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.
I could almost follow the action economy and spells / spell slots used in the action scenes, it added an unexpected layer of fun to the experience for me.
So I feel like they should have had a group of players at a table as a framing device to the story. Like the grandpa reading the princess bride to Fred Savage.
Because that’s fun to watch while they’re in character 🙄. It’s fun to watch angry, autistic nerds rage at each other (I know because I am one!), when people who should by all accounts know better and do better do it, it feels annoying, unrealistic and extremely patronizing. There were several moments where the party would have broken up if any of the characters had an iota of sense instead of just being vacuous personality holes that were needed for the plot to happen. I don’t want to watch a board game that tries to take itself seriously but has a joke quota to fill, I want to watch a movie without being painfully aware it’s based off a board game for nerds.
I was just going to say it's enchanted, seeing as the druid is CLEARLY max level and somehow blessed, given the number and frequency of morphs which included an OWLBEAR, which is a monstrosity, therefore not normally an allowed morph.
@@austintrigloff9562 "You touch one to three pebbles and imbue them with magic. You or someone else can make a ranged spell attack with one of the pebbles by throwing it or hurling it with a sling. If thrown, it has a range of 60 feet. If someone else attacks with the pebble, that attacker adds your spellcasting ability modifier, not the attacker’s, to the attack roll. On a hit, the target takes bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your spellcasting ability modifier. Hit or miss, the spell then ends on the stone. If you cast this spell again, the spell ends early on any pebbles still affected by it. Spell Lists. Druid, Warlock, Artificer" The 5e version only says that the range is 60ft if you throw it by hand, not that it can only be thrown that way
@@austintrigloff9562 In second edition D&D magic stone was a first level priest spell. You could throw it or use in a sling. The spell enchanted 3 stones. Not sure about other editions tho.
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.
@@Serahpin Didn't know that, but I'm not counting it as its explained from having the players featured. The idea looses the humour when you see the players and a clear reason why its happening.
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.
and most legendary and artifact items contain enchantments that make them indestructible. indestructibility is also an extra perk your magic item can have when crafting your own.
@@jonathanwells223it is a thing. Example: Moon-touched weaponry. They are +0 common magic weapons that create light in a 30 ft radius. Thus it has all the "magic weapon" perks such as dealing nice damage to enemies with physical damage resistance, ability to hit ghosts and uncorporeal beings, and of course, being highly resistant/unbreakable weapons
Not if you’re playing in a pre-established setting with its own rules and expectations, which they did. Honestly I’m more forgiving of the original d&d movie than Honor Among Thieves because at least that pile and a half could get away with homebrew.
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.
Major Image* Minor Illusion can only make the image of a static object or creates a sound. Silent Image can be the illusion of a creature or object, but cannot create noise. Major Image can both create objects or creatures and sounds. (Along with a few other sensory details.)
If spells were depicted in the movie, like they are in the game, we'd have been bored as shit with them. A level 20 in the game? Absolute shit, thanks to balance. A level 20 in the lore? Absolute beast, thanks to no balance.
Also many of the things that happened are *exactly* the kind of "oops" a particularly evil-minded DM would inflict on his players. "I'm maintaining the Major Image..." "OK, the guards are distracted." "...and I'm following the others as they sneak through the gate behind the guards' backs." "While maintaining a Major Image? Roll a dexterity check at...minus three on the stat." "Oh...kay...uh...shit."
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.
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...
Yeah. After watching the trailer I thought that maybe after that sequence, the axe will stay fiery for whatever reason, and it will be like '+5 fire damage' upgrade, but when it cooled off, I wasn't sure what was the point of the whole ordeal in the first place
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.
Could have looked at least a little magical if it were actually an enchantment. Maybe the axe head could have been tweaked with CG to be twice as big or something.
@@3X3NTR1K Eh, the official in game description of the enchantment has it only slightly less simple than the version we see in the movie. The blade would have only needed to be retractable to have it exact. Heck, the way the enchantment is described to work in the source books a Hideaway dagger is just straight up a switchblade. Not every enchantment in D&D is so obviously magical, like one of the best properties- Transmuting. That one lets the enchanted weapon attune to an enemy after the first hit, and for the next 10 minutes the weapon ignores all damage resistance. Like being able to hit a werewolf as if it were made of silver, without actually being silver. As powerful as the ability is however, the only tell that a weapon has it is the fact that there's some metallic inlays on the weapon. And a few decorations that invoke damage types the weapon isn't usually associated with (like a falchion having a mace head pommel and spiked quillons).
