Weapon Question (My players, please avoid!)

[WizarDru]

Quick check, here: is there a functional difference between attempting to sunder a magic weapon as opposed to a normal one? Obviously, the bonus is applied towards the opposed attack check, but is there any other practical consideration that I'm forgetting? A brief review of the SRD didn't mention anything, but I keep thinking that there was something else to it.

Tonight's game will most likely feature a sundering attempt, hence the question.

 

[DM_Jeff]

Aside from what you mentioned, magic weapons & armor are harder to sunder only because they have more hardness and hit points, but nothing to prevent or hamper the attempt IIRC.

Now the other question. PC with longspear can attack creatures up to two squares away. Monster 2 squares away can attempt to sunder the PC's longspear with his greatsword or not?

-DM Jeff

 

[atom crash]

Hardness and Hit Points: An attacker cannot damage a magic weapon that has an enhancement bonus unless his own weapon has at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon or shield struck. Each +1 of enhancement bonus adds 2 to a weapon’s or shield’s hardness and +10 to its hit points.

That's really the only difference I am aware of.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

The rule that Atom quoted is 3.0, and has been removed in 3.5, as far as I know.

EDIT: No, wait, it's right there in the SRD. Ignore me!

EDIT 2: No, wait, again, I think that particular sentence is removed in the Errata. Unfortunately, it's hard to tell:

Hardness and Hit Points
Dungeon Master’s Guide, page 222

Problem: The first paragraph is not consistent with similar information for shields on page 217.

Solution: Delete the first sentence after the boldface header.

Change the next sentence to read as follows: Each +1 of enhancement bonus adds 2 to a weapon’s or shield’s hardness and +10 to its hit points.

I believe that "the first sentence after the boldface header" is the same as the one in the SRD - specifically, the sentence: "An attacker cannot damage a magic weapon that has an enhancement bonus unless his own weapon has at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon or shield struck."

 

[Hypersmurf]

I believe that "the first sentence after the boldface header" is the same as the one in the SRD - specifically, the sentence: "An attacker cannot damage a magic weapon that has an enhancement bonus unless his own weapon has at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon or shield struck."

Right. You can now Sunder a +5 Adamantine Greataxe with a rusty kukri... as long as you can beat the hardness (which won't be easy ).

-Hyp.

 

[atom crash]

Question: Why in the Nine Hells doesn't WotC devote some resources into incorporating official errata of the core books back into the SRD? With the SRD being online it provides a perfect opportunity to fix errors that appear in the printed versions.

So now there are in effect three versions of the rules: the SRD, the core books, and the RAWAFITE (rules as written and fixed in the errata).

I think I'll stick with the SRD version until they decide to revise the SRD.

 

[Spatula]

The rule that Atom quoted is 3.0, and has been removed in 3.5, as far as I know.

In 3.0, each plus of a weapon added 1 hp, not 10, and I think added 1 to hardness (instead of 2).

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

In 3.0, each plus of a weapon added 1 hp, not 10, and I think added 1 to hardness (instead of 2).

Yep.

Hardness and Hit Points
An attacker cannot damage a magic weapon with an enhancement bonus unless the attacker’s own weapon has at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon or shield struck. Each +1 of enhancement bonus also adds 1 to the weapon’s or shield’s hardness and hit points.

I should have clarified that I was specifically referring to the "you need a higher enhancement bonus" part.

 

[Ashardalon]

Question: Why in the Nine Hells doesn't WotC devote some resources into incorporating official errata of the core books back into the SRD?

You mean, like Andy Smith?
Apparently, he missed that bit, and no one had noticed yet. Or maybe they did, but Andy has to wait until the next SRD update to fix it. Doesn't appear to be a high priority for WotC, as sad as it is.