[DM advice] Stacking enchantments, Shards of the Planes, and other shenanigans.

[janusmaxwell]

So, I'm doing a thing.

I don't really understand why enchanting weapons with things that just make it a "Plus 1" can stack several times, but the various elemental enchantments can't stack with each other, so you're options are either "something" or "Something burst"

So I wrote up a very basic idea regarding stackable enchantments that will/could/should be available to players in my campaign. (first ever, so excuse me if I'm doing stuff that's already considered bad/wrong/nope) So far, I've got down just the Fire enchantments, but I want to do this effect for more.

Weapons that add extra effects on confirmed critical hits, which increase based on the critical multiplier of the weapon, do not increase if the critical multiplier of the weapon has been enhanced by mundane or magical means. Instead, the base critical multiplier of the weapon is to be used. Example: A Mercurial sword's Crit Multiplier has gone from x2 to x4, but the Flaming Burst enchantment will operate as though the sword had the x2 multiplier.


Fire enchantments.
Level 1: Flaming
--+1d6 Fire Damage (Ranged weapons grant effect to ammunition)
-----On Command, the weapon becomes wreathed in flames.
-----Craft Magic Arms and Armor and Flame Blade, Flame Strike, or Fireball. Price=+1 enchantment

Level 2: Flaming Burst
--+1d6 Fire Damage and an extra 1d10 on a confirmed Crit (x3 Crit=2d10 and x4 Crit=3d10)
-----Craft Magic Arms and Armor and Flame Blade, Flame Strike or Fireball. Price=+2 enchantment

Level 3: Searing. Fire Enchantments beyond this level are only available for Metal weapons. Type of metal doesn’t matter.
--+2d6 Fire Damage and an extra 1d10 on a confirmed Crit. Also Ignores 5 points of Fire Resistance on Target.
-----On Command, the weapons blade/head/point turns a pure, charred black, and any water contacting the weapon at this time will hiss and steam. -----(Not enough to make a fogbank or mist) Anyone besides the wielder touching the head at this time will take 1d6 non-lethal scalding damage
-----Craft Magic Arms and Armor and Firestorm or Delayed Blast Fireball. Price=+3 enchantment

Level 4: Searing Blast
--+2d6 fire Damage and an extra 2d10 on a confirmed Crit. (x3 Crit=3d10 and x4 Crit=4d10) and Ignores 5 points of Fire Resistance on Target.
-----Craft Magic Arms and Armor and Firestorm or Delayed Blast Fireball. Price=+4 enchantment

Level 5 (Dragon/Salamander/Moor Gault)’s Kiss (Only available for swords that do/are capable of Slashing Damage)
--+3d6 Fire Damage and an extra 2d10 on a Confirmed Crit. Ignores 10 points of Fire resistance on Target, OR Targets with Fire Immunity will effectively have 20 Fire Resistance.
-----On Command, Orange glowing cracks will spread throughout the body of the weapon. (similar effect to magma vents through earths crust, purely -----cosmetic) Anyone besides the wielder touching the blade of the weapon at this time will take instantly take 1d6 Fire Damage, and then another 1d6 -----every round thereafter until the weapon is dropped
-----Must be forged in the breath of a Red/Gold/Brass Dragon of Mature Adult or older. Price=+5 Enchantment.


I plan on doing similar effects to the major elemental groups (Fire/Electricity/Cold/Acid) Plus the Alignment boosts (Holy/Unholy/Anarchic/Axiomatic) and then making Sonic and Force Enchantments as well.

I'm not going to set-up these weapon enchantments to all be in levels of 5. The alignment enchantments will have a stack of 3 and depending on how OP Sonic or Force enchantments would be, those will have 3 levels or 4 levels.

