Lightsaber wannabe

[jaker2003]

ok, I need to make sure this is balanced and finished, because I NEED it for a campiagn I'll be running. I know it sounds like a Lightsaber, but it doesn't have any of that unbalancing 'slicing through everything' qualities.


Force Blade: This steel rod is shaped like a sword hilt. When the rod is activated, a blade composed entirely of force spring forth from the base of the hilt, forming a short sword, long sword, bastard sword, or great sword. The particular blade is determined at creation. Because the blade of the sword is a force effect, it strikes true against incorporeal creatures. This weapon can still gain weapon special abilities and weapon enhancements. A standard force blade has a +1 enhancement bonus. Because the hilt of the force blade is not a force effect, an incorporeal creature cannot wield the force blade by the handle unless the force blade is itself incorporeal or the weapon gains the ghost touch special ability. The force blade is usually activated as it is being drawn, but can be activated as part of another action.
Moderate evocation; CL 13; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Rod, wall of force, or Mordenkainen’s sword, creator must be a caster of at least 9th level; Price 11,000 gp plus the masterwork cost of the sword used.


I need any help you can offer, I'm a powergamer, so I'm not good at balancing. I know it mimics ghost touch, but the force effect seemed the best way to do it.

 

[jaker2003]

Okay, so maybe its more like the energy swords from Tenchi Muyo.

 

[the Jester]

Do you have RttToEE? The rod of force in there might be just what you're after...

 

[IcyCool]

So, since the blade of the sword is a force effect, does it bypass damage reduction?

The closest thing I can come up with using the D&D 3.5 rules is the following:

+1 Ghost Touch Brilliant Energy [type of sword]

That's a +6 or +7 equivalent. That should give you an idea of how expensive a weapon like this will be.

 

[jaker2003]

Do you have RttToEE? The rod of force in there might be just what you're after...

What's RttToEE?

 

[Sejs]

What's RttToEE?

Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. A published adventure that picks up from an old 1st ed favourite.

 

[jaker2003]

Okay, how about this one?

Energy Blade: This steel rod is shaped like a sword hilt. When the rod is activated, a glowing translucent blade composed entirely of energy springs forth from the base of the hilt, forming either a short sword, long sword, bastard sword, or great sword. The particular sword is determined at creation. The sword sheds light as a candle. This weapon can still gain weapon special abilities and weapon enhancements. Regardless of the material the sword was originallr crafted from, the energy blade always strikes as a steel sword. A standard force blade has a +1 enhancement bonus. The energy blade is usually activated as it is being drawn, but can be activated as part of another action.
Moderate evocation and faint transmutation; CL 14; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Rod, shrink item, wall of force, or Mordenkainen’s sword, creator must be a caster of at least 9th level; Price 5,000 gp plus the masterwork cost of the sword used.

I think this more closely matches what I was going for.

 

[The Edge]

Removeing the 'force' part simplifies things nicely. This weapon would go nicely with a 'force/energy' sheild I thought of.

It sounds about ok, dont just rely on my opinion though.

 

[Nim]

"Strikes as a steel sword". Is this intended to mean that the 'energy blade' is not actually an energy attack, and is treated precisely as a normal weapon for the purposes of Damage Reduction?

Well, let's see. It won't work in an Anti-Magic Field. On the other hand, it presumably cannot be Sundered.

Spiritual Weapon should be one of the possible pre-requisite spells.

You should probably drop the 'plus the cost of the masterwork weapon' bit from the cost. It's a conjured blade; there's really no need to start with a masterwork weapon that will then be detroyed. However, you SHOULD base the cost on the size of the weapon. The primary advantage of this weapon (aside from being unsunderable) is that it is easy to carry and conceal when compared to a standard weapon of the same size. The bigger the weapon, the more of an advantage that is. So...an energy greatsword should cost more than an energy shortsword.

 

[IcyCool]

Ok, let's break this out a bit.

It seems to me like you want a sword with a blade made out of energy or force. If that has no actual game effect, I don't see any reason not to price it normally (maybe charge a teeny bit extra for the "unique and cool factor").

If the blade counts as a force effect, that means it will be able to strike ethereal creatures (ghost touch, effectively), can't be sundered (though a disintegrate might still work), and can bypass damage reduction. It might possibly be subject to spell resistance though.

If the blade does energy damage of some sort (fire, cold, acid, sonic, electricity), or is treated like a Brilliant Energy weapon, then there are already enchantments for that.

If you are just looking for the following, see my pricing suggestions below:

Force Weapon: This enchantment replaces the striking portion of a weapon with magical force (the blade for swords, the axehead for axes, etc.). When activated, a glowing translucent striking surface composed of magical force springs forth from the base of the hilt. The weapon counts as a ghost touch weapon and sheds light as a candle. As the striking surface of the weapon has been converted into pure force, it cannot be sundered, though it is affected by a disintegrate spell normally. For purposes of overcoming damage reduction only, the weapon is treated as the same type of material it was before this enchantment. It can still gain weapon special abilities and weapon enhancements, except for the Brilliant Energy enchantment.

+2 Enhancement bonus (+1 for ghost touch ability, and +1 for unbreakable). I'd maybe require Mordenkainen's Sword, or Spiritual Weapon as a spell pre-requisite, but probably just leave it at +2.