an enchantment question

[big teej]

so I'm rereading the entire OOTS comic for the umpteenth time, and I came to this comic

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0392.html

and it occured to me...

My favorite character is my barbarian.... and his magic axe.....

what am I going to do if I lose my axe (OBVIOUSLY leave a bloody trail from here to my axe)

but then I thought "what if the bad guy uses it?"

and I then thought to myself "BUT WAIT.....'

which brings me to my question for the nigh infinite amount of knowledge contained within the playground.

is there an enchantment that allows one to "key" a weapon to a specific individual, allowing that individual to summon the weapon to their hand?

(think a demon simply 'grasping' for his weapon and it leaping from its sheath into his hand, or Skywalker force grabbing his lightsaber from the snow)

is there such an enchantment? if so, what sourcebook is it in?


or do I need to homebrew this?

thanks in advance playgrounders

[Duke of URL]

There's an armor/shield property called "Called" in MIC (2,000 gp) that instantly summons the item (and equips it) from anywhere on the same plane, as long as you were the last one to wear it.

I see no reason that a similar property couldn't be created for a weapon.

[Last Laugh]

Lemme think
Crystal of return, lesser. lets you draw the weapon for free and call it from 30 feet away.(MiC)
There are ways to store the weapon and call it (gloves of storing)(DMG?)

[Keld Denar]

Ring of Arming, also in the MIC, atunes itself to your gear, allowing you to call it as a standard action to quickly equip yourself.

[big teej]

excellent response time, and very helpful...
but now I have MORE questions

There's an armor/shield property called "Called" in MIC (2,000 gp) that instantly summons the item (and equips it) from anywhere on the same plane, as long as you were the last one to wear it.

I see no reason that a similar property couldn't be created for a weapon.

1) what is MIC?
2) is there a way to key it to a specific individual?
3) would the pricing for application to weapons have to be different?

Lemme think
Crystal of return, lesser. lets you draw the weapon for free and call it from 30 feet away.(MiC)
There are ways to store the weapon and call it (gloves of storing)(DMG?)

1) price range of said crystal?
2) familiar with the gloves of storing, not what I'm after.

I'm thinking more along the lines of 'oh crap they disarmed me' and now my weapon is on the other side of the room. but I can simply -snatch- and its back to me on my next turn



thanks again for the quick and helpful responses

[Duke of URL]

MIC = Magic Item Compendium.

Also known as, "So Magic Items In D&D Weren't Already Broken Enough..."

[Dusk Eclipse]

MIC = Magic Item Compendium.

Also known as, "So Magic Items In D&D Weren't Already Broken Enough..."

care to elaborate? I haven't seen a magic item in the MiC that made me say "Wow that is broken" like the candle of invocation?(the one that let's you gate something with aligment like the one of the candle)

[big teej]

okay so ye ninja'd me

Ring of Arming, also in the MIC, atunes itself to your gear, allowing you to call it as a standard action to quickly equip yourself.

I like the sound of this, this may be what I'm looking for


price range?

MIC = Magic Item Compendium.

Also known as, "So Magic Items In D&D Weren't Already Broken Enough..."

of course not, whatever gave you that Idea?


thankfully, I have been repeatedly blessed with groups that refuse to put up with a d4 hit die. or the hippie stigma, or the 'bandaid box' syndrome....

so casters breaking things has never been a problem...


besides, if WOTC didn't publish things, people would just homebrew (less well written) things they want themselves.

[Keld Denar]

MIC isn't underpriced...the DMG is overpriced. With very few exceptions (mostly the basic stat items), things in the DMG are overpriced for their value. Who's gonna pay almost 7000g for a hat that does 3d8 damage once a day? I could do more damage than that in a round with a SLING...

Most of the stuff in the MIC is really well balanced, and most of the per-day items are at least 3/day, rather than 1/day. They are also balanced with action economy. Toward the end of 3.5, swift actions get more and more valuable. Do you spend a swift action to initiate Inferno Blade? Or do you activate your Anklets of Translocation to port to flank? Or your Greatreach Bracers and stay back? Or your Amulet of Heartseeking and go for touch attacks? Or your Deathstrike Bracers so you can gut-shot that zombie? Also, the disadvantage of having a lot of cheap magic items is that you really start to run out of body slots for your cool toys, creating another opportunity cost to evaluate. Sure, you have a lot of options, but you still have the same amount of actions and body slots. I think its a LOT better designed than most of the crap in the DMG.

Ring of Arming is 2500g, IIRC...

[Starbuck_II]

care to elaborate? I haven't seen a magic item in the MiC that made me say "Wow that is broken" like the candle of invocation?(the one that let's you gate something with aligment like the one of the candle)

He is probably just assuming it is because it has lots of useful stuff.

