Post/Author/DateTime	Post
runestar 07-26-06, 12:16 AM	How would this work? Could I say, have a +5 defending weapon, have a mage cast greater magic weapon on it(the duration is darn long anyways), then activate the weapon to give me a +5 ac bonus while retaining the +5 enhancement bonus granted by said spell? :) Defending: A defending weapon allows the wielder to transfer some or all of the sword’s enhancement bonus to his AC as a bonus that stacks with all others. As a free action, the wielder chooses how to allocate the weapon’s enhancement bonus at the start of his turn before using the weapon, and the effect to AC lasts until his next turn. Moderate abjuration; CL 8th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, shield or shield of faith; Price +1 bonus. Also, could the enhancment bonus granted by the spell be channelled into the ac bonus as well? Say, a +5 defending weapon with a greater magic weapon(caster lv20) could draw upon both sources to give a +10 ac bonus....
Plothos 07-26-06, 02:38 AM	That wouldn't work, I don't think. The enhancement bonus granted by greater magic weapon would fail to stack with the +5 already present in the weapon, and so it would basically have no effect at all. It would for all intents and purposes just fail to modify the weapon in any way. On your turn, when deciding what to allocate to AC with the defending property, you'd be picking from the total enhancement bonus present in the weapon. Since GMW wouldn't alter this, it would remain +5, and that's all you could put into AC. The +5 enchancement bonus (all the weapon has, even if GMW has been cast on it) is thereby used up and is no longer going to be added to attack or damage rolls.
Vegepygmy 07-26-06, 02:42 AM	How would this work? Could I say, have a +5 defending weapon, have a mage cast greater magic weapon on it(the duration is darn long anyways), then activate the weapon to give me a +5 ac bonus while retaining the +5 enhancement bonus granted by said spell?No, but you could have a +1 defending weapon enhanced by GMW to +5 and apply all +5 to your AC. The key to your question is that the weapon's own +5 enhancement bonus and the +5 enhancement bonus granted by GMW are both enhancement bonuses, and thus do not stack. A +5 weapon with GMW (CL20) cast on it is still just a +5 weapon.
runestar 07-26-06, 02:46 AM	I am aware that multiple enhancement bonuses do not stack. However, I am unsure of how the defending property actually works. Do you actually lose that enhancement bonus which you "sacrifice" for the ac bonus? If this causes the enhancement bonus of the weapon to actually decrease, would this not allow the enhancement bonus of +5 from the spell to take over when it would be greater? Example: A lv20 mage casts greater magic weapon on a +5 defending scimiter. Nothing happens, since both +5 enhancement values supercede each other. Now, if the user of the scimiter activated the defending property for a +5 bonus to ac, causing the scimiter to "lose" its original +5 enhancement bonus for the duration of the effect, would this allow the +5 enhancement bonus from the spell to take over?
Crovaxan 07-26-06, 03:04 AM	you dont actually LOSE the enchantment. think of defending as a reverse switch, instead of the blade seeking how to effectively attack you make it seek to actively block incoming attacks. the blade keeps the enchantment your just using it forsomething else.
Plothos 07-26-06, 03:04 AM	Think of it this way: When you use the defending option, you make use of a weapon that has a certain enhancement bonus, which is fixed by whatever enchantments are in effect on it at that time. If the GMW doesn't stack, then it's got just that +5. What that enhancement bonus does in the round is altered by the use of the defending option. The weapon still has an enhancement bonus of +5, even without the GMW, but the effect that bonus has on combat has been altered. As support for this line of thought, consider whether a +5 defending sword would suddenly become easier to sunder if you used it to defend. There's no specific rule that says it wouldn't, but I think common sense here says it would not. So the enhancement bonus is still there, it's just affecting things differently.
runestar 07-26-06, 03:21 AM	make sense, guess it was too good to be true.. :(
Plothos 07-26-06, 03:25 AM	el oh el Here Runestar, have a cookie. There, now everything's better. :)