Now that I've gone through all the Oriental Adventures gear, (and made an easy catch all fix for Dark Sun gear) we are tackling the PHB. While I ranted and raved about how superior so many items from Asian cultures were if you compared them to an equivalent European styled weapon, there are certainly things that the European craftsmen did better, like the halberd. This rework is not going to be a lot, in anyway, but the stuff after everyone will be interested in: armor upgrades and custom potions. Standard PHB (European style) items cost twice as much in Oniboros.
Universal rule change for all spear weapons: If you have a minimum strength score of 13, you may wield a spear with a light shield, spartan style, 15, you may wield any spear with a medium shield, 17, heavy shield, 19, tower shield.
Starting with weapons, (chart is a little bit down)
The simple chart is mostly ok, making darts weaker is the only change, if a shuriken is 1d3 a dart is not 1d4. Darts are now 1d2 weapons, and they may be poisoned.
The martial chart will get a few more tweaks, starting with the throwing axe and the light hammer. Both now deal x3 damage on a crit.
Moving onto the flail, an incredibly difficult to wield, yet very destructive, weapon, I'm now giving it a +2 bonus to both disarm and trip, and increasing the crit damage to x3. Beware though, while this item is better now statistically than the battle axe, the critical failures with a flail will be extra painful for you, like slamming yourself in the face with a swinging ball of spikes for x3 damage bad.
Warhammer, this weapon is fine, I'm just adding options for hammers with a different style head on them. You can have the sterotypical Thor style hammer to smash anyone to bits, or for double the base price, you can have 1 side of the hammer be a hammer, and the other side be a heavy pick style weapon, (which would deal 1 dice lower, piercing damage, and x4 crit) or a large axe head type. This deals identical damage to the hammer, even a x3 crit, but is slashing damage. The ultimate in zombie and skeleton slaying utility!
There is also now a two handed great hammer option, called the Maul, that is statistically identical to the great axe, just dealing bludgeoning damage. The base price for the maul is 25 gold, being slightly more expensive then a great axe. It also weighs 18 lbs, being a heftier weapon than the great axe as well. The warhammer versatility options apply for the Maul as well.
Moving onto two handed weapons....
The falchion is now 1d10 18-20x2 critical, increased from the 2d4.
Tridents now do x3 damage on a critical hit, and can now attempt disarm checks, just like the ranseur. (With a +2 bonus) This weapon may still be thrown, unlike the polearm.
Polearm rework:
Like I hinted at above with the halberd, the polearm is something that European cultures actually did better than Asian cultures. (Though the Chinese had some really awesome unique polearms.) The reasoning for this was two fold, first, peasant militias would need to make their own weaponry a lot of the time, so using farm tools on long wooden poles became a common practice. The most powerful force in Europe at the time was the heavy horse Calvary, and weapons like pikes and spears were the only weapon that gave you range against a horseman. These weapons were also more prevalent because horses were more prevalent in European culture. Not that horses didn't exist in Asian cultures, they did, the Mongolians had the best horse archers arguably on the planet during the time of Ghengis Khan, just the emphasis on the mounted heavily armored warrior was much less in those cultures.
This moves me on to the actual weapons...
Guisarme, is a primitive polearm that is defined by a hook used to dismount mounted opponents. There are many varieties of Guisarme, dependent on culture and historical time frame, but as far as polearms go, this one is of the more primitive variety. This weapon can make an attack to dismount an opponent, which is an opposed grapple check. (Same as a trip attempt) The polearm grants a +2 bonus on that check against mounted opponents. This weapon may now also set vs. charge as long as it has an actual spear tip. (Several varieties do not)
Simplified: Can set vs. charge if it has a spear tip.
Moving onto the ranseur, this type of weapon is in essence a sai on a stick. This weapon may be used to disarm with the tri-pronged edge, gaining a +2 bonus on disarm checks. The only change I'm making is that this weapon, since it is primarily a thrusting weapon, may be used one handed like a spear if you meet the requirements. *Update* I'm increasing the damage on the ranseur slightly, (now 2d4+1) just to make it different from the trident, which is a more versatile weapon.
