[D&D3.5] Weapons, Upgrades, and More

[AugustNights]

So, besides some new weapon properties, I've changed up some of the basic stuff. The changes are all small details, that may not really swing balance one way or another, but they really aren't terribly important.
I will note that I've changed the cost of damage to be equal to the increase in average damage from 1d4, and that I've used this system to balance improvised and natural weapons as well. (Natural Weapons cost 4 wpts, and Improvised ones cost 5 wpts).


Weapon Properties

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General Properties

Alchemical Storing (General) 1 wpt
A weapon with this property is highly resistant to acid, fire, and corrosion damage, and any other types of substance that may be loaded into it. When a flask containing an alchemical, poisonous, or similar substance (be it a grenade, compound, resin, or myst) is plugged into a special slot on the weapon, it becomes primed. When a wielder strikes their target with a primed weapon and successfully attacks a target, an internal pump instantly expels the substance through hollows and out along veins in the business end of the weapon. In addition to taking any damage dealt by this weapon,the target also takes damage as if it had been struck by the flask attached to the weapon. Adjacent creatures, including the wielder, are not subject to splash damage. Loading an alchemical storing weapon is a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity; the Rapid Reload feat reduces this to a free action. Only one flask may be loaded into this weapon at a time.
Special:By spending an additional weapon point this weapon may be loaded with up to three flasks. While all three flasks are primed, only one flask may be activated on a given attack, choosing which single flask activates is a free action after the attack successfully attacks a target. Loading each individual flask requires a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity; the Rapid Reload feat reduces this to a free action.

Armor Penetration (General) 1 wpt
A weapon with this property ignores the first 2 points of Armor Class granted to its target from Armor, Natural Armor, Shields, Cover and other hard armor.
Special: This property may be taken up to twice. Its benefits stack.

Barbed (General) 2 wpt
A weapon with this property is designed to lodge within its opponent, inhibiting their combat abilities. A barbed weapon may lodge in an opponent it has successfully dealt damage against. Such an opponent must make a Reflex save against a DC of 10 + the damage inflicted in order to avoid having the weapon lodged. While this weapon remains in the wound the opponent suffers a -2 penalty to Dexterity, which stacks with penalties from other similar sources (such as multiple lodged barbed weapons). If a creature is lodged with one or more barbed weapons attempts to cast a spell, it must succeed at a Concentration check (DC 15) or lose the spell. The lodged creature can pull the barbed weapon from its wound if it has a free hand and takes a full-round action to do so, but in so doing it takes damage equal to the initial damage the barbed weapon dealt. An appropriate Heal check (DC equal to the attack roll that sank the weapon, and 1 minute’s time) may be used to safely remove the barbed weapon. A removed barbed weapon does not infer a penalty to Dexterity, even if removed violently. Naturally a wielder loses use of a lodged weapon.
Special: A barbed weapon may not penalize Dexterity to below 3.


Battle Instrument, Wardance (General) 1 wpt
A weapon with this property may function as both a musical instrument and a weapon, and may be used as both simultaneously, effectively allowing it to be played while taking advantage of an attack or full attack action. Both the instrument functionality and the weapon functionality may be made of masterwork quality, but both must be paid for separately. Such a weapon is difficult to identify as a weapon, and requires a Craft check of DC equal to the craft check used to create the weapon to successfully notice its combat potential.

Charger, Greater (General) 2 wpt
A weapon with this property deals double damage when used with any charge attack. If by some means the character may make multiple attacks at the end of the charge, this extra damage is only dealt if this weapon is used for the first attack, and only on the first attack.

Destructive (General) .5 wpt
A weapon with this property is quite apt at destroying objects. This weapon deals +2 damage when sundering or attacking objects or creatures of the Construct type.
Special: This property may be taken up to twice. Its benefits stack.

Dirt Cheap (General) 1 wpt
This special property reduces the price of the weapon to a negligible amount, effectively making the weapon easy enough to find or to create from readily available materials that may be gained at no price. Such a weapon does not break Vow of Poverty, and has a Craft DC 5 points lower than normal.
Increasing the quality of this weapon still increases its price (and such a weapon would break a Vow of Poverty), however it still benefits from the lower craft DC.

