Putting "Vorpal" on a bow

[Jdvn1]

If I had a vorpal glove could I make every stone I threw Vorpal? How about if I threw a bannana?

Whoa, put that hot dog down! You forgot to take off your gloves!

 

[MerakSpielman]

I guess the reason I'm going to allow it is because it's so damn expensive. Putting Vorpal on the bow means he's giving up a lot of other abilities he could be paying for instead.

 

[Majere]

I guess the reason I'm going to allow it is because it's so damn expensive. Putting Vorpal on the bow means he's giving up a lot of other abilities he could be paying for instead.

Number one mistake
He is giving up nothing
Archers are the epitomy of min max because you can enchant both bow and arrow.

So with an arcane archer build (to make every arrow a +5 arrow) you an have a:

Vorpal,Seeking,Speed +1 bow with
Flaming,Icy,Acidic,Thundering,Shock,Holy,Axiomic +1 arrows

For a bow dealing D8 +9d6+5+Str on each shot, and the archer can carry "sets" of arrows, to get the best alignment base damage on each shot.
eg.
(Lawful,Holy),(Lawful,Evil), etc

Of course this sounds expensive, but Im sure that with this ruling you will also allow him to put returning on the arrows

Majere

 

[Scion]

I guess this is the wrong place to say that vorpal should simply be banned anyway from any weapon?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

About the +1 everything arrows. I read atomic instead of axiomatic

I guess this is the wrong place to say that vorpal should simply be banned anyway from any weapon?

Not really. I kind of concur. I don't ban it outright, but instead change the way it works. Instead of taking off the head, it performs a CdG instead. So you can survive it. OK, copious amounts of damage and a difficult Fort save don't sound like "walk in the park", but it's possible. (And you can't just step up to just about anything and have a chance to kill it with one lucky hit).

 

[Gez]

If it lets you do a CdG, does that mean that a vorpal sword is more dangerous in the hands of a rogue? You add your sneak attack damage to your CdG damage (since the opponent is supposed to be helpless).

Otherwise, vorpal just becomes a save-vs.-death... Because a CdG is an automatic critical, but the vorpal effect requires a critical anyway!

 

[Trainz]

Not really. I kind of concur. I don't ban it outright, but instead change the way it works. Instead of taking off the head, it performs a CdG instead.

IMC, we changed vorpal to simply increase the crit multiplier i.e. a vorpal keen scimitar would have a crit range of 15+ and x3 damage.

Not too shaby. But not insta-kill either.

And not to mention that no melee types IMC put keen on their weapons because it doesn't stack with Imp Crit. They really nerfed Keen in 3.5. They should have modified it to simply increase crit range by 1 i.e. a scimitar would have a crit range of 17+, and in the hands of someone with improved crit 14+.

 

[Greatwyrm]

IIRC, Nyambe had a weapon power called Heart Seeking. Basically the same mechanics as vorpal, except it impaled the heart of the target, instead of cutting off their head. Can't recall if it was more expensive or not.

 

[was]

My player just got his bow enchanted with the Vorpal ability.
So, my question is, is this just totally munchkin? Should I not have allowed it?

1. IMO yes, it is totally munchkin.
2. The decision to allow it depends on your campaign (high or low magic, flavor etc..).
3. Vorpal has always been problematic, thus it is often house-ruled out (for both the pc's and npc's).

 

[Testament]

IIRC, Nyambe had a weapon power called Heart Seeking. Basically the same mechanics as vorpal, except it impaled the heart of the target, instead of cutting off their head. Can't recall if it was more expensive or not.

It did? Damn, that's what I call a vopral piercing weapon in my game as well...
What about a vorpal bludgeoning weapon? I'm thinking "Skullcrushing".

Oh, and a vorpal bow is insanely munchkin, since you can give it to an Arcane Archer (shudder...)

More importantly, it breaks one of the fundamental paradigms of D&D, the bigger risk pays off. That's why its so much easier to do gobloads of damage in close combat than it is with a bow.