+2 Flaming, Shocking, Frezzing Great Axe

[kreynolds]

How'd he get an implosion into his 4th level spell slot? Or a disintigrate into his 3rd level slot?

He didn't. I never said he did either. At lower levels, GMW is nice to have if you don't have a weapon of sure strking, but a sure striking weapon at lower level is pretty damn handy. Sure, there aren't many creatures with DR ?/+4 or higher, but there are a boatload of them that have DR ?/+3 or lower, which justifies the purchase of a sure striking weapon.

The party in my RttToH campaign lives on the spell.

They wouldn't live on it so much if they had a sure strking weapon though.

Of course, they use Gloves of Storing and extend spell to make the GMW last effectively until dispelled.

If the GMW is being cast by a cleric of a good deity in the party, then I can understand them relying upon it so heavily, as your weapon is considered blessed, and running around in a temple of evil, well, that's pretty wise to use GMW.

If the GMW is being cast by a wizard though, it would be better if they just purchased +1 sure striking weapons, or +2 or +3 weapons, and if they had the extra cash, spring for the holy weapon enhancement as well. If you find yourself relying heavily upon a spell that enhances your weapons, and you can get the permanent equivalent of the spell, you may as well get the weapon.

 

[Darklone]

Funny, but a tiefling has a resistance of 5 to each type on the axe.

That doesn't help him much against several attacks...

Enchant this axe with speed!

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Free Action

Isn't speaking a free action so he could technically activate all of the axes powers in one round?

Unless I make all three command words absurdly long so that he couldn't possibly say them in six seconds.

 

[gtJormungand]

Re: Free Action

Isn't speaking a free action so he could technically activate all of the axes powers in one round?

Unless I make all three command words absurdly long so that he couldn't possibly say them in six seconds.

It always takes a standard action to activate a magic item with a command word.

 

[jontherev]

A simple scabbard with endure elements on it should work. It should be cheaper than Gloves of Storing, but maybe not if you need several elements. It's better than giving up your Gloves of Dex +6 though...or Gauntlet of Rust...

 

[kreynolds]

Re: Free Action

Isn't speaking a free action so he could technically activate all of the axes powers in one round?

I know that gtJormungand already answered this, but just to make sure there's no confusion, I'll answer it too.

Absolutely not. Speaking is a free action, yes. Activating a command word activated magic item is always a standard action unless the item description specifically states otherwise.

 

[kreynolds]

A simple scabbard with endure elements on it should work.

That depends. Endure Elements only absorbs 5 points of damage of one type of energy selected per round. The weapon in question would be dealing more than that, and it would consist of multiple energy types.

If your weapon only had flaming on it, I don't know, maybe. I actually think its better that you have to turn all of the weapon enhancements on one by one. But that's just my opinion.

 

[Caliber]

Wouldn't it be possible to cast multiple Endure Elements on a sheath in order to give it resistance to multiple elements? Just helping out.

 

[Hammerhead]

Or, instead of purchasing +1 Sure Striking Weapons, they could purchase +1 Keen Weapons, or +1 Flaming Weapons, etc. Then, the 9th level cleric, using a Bead of Karma, makes those +4 Keen weapons, at caster level 13.

For most general applications, a Sure Striking weapon should be replaced with a +2 weapon, given that very few creatures have +3/X damage reduction. And if you can't afford +3 weapon or a GMW before you face those guys, you're screwed. Same for DR +4 guys.

The real use of a GMW is to enchant your +1 Holy, Flaming, Screaming, Corrosive, Keen, Greatsword with a +5 enhancement bonus, giving it an equivalent enhancement of +11, comparing to a +7.

 

[kreynolds]

For most general applications, a Sure Striking weapon should be replaced with a +2 weapon, given that very few creatures have +3/X damage reduction. And if you can't afford +3 weapon or a GMW before you face those guys, you're screwed. Same for DR +4 guys.

Your only screwed if you don't get a Sure Striking weapon. If you only have a +1 sword, and you don't have access to GMW, and you don't bother getting Sure Striking put on your weapon, then you deserve to be screwed.