Simplified: Subtype is now polearm/spear, damage increases to 2d4+1.
Which brings me to the Halberd, the arguably best, most advanced polearm. This weapon has an axe head, a spear head, and a dismounting hook/pick end all in one. This was the actual culmination of all the various peasant style polearms with some actual applied science, making an incredibly formidable reach weapon, that was effective against mounted opponents, and unlike the majority of other polearms, has decent capability in the melee. The weapon may be slashed, thrust, spun around to parry blows, and could work moderately well by the trained soldier in close combat. (Move the grip up, and bring your thrusts closer into your body, then thrust out, establish control of the range.)
I'm giving this weapon quite frankly ludicrous abilities. First, I'm keeping the +2 bonus to trip attempts, and the setting vs charge, but I'm giving it another ability, it may attack in the melee, only suffering a -2 penalty while doing so. (All other polearms may not attack in close) The weapon may also make a bull rush attempt, (provoking an attack of op unless the warrior has the improved bull rush feat) to establish your more controlled 10 foot attack range. The halberd gains a +2 bonus on this roll. The hook end may also be used to make disarm checks with a +2 bonus. Should any of these attempts fail, you may drop the polearm to avoid the counter attempt. The halberd now deals slightly increased damage as well, doing 1d10+1 base. (thus a MW halberd has +1 to hit and damage, a +1 halberd has +2 to damage and +1 to hit.)
Simplified: +2 bonus to trip, disarm, and bull rush attempts. May attempt attacks in the melee at -2, and 1d10+1 damage base.
There are an enormous variety of polearms out there, some of which have made appearances in past editions but were omitted in 3.5, like the mancatcher. Many of these are in other books, like the 3.5 arms and equipment book. While I won't rework all of them, (except maybe on the fly if needed) they are available in Artheria.
Thus concludes the PHB work over, I'm keeping all the armor the same, because I'm adding an awesome upgrade system which I will be moving on to next.
As unique as weapons have been through out history, armor has also had a very unique evolution and variety. I'm making a change to how MW armor works, the base cost increase is now +300, just like weapons, but the effects are better. The armor check penalty change stays at -1, but the armors max dex bonus increases by 1.
There are now several upgrading options to purchase.
Armor hardening: this may be performed on any armor. This is applying hardening lacquers, paints with ground up adamantine, or just thicker materials onto the base armor. While this does increase the toughness on armors, it comes by sacrificing mobility. Each rank grants +1 to AC. The first rank of this subtracts -1 to the max dex, and then an additional -1 for every 2 ranks beyond that. Armor check penalty increases as well by 1. (1,3,5 etc.) Light armors may have a max of 3 ranks of hardening, medium armors 5, and heavy armors 6. The max dex bonus of an armor may not go below -1. (So stiff... can't move...)
For light armor, the cost per point is typically 200, +100 per additional point increase. (Example, my studded leather costs 200 gold to harden the first time, 300 gold the 2nd, and 400 gold the final time, increasing the armors stats to +6 AC with only a +3 maximum dexterity bonus, and it still counts as light armor. (Evasion go!) This is a non-magical upgrade, and may stack with any magical bonus. If the above studded leather was a +5 piece of armor, it would have +11 AC with a +4 maximum dex bonus. (All magical items are masterwork, which gives it the increased dexterity bonus)
For medium armor, it works the same way, just the base is 300 +100 per point increase.
Heavy armor gets more expensive, starting at 350, and increasing at 150 per point.
