One thing that I thought was a lot of fun in 2nd edition was the goofy sorts of weapons you could create. This was before 3.x introduced the stricter way of pricing and limiting weapons to a set +10 max for non-epic weapons. While I think this change was for the best, it also limits some of the fun and randomness.
A good example of a weapon that I’m talking about would be a +1 longsword that’s +3 against cats and +3 against lizards.
First, let’s come up with a name for the ability that I’m proposing. Since I’ve heard the term “adaptive” used a number of times for various homebrew abilities, I’m going to shy away from that. Plus, the weapon doesn’t “change” per se, it’s merely more effective against certain types of creatures. How about Selective?
Finding Similar Abilities
We have a number of weapon abilities that could be said to be similar to any one of those benefits listed above. Some are: Bane, Holy & Unholy, Axiomatic & Anarchic and Disruption. However, when you compare any one of these to one of the single abilities above (such as +3 against lizards), the core 3.x weapon abilities are clearly more powerful. So the question remains, if you want to give more flavorful weapons out, how in the world do you price them accordingly?
Before we actually define the nature of how a Selective weapon works, let’s compare it to other abilities to figure out it’s relative power. All of the above-mentioned abilities do additional damage (+2d6) – and Bane adds an additional +2 enhancement bonus. However, the Selective ability doesn’t deal any extra damage dice beyond the weapon enhancement. In the Bane vs. Holy/Unholy/Axiomatic/Anarchic/Disruption camp, Bane is the only one that’s a +1 ability. The rest are +2. The big difference is that Bane is considerably more focused than the rest – and is less likely to trigger.
Assuming that the NPCs you fight have completely random alignments (which is rather infeasible in and of itself), the chance of a particular Holy, Unholy, Axiomatic or Anarchic weapon being effective is 1 in 3 (or 33%). That’s not too shabby!
If we assume that the only possible creature subtypes are those listed on the chart in the Bane ability description and that NPCs you fight have a completely random subtype, the chance of a Bane weapon being effective is a paltry 1 in 31 (or 3.2%). Ick!
That’s an order of magnitude difference.
Now, in the right campaign, you can greatly reduce these ratios and Bane can be a viable option if you have a strong idea of what you’re up against. I don’t want to imply that the ability is crap – just that care needs to be taken when deciding to buy or introduce a Bane weapon and judging it’s effectiveness. A PC doesn’t want a cool weapon that’s only cool one out of ever 50 game sessions.
This is the sort of niche that a Selective weapon can help fill.
Side-by-side Comparisons
Given that there has been a great number of changes between 2nd edition and 3.x, some changes need to be made to our initial weapon idea. It makes most sense to start tying the bonuses to creature subtypes like Bane. Let’s modify our target weapon to be a +1 longsword that’s +3 against animals and +3 against reptilian humanoids.
The question is – how powerful is this weapon and how do we price Selective? Let’s take a look at the damage done compared to Bane.
Since all magical weapons require at least a +1 enhancement, any Bane weapon will yield +3 to hit and 2d6+3 damage against one specific creature subtype. That’s 10 points of damage on average (3.5*2+3) with a range of 5 to 15 (a very clear and useful benefit!)
For sake of comparison, a +1 flaming longsword will yield +1 to hit and 1d6+1 damage against any creature that doesn’t have fire immunities or resistances (which are most creatures). That’s 4.5 points on average (3.5+1) with a range of 2 to 7. It clearly doesn’t do as much damage as the Bane weapon, but will trigger considerably more often.
The Selective weapon only has the straight bonuses due to weapon enhancement but functions against more creature subtypes than Bane does. However, it functions less frequently than a Flaming weapon would. I believe it’s safe to say that the example blade is clearly the equivalent of a +1 ability (and possibly a lower-powered +1 ability at that).
Refining The Idea
The only remaining question is, how do you know how many creature subtypes to apply the Selective ability to and how much damage can we do to them? My feeling on the matter is that the Selective ability can have as many creature subtypes as desired, as long as the total additional to-hit modifiers does not exceed +6.
For example, you can have a +1 longsword that’s +2 against monstrous humanoids and +4 against dragons. Or a +1 longsword that’s +2 against oozes, +2 against plants, +2 against undead. Either of these two weapons would be an equivalent +2 weapon and have a base price of +8,000gp.
Summary
I don’t think this is a weapon ability most PCs would end up taking on their own. For raw damage output, they’re much better off with something like Flaming, Frost, Shocking, etc. However, for DM-dropped items that they can have fun with and have a bit more control over it’s effective usefulness (the DM always knows when they’ll be using Humanoid (Reptilian) NPCs, for example), a Selective weapon can add some flavor to the game.
Another angle would be a Ranger type of character that is taking their Favored Enemy ability to the next level – using the Selective ability to add some additional bonuses versus those creature types; possibly stacking it with some Bane enchantments.
Selective
A Selective weapon can function as a higher-powered item against certain creature subtypes (use the chart for the Bane weapon ability for available subtypes). The weapon can have as many affected creature subtypes as desired (minimum 2), as long as the total additional to-hit modifiers does not exceed +6.
For example, a +1 longsword that’s +3 against dragons and +3 against humanoid (reptilian) is a valid weapon, as is a +1 longsword that’s +2 against humanoid (goblins), +2 against humanoid (orcs) and +2 against humanoid (gnolls).
Moderate conjuration; CL 8th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, summon monster I; Price +1 bonus.