Tuesday, April 19, 2016

P is for Poleaxe of Powerful Penetration

[over the course of the month of April, I committed to posting a topic for each letter of the alphabet, sequentially, for every day of the week except Sunday. While I was sorely tired of the challenge after only 15 days, I am trying to "stick to it." Our topic this month? Magical weapons for a B/X campaign. All such weapons are +1 to attack and damage rolls unless, unless specifically noted otherwise. Each of these weapons should be considered unique items]

P is for Poleaxe of Powerful Penetration.

The poleaxe is yet another example of a two-handed pole arm purposefully designed to pierce heavy armor. For many knights of the plate armor era in Europe, it was the heavy melee weapon of choice. In B/X, the weapon is treated as a pole arm in all respects.

The poleaxe of powerful penetration has been magically enchanted to tear and rend armor like a hot knife through a kicking, shrieking victim. Every successful attack roll against an armored opponent reduces the value of armor worn by two points (so plate mail would be reduced from AC 3 to AC5 on a successful attack); a shield-using opponent may choose to sacrifice her shield to the poleaxe instead. Against opponents in magical armor, the poleaxe of powerful penetration removes one "+" from the armor's value with each hit (again, the defender may choose whether this comes from the shield or suit, if both are magical), and armor is only reduced after all enchantments have been removed. This destruction is permanent.

In addition, if the damage roll comes up the maximum number on an attack (a "6," or "10" if using variable weapon damage), the attacker may roll an additional die (without bonuses) and apply the roll as extra damage. If the second roll comes up with the maximum number, roll a third dice (though no more than three total).

[I will be traveling to Argentina tomorrow, but I will schedule my A-Z posts to roll out over the next few days]

Yeah, yeah...they don't all look like this.

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