Spell opinions and damage reduction

[Anubis]

I have seen the new DR rules, and I'm not sure I like 'em so much. The old rules had too few things, but the new rules kinda go overboard. I look at the various damage reduction numbers, and I'm seeing absolutely no way for any one party to get prepared to face ANY challenge. You can't make weapons of multiple metals for one, and the magic enhancements for alignment weapons aren't at all cheap. This makes being prepared for any encounter impossible. Do you get a cold iron weapon or an adamantine weapon? What about silver weapons?

As such, I propose there to be a new set of spells that can temporarily turn a weapon into a specific metal. "Adamantine Weapon" would turn a weapon into adamantine for 1 round/level. "Silver Weapon" does the same except turning the weapon to silver. "Cold Iron Weapon" of course would turn it into cold iron.

I know these spells would be Transmutation, but what level should these spells be? I'm thinking:

Silver Weapon: Brd 2, Clr 1, Pal 2, Sor/Wiz 1
Cold Iron Weapon: Brd 4, Clr 2, Pal 3, Sor/Wiz 2
Adamantine Weapon: Brd 6, Clr 3, Pal 4, Sor/Wiz 2

Thoughts?

 

[Anubis]

I would also make stronger versions that last 1 hour/level.

Greater Silver Weapon: Clr 4, Sor/Wiz 4
Greater Cold Iron Weapon: Clr 5, Sor/Wiz 5
Greater Adamantine Weapon: Clr 6, Sor/Wiz 6

 

[Anabstercorian]

I don't know...

A large part of the flavor of the new DR is that you can't just have catch-all DR penetration. You need the right weapon for the job. While the need for these spells is obvious, it seems like it destroys the flavor...

I'd make these Transmutation spells based off the spell fabricate that actually take a chunk of the given metal and wrap it around the weapon like a foil.

However, under no circumstances should you give an adamantine weapon spell. The power of adamantine to pierce DR has nothing to do with magic and everything to do with sheer strength. Not a magic style thing at all.

 

[Anubis]

My problem with this flavor is that it takes away the party's ability (or even chances) of being prepared for multiple foes. How will a party deal with vampires AND demons in the same adventure? A weapon can't be made of silver AND cold iron, after all. How about golems and demons? Adamantine isn't cheap, and it doesn't combine with cold iron anyway. Seems that the odds of PCs winning such battles are almost nil, to be honest.

 

[Staffan]

How about carrying multiple weapons? A cold iron mace, a silver spear and an adamantine sword would probably be pretty good for a high-level character - getting both all the materials and all the damage types. You might want to make the mace good/lawful and the spear good/chaotic as well, to work better on fiends.

 

[Coredump]

But I think not being prepared *is* the flavor. Before, all you needed was one 'uber' weapon. Now you have choices. Should I use my normal +3 flaming sword, or my +1 cold iron sword?

Do I waste my time carrying weapons I may never need/want? Or do I not worry about it?

Perhaps it will lead to players doing more 'research' before going out,trying to learn the history of the area, to see what they might run into. Before they just had to trudge through, knowing their +4 sword was fine, now they need more knowledge.

And I'm not sure how helpful those spells will be anyway. If you don't know what you are running up against, is the wizard/cleric going to 'waste' a spell slot on one of these spells? And if you do know, go get a different weapon.

.

 

[Blacksad]

or you might indulge yourself in new metals (sorry for the mental image )

The new metal would have the ability to replace two or three other metals.

silver+adamantine=mithril

adamantine+cold iron=platinium

cold iron+silver=gold

silver+gold+adamantine=star metal

each metal having big cost, or requiring special treatment to be usable as weapon.

There is a section on special materials for weapons and armors in magic of faerun IIRC, you could find ideas in it.

For the good/evil chaotic/lawful weapon, perhaps you could use the rilmani (from fiend folio/planescape) and say that they have special moral and ethical enchantment (though which might only be wielded by neutral character in the moral or ethical axis).

If you prefer the spell version, I would make them level 2 spell at 10min/lvl and reduce the level for paladin/ranger (they get the spell later, so better giving them the spell when they need it).

 

[Gothmog]

The new DR rules are probably the single best change for 3.5 IMO. Basically, the new DR rules are a built-in safeguard against munchkins and overspecializing. No longer can one weapon be optimal in all situations. Thats fine, realistically, different weapons would be better for different tasks. You want to kill an unarmored person quickly? Use a sword. You want to punch through armored plates? Use a pick. This is no different, except that we are now taking into account the supernatural immunities of certain creatures. IMO, this goes a long way towards adding back some of the legendary atmosphere and sense of awe D&D has lost over the years in the quest for the bigger and bigger plus swords.

Also, if you look at the actual DR numbers, they are much lower. So while it is not essential to have a silver weapon for a werewolf, for example, it makes the task much easier. Something I am planning on implementing in my campaign is the concept that damage caused by any weapons other than the DR weapon type is non-lethal damage. However, it also means characters need to research what kinds of enemies they are likely to encounter more often, which IMO is a good thing- mindless door-crashing and slaughtering gets old quickly. I would hesitate to add the spells in you mentioned, especially the adamant one. Those spells are causing fundamental changes in the composition of the item in question, and I would make each of those spells at least one level higher if you use them.