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    Default advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    i'm trying to think of a good +1 to round off a melee weapon design I have. Currently I have +5 collision, wounding (yes I know some will say go +1 then use magic weapon spell, it's not happening). I'm having a hard time deciding on what to do with the remaining +1. I'm looking for something melee focused so I'm looking for something that makes the weapon hit harder or more often. I like psychokinetic which adds +1d4 force but I'm not the biggest fan of the standard action activation time, I'm trying to find something with no activation or at least swift. Desiccating is nice it adds +1d4 against anything alive or 1d8 against plants or something water-based like a water elemental.
    I would be a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    My personal favorite is Spell Storing, but you need to have a source to fill it. If you can get your friendly neighborhood sorcerer or wizard to fill it with Combust, that's a lot of damage that you can set off once per fight.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    I am a fan of Sacred - but if you don't think you will be fighting undead or evil outsiders then its not worth it.

    If you know what you will be fighting, then Bane is good.

    Ghost Touch is a requirement for melee fighters, but I prefer to have that on a backup weapon (usually a polearm, as it's usually worth carrying one of them too) as it is a waste against most foes.
    (On the other hand, the time I passed my ghost touch glaive to the party centaur and cast sheletered vitality on him was one of those times when the DM just skipped the entire section of the module which was full of ghosts...)

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Magebane (CA) costs a +1, you get the Bane property (+2 higher enhancement, +2d6 damage) against any opponent with arcane spellcasting, or spell-like abilities from an arcane spell list. Which is a pretty hefty portion of the monsters you'll face, especially in the higher levels. This also allows you to overcome DR/Epic if it puts the enhancement bonus to +6 or higher.

    Consider dropping Collision and getting Marrowcrushing (BoVD), it's a +3 and it makes the weapon do an additional 1 Con damage per hit, with no verbiage saying anything is immune like Wounding has.

    Wrathful Healing (Enemies and Allies) costs a +3, and heals the wielder for half of all the damage dealt by the weapon. That's all the weapon's damage, not just the base dice, so sneak attack, power attack, anything that adds to your damage also makes it heal you for more when you hit.

    Not an enhancement price, but OA has the Displacement ability for +100k which gives you continuous Displacement (as the spell) while wielding it. Anything that uses vision that doesn't have true seeing gets a 50% chance to miss you with every attack.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Quote Originally Posted by Biffoniacus_Furiou View Post
    Magebane (CA) costs a +1, you get the Bane property (+2 higher enhancement, +2d6 damage) against any opponent with arcane spellcasting, or spell-like abilities from an arcane spell list. Which is a pretty hefty portion of the monsters you'll face, especially in the higher levels. This also allows you to overcome DR/Epic if it puts the enhancement bonus to +6 or higher.
    Is that how it works? I'm familiar with bane and contemplating it but I didn't know if you combined a +5 weapon with a bane that would bypass epic. It does count as +7 I just never thought of it from that perspective.
    I would be a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Bloodfeeding can store charges each time it deals damage and release them to deal a chunk of extra damage on a hit. Vicious is a strong damage enhancer at +2d6 damage for only +1, and also combines well with bloodfeeder. Earthbound gives a +2 to attack and damage if both the wieder and the target are touching the ground. Whirling lets you use the weapon to make Whirlwind Attacks.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    I might be missing something but what about just plain old acid or fire? Deals extra damage and is great when you run into trolls or something like them.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Enfeebling (+1, Book of Exalted Deeds): 1d6+2 Str damage on a crit, no save, and the damage stacks.

    Smoking (+1, Lords of Darkness): Provides a 20% miss chance on command, usually cheaper than a minor cloak of displacement.

    Torturous (+1, Ghostwalk): Fort save DC 12 vs. 1 round of stun. It's a low DC, but it triggers on every hit, so there's no daily or use limit.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Quote Originally Posted by eyebreaker7 View Post
    I might be missing something but what about just plain old acid or fire? Deals extra damage and is great when you run into trolls or something like them.
    Don't those require a standard action to activate? Those work but I'm trying to find something that is continuous or at least a swift action.
    Last edited by the_tick_rules; 2020-05-29 at 05:43 PM.
    I would be a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Someone correct me if I'm wrong but they are a normal thing. You can "turn it on/off" I think though.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Quote Originally Posted by the_tick_rules View Post
    Don't those require a standard action to activate? Those work but I'm trying to find something that is continuous or at least a swift action.
    They can be toggled on or off as a standard action. Once they're on, they stay that way until you toggle them off again.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    One thing I just thought of that might matter, do you have to "turn it off" when you sheath it?

