Hey Fieari mate, don't know how I missed this post. Sorry about that. I had to work the 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th this past week but I almost always check the forums every day. Anyway...onto your idea.
Fieari said:
Here's a proposal. The idea is to simulate the strain of wielding something so heavy, with significant penalties. Orichalcum weapons must be enchanted with a weight-reducing spell. While the weight is reduced, the weapon acts purely as an adamantine weapon. However, with a minor action (encounter power?), the weight can be increased momentarily, increasing the base-weapon damage (and thus, can be multiplied by dailies and whatnot).
The strain of doing so is sufficient to drain your healing surges. The amount of surges needed is based on the number of size categories it would have simulated-- cumulative. So increasing your base damage 1 step is 1 healing surge. Increasing 2 steps is 3 (2+1) healing surges. Increasing 3 steps is 6 (3+2+1) healing surges. And so on. In addition, whether hitting or not, it will deal shockwave damage around the target equal to half the damage roll, for a burst area equal to the number of steps. After using this ability, you must use a standard, or perhaps a standard and a move action to reclaim your weapon.
I'd prefer if the "steps" increased the average damage by about 1 per die... you know, increasing the die type by one up to d12, but that raises the question of how to go above d12's and keep it even.
What do you think?
Okay, some stuff I like, some I don't.
1. Not sure about the idea of mitigating the mass with magic. Wouldn't it just be easier to increase mass with magic on command rather than lower it? While I know anti-magic isn't prevailant in 4E, it seems that anyone in such a situation is losing the use of their weapon.
2. I like the idea of the blast radius being equal to the healing surges spent, but I am not so sure about the use of healing surges overall.
Solution
I think the solution lies within my Revised Fighter pdf. In that document, you could use the multiple attacks option at -2 per additional attacks (applied to all attacks that standard action).
With Orichalcum weapons all we need to do is apply a damage multiplier based (x2, x3, x4, x5, x6, x7, x8) on the original Orichalcum percentages with a -2 attack penalty for each increase in multiplier.
e.g. 0.19% Orichalcum weapons would have a x5 multiplier but have a -8 attack penalty.
On a miss you could say that...
EITHER (Downward Swing)
...the shockwave hits the ground and radiates 1 square for each point of multiplier. THIS is when the wielder loses a healing surge (since the weapon hits the ground).
The big problem here is weapon damage on the shockwave. With the area increasing I think it should only be equal to the normal weapon damage (before orichalcum multipliers).
OR (Any other swing)
...the wielder is dazed until the end of their next turn.
So maybe
STR 21 = 0.0004%, x2 Dmg, -2 Penalty to hit, 2 sq radius burst wave on (downward swing) miss
STR 24 = 0.003%, x3 Dmg, -4 Penalty to hit, 3 sq radius burst wave
STR 27 = 0.024%, x4 Dmg, -6 Penalty to hit, 4 sq radius burst wave
STR 30 = 0.19%, x5 Dmg, -8 Penalty to hit, 5 sq radius burst wave
STR 33 = 1.5%, x6 Dmg, -10 Penalty to hit, 6 sq radius burst wave
STR 36 = 12.5%, x7 Dmg, -12 Penalty to hit, 7 sq radius burst wave
STR 39 = 100%, x8 Dmg, -14 Penalty to hit, 8 sq radius burst wave
What do you think?
I may flesh this out a bit more and use it as an article on my website over the weekend.
...actually, just thinking about it I believe we might be able to get away with the original damage modifiers as follows:
STR 21 = 0.0004%, x1.5 Dmg, -1 Penalty to hit, 1 sq radius burst wave on (downward swing) miss
STR 24 = 0.003%, x2 Dmg, -2 Penalty to hit, 2 sq radius burst wave
STR 27 = 0.024%, x3 Dmg, -4 Penalty to hit, 3 sq radius burst wave
STR 30 = 0.19%, x4 Dmg, -6 Penalty to hit, 4 sq radius burst wave
STR 33 = 1.5%, x6 Dmg, -10 Penalty to hit, 6 sq radius burst wave
STR 36 = 12.5%, x8 Dmg, -14 Penalty to hit, 8 sq radius burst wave
STR 39 = 100%, x12 Dmg, -22 Penalty to hit, 12 sq radius burst wave
Also instead of directly attacking the opponent, the wielder might want to try a Close Blast attack by deliberately striking the ground.