Cold Iron weapons

[ArthusLionHeart]

So basically i love Cold Iron in the fact that you get DR agaisnt Fey and Demons.... but here is my question. If i have say a MW LongSword Cold Iron with a +1-5 magical enchantment.

How dose that work? Cause from my understanding even a +1 magic weapon by passes the DR for most creatures including demons and fey... so dose this now make a Cold iron weapon usless after it gets magical enchantment?

And is there actualy stats for cold iron cause all it reads on pazio is DR against demons and fey? So dose that mean they just get no DR against cold iron?

[Rysky]

?

Cold Iron armor does not give you DR against those creatures, though I may have misunderstood you.

Cold Iron weapons overcomes any DR that is listed as DR/Cold Iron, so does +3 weapons since they count as Cold Iron, a +1 weapon wouldn't do it, they would only get through DR/Magic

[wolaberry]

Enchanting the weapon does not turn off the special quality of cold iron. It does cost more to enchant those, but its often worth it.

Cold iron is described in the Core rulebook, special materials section with the weapons and armor.

[ArthusLionHeart]

Yes understand that and iv seen the description in pazio fornthe weapons, my question is after a weapon gets a +1 magical enchantment it ignores DR of most creatures. So wouldnt having a +1 weapon be the same as having a cold iron weapon with no enchantment?

[wolaberry]

Not a +1 weapon. That only bypasses DR/Magic. As a weapons enhancement bonus increases it counts as better materials and alignments.

[blahpers]

A +1 weapon overcomes DR #/magic and pretty much nothing else. That the base weapon didn't overcome. It takes a +3 weapon to bypass DR #/cold iron. Or, you know, a cold iron weapon.

[wolaberry]

There is a table in the CRB, can't remember exactly where. I think +3 weapons count as silver or cold iron.

[ArthusLionHeart]

Oh! Okay thank you for clarifying, so if i understand correctly... so for example: If a demon has a DR of 5 you would need a +3 magic enchantment or better in order to completely by pass there DR BUT a Cold Iron weapon can just completly by pass the DR

[wolaberry]

If it is listed as DR 5/cold iron then yes a +3 weapon does full damage. If the creature has DR 10/cold iron and good (common at the mid to high levels) then it won't.

Or you could just hit it harder and overwhelm the DR. Two handed power attack for 30+ damage doesn't much care about DR 5. Having the right key is more important to people with multiple attacks (archers, two weapon fighting).

[ArthusLionHeart]

Okay so Cold Iron is usefull cause it ignores DR from Demons and Fey no matter what there DR is correct?

[Rysky]

It has nothing to do with Demons and Fey, Cold Iron weapons ignore DR/Cold Iron. That's it.

[ArthusLionHeart]

Whats DR/coldiron? Im confused by this? I understand DR but Cold Iron says it Ignors DR from Fey amd Demons? So what am i missing?

[Nefreet]

ArthusLionHeart wrote:

so dose this now make a Cold iron weapon usless after it gets magical enchantment?

Depends.

A Cold Iron Weapon overcomes DR/Cold Iron.

A +1 Cold Iron Weapon overcomes DR/Cold Iron and DR/Magic.

A +3 Weapon overcomes DR/Cold Iron and DR/Silver and DR/Magic.

So if you plan on eventually enhancing your weapon to +3 anyways, you probably don't need to enhance a Cold Iron weapon.

Just keep one as a backup for when you encounter Fey or Demons.

[Renata Maclean]

It's a shorthand, many Fey and Demons have DR/Cold Iron (meaning damage reduction that is overcome by cold iron weapons), so that's the primary use for cold iron weapons
More powerful demons will often require that your weapon be good aligned, so it would have to be both Holy and Cold Iron in some situations

[Daw]

Arthus
When a creature's stats list a DR, it is in the format, DR 5/(thing).
The thing is things like Magic, Cold Iron, Silver or whatever. An attack that has that thing as a property, like a silver/cold iron/magic ignores/bypasses the DR.

Rysky's reply was correct, but confusing. Cold Iron will bypass the DR of most demons and fey because most demons and fey have DR #/Cold Iron. If you have an oddball, such as DR 10/Cold Iron and Good, or DR 5/Lawful then your unenchanted cold iron weapon will not bypass their DR, even if they are demons or fey.

Got it?

[Chess Pwn]

ArthusLionHeart wrote:

Oh! Okay thank you for clarifying, so if i understand correctly... so for example: If a demon has a DR of 5 you would need a +3 magic enchantment or better in order to completely by pass there DR BUT a Cold Iron weapon can just completly by pass the DR

yes

if they have dr 5/cold iron then a +3 weapon or a cold iron weapon will bypass it.

[ArthusLionHeart]

So once my cold iron weapon reaches a +3 dose the cold iron material itself become obsolete? As +3 weapons count as silver or cold iron?

[Chess Pwn]

ArthusLionHeart wrote:

So once my cold iron weapon reaches a +3 dose the cold iron material itself become obsolete? As +3 weapons count as silver or cold iron?

yes, except for something like an anti-magic field that would turn off the weapon's magic.

but for all normal situations the cold iron stops mattering once the weapon is +3.

[ArthusLionHeart]

Okay so it dose have so usefulness after being +3 but i guess thats why its so cheep compared to most material at 1st

[Rysky]

Yep.

[Chess Pwn]

yeah, that's why I recommend just carrying a masterwork cold iron X and have a normal X be your main weapon and get it to +3.
This saves you like 1600gp and you only miss out on maybe 1 accuracy and 2 damage a hit to overcome DR, which is good enough for me.

[ArthusLionHeart]

Iv already put the gold and time into my cold iron katana. I got a trait that gives me a free mw cold iron weapon and i get +1 attacks with cold iron weapon. Plus i like the fact of having it cold iron incase there is a magic effect that removes my enchantment bouns. Very circumstantial but i don't mind :) when that time comes ill be ready lol

[Chess Pwn]

Oh, what do you have giving +1 to cold iron attacks?

[ArthusLionHeart]

Its ancestral weapon i belieave