Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Coldkilla 09-09-05, 11:20 AM	Looking for input on setting costs and details on the mechanics of a weapon enchantment concept I'm calling "pairmeld". In a nutshell, someone wielding, for example, two pairmeld longswords may, as a once per round free action, meld them together into a single weapon. Or when already melded, he may unmeld the single weapon back into the two separate longswords. Basically, the idea is to give a slight boost to the TWF-style in situations that call for switching back and forth between full attacks and standard attacks -- in other words, give the ablility to switch to a two-handed grip on a single weapon for 1.5xSTR bonus on a standard single attack without having to sheath or drop one of your weapons. Pairmeld must always be applied to two weapons of identical base type and size, e.g. 2 medium longswords, 2 small scimitars, 2 huge axes, etc. The pairmeld enchantment must be applied at the same time to both weapons in the pair, in a process called "joining". Either or both weapons may have other enchantments cast on them before or after they have been joined, and those enchantments need not be identical. Weapons classified as legendary, epic and/or artifact, may only be joined to a weapon of like classification. For illustration and example, let's use the case of a +2 keen longsword joined with a +1 flaming longsword. While melded however, only the lower of the two joined weapons' enhancement bonus applies, +1 in the case above. Passive properties/abilities like keen and flaming, have a 50% chance of taking effect in a given round, with each property's chance rolled separately at the beginning of your turn in the round, and the active/inactive state applies until the beginning of your turn in the succeeding round. Other abilties that must be activated by the wielder, such as spells or spell-like effects that are used at will or consume charges or can be used X times per round/minute/hour/day/etc, are suppressed and inaccessible while the weapons are melded. I'm clueless as to how much this should cost. Also, I'm leaning toward the melded weapon staying the same size when melded, but an argument could be made for increasing size by one category, from M to L for instance. And I'm not sure the 50% activation chance is scaled correctly, or whether that's even an appropriate mechanism. Thoughts? Even if you think this idea is lame or goofy, let's hear it.
ClementWillowbreaker 09-09-05, 11:30 AM	I think you want to base this off the Soulknife's ability to separate and recombine his blade. Its in the SRD. As for pricing, you should take the price of the combined weapon and its enchantments, and use that. The splitting is the magic, not the joining. If you do the reverse, you can buy cheap +3 equivalent weapons and stick them together to get a weapon with +5 worth of abilities.