Cost of adding mercurial to a weapon? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Cost of adding mercurial to a weapon? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
jarvis02
12-27-05, 06:53 PM In the AEG it has a mercurial greatsword for 600 so is it the same difference for every bladed weapon you add it to? Like how much for a fullblade with mercurial added?
Rulebook
12-27-05, 09:06 PM however much you think its worth to have your DM hit you over the head with the PHB.

stop the mercurial madness!
Redding MTG Player
12-27-05, 11:20 PM however much you think its worth to have your DM hit you over the head with the PHB.

stop the mercurial madness!

What about some mercurial throwing daggers of returning wuhahaha
BobtheBiotitan
12-27-05, 11:24 PM Murcuial throwing daggers Are You Crazy? Get a hold of yourself man! Those things would be flying all over the place due to the constantly shifting mercury. :D
Redding MTG Player
12-27-05, 11:28 PM Your right, your right... They must become intelligent mercurial throwing daggers so the daggers can control their rotation.
ChibiQueso
12-27-05, 11:35 PM Your right, your right... They must become intelligent mercurial throwing daggers so the daggers can control their rotation.
Hah intelligent mercurial daggers. Wow. Prerequisites: Noob DM.
But now i have a funny idea for a BBEG. The inventor of mercurial!
:evillaugh
BobtheBiotitan
12-27-05, 11:36 PM Great. Now we have intelligent mercurial throwing daggers of returning. Why dont you add keen, dancing, shocking, flaming, and electric burst to it?

Phear the Intelligent keen dancing shocking flaming electric bursting mercurial throwing dagger of returning named Randy! :evillaugh All shall fall before randy!
ChibiQueso
12-27-05, 11:40 PM Why randy? stoop to the ultimate of generalization. Name the dagger bob. Since there will be hundreds of bob in existance, all sought for by crazy dagger throwing halfling racial paragon/fighter/master throwers in their quest for ruling the world through torrents of sloppy dagger madness? Since the dagger's name is bob it won't matter that thousands of players have them.
And the pyramid scheme begins :evillaugh
BobtheBiotitan
12-27-05, 11:42 PM Why randy? stoop to the ultimate of generalization. Name the dagger bob. Since there will be hundreds of bob in existance, all sought for by crazy dagger throwing halfling racial paragon/fighter/master throwers in their quest for ruling the world through torrents of sloppy dagger madness? Since the dagger's name is bob it won't matter that thousands of players have them.
And the pyramid scheme begins :evillaugh

Uh, Duh! Randy is so much more evil than bob! Phear Randy! Phear him so bad!
Subedei
12-27-05, 11:49 PM I forgot what mercurial even does. Doesn't it just up the damage die once?
ChibiQueso
12-27-05, 11:50 PM Why not we call it Bro'Ken. The one true evil.
Im not sure exactly either, but what I strongly dislike about mercurial is the sheer inefficiency of such an idea. Mercury in a weapon that shifts as it swings. It sounds cool, but imagine the mess it would make if sundered. Or how it would even be effectively made in a medieval setting. It would be more than inefficient. I seem to remember a mercurial greatsword with 2d8 damage.
Redding MTG Player
12-28-05, 12:35 AM for the price what mercurial does is insane.
Durgen Coalhewer
12-28-05, 12:45 AM Mercurial just transforms the weapon (either Longsword or Greatsword)'s Crit Range and Multiplier from 19-20 x2 to 20 x4. It also makes the weapon exotic. When you compare a Mercurial Greatsword to a Scythe (both have x4) the GSword is just one step up in damage dice, which is exactly what an exotic weapon is allowed to give. Not really all that broken.
Sae Cael Oanar
12-28-05, 08:01 AM iirc boxers put mercury in their gloves for around this same effect.
diphycue
12-28-05, 04:06 PM The game effect of mercurial is fine...it's the PHYSICS that's messed up...it'd be much better with a round weight inside, rather than a fluid. Heck, it'd be better just to make the sword with a very heavy blade. If you want to increase the threat, look up the price to have the weapon made of gold...it increases the multiplier by one and like quintuples the weight...I don't remember right now which book that's in, though.
janusthinker
12-28-05, 04:49 PM ...it'd be better just to make the sword with a very heavy blade. If you want to increase the threat, look up the price to have the weapon made of gold...it increases the multiplier by one and like quintuples the weight...I don't remember right now which book that's in, though.
Magic of Faerun, p. 179. Ups a weapon's damage die the way changing size does, but makes it twice as heavy and quite unwieldy. Also makes it very, very pretty.
Sluagh
12-28-05, 05:09 PM however much you think its worth to have your DM hit you over the head with the PHB.

stop the mercurial madness!

