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View Full Version : [3.5] Non-offensive Weapon Enhancements



balistafreak
2010-06-19, 10:27 AM
For someone who doesn't expect to ever be using a weapon in combat, yet wants to use it as a platform for enhancements, what choices are there?

I already know of the ever-popular defending + high base enhancement, but are there any others?

Snake-Aes
2010-06-19, 10:30 AM
Only defending, I think. You can also use Spell Storing.

Quirp
2010-06-19, 10:31 AM
Eager I think for a bonus to initiative and in Magic of Faerun there was an enhancement that allowed you to absorb and redirect one specific spell.

UglyPanda
2010-06-19, 10:53 AM
I'm searching through the MIC now and found a few.

Harmonizing (+1): Excellent for Bards, keeps one Bard song going for 10 rounds after you activate it.
Parrying (+2): +1 insight bonus to AC and saving throws. Not really worth it unless you have the money, simply because it's +2.
Spellstrike (+1): It's like defending, but on your saving throws against spells and spell-likes.
Warning (+1): +5 insight bonus to initiative. Better than Eager, especially if you're not attacking.

Greenish
2010-06-19, 10:58 AM
Parrying (+2): +1 insight bonus to AC and saving throws. Not really worth it unless you have the money, simply because it's +2.Aww, they ruined it with the update. SRD version only has flat cost (8000 gp).

JeminiZero
2010-06-19, 11:06 AM
Wand Chamber: From Dungeonscape, this lets you use a wand hidden in the weapon. Its a modification rather than an enchantment, so it can be added to mundane weapon for a relatively cheap price. Mainly useful for gishes/UMD rogues which want to activate wands while holding a weapon.

The real trick however is that you can try and shove Wand Chamber onto Complete Scoundrel's Concealed Weapons, then you can wield/activate many wands at once.

Spellblade: Tennis shenanigans (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151109) not withstanding, this is still a very useful defensive tool. Get one against (Greater) Dispel Magic to stop enemies from stripping all your buffs at once from targetted dispel, and counterspellers.

Draz74
2010-06-19, 11:06 AM
They did ruin Parrying in MIC. :smallannoyed:

Yeah, Warning is the best. And unlike Eager, it's not restricted to melee weapons, so you can stick it on a Shuriken for 1/50 the cost. :smallamused:

Greenish
2010-06-19, 11:09 AM
Yeah, Warning is the best. And unlike Eager, it's not restricted to melee weapons, so you can stick it on a Shuriken for 1/50 the cost. :smallamused:160 gp for +5 Insight to Initiative? You have a deal!

balistafreak
2010-06-19, 11:11 AM
160 gp for +5 Insight to Initiative? You have a deal!

I don't think any sane DM will let that one go... :smalltongue:

Greenish
2010-06-19, 11:13 AM
I don't think any sane DM will let that one go... :smalltongue:But… but it's my lucky shuriken! :smallfrown: (Took it off the cooling hand of the first ninja I ever killed!)

herrhauptmann
2010-06-19, 11:37 AM
'Smoking' from I think unapproachable east.
Your square fills with a noxious smoke which only you can see through. Furthermore, anyone who enters the smoke must make a save vs being sickened.

Everbright (MiC)/Durable(Dungeonscape). Your weapon is now immune to acid/rusting attacks of monsters, spells, and traps.

Beorn080
2010-06-19, 11:41 AM
Don't forget mundane uses.

A flaming weapon makes an excellent firestarter, torch, and branding implement. Ensure the party fighter knows who owns his buffs with a convenient neck brand.

Alignment weapons could be used to drop your effective level a touch, say if you were trying to hide your power or something. Just drop to get it back. Or, get a bundle of 50 arrows, one of each, and mix and match so there is 12 of each, plus a couple extra good ones maybe. Plop em somewhere, someone picks up, drops dead.

Distance arrows can have notes written on them and fired even longer distances to pass notes during a war.

Frost can be used to freeze water.

Ghost touch adamantium weapons can be used to disable mechanical traps in walls and such.

