatever rate they suggest (I don't remember what it is right now)?

How many of these can you stack? Do you think that different types of bonuses should stack (probably not, but I was thinking of a character that tries to make every possible connection to a weapon and though the fluff is great, the crunch would totally suck)

If you have more classes (not from Dragon or Homebrew), could you number them in front? (start with 4, I don't know how many ways you have with MoI). But please include homebrews! (just don't number them)



Thanks a ton!!

[Quirp]

4. An Occult Slayer (CW) binds to his weapon, but it is not that good and flavorful as the things you mentioned

[Mongoose87]

There are the exceedingly overpowered item familiars.

[Godskook]

Ancestral Weapon from BoED. No extra penalties(you're still losing the gold) for losing it, but otherwise, it'll work.

Oh, and the cheese-feat, Item Familiar.

[Drothmal]

Ancestral Weapon from BoED. No extra penalties(you're still losing the gold) for losing it, but otherwise, it'll work.

Oh, and the cheese-feat, Item Familiar.

Yeah, I knew about the Ancestral weapon (part of the annoited knight requirements). But I will add it up when I edit the list

The item familiar is the variant for familiars in Pathfinder, right? Or is there a version of it in just 3.5

[subject42]

There are also legacy weapons, but they have a pretty wonky mechanic. There's an entire book dedicated to them somewhere.

[Kris Strife]

Kensai is in Complete Warrior

[subject42]

The item familiar is the variant for familiars in Pathfinder, right? Or is there a version of it in just 3.5

There's a 3.5 variant.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm

[Drothmal]

There are also legacy weapons, but they have a pretty wonky mechanic. There's an entire book dedicated to them somewhere.

Oh yeah, and there are the 7 legendary weapons from the Tome of Battle. I will also add that one up

[Starbuck_II]

Hello, last night, all of a sudden, I started wondering how many ways exist in D&D to bind a weapon. When I mean bind, I refer to making a strong weapon-wielder connetction, like THIS is your sword (or whatever) and you won't use any other weapon but THIS sword, because it is a holy relic/part of your essence/family memento/etc

In game mechanics, I'm thinking along the lines of weapons that allow you to sacrifice gold/xp to increase their enchantments or weapons that you loose xp or abilities if the weapon is lost or broken

So far, I was thinking of the following classes (source in parenthesis)

1) Kensai (I don't remember which book that is from)
2) Psychic Weapon Master (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20020927a)
3) Annoited knight (BoED)
?)A lot of stuff in Magic of Incarnum (I don't have the book, but a friend explained it to me and it seems to somewhat fit)

Also, we have Bearer of the Ancestral weapon (homebrew from here)


I'm sure there are a lot more, so I'm turning to the grounds for more resources. I also have 2 questions

If you were to convert to Pathfinder, would you just change any xp sacrifice by gp sacrifice but whatever rate they suggest (I don't remember what it is right now)?

How many of these can you stack? Do you think that different types of bonuses should stack (probably not, but I was thinking of a character that tries to make every possible connection to a weapon and though the fluff is great, the crunch would totally suck)

If you have more classes (not from Dragon or Homebrew), could you number them in front? (start with 4, I don't know how many ways you have with MoI). But please include homebrews! (just don't number them)



Thanks a ton!!

SoulKnife?
PsiWarrior with Alternate class feature to instead of bonus feat gains weapon he can create like a soulknife?

They get it for free, but it is THEIR sword.

Warrior of Darkness (evil Annioted Knight in BoVD)

[NEO|Phyte]

Oh yeah, and there are the 7 legendary weapons from the Tome of Battle. I will also add that one up

There's 9 of them. Only one of the bunch I ever particularly found nifty was Tiger Fang, because hey, it's 15-20x4 without kaorti resin or whatever that gunk was called.

[Drothmal]

There's 9 of them. Only one of the bunch I ever particularly found nifty was Tiger Fang, because hey, it's 15-20x4 without kaorti resin or whatever that gunk was called.

Wow, this shows how long it's been since I've read the book last


SoulKnife?
PsiWarrior with Alternate class feature to instead of bonus feat gains weapon he can create like a soulknife?

They get it for free, but it is THEIR sword.

Warrior of Darkness (evil Annioted Knight in BoVD)

I should have remembered the variant psywar. I'm not ashamed at all to have forgotten the Soulknife, though =P

[PairO'Dice Lost]

9. The 9 legendary weapons of ToB

Actually, they're called legacy weapons--and there's a whole book of them called, surprisingly enough, Weapons of Legacy, as subject42 mentioned. The example weapons suck, to put it mildly, but if you let the character found a legacy and build a custom weapon, it can work fairly well.

