Crafting a Weapon Worthy of a Name...advice please

[aglondier]

I know 4th level is a little early to be thinking about Craft Arms and Armour, much less Craft Rod, but a little forethought can derail gm complications quite a bit 😁.
It will also allow me to select the right feats, followers, and contacts to get what is needed.

My dwarfs primary weapon is the Dwarven Longhammer. I am looking to craft and enchant it into something saga-worthy. These are my current thoughts...

Adamantine for the weapons head. Some bigass monster legbone for the haft (maybe dragon).
Shock and Thundering basic enchantments. The effects of a Rod of Thunderous Force for a little extra oomph. And looking at using Shout rather than Blindness/deafness to sidestep a necromancy restriction.
Adding the Blood Bond enchantment for security, using Shocking Grasp rather than Inflict Wounds for the same reason.

All pretty pedestrian so far, but that is the basic minimum I am working from.
I am looking to make it as awesome as possible, as early as possible. Suggestions?

[NotASpiderSwarm]

What's your class? Certain bonuses are only good for certain characters, but are incredibly good for them. Similarly, what's the campaign? Sacred is great if you're up against demons, kind of wasted otherwise.
Magebane is +1 and applies to anything like Dragons that have natural spellcasting as well as your generic spellcaster BBEG, which is very solid.
Deal enough damage and DR doesn't matter, so I wouldn't worry about Adamantine except for flavor reasons.
Shadowstrike can be useful, and is just a flat 5,000 GP cost, not a +1.

[Biggus]

Is this Pathfinder-specific or can you use 3.5 content too?

[Goaty14]

Eh, I wouldn't argue that name-worthy weapons are that way because somebody dumped a bunch of cash into it, and if the campaign world has a magic-mart, even less so because something overly better exists anyways. Generally, legendary/named weapons aren't that way because they're cool mechanically, imo. Excalibur, for example, did not recieve the attention that it did because it was a +5 Defending Bastard Sword (or whatever it would've translated to), but rather the legend that whomever wielded it, would rule England. Mjolnir isn't special because it's a +5 chaotic distance ghost touch holy mighty cleaving returning thundering warhammer (though that does certainly make it special, it's not why the weapon has a name, Source: Deities and Demigods, apparently), but is special because Thor wields it.

So in terms of actual advice, I'd start with asking your DM about how other legendary/named weapons came to be in the campaign world, and then work in the general direction of that.
1: Do weapons recieve names because people do legendary things with them? (ie "And thus Argos cut off the white head of Tiamat in one fell swoop. Some scholars say his weapon, Argstisus, still exists to this very day..." Alternatively, instead of one legendary act, the weapon has a long history, such as if whoever wields it is destined to conquer a nation)
2: Are legendary weapons special because of the circumstances concerning their creation? (ie "Legendary smith, Malgard the Dwarf managed to forge the sword in the hell-flames of the 67th layer of the Abyss. He managed to escape with the sword -- but not his life")
3: Or are legendary weapons just legendary solely because they can do cool things, like sheathe its wielder in protective flames or encase whomever it strikes in ice?

[aglondier]

What's your class? Certain bonuses are only good for certain characters, but are incredibly good for them. Similarly, what's the campaign? Sacred is great if you're up against demons, kind of wasted otherwise.
Magebane is +1 and applies to anything like Dragons that have natural spellcasting as well as your generic spellcaster BBEG, which is very solid.
Deal enough damage and DR doesn't matter, so I wouldn't worry about Adamantine except for flavor reasons.
Shadowstrike can be useful, and is just a flat 5,000 GP cost, not a +1.

Is this Pathfinder-specific or can you use 3.5 content too?
Pathfinder, but 3.5 content has been considered on a case by case basis.
My character is a Lawful Good Dwarf Fighter(foehammer) Magus(deep marshall). We are playing the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP.


