D&D 3E/3.5 3.5 Crit and Weapon Questions

[Rineran Foxfire]

First question, what books are Laminated Steel and Serrated in? I was told I can get Scimitar to a 17-20 x3 +1 Damage with those and I need to know what book they are in when my DM asks.

Second question, when using a Double Scimitar do both blades need to be enchanted or does just the weapon as a whole need to be enchanted? Say I wanted to enchant the Double Scimitar with +3 Shock and Frost would I need to pay 50,000 gold for each blade or just for the full weapon?

Third question, when using a Laminated Steel Serrated Scimitar ( 1d6 17-20 x3) would Improved Critical make the critical range 13-20 x3 or would it not stack and only make it 15-20 x3?

The Campaign is for D&D Version 3.5 in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.

 

[Corwin of Amber]

from d20 srd:
"Masterwork double weapons incur double the masterwork cost to account for each head (+300 gp masterwork cost per head for a total of +600 gp). Double weapons have separate magical bonuses for their different heads. If randomly determined, the second head of a double weapon has the same enhancement bonus as the main head (01-50 on d%), doubling the cost of the bonus, or its enhancement bonus is one less (51-100 on d%) and it has no special abilities. All magic weapons are masterwork weapons."

Basically, there's no real difference between a double weapon and dual wielding, besides the feats you can take. Although, many of those are the same too.

Sorry that I can't help with serrated and laminated steel, I've never heard of those.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

According to post#15 in this thread at GitP, Laminated and Serrated come from AEG's book "Mercenaries".

I don't think Serrated stacks with Improved Critical, though. According to the SRD:

Improved Critical [General]
Choose one type of weapon.

Prerequisite
Proficient with weapon, base attack bonus +8.

Benefit
When using the weapon you selected, your threat range is doubled.

Special
You can gain Improved Critical multiple times. The effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new type of weapon.

This effect doesn’t stack with any other effect that expands the threat range of a weapon.

A fighter may select Improved Critical as one of his fighter bonus feats.

.

 

[Dross]

The Campaign is for D&D Version 3.5 in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.

According to post#15 in this thread at GitP, Laminated and Serrated come from AEG's book "Mercenaries".

I don't think Serrated stacks with Improved Critical, though. According to the SRD:

Mercenaries is my recollection. I'm sure that the book is 3.0, while the SRD quote is 3.5.

A double weapon is treated almost like two weapons. This does however allow for some specialisation in each blade (which I would suggest since you drop 1 attack but make the weapon a two-hander if something is immune/resistant to one blade).

I would certainly take the serrated edge as an effect that extended the threat range.

As a side note, some of the stuff in Mercenaries looks like they wanted to up the power level from the PHB. A few good ideas but needing watching (the power-gamers were always grabbing stuff out of it in preference to equivalent PHB stuff while we were 3.0). It may not be as bad with some of the changes made between 3.0 & 3.5 though.

 

[Persiflage]

First question, what books are Laminated Steel and Serrated in? I was told I can get Scimitar to a 17-20 x3 +1 Damage with those and I need to know what book they are in when my DM asks.

Mercenaries. More specifically, Mercenaries pg. 91...

"Benefits of a Laminated Steel Weapon: A laminated steel weapon gains +1 to all its damage rolls and its critical hit multiplier goes up by one as well. For example, a laminated steel longsword deals 1d8+1 damage and has a X3 critical hit multiplier. Furthermore, the weapon gains +5 to its normal hardness."

..and pg. 92...

"Benefits of a Serrated Weapon: A serrated weapon has its critical hit threat range increased by +1. For example, a serrated longsword has a critical threat range of 18-20, instead of 19-20."

The "laminated" property is 900gp, the "serrated" property is 300gp. Weirdly, the weapon doesn't have to be masterwork in order to have either property, although a weapon can be masterwork as well. Adding more than one property is expensive: you add the cost of each property and then multiply by the number of properties involved. So if you wanted a masterwork, serrated, laminated steel scimitar as the basis for an enchanted weapon, it would cost:

[300gp (masterwork) + 300 (serrated) + 900 (laminated steel)] x3 = 4,500gp. Plus, of course, the 15gp base cost of the scimitar: musn't forget that

The end result would be a scimitar with a critical threat range of 17-20, a critical hit multiplier of x3, hardness of 15 and 1d6+1 base damage.

Second question, when using a Double Scimitar do both blades need to be enchanted or does just the weapon as a whole need to be enchanted?

You pay twice, once for each blade. This isn't so bad if you're a Kensai

Third question, when using a Laminated Steel Serrated Scimitar ( 1d6 17-20 x3) would Improved Critical make the critical range 13-20 x3 or would it not stack and only make it 15-20 x3?

By the rules, it would not stack: not unless you could somehow convince your DM that a serrated weapon isn't "a weapon with a property applied that expands the threat range", but is instead "a different weapon, similar to one that is not serrated, but with a larger threat range".

In the unlikely event that you do manage to pull that argument off, expect to be made to take Exotic Weapon Proficiency before you can use it without penalty