[big teej]

MIC isn't underpriced...the DMG is overpriced. With very few exceptions (mostly the basic stat items), things in the DMG are overpriced for their value. Who's gonna pay almost 7000g for a hat that does 3d8 damage once a day? I could do more damage than that in a round with a SLING...
Ring of Arming is 2500g, IIRC...

I've been through my DMG multilple times, where is this 3d8 hat?

I now suddenly want to play oddjob

second
thankee for the price.

[Nanoblack]

You can use everything that's already been mentioned in the thread so far, but if you really want to be vicious to whomever decided to steal your weapon, invest in the masterslaying enhancement for your weapon. It's keyed to your scabbard and if you say the keyword while someone who isn't wearing the scabbard is holding your weapon, it attacks them at your highest attack bonus and, if it hits, it insta-crits. Not bad for a +1 bonus, eh?

[Il_Vec]

I've been through my DMG multilple times, where is this 3d8 hat?

I now suddenly want to play oddjob

second
thankee for the price.

I think he is talking about the circlet of searing.

[Keld Denar]

Circlet of Blasting is the actual name, but Searing Light is the spell it emulates. What a terrible item...

[Duke of URL]

the disadvantage of having a lot of cheap magic items is that you really start to run out of body slots for your cool toys, creating another opportunity cost to evaluate. Sure, you have a lot of options, but you still have the same amount of actions and body slots. I think its a LOT better designed than most of the crap in the DMG.

Perhaps it is better designed in terms of the power level of each individual item, but it also exacerbates the "Christmas tree effect" by literally flooding the players with options for magical items for all body slots. And the rules for stacking multiple effects on magic items, which gets past the body slot limitations. And interchangeable weapon/armor crystals, which comes off more as sci-fi than fantasy.

It just makes magic items all that much more Mage Mart^TM, which may work fine in some settings, but not all, nor should it be the default.

[Keld Denar]

But the problem is that the DMG items aren't very well balanced either, and a good number of them are flat out IGNORED because of slot limitations. This is triple true when it comes to the poor sucker monk.

Look at the neck slot. Look at the stuff in the neck slot. What do we have here...+Wisdom, oh, thats something a monk needs to fuel his ki powers like Stunning Fist. What else...oh +Con. Monks need +Con in order to be a melee character and NOT DIE ALL THE TIME. KK, how about...Amulet of Mighty Fists? Everyone else gets cool weapons, but you have to pay 6x as much for yours...oh, and now you have to choose between that, +Con, or +Wis. Progressing down the line, we finally come to the Amulet of Natural Armor. Well, suckerboy the monk could benefit from that too...but wait, he picked one of the above 3 items, guess this item gets thrown away. Heck, melee tank characters can't even get the two things they need (Con and AC) because of slot conflicts. Thats just crappy planning. The DMG items are really terribly thought out and planned. Period.

So what you end up having is LESS diversity. Everyone picks the small handful of items that benefit them the most. And those are the same items for most characters, because nothing else is worth the body slot. Thats crappy game design.

A person has what, 9 body slots, not including weapons? By high levels, all of those slots are gonna get filled by powerful permanent magic items simply because you are gonna pick the 9 BESTEST items to fill those slots. Whats the difference then if the character has 9 magic items or 15? He can only wear 9 at any given time.

I'm just sayin, you are probably gonna get the Christmas Tree effect even if you just use the DMG magic items. The only thing this does is promote carbon copy characters with carbon copy gear. ALL of your fighters will be wearing Boots of Speed, simply because that is the BEST item for the slot. They'll all also be wearing Belts of Giants Strength +6 and Amulets of Health +6. Thats BORING.

That is, unless you are playing SUPER low magic, at which point you better be strapping encounters WAY back, since CR is more-or-less balanced around WBL. Don't get me wrong, WBL isn't an entitlement. Ever. What it is, though, is a gauge. If your player's characters are dramatically behind WBL because "magic is a unique snowflake", and you hit them with APL+3 or APL+4 encounters, don't be surprised when characters die VERY frequently. Conversely, if the characters are way above WBL, don't be surprised if they blow past APL+3 or APL+4 encounters.

tl;dr: I'd rather play with the MIC + afinity stat boosters than just the DMG items ANY DAY. I'd rather have options and have to have my character make difficult decisions about which items suit his combat style best, rather than pick cookie-cutter items simply because the rules are dumb.

[Duke of URL]

That is, unless you are playing SUPER low magic, at which point you better be strapping encounters WAY back, since CR is more-or-less balanced around WBL.

Yeah, it would require balancing. On the other hand, the CR system is kind of borked in general, and lower than WBL wealth can offset player optimization that the CR system doesn't account for.