@@jlan7844 Oh yeah that's all fair. Didn't mean to argue what is or should be canon (tho its not like d&d defines every detail). I was thinking more what works well for adapting to film, and in general having magic that is more subtle is something I would like to see more often. Also I have a whole *thing* about integrating magic and mundane, but I already made that comment to this video lol
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
"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!!!...
you know how I did it in Neverwinter Nights and other DND games I was in a party first and foremost, with a good mix of classes and even then, everyone got to have ranged and non-ranged weapon
99% of DND weapons are realistic or based upon real world medieval age lore. Never encountered such a weird axe or sword. And the sling. Lets not talk about the sling.
I have mixed feelings about it losing money. Yes, it's good, but Wizards of the Coast needed a real kick in the teeth after the OGL shitstorm and the Pinkerton incident.
@@mofumyon if it was a really big campaign setting or something else that they released for a tabletop game or a big convention, I might agree, but this could’ve potentially killed future attempts at dnd movies for another decade. That said, I won’t deny I understand that thought process
Given how extremely magic-heavy the setting is, I wouldn't be surprised if the dagger/sword just fuses together into a single solid piece, or if the axe just kind of absorbs the molten metal and automatically resharpens itself.
When I make homebrew stuff and explain it with magic in dnd, what I do is put in its description exactly the rules of magic that allow it to exist. Consistency is key. I once made a "town in a box" and specifically mentioned that it was created using the spells galdurs tower, unseen servant, and a couple others I don't remember at the moment, as well as a portable hole for players to put money into that would deliver it right to the bank of the creator of the town in a box, the money had to be successfuly put into the hole before the item the player wants to buy from the town shop will be conjurered. (Using a homebrew spell that specifically creates mundane items, and magic items had to be specially ordered and payed for, and would then be made by the creator of the town who would ship it with a teleport spell to the player who bought it as soon as it was finished being made. The creator had made many of these boxes, and there's way more specifics than this, but this comment is way too long already, but needless to say, my players loved all the lore that came with their super late game item that they went crazy over. This is always my example when people want to give a crazy cool late game item they want their players to like, that wont break the game or make them over powered, becuase the magic items that could be made were all lower level stuff they could use to flesh out their builds and potions.
@@Sawtooth44 maybe, it's kinda special, as it's a very rare item, but it's possible i suppose, you'd have to find a way to get permanency put onto your items, and get a box with a button that can open, after that, just figure out the spells, get a portable hole, and at that point it's up to your DM, but it seems entirely possible. The way the button works is that the magic is active permanently, but when the button is pressed it activates and deactivates a SUPER tiny anti-magic field exclusively around the inside of the box that casts the spells, so that when you hit the button again, it deactivates and all the spells happen again respawning the buildings and unseen servants. (If you use it within a place the buildings usually can't spawn they obviously won't, and the town will just be X number of buildings smaller)
You're the DM, effectively the god of the world, you don't _have_ to make sense. It's not a book series that people can re-read or a movie that can be re-watched. Why did that weird light appear in the sky? Might be swamp gas, might be a weather balloon, might be a dragon, it's whatever you need at the time.
@@Serahpin BUT its even more impressive when you can replicate it there are a bunch of spells in D&D thats not realy for the player, its for the DM, its the spells that leave a permanent effect after casting it daily for a year like the private sanctum
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.
@@russellfisher1303 actually in 5e magic items are not unbreakable by default. However, most of them, excluding potions and scrolls, do have resistance to all damage, which means they are effectively twice as durable as their mundane equivalent.
@@hannayapelekai1628 ah, okey dokey, guess I thought it was default because every spell that destroys items always mentions it doesn’t work on magic items, my b.
I don’t think it was. Even if we assume that they ignored the fact that Flame Tongues can only be swords, the axe never emitted any flames after it cooled down. That’s the whole gimmick of a Flame Tongue.
