Is there a "material altering" weapon enchantment?

[der_kluge]

I don't have a problem with an item that could change its material based on a command-word. I'd give it about a +4 enchantment, however. We'll call it transmutable for lack of a better word.

So, you could have a transmutable +1 longsword. It could be made of ice, or fire, or adamantine, or silver, or cold iron, or heck, just about anything you wanted.


Coincidentally, my DM has given something very similar to the party. It's essentially a handle with a spike, and whatever the spike touches, and you utter the command phrase, it becomes that material. Currently, it's made of magic ice.

 

[thundershot]

I would vote against such an enhancement, both in general & in this specific instance.

First, take the Quarterstaff. It's a metal-shod staff, and a double weapon. Which means you can have one end be cold iron, & the other be adamantine. Which, if you're a wizard and/or not into TWF with your staff, will work just fine. Buy a vial of Silversheen and all your bases are covered. So an enhancement isn't really necessary.

Second, consider the other types of DR. Would you allow a "damage type mophing" enhancement to change your weapon damage between piercing, slashing & bludgeoning? I use this as an example to show the motive for the request: it's purely to always be able bypass DR with a single weapon, which runs completely counter to the whole point of restructuring DR.

Lastly, think about what it means to not be able to breach DR now. It means your wizard with a +1 Quarterstaff will probably only do one or two points of damage with his staff, if that; rather than dump two points of enhancement into "polyweapon shifting", why not pick up two energy types? That's an extra 7 damage on average, which more than makes up for the 5 points lost to most DR.

Well.... I never said it would be cheap. I mean, if a VORPAL weapon is +5, surely a transmuting weapon is worth +3 or +4. Give it a nice restriction like transforming it is a full round action, and it could balance itself out nicely. (though maybe a move action or standard action would be more appropriate)



Chris

 

[FoxWander]

Personally I think the idea that there ISN'T a transmuting spell or effect like this is just a cop out. Sure it would make needing to have special material weapons no longer a big thing like they obviously wanted to do with the new DR rules, so I can understand not including spells like this strictly from a "concept" standpoint. The problem is there's no way a world like what the D&Dverse is supposed to be like wouldn't have spells like this. Especially if you need special materials to combat monsters.

In a world where wizards create "Floating Disk" spells so they can haul more treasure out of dungeons ( because killing things and taking their treasure is a valid career path ) there's no way you can make me believe there would NOT be spells that can temporarily alter the material of a weapon.

I say make a spell that does it and give it a suitably high material component cost. Chunks of wrought iron or silver may not be that expensive, but adamantite should be. Or bypass the whole thing with an alteration to the permanent version of "Shrink Item" and give fighters a 'charm bracelet' of special material weapons.

 

[Tessarael]

So how is casting a spell to make the weapon Silver for some duration any different to Silversheen?

Most creatures with DR/material need Cold Iron or Silver (and sometimes the weapon needs to be Good). The solution seems to be to use a Cold Iron weapon and have Silversheen (see 3.5E DMG magic items) handy. In particular, as Alchemical Silver weapons have a -1 damage penalty.

Using a spell (Prestidigitation/Telekinesis variant with component Silver) to coat a blade quickly with something like Silversheen seems entirely reasonable. Other materials (Cold Iron and Adamantine) are not so accessible.

 

[Petrosian]

So how is casting a spell to make the weapon Silver for some duration any different to Silversheen?

thats easy...

one would be a character ability, making the hero the special thing with the trait needed to meet the challenge.

the other keeps the focus and import on the *items* as 3.5 was designed to do.

 

[Kerrick]

In a world where wizards create "Floating Disk" spells so they can haul more treasure out of dungeons ( because killing things and taking their treasure is a valid career path ) there's no way you can make me believe there would NOT be spells that can temporarily alter the material of a weapon.

Well, as it so happens, this is from Arcane Strife, which was written shortly before 3.5 came out; I developed this spell when I heard about the new DR system.

