The names for the magic items Mace of Disruptionand Mace of Smiting in the Magic Item compendium seem to have their names swapped based on their definition and picture.
So the Mace of "Disruption" looks like a golden holy mace and the Mace of "Smiting" looks like a rough bludgeoning mace in the physical copy too?
I would assume the "Smiting" mace to have radiant damage and shed bright light while the "Disruption" mace would do the extra bludgeoning damage, no? It currently is the flipped.
How you are seeing it here on D&D Beyond is consistent with how they are labelled in the physical Dungeon Master's Guide, D&D Beyond follows Wizards of the Coast's lead on these things. :) I do agree with you it seems as though they may fit better the other way around, however that is not how they are presented by the official sources.
If Wizards of the Coast decided to release any errata on these names in the future, D&D Beyond would strive to be consistent with their decisions! Thank you!
Ah, I understand what you're saying now. Just wanted to make sure you weren't looking at the "correct" version in the book. But if they are both that way, then yea, its something that needs to be brought up with Wizards of the Coast instead.
As someone who began playing in 1978 when D&D came as a three book boxed set, I can tell you the major difference.
First the Rod of Smiting and the Mace of Disruption are from the early days of AD&D as you already noted, but they were much different then. The mace of disruption disrupts the negative energy that powers all undead. The Rod of Smiting was more about striking power and affected constructs as well as everything else. At the time constructs were notoriously difficult because of Magic Resistance rules back in the early ad&d days. Constructs could only be beaten by adamantine or lots and lots of physical damage. Smiting added that physical damage. It was holy damage then and the magic resistance did not stop holy damage. thus smiting became the weapon of choice for constructs. As the editions of d&d have advanced they have mutated slightly but maintained that disruption is the disruption of negative energy, which means it also affects extraplanar creatures like demons and devils, and Smiting is the holy side of increased physical damage, but it also works on evil creatures just fine.
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The names for the magic items Mace of Disruption and Mace of Smiting in the Magic Item compendium seem to have their names swapped based on their definition and picture.
Is this the right place to report this error?
Hello Flinnatic!
Both of these maces look correct on my end, based upon the labels and descriptions present in my physical copy of the Dungeon Master's Guide.
So the Mace of "Disruption" looks like a golden holy mace and the Mace of "Smiting" looks like a rough bludgeoning mace in the physical copy too?
I would assume the "Smiting" mace to have radiant damage and shed bright light while the "Disruption" mace would do the extra bludgeoning damage, no? It currently is the flipped.
Here's an image detailing the standout "smite-like" details of the Mace of Disruption.
https://imgur.com/a/85oavHw (image upload not working)
I should specify that I'm strictly referring to the online compendium, not the physical book.
How you are seeing it here on D&D Beyond is consistent with how they are labelled in the physical Dungeon Master's Guide, D&D Beyond follows Wizards of the Coast's lead on these things. :) I do agree with you it seems as though they may fit better the other way around, however that is not how they are presented by the official sources.
If Wizards of the Coast decided to release any errata on these names in the future, D&D Beyond would strive to be consistent with their decisions! Thank you!
Ah, I understand what you're saying now. Just wanted to make sure you weren't looking at the "correct" version in the book. But if they are both that way, then yea, its something that needs to be brought up with Wizards of the Coast instead.
Thanks for your clarification!
You're very welcome!
Found on Reddit:
As someone who began playing in 1978 when D&D came as a three book boxed set, I can tell you the major difference.
First the Rod of Smiting and the Mace of Disruption are from the early days of AD&D as you already noted, but they were much different then. The mace of disruption disrupts the negative energy that powers all undead. The Rod of Smiting was more about striking power and affected constructs as well as everything else. At the time constructs were notoriously difficult because of Magic Resistance rules back in the early ad&d days. Constructs could only be beaten by adamantine or lots and lots of physical damage. Smiting added that physical damage. It was holy damage then and the magic resistance did not stop holy damage. thus smiting became the weapon of choice for constructs. As the editions of d&d have advanced they have mutated slightly but maintained that disruption is the disruption of negative energy, which means it also affects extraplanar creatures like demons and devils, and Smiting is the holy side of increased physical damage, but it also works on evil creatures just fine.