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Quote Originally Posted by eyebreaker7 View Post
    I might be missing something but what about just plain old acid or fire? Deals extra damage and is great when you run into trolls or something like them.
    Eh, if you're going that way, go for psycokinetic. It's only a d4 but nothing is resistant to it, to the best of my knowledge. You can always beat down the troll until he won't get up for a while and just set him on fire.
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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Quote Originally Posted by eyebreaker7 View Post
    One thing I just thought of that might matter, do you have to "turn it off" when you sheath it?
    I mean, if you think it would damage the sheath, sure? Otherwise I don't see any reason why it would be a problem.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Dessicating is similarly 1d4 but very rarely resisted.

    Magebane

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    If you have at least one Martial Discipline Stance, the Discipline property is fantastic. +1 price gives what, +3 To Hit?
    Awesome because in 3.5 you can trade any amount of BAB for damage but attack bonuses are hard to come by.
    Let me give you a brief rundown of an average Post-3E Era fight: You attack an enemy and start kicking his shins. He then starts kicking your shins, then you take it in turns kicking until one of you falls over. It basically comes down to who started the battle with the biggest boot, and the only strategy involved is realizing when things have gone tits up and legging it.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    I am a huge fan of warning and eager. Sometimes it is better to go first instead of hitting harder.

    Other fun options are Sudden Stunning, Vampric, and any of the enchantments that will get you an elemental.
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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Quote Originally Posted by the_tick_rules View Post
    Currently I have +5 collision, wounding (yes I know some will say go +1 then use magic weapon spell, it's not happening).
    Feel free to ignore this, but:

    +1 with +4 bonuses isn't just better than +5 due to GMW. Yes, GMW makes the + irrelevant, but even in a party without that, bonuses are generally better than an additional +1 AB/+1 Dam. That's because enemy AC scales worse than your to-hit, so additional attack bonuses tend to give you no benefit, while even something like flaming, which is pretty bad, at least gives +3.5 damage. If you do need +AB for whatever reason, look into Aptitude from Tome of Battle. If you are always in a Devoted Spirit stance, a +1 Devoted Spirit Flaming Longsword is a +3 cost weapon with +4 to-hit and 1d6+1(4.5) bonus damage. A normal +3 weapon has only +3 to-hit and +3 bonus damage. Even if you don't have GMW, +5 is just not that good compared to the wild abilities you can get otherwise.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    There's a pretty thorough list here. Lists them by usefulness also, although of course that's their opinion.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Quote Originally Posted by NotASpiderSwarm View Post
    Feel free to ignore this, but:

    +1 with +4 bonuses isn't just better than +5 due to GMW. Yes, GMW makes the + irrelevant, but even in a party without that, bonuses are generally better than an additional +1 AB/+1 Dam. That's because enemy AC scales worse than your to-hit, so additional attack bonuses tend to give you no benefit, while even something like flaming, which is pretty bad, at least gives +3.5 damage.
    Your first attack is easy to hit with, but your iteratives are going to be at -5 and -10. They'll need the help.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    I would go with Magebane. For a +1 property it's easily one of the best. Yeah, it only is effective vs. certain enemies but it offers tremendous value.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Quote Originally Posted by skunk3 View Post
    I would go with Magebane. For a +1 property it's easily one of the best. Yeah, it only is effective vs. certain enemies but it offers tremendous value.
    Yup. I'm generally very fond of Bane weapons, but the big draw of Magebane is that it procs exactly against the one type of enemy that you absolutely, positively, need to go down fast.
    Let me give you a brief rundown of an average Post-3E Era fight: You attack an enemy and start kicking his shins. He then starts kicking your shins, then you take it in turns kicking until one of you falls over. It basically comes down to who started the battle with the biggest boot, and the only strategy involved is realizing when things have gone tits up and legging it.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Quote Originally Posted by Firechanter View Post
    Yup. I'm generally very fond of Bane weapons, but the big draw of Magebane is that it procs exactly against the one type of enemy that you absolutely, positively, need to go down fast.
    Wow, no respect for divine casters, huh?

