So, I'm looking at the Anchoring ability of magical weapons. Rules for it seem straight forward enough until I get to wrapping my mind around how someone 'anchored' would try to escape the ability.
Scenario: fighter goes up against the BBEG and gets struck with a shortsword. BBEG activates the anchoring ability of the shortsword upon striking the fighter. Now he's stuck in one spot unless he can pass a DC 30 strength check. This allows the BBEG to leave the fighter in one spot while he mops up the cleric and wizard.
Couldn't the fighter just un-impale himself from the blade? Or could he take control of the shortsword and deactivate it somehow? Would that require a Use Magic Device check? Immovable Rods have a button. Would the shortsword have such a button?
The rules seem to imply the anchoring is controlled by the wielder, but if he lets go of it to leave the fighter anchored, is he still the wielder? If the anchored fighter takes ahold of the shortsword is he now the wielder?
Any suggestions or rules clarifications are appreciated!
This is this one line in the description that makes that tough to do, though I like your interpretation.
'This anchors the target to the weapon, preventing it from moving away from the weapon.'
Un-impaling himself is the DC 30 strength check. I'm thinking a Freedom of Movement from the cleric ought to get the fighter out of it, and from the wording of anchoring a potion of gaseous form would work as well. Or a good old fashioned sunder attempt on the weapon with something large and adamantine.
The fighter wouldn't be able to unimpale himself, he's stuck to the weapon. The DC30 str check is to move the anchored weapon up to 10 feet (with you still anchored to it). You can even tap the guy on the arm with an anchoring weapon and activate the anchor enchantment, and now he's stuck to it. You don't actually have to stab the victim, you merely have to touch him. Whips with anchoring enchantments are extremely effective. It's essentially a 15ft immovable rod.
This special ability can only be added to a melee weapon or a thrown weapon. An anchoring weapon pins a target in place and prevents it from moving. As a swift action, the weapon can be fixed in place in a point in space, functioning as an immovable rod. This ability can also be used when the wielder hits a creature with a melee attack using an anchoring weapon. This anchors the target to the weapon, preventing it from moving away from the weapon. The target is not entangled or paralyzed; it simply cannot move from its location without first destroying the weapon or making a successful DC 30 Strength check as a full-round action to move with the weapon up to 10 feet. An anchoring weapon remains motionless and cannot be used to attack while it is anchoring a creature. An anchoring weapon has no effect on amorphous creatures, including elementals, oozes, and creatures in gaseous or liquid form. It also cannot anchor incorporeal creatures unless the weapon also has the ghost touch special ability.
The only way to break free is to become gaseous, liquid, or incorporeal. You can attempt to sunder the weapon though.
Each +1 of enhancement bonus adds 2 to the hardness a weapon and +10 to its hit points. The weapon would remain functional until its hit points are reduced to 0, so you would have to destroy the weapon.
This spell enables you or a creature you touch to move and attack normally for the duration of the spell, even under the influence of magic that usually impedes movement, such as paralysis, solid fog, slow, and web. All combat maneuver checks made to grapple the target automatically fail. The subject automatically succeeds on any combat maneuver checks and Escape Artist checks made to escape a grapple or a pin.
The spell also allows the subject to move and attack normally while underwater, even with slashing weapons such as axes and swords or with bludgeoning weapons such as flails, hammers, and maces, provided that the weapon is wielded in the hand rather than hurled. The freedom of movement spell does not, however, grant water breathing.
Freedom of Movement should work as well, but the weapon would still be anchored to you, but you would move your normal speed with it still attached to you.
You can also dispel the sword, suppressing it's magical qualities for 1d4 rounds. This would work on an anchoring enchantment long enough for you to unimpale yourself from it.
If the object that you target is a magic item, you make a dispel check against the item’s caster level (DC = 11 + the item’s caster level). If you succeed, all the item’s magical properties are suppressed for 1d4 rounds, after which the item recovers its magical properties. A suppressed item becomes nonmagical for the duration of the effect. An interdimensional opening (such as a bag of holding) is temporarily closed. A magic item’s physical properties are unchanged: A suppressed magic sword is still a sword (a masterwork sword, in fact). Artifacts and deities are unaffected by mortal magic such as this.
So, TLDR:
Anchoring is for sure defeated by Dispel Magic, Freedom of Movement spell, the target becoming liquid, gas, or incorporeal, or destroying the weapon.
So, how does the wielder deactivate the weapon so he/she can reuse the ability? And if only the wielder does it, what if the original wielder was killed? That would mean the only methods of overcoming the anchoring is to Dispel Magic, Freedom of Movement (but still having the item attached), liquid, gas, incorporeal, or destroying the weapon?
-Fighter quaffs his potion of gaseous form and escapes the anchoring short sword. It's now just suspended in the air where he once was. Fight is over and the BBEG is dead. The party wants that short sword.-
Would spellcraft and UMD be sufficient to take control of the weapon and the anchoring?
Technically, neither an anchoring weapon or an immovable rod contain any text that supports that they can become 'moveable' again.
I don't know of anyone who has ever ruled this way, basically I've always seen it as the button that makes an immovable rod immovable, can be turned on or off with a move action.
The anchoring weapon describes the action needed (swift) but doesn't specify the mechanism, other than saying it functions like an immovable rod. Detect Magic and spellcraft certainly should reveal whatever controls are used (whether physical or verbal) and, I would expect, if that information was known and the weapon was left unattended (say in a fighter while the big bad went to kill someone else) they could simply deactivate it. How obvious it is (the immovable rod mechanism is quite obvious and intuitive) is questionable, I'd personally probably assume that a swift action command word style activation/deactivation makes more sense, which wouldn't be something you could figure out without divination.
Technically, neither an anchoring weapon or an immovable rod contain any text that supports that they can become 'moveable' again.
I don't know of anyone who has ever ruled this way, basically I've always seen it as the button that makes an immovable rod immovable, can be turned on or off with a move action.
Actually, Immovable Rod does have flavor text which indirectly states this.
Several immovable rods can even make a ladder when used together (although only two are needed).
You wouldn't be able to substitute two immovable rods for "several" if they couldn't be moved again after being activated. Thus, the logical conclusion is that the ability can be turned on and off, even though you're right that it doesn't explicitly state that the button pressing can make the rod movable again.
You will note I said technically, and I don't know anyone who believes they can't be turned off. Since we are playing with semantics though, that flavor text also doesn't say how tall the ladder is. You could certainly use two immovable (and not moveable again) rods to make a ladder with two rungs. An immovable step ladder if you will.
Thinking of this, I might someday have to have a discount magic merchant that sells immovable rods for cheap (say 1000 gp) without mentioning that they can't be turned off.