@@wolfrainexxx It's not actually based on imagination. The origin of D&D started with tabletop wargames, which you play with miniatures and the supernatural elements within it are heavily based on real world mythology, folklore and fairy tales, which set their own limitations. And the major reason todays tabletop games actually have rules is that you have to set boundaries for the imagination or it wouldn't be playable, because nobody would understand what is possible and what not.
In this case all of the funky stuff makes perfect sense because it's literally D&D. I was very surprised by the design of the armor tho. It looks really solid and could be a real thing actually.
Regarding the axe - I'm pretty sure the extending handle is not structural but magical and the whole weapon is magical so it's resistant to damage and tempering, withstanding the dip into molten metal.
The look, the sound, and action all lend themselves more to structural rather than magical. But the weapon being magical means the structural toughness implications of a hollow handle could be compensated for. What can't, though, is how the haft is shaped, and how that would impair your ability to shift your grip quickly and easily. Magical or not, the haft is less than ideal, shape-wise.
Man, I appreciate how often you dip into your body of previous work to pull up relevant clips. With all you've done I don't know how long you have to sift to find what you want, but it really adds a lot to videos like this
For a green flame blade, maybe something similar to shad's with a wick and drill holes, and then soak the wick in alcohol mixed with powdered copper or cuperite that changes the fire color
I adored the armor and weapon designs in the movie, because literally everything looks and functions realistically with exactly one exception: if the object is magical. Like you point out the bow thing on the guards, but that doesn't take out those guards. They just get knocked off their feet, and they're back up totally fine like two seconds later. That whole fight scene is the same few guards over and over again just getting right back into it because their armor is protecting them. Only dude that gets taken out immediately is the guy who decided helmets were for chumps and got a brick to the face.
When forging steel you have 3 steps to heat treatment. Step 1. Normalizing cycles. Heat it to working temperature then let it fully cool to room temperature. Air cooled is good but better is to slow the cooling down by insulating it in something like baking soda or vermiculite which are not good conductors of heat. You do this a few times before quenching and is good practice to do it overnight on projects that are multiple days in the forging. Doing this allows the stresses created by forging to even out or otherwise atoms that are compressed where the hammer blows are and the spread out atoms around them even out to the same spacing. There's a risk that if you don't do this before quenching and you forge small the blade could crack in the quench but it also greatly increases the chance of warping if you skip the step. Step 2 is quenching, and step 3 is tempering.
5:36 To make green fire you just need borax and your flammable liquid of choice. AFAIK, isopropanol (the active ingredient in nail polish remover) and methanol/"wood alcohol" work best, but everclear (high ABV ethanol) will also do in a pinch. Combine this with a gelling agent, apply to a backyard beater, and boom: green flaming sword.
Since Skall isn't a dnd guy I'm pretty impressed that he found the movie good... Maybe cause he isn't a dnd guy he wasn't as nitpicky xD But I liked the movie, it's clearly not made for the type of people that are like "ehhh actually that's not how it works on dnd", but I found it a pretty enjoyable experience
@@Skallagrim most of the magic on the movie doesn't work like that on dnd but it's completely fine and understandable because it's a movie, it's made for entertainment
Frankly, the biggest rules-lawyer complaint about the movie was wild-shape, and that's solved by her knowing the shapechange spell (which is for some unknown reason different from the polymorph self spell in every last edition of the game.)
@@SkallagrimI’ve been playing 5th edition for about 4 years and I really enjoyed it! It has its fair share of inaccuracies, but they didn’t bother me because it has just as many in-jokes for longtime players. That scene in the Underdark where a group of intellect devourers totally ignore the party is a prime example. It's poking fun at the fact that, for a myriad of reasons I don’t need to get into, most players leave their Intelligence stat low unless they specifically need it for their class.
"Well, it's overthinking time." This line, delivered this way, sums up why I subscribed to Skall. Honor Among Thieves is best watched *firmly* with one'd D&D player or DM hat on. You can pick out all the little dice-roll moments and bits, and it's delightful. Also Themberchaud Best Chonky Boi.
