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Swordmage's have a class feature called Swordmage Bonding. I'm wondering about two aspects of this feature.

Calling Your Sword

You're supposed to be able to call your sword to your hand:

As a standard action, you can call your bonded weapon to your hand from up to 10 squares away.

How good is your sword at returning to your hand? Does it just go directly at you on a straight line, or does it seek you out like Thor's hammer in Thor: The Dark World? How much force does it return with? Could it hurt someone on the way? Could it break through a window? A door? A wall?

This didn't seem like a big deal when I read the basic class feature, but when I look at the magic weapon Farbond Spellblade it seems much more important. This weapon's Property says, in part, "you can call this weapon to your hand from up to a mile away." I'm thinking it could encounter some obstacles over the course of a mile.

I did notice that the sort of 'story' section about the Farbond Spellblade on the same page talks about a group of swordmages that "called their farbond spellblades from beyond the walls of the fortress and fought their way free" even though they were in a dungeon.

Recreating Your Sword

You can also recreate your sword from a part of it:

If your bonded weapon is broken or damaged, you can spend 1 hour of meditation to recreate the weapon from a fragment.

How big of a fragment are we talking here? Could I intentionally cut or shave off a small piece of the hilt and carry it on me, so that I could recreate my sword if it was taken from me? I'm imagining being captured, disarmed, and imprisoned, then pulling out this small fragment from a secret pocket in my clothing, and being armed again an hour later. The feature also says that:

This process automatically destroys any other fragments of the weapon in existence

So I'm thinking that trick I just proposed would result in my sword, or the other 99% of it at least, disappearing from where my captors are keeping it and reconstituting in my cell.

Motivation

Obviously these are the sort of things I would want to clear with my DM, but I'm just wondering about rules as written, or if there's any kind of guidance from Wizards on this topic.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't have the forgotten realms book this class seems to be in (according to the online compendium), but is there anything that actually implies the sword's method of travel? Is there anything that suggests it can't or doesn't just teleport? \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 6:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JonathanHobbs The FR players guide does not carry any further clarity on this :( \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 14:33
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JonathanHobbs That's a good point, I didn't even think about it teleporting. Might just go with that. \$\endgroup\$
    – DCShannon
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 17:48

1 Answer 1

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Short answers:

  • The sword, flying to your hand, cannot hurt someone on the way.
  • Your DM need to decide how much things it can break through, and how much path seeking intelligence it has.
  • Your DM need to decide how big a fragment is required to recreate the sword.
  • If you can recreate your sword, yes the other pieces would disappear.
If the rule doesn't cover a situation, the DM determines what to do.
- Rules Compendium, p.9

4e rules, as written, mainly concerns combat, and less so about creative use of abilities.

Plenty of rules has been written about how other abilities can damage somebody with flying object, but not for Swordmage Bonding. So the lack of written rule for Swordmage Bonding most likely means the sword cannot damage others.

Naturally, the same extends to breaking objects. So, by RAW, the sword cannot breaks through anything. However, damaging objects is less serious then damaging creatures by convention, and your DM may use his/her best judgement to allow for thematic/creative/fun use. It would not be unreasonable to allow it to break through closed windows or unlocked doors, but it is equally reasonable to judge that it can only break through open air.

As long as it is consistent, it would be good judgement.

As for path seeking, since it is not stated in the feature, your DM need to decide how clever it would be; there are no rules to follow. Like above, there are many reasonable answers, for example "same as charging" strikes a middle ground between straight line and god-like AI.

In fact I've had a DM who judged it can pass through obstacles by phasing, to make it sounds awesome.

And for recreating your sword, the rules does not defined what is a 'fragment', so again your DM need to decide. If you ask me, allowing your prison breaking plan to work would open up many fun scenarios, without much drawback. But I also think the rule seems to be intended for repairing your sword rather then for backup, which means DM can say you must have a big piece (say, hand sized) by rule-as-intended. Again, as long as your DM keep it consistent, it would be good judgement.

Keep in mind that, by the rules, the damage from Disintegrate power (Wizard 19) is same as bashing damage. Which means, by the rules, a disintegrated sword is no different from a broken sword.

Rules as written can bring you only so far. This is why we have DM.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I would add that a magic weapon breaking happens SO rarely, that I'd find it reasonable and balanced for the player to break off a piece so he can recreate it later. Only mundane weapons ever really "break", though. Most players have a magic weapon after level ~2. Of course, if the magic weapon is ever disenchanted, so are all fragments. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ravn
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 6:39

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