"Conjure" needn't mean it suddenly springs forth into existence. Teleportation spells are of the Conjuration school. The "Simple or Martial Melee weapon of your choice" may from somewhere, and it may return when the bond ends. In effect, it might be a borrowed weapon.
And that could be grandpa's sword as easily as it could be off the rack.
"Conjure" needn't mean it suddenly springs forth into existence. Teleportation spells are of the Conjuration school. The "Simple or Martial Melee weapon of your choice" may from somewhere, and it may return when the bond ends. In effect, it might be a borrowed weapon.
And that could be grandpa's sword as easily as it could be off the rack.
"Conjure" in the context of D&D is generally understood to mean conjuring out of nothing. The interpretation you're suggesting is not one that's shared by most players and DMs.
As always, you have to ask yourself: if this interpretation is what they intended, would they have written it this way?
"Conjure" needn't mean it suddenly springs forth into existence. Teleportation spells are of the Conjuration school. The "Simple or Martial Melee weapon of your choice" may from somewhere, and it may return when the bond ends. In effect, it might be a borrowed weapon.
And that could be grandpa's sword as easily as it could be off the rack.
I don't think it's the interpretation conjure is meant to have in this context.
You would instead conjure a longsword, while granpa's longsword remain on the rack.
As written, I see it the same as Plaguescarred does. When I put my DM hat on, I'd 100% allow someone to bond with grandpa's longsword because I think that sort of thing is cool, and allowing it would have zero mechanical impact on the game.
With that out of the way, that's not what the rule actually says. It says you can CONJURE a pact weapon, and BOND with a magic one.
You can conjure a pact weapon in your hand—a Simple or Martial Melee weapon of your choice with which you bond—or create a bond with a magic weapon you touch... A conjured weapon disappears when the bond ends.
This reads very clear to me. You can either summon from nothingness a weapon, or you can bond with a magic one. But it HAS to be magic.
Now, there's a work around if your DM is adhering to as written. You can temporarily make a non-magic weapon into a magic one with the Magic Weapon spell. Magic Weapon states:
You touch a nonmagical weapon. Until the spell ends, that weapon becomes a magic weapon with a +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls. The spell ends early if you cast it again.
Since it BECOMES a magic weapon, grandpa's longsword can now be bound. The bond does not end when the magic weapon spell falls off. You just can't let it be more than 5 feet from you for more than a minute, or you have to re-cast magic weapon.
Your bond with the weapon ends if you use this feature’s Bonus Action again, if the weapon is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or more, or if you die. A conjured weapon disappears when the bond ends.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
"Conjure" needn't mean it suddenly springs forth into existence. Teleportation spells are of the Conjuration school. The "Simple or Martial Melee weapon of your choice" may from somewhere, and it may return when the bond ends. In effect, it might be a borrowed weapon.
And that could be grandpa's sword as easily as it could be off the rack.
"Conjure" in the context of D&D is generally understood to mean conjuring out of nothing. The interpretation you're suggesting is not one that's shared by most players and DMs.
As always, you have to ask yourself: if this interpretation is what they intended, would they have written it this way?
Please, don't try to use the word within a definition for it. Conjure means, "to make appear." It's an appearing/disappearing act. And while that can be seemingly anything out of thin air (Wish), it isn't the only trapping.
Conjuration spells include teleportation within the same plane (Dimension Door, Misty Step), transporting across planes (Plane Shift), sending a target creature to another plane or harmless demiplane (Banishing Smite), and binding spirits to your service (Find Familiar, Summon Elemental). It's a pretty versatile school.
Come on, it's flavor. The only question you need to ask is what happens if, if you're "borrowing" a weapon from somewhere, what happens if someone else tries to borrow it once you have it? And that's more begging the question than anything else. Hand-waive it.
"Conjure" needn't mean it suddenly springs forth into existence. Teleportation spells are of the Conjuration school. The "Simple or Martial Melee weapon of your choice" may from somewhere, and it may return when the bond ends. In effect, it might be a borrowed weapon.
And that could be grandpa's sword as easily as it could be off the rack.
I don't think it's the interpretation conjure is meant to have in this context.
You would instead conjure a longsword, while granpa's longsword remain on the rack.
Maybe.
As I've already explained, let players have their flavor. It doesn't break anything.
To be clear, I'm not saying you shouldn't flavor things the way you want, or break the rules when it suits you and the people you're playing with. But if the question is about what's allowed within the rules: that very clearly isn't allowed within the rules.
To be clear, I'm not saying you shouldn't flavor things the way you want, or break the rules when it suits you and the people you're playing with. But if the question is about what's allowed within the rules: that very clearly isn't allowed within the rules.
