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View Full Version : Invisible Weapons, a good idea?



Bainathorn
2014-06-22, 01:36 AM
Invisible weapons.
I have been mulling over this idea for a while.
I have looked all over for discussions about it but have never found one.

I'm not entirely sure where all to go with it. I like the idea of a kind of reverse concealment where the opponent
has a chance to mis-anticipate where the blows will land. Perhaps rather it could be considered feinting and even grant bonuses to such. I would also suggest it would grant bonuses, or even concealment, against sunder and disarm attempts.

I'm new to creating things for the game, so any advice would be appreciated, particularly regarding balance.
Also I should note that my group is currently using Pathfinder.

Zombimode
2014-06-22, 01:52 AM
Once a humanoid enemy knows what type of weapon you use, the advantage of an invisible weapon will be greatly reduced. An invisible weapon does not allow you to strike from an unexpected direction or so because the movements of the wielder, the position of the hands etc. is still visible and generally much more telling about the upcoming strike then the weapon itself.

Against non-humanoid enemies I also doubt it will make much of a difference, especially after the first strike.

An invisible reach weapon has its advantages, obviously.


Maybe +2 circumstance on feint attempts against enemies that don't know about the invisible weapon, perhaps?

LokiRagnarok
2014-06-22, 02:12 AM
An invisible weapon has the advantage that when you are told to come to a meeting unarmed, you can pretend to do so.
Of course, word would get around.

Invisible daggers might be great for some intimidation and confusement, and invisible caltrops are just evil :D

Bainathorn
2014-06-22, 02:16 AM
That's a valid point Zombimode, and I will consider it further. With certain types of weapons, there could actually be benefits. Reach weapons, as you mention, but also with the more unpredictable weapons such as nunchuku, flails, spiked chains and the like. But I still think that disarms and sunders and certain spells that target weapons would be negatively affected.

LokiRagnarok. I like where you are going with this part about the caltrops. Perhaps invisibility is more useful for specialty weapons. Nets I think would benefit, perhaps whips.

Heh, well actually I feel pretty deflated about the whole thing now. Thanks for the advice folks.

endoperez
2014-06-22, 02:43 AM
Unpredictable weapons would be too dangerous to the user (unless he was able to see the weapon).


However, there is an easy way to make a magical weapon, with invisibility-themed power, give a superb bonus to feinting. Imagine a sword that is 30 cms longer than it looks like, because the last 30 cms have been made invisible!

The enemy can see you swing wildly, can tell that the hit is going to miss - but it didn't.

TeChameleon
2014-06-22, 12:18 PM
Invisible weapons actually (sort of) exist in D&D 4e- they're called 'cloaked weapons', and they just grant you combat advantage (a +2 bonus tohit) until you manage to smack somebody with them. Then they become visible.

If you want something that would really mess with your opponents' heads during a fight, maybe something similar to the Mirror Image spell or the thing that a Displacer Beast does cast on your sword/swordarm? Could make it tough if there was a constantly-shifting illusion of 5-10 swords coming at you, any one of which could be the real one...

Scowling Dragon
2014-06-22, 01:03 PM
Also the weapon itself could be weirdly shaped. They may know your swinging something, but if your swinging a invisible scythe thats kinda difficult.

Winter_Wolf
2014-06-22, 01:08 PM
Once you get into weapons like flails, nunchaku, three section staff, or any exotic that has parts that can backlash somewhat unpredictably I'd think invisibility might be a drawback for a weapon.
Then again, if you're using a handgun you could pull off the classic imaginary finger-gun.

Jay R
2014-06-22, 11:19 PM
It works once. Then it's coated with blood.

Knaight
2014-06-23, 01:23 AM
It works once. Then it's coated with blood.

If it's magically invisible, it might just make the blood invisible too, in which case it works just fine.

Alternately, there are ranged weapons. A bow that fires invisible arrows? Yes please.

dps
2014-06-23, 06:33 PM
An invisible blow-gun that fires invisible darts might be a real bitch to deal with. How many in a party might go down before they even realize that they're being shot at rather than being stung by some kind of poisonous insect or the like?

DigoDragon
2014-06-24, 11:15 AM
Alternately, there are ranged weapons. A bow that fires invisible arrows? Yes please.

*Thwip!* "Hidden message for you, sir!"

A bow that imparts invisibility to it's arrows would be awesome. I'm reminded of a really odd weapon I once let my PCs get a hold of. It was a device that looked like a light crossbow, but completely metal and lacking the parts to load an arrow. It fired "invisible arrows" that would make a crackling sound as they hit targets and dealt exclusively fire damage. It was actually a laser rifle and the beam was invisible because it was in the ultraviolet spectrum. Gave a to-hit bonus because targets can't see the "ammo" coming, only hear it.

Cyrion
2014-06-24, 10:36 PM
I think invisible ranged weapons would be the most useful, especially something like sling bullets. It could give characters a bonus on concealment because it wouldn't be easy to trace the flight path back, and it would have the potential for mayhem like dps said.

I think one of the things you should do, especially with melee weapons, is to assign a temporary to hit penalty to the wielder until s/he becomes familiar with the weapon. Maybe something like -5 that drops by 1 every time they score a hit so that after 5 hits they've gauged reach and reset their visual cues and can use the weapon normally.

TeChameleon
2014-06-25, 12:22 AM
Once you get into weapons like flails, nunchaku, three section staff, or any exotic that has parts that can backlash somewhat unpredictably I'd think invisibility might be a drawback for a weapon.
Then again, if you're using a handgun you could pull off the classic imaginary finger-gun.
Honestly, I suspect that if you're relying on vision to track where the end of your flexible weapon is, you probably shouldn't be using it in a real fight...

An invisible whip would be an absolute bugger to deal with, for you if you're not good enough with it, and for the enemy if you are :smalltongue:

ChaosArchon
2014-06-25, 02:23 AM
You could wear a ring of true seeing to counteract no being able to see you flail or other exotic weapon.

illyahr
2014-06-27, 12:52 PM
If the target doesn't know you are using a weapon, wouldn't it make them flat-footed? I think there is precedence in the Blurstrike ability.