Gizmo help

[Mathias]

Before you spend too much time re-creating the d20/Pathfinder method for handling magic weapons and armor, think about whether that's the correct system to use for the magic items in your game.

Personally, if I had d20/Pathfinder to do-over, I'd use something much more like Shadowrun's weapon modification/ammo system than what was used for d20/Pathfinder.

[RavenX]

Originally Posted by Mathias

Before you spend too much time re-creating the d20/Pathfinder method for handling magic weapons and armor, think about whether that's the correct system to use for the magic items in your game.

Personally, if I had d20/Pathfinder to do-over, I'd use something much more like Shadowrun's weapon modification/ammo system than what was used for d20/Pathfinder.

If I were to change it at this point I'd have to scrap a good chunk of what I've already built. I do plan on adding the ammo functionality for ranged weapons because weapon ranges were based on the ammo used, but I plan on doing that later.

I'm just trying to get the data functional at this point.

[RavenX]

Mathias,

What are the differences between Shadowrun's method vs. Pathfinder's for handling magic gear?

Does Shadowrun have intelligent items that need to be dealt with like Pathfinder?

I was modeling my 2e data after Pathfinder because the systems are very similar in many ways. What pathfinder calls Archetypes, 2e called Character Kits. They are exactly the same thing in terms of how they work.

Intelligent magic items in 2e work the same as they do in the Pathfinder. They have the exact same things, just less ability scores (Intelligence only). They still have normal powers, a purpose, and dedicated powers. So I modeled it in a similar way because of that similarity.

[Mathias]

In Shadowrun, all weapons (except natural attacks/unarmed strike) are customizable.

If that were translated to Pathfinder, there wouldn't need to be a separate "-Custom Weapon-" item - if you want a masterwork longsword, buy a longsword, and then on its customization form, click the masterwork box. If it's intelligent, then use the intelligent item section on that form.

Remember, Pathfinder is very closely related to our very first game system - d20. That means that since then, we've come up with better ways to approach some things, but we can't go back into existing game systems to retrofit them to use the better systems without wrecking saved characters. But, if you're starting a new game system, I think it's best to use the best available approach, rather than the approach we thought of a long time ago, and wish we could replace.

[RavenX]

Ok, so you're saying just go ahead and make all weapons customizable?

If I am reading you correctly, you're also saying I only need a single table to display weapons and magic weapons as well.

[Mathias]

I'm not sure about a single table for all weapons - the massive list of specific weapons in Pathfinder is not something I would want to wade through while looking for a longsword for my 1st level character to purchase. But, if you can think of an organizational scheme that separates them while still keeping them in the same table, that might work.