Pact Blade Tools?

[BestPlayer]

So I was wondering, could a blade pact warlock make tool like weapons? Things like shovels, pick axes, ten foot poles or chains or ropes? These items seem like weapons and it says any non-missile weapon...

[Sirdar]

So I was wondering, could a blade pact warlock make tool like weapons? Things like shovels, pick axes, ten foot poles or chains or ropes? These items seem like weapons and it says any non-missile weapon...

Pact of the Shovel? You must have a very peculiar Patron to get this boon.

[nickl_2000]

I would rule no. It certainly feel against the intent of the rule if it isn't against the actual rules

[ko_sct]

I've used pact of the blade to make tools-like weapon in a game.

First time was a pickaxe, I don't remember if it was an actual pickaxe or a war pick used as a pickaxe, but anyway it worked.

Then I tried to activate a mechanism from afar using my pact weapon as a lance but it snapped. So I managed to convince my dm that since it could be in pretty much any normal material, I could call my pact weapon as a particularly large, unwieldy, all metal 15 foot lance/pike. It worked and we could activate the mechanism.

Third time was when an npc activated a ceiling-dropping trap and i called my pact weapon as a steel portable ram and jammed the ceiling long enough to get him out. (this one was a bit more of a stretch).


But yeah, tools-like pact weapon are totally fine at my table, within reason. Things like jeweler's tools are probably too far of a stretch though.

[MeeposFire]

Sounds like a fun utility oriented invocation. Pact tools for all of your tool needs ever.

[Waterdeep Merch]

The game is specific as to what a weapon is. If it isn't found on the weapon's table, it's not considered a weapon for rule purposes (there's an entire sub-rule for using non-weapons as though they were weapons, but the key here is that they aren't considered weapons).

But plenty of weapons could work as tools in a pinch. Use a voulge as a ten-foot pole, a whip as a short rope, a battleaxe could serve as a shovel, stuff like that. I could even see an argument for turning your pact weapon into a dart so that it could be useful for picking a lock.

[nickl_2000]

Sounds like a fun utility oriented invocation. Pact tools for all of your tool needs ever.

Now, if you wanted to homebrew an invocation, that would be allowed at my table

[BestPlayer]

I think it says any weapon, not any weapon off the weapon table.

[Sir cryosin]

I think it says any weapon, not any weapon off the weapon table.

By the rules it's not a weapon if it's not on the weapon table.

[Vogie]

I mean, there are enough weapons that can double as tools - hammers, axes, whips, polearms, quarterstaves, scythes...

Actually scythes aren't officially stated out in 5e, but I'm now seeing a harvest-theme patron in my future, where the pact of the blade also includes plows, wheelbarrows, scythes and the like.

[Easy_Lee]

I mean, there are enough weapons that can double as tools - hammers, axes, whips, polearms, quarterstaves, scythes...

Actually scythes aren't officially stated out in 5e, but I'm now seeing a harvest-theme patron in my future, where the pact of the blade also includes plows, wheelbarrows, scythes and the like.

Scrythe could fall under glaive. Actual war scythes, what few that existed, didn't resemble scythes so much as typical polearms. That said, the book doesn't specify that the weapon you conjure has to look like a typical weapon of that class.

[Submortimer]

I play a warlock that specializes in smithing, and the DM generally allows me to summon tools with my pact blade.

[Waterdeep Merch]

Scrythe could fall under glaive. Actual war scythes, what few that existed, didn't resemble scythes so much as typical polearms. That said, the book doesn't specify that the weapon you conjure has to look like a typical weapon of that class.
War scythes were usually made from normal scythes, the blade put on top of a long pole straight-wise. It was a weapon of convenience, something the peasantry did in lieu of having any normal spears. If you could make your pact weapon resemble this, it would be trivial reversing the process and placing the blade back on a normal handle.

[Easy_Lee]

War scythes were usually made from normal scythes, the blade put on top of a long pole straight-wise. It was a weapon of convenience, something the peasantry did in lieu of having any normal spears. If you could make your pact weapon resemble this, it would be trivial reversing the process and placing the blade back on a normal handle.

If you could conjure weapons of any category from thin air, it ought be trivial to conjure smaller, less complex tools. As I understand it, the magic states what is and is not allowed on a fairly arbitrary basis. That is, the DM decides what qualifies.

So, I believe this is a thread of arguments one might use to sway a DM.

[Waterdeep Merch]

If you could conjure weapons of any category from thin air, it ought be trivial to conjure smaller, less complex tools. As I understand it, the magic states what is and is not allowed on a fairly arbitrary basis. That is, the DM decides what qualifies.

So, I believe this is a thread of arguments one might use to sway a DM.
That arbitration has reasonable limits, though, and can make some sense in the context of what is creating it. Most pacts are born of violence, which the warlock class lends itself best towards. It's more reasonable to determine that the weaponry limitation is a physical one imposed by the order of the world on the outward malice of the one pressing it into existence. Or 'it's magic, all magic has weird arbitrary rules'.