Mending and Make Whole


Rules Questions


I've searched for the answer to this, so far to no avail.

I'm DMing a Pathfinder group through Howl of the Carrion King. One of the player's took the Reclaiming Your Roots trait, giving him a masterwork weapon. Unfortunately, it's been shattered (via the spell). He's now desperate to get it repaired, as he has a -1 penalty to his Will saves for 1 year unless he does so. However, I'm having a little trouble understanding the Mending and Make Whole spells. (Specifically Make Whole.)

Mending: This spell states it repairs 1d4 hp to the damaged object. All well and good, but the weapon (an elven curve blade) weighs 7 pounds. No one in the party (or nearby, for that matter) is 7th level, so no one can use mending to fix the blade. (At least not until the party's cleric gets to 7th level.)

Make Whole: This spell shows some promise. The target can be one object UP TO 10 cu. ft. per level. The weapons definitely falls within this parameter, so a 3rd-level cleric could definitely cast this on the weapon. And the party's cleric just happens to be 3rd level. The opening statement of the spell is the source of my confusion:

"This spell functions as mending, except that it repairs 1d6 points of damage per level when cast on a construct creature (maximum 5d6)."

From my reading of this sentence, when the party's 3rd-level cleric tries to cast this spell on the shattered weapon, it will repair 1d4 points of damage. Not 1d6, not 1d6 per level, not even 1d4 per level, but a straight 1d4.

Please, tell me I'm missing something. This doesn't seem right. :(

Thanks in advance, and my apologies for my long-windedness. :)

Grand Lodge

If the weapon is only masterwork you can use mending. It will take several castings to restore all the weapons hp. This is not a problem as mending is a level 0 spell.

If the weapon is magic you need to use Make Whole as mending does not work on magic items.

PRD wrote:
Make whole can fix destroyed magic items (at 0 hit points or less), and restores the magic properties of the item if your caster level is at least twice that of the item. Items with charges (such as wands) and single-use items (such as potions and scrolls) cannot be repaired in this way. When make whole is used on a construct creature, the spell bypasses any immunity to magic as if the spell did not allow spell resistance.

Bolding mine


Provos wrote:

If the weapon is only masterwork you can use mending. It will take several castings to restore all the weapons hp. This is not a problem as mending is a level 0 spell.

If the weapon is magic you need to use Make Whole as mending does not work on magic items.

I understand that. And yes, the weapon is only masterwork. That is not my problem.

They aren't anywhere near what we call civilization, so they are pretty much stuck with whoever is available. The cleric in the party is only 3rd level, so Mending isn't an option (the caster can only repair items that weigh up to 1 lb./level, and this item is 7 lb.). So Make Whole is the only option atm.

My problem is the wording of make whole. It seems to me that it is no better than Mending when it comes to a mundane item such as this. It's great for fixing constructs (1d6 per level, max 5d6) and magic items, but still only repairs 1d4. I would have thought it would be at least 1d4 level (max 5d4), or the 1d6/level constructs get, but the wording seems to indicate it's still only a flat 1d4.


1d4 looks about right. Just restoring 1 hit point to the weapon means it's no longer destroyed, but it'll have the broken condition until it's more than half HP.
A non-magical 2-handed blade not made of special materials is like 10 HP. Few castings of a 2nd-level spell that doesn't have any material component costs doesn't seem like a problem.
Main advantage of the make whole spell over mending seems to be that you can fix magic items. Mundane items can be fixed and for a larger amount/mass at that too.


Protoman has it right. Make whole repairs 1d4 HP of the weapon, so it may take a few casts to hit maximum. Guess your player will owe the Cleric big for sacrificing a spell slot each day for a week to get the sword back up and going. Of course, the Cleric has a certain motivation to improve the party's overall functionality.

The Exchange

Technically the sword hasn't taken any damage - it's just had a condition imposed upon it by the shatter effect (and, having run HotCK a couple of times, I can guess the little bugger which did it too! ;) ) - I'd just let a make whole reverse that effect and repair the weapon completely: one level two spell reversing the effects of its (essentially) opposite number seems reasonable to me.

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