Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Newbisan 02-13-05, 02:55 AM	Since search is taking forever, I figured I'd just post. Will the "Bless Weapon" spell affect a weapon that is already +1 or better? Also, it says it gives +1 for the purpose of bypassing the damage reduction of evil creatures. Does this mean only, say, DR 5/good, or would it also count on an evil creature with something like DR 5/cold iron?
Ra-Tiel 02-13-05, 07:58 AM	Hello Newbisan. To answer your questions let me quote the SRD: Bless Weapon Transmutation Level: Pal 1 Components: V, S Casting Time: 1 standard action Range: Touch Target: Weapon touched Duration: 1 min./level Saving Throw: None Spell Resistance: No This transmutation makes a weapon strike true against evil foes. The weapon is treated as having a +1 enhancement bonus for the purpose of bypassing the damage reduction of evil creatures or striking evil incorporeal creatures (though the spell doesn’t grant an actual enhancement bonus). The weapon also becomes good, which means it can bypass the damage reduction of certain creatures. (This effect overrides and suppresses any other alignment the weapon might have.) Individual arrows or bolts can be transmuted, but affected projectile weapons (such as bows) don’t confer the benefit to the projectiles they shoot. In addition, all critical hit rolls against evil foes are automatically successful, so every threat is a critical hit. This last effect does not apply to any weapon that already has a magical effect related to critical hits, such as a keen weapon or a vorpal sword. So, yes, bless weapon affects weapons that already are +1 or better. Because the spell doesn't really give an enhancement bonus to them weapon but only allows it to affect creatures as if it had one, there's no conflict. Second, the weapon automatically becomes good-aligned, no matter what alignment the weapon has had before. It allows you to ignore damage reductions like "10/good" or "5/silver or good". It, however, doesn't allow you to ignore material based drs like "10/cold iron", or drs that require an "&" for the weapon's characteristics to ignore the dr like "15/bludgeoning and good" or "10/adamatine and good", because you only fullfill one criteria when you need to fullfill two or more. The most useful part of the spell however, is the first sentence of the second paragraph: "...all critical rolls against evil foes are automatically successful, so every threat is a critical hit." That makes the spell an incredible resource for the high-level paladin. The only situation this last part of the spell will not work is when the weapon already has a magical effect effecting critical hits, like vorpal or keen. I hope that answers your question. As always: Just my :twocents: _Ra-Tiel.
kjenks 02-13-05, 09:08 AM	Oil of Bless Weapon (100 gp, listed in DMG) is really good in combination with Improved Critical and a falchion or rapier.
Newbisan 02-13-05, 04:12 PM	Thanks for the clarification!
StevenO 02-13-05, 06:17 PM	The spell grants the weapon the ability to bypass DR/magic that evil creatures posess and DR/good for anything. That is in addition to the spells abilities with critical hits. The spell works very well for fighting fiends or other evil creatures that have DR/special material and good-magic provided you have a weapon of the required material. Very nice way to get around the high cost of enchanting cold iron weapons when fighting demons.