I could not disagree more.
"Conjure" is ludicrously flexible within the rules.
To be clear, I'm not saying you shouldn't flavor things the way you want, or break the rules when it suits you and the people you're playing with. But if the question is about what's allowed within the rules: that very clearly isn't allowed within the rules.
I could not disagree more.
"Conjure" is ludicrously flexible within the rules.
Perhaps, but an item still needs to be magic in order to bind with it. It's got to be bound before it can be conjured.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
To be clear, I'm not saying you shouldn't flavor things the way you want, or break the rules when it suits you and the people you're playing with. But if the question is about what's allowed within the rules: that very clearly isn't allowed within the rules.
I could not disagree more.
"Conjure" is ludicrously flexible within the rules.
Regardless of your interpretation of "Conjure" the text states explicitly that a Conjured weapon disappears when the bond ends: "Your bond with the weapon ends if you use this feature’s Bonus Action again, if the weapon is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or more, or if you die. A conjured weapon disappears when the bond ends."
So even if you are to accept the interpretation that you can "Conjure" grandpa's sword then that sword disappears when the bond ends. In essence bonding to Grandpa's sword or any other existing non-magic weapon would essentially destroy it for game purposes.
While I firmly am in the you don't conjure existing weapons camp, disappear does not tell you where it disappeared to. It could just go back to where it came from. Personally I think it is a bit of a slippery slope if you can conjure specific weapons. What is stopping you from conjuring the weapon your enemy is about to draw for example.
While I firmly am in the you don't conjure existing weapons camp, disappear does not tell you where it disappeared to. It could just go back to where it came from. Personally I think it is a bit of a slippery slope if you can conjure specific weapons. What is stopping you from conjuring the weapon your enemy is about to draw for example.
Well if it goes back to where it came from it is not "disappeared" any more. To me "disappear" has a permanence to it without mechanics that cause it to reappear.
For example, the Find Familiar spell: "When the familiar drops to 0 Hit Points, it disappears. It reappears after you cast this spell again."
If you don't cast the spell again it is not like the Familiar is back at your house cleaning the dishes.
While I firmly am in the you don't conjure existing weapons camp, disappear does not tell you where it disappeared to. It could just go back to where it came from. Personally I think it is a bit of a slippery slope if you can conjure specific weapons. What is stopping you from conjuring the weapon your enemy is about to draw for example.
Well if it goes back to where it came from it is not "disappeared" any more. To me "disappear" has a permanence to it without mechanics that cause it to reappear.
For example, the Find Familiar spell: "When the familiar drops to 0 Hit Points, it disappears. It reappears after you cast this spell again."
If you don't cast the spell again it is not like the Familiar is back at your house cleaning the dishes.
Not your home, but I think its back where spirit creatures come from. I do not think you are conjuring a living creature made from spirit matter and once the spell ends it ceases to exist. To me it sounds you you summoned the creature, and it then goes back to where it goes from.
While I firmly am in the you don't conjure existing weapons camp, disappear does not tell you where it disappeared to. It could just go back to where it came from. Personally I think it is a bit of a slippery slope if you can conjure specific weapons. What is stopping you from conjuring the weapon your enemy is about to draw for example.
Greetings!
When I use my Bonus Action to Conjure a Martial Melee weapon that deals Radiant, Necrotic, Psychic OR normal non-magical damage, I grab unformed Chaos and I mold it into a specific Martial Melee weapon for the current combat encounter. When the current combat encounter is concluded, I then release/drop/unbind the weapon and the weapon becomes unformed Chaos again. This interpretation is what my DM prefers because he prefers to track every weapon used by the party members. (One of the PCs suffers from Parkinson's and is somewhat imprecise with regards to his attacks and such.)
Reading all of these opinions and even conflicting interpretations.
If I have this Pact of weapons at 1st level, do I have to own or have access to a magical weapon (call it a sword for ease of language)? Or can I use a non magical sword?
Reading all of these opinions and even conflicting interpretations.
If I have this Pact of weapons at 1st level, do I have to own or have access to a magical weapon (call it a sword for ease of language)? Or can I use a non magical sword?
No, you don't.
Pact of the Blade allows you to conjure a weapon out of thin air or bond with an existing magical weapon. The point of the second part is to keep the ability useful at higher levels where you're likely to have access to magical weapons better than the generic ones the ability can conjure up for you.
Reading all of these opinions and even conflicting interpretations.
If I have this Pact of weapons at 1st level, do I have to own or have access to a magical weapon (call it a sword for ease of language)? Or can I use a non magical sword?