Alter Weapon Material
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Area: One weapon
Duration: One minute/level
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
The lack of magical weapons during the First Lich King War badly hurt the freedom fighters and rebels who were attempting to throw off the yoke of slavery that the Eternal Kings had laid upon the entire world. Many creatures could only be hurt by a specific type of material or a magical weapon, and many of those materials were rare at best. This spell was devised to ensure that those who faced the minions of the Undying Lords had the ability to stand against them and hopefully defeat them. Since the end of the war, this spellbook has remained in the hands of many mages and is often one of the spells that mage colleges grant young mages before they go out into the world.
This spell alters one weapon's material type, so that it is considered another type of metal for purposes of damage reduction. For instance, a steel sword could be changed to silver, cold iron, or adamantine. The spell does not in any way actually change the material of the weapon; a steel sword altered to silver can still be affected by a rust monster's attack. Note that weapons cannot be made blessed or holy with this spell – it only alters the type of material.
Weapons under the influence of this spell glitter slightly as if the blade were dusted with the substance the spell emulates.

I thought (briefly) about making this a weapon enchantment, but ditched the idea - for one thing, there was no real way to govern how it changed, and for another, it was just too powerful.

And hey, here's another one as a bonus.

Silversteel
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Touch
Target: One object, up to 5 lbs/level
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fort negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
During the early days of the Human/Vampire War, when it looked bad for those who dared stand up against the undying tyranny of the Vampire Lords, this spell is one of the magics that turned the tide. Silver weapons were soft and melted in the face of arcane fire, while the steel blades of the vampires who chose to wield weapons still sliced souls free of flesh. This spell changed all of that and gave the humans their first edge against their undying opponents.
Silversteel turns normal, nonmagical silver into a substance that has the durability, tensile strength, and high melting point of steel, yet carries silver's corrosion-resistant properties, high sheen, and the ability to strike some undead, lycanthropes, and devils. Only a relatively small amount of silver can be affected (a maximum of five pounds per level), and it must form one whole object. Silversteel has a hardness of 13 and 30 hp per inch.
Material Component: A chunk of silver/steel alloy (at least 5 gp worth of each).

 

[Anubis the Doomseer]

Q: What's the reason for having specific-material DRs?

A: So that PCs will need specific-type weapons to bypass the DR.

so...

Q: What does having a material-altering spell do to that?

A: Remove that need.

Exactly. I'm thinking from an in-setting perspective. Necessity is the mother of invention. It would make sense for a mage to research such spells (moreso the size-changing one than the material one) because there is a need for them (because a low-level size-changing spell or weapon/armor enchantment would be more valuable than casting Item on everything).

Besides - there is already precedent: the Align Weapon spell.

- Ma'at

 

[apocalypstick]

Kerrick - IMO, Alter Weapon Material is overpowered for a 1st level spell, seeing as how Align Weapon - which doesn't involve a physical transmutation - is L2.

From an out-of-setting perspective, I don't think an Alter Weapon Material spell should exist at all; you might as well just strip the new DR rules out of 3.5 - which is a perfectly viable option, if you don't like them.

From an in-setting perspective, though, Anubis is right. Hmm... I don't look forward to telling the wizard PC in my game "uhh... you can't do that... because!" I think I would go L2 with it, or maye L3 (have to do some thinkin' bout it), and as a nod to game balance, add the caveat that it cannot affect weapons which already possess a magical enchantment.

 

[Anubis the Doomseer]

Adaptable Size - Level 2 spell, +1 enchantment equivalent. Allows the item to conform to the size of it's user - NOTE: it will not under or super-size itself, it will always remain the same size conpared to its wielder. For a goblin it is a small weapon, if a human or orc were to pick it up the weapon would become medium sized. If the human were then enlarged or polymorphed into a Large creature it would become a large weapon. Spell version of this ability supercedes any/all innate enchantments on the item except enhancement bonuses (much like how Holy Sword overrides a flametongue's powers).

Metamorphose Weapon (Lesser and Greater versions, level 3 and 4 respectively, or +2 enchantment equivalent). Spells allow an item to be changed at a material level (size and other properties remain the same). At level 3 the item can only be changed once (from normal to silver or silver to iron, for example). The Greater version of the spell (level 4), the caster may change the item's material properties once per round as a free action requiring concentration (DC = 10+spell level).

Sort of goes with my other ideas for spells, like spells/feats which add various templates to familiars (or the like, temporary effect for spells) and the idea of making Celestial/Demonic/Anarchic/etc armors (something that was inspired by a similar thread last month).

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

I'm just going to remove the materials clause from Polymorph Any Object. It'll be harder and costlier than aligning a weapon, but at least it'll be an option. This is one of the classical magic abilities throughout fantasy, and it's lack of inclusion smacks of letting rules dictate the setting, which IMO is a BAD THING. "Play balance" be damned. 15th Level Wizards should be able to do this and more.