D&D 3.5 weapon enhancement, need help

[Da King]

I'm creating a weapon enhancement for use in the campaign I am currently DMing. The enhancement increases the amount of damage dice rolled on an attack.

[insert weapon bonus name here]
Price: +1
Property:Weapon
Caster Level:?
Aura:?
Activation: -

A weapon with this property has it's base damage increased, as indicated on the table below. This property does not stack.

2d6=3d4
d12=2d6
d10=d6+d4
d8=2d4
d6=d4+d2
d4=2d2
d3= d2+1
d2= 2

Anyway, now that I have some of the math problems sorted out, do you think this is balanced? Should I change the price? any ideas for a name? And what school of magic/spell would be needed to make this weapon, as well as the required caster level?

[brian c]

I would call it Mediocrity, or Consistency. If you look at the probability distribution, going from 1d12 to 2d6 makes it much less likely that you'll get the maximum or minimum value, and more likely that you'll get a middle value.

If anything, it would be a +1 enhancement; it might be fine for a +0 enhancement (not that those exist).

Anyway, 1d0 = 1d6 + 1d4 or 1d8+1d2.
2d4 = 3d3 + 1 or 4d2
1d3 = 1d2 + 1 (as if it matters)

[Rigon]

i don't like it. you are basically increasing average damage with 0.5 while keeping maximum damage. and that's extra work.

use the original dice and if a dice gives you less then the "minimum" just correct it to the "minimum".

but i rather suggest that you simply give it a +1 to damage. +1 damage is only powerful at low levels and yet it is much less annoying way to do an enhancement.

[XenoTherapy]

I really love it. It gives the players customization with their weapons. Just be careful to word it correctly. An extremely clever (or annoying) player could just say 6d2 = 1d12. You might want to cap the amount of dice they use, depending on the enhancement.
2 dice cap = 1000gp
3 cap = +1 enhancement
4 = +2 enhancement
...etc.

Just touch up the wording a bit, and I might swipe it for my campaign. :smallwink: :smalltongue:

[Da King]

@brian c: Thanks for the idea on how to get the the d10's and d6's to work. I'm wondering if this method is balanced though, I'll have to do some experiments and make a few graphs.

@Rigon: How is this extra work? All you do is roll one extra dice. Even figuring out what you will be rolling isn't hard. Also +1 to damage would not be the same thing. If you create a graph with the number of combinations that can produce a certain value on a dice on the y axis, and the possible outcome on the x axis, a d12 would be a straight line going from 1 to 12. 2d6, however, would be a bell curve going from 2 to 12, with the roll thats most likely to occur (7) at the top.

@XenoTherapy:Yeah, I'm having a bit of difficulty explaining it. Also, the example you gave wouldn't work, it only increases the amount of dice by 1.

[Charlie Kemek]

1dX=1dX/2+1d10/X (rounded up on each side, so a 1=1, 2=2, 3=3, etc.)
A problem stated before, but can be worse (as I will say) is that a person may say that 1d10=5d2=10d1, so that they automatically get the maximum amount.

[Da King]

A lot of people seem to be misunderstanding the way this works. Sorry about that, I edited the first post, hope it makes more sense now.

[Ascension]

I like the idea and the effect, but it really doesn't seem powerful enough to be a +1 enhancement. Why take this if you can just get a flat +1 enhancement bonus? I might try to use this not as any sort of enhancement, per say, or even inherently magical, but just a potential mundane property of weapons. It'd be extra work, but maybe roll a d6 when you find a random weapon and on a 6 it uses the alternate damage output.

I know, I know, it has no precedent. I just think it'd be fun. And more logical than paying for a +1 magical enhancement to get this effect.

[Yakk]

It lowers variance and ups average by 0.5. This is small.

Honestly, it isn't large enough to bother with. It is worse than a +1 enhancement in nearly every way.

[Da King]

How about a 500gp bonus that does not count against the amount of enhancements you can put on a weapon? It's what I originally wanted to have, I just put a +1 there to get a reaction.

[Rigon]

@Rigon: How is this extra work? All you do is roll one extra dice. Even figuring out what you will be rolling isn't hard. Also +1 to damage would not be the same thing. If you create a graph with the number of combinations that can produce a certain value on a dice on the y axis, and the possible outcome on the x axis, a d12 would be a straight line going from 1 to 12. 2d6, however, would be a bell curve going from 2 to 12, with the roll thats most likely to occur (7) at the top.

the extra dice is wrong (i had many players who simply hated to roll more than 2). and yes i know about the curve which is also bad as this random damage has a different distribution than the original, meaning that higher damage occurs more often. you'll have to recalculate the cost of the enhancement for each weapon damage because 1d2 -> 2 and 1d12 -> 2d6 have quite different effects.

[Proven_Paradox]

How about a 500gp bonus that does not count against the amount of enhancements you can put on a weapon? It's what I originally wanted to have, I just put a +1 there to get a reaction.

That might be reasonable. The idea is interesting, but not one that most players are going to be concerned with, I think. It's a nice bit of customization that maybe a few people would appreciate, but most won't bother with it.

As for a name: Consistent would be good.

[Roderick_BR]

Simply put: No one will expend money on a +1 enchantment just to change the dice roll.
Better make it a weapon property like master work. With an extra weapon making skill check (DC 20), the weapon can be made with different dice. It would cost +300 gp for the change, added to the masterwork cost, if any.