Dismount (General) .5
When used against a mounted opponent, this weapon increases the DC of the opponents Ride check to remain in the saddle by 5, this applies to both attacks (see Ride) and trip attacks made to dismount the target (see Trip), however this property does not grant a weapon the ability to make trip attempts.

Disposable (General) 1 wpt
A weapon with this property is easily disposed of, and quickly destroyed in a manner that is extraordinarily difficult to trace. Finding even the traces of this weapon after it has been disposed of requires an Search Check equal to 10 + the character who disposed of it’s Hide Check.

Explosive (General) 1 wpt per Die
A weapon with this property is extraordinarily dangerous in the hands of the lucky. If any of the dice in its damage comes up as its maximum (such as a 6 on a d6) it is added to the damage and re-rolled, this new number is also added to the damage. If the maximum comes up again, continue re-rolling and adding until it does not. Do not do this for extra dice added from other sources, critical hits, sneak attacks or precision based damage.
Special:This property may not be used in conjunction with a weapon that has a damage die lower than a d4 or one that has the Brutal property.

Flexid (General) .5 wpt
Attempts to disarm or sunder a weapon with this property suffer a -4 penalty due to the incredible flexibility of the weapon.

Folding (General) 1 wpt
A weapon with this property is collapsible making it easier to conceal. Such a weapon may be collapsed or folded down as a full-round action. While in this state this weapon does not suffer a penalty to Sleight of Hand checks to hide the item on one’s person. A folding weapon may be unfolded or extended as part of a the action required to draw the weapon.

Intimidating (General) .5 wpt
A weapon with this property grants its wielder a +2 bonus to Intimidate checks to demoralize foes in combat.
Special: This property may be taken up to twice. Its benefits stack.

Resonant (General) 1 wpt
A weapon with this property creates a horrible din when it strikes an opponent, and may deafen a struck creature. A creature that is damaged by a resonant weapon must make a Fortitude save of a DC equal to 10+ the damage dealt or suffer from the deafened condition for 1d6+1 rounds. (A deafened creature, in addition to the obvious effects, suffers a -4 penalty to initiative, and has a -20% chance to miss-cast or lose any spell with a verbal component that it tries to cast.)

Staggering (General) 1 wpt
A weapon with this property deals more than additional damage on a successful critical hit. If a wielder successfully confirms a critical hit with this weapon, they may use a free action to make a Bull Rush or Overrun attempt against the opponent struck by the critical hit. This opponent cannot take an attack of opportunity nor can they choose to avoid the Overrun attempt.

Shield Weight (General) 1 wpt
A weapon with this property is designed to make shields unwieldy, and inconvenient for their bearers. If this weapon is used to Sunder a shield, and succesfully deals damage to the shield the weapon (or its ammunition, in the case of a projectile weapon) is stuck in the shield. Removing this weapon takes 2d4 rounds. While this weapon is attached to a shield, the target must drop the shield or suffer a -2 penalty to Armor Class and on attack rolls and Reflex saves due to the added weight and awkwardness, this penalty stacks with itself (in the case of multiple weapons lodged in the shield). Obviously, the wielder loses use of the weapon while it is attached in this way. Ranged weapons with this property may be used to Sunder shields within their first range increment.

Strapped (General) .5 wpt
A weapon with this property is strapped to its wielder’s body, and requires 5 full round actions to stape down. Such a weapon may be wielded without being strapped down, but does not benifit from this property. While strapped this weapon provides the wielder with a +10 circumstance bonus to avoid being disarmed of the strapped weapon. While this weapon is strapped the hand that it is equipped to may not be used for any activity besides holding the weapon.

Weapon Tool (General) .5
A weapon with this property provides a +2 circumstance bonus on a single skill check, chosen at the time of creation form the following list. (Balance, Climb, Craft (Each skill, chosen individually), Disable Device, Escape Artist, Handle Animal, Jump, Open Lock, Profession (Each skill, chosen individually), Ride, Survival, and Swim.)Special: This property may be taken up to twice. Its benefits stack.