And, really fun, shocking weapons can power motors and drive trains driven by T-rex's in electrical F-14's.

balistafreak
2010-06-19, 12:06 PM
Alignment weapons could be used to drop your effective level a touch, say if you were trying to hide your power or something. Just drop to get it back. Or, get a bundle of 50 arrows, one of each, and mix and match so there is 12 of each, plus a couple extra good ones maybe. Plop em somewhere, someone picks up, drops dead.

Wait, you're proposing we leave a quiver of (extremely expensive) holy arrows for (evil) thieves to pick up, only to die on the spot?

... it's like roach bait, but funnier.

Merk
2010-06-19, 12:12 PM
Lucky: 1/day reroll, +1 bonus, MIC.

Beorn080
2010-06-19, 12:25 PM
Wait, you're proposing we leave a quiver of (extremely expensive) holy arrows for (evil) thieves to pick up, only to die on the spot?

... it's like roach bait, but funnier.

No, I'm proposing you leave a bundle of 12 LE, 12 CE, 12 CG, 12 LG, and 2 arrows of something funny. That way you kill everyone but true neutrals, assuming they aren't epic. And if they ARE epic, well, 24 levels drained off a non true neutral, 48 off of a non neutral means, literally, Epic loot from an easyish fight.

Edit: Oh, I forgot. You get 50 of each, so you can make 4 bundles up.

UglyPanda
2010-06-19, 12:26 PM
Lucky is only for attack rolls.

Greenish
2010-06-19, 12:28 PM
Lucky is only for attack rolls.And best served with Mind Arrows.

herrhauptmann
2010-06-19, 12:36 PM
Ghost touch adamantium weapons can be used to disable mechanical traps in walls and such.

And, really fun, shocking weapons can power motors and drive trains driven by T-rex's in electrical F-14's.

Not sure I see how ghost touch applies. It'll let you strike a ghost, or a ghost can pick it up and hit you. Doesn't mean you can put the weapon through the door and only attack the trap mechanism behind it. (At least that's what I assume you meant)

Beorn080
2010-06-19, 12:52 PM
Essentially, a ghost touch weapon counts as either corporeal or incorporeal at any given time, whichever is more beneficial to the wielder.

I would assume that if I were attempting to attack a mechanism inside a wall, the most beneficial state would be incorporeal through the wall, then the part inside being corporeal. Though that is stretching it.

tyckspoon
2010-06-19, 12:53 PM
Essentially, a ghost touch weapon counts as either corporeal or incorporeal at any given time, whichever is more beneficial to the wielder.

I would assume that if I were attempting to attack a mechanism inside a wall, the most beneficial state would be incorporeal through the wall, then the part inside being corporeal. Though that is stretching it.

Except Ghost Touch doesn't work that way. It can touch and be touched by incorporeal things. It is in no way ever incorporeal itself; if an incorporeal being is carrying Ghost Touch equipment and wants to move through a wall, it will have to leave the Ghost Touch stuff behind.

Edit: I would seem to be wrong. Still, if you're going to treat the weapon as incorporeal to pass through a wall, I don't think you have the luxury of simultaneously declaring it corporeal. And you'd have to be an incorporeal creature to start with to do that, since a corporeal creature could not wield an incorporeal weapon at all.. and incorporeal creatures cannot affect objects, such as trap mechanisms.

balistafreak
2010-06-19, 12:54 PM
No, I'm proposing you leave a bundle of 12 LE, 12 CE, 12 CG, 12 LG, and 2 arrows of something funny. That way you kill everyone but true neutrals, assuming they aren't epic. And if they ARE epic, well, 24 levels drained off a non true neutral, 48 off of a non neutral means, literally, Epic loot from an easyish fight.

Edit: Oh, I forgot. You get 50 of each, so you can make 4 bundles up.

So basically, it's a Quiver of Apathy. If you're True Neutral, you get ammunition against those pesky heroes and villains and their self-styled "opinions". :smallamused:

Chrono22
2010-06-19, 12:57 PM
I'm not sure where it is located, but I'm pretty sure there is an Unbreakable enchantment, if you don't want your weapon to be sundered or otherwise destroyed.
If you have a flexible DM, ask him if you can apply the Blueshine armor enhancement to a weapon. It makes metal armor immune to rust or acid.

Draz74
2010-06-19, 01:02 PM
If you have a flexible DM, ask him if you can apply the Blueshine armor enhancement to a weapon. It makes metal armor immune to rust or acid.

