MinusInnocence's page

My apologies if this question was addressed in one of the numerous paladin threads.

One of my players asked me tonight if a paladin wielding a double weapon (quarterstaff, dire flail, orc double axe, etc) would apply the bonus modifiers from his Divine Bond special ability to both heads of the weapon or if the total pool from the ability would need to be split between the heads, with each head being made at least +1 before other modifiers could be applied.

My interpretation of the text is that the whole weapon is considered one weapon by most standards, so the total pool of bonuses must be distributed among the two heads. The other argument would be that when enchanting a weapon permanently each head of a dire flail or two bladed sword is considered a separate weapon, so the same should apply here (whatever total bonuses the paladin receives to temporarily imbue his weapon with are applied to EACH head of the double weapon, potentially even applying different enchantments to each head).

So, obviously this hypothetical scenario would require the paladin be wielding his deity's chosen weapon, and that the chosen weapon be a double weapon, but if that were the case how would this be resolved?

I am not at liberty to speak for the editing staff over at the D&D Archive site (and even if we had reached a consensus it would be more appropriate for DeadDMWalking to serve as our ambassador here) but I can tell you it doesn't look good for 4E on our end. I, personally, do not intend to make the transition.

The rest of us are sorry to see old faithfuls like you go. However, I say to you what I say to all fellow D&Ders who declare, "Never again..." just keep your dice handy, buddy. You never know when you'll have to get back behind the DM Screen.

My only concern is for the thousands of gamers out there looking for a door to put their foot in in this industry we have come to love. That is the greatest service Dragon and Dungeon provided; venues for employment, places for dudes an dudettes who fancied themselves freelance writers to get published and, for the very fortunate, the opportunity for a career alongside the great minds of fantasy gaming.

It's sad to see icons fall by the wayside but I prefer to think of it as another transition in what has been, for the most part, very pleasurable for me. As long as Paizo and WotC don't neglect the little guys who would one day like to have their jobs, I don't really care what else happens.

Consumers are not simpletons. I started with 2E (of course we didn't call it 2E, we called it "AD&D 2nd Edition") when I was eleven years old and made the transition to 3E because it was better. It was simpler, and the naysayers you encountered in every gaming store, the doom n' gloomers writing in every month to Dragon back then were simply wrong. New blood came to the game, new life blossomed in the hobby because 3E was a superior product. My current gaming group is testament to this fact, the backwards math and convoluted rulebooks of 2E made a bunch of highschool kids feel like they were studying a manual on computer electronics repair, not learning how to play a new game.

If 4E is right around the corner, all that remains to be seen is whether it is better than what we have now. If the answer is yes then only foolish people will stubbornly refuse it. Yes, WotC is a business and that means if they want to keep customers coming back for more, if they discontinue a product line the replacement must be tempting enough to keep people around.

As far as Dragon and Dungeon go... well, I have no opinion on the latter but some of you may have read my comments in Issue 352. If Paizo is allowed to publish a D&D magazine in any capacity in the near future, I am ecstatic that it will no longer be "officially" endorsed by WotC. The FR and Eberron campaign-specific material is a waste of everyone's money.

Re: DragonLance... companies don't often snatch the rights back to certain product lines if they intend only to bury them, never to see the light of day again. I'm sure if WotC wants it back, they have big plans for it.