Adding weight to weapons?

[Xarteros]

Figuring out a design for an ex-slave character, who is still shackled with a long chain and heavy ball at the end to hinder his movement. The concept is that he wields the ball & chain as a Meteor Hammer (Dragon Mag 319) using his rather enormous strength.

The ball and the chain need to ideally be made of adamantine, or another similarly hard material (so he wouldn't thematically be able to break it off as easily) but sadly a Meteor Hammer is only 4lbs at Medium size (and the Pathfinder version is only 10lbs). I can forego adamantine and use a hardening crystal if need be, but only if there weren't any other good options.

I'm looking for ways to just add effective weight onto the weapon without compromising its hardness/health values. My DM allows the Heavy Weapon rules from Magic of Faerun (+1 effective size category, but requires EWP to wield without penalty, needs to be at least twice the weight of steel to qualify). The weapon is already going to be larger than Medium, but even a colossal sized Meteor Hammer would only weigh 64lbs (or 160lbs using Pathfinder's weight) unless I change the base weight somehow.

My DM suggested having a gold/platinum/lead core to add weight, but I'm not sure of any rules concerning weapons with different metal cores (short of Mercurial weapons in AEG), and we'd both like to explore existing options before resorting to house rulings.

Are there any good enchantments, spells/effects, special material types, forging techniques, weapon templates etc that could increase the weight of the weapon?

[Metahuman1]

Suggestion: Use it as an improvised weapon, and take exotic weapons proficiency: Improvised weapon.



Now, you can just treat it like an object for forging, and have it weigh as many pounds as you like because at forging, it wasn't actually originally intended to be a weapon, thus it wasn't built with that use in mind.

Further, per improvised weapons rules as I recall them, if you get it heavy enough, you get bonus damage when you hit with it.

[Allanimal]

Not sure if this will help, but Sizing the weapon for a larger creature will change the weight.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/weapons.htm#weight

[Swaoeaeieu]

make it out of gold or platinum. according to magic of fearun that makes it a heavy weapon, een increasing the dmg it does. does require exotic weapon profficiency

[Xarteros]

Suggestion: Use it as an improvised weapon, and take exotic weapons proficiency: Improvised weapon.

Now, you can just treat it like an object for forging, and have it weigh as many pounds as you like because at forging, it wasn't actually originally intended to be a weapon, thus it wasn't built with that use in mind.

Further, per improvised weapons rules as I recall them, if you get it heavy enough, you get bonus damage when you hit with it.

Just using it as an improvised weapon is a good idea, but is there any official way to wield improvised weapons with reach, or have trip attacks? Also, I really don't think you can take EWP with 'Improvised Weapons".Z

I suppose thematically, you could pick one single improvised weapon and learn to wield it as an effective weapon through training. I mean, clubs are clubs, someone had to use one as an improvised weapon to start with, and trained to use it more effectively as a real weapon.

[SangoProduction]

Considering weight is entirely fluff, just change it. I mean, if you can accept that people are swinging around 10 lbs swords in a battle and not being impaled while they try and retain control of it, then it's not hard to accept "Hey, some guy wants this 'weapon' made 50x heavier. Let's do!"

[Xarteros]

Considering weight is entirely fluff, just change it. I mean, if you can accept that people are swinging around 10 lbs swords in a battle and not being impaled while they try and retain control of it, then it's not hard to accept "Hey, some guy wants this 'weapon' made 50x heavier. Let's do!"

Well, it's not really fluff. As I mentioned, Magic of Faerun has specific rules on weapons doing more damage based on heavier materials, and Complete Warrior has a big list of damage/weight ratios for improvised weapons.

I don't really want it to gain huge amounts of weight with no change in stats at all, even if that means it takes penalties as it gets heavier too.

[Metahuman1]

Just using it as an improvised weapon is a good idea, but is there any official way to wield improvised weapons with reach, or have trip attacks? Also, I really don't think you can take EWP with 'Improvised Weapons".Z

I suppose thematically, you could pick one single improvised weapon and learn to wield it as an effective weapon through training. I mean, clubs are clubs, someone had to use one as an improvised weapon to start with, and trained to use it more effectively as a real weapon.

The Drunken Master PRC in Complete Warrior has proficiency with all of them as a class feature. So, worse case, your spending 1 feat to do this.


