Dispel Magic suppressing a weapon


Rules Discussion


Can dispel magic completely shut off any weapon targeted with it (Assuming the counteract is successful obviously), or would it need to suppress the individual runes?


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Dispel Magic wrote:
If you successfully counteract a magic item, the item becomes a mundane item of its type for 10 minutes.

I see no reason why you would need to check against each rune. Just a single check against the weapons level, which is determined by the highest level rune present.

Edit: To clarify, magical weapons are single items, even though they are composed of multiple parts. A Firearm with multiple augmentations and runes and every other bit or bob you can think of adding to it is a single item when it comes to Dispel Magic, or really most effects that target items.


Do keep in mind, NPCs aren't usually written as assuming their weapons have runes on them, so I wouldn't try this tactic against anything but humans and even then the GM would have to decide what the new damage would be because NPCs typically don't have that written in their stat blocks.

Edit: To clarify NPC entries usually just say something like:
weapon - attack bonus - damage. With humanoid creatures a GM might be able to determine if an attack is made with a magical weapon and if the damage can be reduced in a logical way. But I wouldn't assume this is default and you should ask your GM about it before you do it.

Horizon Hunters

Usually the stat block will have the weapon listed in their items as something like "+1 Striking Longsword", but it is also possible that an NPC would have multiple damage die or even rune effects with a basic weapon.


There are actually already guidelines in place for when enemies are denied their listed weapon for one reason or another. see here. Hilariously, they don't seem to care about anything other than potency and get striking dice for free so not likely to be much value in a player trying this.

More importantly, it means that dispel bots can serve as weak mooks that can turn off martial characters as needed. Not relevant to me because of ABP but I'm sure some gm will use this to throw their players for a loop.


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Keep in mind that Dispel Magic only targets unattended items.


Disjunction is good for this.

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