Lightning Sword

[hcobb]

There have been a few of these spotted, but the enchantment has been lost. Please hand any you find over to the Wizard's Guild for study.

This enchantment has only been found on metal bladed weapons. During the continue spells phase the wielder may put one of his fatigue into the blade that is then covered by lightning which makes a separate damage damage roll against targets struck by the blade. This is 1d of lightning damage for the next three turns, and the effect can stack so if the user continues putting one fatigue per turn then on the third turn and thereafter this is a 3d lightning attack every turn. The nasty part of this is that's it is neither a spell nor a missile attack and so Spell Shield and Reverse Missiles don't work against it. Only resistance to lightning shields against this attack (and destruction of the target's magical items).

[zot]

Interesting idea and I can see you've thought about this for more than a few seconds. The separate damage roll is a good stipulation!

[hcobb]

There is a point in the source that interests me:

ITL157: User must still make ‘to hit’ roll. Non-wizards are at -4 DX unless they
know the spell

Why do you need the item if you know the spell?

[zot]

Originally Posted by hcobb

There is a point in the source that interests me:

ITL157: User must still make ‘to hit’ roll. Non-wizards are at -4 DX unless they
know the spell

Why do you need the item if you know the spell?

It makes sense for self-powered missile spells and rods, which have charges.

[hcobb]

Originally Posted by zot

It makes sense for self-powered missile spells and rods, which have charges.

This isn't self-powered or a rod.

Suggestion: All of the non-rod missile spell enchantments are also found as melee variants. These are enchanted in hand held weapons (or wands). The user activates the item by investing one to three fatigue into the item during the Renew Spells phase and then rolls to hit with their normal melee skills (Club for wand) that same turn. Any target hit with the weapon also suffers the effects of that missile spell of that many dice of damage as a separate damage roll. However since this is a weapon enchantment neither Spell Shield or any of the anti-missile spells will stop this, but immunity to the proper missile spell type will subtract the listed dice.

That'll earn the $15k for the Lightning non-rod enchantment.

[zot]

Originally Posted by hcobb

There is a point in the source that interests me:

ITL157: User must still make ‘to hit’ roll. Non-wizards are at -4 DX unless they
know the spell

Why do you need the item if you know the spell?

Originally Posted by zot

It makes sense for self-powered missile spells and rods, which have charges.

Originally Posted by hcobb

This isn't self-powered or a rod.

Suggestion: All of the non-rod missile spell enchantments are also found as melee variants. These are enchanted in hand held weapons (or wands). The user activates the item by investing one to three fatigue into the item during the Renew Spells phase and then rolls to hit with their normal melee skills (Club for wand) that same turn. Any target hit with the weapon also suffers the effects of that missile spell of that many dice of damage as a separate damage roll. However since this is a weapon enchantment neither Spell Shield or any of the anti-missile spells will stop this, but immunity to the proper missile spell type will subtract the listed dice.

That'll earn the $15k for the Lightning non-rod enchantment.

What about basing it off Flaming Weapon (+1 extra point of damage) and make it count as 1 die for magic item saving throws? You could add extra points and saving throw dice by doubling the cost, like with Weapon / Armor Enchantment. Expensive but well worth the cost for the conscientious dungeon owner...

This would make a 3-die magic item destroyer cost $100K-$120K depending on whether you base the cost on Lightning or Lightning-bolt rod -- WAY cheaper than a self-powered Lightning ring:

               BASE DAMAGE
         Up to 1d  1d+1-2d  2d+1    Item Save  Cost        OR
Level 1:    +3      1d+1    1d+2       1d      $25,000   $30,000
Level 2:   1d+1     1d+2    1d+3       2d      $50,000   $60,000
Level 3:   1d+2     1d+3    2d+1       3d      $100,000  $120,000

[hcobb]

Here is a strange revision:

A weapon may be enchanted to deliver the effects of a missile spell as a melee attack and therefore bypassing reverse missiles and spell shield. Immunity to the the missile spell still subtracts the same number of dice.

The limitations are that when enchanting a Wizard's Wrath Strike weapon the form of the strike (tk,fire or lightning) must be selected at enchantment time and that these weapons are self depowering. They leak one of the five points per die needed to power them per minute and can not be recharged with fatigue or mana. Instead keep a running total of the physical damage the weapon does (leaking one of these hit points inflicted per minute) and when this total reaches the cap of five points per die of enchantment then this time the weapon enchantment also hits as a second attack against the target's armor. At that point the count is reset down to zero to start again on the next attack.

Therefore a one die fire battleax is going to do its one die of fire damage on the first and every strike (95% of the time) while a twenty die lightning wrath dagger will rarely if ever trigger.