Aegisbane [3.5 Weapon Enchantment]

[Temotei]

Aegisbane

Ingrid Vindlykke, known as Little Giant (or LG, which made her known to some as Little Girl), was a child assassin following in her father's footsteps. When her father died while killing, she felt the need to honor his death by finishing the job. Ingrid climbed a nearby tree and hopped over the gate to the home of her target. Sneaking up to the huge house, she wondered if anyone would still be awake. Even the guard at the gate looked drowsy. The little girl found a balcony on the back of the house and proceeded to climb until she made it there. Picking the lock to the door, LG found herself in some sort of personal museum dedicated to the owner's life. Every piece there related to the man she was about to kill. Learning about him just made Ingrid want to kill the bastard more. Here was a portrait of him and the slaves he keeps. There was a bust of him lying on a pedestal with moonlight shining on it. And there was her father's dagger. Her father's most precious possession. Checking for traps in and around the display case like she was taught and then carefully opening the case and lifting her father's--no, her weapon out, Ingrid felt a certain unease settle about her. Brushing it off as eagerness to kill the mark, she moved on to the next room. Nothing. Next room. There. The man was sleeping. Ingrid walked calmly across the room, raising her dagger to strike the man who killed her father. Just as she dropped her arm, her target's eyes snapped open and he rolled off the bed, shoving Ingrid into a wall. The two faced each other. Ingrid, short even for her age, was at least four feet shorter than the giant of a man before her. He laughed at his assailant, making his last mistake. Ingrid was so much shorter than her target that he couldn't even see her when she moved beneath his nose and plunged her dagger into his crotch and then into his heart. The man looked up at the little girl who killed him and noted how much bigger she looked suddenly while he bled out, slumped on the floor at her feet. Ingrid, also noticing this, took the name of Little Giant and began a career of assassination. She only ever took jobs marking targets at least two feet taller than her.

An aegisbane weapon does more damage to targets larger than the wielder. On a successful attack, the weapon deals an additional 1d8 damage for every size category the wielder is smaller than the target.

Strong transmutation; CL 12th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, fell the greatest foe; Price +2 bonus.

[Cieyrin]

The second part that does more damage based on the current health seems like it would slow the game down, for the DM at least, to determine how much extra damage it does, as well as give the wielder an approximation of how much health the target has. I'm also not entirely sure why it's required, given the story provided.

If it was worked like how Finishing Blow does its math, it requires far less math on the DM's part while still benefiting the user.

[Temotei]

The second part that does more damage based on the current health seems like it would slow the game down, for the DM at least, to determine how much extra damage it does, as well as give the wielder an approximation of how much health the target has. I'm also not entirely sure why it's required, given the story provided.

If it was worked like how Finishing Blow does its math, it requires far less math on the DM's part while still benefiting the user.

Y'know, I think I'll just take that part out and lower the bonus.

EDIT: Changed. Raised die size to d8.

[Cieyrin]

Y'know, I think I'll just take that part out and lower the bonus.

EDIT: Changed. Raised die size to d8.

Excellent. Now it's quick and effective for an affordable special ability cost. Also feeds into the other Killer Gnome but that's not anything to worry about and just fills me amusement. :smallwink:

[SinsI]

I'm a bit worried about Fine creature vs Gargantuan creature situation, a fly that deals 1+8d8 to great wyrm sounds a bit too much...

And since she hit him into the weak point, maybe it is better to change the bonus into something like auto-critical against larger opponents, or "gives flanking" against larger opponents (as she practically Sneak Attacked), or increased critical range/critical damage against larger opponents?

[Cieyrin]

I don't think that's big an issue, honestly, as how often are you going to find a Fine creature capable of wielding an at least effectively +3 weapon to annoy your resident dragon, and this is assuming they can hit, which isn't a given by any means when it come to elderly dragons. Such large creatures tend to also be high HD and high Con, meaning they have a metric ****ton of hitpoints, so you become a credible threat to them, rather than something that hardly damages their noble brow.

