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  1. - Top - End - #91
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Honestly, until your PM, I was unaware that Light Crossbows could be fired one handed. Probably because that -2 attack roll penalty makes it not worth doing.

    Though it has got me thinking about how to handle crossbows. I think you're right that Crossbows aren't up to par with other weapons, but disagree that they're worse off than they are in core.


    I think the big problem is the difference between a Crossbow and a Bow is 10ft of range and 1 slot. So like 1.5 slots worth of bonuses for the crossbow. So getting a easy loading crossbow should translate into about that difference. One Handed should cost a little more, but the difference in a one handed weapon and two handed weapon is only 1 slot, so that's probably more what the hand crossbow property should cost.

    So right now I'm thinking One-Handed property is only 1 point, repeating costs 1 point, and easy loading costs 1.5 slots. This makes it so that after picking up those properties, the crossbow is pretty much the same as the bow. Also considering adding a property for ranged weapons that can add dex to damage for 1.5 slots and can't be taken with str to ranged damage property (or possibly with double cost to add both a la crit, in which case I may also make it something that can be added to melee).


    Edit: I went ahead and did the easy loading/repeating/hand crossbow changes. Apparently my exotic crossbows had previously been pretty hugely over budget so not a lot of change was needed. Light Crossbow now acts as a hand crossbow rather than having a longer range, which makes more sense anyway.
    Last edited by Seerow; 2011-11-12 at 06:21 PM.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Part of the problem, I think, is that WotC overvalued range. Compare a Fighter 6 specializing in a bow to one specializing in a melee weapon. The one with the bow is probably only just getting it off the ground, but the Melee has Shocktrooper & Leap Attack running or some such.

    Combine with the fact that Crossbows are Simple Weapons and thus more widely available and you end up with a weapon that's already fairly below average. This system leaves them in the same fairly crippled position. You make a point about bows being a one point difference, but fail to notice that every non-exotic bow is martial, and every non-exotic crossbow is simple, evening them out. Bows have their Strength To Damage bonus, free action reload, and deal basically the same damage. Crossbows can't get Strength to damage in a way that makes sense (which makes things like Power Shot or (using your rebalance) Piercing Shot), have to spend a valuable slot to get the free action reload, and are much less supported in core (no manyshot, only a few exclusive goodies in later splats).

    Crossbows were already shafted by WotC. Your system presents a chance to un-shaft them, and so I'm going to present it.

    Edit: Ninja'd by the edit.
    Last edited by NineThePuma; 2011-11-12 at 06:27 PM.

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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Quote Originally Posted by NineThePuma View Post
    Part of the problem, I think, is that WotC overvalued range. Compare a Fighter 6 specializing in a bow to one specializing in a melee weapon. The one with the bow is probably only just getting it off the ground, but the Melee has Shocktrooper & Leap Attack running or some such.

    Combine with the fact that Crossbows are Simple Weapons and thus more widely available and you end up with a weapon that's already fairly below average. This system leaves them in the same fairly crippled position. You make a point about bows being a one point difference, but fail to notice that every non-exotic bow is martial, and every non-exotic crossbow is simple, evening them out. Bows have their Strength To Damage bonus, free action reload, and deal basically the same damage. Crossbows can't get Strength to damage in a way that makes sense (which makes things like Power Shot or (using your rebalance) Piercing Shot), have to spend a valuable slot to get the free action reload, and are much less supported in core (no manyshot, only a few exclusive goodies in later splats).

    Crossbows were already shafted by WotC. Your system presents a chance to un-shaft them, and so I'm going to present it.
    Well with the reductions in slot costs for easy loading more or less bridges the gap. It also lets someone get easy loading with just masterwork, which is nice.

    I can see the argument that a Martial Crossbow would be nice to have, and I could add one or two under the new weapons category, if anyone can think of names. They'd basically just be the simple weapons with probably a +1 damage die, or something else universally good.


    On the note of feats and how they interact with crossbows, and how ranged weapons get hosed in general, that's a problem with individual feats that needs to be addressed separately. The important thing here is making sure the weapons themselves are relatively balanced with each other.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    You still need to specify the "normal" reload time for a crossbow.

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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Quote Originally Posted by NineThePuma View Post
    You still need to specify the "normal" reload time for a crossbow.
    It's specified as a move action in the original post. Though now that I look at it, it's in the creating a new weapon section. I'll add it into the definitions under the main weapons as well to make it easier to find.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    For Martial Crossbows, what about moving the 'Repeating' property out of Exotic territory?