Well, the Druid did hit the guard, who had his faceplate up, in the face. Smart move on her part. Even 5lbs of draw weight hitting someone in the face will cause them to stagger back. The axe handle thing bugged me too. Paladin Blessed sword so the flying off part didn't bother me too much, cause the Lawful Boring class is protected by his homie that just happens to be a deity. Green Fire comes from burning copper sulfate and boric acid in a flame mixture. While this could be done for a photo shoot, I doubt it could be done in combat. That's Themberchaud, the Wyrmsmith of Gracklstugh. Introduced in the Forgotten Realms. He keep the Duergar forges lit with his flames, the Duergar give him gold, treasure, and lots of food. As well as some magic spells to keep him happy and content and not thinking of wanting more. Something Red Dragons are known for. Solid movie. 4/5 questions asked. Feels like a group of friends having fun, like most D&D sessions.
Frankly, I'm just glad we've finally got a blockbuster-type movie that is actually f***ing good Star Wars and Marvel been giving me Shellshock every time a new movie comes out
imagine trying to eat Monster Hunter world monsters with team rwby but deku is the waiter and there's a ultra instinct Argonian is the cook and careless whispers by seether starts playing what would you do
How have I not seen this video? I've literally searched your channel for content. I especially like your recent stuff, so I can't believe I didn't see this one.
The 90° wrist mount was bad design as it shortens draw length but slingshots are actually very effective weapons, guerillas and rebels still use them to this day, you can use anything as ammo so you never run out, they can fire rocks, coins, arrows, darts, grenades, jars of acid, poisoned items, etc. I was actually very happy to see a slingshot in the movie even though it's not at all the sling that's available in the game
@@kleinerprinz99 yes, I use them for small game hunting and fishing every year, they don't have to be extreme fat or long, all depends on the bands you use, flat bands require greater length and longer draw, tube bands can be shorter and have many different resistances with the same diameter
Off to my other comment - I have an FR PC. 1358, pseudo 2E/3.5E mix. She's a moon elf, with her magic items she has 12 str, 24 dex, 14 con, 26 intelligence. She uses her intelligence as a source of both AC and damage (Duelist!) Anyway. To use int as AC you need to wear clothes rather than armour. But! Nobody said you can't RP magical enchantments as armour! So! She dresses in simple trousers, a white linen shirt, a leather vest over this, a scarf around her neck and a long sailory coat on top of it all! It adds up to +4 "Armour" enchantment Bonus. I RP it as her vest acting like a cuirass (sharp objects cannot penetrate it while worn, force above a particular treshold (arbitrary - enough to defend vs maces) cause it to become rigid. Otherwise, it's just a cozy & stylish pirate vest. The coat itself I RP as something like a norman surcoat or mail. It resists penetration but not as well as the vest (it's much bigger! The magic is more spread out/weaker), however it is practically immune to cuts from swords. Of course, someone with a +4 sword will cut right through it (de facto nullifying the magic for both sword and clothes, making them interact as if mundane objects each). But most people don't have +4 swords and those who do - they still need to get through an insane amount of dodge, parry, deflection and jedi-like foresight to get a hit in!
The axe is made of some fantasy metal called darksteel, so I guess the tempering is fine. And according to Holga's statblock on DnDbeyond, the axe gives her resitance to lightning damage.
I just usually headcannon that design flaws are actually specific design elements for the magical properties of items. It`s basically the ritualistic element that you add to the mundane weapon or an item, that has specific functionality. Like how a jackhammer is basically a large "magical" picaxe.
Then there's jaraxles arm guards of many daggers, which can magically summon an unlimited amount of daggers that immediately appear in the user's hande and can expand to the size of a shortsword and allow you to summon a second dagger as a sidearm.
