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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 3695502" data-attributes="member: 3146">For the record, both abilities are from the magic item compendium.Is it really? Other +1 abilities of note: bane, keen, flaming/frost/shocking, ghost touch, mighty smiting (MIC), Caustic surge (MIC), Brutal Surge (MIC), blessed (MIC), sacred (MIC). Of course, it shouldn't just be compared to So, for which characters is it better than those abilities?For a sorcerer, it may be better, but for most sorcerers, they have much better things to spend their money on than melee weapons and much better things to do with their actions than to swing the melee weapons. Unless you're some kind of wierd or multiclass melee sorcerer, most bad guys will be glad you're swing a weapon at them instead of casting empowered arcs of lightning and sudden maximized horrid wiltings.For a fighter or barbarian, it is generally not worth it. At 6th level, a DC 12 (for the cha 8 barbarian) and at 20th level, a DC 20 (for the cha 10 fighter) stun ability is not worth it unless it's free. A paladin, or multiclass hexblade/marshal, on the other hand, may just have the charisma to make use of it. If we extrapolate the best case scenario for the enhancement, we'll put it in the hands of a 20th level paladin with a 26 charisma. 8/day DC 28 stun. That's pretty impressive for a +1 enhancement. In a core only game, it's probably not balanced, on the other hand, if you use the spell compendium and Complete Champion, etc, the 20th level paladin probably has quite a few swift spells he would like to cast or other swift action activation items that he would like to use and that goes a long way towards balancing the ability.For reference, I've played with a similar, but more overpowered ability from the DMG II--sudden stunning--for the better part of a year on a 14th-15th level melee cleric (16 charisma at the momement so 3/day at DC 20). It's proven useful on a couple occasions but hasn't really accomplished much and is generally just another opportunity for the bad guy to roll a 1 on a save.In general, I think this ability is pretty weak. The gambit that you propose--using it with a character who generally does not care about the enhancement of his weapon seems like it could wade into overpowered territory. (And that is the mark of a bad mechanic--one that only ceases being useless when it becomes overpowered). On the other hand, it's probably mostly dangerous because it's an unnamed, stacking bonus. Make it a morale bonus, for instance, and it becomes much less overpowered in most games that use non-core materials. (Since it would overlap with conviction).</blockquote>

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