A flaming, frost, shock, corrosive question.

[SSuser]

Why does a flaming (frost, shock, corrosive) weapon deal an extra d6 damage? I hadn't given this any thought before, because I'd never played a character that crafted items. Now that I am playing a crafter, I've realized it makes no sense. What I mean is, a flaming dagger gets the same bonus fire damage as a flaming great sword. Why? Are the flames hotter on a shorter blade?

For the next home game I run I have been kicking around the idea of modifying flaming and the others. Flaming would cause an additional 1/2 weapon damage. So a flaming dagger would deal d4 damage + d2 fire damage. While a flaming great sword would deal 2d6 damage + d6 fire damage. This of course means that I would change the burst ability as well. Burst would deal one full additional weapon die in damage on a successful critical hit.

I may have gotten this idea from the one unconcluded 4e game that I played in, but meh.

 

[ValhallaGH]

It's magic, it doesn't have to make any kind of sense. That's why it's MAGIC.

Lighting a character on fire (i.e. covering them in oil and holding a torch to their flesh until the begin to immolate) deals 1d6 damage per round.

These magical weapon effects are equally deadly, though only for the length of contact.


Good luck.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

I suspect the quick answer for the "why" is: The enhancement damage is the same regardless of weapon size simply because the enhancement is priced the same regardless of weapon size.

So when you're HRing an enhancement's damage output, you may want to keep in mind how its cost might be affected as well-- if game balance is a big concern to you. (And I really don't know how big an issue it would actually be!)

An interesting idea, though. If you get it play-tested, post and let us know what you end up doing and how well it works.