I'm not sure they'd collapse the way it was shown, though. Bunch of different things going on there, and they might well fall, but I wouldn't expect them to just fall backwards from the impact (given that they weren't running forwards or leaning backwards at the time)
The enchantment doesn’t come from the sword, Xenk is a paladin and is using a smite ability through the sword. (The green flame is also a wizard spell appropriately named “Green Flame Blade”)
I know that "magic" is a very overused explanation for this sort of thing, but let's remember that the Forgotten Realms isn't just magical, it's *SWIMMING* in magic. The amount of magic you find under every stone and behind every bush in the Realms makes Middle Earth seems like a mundane, real-world country. In fact, one of the main uses of magic when it comes to arms and armor is increasing durability. Magical weapons don't require sharpening, adjust size to best fit the user, and are considered completely unbreakable unless damaged by another more powerful magical item - and those are standard traits for pretty much ALL magical weapons in the Realms, even the cheapest of them.
the axe in the molten slag i considered her just getting a "+1 fire damage axe" lol, i merely chuckled at all the easter eggs in that movie, and enjoyed it so much more than i thought i would, i figured at least with that "fire axe" it'd be more like a maul afterwards as like you said as getting tempered but not quenched i also do understand the woes of a 5 pound draw slingshot but shots to the face still hurt lol, maybe an overexaggeration on the soildiers reaction to being shot in the face lol, they wrote that move well imo, played it more like a campaign over running an epic quest like LOTR, where other "fantasy movies" have tried but failed miserably, i think that type of format is the winning combination to doing specifically DnD style movies
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.
I actually think he casts "Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp" which is 2nd level, coz the hand forms from the ground. They definitely are reasonably powerful though
i actually thought of a magic weapon for a character once that was a dagger that could either be a short sword or a short spear by magically growing the blade or the hilt, he's carry it as a dagger and buckler shield that could unfold to a larger shield as needed, but i can't remember why i never used him for anything, good design, i should go back to him.
Awesome review! Missed this style of content on channel. Do you think you can do the same for Three Musketeers (2011) ? It is a Steam-Punk-ish adaptation with neat cinematic and some very "interesting" spots for people aware of realities of arms and armor.
CinemaWins said it best. To paraphrase: "While some of the weapons and armor may have felt unrealistic to us, they never felt unrealistic to the world of the film."
About the decorations on helmets, i think that could still be chalked down to fantasy because it doesn’t take too much functionality and just looks cool
The funny thing about the movie is that anything that is awkward or doesn’t make sense can be explained by it being a dumpy D&D game. Even the rules lawyers don’t have a leg to stand on to nitpick, since people forget the rules or intentionally gloss over them all the time. Even things that are usually bad in a movie, like having a bunch of characters and rushing through their backstories makes sense for a D&D game. I was thinking the whole time how Killgore was like a bored player just waiting for the next combat (who also didn’t put much effort into that name), while Chris Pine was in it for the role play. Also, I thought it was pretty funny that in one of my games a low level Wizard countered a Litch’s Time Stop exactly like in the movie.
The Daggersword's crossguard could be a foldable grip (Think the two halves can fold down, just like a basilong I guess?). The "Shortsword" then would have no crossguard, but I guess it would be explainable.. a bit?
The movie was mediocre but as a D&D player and DM myself, I loved it because the movie felt like a D&D game turned into a movie, with all the shenanigans included. There are moments where you could almost hear the players applaud with joy with their success and the DM sigh when the things he prepped for hours get circumvented
Heh, I actually came up with a "dagger in sword" in middle school. It was basically a buster sword, but with a cane sword in the handle. So you could use it with two hands, or twist and remove the bottom half of the handle to pull out a much smaller sword as a surprise attack. I even drew it with a cutout in the blade so you could see the end of the small blade inside the big one. Of course, I realize now how silly the idea is. But at the time it seemed really cool. And hey, in a fantasy setting, making it out of mythril or adamantium might actually be plausible.
The answer for the dagger sword is magnetism. The enchantment that allows the longer blade to return to the hilt also holds it on through a force mimicking a powerful magnet which holds it together enough that it's as sturdy as a well crafted nonmagical sword. Also, on the point about it being button activated, that might not be the case. It is not unreasonable to assume that the wielder of this sword can simply *will* the blade to detach or return, especially if it requires attunement which is not uncommon for an enchanted weapon like this.
the thing about xenk's sword is that the mechanism is entirely magical, there is no visible button or catch or anything, so it doesn't really make sense to criticize it mechanically when it is clearly pure magic
Everything in this movie can be explained by magic. I like how you educate about the basics of the real world though. It's a fun movie. Definitely unexpected 😁
The best part about DnD:HaT is that you don't even need to know dnd to enjoy it. I went to see it with 3 friends, one of which has zero dnd knowledge and he still liked it.
