Brilliant Energy Weapons - Ignore Shields?

[Gort]

I believe you posted the 3.0 ability. In 3.0 the shields granted an armor bonus (that stacked with the armor bonus from armor) rather than shield bonuses as in 3.5.

The 3.5 ability as stated in the SRD is thus.

That's strange. That's not what it says in my 3.5 DMG. Check it. Must be an errata or something.

Oh, and Dcollins, those rules stink. That damn "character wealth by level" table in the DMG has long since meant that the main source for wealth in our campaign is the bodies of deceased PCs... We play an evil campaign, and y'know, sometimes you don't like someone enough to resurrect 'em. Or they side with the good guys, and you definitely don't want to resurrect 'em then.

I prefer a more upgrade-friendly game.

 

[dcollins]

Oh, and Dcollins, those rules stink. That damn "character wealth by level" table in the DMG has long since meant that the main source for wealth in our campaign is the bodies of deceased PCs... We play an evil campaign, and y'know, sometimes you don't like someone enough to resurrect 'em. Or they side with the good guys, and you definitely don't want to resurrect 'em then.

I prefer a more upgrade-friendly game.

So you have such a super-abundance of available wealth that you're irritated that the rules don't give you refunds for downgrading magic items? That's a pretty odd line of reasoning.

But, it's your game, have fun. Next time, you may just want to explicate any House Rule-d modifications important to postings here in the Rules Forum.

 

[liquid]

Yes, it would ignore a wall of force because it is non-living matter. The sword is not ethereal or incorporeal. What it does is clearly stated and that is ignore non-living matter.

I would rule the hilt it not BE so how effective they could be swinging through a wall of force would be questionable, but the blade part of the weapon would bypass a wall of force according to how it is written.

A person using a brilliant energy weapon is also incapable of using Combat Expertise if he has it since that feat is considered parrying.

 

[Hypersmurf]

A person using a brilliant energy weapon is also incapable of using Combat Expertise if he has it since that feat is considered parrying.

Interesting House Rule, but Combat Expertise provides a Dodge bonus.

You can use Combat Expertise to generate a miss from a Disintegrate ray, for example, without needing to stick your sword in the way...

-Hyp.

 

[Gort]

So you have such a super-abundance of available wealth that you're irritated that the rules don't give you refunds for downgrading magic items? That's a pretty odd line of reasoning.

It's only odd because I must've made it confusing. We have an under-abundance of wealth, so the characters who stay alive from level to level are far below those who get created at the level. Hence, the best way to get cash is to loot the new characters when they die.

Thus, it would be nice if those characters who do stay alive were somehow rewarded for this, rather than the players who get their old character killed and make a new one with far better items.