[3.5] newbie dm question on weapon enhancements

[letters]

hey guys i have a quick question on weapon enhancements.

one of my PC's is attempting to make a flaming frost burst longbow, and that just doesnt seem...right.

none of the examples in the dm's guide say anything about multiple element enhancements (frost/fire, sonic/zapping, etc/etc...)

help a newbie out?

[quick_comment]

It is permissible, unless you decide otherwise.

[Freejack451]

Well, I have not run a game in a while, but this seems like a "fluff" explanation would be handy. Just tell him that you have house ruled opposing elemental enhancements can't be applied to the same weapons because the nature of opposing elementals makes it impossible.
Fire and water or ice just don't work together. If they do there is a good chance it could cause bad things in my opinion ( explosion, elemental retaliation, etc..). He may think its not fair, but its your world and you as a new DM need to make that clear early on. Don't be a arse about it and he should understand as long as you explain it well.
I do have one question. Is he a new player?

451

[letters]

Well, kinda... he's been playing for a while but he hasn't quite gotten "the grasp" of the game. He tries to make all his characters very... anime? lol If I let him he would be a half-fiend ninja with every spell ever known and a +20 vorpal katana that always crits. I told him i wasn't ok with that

[Gerbah]

Hm, well it could work. I wouldn't think it would work in the way that it adds both +1d6 fire and +1d6 frost, but you could certainly switch between the two. But on a critical, then you could apply the icy burst bonus damage I'd think. It'd be an odd weapon, but that would be my idea of how it'd work. Not sure what the literal rules say about it though.

[letters]

Another thing I've noticed is most magic weapons is see other players use all

have a + enchant, (like +4 shortsword,) and only ONE elemental enchant, (like

+4 shock shortsword)

So i guess my real question is, is it only 1 element per weapon? Even if they are

not opposing, like +2 shock flameburst.

[Je dit Viola]

Yes, I agree with Gerbah.

I think that, with enough fluff and sense, you could get (nearly) anything to work. Flaming frost burst longbow? Obviously, the longbow is on fire, and the arrows deal Frost Burst damage.
It was because the previous owner was a half-devil who wanted to kill his other devil friends, without giving his non-fireproof teammates a chance to steal his weapon.

[letters]

Switch between the 2? that's not a bad idea. Thanks man

[Mr.Moron]

Nothing prevents Cold & Fire damage on the same weapon.

Just think of it like Icy Hot, only in reverse.

First gets hot to intensify the pain, then gets cold to lock it place.

Okay, that was pretty bad.

But still, it's not broken mechanically (or even a terribly good choice) and doesn't harm the game world. "I don't think it's cool" is pretty lame reason to ban something.

[Eldariel]

Something to remember: All weapons must have +1 base enhancement before they can have any abilities. So it'd have to be +1 Flaming Frost Burst.


But yeah, there's nothing in the rules that forbids such combo; hell, in our first 3.5 game, one Eldritch Knight had a sword named "Elementum" that had every elemental enhancement in the DMG. My Archer also had a Frost Shock Flaming Holy Bow (can't remember its name; her weapons were switching rather constantly due to us not knowing the rules for improving existing weapons yet, and I got tired of naming them and making up keywords so they didn't stick to my mind anymore) later on; mostly 'cause she wasn't dealing any damage otherwise.

So in my experience, they're just fine. And considering that we're talking about magical fire and cold, I wouldn't blink an eye if they could exist on the same weapon. Maybe they simply happen consecutively, or the magicks mix somehow for a hotcold blast.


That said, as a DM you're well within your rights to just say "it doesn't work", "the weapon can't generate heat and remove it at the same time" or some such. That kinda sucks for the player though 'cause he's always forced to couple Electricity with either Fire or Cold, 'cause the third option is removed. But yeah, as you will.

[OracleofWuffing]

I cannot remember where I read it, but I know I read somewhere that "elemental" domains for clerics don't oppose each other. If I recall correctly, this was because a Nature deity could have all of those elements in its portfoilo. So, there sort-of-kind-of is a precedent for that sort of thing. (Granted, domains aren't exactly weapon enhancements.)

Naturally, DM rules override anything, but keep in mind being a Water Elemental doesn't necessarily disqualify you from taking levels in Pyrokineticist unless you say so.

[AslanCross]

While creatures with the [Fire] subtype are vulnerable to cold and vice-versa, there is nothing wrong about having both energy types in the same weapon. Opposing elements is generally more trouble than it's worth in D&D, IMO, and doesn't really add anything to the setting's verisimilitude.

Mind you, balance-wise it isn't even a horribly deadly weapon. The only funny part about it is that it works just as well against [Fire] and [Cold] subtype monsters as it would against your average orc, since the creature's vulnerability doubles the damage that works against it while its immunity completely obviates the other.

Furthermore, cost-wise it counts as a +4 weapon. There's nothing inherently deadly or scary about the weapon for it to merit a flavor restriction (it will become pretty useless when he starts fighting demons or devils, which have several resistances and at least one immunity to energy types). It's like saying a wizard can't cast both cold and fire spells (incidentally, there is a spell that is both the [Fire] and [Cold] subtype in Complete Mage, I believe).

[Funkyodor]

+1 Longbow of Freezer Burns, lol. So cold its hot! You could flavor it to do so much cold damage that in part it's identical to fire damage. (50% fire / 50% cold)

[only1doug]

If you are planning to allow him to switch between the elements rather than have them both simultaneously you should be aware that there is an enchant called "energy aura" that allows you to choose which of the 4 elements to use (no sonic).