Weapon Enchantment: Mirrored

[Edymnion]

Something kicking around my head that I thought I'd ask for some feedback on.

Basic idea is to make TWF a little easier on the pocket book, with the main drawback being that you can't have two different weapons for versatility.

MIRRORED
Price +3 bonus; Aura moderate conjuration; CL 9th; Weight —

This special ability may only be placed on melee weapons. If the wielder's opposing hand is empty, a Mirrored weapon creates a magical copy of itself in that hand. The mirror copy is treated as being of the same material and possessing the same enchantments as the original. The mirror copy weapon vanishes if dropped or handed away, or after being thrown at a target.

CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
Cost +3 bonus
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, major creation

[Aralicia]

... and then curse it so its owner must always draw it, and give it to the sad chap who decided to play a Free hand Fighter or a Crane Style monk. Watch him weep.

Seriously, that's an interesting idea, but the cost is far too high; no matter the level, buying two weapons would be more interesting than buying a mirrored one.
For example :
- at low level, a +1 mirrored weapon would cost 32k, when two +1 would only be 4k total.
- at mid level, a +2 bane mirrored weapon would cost 72k, when two +2 bane would be only 36k total.
- at high level, a +5 keen bane mirrored would cost 200k, when two +5 keen bane would cost 196k total.

A side effect of the way it is written, is that it create an infinite ammo effect for weapon throwers : the weapon "vanishes after being thrown, which means that it hits its target before vanishing"; and, since a copy is created if the opposing hand is empty, a new copy would appear in the now empty hand.

[Avianfoo]

I think just add "...the same enchantments as the original except the mirrored special ability." unless you intend for 4 handed creatures to make 3 copies.

Also when is the mirror copy made? This sounds like an infinite thrown weapon creator to me. If this is the intent, then all is well. If you don't want it to be abused then I suggest make the copy creation a part of drawing the weapon.

Edit: ninja'd

[Goddity]

Maybe 5 times a day it can create a duplicate.

[Aralicia]

Avianfoo wrote:

Also when is the mirror copy made? This sounds like an infinite thrown weapon creator to me. If this is the intent, then all is well. If you don't want it to be abused then I suggest make the copy creation a part of drawing the weapon.

Or have it need a swift action: "By a swift action, a copy of the weapon appear in the opposite hand...". That way, it is a conscious action, still have the "infinite throw", but can be used only once per round.

It places it at about the same level than a return enchant on the thrown part.

Another thought : what happens if the character get disarmed of the (real) weapon ? Does the cloned one instantly disappear ?

[Edymnion]

Swift Action sounds good.

My initial starting point was the Endless Ammunition enchantment for bows at +2, but it only creates mundane standard arrows (though frankly, I think that is overpriced). Figured the best place to start would then be a +3 since it would duplicate special materials and enchants as well.

Better to start high and then find reasons to whittle it down than to start low and have to nerf later.

Aralicia is right though, it would need to be cheaper to run a mirrored weapon than it would be for two identical weapons of the same enchant (as the main purpose here was that a TWF user is getting screwed by having to pay double for their weapons where everybody else gets just as much from a single weapon).

The offset for the cheaper price being that its a mirror of the original weapon, no carrying a flaming dagger and a frost dagger hoping one of them will get through enemy resistances, its all or nothing.

If I knocked it down to a +1, then it would only be viable once the weapon had +3 in other enchants (+3 = 18k * 2 = 36k vs. +4 at 32k), but becomes VERY powerful by endgame where a +10 at 200k is way less than two +9s at 324k.

But then, the idea is to make something that stops TWF from getting such a big hit in the pocket book in the first place, so perhaps a +1 is justified?

[StabbittyDoom]

I hate swift actions so much. The games makes a billion things make swift actions and it's VERY easy to have things end up conflicting on that action, to the point that I'm debating house-ruling swift actions into "free action that can be taken at most once per round".

Personally, if you want to limit it, I'd just make it a free action and limit it to once/round (the item's magic can only do so much in a turn).

I think +2 equivalent is fair enough for mirror. You could also make a lesser version where it's +1 but does *not* duplicate bonus equivalents, only flat enhancement. This lets you leave it at +1 for most of the game, but the player may choose to upgrade it to the +2 version when they hit +8 equivalent (without mirror).