is there a precedent for such a conversion?

greetings playgrounders,

I have recently recieved a copy of the arms and equipment guide (joy!)

as I was looking through the list of 'specific magic weapons' (and armour)

I was struck by an idea that occured to me while looking at the same lists in the DMG


"why not take the 'specific' enchantment, and make it something you could apply to any weapon?"

for example, the "oathbow"

gives you bonuses against a specific enemy if you swear to kill it, and penatlies if you fail to do so.


why could one not take such 'oath' magic and apply it to other weapons?



a second related question.

using 'parts' of effects, for example
a Icy burst weapon does +1d6 +1d10 on a critical
could we not have the 'burst' as a standalone enchantment for +1 enhancement?


I was curious if there is a precedent for either of these things before I start brewing..... if there is, please direct me to it. if not...... I"ll be posting up said conversions shortly



thanks in advance.

I don't think there's all that much of a precedent in WotC books, but homebrewers have been doing and suggesting this for ages.

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Originally Posted by Siosilvar

I don't think there's all that much of a precedent in WotC books, but homebrewers have been doing and suggesting this for ages.

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but does it work?

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Originally Posted by big teej

I was curious if there is a precedent for either of these things before I start brewing..... if there is, please direct me to it. if not...... I"ll be posting up said conversions shortly

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Not to my meager knowledge and i will eagerly await results.

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Originally Posted by big teej

but does it work?

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The answer is: ask the DM. Mechanics and balance wise it should usually be fine as long as the ability was balanced to begin with. Aside from relics there aren't any specific weapons I can think of off the top of my head that are supposed to be balanced by being on bad base weapons.

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Originally Posted by big teej

a second related question.

using 'parts' of effects, for example
a Icy burst weapon does +1d6 +1d10 on a critical
could we not have the 'burst' as a standalone enchantment for +1 enhancement?

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In my opinion, it would not be unreasonable to make the entire burst enchantment (the +1d6 normal and +1d10 on a critical) a +1 enchantment. Only having the additional +1d10 by itself hardly seems worth a +1 enchantment by itself.

As for the bit about the oathbow, I don't know about precedent, but it's hardly unimaginable to conceive that you couldn't apply the same principle to another weapon. If you wish, you could just make an Oathsword or something that operates under the same mechanic. A similar thing could be done for just about any weapon so long as it doesn't have an enchantment that is limited to one form of weapon (either melee or ranged).

I think the only reason it's an oathbow and not something else, is that fluff-wise, it makes sense to swear an oath as you draw an arrow, because it comes up by your mouth. So yeah, it would probably be fine to make that more general.

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Originally Posted by peacenlove

Not to my meager knowledge and i will eagerly await results.

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well, I'm afraid you'll have to be eager for at least another day or so, I have 4 papers to write tomorrow :smalltongue:

should I post them up here? or in a new thread?

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Originally Posted by Fizban

The answer is: ask the DM. Mechanics and balance wise it should usually be fine as long as the ability was balanced to begin with. Aside from relics there aren't any specific weapons I can think of off the top of my head that are supposed to be balanced by being on bad base weapons.

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well, given that I am the DM..... I think this works out awesomely hahaha, whether my players will hold onto these things when I eventually step down is another story, but thats why I'm trying to brew balanced material, the idea is to make each 'new enhancement' roughly on par with the example weapon. for instance if the example specific weapon is a +2 greataxe, the enchantment will (likely) be a +2

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Originally Posted by DireSockPuppet

I think the only reason it's an oathbow and not something else, is that fluff-wise, it makes sense to swear an oath as you draw an arrow, because it comes up by your mouth. So yeah, it would probably be fine to make that more general.

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as far as fluffyness, I bring a very heavy Warhammer Fantasy viewpoint to dnd (because I know the world MUCH better)

and as such, to me, grudge => dwarf => runework => can be applied to anything,

.... I was going to make a point, I'll edit this as soon as I remember what it was.:smallfrown:

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Originally Posted by Cidolfas

In my opinion, it would not be unreasonable to make the entire burst enchantment (the +1d6 normal and +1d10 on a critical) a +1 enchantment. Only having the additional +1d10 by itself hardly seems worth a +1 enchantment by itself.

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there are (currently) 2 enchantments I'm considering offering for less than a +1 enhancement, as far as cost

- multi-striking
and
-burst

the burst came from a "fluff" idea I had for a magic axe I wanted, I wanted it to deal d12 + chaos + lightning + frost + multistriking +5, and (if I remember my math correctly) either + keen, or + icy burst/shocking burst or simply one of the 'burst' effects...

what multi striking does
spoilered for sleepy verbosity.

Spoiler

Show

multi striking is a potent enchantment at lower levels, but loses out at high level play (according to the playground optimizers)
a multi striking weapon, on a successful hit, deals another attack on its own. using only the weapon's bonuses to hit and damage,
for example:

Cog Skulltaker, a Level 3 Barbarian, had a +1 greataxe of multi-striking +1
when he swings to hit, his to hit roll is equal to the following:
d20 + 4 (Strength)+ 3 (BAB) + 1 (magic axe) + 1 (weapon focus)
if this attack hits, regardless of damage dealt, the axe itself deals a second attack using the following:
d20 + 1 (magic axe)

this enchantment can be stacked, (so a weapon of multi-striking + 2 would deal two extra swings, also making it a +2 weapon)

in a more extended example, a keen, icy burst, multi striking +3 axe, would use the following attack roll
d20 + 6 (total enhancement bonus) and it would do this three times.