Outside PAO, you see Tiny and maybe Diminutive via Compression but that's about it, unless you throw in web-supported Kobolds with Slight Build.

[hobbitkniver]

I like this, it's not crazy powerful like a lot of homebrew is. It could be a lot of use to a pixie or other small creature but that seems consistent with the story so I don't see anything wrong with that.

[Temotei]

I'm a bit worried about Fine creature vs Gargantuan creature situation, a fly that deals 1+8d8 to great wyrm sounds a bit too much...

And since she hit him into the weak point, maybe it is better to change the bonus into something like auto-critical against larger opponents, or "gives flanking" against larger opponents (as she practically Sneak Attacked), or increased critical range/critical damage against larger opponents?


I don't think that's big an issue, honestly, as how often are you going to find a Fine creature capable of wielding an at least effectively +3 weapon to annoy your resident dragon, and this is assuming they can hit, which isn't a given by any means when it come to elderly dragons. Such large creatures tend to also be high HD and high Con, meaning they have a metric ****ton of hitpoints, so you become a credible threat to them, rather than something that hardly damages their noble brow.

Outside PAO, you see Tiny and maybe Diminutive via Compression but that's about it, unless you throw in web-supported Kobolds with Slight Build.

Cieyrin said basically what I was going to reply with.

[SinsI]

I don't think that's big an issue, honestly, as how often are you going to find a Fine creature capable of wielding an at least effectively +3 weapon to annoy your resident dragon, and this is assuming they can hit, which isn't a given by any means when it come to elderly dragons. Such large creatures tend to also be high HD and high Con, meaning they have a metric ****ton of hitpoints, so you become a credible threat to them, rather than something that hardly damages their noble brow.

Outside PAO, you see Tiny and maybe Diminutive via Compression but that's about it, unless you throw in web-supported Kobolds with Slight Build.

Druidic spell of Awaken can easily provide you with just such a minion (and it would be extremely expendable) i.e. your favorite anti-dragon battle Frog. :)
Polymorph spells are not bad for that either.
In the worst case, you can always use your familiar...
Fine creatures have terrific +to hit, and Gargantuan creatures have terrible evasive abilities, so hitting such a dragon is not a problem. And it would be really hard for a dragon to hit that creature back(or even to notice it in the first place).
The main defense of Gargantuan creatures against flies is damage reduction(as with ~1d2 basic damage and 1 Strength you can't really hope to punch through 15+ DR), but such a huge damage die would just make your frog laugh in the face of that inferior protection, easily dealing at least half of its damage with each hit).

Conclusion: any dragon becomes a dead meat.

[bobthe6th]

8d8 isn't that crazy against high HP foes. for an untrained frog, doubly so.

[Cieyrin]

Druidic spell of Awaken can easily provide you with just such a minion (and it would be extremely expendable) i.e. your favorite anti-dragon battle Frog. :)
Polymorph spells are not bad for that either.
In the worst case, you can always use your familiar...
Fine creatures have terrific +to hit, and Gargantuan creatures have terrible evasive abilities, so hitting such a dragon is not a problem. And it would be really hard for a dragon to hit that creature back(or even to notice it in the first place).
The main defense of Gargantuan creatures against flies is damage reduction(as with ~1d2 basic damage and 1 Strength you can't really hope to punch through 15+ DR), but such a huge damage die would just make your frog laugh in the face of that inferior protection, easily dealing at least half of its damage with each hit).

Conclusion: any dragon becomes a dead meat.

You know creatures get more than AC and Dex penalties from size increases, right? You also tend to get Natural Armor increases, which tend to overcome the losses, especially when it comes to dragons. Consider Gargantuan Dragons average AC 40 before other buffs and they're gonna be threatened by a frog (a Diminutive creature, by the way), a creature with 0 reach against a Gargantuan Dragon's 15' of reach? Please, they'll either be flying and doing the breath strafe thing, which your Awakened frog can't do much of anything about, or just AoO it before it gets close enough.