Pact Weapon Questions

[sithlordnergal]

So, as we all know, Pact of the Blade lets you turn any non-sentient magical weapon into your Pact Weapon, even if its outside the standard list of weapons. I.E. a magical Hand Crossbow can be your pact weapon if you want. All it takes is a 1 hour ritual where you have to hold the weapon at all times.

It also states "The weapon ceases being your pact weapon if you die, if you perform the 1-hour ritual on a different weapon, or if you use a 1-hour ritual to break your bond to it."

Which brings up a small question. There are at least two classes now that can temporarily enchant a weapon for longer than an hour. The Artificer and Forge Cleric can enchant a weapon and make it +1 for an entire adventuring day at the very least.

So would Pact of the Blade Warlock be able to have a Forge Cleric or Artificer enchant their weapon to magic it magical, do the house ritual to make the bond with it, and keep it as your Bond weapon even if it stops being magical?

Technically, I can't really find anything that says your bond with the weapon would end prematurely if its no longer a magical weapon. Especially since once its a pact weapon, its described as being a magic weapon.

[diplomancer]

I'd let it work, and I think the rules support that reading; but then I think the restrictions on weapon type for Pact of the Blade are silly in the first place.

[Khrysaes]

RAW, yes. The item from artificer and forge clerics are now magical.

Arguably, the Magic Weapon spell would work too, since it lasts an hour, which is long enough for the ritual.

Artificer infusions state:
Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch a non-magical object and imbue it with one of your artificer infusions, turning it into a magic item


The question is, what happens when the artificer infusion, forge cleric, or spell effects end.

It doesn't meet the clause to break the pact with the weapon.

To be fair, the only real benefit of this is for a hexblade to get a ranged weapon with which to use CHA to hit and damage without taking the invocation. However, this does restrict the Blade Pact weapon to one form, which removes flexibility.

[kazaryu]

So, as we all know, Pact of the Blade lets you turn any non-sentient magical weapon into your Pact Weapon, even if its outside the standard list of weapons. I.E. a magical Hand Crossbow can be your pact weapon if you want. All it takes is a 1 hour ritual where you have to hold the weapon at all times.

It also states "The weapon ceases being your pact weapon if you die, if you perform the 1-hour ritual on a different weapon, or if you use a 1-hour ritual to break your bond to it."

Which brings up a small question. There are at least two classes now that can temporarily enchant a weapon for longer than an hour. The Artificer and Forge Cleric can enchant a weapon and make it +1 for an entire adventuring day at the very least.

So would Pact of the Blade Warlock be able to have a Forge Cleric or Artificer enchant their weapon to magic it magical, do the house ritual to make the bond with it, and keep it as your Bond weapon even if it stops being magical?

Technically, I can't really find anything that says your bond with the weapon would end prematurely if its no longer a magical weapon. Especially since once its a pact weapon, its described as being a magic weapon.

i mean, im pretty sure that clause is there specifically to enable the blade pact warlock to upgrade to a magic weapon, not be limits in and of themselves. So even RaI i don't see it really being a problem. definitely some minor cheese there with you being able to access weapons outside of your normal list at level 1 but like...idk. seems fine to me

[EggKookoo]

The question is, what happens when the artificer infusion, forge cleric, or spell effects end.

It doesn't meet the clause to break the pact with the weapon.

Further evidence: "This weapon counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage." While it's not ironclad, this suggests that simply by being a pact weapon it's considered a magical weapon. Yes, the RAW specifies it's considered magical for certain purposes, but at the same time, it is considered magical for the duration of its... pact-ness. It's kind of self-reinforcing.

[Khrysaes]

Further evidence: "This weapon counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage." While it's not ironclad, this suggests that simply by being a pact weapon it's considered a magical weapon. Yes, the RAW specifies it's considered magical for certain purposes, but at the same time, it is considered magical for the duration of its... pact-ness. It's kind of self-reinforcing.

In otherwords, make a temporary magic item, that lasts for at least one hour. Bond it with pact magic. And it remains a magic item.

Now. Does it retain the effects?
I.e. a repeating infusion crossbow?

[EggKookoo]

In otherwords, make a temporary magic item, that lasts for at least one hour. Bond it with pact magic. And it remains a magic item.

Now. Does it retain the effects?
I.e. a repeating infusion crossbow?

It does seem to imply so, doesn't it? Although I suppose I would argue that if you made an infused magic item, pactified it, and that item later lost the infusion, it would lose any specific infusion properties but retain the damage resistance properties given it by virtue of being a pact weapon.

I think as a DM I'd probably allow this with the caveat to the player(s) that if it proves to break something I'd have to come up with some compensation.

[Khrysaes]

It does seem to imply so, doesn't it? Although I suppose I would argue that if you made an infused magic item, pactified it, and that item later lost the infusion, it would lose any specific infusion properties but retain the damage resistance properties given it by virtue of being a pact weapon.

I think as a DM I'd probably allow this with the caveat to the player(s) that if it proves to break something I'd have to come up with some compensation.

That would make the most sense to me.

And again, it already has its downsides.

It is only a net gain for a hexblade, using Charisma to hit and damage specifically with a ranged weapon, because otherwise the pact already makes melee weapons.

Improved pact weapon adds ranged options, so bonding is really only useful for weapons not the list of options, such as a gun or hand crossbow.

The downside is that it removes the flexibility of the pact weapon to change into any available form upon summoning. Such as summoning a whip to use as an improvised rope or something.