Pens—the ultimate weapon?

[Charlie Kemek]

weight: less than 1 lb
Cost: 5 sp, 5 gp with normal poison
Damage: 1d2* (see text)
type: lighter than light (see text), exotic, piercing
range: 10 ft (if thrown as normal piercing)
Crit: 18/20 *4
Pens are one of the best spy weapons. They may be used two at a time w/o any penalty, and can be filled poison, and usually are. they can also be filled with acid, alchemist's fire, and other liquids. poison lasts 10 times longer in a pen, and explosives destroy it. it can be used as a vial for acid, alchemist's fire, or explosives, so the pen is destroyed afterwards. when you use a pen, an opponent must make a fort save (DC=what you rolled to hit) or be stunned for 1 round. they must also make a will save (DC=10) or loose their dex mod to the attack. however, when you use a pen, if you want to do lethal damage, in addition to the normal penalties, you roll 1 on all damage dice (including sneak attack), unless using an explosive or acid. the attack is also considered a touch attack, and a ranged touch attack if thrown. either way, you add your dex modifier to damage. In order to enhance a pen with anything, you must pay five times the normal price to do so, acting as if the pen costs 20 gp.
poison: damage, 1 con, secondary: 1d6 con
*this weapon does non-leathal damage when piercing
=============
Okay, any suggestions? it may not be the greatest, but quite a few rogues might use it. I would add it to the list of proficiencies on the rogue, bard, ninja, spellthief, etc.

[GrassyGnoll]

"The pen is mightier than the sword, if it has been sharpened to a fine point, dipped in deadly poison and is thrown from ten feet away. But really, you're better off with a sword."- Benjamin Franklin

[hylian chozo]

Acid and alchemist fire? Unless it's specially made that will destroy the pen.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Ha.


Gwyn approves.

[Charlie Kemek]

"The pen is mightier than the sword, if it has been sharpened to a fine point, dipped in deadly poison and is thrown from ten feet away. But really, you're better off with a sword."- Benjamin Franklin

Naw, the poison lasts extra long, it's in the place you put the ink.
*adds to the main post*

[GrassyGnoll]

Naw, the poison lasts extra long, it's in the place you put the ink.
*adds to the main post*

It's a quote from America: The Book.

[Charlie Kemek]

It's a quote from America: The Book.

Oh. My point still stands

Does anyone think that it is unbalanced?

[GrassyGnoll]

Oh. My point still stands

Does anyone think that it is unbalanced?

Naw, pretty similar to certain hair pick weapons, only unisex.

[Roderick_BR]

I think it should deal 1d1 points of lethal damage (specially old hard wood pens, that can puncture a person's eye or throat), but giving the usual -4 for improvised weapon.
But cool anyway.


Although, the pen is usually used to add spells to a wizard's spellbook, so it IS stronger than the sword....

[Icewalker]

Erm...that is kind of ridiculous. 18-20 x4 crit...fort save vs. attack roll or stun...will save or no dodge bonus?...auto touch attack?

This is extremely overpowered for a fighter, despite how odd that seems, and ignoring the fact that fighters are always looked down on as underpowered. Touch attack, stun, huge crit range, and given power attack and the bonuses at higher levels the damage on the weapon really isn't all that important.

Also, I second the fact that acid and alchemists fire would in fact fail utterly to be useful when placed in a pen, unless your goal is to seriously burn your hands.

[Raging_Pacifist]

This is kind of overpowered, a first level fighter could get Ex. Wep. Prof. :Pen and use this. Cool idea though.

[SurlySeraph]

"They may be used two at a time w/o any penalty". What do you mean by this? Do you mean you can dual-wield them without any attack penalty? That's just a wee bit overpowered.

And "you add your dex modifier to damage". Okay. Let's say you've got a, oh, level 20 halfling monk. He dual-wields these with Greater Flurry of Blows, Rapid Shot and Greater Two-Weapon fighting. So he gets 9 attacks per round, with no attack penalties, that are all touch attacks, and for some of them the target won't get his dexterity bonus to armor. And on all of the (many) attacks that will hit, there's a good chance that the target will be stunned. And there's a good chance that the hit will be a critical hit, which isn't a huge deal given the low base damage. Except for one thing: if he's enchanted the pens with, say, Flaming Burst, that's an extra 4d10 fire damage on each hit. And with an 18-20 crit range and 9 attacks per round, he's got a pretty good chance of a crit. Keen pens would make matters even worse. And that's without even considering poisoned pens; if he were throwing pens with a high-save poison on them, the target would be half-dead within a round no matter what.

