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The exact item description of this magic weapon:
A character with the Rending Sword may re-roll failed "to wound" rolls.

The question is that can a character use the rerolls when using magic (ie. magic missiles and such) and/or certain daemonic gifts (ie. bloodcurling roar, word of agony)? As you can see, the description of the item at least doesn't seem to limit the usage for melee only...

(And no, the WoC FAQ doesn't tell us anything regarding this)

By the very strict application of RAW, yes, but most people would play it as it was probably intended and reserve the rerolls for CC only.

heh, I remember this article from BoLS.

We, in our gaming group, were trying to figure it out too. The only caveat we could find that would stop this combo is in the BRB under Magic Items.

This is what was written in our forums and it seems to at least shed some light.

"The sword in question from BoLS is a magic weapon not an arcane item. Therein lies the difference and why this cannot work in the way J***** described.
Reading the chapter in the brb on magic items indicates that magic weapons are just that weapons, not spell enhancers. They ignore the rules that are normally applied to weapons of that type.
Arcane items specifically say that they "are items that enhance a Wizard's magical powers in some fashion."
Therefore only arcane items can adjust your spells, not weapons. UNLESS the weapon specifically says that it modifies spells or other abilities, then it would do so.
In this case the rending sword will not have this effect."

Not a bad argument. By using the rending sword the way the BoLS article described, I could say that by taking the sword of Hoeth, no one in my High Elf army needs to roll to wound, and has their strength modified to that of the wearer. "All hits automatically wound. Saves altered by strength of the bearer." Doesnt say just the user, it says all hits.

Of course, anyone trying to reason that with me would be swiftly playing an empty table as I pack up my stuff and play someone else. This is just an attempt to find a loophole in the written english of the description. Common sense would dictate that a weapon is for CC, not anything else.

The whole "but it doesnt say I cant" arguement is countered with "But it doesnt say you can either." Common sense and judgement would be best here, but if your opponent doesnt care, you can do what you like.

Wow, Chaoslord...that is a stretch. Don't be TFG.

This reminds me of the old VC book where people would use the sword of striking [+1 to hit] and then cast the spell Hand of Dust to kill bloodthirsters on a 3+, and lots of other things on a 2+.