    I think that short of "Great Crossbow" we're not going to find a good name for a Martial Crossbow, but a 1d12 19-20/x2 works out mathematically. Alternatively, 2d6, 20/x2 is possible, but doesn't really fit with the others.

    Light & Heavy Repeaters as Martials works and makes a "Crossbow" focused martial build theoretically possible.

    The Exotic Arbalest strikes me as less of a super special weapon in this case (in fact, all the Exotic Crossbows seem like they could probably be downgraded to Masterwork Only.)

    And everything for making new weapons seems scattered around.

    I've got a Hunting Bow in front of me, as a Simple Weapon, but 1d6, x3, 90 range seems like it doesn't fit with the others (though a 1d8, x3, 70 is identical to the Riding Bow otherwise...)

  7. - Top - End - #97
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Quote Originally Posted by NineThePuma View Post
    For Martial Crossbows, what about moving the 'Repeating' property out of Exotic territory?

    I think that short of "Great Crossbow" we're not going to find a good name for a Martial Crossbow, but a 1d12 19-20/x2 works out mathematically. Alternatively, 2d6, 20/x2 is possible, but doesn't really fit with the others.

    Light & Heavy Repeaters as Martials works and makes a "Crossbow" focused martial build theoretically possible.
    1d12 19-20x2 works for a Great Crossbow.

    I guess you could then have a Repeating Crossbow which is 1d10 19-20x2 repeating, and a light repeater with 1d8.


    The Exotic Arbalest strikes me as less of a super special weapon in this case (in fact, all the Exotic Crossbows seem like they could probably be downgraded to Masterwork Only.)
    Well the Arbalest still has that nice x3 crit damage, which costs it 2 of its 3 extra bonus slots from being exotic. I'm fine with leaving the exotic crossbows that are still there (I removed a few of them when doing the updates earlier, and may remove another couple with the next update), just to have a somewhat stronger base for a crossbow user who wants to pick up exotic proficiencies.

    And everything for making new weapons seems scattered around.

    I've got a Hunting Bow in front of me, as a Simple Weapon, but 1d6, x3, 90 range seems like it doesn't fit with the others (though a 1d8, x3, 70 is identical to the Riding Bow otherwise...)
    Yeah the material did get kind of scattered with the reformat because rather than upgrades/new weapons being the centerpiece, the rebalanced weapons themselves became the main thing. Which meant that the weapons table had to come first, and for the weapon table to make sense you need a listing of what the properties do... but the slot costs of those properties, and the base values of weapons had to go under creating/upgrading weapons.


    Edit: Updated. Repeating Crossbow is now a Martial Weapon. The Light Repeating Crossbow and Great Crossbow have been added.

    I'm still on the fence about the dex to damage weapon property (being left for exotic weapons, like str to damage is for bows), any opinion on that?
    Last edited by Seerow; 2011-11-12 at 08:35 PM.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    How would the Dex To Damage trait interact with Crossbow Sniper?

    I'm mentally generating a Super Crossbow, code named the Deathbow; it's currently a 4d4 Repeater; at base. Masterwork would add Easy Loading and an extra 10ft range. Masterwork crossbow bolts with Brutal twice places minimum damage at 12-16 each shot. Not particularly powerful if I'm honest, but it's more damage than a greatsword. Swap Repeater for the One Handed trait, and dual wield them.

  9. - Top - End - #99
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Quote Originally Posted by NineThePuma View Post
    How would the Dex To Damage trait interact with Crossbow Sniper?
    I'd imagine they'd overlap not stack. The idea is to kill unnecessary feat tax like Crossbow sniper.

    ...Though come to think of it I'm not horribly offended by someone spending a feat and their masterwork upgrade to use a crossbow for dex*1.5 bonus damage, matching what a two handed melee weapon can do by default.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Last question, because my mind is getting sidetracked into Mecha.

    How well does this integrate with the rebalanced combat styles?

    Edit: Also, if I beat you up, do I get 15 silver points?
    Last edited by NineThePuma; 2011-11-12 at 09:00 PM.

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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Quote Originally Posted by NineThePuma View Post
    Last question, because my mind is getting sidetracked into Mecha.

    How well does this integrate with the rebalanced combat styles?