More to the point, stop the Fullblade madness :)
Edymnion
12-28-05, 07:00 PM As a DM, I *LOVE* mercurial weapons!
How else do you convince the PCs to pull out such a suicidal weapon in every battle?

One good sunder blow, and you spray them with pure mercury!
Hellloooo..... contact poison!
MobiusKlein
12-28-05, 07:59 PM Or at least not directly - it's the mercury compounds (methyl mercury, etc.) that will get you.

elemental mercury is dangerous as an environmental toxin because it does not stay in pure form very long, and converts to the deadly variety.
Edymnion
12-28-05, 08:03 PM Or at least not directly - it's the mercury compounds (methyl mercury, etc.) that will get you.

elemental mercury is dangerous as an environmental toxin because it does not stay in pure form very long, and converts to the deadly variety.Yeah, but we're talking medieval era mercury. Quicksilver. They didn't have the tech to refine it to pure elemental mercury. Heck, thats a relatively new thing.

You know the old phrase "Mad as hatter", usually assotiated with the insane hatter from Alice in Wonderland? It was a real phrase, because hatters made their hats from felt, which at the time required them to soak the felt in mercury to make it plyable. Just the long term exposure to mercury fumes were enough to rot the brain and cause insanity.

It was an occupational hazard, like having your face melt off from making matches. (main ingrediant in matches is phosphour, which combines with calcium to create calcium phosphate. The poor schmoes that stired the phosphour vats would breath in the fumes, and it would leech the calcium out of their bones around their nose and mouth, literally making the fronts of their skulls dissolve)
MobiusKlein
12-28-05, 08:28 PM [QUOTE=Edymnion]Yeah, but we're talking medieval era mercury. Quicksilver. They didn't have the tech to refine it to pure elemental mercury. Heck, thats a relatively new thing.

You know the old phrase "Mad as hatter", usually assotiated with the insane hatter from Alice in Wonderland? It was a real phrase, because hatters made their hats from felt, which at the time required them to soak the felt in mercury to make it plyable. Just the long term exposure to mercury fumes were enough to rot the brain and cause insanity.
QUOTE]

Ok, Mercury Fumes, sure. Inhaled Poison. Big diff.
Throrin
12-28-05, 08:53 PM Just a point of fact, not that I knew that D&D had them in the game, but mercurial weapons did exist in (late) medieval Germany.

I have held 3 executioner swords (I guess you could call them greatswords - definately two-handed) before, and each of them had mercury in them. They were not melee weapons by any means (took too long to ready after a swing, but then all it took was one swing to get the job done ;) ), and the very idea of using a weapon in combat that had a hollow shaft running down the core of the blade seems quite ludicrus to me. :rolleyes:
Thurbane
12-28-05, 09:03 PM There was a fantasy novel I read years ago (can't remember which one, I've read too many LOL) where an executioner had a greatsword for beheading poeple that was filled with mercury...
Edymnion
12-28-05, 09:04 PM Ok, Mercury Fumes, sure. Inhaled Poison. Big diff.Mercury is very toxic, and can be absorbed through the skin. Thats why in high school chemistry, you had to (or will have to) watch that safety video about how to clean up a broken mercury thermometer.

However, its far easier to get mercury poisoning by inhaling the fumes, which can cause symptoms within hours.

So I could make it a contact poison with a low save DC, which then becomes an inhaled poison if not immediantly washed off. Sound better? :D
Thurbane
12-28-05, 10:15 PM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_poisoning
Subedei
12-28-05, 11:46 PM Hollow, mercury filled rapier injecting poison into your opponent like a giant hypodermic needle...Now he's really dead :rofl:
RavenDrake
12-29-05, 12:49 AM Personally, I use the game effect, but have it placed as what are called "Skipweights". The center of the weapon(the haft of axes and maces, or the bloodgroove area of a sword) has a series of exceptionally heavy weights placed along it. When swung, the weights slide to the far end of the weapon, exerting expeptional force on the striking portion... it equates to mercurial's effects.

Of course, Piercing weapons cannot benefit from this effect because of the way it work...
Tetsubo
12-29-05, 08:09 AM however much you think its worth to have your DM hit you over the head with the PHB.

stop the mercurial madness!

