Weapon Damage?

[Sorrowdusk]

Exploration :: d20srd.org

When they talk about Hardness and Hitpoints, they dont give HP for each specific weapon. Rather they give it in the table here based on whether it is Light/One/Two Handed and is "hafted", "metal-hafted", or seemingly...no haft at all? Or is it talking about Light/One/Two handed blades, and THEN any weapon that isnt a blade (blunt or piercing) divided into those with metal hafts and those with nonmetal hafts?

I looked it up and the "haft" seems to be the grip of the weapon.

What are examples of each?

And where the devil would a spiked chain fit in this table?

Why isnt "two handed metal hafted" weapon listed in the table?

Do magic weapons get more hardness/hp?

And how bad is Babau slime, really? It seems it would be kind of hilarious to summon one with Summon Babau Demon or SM VIII and see your enemies utterly defenseless.

 

[Nagol]

A haft is the piece between the business end and user grip. Pole arms, long spears, axes, and maces have hafts. A sword or other blade weapon typically doesn't have a haft per se as the blade runs the whole length.

The typical haft is wood. A few more fantastical specialty weapons have hafts of metal though I'm sure someone can find a real world example. The example in the PHB is the heavy mace.

A spiked chain doesn't have a haft so I'd count it as a two-handed blade for purposes of the chart.

The enhancement bonus of the magic wepaon confers more hardness and hit points as does being made of a material other than typical construction (i.e. darkwoord for hafts and mithril/adamantine for the metal bits). Each enhancement bonus adds 2 hardness and 10 hit points (rule is under magic weapons).

 

[frankthedm]

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-le...mally-wood-hafted-weapon-made-metal-haft.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-legacy-discussion/165937-hardness-hp-spiked-chain.html

 

[Sekhmet]

For a real world example, spears, halberds, and pikes have hafts. Hafts are almost always wooden for two reasons.
The first reason is weight. A five foot long wooden pole is MUCH lighter than a five foot long iron (most likely) or steel pole, and easier to balance because of it. The proper aim of a long spear (10 to 25 feet long) DEPENDS on it's wooden haft to allow for positioning.
The second reason is for shock absorption. A wooden haft will shatter before displacing the pikeman, as is the goal. If it were metal, you would be thrown off your feet when the enemy's horse charged into you, whereas the traditional wooden pike would shatter and you would tumble away before the horse crashed into you.

As for an example of a two handed, metal hafted weapon, I honestly cannot think of one in a real-life historical scenario. Metal wasn't common, and would have been better put to use in other faculties.
Call it a two handed, bladed weapon (10 hp, 10 hardness), and move along. This coincides well with the hardness 10, hp 5 of a 10 foot chain.


Also, Babau's are about as awesome as Rust Monsters and Heat Metal.

 

[Sorrowdusk]

Also, Babau's are about as awesome as Rust Monsters and Heat Metal.

That's kind of vague, on account of the fact I have never fought a Rusty outside of DDO.

And what version?

The original likely to strip a low lvl party (or potentially a higher lvl one on failed saves) of their gear? Sorta like I've heard of Black Pudding ruining gear? Or...
Rust Monster :: d20srd.org

The nerfed version redesigned by Mike Mearls because he thought Rusties were too punishing?
Design & Development: Monster Makeover: The Rust Monster

I always figured it was the slime that was the reason you needed summon monster VII but Beared Devils were only Summon monster V.

Heat metal though....

 

[Nagol]

Babau's slime typically isn't a problem for the figting types -- the cleric needs to take a couple of Make Whole spells the next day is the typical result.

It's almost certain the fighters have a +1 or better weapon to fight a CR 6 creature.

That means the weapons have at least 20 hp each. A straight 5th level Fighter with 10 Dex would use the base magic item saving throw of (2+CL/2) +4 and save about 1/3 of the time.

The babau only has about 66 hp. Each time the weapon hits the critter it takes 4.5 damage on average on a failed save. If the PCs are inflicting less than 13 damage a round, the weapon is striking every round, and it never makes its save, there's a chance it'll break before the demon dies.

 

[frankthedm]

Heat metal though....

Agreed that nothing specifically about heat metal damages the weapon itself. I don't think it would be unreasonable if the DM ruled the weapon's hardness was adversely impacted during the spell though.

 

[Sorrowdusk]

Personally I would rather you had a save VS pain and might drop the thing, sort of like Gandalf The White did to Aragorn and Gimli in Return of The King.

Here's a little touch I found on metal hafted weapons, on a weapon making forum. (Mostly in regards to Gothic Maces
http://netsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001542.html

 

[Sekhmet]

I always felt that the point of Rust Monsters, Babau, Heat Metal and the like were to force the majority of fighters, paladins, and clerics to take a backseat for a while and perhaps just use ranged attacks. This allows the Barbarian, Rogue, Bard, etc.. to shine in a new light, in moments where they might not feel comfortable being front-line.

The point of Heat Metal is to force you to drop your gear, effectively removing it from the encounter just like Rust Monsters and Babau do (if you're not an idiot and just rush in anyway).

 

[Sorrowdusk]

I always felt that the point of Rust Monsters, Babau, Heat Metal and the like were to force the majority of fighters, paladins, and clerics to take a backseat for a while and perhaps just use ranged attacks. This allows the Barbarian, Rogue, Bard, etc.. to shine in a new light, in moments where they might not feel comfortable being front-line.

The point of Heat Metal is to force you to drop your gear, effectively removing it from the encounter just like Rust Monsters and Babau do (if you're not an idiot and just rush in anyway).

You could, but the damage is so low it would only bother commoners-whislt heroic (or villainous?) characters are likely just to hold on because they're that awesome despite the fact their sword is searing their bare hand.

And if 2d4 is searing hot....what does a scorching ray or a fireball do to you?