Do the Weapons in D&D: Honor Among Thieves Make Sense?

Remember the laughable disaster that was the first Dungeons & Dragons movie (2000) I had fairly low expectations, but Honor Among Thieves (2023) turned out to be shockingly good. The writing, acting, and effects know to impress, so I can't complain. Or can I...? 😏

Not complain, no. But over-think and nitpick some of the weapons, that I sure can. Like a certain paladin's daggersword, which would be more fragile than a $50 wallhanger in real life.
But, but... MAGIC THO! Well, as Simon the sorcerer says, "I hate how everyone thinks that you can solve any problem with magic". It's fair game then!

So yeah, as usual I'll be over-analyzing stuff for your entertainment (and some education). Aside from Xenk Yendar's sword we'll also be looking at Doric's wrist-mounted slingshot, and Holga's molten axe with extendable handle. Also a quick jab at the hilarious tri-blade launching monstrosity from The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982).

Videos I show/mention here, and others you may find interesting:

The Best Magic Enchantments for a Fantasy Fight?

The Sword THROW Re-Visited: How Practical is it Really?

The Best and Worst DnD Weapon Designs

Best Weapons *Without Metal* to Fight a DnD Rust Monster

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Outro:
"Highland Storm" by The Slanted Room Records
Used with artist's permission

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[aroenweind]

The sling was probably for the Druid Cantrip "Magic Stone", which makes the stone magical and more damaging

[SpiritualHypertrophy]

Concerning the Paladin’s sword:

I don’t think it breaks immersion for a sword to have a magical pin that holds the dagger in place. That’s more realistic for me than things like oversized weapons.

[HH-hdnd]

5:10 It's not a mechanical device, it's a magical sword and this functionality is part of the magic, not the physical structure.

6:25 But that's the point in D&D: You CAN fix everything with magic. It's just Simon's low self esteem who makes him say that you cannot fix everything with magic. Granted, not every practitioner of magic can fix everything, but on the grand scale of things you actually can.

That said - We're talking about characters of very high level here. Yes I know they are supposed to be around level 5 but that's ridiculous if you have a look at what they do in the movie - Simon and Doric in particular:
- Simon casts level 9 spells in the final battle (Bigby's Crushing Fist for example) and easily counters the Time Stop of a really high level wizard. Casting level 9 spells means he has to be level 18 in 3.5e or level 17 in 5e.
- Doric...well she shapechanges 7 times in her escape from the city alone. In 3.5e druids gain the 7th shapechange per day at level 21, not to mention that changing into a magical beast (an owlbear) is an epic class feature in itself. in 5e (which is the supposed ruleset here) druids can only shapechange twice until they reach level 20. So either way she has to be level 20.

[markkodryk]

I think, the only reason for the bad guys in movies to wear helmets is to hide their faces, so the same actors could play in different scenes.

[Stardweller]

As much as I love this movie, and despite Xenk the Paladin being my favorite character, I was a little pu off by the dagger hidden in the sword and the sword blade just flying out like that. Not only because it doesn’t make much functional sense, but also because Xenk just strikes me as the kind of practical guy who wouldn’t be interested in that kind of flare and would simply carry a sword and a dagger instead of some strange combo of the two.

Didn’t stop me from enjoying the movie, though. Or even that scene.

[JustGrowingUp]

Funny enough, they DO fix everything in the movie with magic, proving Simon wrong, lol!

[okamichamploo]

The thing that impressed me the most, was how the character dialogue and plot actually felt like a D&D campaign and not just a generic fantasy movie.
I could almost see the players arguing over a D&D table while I was watching.

[RainMakeR_Workshop]

I'm STILL waiting for a DND movie where one of the party dies halfway through, its a big emotional scene... And a few minutes later a new character joins the party, new name, new class, new personality... Same actor.

And then never address it.

[roscuro]

Thing about magical weapons in dnd is that even the most basic +1 enchantment makes a weapon not suffer from wear and tear. It doesn't need to be sharpened and won't corrode from non-magical acids and such.

[lordnul]

One of my favorite things about the movie is that even though the spells aren't entirely 1:1 with how they work in the game itself (especially Druid Wildshape), it's still portrayed with some fairly consistent rules. Also by far the most subtle version of Bardic Inspiration I have ever seen, and the best looking fail at Minor Illusion I have ever seen.

[Kamenriderneo]

5:43
In the Forgotten Realm settings, anyone can get a sword with green flames.
All they have to do is ge a sword, any sword, and learn the cantrip green flame blade, which lights the blade in green flames...

[rustkarl]

Welcome to D&D where realism is an option.
And that’s half the fun…

[kamatong]

For the axe in the molten metal, i honestly thouht she was aware that the axe was now ruined and turned into more of a hammer.

But it is also a bit weird how she goes from admiring the work, and telling the guard how to care for it, even as a tatic for distraction, to being okay with it being ruined.

[jlan]

About the collapsible axe, if this movie had been based on the 3.5 edition rules I could have told you the exact enchantment that was on it. You heard that right. In D&D 3.5 there was the "Hideaway" enchantment which made the weapon it was on capable of folding up into a smaller form. It was mostly intended to make it easier for sneaky types to hide much bigger weapons (Is that a pocketknife in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? Oh, its a rapier!). I could also see an adventurer with enough money putting that enchantment on a weapon solely to make it easier to carry.

[nosrin]

the molten axe looked cool as heck but even I thought "ya, I dont think that's how that work...."

[delmerputnam]

It really is a great movie and I’m immensely pissed off it lost money

[ihtfp]

"Magic can't fix everything..."
They got the flavor of the world mostly correct, even if some of the powers/effects weren't "level appropriate".
The druid's slingshot? Magic stone or the catapult spell.
The paladin's sword? Magic weapon of returning, covers one of the paladin's weaknesses.
The barbarian's ax? It was already a magic weapon. There are limited ways to damage magic weapons. Giving it a new look falls under "Rule of cool".
I'll allow it!!!...

[mitchanthony]

The only important thing to know is that the animated characters from the early 80s Dungeons and Dragons cartoon made it into live action in this movie

[trumpetwizard]

It seems to me like the molten battleaxe would function more like a hammer than an axe anyway

[milkmyway]

Saw this film. It was alright. Definitely worth a watch if you’re a fantasy or dnd fan