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    XD
    Yeah well, being servant of a god will always be second best to being a god.
    ;)
    Let me give you a brief rundown of an average Post-3E Era fight: You attack an enemy and start kicking his shins. He then starts kicking your shins, then you take it in turns kicking until one of you falls over. It basically comes down to who started the battle with the biggest boot, and the only strategy involved is realizing when things have gone tits up and legging it.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Quote Originally Posted by skunk3 View Post
    I would go with Magebane. For a +1 property it's easily one of the best. Yeah, it only is effective vs. certain enemies but it offers tremendous value.
    I'm thinking between that and evil outsider bane. someone else said hey if you are facing someone epic the +5 weapon and +2 enhancement from the bane would equal +7 and allow that to bypass epic. I hadn't thought of that.
    I would be a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    A thought, if you are not sure what to put into the last available + to make your weapon +10 equivalent then don't - there are better things to put on your weapon than that last +1 which would push it epic (over 200,000gp) with it.

    Look over the list of fixed price enchantments, and start with:

    Everbright (MIC, p34) +2,000gp
    For some reason the linked list of abilities puts this at 1*, the lowest rating. It is, however, the cheapest way to make your weapon immune to corrosion and rust (which includes acid) making this the single most important ability to put on your weapon!

    Spellblade (PGtF, p120) +6,000gp
    - budget-price spell-storing

    Sudden Stunning (DMGII, p261) +2,000gp
    Push your Charisma and this quicly becomes broken in a lower-op game as the DC scales!

    Sizing (MIC, p43) +5,000gp
    If you think you will be changing size much

    Hideaway (MIC, p36) +2,000gp
    More a case of personal preference.

    Yes, you can add all five of these abilities for 17,000gp - which is less than the increase fom +9 to +10 (19,000gp).

    See the list Biggus linked for more.
    Last edited by Khedrac; 2020-05-31 at 06:25 AM.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    That's very good advice. I always make sure to have some of these on my weapon, starting with Everbright unless the weapon is glassteel or something similar anyway.

    Another excellent fixed-price pick is Spell-Eating (hope I got the name right), but that one's fine on armour spikes iirc.
    Let me give you a brief rundown of an average Post-3E Era fight: You attack an enemy and start kicking his shins. He then starts kicking your shins, then you take it in turns kicking until one of you falls over. It basically comes down to who started the battle with the biggest boot, and the only strategy involved is realizing when things have gone tits up and legging it.

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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    I'm really surprised there aren't better +1 enhancements out there.

    If the only other options are niche abilities and taking reduced damage to avoid resistance, then pick shocking or frost and be done with it. 1d6 that's resisted 5% of the time is better than 1d4 that's resisted 1% of the time. Even during that 5% it'll be far from ending your adventuring career due to the other +9 in enhancements on your weapon. Likewise bane and magebane are super hard passes. Unless your DM has clearly told you that a campaign will be mostly a specific type of foe, don't do it as it will be less damage on average. You need a minimum of 25% of a specific foe type just to break even. You're willing to sacrifice damage to overcome uncommon resistances but then want to add enhancements that are very commonly ignored? It makes no sense.

    But surely there must be a +1 ability somewhere out there in 50 books that does better than 1d6 of damage on average? No? I agree spell storing is much better if you have a caster buddy. I agree torturous and similar abilities might be nice. Even if you need to fish for 1s on saves from the enemy, it could average out better than a little more damage.

