Butchering (Melee Weapon Magic Property)
Butchering (Melee Weapon Magic Property)
This potent and feared ability allows the weapon to sever the limbs of those it strikes.
Butchering is usually applied to slashing or hacking weapons, although the deadly power granted by this property will work on any weapon. There is no need to activate this property, it is always on.
All attacks with a Butchering weapon are supernaturally damaging, dealing 1d4 points of bonus Hacking (physical, uncommon) damage on a successful hit. This is always hacking damage, and never affects the underlying weapons damage type, although if this property is applied to a weapon that already does hacking damage, all of the damage is added to gether for purposes of defeating damage resistance.
Upon a roll of natural 20 the weapon automatically confirms the critical and delivers a special critical called a Butchering Strike. A Butchering Strike cuts off, or attempts to cut off, a major limb of the attacked creature.
To simulate this, on a natural 20 confirmed critical, a Butchering weapon inflicts the Maimed condition in addition to the normal damage of the attack. Note that you cannot inflict Maimed more than once on the same creature.
Even worse, on any confirmed critical a Butchering weapon inflicts the Crippled condition in addition to the normal damage of the attack. Note that you cannot inflict Crippled more than once on the same creature.
If the amount of damage from the critical hit and any damage imposed by the Crippled or Maimed condtion is enough to kill the creature, it is of course killed, and its head was struck off.
Creatures that are immune to critical damage still take normal critical damage on all confirmed criticals from a Butchering weapon, but they cannot gain the Maimed condition via the Butchering Strike, or the Crippled condition from normal criticals.
- Creation: Creator (Feat), Bailiwick Check (DC 16), a languid remnant (tier 1), and an item symbolic of the enchantment.