Questions About Magical Weapons

[ominix]

Hello, I'm starting in a new D&D at level 5 and we were told to create +2 weapons for our characters. One of my fellow companions created this weapon.

"Moradin's Knuckle" +2 Holy Undead-Bane Heavy Mace of Disruption ((+8 to hit, 1d8+5 dmg [[+2d6 against Evil, +2d6 against Undead, Undead must succeed a Will Save of 14 or be destroyed. These do stack, so against an Evil Undead, the creature must make the Will Save or die and if they pass the save, they will take 1d8 bludgeoning, 4d6 holy +5 damage]]))

I'm arguing that this is a +7 weapon, however they are saying it is a +2 weapon. Here is my break down on the value

"Holy is a +2 enhancement, Bane +1 enhancement, Disruption is another +2 enhancement and +2 on top of that makes it a +7 weapon, way beyond what we can get and is valued at 98,000 gp."

They also said that the bonus on a weapon is determine by it's special abilities with the highest one overwriting the lowest, for example a flaming fire burst longsword would get +2 bonus to Attacks and damage since fire burst is a +2 ability and the highest special ability on the weapon. I doubt this is true but is their any sources I could use to disprove this.


A D&D player in my group says that effects that give the same bonuses stack for weapons such as flaming and flaming burst, is this true?
Edit: Example 1d6 from flaming + 1d6 from flaming burst = 2d6

Thank you for your time.

[Qc Storm]

Your players are, for the most part, terribly wrong.

These are indeed not +2 and definitely not suitable for level 5 characters.

But I do think Flaming and Flaming Burst would stack, assuming the weapon crits.

[Waker]

"Moradin's Knuckle" +2 Holy Undead-Bane Heavy Mace of Disruption ((+8 to hit, 1d8+5 dmg [[+2d6 against Evil, +2d6 against Undead, Undead must succeed a Will Save of 14 or be destroyed. These do stack, so against an Evil Undead, the creature must make the Will Save or die and if they pass the save, they will take 1d8 bludgeoning, 4d6 holy +5 damage]]))

I'm arguing that this is a +7 weapon, however they are saying it is a +2 weapon. Here is my break down on the value

"Holy is a +2 enhancement, Bane +1 enhancement, Disruption is another +2 enhancement and +2 on top of that makes it a +7 weapon, way beyond what we can get and is valued at 98,000 gp."

They also said that the bonus on a weapon is determine by it's special abilities with the highest one overwriting the lowest, for example a flaming fire burst longsword would get +2 bonus to Attacks and damage since fire burst is a +2 ability and the highest special ability on the weapon. I doubt this is true but is their any sources I could use to disprove this.


A D&D player in my group says that effects that give the same bonuses stack for weapons such as flaming and flaming burst, is this true?

Well, first off they are way wrong about the Moradin's Knuckle example. Enhancement bonus plus the special qualities determine the value of the item. I'm having trouble finding the exact line, mostly because I find item creation rules tedious but someone else will link to it no doubt.

As for the part about damage, the special qualities modifier has nothing to do with that. Extra damage is based on the enhancement bonus and whether or not the special quality actually adds more damage in the form of extra dice or something else.

[ominix]

What I mean by the flaming and fire burst stacking I mean the 1d6's stacking not the critical hits.

[Fortuna]

From the SRD (http://http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm): "In addition to an enhancement bonus, weapons may have special abilities. Special abilities count as additional bonuses for determining the market value of the item, but do not modify attack or damage bonuses (except where specifically noted)."

EDIT: As a rule, an ability does not stack with itself, and Flaming Burst specifies that it normally "functions as a flaming weapon". Both Flaming Burst and Flaming cause the weapon to be on fire, and that fire does 1d6 fire damage - the abilities do not stack in that respect. All of these quotes come from that same page.

[erikun]

"Moradin's Knuckle" +2 Holy Undead-Bane Heavy Mace of Disruption
This is, indeed, a +7 weapon and costs 98,312 gold to purchase. Magical enhancements are totaled for the full cost: +2 enhancement, another +2 for Holy, +1 for Bane, and +2 to Disruption for the total cost of a +7 weapon.

It is also only +4 to hit against undead (+2 from enhancement, another +2 from Bane) and +2 to hit otherwise. It would indeed deal +4d6+4 against evil undead, along with requiring the DC 14 save or be destroyed: +2 from enhancement, +2 from Bane, +2d6 from Bane as well, and +2d6 from Holy.


Your fellow player seems confused about the weapon crafting rules. The magical enhancment on the weapons (+4 Longsword, for example) is added seperately from the other enhancement. A "+2 enhancement" means that it adds +2 to the cost, not that it adds a +2 enhancement to the weapon as well. A +1 Vorpal Longsword is still only a +1 enhancement, only adding +1 to attack rolls and damage, but costs as much as any other +6 weapon (72,315g).