Furyborn... An Overlooked Pathfinder Enchantment

Magic weapons are one of those things characters tend to acquire as they advance in level in Pathfinder classic. However, it's particularly easy to get caught up in all the choices for weapon enchantments as we try to figure out which options are going to be most effective against the particular enemies we're fighting, which ones work best with our character's class features, and which ones provide the most bang for our buck.

There is an enchantment that often falls through the cracks, though, and it's easy to overlook it if you aren't the sort of player who goes through rulebooks from cover to cover. And if you didn't dig into Ultimate Equipment (which I would recommend getting a copy of if you haven't), you may have missed the Furyborn enchantment.

Do not test me, for my fury has no limits.

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A Deadly Enchantment For All Occasions

The Furyborn enchantment is born of the frustration from a warrior whose enemy refuses to lay down and die. It is a +2 enchantment that can be placed on any melee weapon, and every time the weapon hits a single target, the enhancement bonus increases by +1 to a total of +5. So even if you have your weapon as a +1 furyborn weapon, a single hit raises it to +2, a second raises it to +3, and so on, and so forth, until you have a +5 furyborn weapon.

The bonus resets if you attack a different target than the original, the original target dies, or 1 hour passes.

Just die... it's the only way to end this!

Now, on the one hand, that likely sounds pretty good. After all, if you have a character with a full base attack bonus who can take iterative attacks, every hit you land makes you more likely to hit again, and adds a little bit of bonus damage. Because a +5 enhacement to hit (and the +5 enhancement to damage that comes with it), ain't nothing to sneeze at.

But there's another benefit that comes with a weapon's enhancement bonus that a lot of us simply don't think about. If you look in the back of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook on page 562, it lists the kinds of damage reduction that's overcome when a weapon has a high enough enhancement bonus. If a creature has DR that's overcome by silver or cold iron, then a weapon with an enhancement bonus of +3 ignores that ability. DR that normally requires an adamantine weapon to bypass can be ignored by a weapon that has an enhancement bonus of +4. And if a creature has alignment-based DR, that can be overcome by a weapon with an enhancement bonus of +5.

So if you're fighting a werewolf with your furyborn weapon, the first two hits will apply its DR, but after that your furry friend will take the full brunt of your blows. If it's later in the game and you're opposing devils, demons, or even angels (it's hard to say where your campaign will go), connecting with 4 hits means that your weapon is now going to pierce their protections and cut into them... and if you're a full-BAB martial character, that can mean you're only sacrificing a round or two to overcome your enemy's biggest defense.

And, of course, an extra handful of damage can really make a difference in conjunction with your general combat strategy... especially if you're confirming critical hits and multiplying that damage by 2, 3, or more!

So, if you're not sure what kind of weapon enchantment will work for your next game, consider grabbing this one for your melee weapon. Especially if you are the sort of player who likes to focus on a single enemy until they are down for the count, and out of the fight.

Further Reading Recommendations

If you enjoyed this week's advice, consider checking out the following Pathfinder RPG supplements as well!

- Sellswords of Sundara: A collection of 10 mercenary companies, each one comes with its own, unique class archetype!

- Feats of Legend: 20 Story Feats: One of the capstone pieces from the Feats of Legend series, this one covers one of the most under-utilized feat choices that can be extremely rewarding in a Pathfinder campaign.

- Pathfinder Player Companion: Bastards of Golarion: My first official contribution to the Golarion setting, this one covers a variety of tricks that can be a serious boon to adventurers who want to come out ahead.

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3 Bloodlines For Healing With Sorcerers (in Pathfinder)

One of the most common complaints I've heard from players who favor arcane magic is that they dislike that arcane magic can't heal. While there are entire screeds that have been written on the subject of game balance, and keeping certain powers exclusive to certain classes, archetypes, or builds, that frustration still lingers. After all, it's magic... why is there something it can't do?

Well, for those who like to twist and mold things into new and unexpected forms, I figured I'd present the results I've had on this topic. Some of them may be familiar to you, and others strange, but this is what I've come across so far. Hopefully it helps ease some of these frustrations.

Also, if you enjoy this week's advice, you might also get a kick out of 5 Tips For Playing Better Sorcerers!

#1: The Celestial Bloodline

Can you stand before my fire?

This is both the most familiar method of getting healing from a sorcerer, and honestly the least impressive. The Celestial bloodline, which debuted in the original Core Rulebook, grants you Heavenly Fire as your first-level sorcerer bloodline power. It's a ranged touch attack that deal 1d4+1 per 2 sorcerer levels of damage to evil targets, and it heals that much damage for good targets.

At low levels, that can be a seriously potent ability. It's life-saving, in a lot of cases, and it allows your sorcerer to stay out of harm's way as long as they have good-aligned allies on the field. As a spell-like ability, it also triggers feats like Fast Healer, which can give it a little extra oomph, but overall it's pretty weak on its own. There are ways to boost it, such as the monster feats that empower spell-like abilities, but for a lot of players the reward simply isn't worth the investment it takes to jack it up to meaningful potential.

#2: The Unicorn Bloodline

Because a healing arcane caster really is a unicorn.

This bloodline, which dropped in Heroes of Golarion not all that long ago, this is the easiest way to play a healing sorcerer. Unicorn sorcerers get cure spells as part of their bloodline, and as a bonus they can randomly restore bonus hit points to allies they can see whenever they cast a spell. If no one is willing to step up and play a divine caster, then a unicorn-blooded sorcerer is a great, out-of-the-gate replacement as long as someone is comfortable being a healer and party buff for everyone else.

And, of course, adding in metamagic rods and a couple of feats to really juice your healing (Healer's Touch out of the Legacy of Fire Player's Guide comes to mind) can turn you into an absolute support monster.

#3: The Phoenix Bloodline

Hold still... this might sting a bit.

If you've been listening to the gossip round the Internet, you've likely heard of the trick to turn this damage-dealing bloodline into a party heal. But in case you didn't, I'll lay out just what makes the Phoenix bloodline from Heroes of Golarion so much fun.

Your bloodline arcana states that whenever you cast a spell that deals fire damage, you can instead choose to heal targets for half damage. So you could, in theory, drop a fireball on the party and mass heal them. Which, if you maximize and empower it, is going to stack some pretty impressive numbers in a big hurry. Especially if you have the ability to exclude certain squares from your area of effect spells.

What can really unlock your potential, though, is taking a Cross-Blooded sorcerer. Found in Ultimate Magic, a Cross-Blooded sorcerer lets you mesh together two bloodlines, gaining both arcana. By combining the Phoenix bloodline with the Elemental (Fire) bloodline, now you suddenly have access to a wide variety of spells that could all be turned into fire spells... including cantrips! So if Ray of Frost Fire is a great way to avoid spamming wands of Cure Light Wounds to heal up after a tough fight, then this might be just what you've been looking for at your table.

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