An Easy and Fair Fix for Vicious Weapons

[GrayOldDruid]

If they wanted all the mods to be usefull, they would take out power 1-3 (pretty much all power items actually),

Bite your... er.. Speech Levers? What do warforged speak with anyway... er...

Shut up before they take that seriously! xx of power III is like having an "everfull crack spoon" for my sorcerer!

... while, yes, perhaps xx of wizardry III would be better, power still does good.... especially with penetration III tacked on.

[HumanJHawkins]

I have a vicious light pick of gtr construct bane and I love it!!!

Especially on enemies like arach's knight in VON5... My damage can't beat his DR but the bane damage does which means no vicious effect for me haha

I'll have to ask you more about how this works the next time we play...

Are you saying that for some reason the Vicious effect doesn't hit you? Or perhaps it doesn't hit either you or the baddie, so you are able to use it as if it never had vicious on it?

[Arnya]

It means if you get a yellow zeros as your first damage number, vicious isn't applied but the extra damage as well as bane damage is applied.

I only take damage from someone like Arach's knight if I crit.

And on, say, the WF or master control in VON4 I use it all the time, nobody ever notices the extra damage I take 'cos it's minimal - compared to the 5d6 or so extra I'm dishing out

[Beergut]

I was running favor last night and pulled a +1 vicious warhammer, lvl2.

Had to laugh. Can't imagine a lvl 2 lasting long wielding that thing.

[Twerpp]

Is there a glowy effect when you take damage from your own weapon? Because as a Cleric I would want to know that so I could stop healing you without feeling bad about it...

Dude, its a D6. When I pop falselife/aid clickie prior to melee you wont even notice. And in tough fights or boss fights as a cleric you will appreciate it more when only one fighter putting the most DPS is taking aggro/damage. Its not a weapon you bang all day with in catacombs but it has its uses.

[MysticTheurge]

Dude, its a D6. When I pop falselife/aid clickie prior to melee you wont even notice. And in tough fights or boss fights as a cleric you will appreciate it more when only one fighter putting the most DPS is taking aggro/damage. Its not a weapon you bang all day with in catacombs but it has its uses.

I'd rather know so I can throw a Divine Healing on the person.

There's your "fix" for vicious weapons, honestly.

[Mad_Bombardier]

Is there a glowy effect when you take damage from your own weapon? Because as a Cleric I would want to know that so I could stop healing you without feeling bad about it...

It's definitely situational. I'd probably stop healing someone using it through the entire quest. But, when you are in a boss fight and the party is grouped up for mass heals anyway, Vicious is a good thing (provided that you're not sucking heals/cures faster than the rest of the party and the regular mass cures can keep up). Having a Vicious of Greater Dragon Bane for any of the dragon fights is good. As is Vicious of Greater Giant Bane for boss giants (again, not to use the whole quest), etc.

[Twerpp]

I'd rather know so I can throw a Divine Healing on the person.

There's your "fix" for vicious weapons, honestly.

Yeah I hear that but imagine the response of most clerics when youre like hey can you toss a divine healing on me Im using a vicious weapon...
Anyway I think this runs in the same vein as the 2h Barb with mass damage but doodoo AC vs sword and board who takes longer to kill a mob so who is really taking more damage argument.

[LA_MIKE]

..

[MysticTheurge]

Would it be too powerful if our own DR ate the Vicious effect, despite not being PnP compliant?

Yah. It would also kind of defeat the point of the Vicious enchantment.

(I'd prefer to see an increase in damage output before I saw DR affecting it.)

[LA_MIKE]

..

[MysticTheurge]

I can build up UMD to counter-act the negatives of using a weapon which bestows a negative level. Is that defeating the point of the weapon's intended use?

No you can't and yes it would be.

[LA_MIKE]

..

[MysticTheurge]

Mentioned my discussion with MT.

"Ohh, you don't wanna mess with that guy. He knows all the rules I do, and then some."

Haha. Thanks for the grin.

I do think Vicious could stand to be sweetened a little, either but upping the outgoing damage by a die (or two) or reducing the effective modifier by a point (or two).

I just don't think letting people use them without taking the incoming damage makes sense. In that case it'd just be a "everything bane" for the right people.