Yeah, these are very powerful. I'm bad at pricing, but 300 gp sounds reasonable to me.

[Charlie Kemek]

@Rodric_BR: they effectively do that, 1 damage, -4 to attack because of lethal damage.
@Icewalker: Yes, but you can't power attack with them (they are lighter than light weapons), they get -4 to attack to do lethal damage, and it does destroy the pen, and would do the damage. I need to reword that, "it can be used as a vial for acid, alchemist's fire, or explosives." Does that sound good?
@SurlySeraph: I forgot to add that the pen can be enhanced—at 5 times the price. Who would enhance a pen, except the best: at a very good price. And again, you do have a penalty, the -4 because it does non-lethal damage. also, Pens aren't special monk weapons, so the monk can't use them for FoB.
Anything else?

[Raging_Pacifist]

Exactly, how long does the poison last?

[Yakk]

weight: less than 1 lb
Cost: 5 sp, 5 gp with normal poison
Damage: 1d2* (see text)

1d1 at best...

type: lighter than light (see text), exotic, piercing

Str bonus should be divided by 3 or 4...

range: 10 ft (if thrown as normal piercing)

That's an areodynamic pen.

Crit: 18/20 *4

No. You don't get to have 9 crit pips on a weapon. No weapon may have more than 3 crit pips in D&D.

Pens are one of the best spy weapons. They may be used two at a time w/o any penalty

Which means you have to reduce their +damage from strength even more. And you didn't mention that you need TWF to use it without any penalty?

, and can be filled poison, and usually are. they can also be filled with acid, alchemist's fire, and other liquids. poison lasts 10 times longer in a pen, and explosives destroy it.

10 times longer than what? 10*? = ?, so that doesn't help. What is the ??

it can be used as a vial for acid, alchemist's fire, or explosives, so the pen is destroyed afterwards. when you use a pen, an opponent must make a fort save (DC=what you rolled to hit) or be stunned for 1 round.

No. No no no. No no no no no no no.

DC's do not scale like attack rolls. Attack rolls go up by about 1.5 to 2.0 per level, while DCs go up 0.5 to 1.0 per level.

they must also make a will save (DC=10) or loose their dex mod to the attack.

Huh? That is far too many saves per attack...

however, when you use a pen, if you want to do lethal damage, in addition to the normal penalties, you roll 1 on all damage dice (including sneak attack), unless using an explosive or acid. the attack is also considered a touch attack, and a ranged touch attack if thrown.

Why is the attack a touch attack? Pens can't ignore full plate...

either way, you add your dex modifier to damage.

?! Dex to damage is huge.

In order to enhance a pen with anything, you must pay five times the normal price to do so, acting as if the pen costs 20 gp.
poison: damage, 1 con, secondary: 1d6 con
*this weapon does non-leathal damage when piercing

Cost of poison isn't listed.

=============
Okay, any suggestions? it may not be the greatest, but quite a few rogues might use it. I would add it to the list of proficiencies on the rogue, bard, ninja, spellthief, etc.

Even if you fixed it, leave it as an exotic weapon...

[Fri]

This is kind of overpowered, a first level fighter could get Ex. Wep. Prof. :Pen and use this. Cool idea though.

That's.... that's AWESOME!

seriously. I once had a friend that want to use ex wep proficiency: frying pan.

But this is really amazing. Even more with DUAL WIELD.
Oh god. Thinking about a duel pen wielding fighter already give me all kind of idea.

[Shademan]

havnt you read discworld?
the late leader of Ankh-morpork was killed by a pen.

[Uncle Festy]

Spoiler

Show

havnt you read discworld?
the late leader of Ankh-morpork was killed by a pen.

Aaah! For the love of... deity of your choice, man! Put that in spoilers!

[Roderick_BR]

Spoiler

Show

havnt you read discworld?
the late leader of Ankh-morpork was killed by a pen.

But

Spoiler

Show

It was a big and sharpened enough pen.

[Shademan]

Aaah! For the love of... deity of your choice, man! Put that in spoilers!

oh, yeah... kinda forgot... but hey, it isnt a MAJOR part of any story. its one of them funny little side notes...