    Edit: Also, if I beat you up, do I get 15 silver points?
    1) They should integrate just fine. I can't think of anything that would conflict, though I would have to go through with a fine toothed comb to be sure. The intent of this project was to mostly keep things in line with normal weapons, so it can integrate with anything else 3.5. That's partially why I'm on the fence about the dex to damage thing, because the rebalanced weapon styles already provide that bonus... which brings it down to wondering if it should be a feat effect or a weapon property.

    2) Yes. Yes you would.


    edit: Added Heavy Thrown property, coutesy of 4th edition. Added it as a property to javelins, but aside from that left it as something to pick up on a masterwork.
    Last edited by Seerow; 2011-11-13 at 12:50 AM.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Update:

    -Organized the tables in the OP, so weapons and properties are alphabetized.

    -Added a column to the weapon properties for ammunition, so it is clear what can and cannot be added to ammunition. (I disallowed crit increasing and damage die increasing on ammunition, just to avoid the confusing issue of how they stack, which has been nagging at me.)

    -Added a new ammunition only property that gives a flat bonus to damage to compensate for this, for those who really want their higher damage ammo.

    -Updated the property table to include the new properties, which for some reason never happened before, so the only place with the slot costs for those was Cieyrin's post.

    -Moved the property descriptions all the way down to the upgrading weapons/armor. This is to keep the upgrading/making new stuff all in one general area. I'm still not sure on this, and may end up moving it back though, because it seems weird to have to go into making new stuff to find out what the core stuff does.

    -Added brief descriptions of the 4 major weapon types, mostly copy/pasted from the SRD, with a few changes under ranged weapons to reflect updates.

    -Added a new property in the tables listing bows/crossbows. This is to be able to differentiate them from other ranged weapons even when bow/crossbow isn't in the name (Such as the Arbalest). This did require pushing back some of the other properties, while I believe the table is 100% updated correctly, if you notice any errors, please point them out.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    While we're on the topic of non-bows, mayhaps it's time to revisit the issue of slings? I know you weren't particularly pleased with how the best solution was to make 'em one-handed weapons so they can do what they do. I've since seen further justification for melee with slings, via a PF feat that lets you melee with one like it was a mini-flail, so maybe this can work out alright.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Random thought that just occured to me: What if Bows/Crossbows rather than having a really high base range, had a property that gave them a little range for free with each damage die?

    ie we can standardize all ranged weapons to say 50ft base range, and make each damage die increase give either 5 or 10ft extra range (probably 10ft).

    This would open up non-bow ranged weapons to be a little less crappy, and make the difference in a throwing melee weapon and throwing weapon not intended for melee more pronounced. Because as it is there is almost no reason to have a ranged weapon that's not a bow.





    While we're on the topic of non-bows, mayhaps it's time to revisit the issue of slings? I know you weren't particularly pleased with how the best solution was to make 'em one-handed weapons so they can do what they do. I've since seen further justification for melee with slings, via a PF feat that lets you melee with one like it was a mini-flail, so maybe this can work out alright.
    Well I was pretty much okay with the idea after you convinced me to change it. Though if I go with the change above, we could make slings ranged weapons again, and add a property that lets the ranged weapon be used in melee with a slight penalty to damage (and probably a feat could be made that eliminates that penalty, though it would need something else to really be worthwhile).



    edit: Another thought. Someone over on BG suggested a change to the fortification mechanic, making fortification in general just +AC vs crit confirmation. In the case of sneak attack and similar mechanics you have to beat the target's AC by more than their fortification value to get the bonus damage. So say you are fighting someone with 20 AC and fortification 4, if you roll below a 20, you miss. If you roll 20-23, you deal normal damage. If you roll a 24 or higher, you deal sneak attack damage.

    I was thinking rolling that into this system would be good, especially since I already have a mechanic for adding +crit confirm and light fortification to armor, may as well streamline it.
    Last edited by Seerow; 2011-11-14 at 06:53 PM.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Quote Originally Posted by Seerow View Post
    Well I was pretty much okay with the idea after you convinced me to change it. Though if I go with the change above, we could make slings ranged weapons again, and add a property that lets the ranged weapon be used in melee with a slight penalty to damage (and probably a feat could be made that eliminates that penalty, though it would need something else to really be worthwhile).
    Could work out.

    edit: Another thought. Someone over on BG suggested a change to the fortification mechanic, making fortification in general just +AC vs crit confirmation. In the case of sneak attack and similar mechanics you have to beat the target's AC by more than their fortification value to get the bonus damage. So say you are fighting someone with 20 AC and fortification 4, if you roll below a 20, you miss. If you roll 20-23, you deal normal damage. If you roll a 24 or higher, you deal sneak attack damage.