No, you don't.
Pact of the Blade allows you to conjure a weapon out of thin air or bond with an existing magical weapon. The point of the second part is to keep the ability useful at higher levels where you're likely to have access to magical weapons better than the generic ones the ability can conjure up for you.
Unfortunate imo for this and similar abilities like psychic blades they did not did it in a way that felt like the core concept imo. Obviously bump the word count a lot but like if you if you bind with a simple + weapon you can conjure any weapon with that +, bind with vicious can conjure any weapon that meets vicious pre-reqs etc. As imo large part of the cool of pact of the blade especially in 2024 where its a bonus action is you can change up the weapon on the fly just for cool factor, im wielding a flail, then a sword then a hammer etc.
Though if I were writing the power I'd of gone more template mode with it, but I was a huge fan of astral constructs in 3e. So something like one handed weapons default to 1d6, have a list of weapon types, like light, heavy, thrown etc you can add to it, and each would have a potential die modifier like drop one die type. And I'd of had magic effects like vicious as possible invocations, and or maybe with the pre-req of owning, consuming the weapon some how. Though I'd of made using pact of the blade a magic action so you are making spell attacks with constructs of eldritch energy you summoned. I also would have incorporated 2 weapon style, ranged weapons, sword and board into it at its core or through invocations.
Just kind of sad that once magic weapons are introduced, these sort of core to your concept abilities get either dropped or narrowed down to a almost unrecognizable state. Because maybe its just me but the use chr part of pact of the blade is more the mechanical rule that makes it functional part of the ability, not the character concept, its the conjuring of weapons that is the core concept imo. Using chr is a kind of silly but necessary part so its a functional ability.
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The weapon is conjured and disappears when the bond ends, so it can't be an existing nonmagical weapon, no luck with grandpa sword!
I think it's open to some interpretation.
"Conjure" needn't mean it suddenly springs forth into existence. Teleportation spells are of the Conjuration school. The "Simple or Martial Melee weapon of your choice" may from somewhere, and it may return when the bond ends. In effect, it might be a borrowed weapon.
And that could be grandpa's sword as easily as it could be off the rack.
"Conjure" in the context of D&D is generally understood to mean conjuring out of nothing. The interpretation you're suggesting is not one that's shared by most players and DMs.
As always, you have to ask yourself: if this interpretation is what they intended, would they have written it this way?
pronouns: he/she/they
I don't think it's the interpretation conjure is meant to have in this context.
You would instead conjure a longsword, while granpa's longsword remain on the rack.
As written, I see it the same as Plaguescarred does. When I put my DM hat on, I'd 100% allow someone to bond with grandpa's longsword because I think that sort of thing is cool, and allowing it would have zero mechanical impact on the game.
With that out of the way, that's not what the rule actually says. It says you can CONJURE a pact weapon, and BOND with a magic one.
You can conjure a pact weapon in your hand—a Simple or Martial Melee weapon of your choice with which you bond—or create a bond with a magic weapon you touch... A conjured weapon disappears when the bond ends.
This reads very clear to me. You can either summon from nothingness a weapon, or you can bond with a magic one. But it HAS to be magic.
Now, there's a work around if your DM is adhering to as written. You can temporarily make a non-magic weapon into a magic one with the Magic Weapon spell. Magic Weapon states:
You touch a nonmagical weapon. Until the spell ends, that weapon becomes a magic weapon with a +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls. The spell ends early if you cast it again.
Since it BECOMES a magic weapon, grandpa's longsword can now be bound. The bond does not end when the magic weapon spell falls off. You just can't let it be more than 5 feet from you for more than a minute, or you have to re-cast magic weapon.
Your bond with the weapon ends if you use this feature’s Bonus Action again, if the weapon is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or more, or if you die. A conjured weapon disappears when the bond ends.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Please, don't try to use the word within a definition for it. Conjure means, "to make appear." It's an appearing/disappearing act. And while that can be seemingly anything out of thin air (Wish), it isn't the only trapping.
Conjuration spells include teleportation within the same plane (Dimension Door, Misty Step), transporting across planes (Plane Shift), sending a target creature to another plane or harmless demiplane (Banishing Smite), and binding spirits to your service (Find Familiar, Summon Elemental). It's a pretty versatile school.
Come on, it's flavor. The only question you need to ask is what happens if, if you're "borrowing" a weapon from somewhere, what happens if someone else tries to borrow it once you have it? And that's more begging the question than anything else. Hand-waive it.
Maybe.
As I've already explained, let players have their flavor. It doesn't break anything.
