Human Paragon 3
2009-07-06, 01:24 AM
Just found the Sizing weapon enhancement (it's in the magic item compendium on page 43), and I think there's some room for some serious monkey-king-like antics here.
Start with a simple +1 sizing quarter staff (price=7000 gp for those keeping track). The sizing ability lets you change it's size category to anything you want, from fine up to colossal. What can you accomplish with this?
Well, the obvious use is to make the weapon so big or small it's impossible to use. I guess if you polymorphed, you might want to bring your weapon with you, so there's that. And mechanically that's all it seems to do.
However, there are a few tricks a kind DM would let you pull off. Consider that a creature (or item, one would think) that increases in size doubles in width and length and increases its weight 8 fold. A quarter staff weighs 4 pounds according to the SRD.
Reduced down to diminutive, the staff weighs .0078 lbs, or about three and a half grams for our metric friends- easily small enough to tuck behind your ear or, say, pick your teeth with. Makes it very easy to smuggle, if you're into that kind of thing.
On the opposite side of the scale, a colossal quarterstaff would weigh 16,384 pounds, or about seven and a half metric tons. What would you like to do with your 8 ton staff? A make-shift bridge? Impromptu raft? Drop it on a dragon's toe? Roll it down a hill and smash a small town? Overload and destroy a cart? Break the camel's back? Expand it in a crack to enlarge the holy hell out of it? Propel yourself 100 feet into the air? Or the old chestnut, drop it on the BBEG. It would take some clever positioning, but just think of the antics! The antics!
And, if 8 tons is too big for your liking, you can make it huge instead for a more manageable 256 lbs. or gargantuan for a nice round 2048 lbs, very damn close to an even ton.
So, the next time somebody looks at your character and says, "Is that a tiny quarterstaff in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" you can look them strait in the eye and say, "Yes. I have wood. And it's not tiny; it's colossal."
Start with a simple +1 sizing quarter staff (price=7000 gp for those keeping track). The sizing ability lets you change it's size category to anything you want, from fine up to colossal. What can you accomplish with this?
Well, the obvious use is to make the weapon so big or small it's impossible to use. I guess if you polymorphed, you might want to bring your weapon with you, so there's that. And mechanically that's all it seems to do.
However, there are a few tricks a kind DM would let you pull off. Consider that a creature (or item, one would think) that increases in size doubles in width and length and increases its weight 8 fold. A quarter staff weighs 4 pounds according to the SRD.
Reduced down to diminutive, the staff weighs .0078 lbs, or about three and a half grams for our metric friends- easily small enough to tuck behind your ear or, say, pick your teeth with. Makes it very easy to smuggle, if you're into that kind of thing.
On the opposite side of the scale, a colossal quarterstaff would weigh 16,384 pounds, or about seven and a half metric tons. What would you like to do with your 8 ton staff? A make-shift bridge? Impromptu raft? Drop it on a dragon's toe? Roll it down a hill and smash a small town? Overload and destroy a cart? Break the camel's back? Expand it in a crack to enlarge the holy hell out of it? Propel yourself 100 feet into the air? Or the old chestnut, drop it on the BBEG. It would take some clever positioning, but just think of the antics! The antics!
And, if 8 tons is too big for your liking, you can make it huge instead for a more manageable 256 lbs. or gargantuan for a nice round 2048 lbs, very damn close to an even ton.
So, the next time somebody looks at your character and says, "Is that a tiny quarterstaff in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" you can look them strait in the eye and say, "Yes. I have wood. And it's not tiny; it's colossal."