    I was thinking rolling that into this system would be good, especially since I already have a mechanic for adding +crit confirm and light fortification to armor, may as well streamline it.
    Hmm, neat. Replace extra dice rolls with a little extra math. Pros and cons to that, depending how you feel about math. I'm merely intrigued.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Okay, I updated all of the ranged weapons, reformatted the original post again, into something I'm pretty happy with this time. If there's any errors from the movements that I missed, please point them out to me. I also haven't included a sling feat yet because I'm not sure if eliminating that penalty is a good enough benefit. It's also pretty narrow, which goes against the idea of the rest of the feats (consolidating stuff together). Maybe a general ranged weapon benefit feat that includes that as a perk?
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Stupid question, but do masterwork and special materials stack?

    Also, do special materials that grant a magic property boost the effective enhancement bonus of the item?

    Also: Armor, how does it handle customization and making "custom" armor beyond the Core armors?

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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Quote Originally Posted by NineThePuma View Post
    Stupid question, but do masterwork and special materials stack?

    Also, do special materials that grant a magic property boost the effective enhancement bonus of the item?
    Yes and No. It is worth noting that the special materials are intended to be a power up, as I intend to use them alongside a overhauled magic item system I haven't gotten around to finishing. You can use them as written with a normal game and just the rules posted, but it will be a definite power increase, so keep that in mind.


    Also: Armor, how does it handle customization and making "custom" armor beyond the Core armors?
    Wow I apparently lost that section somewhere along the way, or forgot to put it in completely. You get 2 bonus slots for masterwork armor, just like with weapons. I'll add that in later tonight or tomorrow. If you meant something else, please clarify.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    I'd like to rtract my final question there. I found it on a more in depth reading.

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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Quote Originally Posted by Seerow View Post
    Okay, I updated all of the ranged weapons, reformatted the original post again, into something I'm pretty happy with this time. If there's any errors from the movements that I missed, please point them out to me. I also haven't included a sling feat yet because I'm not sure if eliminating that penalty is a good enough benefit. It's also pretty narrow, which goes against the idea of the rest of the feats (consolidating stuff together). Maybe a general ranged weapon benefit feat that includes that as a perk?
    I likes the cut of your jib, giving the best of both worlds, letting thrown support still work on slings but making 'em proper ranged weapons, along with other thrown weapons getting a like boost.

    As for the melee sling feat, why not just have a special ability to deal with that that you can masterwork in? Call it a 1 slot ability.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Quote Originally Posted by Cieyrin View Post
    I likes the cut of your jib, giving the best of both worlds, letting thrown support still work on slings but making 'em proper ranged weapons, along with other thrown weapons getting a like boost.

    As for the melee sling feat, why not just have a special ability to deal with that that you can masterwork in? Call it a 1 slot ability.
    Fair enough, as long as I don't have to add one with it to the prebuilt weapons (seriously that list of properties under the tables is monstrous. I wish I could find a way around it). It does feel a little unfair to light throwing weapons though (given for 1 slot you turn a throwing weapon into effectively a light weapon while keeping 50ft range. Meanwhile adding throwing to a Light Weapon only gets you 10ft range, but the same stats otherwise). Maybe make it a full two slots? It'd still be better than the Accurate Property (2 slots for +2 to hit and +2 damage in melee vs just +2 to hit) in exchange for being less universal.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    how looks the weapon named ripper?

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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Quote Originally Posted by Kurtmuran View Post
    how looks the weapon named ripper?
    If you're asking what it looks like, it's essentially a barbed spear. It's from the Planar Handbook.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    I would increase the cost of splitting damage dice; despite what the "average" says, the probabilities are weighted quite heavily toward that average (which is SLIGHTLY higher than the pre-split average. This makes splitting damage dice almost universally more preferable than the Brutal property, despite theoretically similar properties (and also because brutal's price is jacked up over time).

    Please clarify what happens when you have a 19-20/x3 critical weapon in the text. I figured it out, but had to rip the data out of an exotic weapon to do it.

    Can you stack the +1 damage or the +1 accuracy traits?

    Can you build a bow out of, say, Silverwood for the extra slots, and then use arrows of a different material?

    Edit; Also, mithril is stupidly good for armor.
    Last edited by NineThePuma; 2011-11-18 at 04:54 AM.