There's another variant in UA dealing with legendary weapons, but since the rules are mostly "here's four examples, make stuff up on a case-by-case basis" it's not all that useful.


?)A lot of stuff in Magic of Incarnum (I don't have the book, but a friend explained it to me and it seems to somewhat fit)

Specifically two things, the Incarnum Blade (PrC that lets you bind part of your soul energy to your weapon in various ways) and the ability to bind weapons to your chakras for additional benefits.


How many of these can you stack? Do you think that different types of bonuses should stack (probably not, but I was thinking of a character that tries to make every possible connection to a weapon and though the fluff is great, the crunch would totally suck)

Everything here stacks, subject to normal stacking rules and prerequisites, of course; there's no reason to disallow any of it.

A psychic warrior X/psychic weapon master Y/legacy champion Z with the Ancestral Weapon and Item Familiar feats can basically get everything important you've already listed--the Warrior of Darkness doesn't actually modify the weapon, the Anointed Knight's and Occult Slayer's weapon benefits are more easily achieved in other ways, the Kensai's benefits are the same as the Psychic Weapon Master's (just slightly cheaper), and you can make the weapon intelligent via legacy rules or item familiar rules. If you go gestalt, you can add soulborn A/incarnum blade B on the other side and get the incarnum stuff as well.

[Pechvarry]

Aye, you don't need a homebrew weapon of legacy thing. There's a whole official book dedicated to it.

Shadow Sentinel in Races of Destiny. Requires a +1 weapon to be "bonded". First bonding is RP, if you lose it and need a new one, all future bondings take a day and 100 xp.

Shadowsmith (ToM) and Soulknife (XPH) actually make weapons... I don't think that's what you want.

And um. yeah. Incarnum has a soulmeld that makes a weapon, a class that makes a weapon, and a class that binds weapon chakra or something.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Shadow Sentinel in Races of Destiny. Requires a +1 weapon to be "bonded". First bonding is RP, if you lose it and need a new one, all future bondings take a day and 100 xp.

This one's not a good choice at all; the ability specifies that the umbral blade can't be enhanced in any other way, so taking this would prevent you from using any of the enchant-your-weapon-for-cheap abilities.

[Pluto]

The DMG2 has rules for any character to do this.

The OA Samurai has a first-level ability similar to Ancestral Relic.

[Person_Man]

In before Sinfire on the Incarnum explaination!!! (Though he'll probably correct me on something). Check out this thread (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19870566/Incarnate_by_the_numbers) for the math.

Mauling Gauntlets soulmeld: 2 + (2*essentia) on all Str checks (Trip, Bull Rush, etc), and if you bind it to your Arms chakra any melee weapon you wield is Keen.

Incarnate Weapon soulmeld: Creates a specific weapon based on your alignment (Chaotic = battleaxe, Evil = flail, Good = Warhammer, Lawful = Longsword). The weapon has your alignment for overcoming damage reduction. You can invest essentia (very limited pool of soul energy) into your Incarnate Weapon to give it an enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls. The maximum amount of essentia you can invest in anything is limited by a complex set of rules - at low levels it's 1 or 2, but with 18 hit die, 15 levels in Incarnate, a feat, and a magic item, it can be 8 (maybe 9 if I'm forgetting something). You can also bind the soulmeld to your Arm chakra (another complicated rule, basically it costs you a feat or levels of Incarnate or Totemist), and if you do so you can charge your Incarnate Weapon with a Save or Stun effect as a Move action. (Note that you can't bind more then one soulmeld to the same chakra slot unless you spend a feat, and then you can bind two).

Necrocarnum Weapon soulmeld: Choose a weapon you hold. It becomes Evil aligned. For every point of essentia invested in this soulmeld, you gain a bonus to damage and to rolls to confirm critical hits. If you bind this to your Hands chakra slot then you gain temporary essentia points for 10 rounds when you make a critical hit against a living creature.

Bloodwar Gauntlets soulmeld: +1 to Hit, and essentia invested as a bonus to damage.

Ironsoul Forgemaster: Their capstone ability lets them invest essentia in any weapon that they craft as if it were a soulmeld, giving you a bonus to damage, and forcing living enemies to Save or be Dazed with EVERY successful attack.

Incarnum Blade: Cruddy PrC. Avoid it. But has weapon/incarnum abilities.

Note that there's an inherent synergy here for Evil Incarnates or Necrocarnates (who can potentially get a ton of essentia). If you pull of this combo correctly, then you get around +12 to-hit and +40 to damage around 20th level. The only down side is that either class has Poor BAB, but you can correct this with Legacy Champion, Divine Power, a Skillful weapon, etc.