About Defending weapons

[Hypersmurf]

Whoa. I screwed the pooch on that one.

Oh, good. So my dispel-and-orc-with-rusty-greataxe trick is safe

Does it change your opinion about sundering Defenders at all?

-Hyp.

 

[kreynolds]

Does it change your opinion about sundering Defenders at all?

Nah. The dispel magic thing wasn't my defense. I was trying to come up with an example that could further back up my opinion, thus pull the rug out from underneath you. Instead of dropping you on your back, I just slipped on the rug.

 

[Mordane76]

I'm still not completely convinced that +AC --> -MAB is enough of a trade-off without -DR as well, but now I have a whole new kettle of fish to stew about...

Dispel makes it possible for magical weapons to be broken more easily?! That means my Xth level wizard should employ lower level flunkies whose sole competence is sundering, because all I need is a well-placed area Dispel and those +4 longswords of wizard-slaying are now just regular longswords waiting for the well-placed blows of my mentally-challenged, sundering flunkie-bots.

I don't want to sound like a nay-sayer (and unfortunately my last like 10-15 posts have been nothing but... ), but that's a little ridiculous for a 3rd level spell. Maybe for greater dispelling, but I don't know about dispel magic.

 

[kreynolds]

...because all I need is a well-placed area Dispel and those +4 longswords of wizard-slaying are now just regular longswords...

Magic items are not effected by area dispels. See the description of Dispel Magic.

...that's a little ridiculous for a 3rd level spell.

It certainly would be if that were the case. I missed that for a good while, by the way.

 

[Femerus the Gnecro]

*Bump* for replies pertaining to the original topic

 

[Destil]

The sage has ruled that a defending weapon shifted to defense only ignores damage reduction according to the amount of the bonus used in offense, in the past. (so a +3 defender used to gain a +3 bonus to AC is a +0 sword with reguards to hit, damage and overcoming DR).

 

[dkilgo]

Please post his official, yet unofficial, ruling on this. I would like to read this for myself so that I may come back with a retort.

 

[The_lone_gunman]

Does it transfer its bonus to your AC directly or does it simply provide a better "defense" while using it. IE does it let you parry and swing around better etc. It seems that it would retain it's bonus for sundering and such, but since it is utilizing it's power better for defense, that magic is not available for overcoming DR and +hit/dmg. The magic is still there, however, it is simply using it to protect you better against blows.

This is how I interpret it anyway. I have not seen anything official on this however.

TLG

 

[dkilgo]

Does it transfer its bonus to your AC directly or does it simply provide a better "defense" while using it. IE does it let you parry and swing around better etc. It seems that it would retain it's bonus for sundering and such, but since it is utilizing it's power better for defense, that magic is not available for overcoming DR and +hit/dmg. The magic is still there, however, it is simply using it to protect you better against blows.

This is how I interpret it anyway. I have not seen anything official on this however.

TLG

I would have to say that it allows you to parry better by allowing the weapon to interfere with attacks that would normally hit the mark.

 

[Hejdun]

Dispel makes it possible for magical weapons to be broken more easily?! That means my Xth level wizard should employ lower level flunkies whose sole competence is sundering, because all I need is a well-placed area Dispel and those +4 longswords of wizard-slaying are now just regular longswords waiting for the well-placed blows of my mentally-challenged, sundering flunkie-bots.

Just one more reason I dispise Sundering in regular game play.