Ok, so I may not know the Pathfinder rules all that well, but I was looking over the weapons rules and noticed that it said ammunition can be used for weapon type enhancements, and that 50 pieces of ammo can be activated at the same time if they all have the same ability. So, I enchant 50 cold iron arrows with the Dancing feature, activate all of them with a standard action, and then say kill that Balor? I mean, you still have to be able to hit it with your attack bonus, but it's 50 attacks every round! Am I missing something here?
Ammunition differs from normal magic items in that 1) You can enchant 50 of them instead of 1 because 2) They can be lost when fired (as opposed to say, throwing axes).
It's not 50 attacks a round. They do not attack on their own volition. You still have to physically throw the enchanted shuriken, just that those shuriken will have at least +1 to attack and damage each.
Ammunition differs from normal magic items in that 1) You can enchant 50 of them instead of 1 because 2) They can be lost when fired (as opposed to say, throwing axes).
It's not 50 attacks a round. They do not attack on their own volition. You still have to physically throw the enchanted shuriken, just that those shuriken will have at least +1 to attack and damage each.
Doesn't Dancing cause them to act on their own volition? And if you can activate 50 pieces of ammunition at the same time then you can activate 50 instances of dancing arrows at the same time.
First line from the entry for Dancing weapons: "Dancing: As a standard action, a dancing weapon can be loosed to attack on its own. It fights for 4 rounds using the base attack bonus of the one who loosed it and then drops".
First line from the entry for Dancing weapons: "Dancing: As a standard action, a dancing weapon can be loosed to attack on its own. It fights for 4 rounds using the base attack bonus of the one who loosed it and then drops".
Right, the standard action is the activation. You can activate 50 pieces of ammunition at the same time with the same standard action.
Firstly, i'm not even sure that the Dancing property was intended for ranged weapons, going by the description.
But going with the scenario that the DM's allowed it, i assume you're saying, what if all 50 shuriken had the same command word, yes? That is technically allowed by RAW.
Be aware tho, that for 4 rounds of devastation you're paying 50,000gp.
that cannot be worth it, unless maybe against an ancient dragon.
Hmm, true. And if the enemy has any kind of DR you're technique is pretty much screwed. Still, I like the idea of a whirlwind of arrows swirling around you like a school of fish, striking at anyone you point at.
Dancing arrows (or other ammunition) would not be able to attack on their own, as they still need to be fired from a bow. They also lose their magical properties once they have attacked.
Arrows and bolts can be used as improvised melee weapons (once off daggers basically). So, I don't see why Dancing can't be applied to them (despite the restrictive cost).
I built a rogue that used arrows, catch off-guard and disarm, for example.
Wouldn't the -4 for improvised weapons apply?
And it's just BAB that applies to attack, so i can't imagine they'd hit very often.
but yeh, it's down to RAI really.
Wouldn't the -4 for improvised weapons apply?
That's an interesting one, actually. I would probably say no, based on how the arrows are attacking - they're not non-proficient with themselves, are they? :D
I think that each arrow would require a separate standard action, despite the fact that they are enchanted together.
Wouldn't the -4 for improvised weapons apply?That's an interesting one, actually. I would probably say no, based on how the arrows are attacking - they're not non-proficient with themselves, are they? :D
You can be proficient with a weapon, and still have the penalty for using it in an improvised way. Throwing a longsword would be treated as an improvised range weapon.
Hence the feats for improvised weapons. Not sure if that would apply though.
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Ultimately, the Dancing property is for melee weapons only. So according to RAW, it's not possible to enchant them in this way to begin with.
Ok, so I may not know the Pathfinder rules all that well, but I was looking over the weapons rules and noticed that it said ammunition can be used for weapon type enhancements, and that 50 pieces of ammo can be activated at the same time if they all have the same ability. So, I enchant 50 cold iron arrows with the Dancing feature, activate all of them with a standard action, and then say kill that Balor? I mean, you still have to be able to hit it with your attack bonus, but it's 50 attacks every round! Am I missing something here?
You miss the part where the GM arbitrarily kills off your character for exploiting loop holes.
The best laid plans of mice and men will invariably go awry when they forget that tabletop roleplaying games aren't computer games where you can cheat the computer and it won't do anything about it because it cannot think. The GM is* perfectly capable of spotting such attempts, and as he has total power, he can put a stop to it.
Other than that, your idea rocks. Go demon hunting! ;-P
*well, should be, we're talking about human beings here. There's two things science considers to be infinite: the universe and human stupidity. They're not sure about the universe, though
Dancing arrows? Sounds like fun. Now I know how to make an item that acts like a blade barrier!
Arrows are found in the equipment section under "ranged weapons". Dancing can only be applied to melee weapons. RAW, I don't think you can give them that enchantment. Even if you can, it's a standard action to activate a dancing weapon. The weapon is an arrow, not 50 arrows (this isn't Hot Shots, after all). So you'd have a devil of a time getting 50 arrows going alone. They also should be destroyed after use, as they follow rules for ammunition.