More wierd weapons questions

[Captnq]

Questions from my players:

The orc shotput is grapefruit sized. A flask is about the size of a grapefruit. Can I fire an orc shotput out of a gnome calculus?

What if I put hideaway on the orc shotput then shrink it down? Can I now shoot it out of a sling?

My player wants to use Minature's handbook maiming to make her weapon critical random. She figured out how to get her critical up to x5, so it would be 1d10 random critical. (All criticals are automatically confirmed in my campaign, so the feats work slightly differently, BTW) She wants to use a maximized and empowered Weapon Augmentation infusion to add the maiming to her weapon so that she has a crit range of x15. Besides being a dick and requiring the use of the MIC maiming, is there any reason this wouldn't work?

Shrinking is dismissable as a free action. So, I take 3 Cabers (basically, a 100 lbs log that does damage in a 10 foot area.) I shrink all three down and make a bola out of them.  I throw it, then dismiss the shrinking as a free action.

What happens?

[Kethrian]

An orc shotput weighs 15 lbs.  A flask of acid or alchemist's fire weighs 1 lb.  What do you expect would happen to a device calibrated for 1 lb ammo when you overload it by 15 times the normal weight capacity?  A broken launcher, and likely a broken foot, too.

Hideaway does not change the weapon's weight....

Weapon Augmentation itself has no random variables, so technically it would be ineligible for either of those metamagic feats.  Yes, they can create temporary enchantments on weapons, but strictly speaking, the enchantment would be unaffected by metamagic, only the base spell.   Just like if you put Maximize Spell on Charm Monster, the creature you charm would not suddenly deal maximum damage with every attack.

For the caber bola, you'd have to use the free action after the attack, so the bolas have already hit or missed, so they'd just snap the cord and you'd have three logs lying on the ground around that spot.  If you could somehow manage to pull it off as an immediate action, so you could potentially interrupt the attack and dismiss while the bola was in flight, they'd snap the cord and all fly off in a completely random direction, possibly right back at you (circular momentum becomes linear).

[zook1shoe]

What happens to a mercurial greatsword that is made from blue ice?
How much mercury would you get?
What kind of poison damage does it do if the weapon breaks or rusts (say striking a big rust dragon) ?


What happens when you have a hideaway unarmed strike on a Fine creature?
A swarm creature?

Can you get a Necklace of Natural Attacks (swarm attack) and choose sizing?

[Kethrian]

Considering blue ice typically hovers at around the freezing point for temperature, and mercury's freezing point is much lower, a blue ice mercurial greatsword would work just fine.
You'd get as much as a normal mercurial greatsword has.
Make up rules to cover mercury poisoning, since none officially exist in D&D.

You can't normally enchant Hideaway on natural weapons or unarmed strikes, and when you can, it's probably the item that confers the enchantment that would gain the compacting ability.

Sizing would be fun to imagine for natural weapons!

[Captnq]

Can you get a Necklace of Natural Attacks (swarm attack) and choose sizing?

I remember going over this one on another thread. I'll sum it up here.

Normally an unarmed strike isn't considered a weapon capable of being the target of such an effect, however, the monk's version of unarmed combat specificially states that his unarmed strike can be considered a weapon for the target of such effects. So, make sure you are a monk to try this sort of thing.

Getting sizing in your hands is a little difficult, but not impossible. The kensi PrC jumps to mind. The artificer weapon augmentation infusion is another.

Once you have sizing, you run into a little problem involving what happens when you change the size of your hands. See, unarmed strikes are considered light weapons. So, once you add sizing, you can change the size, but not more then one size up, and you can't shrink them.

When you go up a size,you gain a -2 to hit and it becomes a one handed weapon. You go up a second size and now your hands are two handed weapons. Well, how do you wield TWO, two handed weapons? You can't. (Strange feats aside.) You can't unequip your hands. So when you go the second size, your hands become too big to do anything and remember that a monk's feet and knees and elbows are all considered valid methods of attacking, so all of them go up in size as well. (Which is just a funny image, as far as I'm concerned)

You may have multiple methods to inflict your unarmed strike, but you only have one unarmed strike. Put a WSA on it, you put it on all of them.

Also, you can't wield a weapon that is too small. So if you shrink your hands, you can't attack at all. Although you can certainly lie on the side of the road and beg for money. A man with shriveled hands, feet, knees and elbows could certainly pass for a cripple. Maybe it could even pass as a cover story for an assassin. (How could I have killed the king? Look at my limbs!" *Wiggles his diminuative toes*)

The only reason I can see for ever using this is so you can increase your hands to one-handed weapons so you can choose to two-hand wield your hands and then perform a power attack for x1.5 damage.

[zook1shoe]

Wrong quote... But I know what you meant

In this article, it mentions you can make an unarmed strike with just about any part of your body.
 http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20070327a

Does that mean, in a sense, your whole body could be the weapon?
Yeah, same old argument. Sorry.



What about a guy that has sizing on his head (from headbutt unarmed strike or real natural attack) ?
As per Escape Artist's tight spaces rules, you could slip through just about anything, since Fine is at least as small as dust particles (that undead swarm)

[NunoM]

Nodwick being used as a ram comes to mind...

Anyway, by RAW and supporting articles, yes, you're whole body could be the weapon. Does this also mean that monks with sizing on their bodies will become enlarged (as the spell) if they so wish?! By RAW, i guess so... For actual gaming purposes, i think not!

If i was DMing it, i would get a monk to choose the sizing body part, and, in this case, to let me know which part of the body he would be using to perform an attack.
Example: if he had sizing on one of his hands, he would have to have it free (not holding anything) to perform the attack. He could still kick, headbutt or use the other hand, but he would use his normal damage for it, not the "sized" one.

EDIT: typo