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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Quote Originally Posted by NineThePuma View Post
    I would increase the cost of splitting damage dice; despite what the "average" says, the probabilities are weighted quite heavily toward that average (which is SLIGHTLY higher than the pre-split average. This makes splitting damage dice almost universally more preferable than the Brutal property, despite theoretically similar properties (and also because brutal's price is jacked up over time).
    I was originally going to have splitting dice increase in cost by the number of damage dice split, a la brutal. (So going from 1->2 dice is .5, 2->4 dice is 1), but it's so hard to actually get to the 2d8 point where you can split a second time (costs 6.5 slots), I figured it's fine to just let that stay a little cheaper.

    I'm however not going to make splitting dice cost a full slot, that's too much of a cost for too little benefit. You are right in pointing out it weights things more towards average, and while that means you are less likely to get the minimum, you are also less likely to get the maximum, which can be important as well.

    Please clarify what happens when you have a 19-20/x3 critical weapon in the text. I figured it out, but had to rip the data out of an exotic weapon to do it.
    You mean something like "Double the lower cost property when combining two crit modifiers. For example 19-20x4 uses 1 slot for 19-20, 2 slots for x4. The 19-20 cost gets doubled to 2, making the combined cost 4 slots rather than the normal 3. "?

    Can you stack the +1 damage or the +1 accuracy traits?
    I guess I should put an explicit answer in there. I think I'm going to say yes to damage, (as it's meant to replace bigger damage dice on ammo) and no to accuracy.

    Can you build a bow out of, say, Silverwood for the extra slots, and then use arrows of a different material?

    Edit; Also, mithril is stupidly good for armor.
    Not quite sure on this. And yes I have been procrastinating on the special material properties because they're a lot harder to actually balance. I think I may need to give up on the idea of giving them bonus slots to compensate for a weaker property, because giving a couple mundane properties in exchange for a really good magic or unique property is a bad tradeoff.


    Right now I'd lean towards no on the Bow, if things do stay the way they are. Bows and other ammunition based weaponry already have an advantage in being able to masterwork both the bow and the ammo. While ranged is typically weaker anyway, so the advantage can be okay, it doesn't need to be made a bigger advantage by getting double the special material upgrades. On the other hand, flavorwise it makes sense that a bow could be made from a special wood for a bonus, and you could compare the benefit to two weapon fighting, where both weapons get their own upgrades (though that's a slightly unfair comparison given that the bow gets its full attack at once with all of the upgrades combined)
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  26. - Top - End - #116
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    1) I'm just math crafting, but there's a significant net boost in probabilities of certain damage ranges. Higher weapon damage is (theoretically) only important at low levels anyway. But I digress, that's neither here nor there.

    2) Read what I said again. Your example has an explicit "more costly" ability. My example does not. Do they both double? Does one double? Since they're equal, neither should double, at which point why pay 4 for 19-20/x4 when you can pay 4 slots for 18-20/x4?

    3) there goes my Nonthreatening Super Cutty Blade to abuse Iaijutsu Focus with that has enough pluses to never miss anyway. Oh well. Now I actually have to optimize to-hit. (this is mostly joking. I built such a weapon, but as the accuracy thingy didn't say it could stack I assumed it couldn't.)

    4) Materials are fun. I'm a little wary of the Adamantine materials though. And Cold Iron. It feels like everything should have some special goodies. Especially cause it's very easy to run out of slots.

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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    1) Well yeah, you are statistically more likely to get a result closer to the average because there are more possible results that do so. I however think that this is not a huge advantage that warrants a higher cost, since this comes at the cost of less likely to get maximum damage. The average is still what matters here.

    As for weapon damage dice not mattering past low level, you're right. Personally I also use this to keep the weapon damage relevant at higher levels. (It's also why I explicitly defined the damage scaling of weapons rather than increasing as if it was increasing size categories, as doing it that way caused damage to get catastrophically high by low to mid levels)

    2) Updated the example to clarify that scenario.

    3) Heh. Well for the future, I pretty much explicitly said "You can take this multiple times" on things that can. If I missed that on anything that should have it, let me know.

    4) Yeah, I'd still want to fix special materials, what I'm wondering is if I should continue trying to balance it with slots at all, or just give them all a flat 1 slot bonus and actual properties.
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    1:
    Well, the problem I see is that while Brutal bumps up the average by eliminating lower results, the cost gets much less bang for your buck as you scale up. The price is right (.5 slot cost for an increase of .5 damage, which pretty much everything else fits) but... Alright, you spend 6.5 points to get a 2d8 weapon. Your average damage per roll is 9; with brutal, that goes up to 10, with a higher chance of that average damage, for a slot cost of 7.5; or you can go ahead and spend .5 to split your damage dice again for the exact same effect, but also a wider range of possibilities. At this point, splitting the damage dice is, theoretically, the best thing you can do for your average damage.

