Why Magic Weapons?

[Technik4]

I've never really thought about it like this, it just sort of came to me. Maybe its just such an inherent thing that I've never even bothered to question it, but it bugs me now, hence this thread.

Why are magic weapons the end all and be all? Hmm, well not even that, Why are magic weapons the only viable weapons past adamantine?

I mean, I understand that you can only craft a sword so well. I also understand that you can call a certain level of craftsmanship to be so awe-inspiring and impressive that it might as well be "magic" so whats the problem with calling it an enhancement bonus.

I also understand that since you can enchant (enhance, whatever) any sword of masterwork quality, having a sword that hadn't been enchanted equal to a +5 sword would be bad, as the sword could then pick up a +1 enhancement for cheaper than a +5 sword would cost to go to +6 (far far cheaper in fact).

Basically this boils down to me thinking that perhaps materials are getting too undercut in d&d. An adamantine longsword is roughly equivalent to a +2 sword BUT the adamantine sword required the player to either find adamantine or a seller which had adamantine (read: DMs approval) whereas a regular +2 sword may be more common. And the adamantine sword is 1,000 gp more expensive. And yes, granted it has more hp and hardness, but that isnt my point.

There are really strange exotic materials in the d&d world, like baatorian green steel or the tooth of a great wyrm, but unless these materials get enchanted they never really stack up. Not even close.

Or what about craftsmanship? Japanese sword-makers made some of the sharpest blades ever produced...100s of years ago, and they were better not from magic but from skill and probably an incredible amount of patience. In other d20 games this can be represented as Masterpiece weapons, but a katana made from a 20th level expert sword-master still doesnt stack up to a katana +3 (made by the sword-mater's apprentice).

Does anyone have any thoughts or perhaps alt rules theyve used for making materials and craftsmanship more integral to a great weapon? I don't necessarily want to usurp magic's role, an artifact will always be the most powerful weapon, and it is inherently magical. Thats fine. But I'd like to think that truly exotic materials and/or craftsmanship should be able to compete up to +4 or +5.

Another decent d&d reference is from Troy Denning's Archmage series, there are some special swords a wizard makes from a particular darksteel, these blades never rust and cut through armor like it was paper. Part of their power comes from the enhancements, part of it comes from the material it was made from, and I'd like to think that part of their power comes from the person who actually crafted them.

In d&d terms they are +5 shadow weave longswords that ignore armor bonuses, basically magical longswords (ala Dragon magazine).

Technik

 

[Synicism]

Well, since you used the katana as an example, the Rokugan book has a prestige class that gains the ability to imbue weapons and armor with nonmagical enhancement bonuses.

I did something similar, but I scrapped the notion of needing a prestige class to do it.

Basically, since making a masterwork item is DC 20, I let characters make +1's at DC 30, +2's at DC 40, +3's at DC 50, +4's at DC 60, +5's at DC 70, and so on (well into epic). And I added extra gold and time costs based on the magic item cost chart to represent investment in special materials, components, perfect tools, and so on.

Yeah, it's really, really hard to do it. However, I have a list of modifiers that give bonuses to the craft roll - every time you double the creation time, you get a bonus. Make it out of a Mithral alloy (a fantasy version of Damascus steel), get more bonuses, and so on.

So basically, a very skilled smith who dedicated a long time, serious materials, and a lot of effort could create legendary weapons solely through skill alone.

I had toyed with the idea of letting them create certain magical properties (like Keen) too, in lieu of an actual enhancement bonus, but never got around to putting it together.

 

[drnuncheon]

Bad Axe Games' excellent Heroes of High Favor: Dwarves contains several options for advanced metalworking, essentially letting you mix & match the effects of the current options. It wouldn't be hard to expand it to supplement or even replace magical crafting.

J

 

[Pants]

Well, since you used the katana as an example, the Rokugan book has a prestige class that gains the ability to imbue weapons and armor with nonmagical enhancement bonuses.

I did something similar, but I scrapped the notion of needing a prestige class to do it.

Basically, since making a masterwork item is DC 20, I let characters make +1's at DC 30, +2's at DC 40, +3's at DC 50, +4's at DC 60, +5's at DC 70, and so on (well into epic). And I added extra gold and time costs based on the magic item cost chart to represent investment in special materials, components, perfect tools, and so on.

Yeah, it's really, really hard to do it. However, I have a list of modifiers that give bonuses to the craft roll - every time you double the creation time, you get a bonus. Make it out of a Mithral alloy (a fantasy version of Damascus steel), get more bonuses, and so on.

So basically, a very skilled smith who dedicated a long time, serious materials, and a lot of effort could create legendary weapons solely through skill alone.

I had toyed with the idea of letting them create certain magical properties (like Keen) too, in lieu of an actual enhancement bonus, but never got around to putting it together.

That's a really cool idea! I think I'll use it in my campaign
*yoink*