Mechanics Involved with the Anchoring Weapon Enchantment

[FrodoOf9Fingers]

So, gonna be purchasing an anchoring weapon on my magus here, and I have a few questions regarding it:

1. When I use an anchoring weapon, what prevents the monster from deactivating it? I assume that since it's like a immovable rod it has a button to activate it, or am I wrong?

2. Because using an anchored weapon can be... hazardous to the weapon's good health, I plan to buy/have made a +1 adamentium imprevious anchoring wakizhasi. I plan to cast Greater Magic Weapon on it, and further enchant it with my arcane pool, boosting it up to a +5 adamentium impervious anchoring weapon. Finally, I'll be using Reinforce Arnaments on it. Anyone willing to double check my math?

Base Wakizhasi (10 hardness, 2 HP)
Adamentium (+10 hardness, no HP increase)
+5 weapon (+10 more hardness, +50 more hp)
with imprevious (+10 hardness, +50 hp)
Reinforce Arnaments (2x hardness)
leaving me with a 102 HP, 80 hardness wakizhasi, correct?

3. Whats the CMD of the weapon against a sunder? Since it is unattended (I'll start fighting with another weapon) it has an AC of 5. Would it have a CMD of 5 as well?

4. What will be it's break DC? I've done some looking around, and have only found one weapon with a break DC listed in all the main materials (Blade of Binding, a +1 great sword with a break DC of 28). Any good guesses on what the break DC should be? (Remember, impervious would add +10 to the break DC, whatever the break DC would start at...)

5. And finally, considering the full round action involved with using a strength check to move the weapon 10 feet, would that provoke an attack of opportunity?

Thanks guys!

[FrodoOf9Fingers]

Shameless bump, need to know for tomorrow... opinions are welcome too.

[marco262]

FrodoOf9Fingers wrote:

Shameless bump, need to know for tomorrow... opinions are welcome too.

I have no solid RAW backing for any of the below, so this is all my own opinion and how I'd houserule its use:

1) Since this functions as an immovable rod, I'd rule that deactivating it is a move action (similar to how activating an immovable rod is a move action). I don't think there are any other enchantments that magically add buttons to weapons, so I think it's reasonable to say this is just another one of those "magic activation" things.

You're right, that by RAW any creature can use a magic weapon just by wielding it, so the target who's struck by an immovable weapon would be able to just grab it and deactivate it. However, I think this is against RAI, so I'd say that while an Anchoring weapon is activated on a creature, the target creature cannot deactivate it. One of his allies can deactivate it as a move action, but only if they succeed at a Spellcraft check to identify its properties.

2) Note that doubling usually is additive, not multiplicative in Pathfinder. So a +5 bonus doubled twice would be +15, not +20. However, I think you've found an interesting edge case. Because Impervious is doubling the hardness and HP from only the enhancement bonus, and Reinforce Armaments is doubling the WHOLE bonus, I think it's fair to say that your math is correct. Besides, trying to figure it out otherwise is just a headache.

3) Impervious says it's only to the wielder's CMD, so by RAW the weapon would get no bonus when unattended. However, since this magic bonus to CMD isn't based on speed or skill, but rather on the durability of the weapon, I think it's fair to say that the weapon's unattended CMD is 5+10=15.

4) I'm going to avoid using the Blade of Binding as a reference for this, since I don't know how much of that DC is caused by the magic enchantment. Instead I'm going to compare it to the break DC for a Chain, which is made of the same material and would be held in a similar manner when trying to break it (i.e. held in both hands and bent/yanked). From what little I know of bladed weapons, I recall that wakizashi are folded in such a way that they have a lot of strength along the plane of the blade, but are more flexible when bent side-to-side. For that, as well as keeping in mind that it's easier to bend something than yank it, I'd reduce the normal break DC to 24, or 34 for a +5 Impervious Wakizashi.

(As a side thought: The folding technique of katanas and wakizashis was developed to work the impurities of subpar ore out of the weapon. If a wakizashi is made of adamantine, that's some pretty good material, so does it even need to be folded? Would the smith use a different technique?)

5) IMO, yes, this provokes AoOs.

In my mind, actions that don't provoke AoOs need to be quick, skilled, and the actor needs to be aware of their surroundings and capable of reacting to their environment. AoOs are taken when an opponent notices they can get a quick hit in on an unprepared foe.

I imagine that, for one, moving with the blade is a slow and sluggish action. Not only are you putting all your effort into moving it, but you're still limited in movement to where you can shove the weapon.

[The Morphling]

marco262 wrote:

(As a side thought: The folding technique of katanas and wakizashis was developed to work the impurities of subpar ore out of the weapon. If a wakizashi is made of adamantine, that's some pretty good material, so does it even need to be folded? Would the smith use a different technique?)

Modern replicas of these weapons, made with high-quality steel, can still use the folding technique. I imagine it would still be folded.

With that said, imagine if Adamantine could be further forged to be SUPER ADAMANTINE.

[FrodoOf9Fingers]

Hehe..

Thanks for the input guys!

[DesolateHarmony]

Marco262's post:

marco262 wrote:

FrodoOf9Fingers wrote:

Shameless bump, need to know for tomorrow... opinions are welcome too.

I have no solid RAW backing for any of the below, so this is all my own opinion and how I'd houserule its use:

1) Since this functions as an immovable rod, I'd rule that deactivating it is a move action (similar to how activating an immovable rod is a move action). I don't think there are any other enchantments that magically add buttons to weapons, so I think it's reasonable to say this is just another one of those "magic activation" things.

You're right, that by RAW any creature can use a magic weapon just by wielding it, so the target who's struck by an immovable weapon would be able to just grab it and deactivate it. However, I think this is against RAI, so I'd say that while an Anchoring weapon is activated on a creature, the target creature cannot deactivate it. One of his allies can deactivate it as a move action, but only if they succeed at a Spellcraft check to identify its properties.

2) Note that doubling usually is additive, not multiplicative in Pathfinder. So a +5 bonus doubled twice would be +15, not +20. However, I think you've found an interesting edge case. Because Impervious is doubling the hardness and HP from only the enhancement bonus, and Reinforce Armaments is doubling the WHOLE bonus, I think it's fair to say that your math is correct. Besides, trying to figure it out otherwise is just a headache.

3) Impervious says it's only to the wielder's CMD, so by RAW the weapon would get no bonus when unattended. However, since this magic bonus to CMD isn't based on speed or skill, but rather on the durability of the weapon, I think it's fair to say that the weapon's unattended CMD is 5+10=15.

4) I'm going to avoid using the Blade of Binding as a reference for this, since I don't know how much of that DC is caused by the magic enchantment. Instead I'm going to compare it to the break DC for a Chain, which is made of the same material and would be held in a similar...

I love this analysis!