Sharding Weapon + Syringe / Injector Spear and / or poison

[Artemis Moonstar]

Sharding weapon quality:

Restriction This ability can be placed only on melee or thrown weapons.

The wielder of a sharding weapon can make a special ranged attack with the weapon in place of any melee attack. To do this, the wielder goes through the motion of throwing the weapon without releasing it. The weapon splits off a duplicate of itself that flies as if thrown by the wielder at the intended target. The duplicate gains a range increment of 10 feet for this purpose, but uses the same proficiency and otherwise functions the same as the original weapon. The duplicate vanishes after hitting or missing its target.

What concerns me here is the line "Otherwise functions the same as the original weapon."

Does this duplicate carry with it any applied poisons?

What about if I use it with a Injection Spear/Syringe Spear that are full of poison or acid or some such? Would it bring the poison along?

If so, what happens? If the creature fails their save, are they poisoned for the duration, or only take the initial effect if it fades with the weapon?

[James Risner]

Sharing shouldn't be used to duplicate poison.

"Functions the same" means same damage dice, same damage types, etc.

[Azothath]

Sharding(+2 bonus) spells:major creation. WpnMstrHB

the same question would be true of applications of Weapon Blanch, Keen Edge, or Magic Weapon. Some effects are applied to a weapon and some have limited uses.

so, should it duplicate temporary effects or only permanent effects... hmm... what is the meaning of "functions the same as the original weapon"

Major creation only makes non-magical items, craft skill checks are required for complex mundane items. So based on this by RAW, no.

On the other hand (it's always a balancing act) the user replaces a melee or ranged attack with thrown weapon with a 10ft range increment attack. That is clearly NOT an advantage as most thrown weapons have a 10ft OR BETTER range and improvised weapons have a 10t range. So this is a poor version of Returning(+1 bonus).

In action economy Sharding is superior to Returning as it can be used in an iterative attack sequence as where Returning must be used last in the sequence. In the event the character has only one weapon it is weaponless with Returning until the start of its next turn.

In review of the bonuses, I'd have to say temporary powers work, such as poisons, weapon blanches, etc. Otherwise this is a seriously underpowered option. So the meaning of "functions the same as the original weapon" is the simple one.

GM comment: For Weapon blanch or poison I'd have it use a charge/use, which means the one on the original is used by the duplicate (no free lunch). The same would be true of a touch spell with one "touch" or multiple "touches" that could be applied to a (thrown) weapon {Magus}, one charge off for each successful touch limited by the per round use rate of the spell (aka some spells only allow one touch per round).

amusingly the first level spell Long Arm gives you +5 ft of reach and duplicates this ability within the new reach at far less cost. The only time this enhancement is really useful is fighting slimes/adherers or things that can damage your weapon on contact... overall I'd get a more effective enhancement on a weapon.

[Claxon]

It's useful if you want to make a thrown weapon character without specializing super hard into it.

[Ascalaphus]

I'm saving up for it to give my melee paladin an answer to enemies that don't start nearby.

Goes well with Lesser Belt of Mighty Hurling