Silver weapon damage?

[Stormingnorman8]

So I’m working on a lawful good character that might encounter devils/ demons and I noticed there was some talk on silver weapons. Anyone know what the mechanics are for this? Extra damage I imagine

Thank you in advance :)

[HouseRules]

well

damage resistance X/good
damage resistance X/good and silver
damage resistance X/good and cold iron

are the ones that get discussed when talking about demons, daemons, and devils.

the lawful evil devils either have X/good or X/good and silver.
the true evil daemons have X/good.
the chaotic evil demons either have X/good or X/good and cold iron.

[Allanimal]

Anyone know what the mechanics are for this? Extra damage I imagine


Silver weapons actually do -1 damage compared to other materials.
It will penetrate DR/silver though.

Here’s the SRD entry on alchemical silver. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialMaterials.htm#silverAlchemical)

[heavyfuel]

By the way, DR means "Damage Reduction"

If a creature has DR 5/silver, it means every weapon attack will deal 5 fewer points of damage, unless it's a weapon made of silver.

If it's DR 10/good and silver, then the weapon has to be both silver and good deal full damage (note that that weapon itself has to be good, such as a Holy weapon or an Align Weapon spell)

[Crake]

Worth noting in pathfinder (and I would recommend as a good houserule in 3.5 to give them some reason for existing) mithril weapons actually count as silver for overcoming DR without having the -1 damage penalty.

[RedMage125]

So I’m working on a lawful good character that might encounter devils/ demons and I noticed there was some talk on silver weapons. Anyone know what the mechanics are for this? Extra damage I imagine

Thank you in advance :)

As was pointed out, if you're preparing for fiends and getting a silvered weapon, I would also suggest getting a cold iron one as well.

[tiercel]

It’s also worth knowing that if you might occasionally fight devils (or lycanthropes or other DR/silver foes), then being able to just apply silversheen (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#silversheen) to your main weapon instead of paying for an entirely new, and likely inferior, weapon is probably not a bad play.

(If you’re going to raid the Hells themselves and leave an infernal body count in your wake reminiscent of a high-score game of Doom, then, yeah, okay, go ahead and get a full time silvered weapon — or consider, from MIC, Gauntlets of Weaponry Arcane, if you have an already expensive/powerful main weapon.)

[sleepyphoenixx]

Unless you need it constantly you're better off getting an adamantine weapon - which is a lot more useful in general - and buying some Silversheen (DMG) or Quicksilver (CAdv) and a Weapon Capsule Retainer.

You'd need an absurdly long campaign fighting tons of DR/silver enemies to even come close to equaling the cost of a separate silver weapon as backup, assuming you want to add even basic enchantments. And a non-enchanted silver weapon will probably lose more damage than you gain by overcoming DR compared to your main weapon.

Same applies to cold iron or weapon enhancements like Transmuting - it's not worth it for the majority of campaigns when you can just use a cheap consumable or get around the DR with brute force the few times it comes up. Adamantine is really the only special material that's consistently useful for weapons.

[ShurikVch]

Truesilver - weapon special ability from Ghostwalk - works like Alchemical Silver, but can be added to existing weapon, and allow critical hits and sneak attack on ghosts; nonmagical (can't be detected by Detect Magic/Arcane Sight, or suppressed by Dispel/Antimagic/Dead Magic/Spire of Outlands); +1000 gp


Adamantine is really the only special material that's consistently useful for weapons.Starmetal (Complete Arcane) is even better, if there would be notable number of extraplanar enemies (+1d6 damage and +2000 gp cost - in comparison to Adamantine)

[Psyren]

Worth noting in pathfinder (and I would recommend as a good houserule in 3.5 to give them some reason for existing) mithril weapons actually count as silver for overcoming DR without having the -1 damage penalty.

Adding to this, in Pathfinder +3 weapons or higher (provided you don't use Greater Magic Weapon/Fang to get there) bypass both silver and cold iron DR while +4 and higher beats adamantine. I like this because martials don't have the Witcher problem of needing a quiver full of swords to deal with various foes.