Warlock Pact of the Blade Questions

[Rajah]

I have a few quick questions about the Pact of the Blade that I don't think the PHB answers.

First, I am pretty sure that it basically allows the warlock to summon any weapon and be proficient with it, so one fight broad sword, the next battle axe, etc. Is this correct?

Second, it is automatically a magic weapon. Does this mean you can change the damage type of the summoned weapon? Like could I summon an ice sword and then later a fire sword?

Thanks.

[Paeleus]

Yes you can change the form of your pact weapon. A dagger one fight, a great sword the next, and a glaive for the following battle.

You can't assign an elemental property to the weapon. It is considered magical for the purpose of overcoming non-magical resistances (ie. A monster has resistance to non-magical dashing damage. Your pact weapon would ignore that resistance due to the fact that it is magical.)

[Rajah]

Yes you can change the form of your pact weapon. A dagger one fight, a great sword the next, and a glaive for the following battle.

You can't assign an elemental property to the weapon. It is considered magical for the purpose of overcoming non-magical resistances (ie. A monster has resistance to non-magical dashing damage. Your pact weapon would ignore that resistance due to the fact that it is magical.)

So you can change weapon die at will by jumping between big and small, one hand and two handed weapons, but it just does magical slashing, piercing, etc. Still pretty good, but I would love for their to be a way to add different damage types to it.

[Sigreid]

So you can change weapon die at will by jumping between big and small, one hand and two handed weapons, but it just does magical slashing, piercing, etc. Still pretty good, but I would love for their to be a way to add different damage types to it.

Eh, talk to your DM. He may think it's a fun idea and be willing to accept your ability to hit nearly any creature's weakness. Not RAW or RAI, and it does give a bit of an edge but /shrug.

[Toadkiller]

That's what the new melee cantrips are for in the Sword Coast book I think.

[JakOfAllTirades]

If you're really interested in bypassing resistance, my suggestion would be to choose the Fiend Pact and lots of fire spells (plus the Greenflame Blade cantrip) then get the Elemental Adept (Fire) feat. All your fire attacks will ignore fire resistance, and they'll get a (small) damage bump too.

[burninatortrog]

I would love for their to be a way to add different damage types to it.
Find a magic weapon like flame tongue or frost brand.

[Rajah]

Find a magic weapon like flame tongue or frost brand.

Yeah, this brings up another question. If I find a +1 sword that does cold damage and then meditate on it and make it my pact weapon, does that mean I can then summon it later as a +1 Warhammer that does cold damage? It says you transform it into your pact weapon and your pact weapon can be summoned in any form. That might be a way to do it, at least for one specific element.

[twas_Brillig]

Yeah, this brings up another question. If I find a +1 sword that does cold damage and then meditate on it and make it my pact weapon, does that mean I can then summon it later as a +1 Warhammer that does cold damage? It says you transform it into your pact weapon and your pact weapon can be summoned in any form. That might be a way to do it, at least for one specific element.

There's an active thread in this forum about this exact question: Can you transform a magical weapon when you summon it as a bonded pact weapon? (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?455394-Can-you-transform-a-magical-weapon-when-you-summon-it-as-a-bonded-pact-weapon) Unfortunately, there's no clear answer yet. (Also unfortunately the thread diverges pretty quickly into a discussion of Sage Advice rulings.) You can read all sides of the argument there, but there's no definite, official rule either way. The long and short of it is to talk with your DM. If you both think it's cool, and if it won't let you overshadow the other party members or otherwise make the game less fun for you all, that's definitely one way to play it.