Magical weapons

TethorilofLathander

Through the years of slaying dragons, giants, ogres and goblins, I've never really questioned this, until now (dun dun dunnnn )

When you face and defeat a character like...Yaga-Shura, then pick up his weapon, how can you even lift it? Do magical weapons shrink/grow to the size of the new wielder (no pun intended!)

jacobtan

Some magical weapons do. But others don't. For simplicity I just assume all weapons are the right size

Necomancer

its an ease of use thing. In pen and paper DnD some DMs pay attention to this stuff, very close attention. It all depends on what level of realism you want. Hell, you got DMs who pay attention to how often you eat, weather conditions and make you roll to see if you get pregnant, wich can be fun if you're RPing a male bard and child support is a thing. Not so much if you want to RP a female who now suffers terrible penalties because the DM won't let you RP the way you want.

jacobtan

I will bore you with details :P

Here is the description of the Dagger +2 Longtooth in PnP Dungeon Master's Guide (found in game, but has no such reference):

"... However, when this broad-bladed weapon is wielded by a small demihuman (like a gnome or halfling), it will actually lengthen and function as a short sword..."

But in other weapons, it doesn't appear to be so. Joril's Dagger +3 was owned by a giant, but his "dagger" is a human's two-handed sword. Pixie Prick +3 is a dagger, but it was wielded by a sprite as a two-handed sword.

Some DMs will pay really close attention to such details, but it's probably easier to assume that things just work:

a. If you picked it up from a large creature like a giant, it was a dagger or similarly "small" weapon
b. If you picked it up from a small creature like a pixie, it was a two-handed sword or similarly "large" weapon

jacobtan

As an aside, I wonder what type of DM would actually bother learning all these trivia... shudder.

CrevsDaak

I assume that Yaga-Shura is using his own undroppeable 2d10+3 War Hammer with 7 Speed Factor and that is called GIAFIR.
He carries the Runehammer+4 just to smash potatoes with the Shield of the Order+4.

jacobtan

I know this is off-topic and sounds crude... but anyone wondered...

If you stood behind Yaga-Shura and he farted, does that count as a "Knockback plus Stinking Cloud"?

CrevsDaak

jacobtan said:

If you stood behind Yaga-Shura and he farted, does that count as a "Knockback plus Stinking Cloud"?

I bet that is more like Incendiary Cloud, you know, Fire Giants and burrito THAC0s.

Wanderon

CrevsDaak said:

He carries the Runehammer+4 just to smash potatoes with the Shield of the Order+4.

Does this result in 4 orders or 8 orders of potatoes? Or is it 16? ;-)

Tresset

Well, I know that in NWN you can see fire giants wielding greatswords as one-handed weapons. There are also references in BG to different creatures wielding the same weapons differently. Such as how the Pixie Prick, a dagger, is said to have been used by a sprite as a greatsword, or how Joril's Dagger, a two-handed sword, was used as a dagger by a frost giant.

TethorilofLathander

I don't mean generally as far as...a large weapon to a small creature is a normal sized weapon to an average human. I mean more in the case of someone like Yaga-Shura, where his Runehammer clearly isn't for fixing fire giant houses and it's not going to be human sized at all when he stands at probably 20 feet tall :P

abacus

TethorilofLathander said:

I don't mean generally as far as...a large weapon to a small creature is a normal sized weapon to an average human. I mean more in the case of someone like Yaga-Shura, where his Runehammer clearly isn't for fixing fire giant houses and it's not going to be human sized at all when he stands at probably 20 feet tall :P

Serious question:
Does he actually attack with the Runehammer? I never used skellies or level draining against him, so I don't know if he actually gets the benefit…

If not, then it could just be that he keeps it tucked away in his belt/ pocket as a cool shiny toy whilst swinging away with his own weaponry… which the Bhaalspawn makes a logistical decision about and sensibly decides to leave where it is?
Or the last guy he fought carried the Runehammer & Shuruppak's Plate, and big Yaga ate him down whole… a fact the Bhaalspawn discovered after hearing a suspicious clanking on the other end of Carsomyr (or whatever weapon)...

karnor00

As others have pointed out, it's just a D&D ease of use thing. Some DM's will be more scrupulous about these kinds of things than others - BG2 is pretty relaxed about this issue.

It's even more of a problem with armor than weapons. Expecially full plate armor which has to be specifically made for the wearer.

booinyoureyes

CrevsDaak said:

jacobtan said:

If you stood behind Yaga-Shura and he farted, does that count as a "Knockback plus Stinking Cloud"?

I bet that is more like Incendiary Cloud, you know, Fire Giants and burrito THAC0s.

@CrevsDaak‌ casts Tashia's Hideous Laughter
Booinyoureyes takes one million giggle damage
Booinyoureyes is dead

Blackraven

Yep only 'liking' your comment @CrevsDaak doesn't do it justice. Brilliant post!

jacobtan

booinyoureyes said:

CrevsDaak said:

jacobtan said:

If you stood behind Yaga-Shura and he farted, does that count as a "Knockback plus Stinking Cloud"?

I bet that is more like Incendiary Cloud, you know, Fire Giants and burrito THAC0s.

@CrevsDaak‌ casts Tashia's Hideous Laughter
Booinyoureyes takes one million giggle damage
Booinyoureyes is dead

Be thankful @CrevsDaak‌ did not cast Saerileth's Love Bite on you

elminster

abacus said:

TethorilofLathander said:

I don't mean generally as far as...a large weapon to a small creature is a normal sized weapon to an average human. I mean more in the case of someone like Yaga-Shura, where his Runehammer clearly isn't for fixing fire giant houses and it's not going to be human sized at all when he stands at probably 20 feet tall :P

Serious question:
Does he actually attack with the Runehammer? I never used skellies or level draining against him, so I don't know if he actually gets the benefit…

If not, then it could just be that he keeps it tucked away in his belt/ pocket as a cool shiny toy whilst swinging away with his own weaponry… which the Bhaalspawn makes a logistical decision about and sensibly decides to leave where it is?
Or the last guy he fought carried the Runehammer & Shuruppak's Plate, and big Yaga ate him down whole… a fact the Bhaalspawn discovered after hearing a suspicious clanking on the other end of Carsomyr (or whatever weapon)...

He most likely attacks with giafir.itm (2d10 crushing + 1d6 fire damage). He has the runehammer equipped in his secondary weapon slot but I don't see anything (in his scripts) that suggests that he actually uses it. Easiest way to know I suppose would be to see if he does fire damage to you.

That said he has a ring that grants him immunity to (among other things) level drain. So level drain immunity wouldn't be an indicator of him using it.

dinobirdguy

In the case of Yaga Shura, maybe he just keeps the hammer as a trophy: perhaps as a reminder of a triumphant but difficult battle; or as a spare, like a human who normally uses a two-handed sword might keep a dagger, just-in-case.

Maybe the hammer to Yaga is like a pencil to a special forces guy: sure, you can kill a man with a pencil, but you wouldn't want it to be your primary weapon. Plus, it's a magical and valuable pencil, given to you by the fire giant frat boys when you graduated from Bhaalspawn University.

Or, maybe Yaga is a skilled DIY'er, and appreciates the value of quality construction hardware. "The Runehammer +4: when you want that nail in the doorframe RIGHT NOW. Available at ACE, Lowes, and Menards."

Heck, never know when you might need to barter for a brace of fire giant-sized alka-seltzer. Some people carry gold, some carry cash, some carry magical hammers.