Riverine Weapons, Damage Reduction, and Hardness

[FocusWolf413]

Let's assume for a moment that weapons can be made out of riverine. At 2000gp/lb, it's reasonable to allow it.

Weapons made of riverine are made out of pure force. Therefore, a riverine weapon should be able to damage ghosts, ethereal creatures, etc just fine.

How does riverine interact with damage reduction? Damage reduction does not apply to spells such as Blade Barrier or Persistent Blade, which are force effects. Riverine is made out of the Wall of Force spell. As a force effect or as a spell effect, should it bypass a creature's damage reduction?

How does riverine interact with dealing damage to objects? Does it do half damage, as an elemental effect? Does it not effect them at all, as per magic missile? Does it deal normal damage, as a swung riverine weapon has mass, and therefore applies a force on an object when it collides? Does it bypass hardness like adamantine would? A weapon made of pure force can be made harder and sharper than a weapon made of adamantine could ever be.

If you could rewrite the entry to make it more clear how it functions as a weapon, what would you add/edit?

[Troacctid]

How does riverine interact with damage reduction? Damage reduction does not apply to spells such as Blade Barrier or Persistent Blade, which are force effects. Riverine is made out of the Wall of Force spell. As a force effect or as a spell effect, should it bypass a creature's damage reduction?
Damage reduction doesn't apply to spell effects. It applies to weapon damage. A weapon made of riverine would have no special ability to bypass damage reduction.


How does riverine interact with dealing damage to objects? Does it do half damage, as an elemental effect? Does it not effect them at all, as per magic missile? Does it deal normal damage, as a swung riverine weapon has mass, and therefore applies a force on an object when it collides? Does it bypass hardness like adamantine would? A weapon made of pure force can be made harder and sharper than a weapon made of adamantine could ever be.
It deals slashing, bludgeoning, or piercing damage, as appropriate. Depending on the object, this may deal double damage and bypass the hardness of an object, like if you're splitting wood with a hatchet, or it may deal no damage at all, like if you're trying to cut a rope with a club.

[FocusWolf413]

So in other words, it's just a cheaper way to get a ghost touch weapon that's hard to sunder?

[Necroticplague]

So in other words, it's just a cheaper way to get a ghost touch weapon that's hard to sunder?

Ghost touch weapons have some advantages compared to riverine weapons (and one disadvantage), so it's not quiet exactly that, but that's pretty close to the truth

[Troacctid]

Depends on the weapon. In some cases it's actually a more expensive way to get a ghost touch weapon that's hard to sunder.