*throws hands in the air*

Say it again Brother! Death to Mercurial Weapons!
jarvis02
12-29-05, 05:01 PM Wow it's really amazing how I can ask a simple question and you guys turn it into the most useless conversations. I don't care if you think its bad to put onto a weapon or if you think I'm a noob for wanting it, because its my desicion. All I want is a simple answer on what book its in a what it does. I don't want it to turn into a stupid argument trying to make you retards look good by spouting off useless facts about mercury just to make yourselves look like you know something other than D&D. So all I want to know is what it does in D&D land not real life.
BobtheBiotitan
12-29-05, 06:27 PM Well, that was a nasty post. Though we did get off topic I'm sure someone would give the answer eventually. Ask your DM about it. Make a house rule or something since there is no "official" ruling on this matter. If you happen to be the DM then take this for examle

Example 1: Mercurial greatsword is 600gp, normal greatsword is 50 gp. 600-50 is 550, so as a houseruling I would allow mercurial to be added to metal two-handed weapons for 550 gold.

Example 2: Mercurial longsword is 400gp, normal longsword is 15gp. 400-15 is 385, so as a houseruling I would allow mercurial to be added to metal one-handed weapons for 385 gold.

I would rule that a light one-handed metal weapon could add mercurial to it for 150 gold. I would reason that if given to a throwing weapon then it would give a -2 to attack because of the constantly shifting mercury and add +2 to damage for the extra force involved. That combined with a 20/x3 critical and you are good to go.

A weapon designed for small creatures would only pay 50% of the price because their weapons are only half size. Large creatures would require a 100% increase in price because of their weapons are 2x the size. Fair enough?
Thurbane
12-29-05, 11:08 PM Anyway, mercurial weapons are old news; DU (depleted uranium) swords are where it's at, baby! Just make sure your weapon is lead-lined...
Subedei
12-29-05, 11:10 PM Hell yeah! I suggested that in another thread. For some reason no one seemed to take onto it...started going off about gold weapons from magic of faerun :(
larry_the_titan
12-30-05, 03:28 AM More to the point, stop the Fullblade madness :)

What is wrong with the Fullblade???
RavenDrake
01-01-06, 04:15 AM Anyway, mercurial weapons are old news; DU (depleted uranium) swords are where it's at, baby! Just make sure your weapon is lead-lined...

