Monday, February 15, 2016

Four New Magic Weapon Abilities - Armor Piercing, Biting, Reaching, and Sundering

The four magic weapon abilities presented below are so simple yet so useful that I am surprised they haven't been made yet.  The first two, armor piercing and biting, alter the traditional +1 to hit/+1 to damage formula; armor piercing grants +2 to hit and +0 to damage while biting does the opposite.  It is a pretty basic trade off, but one that adds a greater degree of customization when creating a magic weapon.  After all, sometimes you just don't need that extra boost to damage but you want to be able to hit more often, or vice versa.

The reaching weapon sprouted from d20 despot artist-in-residence Kent Hamilton's head, and it seems to me to be incredibly useful.  The ability to add 5 ft. of reach at a moment's notice adds a lot of versatility to a given weapon.  The sundering ability is inspired by Sauron of The Lord of the Rings and the White Walkers from Game of Thrones, both of whom are supernaturally good at breaking swords.  It basically gives you the Improved Sunder feat plus double damage against objects, which should allow the wielder to hack away armor, shatter swords, and bash down doors with ease.

The following material given in gold text and its accompanying table is available as Open Game Content under the OGL.  Open Game Content is ©2016 Jonah Bomgaars.

ARMOR PIERCING                +1 BONUS
Aura: faint transmutation          CL 8th
An armor piercing weapon gains a +2 enhancement bonus on attack rolls. 
Construction Requirements
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, true strike

BITING                          +1 BONUS
Aura: faint transmutation          CL 8th
A biting weapon gains a +2 enhancement bonus on damage rolls.   
Construction Requirements
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, inflict light wounds or magic weapon

REACHING                   +1 BONUS
Aura: moderate transmutation CL 10th
As a swift action reaching weapon can extend to gain an extra 5 feet of reach.  The weapon can be retracted again as a free action.  Hafted weapons (such as spears, axes, and maces) only threaten the final square of their reach, but weapons with a greater effective portion (such as swords, daggers, and quarterstaves) threaten all squares within their reach.  Reaching can only be applied to melee weapons.  This enhancement can be applied multiple times to the same weapon; each time it increases the weapon’s reach by 5 feet, and the wielder chooses the weapon’s length within that range each time it extends or retracts. 
Construction Requirements
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, enlarge person

SUNDERING                            +2 BONUS
Aura: moderate transmutation CL 10th
A sundering weapon is particularly effective against inanimate objects.  It grants its wielder a +2 bonus on sunder combat maneuvers and such maneuvers never provoke attacks of opportunity when made with this weapon.  In addition, a sundering weapon deals double damage against objects. 
Construction Requirements

Craft Magic Arms and Armor, break or shatter

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My ideal name for the biting ability would have been wounding, but that has already been taken by an ability that deals 1 point of bleed damage.  Alas.

-your biting d20 despot

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