Exotic racial weapons and armor, Opinions.

[LanSlyde]

So, within the various 'Races' books you always see a boatload of new and exotic weapons and armor, but they very nearly always require you to burn a feat to wear and use them properly. So what does the playground think about the idea of changing all that racial gear to state that its treated as non-exotic (probably martial for weapons) for a given race. For example, Goliaths. They get a hammer and some leather armor attributed to them, but require Exotic feats to use properly. What if they didn't? Do you think making it easier to access these racial weapons and armors would lead to a bit more varied and unique mundane characters?

[Darrin]

So what does the playground think about the idea of changing all that racial gear to state that its treated as non-exotic (probably martial for weapons) for a given race.

There is a variant rule in Complete Warrior (pp. 154-155) that allows you to swap an existing weapon familiarity with another racial weapon. Unfortunately, this doesn't work with elves, as they get bonus feats instead of weapon familiarity. It works best for dwarves, who can swap the dwarven waraxe and dwarven urgrosh for the dwarven warpike (AKA greatsword on a stick) and the dwarven buckler-axe (AKA the ubershield). Gnomes can use it to swap the gnome hook-hammer for the gnome quickrazor or gnome calculus.

[daremetoidareyo]

In the disfunction thread it was found that duskblades are proficient in all exotic armors.

[Odin's Eyepatch]

I think it may be a good idea, just so we can see some of those obscure exotic items actually appear on the table. Obviously it would benefit more races than others. Maybe put a cap on it? Like you may have a maximum 2 racial weapon proficiencies for each species? I dunno. I tend to overcomplicate things.


Do you think making it easier to access these racial weapons and armors would lead to a bit more varied and unique mundane characters?

Funnily enough, in our group we homebrewed that all halflings have proficiency with halfling skiprock, which meant that all of my halflings have skiprocks and warslings tucked away somewhere... which made them less varied and more mundane. Though I'm not suggesting that this would happen to anybody else. Just a weird anecdote :smallsmile:

Actually, it would make each race display a more specific fighting style (or make it more obvious).

[Molan]

I have actually used the proficiency swap rule, with some interesting results.

Generally speaking, it means that the soldiers of that race and their heroes tend to all employ similar gear and therefore tend to adopt similar styles. Compared to OTHER races they become unique, compared to each other they become mundane.

My Elves, as an example, wound up being relatively frail Melee nukes thanks to the fast, hard hitting weapons they had access to from RotW.

The dwarves conversely became best known for having a super high AC all the time, courtesy of RotS. (Warning: AC Check penalties so common with dwarf gear led to the PCs trying to rampantly create situations where they could bull rush or trip them off of a high edifice, just saying.)

Did these changes make them SUPER interesting in combat? No, not really. But if what you really want is lore flavor rather then unique combat situations then yes, this system works beautifully.

[Psyren]

So, within the various 'Races' books you always see a boatload of new and exotic weapons and armor, but they very nearly always require you to burn a feat to wear and use them properly. So what does the playground think about the idea of changing all that racial gear to state that its treated as non-exotic (probably martial for weapons) for a given race. For example, Goliaths. They get a hammer and some leather armor attributed to them, but require Exotic feats to use properly. What if they didn't? Do you think making it easier to access these racial weapons and armors would lead to a bit more varied and unique mundane characters?

This is what Pathfinder does actually - any racial weapon is treated as a martial weapon for that race rather than exotic, so if the creature in question has training in most martial classes (e.g. Fighter, Barbarian, Ranger etc.) they will be able to use the weapon without needing an extra feat.

[Solaris]

This is what Pathfinder does actually - any racial weapon is treated as a martial weapon for that race rather than exotic, so if the creature in question has training in most martial classes (e.g. Fighter, Barbarian, Ranger etc.) they will be able to use the weapon without needing an extra feat.

That's what I've done in my 3.5E games since around Complete Warrior and Races of the Wild, although I worded it more along the lines of "As martial weapons or their martial equivalents (elven Xblades mapping to short swords/longswords/greatswords, dwarven waraxes to battleaxes, and so forth)." It's worked out well, and it's nice to see something exotic get used without someone wasting a feat on a weapon that should have been martial to begin with.

[LanSlyde]

Thanks for the responses people. I think I'll go ahead with the idea. Mundanes needs all the free stuff they can get.