Phasing Weapon?

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Just a question to some more advanced users - I just got what might be a pretty cool sword in Dorn's Deep. It's a Bastard Sword of Phasing +3. The stats are pretty good compared to what i already have (2D4+3, THACO +3), but it has a 15% chance of "Phasing". My question is, what the heck is phasing? Is this a good thing?

 

It sounds like it would be beneficial to be phased - to be intangible. But in IWD, it's like a disease - infact, Cure Disease frees you from phasing, I believe. If phasing occurs (15% or whatever), then the struck creature glows for a second and suffers a little extra damage, like 1-4 or 1-6.

 

In a game of D&D I had a long time ago (so very long ago) one of our party members got phased, so he was sort of half in The Realms, half somewhere else. Anyway, the point is he was totally immune to any kind of attack but he was also completely unable to affect anything in our world anymore, even his speech was all screwed up.

I don't know exactly how it works in IWD but I imagine it's somewhat similar, except I believe that in IWD you can still attack the person you phased 'cause that just wouldn't make any sense. Hit someone with your weapon and then never be able to hit them again? Wouldn't work.

 

I think a phased character or creature exists on both the Prime Material Plane and the Ethereal Plane, but as posted above, you're pretty useless on either plane since you're kind of in the middle. I never found that item in IWD and I'm not sure if I would have used it either.

Is it any good?

Sylvus

 

I got it late last night, and haven't played yet today. Since it seems no one has encountered this weapon yet, I'll be the guinea pig! Maybe I'll attack one of my own characters with the phasing sword, then 'll find out exactly what it does.

 

I know what typical D&D phasing is, phase spiders and phase doors and all that, but IWD also uses phasing as some sort of damaging affliction. I have the same +3 Bastard Sword of Greater Phasing (and a +2 Morning Star of Lesser Phasing - both=cool), and when someone is phased by the sword, they glow and suffer 2pts of additional damage per round for several more rounds, like they were poisoned or something. (I just went back and hacked up those slaves under the ice salamanders just to make sure. Poor people.) Phasing isn't explained in the manual, but the 1.06 patch says only Cure Disease can remove it. Nothing really explains though exactly how phasing causes damage to someone, since it's always been a beneficial now-you-can't-touch-me thing. I don't remember this kind of "phasing" in any other book D&D weapon.

Maybe chunks of flesh flicker in and out of tangibility on the person, separating and crudely reattaching to the surrounding flesh, ripping and shredding and snapping and spurting, like bloody earthquakes spontaneous fractures and breaks, deforming ruptures. Hey, that's cool!

[This message has been edited by Neverworlder (edited September 22, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Neverworlder (edited September 22, 2000).]

 

LOL! You know what scares me about that last graphic description? Is that we'll probably be seeing stuff like that in Baldur's Gate 2!

I don't know why they haven't added a weapon like that, but rather than effect the creature you're fighting, use it as an "added" ability if you're using that weapon. Then during battle, when you need some time, click on the icon and it uses the iniate ability within the sword itself. Then you become "phased" or "ethereal" and all attacks mounted on you go through you unless it's a +3 weapon or better, or better yet, move around the battle field, postion yourself and come out of your "phased" state and attack from behind.

Syl...

 

Yep, it does a disease-like bit of damage for a number of rounds after the attacked creature is phased. As for how the damage is described, when I attacked and phased one of my own characters, a cross icon appeared on my protrait, like a disease, and on the characted record I was described as "Nauseated"!!!