So while I've got "Metal and Swords" for the Fire enchantment restrictions, the Electric Enchantments have the restrictions of "Bludgeoning weapons" and then only for weapons with the word "Hammer" in the description/name; and for Cold, the restrictions are "Piercing weapons" and then "Ranged piercing weapons" (might limit it to just bows...)
So that leaves Acid and the other enchantment's (Acid restriction, Daggers? Maybe have Sonic Enchantment's granting Speed/Flurry of Blows? Hmmm) details are in the air. If anybody has ideas regarding their own fluff or RAW or both for this stacking idea, or have an opinion on it, I'd like to hear it.


A secondary idea I came up with that is closely tied to the "Stackable Enchantments" above is the "Shards of the Planes"

Shards of the various Planes of existence, such as the Elemental Plane of Fire exist in various worlds and settings. Only 1 of these shards from a given plane exists in a given setting/world. A mortal who finds a shard can bond it to their soul and draw power from it. The bond lasts for as long as the mortal wills it, or until their death. (some Shards will not remain or bond with Undead creatures) and a mortal can only have 1 Shard bonded to them at a time.

When bonded to a shard, a mortal can take a free action to bestow an enchantment on any weapon they are wielding at that moment, or if they are unarmed, they may enchant their Unarmed strikes. (Hmm...make the Unarmed strike lethal, or say that if they're not a Monk or have the Feat then their punch/kick is still non-lethal)

The Shards of the Planes are considered Legacy for the effect that as ECL increases, the available enchantment grows as well. For the Elemental Shards, the 5 levels of Enchantment are able to bestowed at ECL: 3/6/9/12/15. So for the Flame Shard, a PC with ECL 3 can give a weapon the "Flaming" quality as a free action.

Here's where things get squiffy. I've got ideas about how to divvy up the enchantments for the stacks of 3 or 4. Like the 3 level enchantments are available at ECL 6/12/18, but it would probably be better to have them on 5/10/15. And the 4 Levels are available at ECL 4/8/12/16.

Furthermore, should the Shards allow the bonded mortals to bypass the requirements for the higher enchantments? So that the Fire Shard can let a person have "Searing" on a non-metal weapon and the "Dragon's Kiss" doesn't have to be on a sword. (Tempted to have that be the case for the sheer lulz of an improvised weapon like a broken chair-leg having Searing Blast)

Also, what if the weapon/whatever has an enchantment on it? I'm thinking that the stackable enchantments won't work if the sword and shard intermingle. Just have the case be "Whichever effect is stronger" so the Fire Shard at "Searing Blast" can't be used on a weapon that's Flaming to make it a "Dragon's Kiss" weapon. For the most part there shouldn't be an effect/problem with Ghost Touch/Keen/+1 but what are some others that could be a massive pain?

What are people's thoughts on the Shards? Conceptually, fluff/RAW, Opinion or whatever you feel like.

[Debihuman]

Do you mean Enhancements or spells (enchantments)? Enhancements don't all stack; most overlap. There are several articles on WotC's web site called "Does it Stack" that explains it in more detail. See bottom of list for the links: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/rg

Debby

[janusmaxwell]

Do you mean Enhancements or spells (enchantments)? Enhancements don't all stack; most overlap. There are several articles on WotC's web site called "Does it Stack" that explains it in more detail. See bottom of list for the links: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/rg

Debby
Terminology goof on my part. I'm trying to say that the same way that you can get a weapon or armor that's just magically a "+1" and just add more up til "+5" but a lot of the other enhancements beyond "+" all stop at just 1 or maybe 2 types and I'm tackling the sticky wicket of why there aren't higher order versions of the other types of weapon enchantments?

As in the example, getting a Flaming weapon has the price tag of getting a +1 weapon, and getting a Flaming Burst weapon which carries the same damage bonus of a plain Flaming weapon with some extra damage on a Crit has the price of a +2 weapon. I'm asking about what if you wanted a weapon with some kind of Fire enchanted weapon that would be the equivalent of a +3, +4 or a +5 weapon? At least price wise, though balance-wise is kinda important too.

This is mostly me spitballing, and basing stuff off my own (limited) knowledge of D&D.