    Course, this is all math crafting, so it ultimately doesn't matter.

    3) you had it on almost everything, but I was curious about that one, since I was trying to diversify a character's equipment some. He ended up with a 4d4 (18-20/x4) two hander, which reminds me that I need to do math checking to see if there's a scenario where maximizing your critical chances aren't preferred. Since I already had a pure damage beat stick, I wanted to exemplify something else with his other gear. His "long sword" ended up with a bunch of random traits, cause I didn't wan it to be a rehash of the giant beat stick.

    4) I'd say two slot, and standardized abilities all around.

    5) the armor crafting rules seem very slightly wonky. They work, but I got confused along the way. Recommend that you spell out a couple things about it, as it's entirely possible to build what I think of as "the fire retardant shirt" as mythril light armor and just spend as much as you can get away with on fire resist.

  29. - Top - End - #119
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    Quote Originally Posted by NineThePuma View Post
    1:
    Well, the problem I see is that while Brutal bumps up the average by eliminating lower results, the cost gets much less bang for your buck as you scale up. The price is right (.5 slot cost for an increase of .5 damage, which pretty much everything else fits) but... Alright, you spend 6.5 points to get a 2d8 weapon. Your average damage per roll is 9; with brutal, that goes up to 10, with a higher chance of that average damage, for a slot cost of 7.5; or you can go ahead and spend .5 to split your damage dice again for the exact same effect, but also a wider range of possibilities. At this point, splitting the damage dice is, theoretically, the best thing you can do for your average damage.

    Well you could make this an argument for brutal being weak, and needing to not have its cost scale with damage dice. But here's how I see it:

    2d6:
    2-2.7%
    3-5.5%
    4-8.3%
    5-11.1%
    6-13.8%
    7-16.6%
    8-13.8%
    9-11.1%
    10-8.3%
    11-5.5%
    12-2.7%

    1d12 brutal 1
    2-9.1%
    3-9.1%
    4-9.1%
    5-9.1%
    6-9.1%
    7-9.1%
    8-9.1%
    9-9.1%
    10-9.1%
    11-9.1%
    12-9.1%

    (Note I did round off at only one decimal point, so rounding error applies and these may not add up to exactly 100%)

    So you have a significantly better chance of rolling a 10 or above, and 4 or below, while a worse chance of rolling a 5-9. I think getting that maximum damage value about 4 times more often makes up for the fact that you also roll minimum that much more often. It's swingier damage compared to regular damage, but there are people who enjoy that.


    3) He ended up with a 4d4 (18-20/x4) two hander, which reminds me that I need to do math checking to see if there's a scenario where maximizing your critical chances aren't preferred.
    For pure DPR it probably depends on how many bonus damage sources you can get that can be multiplied on a crit. For example, a rogue would probably ironically benefit least from a high crit weapon since all his sneak attack dice gain nothing from critting. However even then if he uses something like Shadow Hand crit could become more valuable.


    5) the armor crafting rules seem very slightly wonky. They work, but I got confused along the way. Recommend that you spell out a couple things about it, as it's entirely possible to build what I think of as "the fire retardant shirt" as mythril light armor and just spend as much as you can get away with on fire resist.
    Yeah, you can push elemental resist values pretty high at the cost of actual armor. I wanted to give the same kind of diversity that was available for weapons and that was one of the few ways I could think of. I could maybe cap off elemental resists, or make a cap for custom armors (so an armor can't have more than 4 elemental resist base, but masterwork or special material armor can have significantly more).

    If the wonkiness is something like a high max dex no ACP heavy armor though, that's intended. Though I probably should put like a minimum 1/2/3 armor bonus for light/medium/heavy armor, and adjust slot mods accordingly.
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  30. - Top - End - #120
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    Default Re: [D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More (Updated 6/18)

    The wonk had more to do with the way the rules are laid out. It's not very clear that armors start with 0 AC and 0 max dex mod, and it's relatively easy to assume that you missed something in there.

    On the other hand, having 3 AC/3 MD/0 ACP/Resistance 5 or so to F/A/C/E was totally worth it.

    Hmmm... Would it be possible to add faults to armor in return for more slots, or would that be a horrible thing? *Is thinking something like an elemental vulnerability*

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