Whistling (General) .5 wpt
A weapon with this property generates whistling noises that can alert nearby allies or signal those who are familiar with it. When wielded in combat (or moved in a particular fashion that requires a standard action) this weapon makes a shrill noise that can be heard at great distances, requiring a DC -5 Listen check to hear, but this DC only increases by 1 for every 50 feet between the sound and the listener. This sound may be disguised as a sound naturally heard within certain environments (such as a hawk’s cry, or the slushing of an underground ooze), and requires a Listen Check of a DC equal to the craft check of the weapon in order to properly identify it as an artificial sound. Appropriate knowledge checks may be substituted for Listen checks for this identification.

Melee Properties

Man-catcher (Melee) 1 wpt
A weapon with this property may be used to initiate a grapple. A wielder may use this weapon to attempt to begin a grapple check with a melee attack instead of a melee touch attack. This provokes an attack of opportunity as making a melee touch attack to initiate a grapple does normally (unless the wielder has the Improved Grapple feat.) This special ability differs from ‘Improved Grab’ in that the intention to grapple must be part of this special melee attack. In addition to the means of escaping a normal grapple, a man-catcher may be escaped from by dealing enough damage to break the man-catcher, or making a making a Strength check with a DC equal to the craft check of the weapon.
Special: By spending an additional weapon point the wielder does not need to move into their foe’s space to initiate or maintain this grapple. Further, in addition to the normal options available while in a grapple, the wielder of a man-catcher can attempt to pull their target to the ground (the equivalent of a trip attack, though no attack roll is necessary).
Special: A man catcher (or either 1 wpt or 2) may be built to capture creatures of a particular size category that could not normally grappled by its intended user (such as Huge or Gargantuan creatures), but such a weapon doesn't work on creatures of the wrong size, and suffers a -2 penalty to attack for each size category this is larger than the wielder.

Spikard (Melee) 2.5
A weapon with this property actually has a small firearm mechanism is built into the hilt of the weapon, which can be fired through a smoothed shaft in the middle of the business end. Along the grip of the handle is a miniature firing mechanism, as well as a channel into which the ammunition can be loaded. Loading a spikard requires a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity; the rapid reload feat reduces this to a on free action. A spikard cannot fire its ammunition at range, instead, it discharges it in conjunction with a successful melee attack. Any time a wielder that is proficient with the spikard strikes a foe in melee with a loaded spikard, the mechanism automatically triggers, discharging the ammunition directly into the target of the attack. The target takes damage equal to the base damage of the weapon as well as an additional 1d6 damage, of any sort (chosen at the creation of weapon) No additional attack roll is required.
Special: By spending an additional 1.5 weapon points, this spikard may deal 2d4 damage rather than 1d6 damage.

Reach, Flexible (General) 3 wpt (Light/One-Handed) | 2 wpt (Two-Handed)
A weapon with this property has reach, doubling the natural reach of its wielder, or adding 5 feet to the wielder's natural reach, whichever is greater. Unlike most weapons with reach, this weapon may be used to strike foes within the wielder’s natural reach.

Light Melee Properties

Hands Free (Light Melee) 1 wpt
A weapon with this property is designed to be equipped in a non-traditional “limb,” and may be worn in any conceivable location, such as dangling from a braid beard, or on the end of a tail, strapped to the elbows, or protruding from armor. Such a weapon does not fill a “hand” and may be used in conjunction with other weapons as a part of Multi-weapon fighting. However, such a weapon is difficult to use and provokes an attack of opportunity whenever the wielder attacks with it, similar to attacking with an unarmed attack (Special abilities that allow for unarmed attacks without provoking Attacks of Opportunity apply to these types of weapon as well, such as the Improved Unarmed Strike feat.) A character may not wield anymore than 2 hands-free weapons at an given point.

Spikes(Light Melee) .5 wpt
A weapon with this property is vicious within a grapple, and automatically deals damage with a successful grapple check. Even if a character is wielding multiple weapons with this property, only one weapon may deal damage per successful grapple check.

One-Handed Melee Properties

Fierce Pommel (One-Handed) .5
A one-handed weapon with this property has a particularly effective secondary weapon near its grip. Such a weapon may be used to make an attack as if it were a light weapon, but a -2 penalty to the attack roll. This allows for such an attack to be used within a grapple, or while being swallowed whole, however this attack does not normally benefit from the the Weapon Finesse feat or similar abilities.

