Adamantine Weapon

[Zaran]

The property of the Adamantine Weapon says this.

Property: Untyped damage done with this weapon ignores a number of points of resistance equal to twice the weapon’s enhancement bonus.

I have not found a single monster in the game that has resistance to Untyped damage. Not even golems have this kind of resistance. So is this an unutilized effect or am I just missing which monsters are affected?

 

[Chris Knapp]

There are a few. Usually its the result of a power they have. I searched for "resist all" and a few popped up. Then I searched for "resist n to all" and many more popped up with resist 5, 10, 15, etc.

 

[chitzk0i]

Gargoyles often have an alternate form that gives them resist all. There's some monster I've fought that has something like resist 5 weapon attacks. And there's the Terrasque. Sometimes objects have resist all, but usually they just have a boatload of hit points.

In general, though, Adamantine is one of those "Why did they print this?" items.

 

[malraux]

The property of the Adamantine Weapon says this.



I have not found a single monster in the game that has resistance to Untyped damage. Not even golems have this kind of resistance. So is this an unutilized effect or am I just missing which monsters are affected?

I'm reading that differently. I read that as the untyped damage from the weapon ignores any resistance not just untyped.

 

[FreeXenon]

I'm reading that differently. I read that as the untyped damage from the weapon ignores any resistance not just untyped.

Me too.

Untyped damage with this weapon... meaning damage done with this weapon by a power which does not have a typed damage (fire, cold, radiant, etc), which would benefit martial classes more than other classes since most other classes have typed damage.

So a ranger with an +3 admantine sword attacking a critter with resist 10 would have 6 points automatically go through and then the rest would be subject to the resistance.

I think items and constructs are the things that this will be most useful against. Most everything else has a typed resistance to damage (ie fire, necrotic, etc) to which untyped damage would not be subject to.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[Chris Knapp]

I'm reading that differently. I read that as the untyped damage from the weapon ignores any resistance not just untyped.

Well, by definition, doesn't untyped damage ignore a typed resistance anyway? A monster with resist cold 10 who is hit for 10 points of untyped damage would take 10 points, right?

 

[malraux]

Well, by definition, doesn't untyped damage ignore a typed resistance anyway? A monster with resist cold 10 who is hit for 10 points of untyped damage would take 10 points, right?

Yeah, upon rereading, I'm not sure what I was thinking.

 

[Redbadge]

I'm reading that differently. I read that as the untyped damage from the weapon ignores any resistance not just untyped.

This may be redundant because all weapons dealing untyped damage already "ignore any [typed] resistances not just untyped."

For example, a basic, non-magical longsword ignores Resist 5 fire. It also ignores Resist 5 Cold/Resist 5 Acid/Resist 5 Lighting and Thunder.

A +3 Adamantine weapon ignores 6 resistance from Resist 10 all so that it effectively becomes Resist 4 all against that weapon. It ignores any and all resistance other than "untyped," and would do so whether it was adamantine or not.

Actually, scratch that. I think there are some resistances that include "Resist X Weapon." In that case, any untyped damage from a +3 Adamantine Weapon would treat Resist 10 Weapon as Resist 4 Weapon, whereas a mundane longsword obviously would not. I can't think of any other examples right now (maybe Resist 10 Axes?, Resist 10 Steel?, Resist 10 Magic Items?).

 

[the Jester]

Also, it's design space that monsters could fill. For instance, having a cache of adamantine weapons in an adventure specifically to deal with a certain horrendous monster at the end could be pretty cool (assuming the party doesn't end up having all adamantine weapons for their own stuff at the end- that would be kind of boring).

 

[Mentat55]

Also, it's design space that monsters could fill. For instance, having a cache of adamantine weapons in an adventure specifically to deal with a certain horrendous monster at the end could be pretty cool (assuming the party doesn't end up having all adamantine weapons for their own stuff at the end- that would be kind of boring).

Exactly what Jester said. Don't do this all the time, but if a PC has an adamantine weapon, throw in a monster or two that has resist all, and let them shine for that encounter.

Also, many objects and traps similarly have resist all. An adamantine weapon can help out in all of these circumstances.