Actually, that's the point of "Depleteing" the Uranium... It's been treated so that it gives off little to no dangerous radiation(sure, occasionally it degreades into somehthing that gives off gamma or other dangers rads, but those have a half-life of scant seconds, at best). It is still a very poisonous metal, however, and would have to be encased in a metal shell...
Neodymium
01-01-06, 05:41 AM my cousin used to play in a V:tM game and his character was a gargoyle who made some huge DU greatsword.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
jarvis02 12-27-05, 06:53 PM	In the AEG it has a mercurial greatsword for 600 so is it the same difference for every bladed weapon you add it to? Like how much for a fullblade with mercurial added?
Rulebook 12-27-05, 09:06 PM	however much you think its worth to have your DM hit you over the head with the PHB. stop the mercurial madness!
Redding MTG Player 12-27-05, 11:20 PM	however much you think its worth to have your DM hit you over the head with the PHB. stop the mercurial madness! What about some mercurial throwing daggers of returning wuhahaha
BobtheBiotitan 12-27-05, 11:24 PM	Murcuial throwing daggers Are You Crazy? Get a hold of yourself man! Those things would be flying all over the place due to the constantly shifting mercury. :D
Redding MTG Player 12-27-05, 11:28 PM	Your right, your right... They must become intelligent mercurial throwing daggers so the daggers can control their rotation.
ChibiQueso 12-27-05, 11:35 PM	Your right, your right... They must become intelligent mercurial throwing daggers so the daggers can control their rotation. Hah intelligent mercurial daggers. Wow. Prerequisites: Noob DM. But now i have a funny idea for a BBEG. The inventor of mercurial! :evillaugh
BobtheBiotitan 12-27-05, 11:36 PM	Great. Now we have intelligent mercurial throwing daggers of returning. Why dont you add keen, dancing, shocking, flaming, and electric burst to it? Phear the Intelligent keen dancing shocking flaming electric bursting mercurial throwing dagger of returning named Randy! :evillaugh All shall fall before randy!
ChibiQueso 12-27-05, 11:40 PM	Why randy? stoop to the ultimate of generalization. Name the dagger bob. Since there will be hundreds of bob in existance, all sought for by crazy dagger throwing halfling racial paragon/fighter/master throwers in their quest for ruling the world through torrents of sloppy dagger madness? Since the dagger's name is bob it won't matter that thousands of players have them. And the pyramid scheme begins :evillaugh
BobtheBiotitan 12-27-05, 11:42 PM	Why randy? stoop to the ultimate of generalization. Name the dagger bob. Since there will be hundreds of bob in existance, all sought for by crazy dagger throwing halfling racial paragon/fighter/master throwers in their quest for ruling the world through torrents of sloppy dagger madness? Since the dagger's name is bob it won't matter that thousands of players have them. And the pyramid scheme begins :evillaugh Uh, Duh! Randy is so much more evil than bob! Phear Randy! Phear him so bad!
Subedei 12-27-05, 11:49 PM	I forgot what mercurial even does. Doesn't it just up the damage die once?
ChibiQueso 12-27-05, 11:50 PM	Why not we call it Bro'Ken. The one true evil. Im not sure exactly either, but what I strongly dislike about mercurial is the sheer inefficiency of such an idea. Mercury in a weapon that shifts as it swings. It sounds cool, but imagine the mess it would make if sundered. Or how it would even be effectively made in a medieval setting. It would be more than inefficient. I seem to remember a mercurial greatsword with 2d8 damage.
Redding MTG Player 12-28-05, 12:35 AM	for the price what mercurial does is insane.
Durgen Coalhewer 12-28-05, 12:45 AM	Mercurial just transforms the weapon (either Longsword or Greatsword)'s Crit Range and Multiplier from 19-20 x2 to 20 x4. It also makes the weapon exotic. When you compare a Mercurial Greatsword to a Scythe (both have x4) the GSword is just one step up in damage dice, which is exactly what an exotic weapon is allowed to give. Not really all that broken.
Sae Cael Oanar 12-28-05, 08:01 AM	iirc boxers put mercury in their gloves for around this same effect.
diphycue 12-28-05, 04:06 PM	The game effect of mercurial is fine...it's the PHYSICS that's messed up...it'd be much better with a round weight inside, rather than a fluid. Heck, it'd be better just to make the sword with a very heavy blade. If you want to increase the threat, look up the price to have the weapon made of gold...it increases the multiplier by one and like quintuples the weight...I don't remember right now which book that's in, though.
janusthinker 12-28-05, 04:49 PM	...it'd be better just to make the sword with a very heavy blade. If you want to increase the threat, look up the price to have the weapon made of gold...it increases the multiplier by one and like quintuples the weight...I don't remember right now which book that's in, though. Magic of Faerun, p. 179. Ups a weapon's damage die the way changing size does, but makes it twice as heavy and quite unwieldy. Also makes it very, very pretty.
Sluagh 12-28-05, 05:09 PM	however much you think its worth to have your DM hit you over the head with the PHB. stop the mercurial madness! More to the point, stop the Fullblade madness :)
Edymnion 12-28-05, 07:00 PM	As a DM, I LOVE mercurial weapons! How else do you convince the PCs to pull out such a suicidal weapon in every battle? One good sunder blow, and you spray them with pure mercury! Hellloooo..... contact poison!
MobiusKlein 12-28-05, 07:59 PM	Or at least not directly - it's the mercury compounds (methyl mercury, etc.) that will get you. elemental mercury is dangerous as an environmental toxin because it does not stay in pure form very long, and converts to the deadly variety.
Edymnion 12-28-05, 08:03 PM	Or at least not directly - it's the mercury compounds (methyl mercury, etc.) that will get you. elemental mercury is dangerous as an environmental toxin because it does not stay in pure form very long, and converts to the deadly variety.Yeah, but we're talking medieval era mercury. Quicksilver. They didn't have the tech to refine it to pure elemental mercury. Heck, thats a relatively new thing. You know the old phrase "Mad as hatter", usually assotiated with the insane hatter from Alice in Wonderland? It was a real phrase, because hatters made their hats from felt, which at the time required them to soak the felt in mercury to make it plyable. Just the long term exposure to mercury fumes were enough to rot the brain and cause insanity. It was an occupational hazard, like having your face melt off from making matches. (main ingrediant in matches is phosphour, which combines with calcium to create calcium phosphate. The poor schmoes that stired the phosphour vats would breath in the fumes, and it would leech the calcium out of their bones around their nose and mouth, literally making the fronts of their skulls dissolve)
