Vorpal and Sharpness reborn

[Tarin Greenflame]

Might venture to say make sharpness +3...seeing as how it only works on crits, and vorpal is, imo, 2 steps up (2 more dmg die on crit and nasty death sv), unless you would consider X2 damage die on a crit and a steep fort save or die as a +1 enhancement...in which case you could make vorpal +6.

And yes, the save is steep. Let's make a vorpal scim, with just a +2 enchantment on it. Factor in, oh say a 14str, +2 dmg. On a crit, that is 2d6 + 8 (str and enhancement x2) + 6d6 =16-52 damage = fort save 16-52, average 32. And that is with a meere 14str and +2 enhancement, no holy/flame/shock/ice/x burst enhancement or anything else, and without a high str. That is on a scimitar; not a longsword, bastard sword, or great sword, which would make the save even harder and the damage heavier. With a greatsword or other 2hander you would likely have to save for massive damage in addition to the decapitation.

Vorpal is still quite worthy of a +5 enhancement modifyer, but I feel that the gap between sharpness and vorpal is too far for it to only be by a 1 enhancement modifyer, it should be a gap of 2.

Oh, and aside from that, those are some cool enhancements =p I will use 'em in my campaign.

 

[kreynolds]

OMG...

I am SO SORRY. I didn't read your sig.

Nor did you read the line right beneath my username that says "Not Sean".

 

[Valicor]

Not bad, Kreynold. I like what you have here.

 

[kreynolds]

Tarin Greenflame, if the market price modifier of anything would end up being lowered, it would be Sharpness. The original Vorpal meant instant death no matter what, so this version is no deadlier. In fact, at high levels, it won't be as deadly at all. Anybody else have any ideas about the Sharpness market price modifier? (+3, +4, or +5)

 

[Valicor]

TAnybody else have any ideas about the Sharpness market price modifier? (+3, +4, or +5)

Id be liberal and lean towards +3.

 

[Tarin Greenflame]

Um...that's what I was saying. Sharpness should, if anything, be dropped to +3...from +4...heh. Never said lower vorpal.

 

[kreynolds]

Um...that's what I was saying. Sharpness should, if anything, be dropped to +3...from +4...heh. Neverd said lower vorpal.

Just making sure. I really want everyone's opinion so I just wanted to be sure that I understood what you were saying.

 

[Tarin Greenflame]

Yeah I guess it is a little hard to understand. My first paragraph I messed up on. Lemme rephrase a few things:

Summary:
Since the difference in sharpness and vorpal enhancement, is, imo, 2 steps, sharpness must be +3 if vorpal is +5. Otherwise, with sharpness as +4, vorpal would have to be +6.

Sharpness only being +3 is bolstered by it's rather limited effectiveness: it only works on crits. Vorpal is still quite worthy of a +5 enhancement bonus, for its mass damage and very-hard-to-make fort save. (If you don't think it is hard to make, just look at my rather low-end case scenario in my original post.)

And my first paragraph,

"Might venture to say make sharpness +3...seeing as how it only works on crits, and vorpal is, imo, 2 steps up (2 more dmg die on crit and nasty death sv), unless you would consider X2 damage die on a crit and a steep fort save or die as a +1 enhancement...in which case you could make vorpal +6."

Should have read at the end, "unless you would consider X2 damage die on a crit and a steep fort save or die as a +1 enhancement...in which case you could keep things as-is. Otherwise, vorpal would have to be +6."

As a final note, I really like how vorpal is done in the manner you present. It adds flavor imo, and doesn't necessarily make it a cheap insta-death weapon. You may want to add the stipulation for vorpal that the target must have a discernable head or need it's head to live in order for it to make the fort save...unless you wanted to make vorpal a multipurpose cleaver instead of just a decapitator =p

 

[kreynolds]

You may want to add the stipulation for vorpal that the target must have a discernable head or need it's head to live in order for it to make the fort save...

Nope. I hated that distinction. It causes more work for me, the DM, to determine whether or not you can actually cut off the head of a creature. Consider this, with my Vorpal and the original Vorpal, you can put both of them on a dagger. With the original, a Vorpal Dagger can cut off the head of a colossal dragon. Somehow I don't think that makes much sense. Granted, the original Vorpal description stated that the DM might have to make judgement calls. What it should have said was that the DM would most certainly have to make judgement calls. With my version, judgement calls are needed at all, as my Vorpal Dagger would simply deal a lot more damage than normal, but the damage deal would be proportional for it's small size.

unless you wanted to make vorpal a multipurpose cleaver instead of just a decapitator =p

That was the idea. The blade is replaced by a planar rift, which essentially causes massive amounts of damage to anything it hits, so it doesn't matter where it hits.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I think you have made the extra crit multiple too high, since at the kind of level that these weapons would be used there could easily be +10 to +20 to the damage roll - your vorpal longsword would be doing 8d8+80/160.

Disclaimer: I houseruled Vorpal in my campaign right from the start, such that a vorpal weapon has a flat x5 crit multiplier (and I didn't re-introduce sharpness - I decided that was superceded nicely for me by keen).

Cheers