+5 Adamantine Armor Spikes of Defending
kreynolds said:
Apparently so, as you should have recognized that the Defending enhancement is simply a magical version of fighting defensively, and you don't gain the AC bonus with fighting defensively unless you are fighting.
That is an interesting interpretation, but I still don't see it supported anywhere in the rules.
Moreso, the ability to transfer AC from a defending weapon is a free action. Once transfered, it lasts the round. How do you prevent someone from declaring that they are "using" their armor spikes when, say, fighting defensively as you require? Even if they end up swinging another weapon. After they declare the AC bonus as a free action, they simply switch their "active" weapon to another one they happen to be carrying in their hands as another free action.
From the ever-popular SRD:
"A defender weapon allows the wielder to transfer some or all of the sword’s enhancement bonus to his AC as a special bonus that stacks with all others. As a free action, the wielder chooses how to allocate the weapon’s enhancement bonus at the start of his turn before using the weapon, and the effect to AC lasts until his next turn."
I just checked to be sure. There is no eratta for the defending ability.
The sticking point is in the quote,"...before using the weapon,". What constitutes using the weapon to gain the benefits? Do I have to actually swing the weapon? Does this mean I can gain the AC simply by use the spikes to take my last attack in the round (the one that usually misses)? The rest of my attack before that can be with my main weapon, right?
And by the "use to get" interpretation, you cannot get the benefits of a defending weapon when taking the full defense action. That seems pretty lame to me.
CRGreathouse
Community Supporter
Corwin said:
You can't choose to take your last attack with another weapon. To get the benefi from a defending weapon, you must alot an attack to it; offhand attacks are sufficient. If you don't want to attack it's OK, but you still get the off-hand penalty.
CRGreathouse said:
Are you sure about that? If you don't attack with the offhand weapon (and therefore are not entitled to the defending power), why are you still incurring an off-hand penalty? If this is the case, holding a shield, spell component, or anything else in your offhand should incur penalties. More specifically, where does it state this in the rules?
kreynolds
First Post
jontherev said:
Yup. You have to use the weapon in order to gain the benefits. Using constitutes attacking. Attacking constitutes taking the attack action or full attack action. You can't use the weapon without taking either of these actions. Thus, if you don't take either of these actions, you are not using the weapon, thus you do not gain the Defending benefits. You can, however, take either of these actions and elect not to actually swing your weapon at anyone.
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kreynolds said:
Um, that's what I said. My question, which may not have been clear, was brought on by his statement, "If you don't want to attack it's OK, but you still get the off-hand penalty". I thought he was implying that just by holding an offhand weapon (and never using it, say as an attack action...not a full attack), you incur the standard TWF penalties. I was asking for a reference to this, as our group has never played this way.
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