For example, +1 weapons count as magical for being able to give incorporeal creatures a smack, while non-magical weapons are SOL. Do Flaming/Shocking/Frost weapons also count for that? or is that a stupid question?

Furthermore, I'm thinking of all sorts of flavor effects and added bonuses for the +5 versions of the Elemental weapons to make it worth the limitations I'm putting on them (Fire can only be on Slashing swords for example).

So far I'm leaning towards Shocking +5 being available only for weapons that have "Hammer" in the title, and I thought of a funny flavor where the weapon counts as "Returning" for the purposes of the PC wanting to wing the weapon at an enemy (There's a reason I'm calling +5 Mjolnir, tentatively lol) thought I'm having trouble thinking of things for the Frost weapons, which I think should be "piercing only" after a certain point, and then only for ranged piercing weapons. And Acid...so far all I got is something to do with knives or daggers.

Anyway, thoughts on this? Balancing, breaking, ideas?

[Debihuman]

Okay I think you are confused (as are many people). Here are the standard 3.5 rules on making magical weapons: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm#creatingMagicWeapons


Creating a magic weapon has a special prerequisite: The creator’s caster level must be at least three times the enhancement bonus of the weapon. If an item has both an enhancement bonus and a special ability the higher of the two caster level requirements must be met.

A magic weapon must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus to have any of the abilities listed on Table: Melee Weapon Special Abilities or Table: Ranged Weapon Special Abilities.

Then there's this chart on pricing:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm#tableWeapons

A magical +1 weapon costs: X for the weapon, 300 gp for masterwork (600 gp if it is a double weapon) and 2,000 gp for the +1 Enhancement bonus.

Many weapons have Magic Weapon Special Qualities i.e. Flaming, etc. in addition to Enhancement bonus (from +1 to +5). These are qualities that can only be put on magic weapons.

The max enhancement bonus on a weapon is +5 BUT adding special qualities adds to the cost and they are calculated as if they were enhancement bonuses. The reason you don't see +6 or higher weapons and armor is a matter of game balance. Obviously, the rules can and do change after 20th level. Likewise, homebrew can stretch or even break rules.

At some point it just gets silly trying to challenge characters outfitted w/gross amounts of bling.

Debby

[janusmaxwell]

Alright, so that answers the question I had about making a Flaming weapons being considered the same as +1. I was not aware that an weapon has to be "+1" FIRST and then a special quality can be added. I was also not aware of the requirement for the creator to have three-times the caster level of the enhancement being placed on the weapon.

As for the pricing scale, I'm aware of the +5 maximum, and that the scale past that point is just to mark down the limits on how many special qualities the item can have, and the prices for the added special qualities.

So I'll use the right terminology for what I'm asking/saying.

I'm making more special qualities for weapons which amount to making a weapon that has a more potent version of a Fire enchantment than merely Flaming and Flaming Burst. Using my current scale, a character could conceivably have a weapon which is anywhere from +1 to +5 AND has the Dragon's Kiss Special Quality, where it does an additional +3d6 Fire Damage on striking, and +2d10 Fire Damage on a confirmed Crit, and if the target has Fire Resistance, the weapon will ignore 10 points of Fire resistance OR if the target has Fire Immunity, that Immunity will be considered Fire Resistance 20. However, in order to have that Special Quality, the weapon must be a sword, and one that does Slashing damage rather than Piercing damage (Maybe narrow it to Two-handed swords, or vice versa)

I would like advice on balancing this Homebrew on these Special Qualities out for a campaign I'm DMing so that the players will intrigued and want weapons with these qualities, but the game will not become too easy for them.

Mostly, I thought this was a fun little idea that came about because a friend of mine said that after a certain point, Flaming weapons are not worth it, because everything has an immunity or resistance to Fire. After making the added Fire Special Qualities, I'm now trying my hand at adjusting other weapon Special Qualities as well, so there is no favoritism.

