| pennywit |
So I'm trying to figure out the Pathfinder Unchained weapon attunement rules. Here's how they read:
Weapon Attunement
The character can attune herself to any one weapon in her possession, and can change that attunement once per day. The attuned weapon gains a +1 enhancement bonus at 4th level. At 8th level, the character can split her attunement between two weapons, granting each a +1 enhancement bonus. At 9th level, she can grant a single weapon a +2 enhancement bonus instead of granting two weapons a +1 enhancement bonus each. At 14th level, she can either grant a single weapon a +3 enhancement bonus or grant two weapons a +2 enhancement bonus each. At 15th level, she can either grant a single weapon a +4 enhancement bonus or grant two weapons a +3 enhancement bonus each. At 17th level, she can either grant a single weapon a +5 enhancement bonus or grant one weapon a +4 enhancement bonus and another weapon a +3 enhancement bonus.(...)
In this system, magic weapons, armor, and shields never have enhancement bonuses of their own; those bonuses are granted only through attunement. Any weapon, armor, or shield special abilities on attuned items count against a character's enhancement bonus from attunement. To determine an attuned magic item's enhancement bonus, subtract the cost of its special ability from the enhancement bonus granted by attunement. (This applies only to special abilities whose cost is equivalent to an enhancement bonus, not to those that cost a flat amount of gold pieces.) For example, if a character with a +3 enhancement bonus from weapon attunement wields a keen scimitar, she subtracts 1 point of her enhancement bonus (for the cost of keen), leaving her with a +2 keen scimitar. If a character doesn't have enough of an enhancement bonus to afford the special ability (such as a 4th-level character with a vorpal longsword), she can still use the weapon's power on its own, but the weapon gains no enhancement bonus.
So, let's say I've got a 4th level character toting around a vorpal longsword and an ordinary warhammer. Since 4th level doesn't give me enough juice to account for the vorpal blade, then strategy-wise, I'm better off attuning my warhammer for the day. Is that right? It just seems odd storywise that a character might have a signature weapon -- say, Fryolater, the Slayer of Chickens -- yet not attune it because he doesn't have the attunement juice to get both the Chicken Bane and Instant Breading enchantments to work. You end up with a situation where instead of Fryolater, he's likely to use his Plain Old Mace for a lot of combats so he can get the enhancement bonus.