The dagger sword sounds like some traditional weapons that have a sheathed dagger near the hilt . So the throw isn't a fragile mechanism, it's just drawing the dagger out of the sword as the entire sword is thrown . Then there's the Mjölnir return enchantment .
that morbidly obese dragon is Themberchaud, an actual dragon in DND lore, and I think he even has his own stat block. Yes he is very fat, that's not just a movie thing. MrRhexx has a lore video on him.
I love the whole "weapon autism" conversation Holga has with the elite soldier guy about his axe when she's about to be executed, thought of Skall immediately lol
so quick crash course in D&D magic items: most enchanted items have a set of base magical traits in common such as enhanced durability, resizing to fit the user, and in many cases a pseudo immutability meaning the items has a shape it is meant to be in and it will retain or change that shape in accordance with its basic functionality and no other without some extreme force acting on it. the axe with the collapsible handle is a bit of proof of the writers and prop designers dubious research into D&D as that item very much can exist and do so without the downsides skall pointed out this would be achieved by putting an axe head on the "pole of collapsing" magic item or a weaker version of one at least as the pole of collapsing changes between a 1ft and 10ft pole but it is a common magic item meaning it wouldnt be hard to make one that switches between 3ft and 5ft or you could just make a new magic item. the way i would word that axe would be Shiftaxe Weapon (battleaxe, greataxe), Common while holding this battleaxe you may as a bonus action speak it's command word causing it to transform into a greataxe or back into a battleaxe from it's greataxe form. similar to the veteran's cane but, well... good.
The axe was probably magical and/or made of special metal such as adamantine so it is plausible that it would remain effective. It is Dungeons & Dragons. Lots of magic and super natural stuff.
Oh come on, the old D&D movie isn't *that* bad. I mean sure, it fails as both a standalone movie and as an adaptation. But you get to watch Jeremy Irons unhinge his jaw and devour the scenery whole every time he's on screen, and that alone makes it worth watching.
As far as Doric the Circle of the Moon Druid is concerned with her sling shot. It totally works here's why. 1 she is using the Cantrip Magic Stone. Which increases the damage. 2 she probably is using the weapon Viscous Sling in this case Slingshot. Adding more damage still works without this but adds more damage to it. 3 She probably has the Sharp Shooter Feat. Not necessary but adds more damage. 4 She absolutely must have the Crusher Feat. Which once per turn allows you to move the opponent 5 ft..
The armour was definitely more functional than it is in a lot of fantasy, though. Multiple times, they showed guards getting slashed or hacked at, and the attacks just bouncing off. None of the slicing through cuirasses like paper that occurs in a lot of movies.
Looking at the sword pictures at about 04:50, I guess that where that grip changes design half-way along could be where the hilt of the separate dagger starts and so when dual-wielding, the sword has a short pommel-less hilt? That's how it could mechanically work, but without the usual counterweight of a pommel, the newly separated "dual wield configuration" sword would be a bit more tip-heavy and less nimble, probably feeling a lot different in the hand than if both weapons are joined as one sword.
Magic weapons in D&D come with a standard suite of basic enchantments along with whatever the primary enchantment is. These enchantments include, but are not limited to edge retention, self heaing, & or durability enhancement (usually to an absurd degree), self-cleaning, and glow in the dark usually not bright enough to see by, juat enough to see the weapon at a distance, (can you tell the game was inspired by Tolkien) Basically, little quality if life enchantments to make it so you don't have to buy a new one every other day. I could totally see maintaining cohesion between separate parts as an addition to this. Also, the daggersword does like ×2 the normal damage of a longsword (3d6+4 vs 1d8+4, average of 14vs8) when he shoots it at enemies, so it's unlikely to be a mechanism or a good throwing arm and more likely to be an enchantment, probably a simplified version of a Dancing Sword enchantment, considering it returns to the hilt.
Basically in the world of movies cooler looking equals more powerful so as you can see that time in the molten pool gave the ax a 70's van of coolness up grade so it was way better.😅