[Debihuman]

I'm making more special qualities for weapons which amount to making a weapon that has a more potent version of a Fire enchantment than merely Flaming and Flaming Burst.

In which case, it should be more expensive.



Using my current scale, a character could conceivably have a weapon which is anywhere from +1 to +5 AND has the Dragon's Kiss Special Quality, where it does an additional +3d6 Fire Damage on striking, and +2d10 Fire Damage on a confirmed Crit, and if the target has Fire Resistance, the weapon will ignore 10 points of Fire resistance OR if the target has Fire Immunity, that Immunity will be considered Fire Resistance 20. However, in order to have that Special Quality, the weapon must be a sword, and one that does Slashing damage rather than Piercing damage (Maybe narrow it to Two-handed swords, or vice versa)

Note will your villains have access to weapons that can overcome a PC's Fire Immunity? Because I find it highly game breaking when only side can use these weapons. This also ignores the protection from energy spell.

Debby

[janusmaxwell]

In which case, it should be more expensive.




Note will your villains have access to weapons that can overcome a PC's Fire Immunity? Because I find it highly game breaking when only side can use these weapons. This also ignores the protection from energy spell.

Debby
More expensive meaning I should up the Price somewhere? Like Dragons Kiss Quality should count as a +6 enchantment, instead of +5?

And no, I'm not gonna have this stuff be exclusive to the PC's, but the stuff is going to need to be worked for, for either side. Right now they're just lvl2 and I ain't sending them against friggin' gobbos that have +3 weapons, or the equivalent of same!

I just like the idea becuase it'll promote the need for knowledge checks and such for better immersion and more options.

Hmm...wonder of I should change the weapons a bit...yeah, I'll make the ultimate forms I listed as "special weapons/artifacts to be found, while the Searing/Searing Blast are enchantable.

[janusmaxwell]

So, with a bit of finagling, one character has picked up the first of the "Shards" that I came up with for this setting.

The idea being it's a chunk of Raw magic from one of the Planes and is a constantly active Legacy Enchantment that upgrades at certain levels.

He's level 2, so right now what he has is the ability to make any weapon he currently wields into a +1 with a Free action. Any spells he casts have +1 caster level, and as a standard action, he can either un-bond the Shard and turn it into it's natural form (a small purple gem that changes shape/warps/shifts subtly) or pass it to a willing person.

There is a bit that just came up and this is why I love having friends who are more knowledgeable than me about this stuff.

As the characters gain levels, the Shards will gain charges, and access to magic based on the what Plane the shard is from. When bonded with a Level 4 character the shard will have 1 charge. Charges can be spent to cast magic spells of the caster level of a Wizard (or cleric or whatever) at equal ECL to the PC (+1 for the passive effect of the shard itself). The charges will renew after 8hours of sleep or one in-game day. As long as the Shard has a charge, the free-action will enhance a weapon wielded to have a special quality along with the +1 enhancement. When there are no charges, the powers of the Shard revert to the base +1 to weapons and caster level.

For example, at Level 4 (or 5? whatever's not OP) the Fire Shard will grant a weapon the +1 Flaming ability, or expend the 1 charge to cast Fireball of the PC's ECL +1. 3 levels after that, the Shard will have 2 charges that renew daily, and as long as the PC has both those charges they can enhance a weapon to have the +1 Flaming Burst ability. They can expend the charges to cast Fireball twice, or....some other fire spell that would be worth blowing 2 of these charges on lol.

So, quick opinions please?

At max level, (ECL 15-17) the Shard will have 5 charges, and let a PC cast Fireball 5 times a day if they want, or use the Equivalent Fire Breath of a Mature Adult Red Dragon (14d10, DC 28) once a day.

At least that is the plan. If somebody can think of other fire abilities that wouldn't snap the game's difficulty over their knees, can you tell me? Cause I'm gonna go through the Cleric/Druid/Arcane spell lists and play a guessing game in the meantime...