As for official rules for using an improvised weapon with reach, that I do not know. However, given that it's a stupidly long stupidly thick heavy chain that's designed to be an impediment to something that needs a finite amount of mobility and is monstrously strong, that doesn't really stretch suspension of disbelief and I'd say a reasonable DM should allow it.

You could even rule it's a 1 handed weapon and take weapons focus on it and 3 ranks of craft: Weapons smithing and get Exotic Weapons Master for 1 level to get x2 Str mod to damage on it.

[Xarteros]

The Drunken Master PRC in Complete Warrior has proficiency with all of them as a class feature. So, worse case, your spending 1 feat to do this.


As for official rules for using an improvised weapon with reach, that I do not know. However, given that it's a stupidly long stupidly thick heavy chain that's designed to be an impediment to something that needs a finite amount of mobility and is monstrously strong, that doesn't really stretch suspension of disbelief and I'd say a reasonable DM should allow it.

You could even rule it's a 1 handed weapon and take weapons focus on it and 3 ranks of craft: Weapons smithing and get Exotic Weapons Master for 1 level to get x2 Str mod to damage on it.

I found the relevant page in the end of Complete Warrior, detailing the various stats Improvised Weapons can have. It basically just says "wing it" with lists of examples, so anything that can wrap around someone's leg can use Trip, anything sufficiently long/sturdy has Reach, anything big/bulky can be used to Bull Rush etc.

It also specifies what weight you determine each class of weaponry at for each size creature (light, one handed, two handed).

Sadly, Drunken Master has way too many prereqs (needs a monk dip too) to squeeze into my build, plus it'd be a loss of BAB on both the Monk and DM dips =(

I'll argue to my DM whether I can take EWP with it, and treat it as a specialised Meteor Hammer or something (and forego proficiency with normal Meteor Hammers)

It'd actually fit my build to dip a single level in Exotic Weapon Master, and make it a 1H 'exotic improvised' weapon wielded in two hands, but would that provide any other bonus (than the 2X str) over just keeping it as a 2H weapon? If I get multiple arms from Girallon's blessing, I could add 2.5X Str on 2H weapons

[ShurikVch]

Brawler PrC (Dragon #295) gets proficiency with improvised weapons at 1st level; required BAB +7, Intimidate 5, Alertness, Combat Reflexes, and IUS

I have idea about how make it heavier without making it bigger: turn the ball into creature - either by Animate Objects (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/animateObjects.htm)(/Minor Servitor) spell, or by Intelligent Items (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/intelligentItems.htm) rules.
That way you may add in:
feats: Stocky - +10% weight; and Deformity (obese) - weight x3
Obese flaw - weight x2 - it's one fat ball&chain! :smallsmile:
Stout (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterTraits.htm#stout) trait - doesn't change weight by RAW, but fit in thematically: "You are heavy for your race."

Also, for thematic effect, you can apply Heavy signature trait
An item that has this trait feels unusually heavy when held, though its actual weight is unchanged.and Hellforged template
In addition, they generally appear heavier than their normal counterparts because a firm, solid defense is generally valued over speed in the Nine Hells.Both are from Dungeon Master's Guide II

[Xarteros]

Brawler PrC (Dragon #295) gets proficiency with improvised weapons at 1st level; required BAB +7, Intimidate 5, Alertness, Combat Reflexes, and IUS

I have idea about how make it heavier without making it bigger: turn the ball into creature - either by Animate Objects (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/animateObjects.htm)(/Minor Servitor) spell, or by Intelligent Items (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/intelligentItems.htm) rules.
That way you may add in:
feats: Stocky - +10% weight; and Deformity (obese) - weight x3
Obese flaw - weight x2 - it's one fat ball&chain! :smallsmile:
Stout (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterTraits.htm#stout) trait - doesn't change weight by RAW, but fit in thematically: "You are heavy for your race."

Also, for thematic effect, you can apply Heavy signature traitand Hellforged templateBoth are from Dungeon Master's Guide II

An intelligent item with severe self-esteem issues XD

"Does this solid sphere of adamantine make me look fat?"

I love it. Give it the Gnashing property (I think it's called) so it has mouths all over it, and it constantly eats more metal to try and distract itself from how obese it is

[Flickerdart]

You could also just have the character break a bunch of pieces off the chain's weight, turning it from a heavy restraint into a weapon.