Eh, I wouldn't argue that name-worthy weapons are that way because somebody dumped a bunch of cash into it, and if the campaign world has a magic-mart, even less so because something overly better (snip)

So in terms of actual advice, I'd start with asking your DM about how other legendary/named weapons came to be in the campaign world, and then work in the general direction of that.
1: Do weapons recieve names because people do legendary things with them? (ie "And thus Argos cut off the white head of Tiamat in one fell swoop. Some scholars say his weapon, Argstisus, still exists to this very day..." Alternatively, instead of one legendary act, the weapon has a long history, such as if whoever wields it is destined to conquer a nation)
2: Are legendary weapons special because of the circumstances concerning their creation? (ie "Legendary smith, Malgard the Dwarf managed to forge the sword in the hell-flames of the 67th layer of the Abyss. He managed to escape with the sword -- but not his life")
3: Or are legendary weapons just legendary solely because they can do cool things, like sheathe its wielder in protective flames or encase whomever it strikes in ice?
I think it's a combo of all three.
The 'magic mart' is far from impressive, which I think is actually perfect for its role in the campaign.

[Biggus]

Pathfinder, but 3.5 content has been considered on a case by case basis.


OK, I don't know PF very well, but here's a few suggestions "to make it as awesome as possible, as early as possible" from 3.5:

As you're a dwarf, make it dwarvencraft (RoS p.159). If you're making it yourself it'll only cost you an extra 100GP and it'll make it significantly more resistant to damage.

Have a look at weapon crystals (MiC p.64-66), they start from as little as 100GP and can give a variety of useful effects.

If you're going for the "indestructible weapon" angle, Everbright (MiC p.34) makes it immune to acid and rust, gives it a 2/day blinding effect, and only costs 2000GP.

As for special abilities, I agree with NotASpiderSwarm that Magebane (MiC p.38) is very good for a +1 enhancement. Possibly also look at Impact (MiC p.37); it's not optimal in terms of numbers, but killing a powerful monster with a x3 crit is definitely the sort of thing stories get told about...

[aglondier]

What book is "MiC"?

[Saintheart]

Magic Item Compendium.

[Seerow]

Pathfinder, but 3.5 content has been considered on a case by case basis.
My character is a Lawful Good Dwarf Fighter(foehammer) Magus(deep marshall). We are playing the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP.


I think it's a combo of all three.
The 'magic mart' is far from impressive, which I think is actually perfect for its role in the campaign.

If you've got Magus levels, and you're already okayed with enchanting the weapon as a Rod, may as well also turn it into a Runestaff. Custom Runestaves are relatively cheap, and let you spontaneously cast a handful of favored spells. Pick a theme for your weapon and grab spells that are appropriate to the theme. This is my favorite way to have things like say a Hammer that lets you smack the ground and cause an earthquake. Or allow a flaming weapon to shoot beams of fire (read:scorching ray) at a range. Since you're already looking at Thundering/Shocking, I can see a number of Electric/Sonic themed spells fitting here. Also, Wand Chambers are an add-on you can make to any weapon with a hilt, store a favorite spammable first level spell in here.

[Him]

Someone mentioned mjolnir, so I looked at wiki to see where the name came from, some old-germanic dialect that means "to grind". My suggestion ? Take a decent bottle wine to your local University with an ancient languages department and bribe *ahem, cough cough* I mean trade for old guttural language translation that means thunderer or something come up with a few simple options for translation and see how they sound.

[Uncle Pine]

A longhammer, you say? Well I don't know PF very well, but combining the Enlarge Weapon spell (2nd-level Sor/Wiz, Complete Scoundrel, a 3.5e book) or the Growing (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/magic-weapon-special-abilities/growing) ability with the Sizing ability (Magic Item Compendium, a 3.5e book) you could make, well, a seriously long hammer. This is because both Enlarge Weapon (which is a spell, but you can enchant weapons to cast it once or twice a day for the appropriate price) and Growing, while intended to increase the size of your weapon by one size and let you use it without issues, also contain the following general sentence:

"When your weapon is affected by this spell, you do not take a penalty for wielding an inappropriately sized weapon." [Enlarge Weapon]
"The wielder is able to use the weapon normally without penalty despite its increased size." [Growing]

Enter the Sizing ability and by activating EW/Growing first and Sizing second you get to wield a Colossal dwarven longhammer (6d8 base damage) with no penalties - but remember to shrink it down before the first effect wears off!

Activating a sizing weapon changes its size category to any other that you desire.

Do remember that reach is still determined by the size of the wielder, not the weapon's.