Aetheric Weapon (3.5e Spell)

''As the enemy army approaches, you call upon your deity to lend you his weapon. It appears in your hand, and you smile upon feeling its power, knowing that you will soon shatter the enemies of your church and country.''

This spell calls into being a replica of your deity, alignment, or philosophy's favored weapon. The weapon you create with this spell is for all intents and purposes an actual, tangible magic weapon with an enhancement bonus of +5, which is treated as epic for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. (Because the aetheric weapon is not immaterial, you must add your Strength modifier to damage rolls made with the weapon, unless it is a bow or similar ranged weapon, in which case the usual restrictions of the Strength modifier apply.) You may also request any number of special properties (see the Dungeon Master's Guide and Magic Item Compendium for details) to be added to your weapon, even if this would bring it over the +10 effective bonus limit for nonepic magic weapons. However, for each +1 effective bonus and/or 20,000 gp's worth of properties you request, the spell's casting time increases by 1 round. You may request any combination of abilities, but be careful &mdash; like miracle, you don't cast this spell so much as you request it, and if your deity considers your request to be unreasonable, the spell will fail. Your deity will grant you more leeway the higher your caster level is, but there are no hard-and-fast rules for this. (In practice, this means that a weapon the DM finds to be overpowered or implausible for a character of your level can be vetoed.) You may not add any epic properties onto a weapon created with this spell unless your caster level is at least 28.

The spell's types (if any) depend on the properties you request. For example, adding the flaming property gives this spell the Fire descriptor, while adding the holy property grants this spell the Good descriptor, and so on and so forth. As always, you cannot add incompatible properties (such as axiomatic and anarchic) to the same weapon.

An aetheric weapon can be locked into existence with a permanency spell. (Don't worry about leaving your deity disarmed &mdash; the aetheric weapon is merely a copy of your deity's weapon, not the real deal.) In order to do this, your caster level must be at least 24, and you must spend 7,500 XP + 125 XP for each +1 effective bonus' worth of properties on the weapon + 1/12 of the gp cost of any properties you add without an effective bonus increase. Permanency's duration is instantaneous if cast on aetheric weapon; once locked into existence, an aetheric weapon is fully, truly real, and it is treated just like any other magic item if targeted by dispel magic or a similar spell &mdash; it loses its magical properties for 1d4 rounds, and remains a masterwork weapon while suppressed in this fashion. (An aetheric weapon not locked into existence by permanency will wink out of existence if dispelled.)

XP Cost: At least 5,000 XP; add +500 XP for every +1 effective bonus' worth of properties you add, as well as an additional XP cost equal to 1/4 the gp cost of any properties you add without an effective bonus increase. If the spell fails because your deity rejects it, it only costs 3,000 XP. The XP cost (whether the spell succeeds or fails) is reduced by 1,000 XP if you have the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat, and is reduced by a further 1,000 XP (for a total of 2,000 XP) if you have the Craft Epic Magic Arms and Armor feat.