Oh, and no fair pointing out how screwed the monk is -- I think a design goal for 3.x must have been "let's make a class that sounds total cool and then **** over anyone who tries to play it!" They almost succeeded at the arcane archer PrC with that as well, just, well, they did too "good" of a job on the monk.

[Keld Denar]

Yeah, it would require balancing. On the other hand, the CR system is kind of borked in general, and lower than WBL wealth can offset player optimization that the CR system doesn't account for.

Why put in the effort to do all that balancing? Why not just use a great, well balanced book as published? Sometimes I think people around here LIKE putting in more work than is required. MIC has some really cool, really balanced stuff. Moreso than the magic gear from a bunch of other books (I'm lookin at you Book of Exalted Cheese).

Oh, and no fair pointing out how screwed the monk is

Nobody said I have to fight fair. I didn't sign a convention that says "you are required to provide food, water, and medical aide to PoWs monks".

[Coidzor]

tl;dr: I'd rather play with the MIC + afinity stat boosters than just the DMG items ANY DAY. I'd rather have options and have to have my character make difficult decisions about which items suit his combat style best, rather than pick cookie-cutter items simply because the rules are dumb.

What? Infinity? Affinity?

Oh, and no fair pointing out how screwed the monk is -- I think a design goal for 3.x must have been "let's make a class that sounds total cool and then **** over anyone who tries to play it!" They almost succeeded at the arcane archer PrC with that as well, just, well, they did too "good" of a job on the monk.

Don't forget Soulknife. Another class that replicates items. Poorly.

[Keld Denar]

Affinity?

Back of the MIC, there is a table of different basic stats and their affinity body slots. You can add these basic stats to any item that occupies one of those body slots for the difference in price without paying the 1.5x premium the DMG normally assesses.

So you could have Gauntlets of Fortunate Striking of Dex +2 for 6000g (2000 + 4000), instead of the 7000g (4000 + 2000x1.5) it would normally cost you.

[big teej]

You can use everything that's already been mentioned in the thread so far, but if you really want to be vicious to whomever decided to steal your weapon, invest in the masterslaying enhancement for your weapon. It's keyed to your scabbard and if you say the keyword while someone who isn't wearing the scabbard is holding your weapon, it attacks them at your highest attack bonus and, if it hits, it insta-crits. Not bad for a +1 bonus, eh?

I started drooling when I read this....

where is this enhancement!?

also, is their an acceptable method of keying it to something aside from a scabbard?

axes really don't have holdy places.

[Susano-wo]

I'd have to say that the MiC only adds to a magic mart feel if you can just buy any item. If your campaign has magic items as rare, and not generally purchasable in ye olde magic shoppe, than having more options for different magic items to put in treasure or give from quests is not going to affect that.

And I would rather have options than samey feeling characters (for lack of better wording)

EDIT: An axe can easily have a holder, it just amounts t oa tube you slide the shaft into (or a loop on your belt for a smaller axe

[Nanoblack]

It's from the Book of Vile Darkness and here is a fairly close description to what it says in the book:

On the command of the person wearing the weapon’s scabbard / belt hook, the weapon will attack its current holder at the Base Attack Bonus of the scabbard wearer. The target is considered Flat-Footed (but the weapon cannot do a ‘sneak attack’). If the weapon hits, it does a Critical Hit.

So you can key it to pretty much anything you use to hold the weapon. Also in the book is another enchantment that is often paired with masterslaying just for very EEEEEEVIL schnitz and giggles. Fleshgrinding.

If you aren't familiar with it, what it does is: when you hit with the weapon, you say a command word and it sticks into the enemy, automatically hitting (No critical sadly) him every round for five rounds unless that individual succeeds on a DC20 strength check. Personally, this is my favorite caster killer, and paired with other enchantments can become ridiculously awesome. Fleshgrinding is a +2 ability.

[Coidzor]

The book itself even recommends pairing Masterslaying with Fleshgrinding in Masterslaying's description.

Me, I prefer my fleshgrinding on harpoons.

[Starbuck_II]

What? Infinity? Affinity?



Don't forget Soulknife. Another class that replicates items. Poorly.

Soulknife wouldn't be bad in a low magic campaing. He has one of the few magic weapons.

[herrhauptmann]

Teej, another option, one which you may not want to use, have your weapon be an intelligent item. With one of its lesser powers: shocking grasp on wielder/ray of exhaustion/ something else that works on a single target.

This would probably get the enemies unwilling to continue to use your weapon against you, but they'd probably just stick it in their backpack, or kick it off the side of a cliff, or into a lava pool, than let it stay there where you could pick it back up.
Mind you, since the DM controls intelligent items, it'd be up to him if the weapon decided to get you instead. You could argue for a ego check (will save) vs your weapon, but that would also benefit any enemy that attacked you. Especially since anything non-mook would probably have a higher base will save than you.