brillant energy

[Erethrin]

is there a way to put a activation command on brillant energy weapon (turn it on/off)?

[Young Nasty Man]

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/darkness-trick

[Gilfalas]

Erethrin wrote:

is there a way to put a activation command on brillant energy weapon (turn it on/off)?

Are you looking simply for a way to not have a 'blade/whatever' on the BE weapon or are you looking for a way to have one weapon that can be Brilliant Energy or 'normal' with a selector?

Not that I know of an answer to either but your OP is slightly confusing.

[Claxon]

No. And there shouldn't be. Brilliant energy weapons (if they worked against everything) would be incredibly powerful. The two things that stop everyone from using them are:
1) The cost, at a +4 equivalent enhancement it's super expensive (to continue enchanting your weapon)
2) The fact that such a weapon doesn't work against Undead, Constructs, objects, or other "non-living" things.

[Erethrin]

Gilfalas wrote:

Erethrin wrote:

is there a way to put a activation command on brillant energy weapon (turn it on/off)?

Are you looking simply for a way to not have a 'blade/whatever' on the BE weapon or are you looking for a way to have one weapon that can be Brilliant Energy or 'normal' with a selector?

Not that I know of an answer to either but your OP is slightly confusing.

like a flaming weapon .... its normal until you use a standard action to activate the flaming enchantment

so basicly have a normal sword that could activate brillant energy

[Erethrin]

Young Nasty Man wrote:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/darkness-trick

the way i read it , the blade would cease to exist (would be holding a hilt?)

Claxon wrote:

No. And there shouldn't be. Brilliant energy weapons (if they worked against everything) would be incredibly powerful. The two things that stop everyone from using them are:

1) The cost, at a +4 equivalent enhancement it's super expensive (to continue enchanting your weapon)
2) The fact that such a weapon doesn't work against Undead, Constructs, objects, or other "non-living" things.

what i want :

+1 brillant energy sword (activated)
+1 sword (when not activated)

it would be super easy to carry 2 weapons but i want to use the same sword from start to finish , for roleplay reason.
and i wanted to know if there a rule somewhere that could achieve this , or if i need to pay a beer to my DM lol

[Gilfalas]

Erethrin wrote:

what i want :
+1 brillant energy sword (activated)
+1 sword (when not activated)

Not in the current rules that I am aware of. You can buy a backup weapon (most +1 weapons are about 2400ish gold) or talk to your GM about researching an additional ability to shut down your brilliant energy so you have a normal +1 sword.

Perhaps an improved Brilliant Energy at +5 value as oppposed to the normal at +4 so you could turn on Brilliant Energy when needed and blade swap to a totally normal physical blade with not special abilites besides the +1 enhancement bonus.

Personally I don't think that would be unreasonable as long as your +1 normal weapon blade is not getting Brilliant Energy abilities bonuses to hit and such. If your starting at a level high enought to afford a +5 or higher weapon perhaps ask you GM for a special weapon that you work out together, since it sounds like you may want a type or heirloom weapon if I am reading your intent right? Something that fits your background story?

[Young Nasty Man]

You could get a double weapon and only have one side be brilliant energy.

[Saethori]

Unfortunately, double weapons have their sides enchanted separately, so it's not that different from two weapons mechanically, though roleplay wise I can see a difference.

But, yeah, the reason you can't turn brilliant weapons off is because they have no physical blade. Their cutting force is pure energy that cuts only living matter and ignores nonliving matter.

Either carry a backup weapon or do some other method of helping your group fight the unliving.

[Gisher]

There are a number of class abilities or feats that will let you add Brilliant Energy, but none are available at lower levels.

- Advanced Weapon Training (Weapon Training 4): Warrior Spirit

- Magus (13th level): Arcane Pool with Ghost Blade Magus Arcana

- Monk of the Empty Hand (15th level): Ki Weapons [Improvised weapons only.]

- Paladin (14th level): Divine Bond

- Occultist (18th level): Legacy Weapon

- Warpriest (16th level): Sacred Weapon

[Dark Lord Fluffy]

Claxon wrote:

No. And there shouldn't be. Brilliant energy weapons (if they worked against everything) would be incredibly powerful. The two things that stop everyone from using them are:

1) The cost, at a +4 equivalent enhancement it's super expensive (to continue enchanting your weapon)
2) The fact that such a weapon doesn't work against Undead, Constructs, objects, or other "non-living" things.

The thing that keeps everyone from using them is that they aren't that good. In addition to not working on 2 fairly common creature types, they also don't work against enemies which rely on natural armor. That is most non-humanoid enemies. For maybe for Pathfinder scenarios where there are more NPC enemies they are good, but in most of my play experience I have never seen anyone deliberately take a brilliant energy weapon. It isn't reliable against enough types of enemies, so if you need the bonus to hit you can't be sure it will actually work. It is +4 which is nearly half of your enchants so it is coming in late at the cost of good early enchants. Making it able to toggle at least makes it a consideration.