MobiusKlein 12-28-05, 08:28 PM	[QUOTE=Edymnion]Yeah, but we're talking medieval era mercury. Quicksilver. They didn't have the tech to refine it to pure elemental mercury. Heck, thats a relatively new thing. You know the old phrase "Mad as hatter", usually assotiated with the insane hatter from Alice in Wonderland? It was a real phrase, because hatters made their hats from felt, which at the time required them to soak the felt in mercury to make it plyable. Just the long term exposure to mercury fumes were enough to rot the brain and cause insanity. QUOTE] Ok, Mercury Fumes, sure. Inhaled Poison. Big diff.
Throrin 12-28-05, 08:53 PM	Just a point of fact, not that I knew that D&D had them in the game, but mercurial weapons did exist in (late) medieval Germany. I have held 3 executioner swords (I guess you could call them greatswords - definately two-handed) before, and each of them had mercury in them. They were not melee weapons by any means (took too long to ready after a swing, but then all it took was one swing to get the job done ;) ), and the very idea of using a weapon in combat that had a hollow shaft running down the core of the blade seems quite ludicrus to me. :rolleyes:
Thurbane 12-28-05, 09:03 PM	There was a fantasy novel I read years ago (can't remember which one, I've read too many LOL) where an executioner had a greatsword for beheading poeple that was filled with mercury...
Edymnion 12-28-05, 09:04 PM	Ok, Mercury Fumes, sure. Inhaled Poison. Big diff.Mercury is very toxic, and can be absorbed through the skin. Thats why in high school chemistry, you had to (or will have to) watch that safety video about how to clean up a broken mercury thermometer. However, its far easier to get mercury poisoning by inhaling the fumes, which can cause symptoms within hours. So I could make it a contact poison with a low save DC, which then becomes an inhaled poison if not immediantly washed off. Sound better? :D
Thurbane 12-28-05, 10:15 PM	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_poisoning
Subedei 12-28-05, 11:46 PM	Hollow, mercury filled rapier injecting poison into your opponent like a giant hypodermic needle...Now he's really dead :rofl:
RavenDrake 12-29-05, 12:49 AM	Personally, I use the game effect, but have it placed as what are called "Skipweights". The center of the weapon(the haft of axes and maces, or the bloodgroove area of a sword) has a series of exceptionally heavy weights placed along it. When swung, the weights slide to the far end of the weapon, exerting expeptional force on the striking portion... it equates to mercurial's effects. Of course, Piercing weapons cannot benefit from this effect because of the way it work...
Tetsubo 12-29-05, 08:09 AM	however much you think its worth to have your DM hit you over the head with the PHB. stop the mercurial madness! throws hands in the air Say it again Brother! Death to Mercurial Weapons!
jarvis02 12-29-05, 05:01 PM	Wow it's really amazing how I can ask a simple question and you guys turn it into the most useless conversations. I don't care if you think its bad to put onto a weapon or if you think I'm a noob for wanting it, because its my desicion. All I want is a simple answer on what book its in a what it does. I don't want it to turn into a stupid argument trying to make you retards look good by spouting off useless facts about mercury just to make yourselves look like you know something other than D&D. So all I want to know is what it does in D&D land not real life.
BobtheBiotitan 12-29-05, 06:27 PM	Well, that was a nasty post. Though we did get off topic I'm sure someone would give the answer eventually. Ask your DM about it. Make a house rule or something since there is no "official" ruling on this matter. If you happen to be the DM then take this for examle Example 1: Mercurial greatsword is 600gp, normal greatsword is 50 gp. 600-50 is 550, so as a houseruling I would allow mercurial to be added to metal two-handed weapons for 550 gold. Example 2: Mercurial longsword is 400gp, normal longsword is 15gp. 400-15 is 385, so as a houseruling I would allow mercurial to be added to metal one-handed weapons for 385 gold. I would rule that a light one-handed metal weapon could add mercurial to it for 150 gold. I would reason that if given to a throwing weapon then it would give a -2 to attack because of the constantly shifting mercury and add +2 to damage for the extra force involved. That combined with a 20/x3 critical and you are good to go. A weapon designed for small creatures would only pay 50% of the price because their weapons are only half size. Large creatures would require a 100% increase in price because of their weapons are 2x the size. Fair enough?
Thurbane 12-29-05, 11:08 PM	Anyway, mercurial weapons are old news; DU (depleted uranium) swords are where it's at, baby! Just make sure your weapon is lead-lined...
Subedei 12-29-05, 11:10 PM	Hell yeah! I suggested that in another thread. For some reason no one seemed to take onto it...started going off about gold weapons from magic of faerun :(
larry_the_titan 12-30-05, 03:28 AM	More to the point, stop the Fullblade madness :) What is wrong with the Fullblade???
RavenDrake 01-01-06, 04:15 AM	Anyway, mercurial weapons are old news; DU (depleted uranium) swords are where it's at, baby! Just make sure your weapon is lead-lined... Actually, that's the point of "Depleteing" the Uranium... It's been treated so that it gives off little to no dangerous radiation(sure, occasionally it degreades into somehthing that gives off gamma or other dangers rads, but those have a half-life of scant seconds, at best). It is still a very poisonous metal, however, and would have to be encased in a metal shell...
Neodymium 01-01-06, 05:41 AM	my cousin used to play in a V:tM game and his character was a gargoyle who made some huge DU greatsword.