And while you may now harden armor, you can also augment the maneuverability of any armor. These abilities may be stacked, and also apply to all armors. Each rank purchased will add +1 to the max dex bonus, and -1 from armor check penalty. Light armor may have this applied up to 3 times, medium armor 4, and heavy 5. The upgrades themselves start out as things like custom fitting each piece of the armor to the person, tailor making it for the individual, then move on to scientifically analyzing weight distribution, and making adjustments to materials and styles accordingly. The cost is identical to the hardening above. If the same piece of studded leather armor had 3 ranks of mobility, it would have +11 AC with +7 maximum dex, or +18 maximum AC potential, while still evading fireballs and dragon breath.
These upgrades will greatly enhance armor, at the same time making it a genuine money tank. (Also, I tend to be stingy with monetary rewards... I tend to give much more items and ability style rewards then just money.) A suit of full plate mail (1500 gold) if you wanted a maxed out suit of masterwork full plate with 6 ranks of hardening and 5 ranks of mobility would cost you 4050 gold base, (+14 AC, max dex +4, +18 AC non magical) more than doubling the price. Now you want to enchant it? Ok, now go find a wizard to spend even more money on. (Of course, having a +5 full plate like that would have potentially +23 AC...)
All these upgrades may be performed on armor made of exceptional material, like adamantine or mithril, just the cost increases drastically, at least x10 for mithril, and x20 for adamantine.
The final custom item I'm adding in with this post are potions that permanently increase stats. These are very expensive, and act like the various "Manual of (insert stat here)" items. Unlike those items though, there are potential side effects.
The person may drink a number of potions equal to their constitution mod +2 before having to make fortitude saves every time they drink another. The save is base 15, +1 for each potion drank for the first roll. If that roll succeeds, every time a player drinks another, the save increases by +4. Should this save fail at any time, the player permanently loses ALL stat points gained through this way, plus an additional 50% permanent debuff. Example, a warrior with 18 con has drank 6 potions, all in strength for this example, and he decides to drink a 7th. The base save is a fortitude save DC 22. (15+7) He succeeds, and goes about his adventures. After slaying a dragon, he takes his share back to the alchemist for an 8th potion, which he intends to place in strength. This time, the fortitude save is 26. He fails this one, and not only loses all 7 points that he previously gained, and an additional 4 more points in strength. (This will always round AGAINST the player in the case of odd numbers, like the 7 in this instance.) Should the same warrior have mixed it up, say adding 4 to strength and 4 to dexterity, (attempting the 4th with this purchase) and failed, he would lose all his points he gained though potions, and an additional 2 to each of those stats. Increasing the con mod does increase the amount of potions one can drink before making the save, but if the player has already had to make a save, and then increases his con mod though this or other magical means, the player must continue to make saves.
Moving onto the potions themselves, everyone has a DC 45 to brew, and requires some unique ingredients, which powerful alchemist will often pay good money for. The base price for all these potions is 25,000 gold, though if there isn't a powerful alchemist that can brew them, the price will double or triple depending on the location on Artheria.
Titan's Blood Potion: +1 strength, made from the distilled blood of giants, dwarves, and titans.
Elixir of Air Elemental Grace: +1 dexterity, made from the powdered essence of an elder air elemental, and the blood of a noble djinn.
Potion of Troll's Toughness: +1 constitution, despite the name, trolls blood is not used in this, dragon's blood and ground girallion teeth are the primary ingredients.
Pickled Mindflayer Essence: +1 intelligence, this potion requires slime from an aboleth, and the grey matter of a mindflayer, it is topped with troll's blood as a stabilizing agent.
Angel's Tears Potion: +1 wisdom, and has no celestial tears. It uses ground up feathers from most greater celestial creatures. (Astral Deva, Solar, etc.)
Potion of Nymph's Grace: +1 Charisma, this potion requires the blood of an elf, powder from a pixies wings, and a tear or a lock of hair from a nymph or dryad.
Thus concludes some upgrades to standard equipment. Note that I am pretty stingy with gold, that isn't how I typically reward players, I pretty much ignore the suggestions in the various monster manuals and DMG. I only use the random treasure charts when I absolutely have too.
And with that, I'm off.
“If you wish to control others you must first control yourself”
―
Miyamoto Musashi,
A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy
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