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Flaming, shocking etc. weapon ability. You really require the character to spend a standard action to activate the ability?
The RAW require you to activate the flaming/frost etc. ability to benefit from it. The rules say that the effect don't affect the wielder (and by extension his gear) so you can sheathe a flaming sword and draw it still aflame.
But then with flaming weapons you incur in another problem: it make being invisible almost useless.
The sword is sheathed in flame and flame give off light. Invisibility say: "Items dropped or put down by an invisible creature become visible; items picked up disappear if tucked into the clothing or pouches worn by the creature. Light, however, never becomes invisible, although a source of light can become so (thus, the effect is that of a light with no visible source)."
Sheathing the sword should hide the fire but I am not sure if all GM will agree with that as the sheath is invisible too. The two sentences cited above can be read as meaning that light never become invisible, even if tucked under someone garment.
Then we have the magus and paladin (and probably other classes). They can make a weapon flaming as a swift action. And then they have to spend a standard action to actually benefit from that? That make a weapon ability that is already fairly weak (as plenty of creatures have some kind of energy resistance) even weaker.
Most DMs, and from what I understand even in PFS, will let you cause your Flaming, Shocking, etc. abilities to activate as Free Actions.
A large part of this is the general idea/trope that elemental blades, from things like Lightsabers, "activate" almost as soon as they're drawn.
However, yes, it seems that RAW they require Standard Actions in order to turn on.
I think I've seen one player use a standard action to activate one of those powers. Once, ever.
Even if you do take one of those elemental enchantments - and you shouldn't - you can just draw and activate your wepaon whenever you head into a potentially dangerous situation.
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I think I've seen one player use a standard action to activate one of those powers. Once, ever.
Yes, i too let it be activated as a free action.
Even if you do take one of those elemental enchantments - and you shouldn't - you can just draw and activate your wepaon whenever you head into a potentially dangerous situation.
With that solution we incur in the invisibility problem, and paladins and maguses would still have the problem as their weapon enhancements have a short duration. Paladins and maguses are the main users of the flaming kind of abilities. As they can add it on a weapon on the fly they will use it only when appropriate (again the right kind of oozes or other stuff that reduce/negate weapon damage but is susceptible to energy damage) but the ability to add that property has a relatively short duration, so enhancing the weapon in advance is a bit costly.
If you put a cloth over a lantern, it does not effectively produce light.
If your flaming sword is sheathed, I'd look at it the same way.
Then we have the magus and paladin (and probably other classes). They can make a weapon flaming as a swift action. And then they have to spend a standard action to actually benefit from that? That make a weapon ability that is already fairly weak (as plenty of creatures have some kind of energy resistance) even weaker.
Yeah it's not a very good ability at all. Welcome to the hard truth of Pathfinder mechanics not being very user friendly/ivory tower =P
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You have to use a standard action to activate it once after you obtain the weapon and again after you actively deactivated it.
I remember there being an official answer in that direction once. The sheath is protected from the weapons own elemental effect thus you can just sheath the weapon without deactivating it.
Edit: Found it:
While it's a command word to activate or deactivate a weapon like a flaming or a frost weapon... once activated it stays on. Sheathing it suppresses the energy automatically, and when you draw the weapon later it's ready to go. You'd only want to turn off the energy effect, as a previous poster said, when you're facing something that using that type of energy against is a bad idea.
For a battle vs an iron golem, for example, it could be a good idea to deactivate that flaming effect (having to re-activate it later) but most of the time it can just stay on.
Sounds like stealth errata to me, but I appreciate it nonetheless.
I really do not see it that way. Other weapon enchantments are supposed to be on unless specially turned off, as well. Like merciful, for example.
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Sounds like stealth errata to me, but I appreciate it nonetheless.I really do not see it that way. Other weapon enchantments are supposed to be on unless specially turned off, as well. Like merciful, for example.
The rules are clear in allowing it to be always on without harming the owner and his gear. But what are the effects of having an always on flaming weapon? It emit light and a noticeable heat.
Of an always on frost weapon? Condensation?It seem that everyone agre that you need to activate the power the first time you take the weapon in hand. That mean that paladins and maguses would have to use a standard action to activate it when adding that power to the weapon they are using.
yeah . I assumed as they are special powers, it's specifically always on, and you probably can't turn it off (the can't turn it off is my thought on it; not supported). Swift action to give it the properties, so it's meant to be used in afight, so it makes more sense it's all activated.
They have command words so they can be turned off.
Honestly, if they were re-editing I'd flip things so that you can tell the weapon not to activate its elemental energies (so you can swing your shock bardiche +2 at, say, a shambling mound), but ordinarily it stays on all the time.
Do they make a specific exception for ammunition? Because that would really suck...
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The ruling is in the special ability, but I would assume it is always on so you don't have to turn each arrow on, and you are not damaged unless an attack is made so picking the arrow up won't harm you. Of course you can also say that the enhancement only affects the tip of the arrow. :)
I always just treat these enchantments as though they are always on, or turn on as soon as the weapon is drawn from it's sheath. I don't know if its in the rules or not, but I also let players stack them. So you could have a corrosive, flaming, frost, shocking weapon.