Raw Stupidity,

Summary:

Notably I was told I was wrong about this so I looked it up.

Raw Stupidity,

zedalb 09 May 2012 12:30

Raw Defending only works on swords, So bye bye defending Armour spikes

Offical SRD qoute

"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."

"Swords enchantment bonus"

Also worded this way in my pdf, and my downloaded copy of the system reference document. Since raw is sacred and I laugh at that, I felt this fitting to point out.

Of course that is the 3.5 version Pathfinder in its near infinite glory caught on.

Re: Raw Stupidity,

zedalb 09 May 2012 12:32

Of Course the pathfinder version has its own jar of worms.

"Do I have to make attack rolls with a defending weapon to gain its AC bonus?
Yes. Merely holding a defending weapon is not sufficient. Unless otherwise specified, you have to use a magic item in the manner it is designed (use a weapon to make attacks, wear a shield on your arm so you can defend with it, and so on) to gain its benefits.
Therefore, if you don't make an attack roll with a defending weapon on your turn, you don't gain its defensive benefit.
Likewise, while you can give a shield the defending property (after you've given it a +1 enhancement bonus to attacks, of course), you wouldn't get the AC bonus from the defending property unless you used the shield to make a shield bash that round—unless you're using the shield as a weapon (to make a shield bash), the defending weapon property has no effect."
[Source]

Re: Raw Stupidity,

Soft Insanity 09 May 2012 18:32

defending armor spikes is a pretty sub-optimal use of armor spikes imho.

Armor spikes take other enhancements alot better than any sword would.

Go back an read the silly RAW again. I'm sure they say sword when they mean any weapon in plenty of locations.

also, this is srd:

defending

Last edited on 09 May 2012 18:36 by Soft Insanity Show more

Re: Raw Stupidity,

Gribel 09 May 2012 21:54

Indeed, RAW is not RAI in many cases. For such cases, ask the council. I might add no one is currently using defending armor spikes, although I did mention them on the chat last week.

Whenever you find something improperly written, feel free to request a rewrite so it works as intended.

Re: Raw Stupidity,

Soft Insanity 09 May 2012 21:57

it's in the tables with weapon enhancements, there's no reason to think it wouldn't work on every weapon. But text trumps table.

Re: Raw Stupidity,

zedalb 10 May 2012 02:44

Honestly not a big deal but It amused me ,so I thought I would share.