Mercurial Greatsword

[Joseph Elric Smith]

New sun by gene wolfe
ken

 

[Joseph Elric Smith]

Re: Re: Mercurial Greatsword

More importantly, how popular is it with DMs...?

I tend to give out at least one variation of it in almost every campaign I run,but then again I am a huge new sun fan. Of course it also tend to be a magical weapon too, and one of those that goes up in power as the party progresses. so that when they find it it is liek plus 1 but it gain in power as the owner levels. before they came out with the mercurial sword. I used to make it +1 +2 damage to start, then +2 +4 damage etc as it's power progressed, but I liek the right up for it so know I use it pretty much as written in the book.
ken

 

[Joseph Elric Smith]

Re: Re: Re: Mercurial Greatsword

And apparently YOU've never read perhaps the greatest work of literature known to man -- a little something called "The Rest of This Thread"!



(Sorry, man, couldn't help it. You're like the 4th person to point this out. I was the second!)

And I am about number 10
ken

 

[SpikeyFreak]

It doesn't work, at least not in the real world. You might try a somewhat safer experiment to see how it (doesn't) work: take a big bottle (2 liters or so). Fill it about one third to one half with water, and put on the stopper. Try swinging it around and see if you get any additional accelleration from the water sloshing around in it.

It has nothing to do with acceleration.

--Pointy Spikey

Edit: Yes, do a little experiment. Take an empty 2-liter bottle and hit your computer with it as hard as you can. Now take one half-full and do it. See which one does more damage.

Edit2: The idea is from Gene Wolfe's works. Severius, the torturer, carried Terminus Est, a mercurial greatsword.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Ok, this is a rant. I am here to bitch about one of the cheesiest weapons ever developed for D&D. First off, I'd like to know where the idea for this weapon even spawned. Can anyone tell me? I've read my fair share of fantasy novels, and I do not recall a particular hero or villain using a mercurial weapon.

Secondly, what were the developers THINKING when they made this weapon? It is easily one of the biggest if not THE biggest min/max weapons in the game. Did they think players would NOT abuse it?

I need some feedback here. Exactly how popular is this weapon amongst other players? I am curious. I only play with a couple of different groups and only one particular person from the groups I play with uses one, but just that is enough to drive me nuts, especially as a DM.

Mercurial Greatsword? I thought you were describing the spiked chain!

 

[Negative Zero]

y'know, the so called "game balance" argment is just the ultimate GMs tool for telling a player "nyah-nyah you ca-an't haaave it!"

seriously tho, DnD IS a min-maxer's game. always has been. (at least 3.0 which is the bulk of my DnD experience always has been.) the DnD system assumes that the characters will specialise. and that different specialties will come together to make a great fighting whole. heck there was even min-maxing advice in the back oh my PHB.

the idea that somehow you were a "munchkin" if you were specialised in combat simply came about when some of us got older and started getting tired/bored with simply killing things. there is nothing wrong with powerful weapons. unless of course you've "graduated" to more social games. in which case, just don't use 'em.

~NegZ

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

y'know, the so called "game balance" argment is just the ultimate GMs tool for telling a player "nyah-nyah you ca-an't haaave it!"

I'd like to know why a player thinks they're entitled to something found in an optional book.

They know it's too good to be true.

 

[Joseph Elric Smith]

I'd like to know why a player thinks they're entitled to something found in an optional book.

They know it's too good to be true.

If a player want an item then it is up to the player and the Gm to come to terms. Game balance it ultimately in the DM hand. if the party is tough then you just add a few more mobs . If the game master feels some how a weapon is unbalancing there are lots of ways to bring the game in balance, .The game is about both the players and the game master creating a good game right?
Ken

 

[Carceri]

Thank you all for your responses and your input, and thanks for welcoming me to the forum. So the mercurial greatsword is from a story that is basically more of a sci-fi/fantasy genre than a straight up fantasy genre? I always did get the impression of 'Final Fantasy' when I considered the merc greatsword.

Anyway, I suppose some of us can agree to disagree, but I feel the mercurial greatsword is the most broken weapon I've ever seen. Drawing comparisons to a scythe...hmmm... ok, I see your point somewhat, but I think I'd rather see someone trying to abuse a scythe (as silly as it may look) than a merc greatsword. It isn't so much JUST the mercurial greatsword as it is the character wielding it. Ok, let me give you an example of what the character wielding one of these in the campaign I am running. He's a half-orc fighter/weapon master; with feats that are geared towards getting the most he possibly can out the particular weapon he uses (improved crit, power critical, specialization). I don't think some of you are taking into account such things when seriously weighing the differences between a standard greatsword wielder and a mercurial greatsword wielder.

Yes, the threat range is lower on a merc greatsword, but a merc greatsword crit has more potential to kill a foe in one blow than a standard greatsword does. I don't even think a greataxe is as deadly.

I thank you for some of your suggestions, but I do not know as though I can bring myself to sunder a character's favorite weapon. That isn't normally what I like to do and I don't think I've ever used the Sunder ability on a player yet. Sundering is not as easy as it sounds to begin with anyway. As I stated previously, this particular merc greatsword is magical; a mercurial greatsword of the planes. It just so happens that the creatures that they are fighting most of the time are outsiders, and none of them wield +4 or better weapons.

 

[Negative Zero]

I'd like to know why a player thinks they're entitled to something found in an optional book. ...

bah! everything in DnD is "optional." unless you use only the 3 core books and nothing else, you're in no position to talk about "optional" books. if you use even one house rule, you' you're using "optional" stuff.

(for the record i am using the collective "you" here.)

in addition, no one said anything about being "entitled" to anything. at least, i didn't. i see no reason why players and GMs can't discuss things.

also, i hope you realise that you quoted the joking part of my post (minus the smilie) and seemingly ignored the rest of it.

~NegZ