To be clear, I'm not saying you shouldn't flavor things the way you want, or break the rules when it suits you and the people you're playing with. But if the question is about what's allowed within the rules: that very clearly isn't allowed within the rules.
pronouns: he/she/they
Indeed it doesn't break anything and what DMs and players do in their game is up to them, we're discussing it from rules perspective.
Like crzyhawk I would definitely allow a Warlock PC to bond with its beloved grandpa's sword that would have such family heirloom.
Even cooler would be to conjure it's grandpa's sword from hereafter and return to it's resting place when the bond end!
One could also imagine this being a fun way to learn that grandpa’s sword actually has been magical the whole time.
pronouns: he/she/they
You wouldn't want Warlock to start auto-disarm enemy by conjuring their weapon in its hand though loll
I could not disagree more.
"Conjure" is ludicrously flexible within the rules.
Perhaps, but an item still needs to be magic in order to bind with it. It's got to be bound before it can be conjured.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Regardless of your interpretation of "Conjure" the text states explicitly that a Conjured weapon disappears when the bond ends: "Your bond with the weapon ends if you use this feature’s Bonus Action again, if the weapon is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or more, or if you die. A conjured weapon disappears when the bond ends."
So even if you are to accept the interpretation that you can "Conjure" grandpa's sword then that sword disappears when the bond ends. In essence bonding to Grandpa's sword or any other existing non-magic weapon would essentially destroy it for game purposes.
While I firmly am in the you don't conjure existing weapons camp, disappear does not tell you where it disappeared to. It could just go back to where it came from. Personally I think it is a bit of a slippery slope if you can conjure specific weapons. What is stopping you from conjuring the weapon your enemy is about to draw for example.
Well if it goes back to where it came from it is not "disappeared" any more. To me "disappear" has a permanence to it without mechanics that cause it to reappear.
For example, the Find Familiar spell: "When the familiar drops to 0 Hit Points, it disappears. It reappears after you cast this spell again."
If you don't cast the spell again it is not like the Familiar is back at your house cleaning the dishes.
Not your home, but I think its back where spirit creatures come from. I do not think you are conjuring a living creature made from spirit matter and once the spell ends it ceases to exist. To me it sounds you you summoned the creature, and it then goes back to where it goes from.
Greetings!
When I use my Bonus Action to Conjure a Martial Melee weapon that deals Radiant, Necrotic, Psychic OR normal non-magical damage, I grab unformed Chaos and I mold it into a specific Martial Melee weapon for the current combat encounter. When the current combat encounter is concluded, I then release/drop/unbind the weapon and the weapon becomes unformed Chaos again. This interpretation is what my DM prefers because he prefers to track every weapon used by the party members. (One of the PCs suffers from Parkinson's and is somewhat imprecise with regards to his attacks and such.)
Reading all of these opinions and even conflicting interpretations.
If I have this Pact of weapons at 1st level, do I have to own or have access to a magical weapon (call it a sword for ease of language)? Or can I use a non magical sword?
No, you don't.
Pact of the Blade allows you to conjure a weapon out of thin air or bond with an existing magical weapon. The point of the second part is to keep the ability useful at higher levels where you're likely to have access to magical weapons better than the generic ones the ability can conjure up for you.
pronouns: he/she/they
Unfortunate imo for this and similar abilities like psychic blades they did not did it in a way that felt like the core concept imo. Obviously bump the word count a lot but like if you if you bind with a simple + weapon you can conjure any weapon with that +, bind with vicious can conjure any weapon that meets vicious pre-reqs etc. As imo large part of the cool of pact of the blade especially in 2024 where its a bonus action is you can change up the weapon on the fly just for cool factor, im wielding a flail, then a sword then a hammer etc.
Though if I were writing the power I'd of gone more template mode with it, but I was a huge fan of astral constructs in 3e. So something like one handed weapons default to 1d6, have a list of weapon types, like light, heavy, thrown etc you can add to it, and each would have a potential die modifier like drop one die type. And I'd of had magic effects like vicious as possible invocations, and or maybe with the pre-req of owning, consuming the weapon some how. Though I'd of made using pact of the blade a magic action so you are making spell attacks with constructs of eldritch energy you summoned. I also would have incorporated 2 weapon style, ranged weapons, sword and board into it at its core or through invocations.
Just kind of sad that once magic weapons are introduced, these sort of core to your concept abilities get either dropped or narrowed down to a almost unrecognizable state. Because maybe its just me but the use chr part of pact of the blade is more the mechanical rule that makes it functional part of the ability, not the character concept, its the conjuring of weapons that is the core concept imo. Using chr is a kind of silly but necessary part so its a functional ability.