    I can understand why the_tick_rules might not want GMW. Most of all he said no, so don't push it. 2nd most of all it isn't always available. You need a caster buddy for that. Even if you have one, he may not want to do it, or he may want to use other buffs or other spells in general. Even if he has lots of spell slots or you give him expensive pearl(s) and a lesser rod of extend, too many buffs make you vulnerable to dispel. Often GMW is a good idea, but it's not so cut and dry. It isn't a free +1 to +4 that you're wasting by not putting your enhancements in abilities. It's the difference between +1 to +4 and whatever other buff you might get, which could be a pretty small difference or the other buff may even be better in certain situations. The party caster(s) should feel no obligation to provide GMW, not just because he can do whatever he wants, but even when he's trying to be a team player and simply wants to pick a different style. The real question then is do you want more damage per hit or do you want to hit more often. Maybe +4 and +6 in damage enhancements could be slightly better. But again, it's a minuscule difference if it's not worse. So who cares. GMW is not an essential correction for basic optimization. It's a nice small optional tip and nothing more, and a tip which is more relevant to tell to mages than to fighters who might not be able to get it. And I do mention it myself when suggesting spell lists, but it's just one small option.
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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    I understand the efficiency of the greater magic weapon method but it does create a vulnerability of being dependent on a caster to do it for you if you can't cast it yourself, which the character design can't do. It does create a vulnerability to stuff like anti-magic fields or dispel. But a big reason is I just don't like the appearance. Everyone has to draw a line where legal cheese just doesn't feel right in theatrics. You look at the most powerful characters in the game they all have at least +4. Elminister has the magical power to have pretty much anything he wants and he uses a +5 weapon. Though to be fair I assume a part of it is making the characters not a chore to fight. I did a if it's not epic it's ok gear setup using the multiple enchantment rules from MIC. Dozens of abilities, you would need a chart to remember them all. Having enemies or allies as such would be tedious.
    Last edited by the_tick_rules; 2020-05-31 at 11:36 AM.
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    Default Re: advice for a good +1 weapon enhancement in 3.5 d&d

    Quote Originally Posted by Firechanter View Post
    If you have at least one Martial Discipline Stance, the Discipline property is fantastic. +1 price gives what, +3 To Hit?
    Awesome because in 3.5 you can trade any amount of BAB for damage but attack bonuses are hard to come by.
    Oh nifty. It is amazing how you can know a book backwards and forwards to the point you feel like you mastered it.

    Except you "really" forget about 20% of the book and the gems it may contain. I will see if I can get my DM to allow this for Pathfinder / Path of War.

    Quote Originally Posted by eyebreaker7 View Post
    Someone correct me if I'm wrong but they are a normal thing. You can "turn it on/off" I think though.
    Quote Originally Posted by eyebreaker7 View Post
    One thing I just thought of that might matter, do you have to "turn it off" when you sheath it?
    So I am going to say that this type of rule following just saps the fun out of the game and I think the DM should ignore some rules in a way that I consider "streamlining."

    But if you want to go technical. The damage maxes out at 1d6 and thus 6 damage correct? Thus if the item has a hardness of 6 would not take any hitpoint damage per the item. Thus you just need a sheathe which is hardness of 6.

    Leather only has a hardness of 2 so it will not work, but any of the metals, bone or stone has a hardness of 6 or higher.

    https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...dnesses-amp-HP!

    Furthermore Races of Stone has dwarvencraft properties which increases the hardness of an item by 2 and hitpoints of 10. Dwarvencraft is effectively masterwork + that also stacks with any additional magic weapon enhancement. A dwarvencraft weapon costs 600 gp more than a standard weapon of its type. Dwarvencraft armor and shields cost 300 gp more than standard armor and shields.

    Likewise the Spell Compendium (also in Deities and Demigods / Magic of Faerun / Eberron Campaign Setting, D&D means it is in the d20srd .) has a 6th level spell called Hardening. It is permanent with no material cost for the older versions of the spell while Spell Compendium gives it a material cost of 50 gp per 10 cubic feat / level (thus 50 gp.) While a 6th level spell is hard for a player to grab until lvl 11 to 20 it would be reasonable to expect if you go into a city there will be wizard crafters and one of the things they do even for "non magical weapon and armor" they will be crafting mundane items and then hardness boosting them and selling the improved item at a small profit.

    Yadda, yadda, yadda the standard action to activate or deactivate after pulling the item from the sheath is a tax that should be streamline away for it just slows the game down and is less fun. If your DM insists on it, point out to her / him that there are material ways to answer said tax and for the sake of play just pay the extra money for Hardening or Dwarvencraft or carrying a "Heavy" sheath around and do not pay the extra actions for standard actions at the start of combat are useful.
    Last edited by Ramza00; 2020-05-31 at 12:16 PM.
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