As herrhauptman posted earlier in the thread: the Durable enhancement from Dungeonscape does this, too, and cheaper.

Beorn080
2010-06-19, 01:03 PM
Except Ghost Touch doesn't work that way. It can touch and be touched by incorporeal things. It is in no way ever incorporeal itself; if an incorporeal being is carrying Ghost Touch equipment and wants to move through a wall, it will have to leave the Ghost Touch stuff behind.

Edit: I would seem to be wrong. Still, if you're going to treat the weapon as incorporeal to pass through a wall, I don't think you have the luxury of simultaneously declaring it corporeal. And you'd have to be an incorporeal creature to start with to do that, since a corporeal creature could not wield an incorporeal weapon at all.. and incorporeal creatures cannot affect objects, such as trap mechanisms.

Its the last line that would make that work. It counts and corporeal or incorporeal depending on what is best for the wielder. It doesn't say the whole weapon has to be in the same state at once, and it would seem to indicate that the handle of the weapon is ALWAYS the same state as the wielder, so they can wield it, otherwise it would go flying out of your hand the first time the party fighter tried to hit a ghost with it. So, if part of the weapon can be a different state then the rest, it follows that other parts can be different states.

Re: Quiver of Apathy. I suppose. Its more of a trap for True Neutrals to kill off any offending person they find. Plus, they should turn up as neutral on alignment scans due to the arrows being balanced.

"Please sir, take these arrows and don't hurt me"

balistafreak
2010-06-19, 01:17 PM
Why does an adamantine weapon even need ghost touch to hit traps through walls? :smallconfused:

I mean, for heaven's sake, it's an adamantine weapon. Carve up the wall along with the trap, it shouldn't take that long. (Assuming you're not in a combat situation, but if you're having to run through unsprung traps in a combat situation something's probably terribly wrong.)

PersonMan
2010-06-19, 01:33 PM
Re: Quiver of Apathy. I suppose. Its more of a trap for True Neutrals to kill off any offending person they find. Plus, they should turn up as neutral on alignment scans due to the arrows being balanced.

"Please sir, take these arrows and don't hurt me"

You could only do that on Evil people, though, because if you slip into Evil you basically get insta-killed by your own trap, unless you never carry any of them with you.

Beorn080
2010-06-19, 01:37 PM
You could only do that on Evil people, though, because if you slip into Evil you basically get insta-killed by your own trap, unless you never carry any of them with you.

Your an avatar of neutrality, killing any who follow any sort of extremes.

Snake-Aes
2010-06-19, 01:37 PM
Your an avatar of neutrality, killing any who follow any sort of extremes.

Which is evil.

Rothen
2010-06-19, 01:47 PM
Nice one. It took under 30 posts to turn the thread into an alignment debate.

herrhauptmann
2010-06-19, 05:53 PM
So basically, it's a Quiver of Apathy. If you're True Neutral, you get ammunition against those pesky heroes and villains and their self-styled "opinions". :smallamused:

Now make one arrow a psibane, and one a magebane (should be possible, don't have MiC in front of me). You've now ruled out everything with nondivine casting, and most noncasters as well.

On the subject, doesn't the effect come into play when someone tries to wield a weapon/draw the arrow? So I could put a dozen [unholy] swords in the backpack of my paladin, and I'm fine so long as I don't try to use one of them.

Dusk Eclipse
2010-06-19, 06:01 PM
don't think any sane DM will let that one go... :smalltongue:

Easy, just get a bunch of miscelaneus +1 shriken bane, aligment, manifest etc and sneak just one eager shuriken, you pay the equivalent of a +2 weapon but you have many shuriken for different situation and your lucky shuriken (I might actually try this trick sometime


But… but it's my lucky shuriken! :smallfrown: (Took it off the cooling hand of the first ninja I ever killed!)
:smallannoyed:
I'll avenge my fallen brother!

Greenish
2010-06-19, 06:02 PM
:smallannoyed: I'll avenge my fallen brother!Which one? :smallcool:

Dusk Eclipse
2010-06-19, 06:03 PM
Which one? :smallcool:

Fine brothers

I'll get you Greenish