Enchanting a Weapon vs. Target X

[FireHorse]

Suppose you want a magical weapon with a bonus against one particular kind of target — for example, maybe a spear called "Dragonslayer" or a sword called "Trollsbane", or whatever.

Is there a way to do that within the Official Rules? I haven't seen one mentioned, but I'm still reading and familiarizing and all that (because Noob), so it's entirely possible there is one and I just haven't found it.

[hcobb]

ITL 158 Limiting Spells.

Expect the next wizard who comes along to cast Remove Curse.

I admit that this is rather lame, so what would be the result of wielding a sword that has the ghost of the former wielder bound to it (by ITL 84) if the obsession that binds his spirit to this world is "Kill all goblins" or whatever?

[FireHorse]

Originally Posted by hcobb

ITL 158 Limiting Spells.

Ah, Danke. That appears to be intended to limit Users, but I suppose the same principle ought to apply equally for Targets.

I admit that this is rather lame, so what would be the result of wielding a sword that has the ghost of the former wielder bound to it (by ITL 84) if the obsession that binds his spirit to this world is "Kill all goblins" or whatever?

The result would be a mighty interesting magical weapon, that's what. I shall have to try one now…

[larsdangly]

It's an interesting question; the limiting enchantment approach seems like a good immediate solution. But it basically means you go through all the work to make a perfectly good general purpose magic weapon and then have it only work against certain opponents.

[Original_Carl]

Handwavium is the answer here, I think.

[larsdangly]

An excellent answer to most any question!

[Skarg]

I thought there was already a way, but I'm remembering from GURPS Magic. The approach there would work, as could others.

[hcobb]

Do the reverse. Enchant Curse, -1 on all rolls, limited to only against dragons.

It's a terrible sword when you're fighting dragons, but since you can't drop or break it (by ITL 167) and since "immunity to Drop and Break Weapon" is one of the three defining enchantments for a "magic weapon" by ITL 42, it's a magic weapon against all other foes.

[Axly Suregrip]

I would house rule this. Allow the creation of the a magic enhancement at half the cost (time, ST and $) if it had a limitation put on it, given the limitation was well beyond half of potential opponents.

So a Orc slayer sword +1 DX, would take half the effort of a Sword +1 DX.

A Sword of +1 verses all humanoid would not qualify. This limitation is too broad. To qualify, the limitation would need the game master's judgement call.

[hcobb]

That would make common weapons cheap and easy. To fit with the sources it needs to be unique and powerful.

Variant of WAE: The limitation is part of the base enchantment and can not be disenchanted independently. This enchantment is only applied to damage adds and multiplies these against the selected targets. Against all other targets the enchantment adds no damage. Otherwise the same time and cost as WAE.

Common: Like say all humans or all animals: times one effect.
Uncommon: One specific race of non-human humanoid, dragons, or all bears: times two effect.
Rare: Unicorns, Long Lankin, or one other specific rare critter: times three effect.

So a +3 damage against Long Lankin does no enchanted damage against any other target and +9 damage against Long Lankin. Or a +5 dragon slayer spear does +10 damage against dragons and no enchantment damage against other targets. Etc.

If the GM is unkind then make each specific "vs X" variant a different research topic.