Two-Handed Melee Properties

Mount Stabilized (Two-Handed) .5
A weapon with this property may be wielded in one hand while its wielder is mounted.

Thrown Ranged Properties

Tied (Thrown Ranged) 0 wpt
A thrown ranged weapon with this property is generally tethered to its wielder at the wrist. Such a thrown weapon may only be used out to two of its range increments, but may be retrieved as a move action after it has been thrown.

Projectile Ranged Properties

Aquatic (Projectile) 1 wpt
A weapon with this property is specially designed to fire beneath water and to withstand higher levels of tension than a normal weapon. An aquatic projectile weapon is not subject to the normal -2 penalty on ranged attack rolls for every five feet of distance (see ranged attacks underwater, pg. 93 of the DMG), and uses its normal range increment in and out of the water.

Hookshot (Projectile) 1 wpt
A projectile weapon with this property aids greatly in the scaling difficult walls, bridge chasms, or in the escaping buildings, and other tall areas. A hookshot weapon is modified to fire a special, grappling hook-headed metal bolt attached to a strand of thin silk rope. A successful attack at an appropriate target indicates that the grappling hook has hooked onto something, anchoring the rope firmly enough for a character to ascend it with a successful Climb check (DC 15). Failure brings one of three results: 1) The grappling hook simply failed to snag anything. 2) It has lodged but is not secure enough to support a character’s weight. 3) There’s simply nothing there for it to catch onto.
In the first case, the user can simply recoil the rope and try again. In the second case, a successful Intelligence check (DC 10) made before anyone tries to climb reveals the instability. The user can free that grappling hook with a DC 10 Strength Check. (Should anyone try to climb the unstable rope, the grappling hook gives way after the climber has progressed 2d10 feet. Determine damage normally for the resulting fall.) In the third case, retries automatically fail.
A character can easily anchor a grappling hook by hand in a niche or use pitons to secure it on smooth stone. This provides the same aid for descent without the need to fire the weapon.

Here are a few more thoughts...

After doing some exploitation exploration with Explosive Property, I found that on average the Explosive weapon will do a little less than +1 damage per die, so 1 wpt stays with the damage vs. wpt model.

I am still tweaking a Flammable property, that allows for a weapon to be mundanely light on fire, and used to inflict mundane fire damage, similar to the Torch.

There is another property that may be too strong, that allows for constitution damage on a successful critical hit.

Skipard is inspired by the line of weapons in MoE.

I still have some ideas cooking about for some more properties. Trying to sort out all the hidden/disguised and otherwise sneaky weapon properties and make them all have clear rules. I'm also working out rules for a Nets, Spike-Shooters, and Garrotes under this system. May take a bit.

[Seerow]

Somehow I never saw the above post, just happened to check on here and saw there was a new page that I hadn't viewed before. Oh well.



Explosive weapons seem hard to price, but I'd like to see your math for it being just shy of a full point. I'm getting numbers ranging between .5 and .65, I'd probably round that down to .5 rather than have the property be pretty bad for everyone.


On other properties:

Alchemical Storage interests me, but given it's one use and then you have to reload it (or even 3 with 2 slots), it seems very much not worth it. It honestly seems to me like something that would make a very cool magical property (imagine a blade you can dip into a vat of poison and it absorbs that poison, and proceeds to use it until you load it with something else).

Armor Penetration is nice in theory, but it's basically +2 to hit against almost everything, which is pretty damn good for 1pt.

Barbed is kind of cool. That concentration check is negligible though, it should at least get stacked up with multiple barbed weapons. Also the only real use I see for this is in arrows. Who wants to leave their sword sticking inside someone?

The Destructive Property I really like a lot, I could see that fitting well on hammers and the like. It's a cool situational use property.

Dirt Cheap is in no way worth a full slot. Hell I didn't include anything like it because I didn't think saving a few gold pieces was worth even half a slot.



Most of the properties I do like, but several of them seem overpriced to me. On the other hand Greater Charger seems underpriced, flat damage multipliers are the main thing that leads to over the top melee damage