Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Karish 04-15-07, 01:04 PM	Armbow The Armbow is a metal bracer, which is affixed to the left arm by a pair of leather straps and locked into place. The outer arm, however, contains a mechanism which unfurls into a light crossbow. Activating and deactivating this weapon is, for all intents and purposes, the same as the action of taking out or putting away a normal weapon. The Armbow is fired by the free arm releasing a switch at the rear base of the bracer. This makes it impossible to use the Armbow one-handed, like a normal light crossbow. The Armbow's string is drawn back by hand. Reloading counts as a move action which provokes an attack of opportunity. The Armbow counts as a masterwork weapon. Exotic Ranged Weapon (light) Cost: 335 gp. Weight: 3 lb. Damage: 1d8 Critical: 19-20/x2 Range: 80 ft. Type: Piercing. Armblade The Armblade is a metal bracer, which is affixed to the right arm by a pair of leather straps and locked into place. The outer arm, however, contains a mechanism which releases a long, dagger-like blade that extends almost a foot beyond the hand. Activating and deactivating this weapon is, for all intents and purposes, the same as the action of taking out or putting away a normal weapon. The Armblade allows the user's hand to be free to manipulate or hold objects while the blade is out, but all attack rolls and skill checks involving the use of the right hand are at a -2 penalty, due to the nature of the weapon. The Armblade counts as a masterwork weapon. Exotic Melee Weapon (light) Cost: 310 gp. Weight: 3 lb. Damage: 1d6 Critical: 19-20/x2 Range: Melee Type: Slashing or Piercing. Well, there you have them. I wanted to make a character who used both of them in combat, though not necessarily in tandem (as you can see, you can't use the Armbow and the Armblade at the same time unless you have >2 arms). Anyone who can give me advice on how to improve them or let me know if there is anything f*cked up with them, please do. (EDIT: The descriptions state "affixed to the <lef/right> arm. This is for my character only, and can be interchangeable.)
SirCaran 04-15-07, 01:17 PM	i personally think the armbow should have stats like the hand crossbow on the exotic list. i mean, this thing has to fold up, is it really going to be the size of a light crossbow? the blade seams ok to me. it should have a penalty when holding something with that hand (ex. nonproficiant wielder holding a potion and attacking would get -4 to attack roll). if proficiant should drop the -2 to attacking normally, so whan holding something you only get a -2 to attack. and possibly punching dagger stats
draconic_swine 04-15-07, 01:19 PM	They both look fine, since they are essentially a light crossbow and a short sword that have an integrated locking gauntlet. I'm assuming that the armbow still requires two hands to reload, and that you can't attack with the armblade and a weapon held in that hand at the same time. If either of those is possible, you'll be running into some trouble balance-wise, but other than that they're great.
Karish 04-15-07, 01:27 PM	They both look fine, since they are essentially a light crossbow and a short sword that have an integrated locking gauntlet. I'm assuming that the armbow still requires two hands to reload, and that you can't attack with the armblade and a weapon held in that hand at the same time. If either of those is possible, you'll be running into some trouble balance-wise, but other than that they're great. You pretty much hit the nail on the head. The crossbow requires two hands to fire or load, and is not outfitted to be a repeating weapon. The armblade can let you hold an object, but you can't really hold a weapon with it.
Karish 04-15-07, 01:33 PM	I just realized a potential problem if it isn't clarified. In the process of enchanting, could someone enchant a pair of armblades, an armblade and arbow, or pair of armbows, or one of these items and a regular bracer to be a pair of bracers of armor? And if so, would the wepon be able to be seperately enchanted as a weapon?
draconic_swine 04-15-07, 01:40 PM	I don't see a problem with also enhancing them as bracers of armour, as long as they are enhanced separates as bracers of armour and a weapon, just like a shield. To prevent odd situations, I'd probably rule that you can't mix and match items - you could enhance an armblade and a standard bracer, or a pair of armblades, or an armblade and armbow, but the two specific items you enhance have to be worn and enhanced as a pair.
Karish 04-15-07, 01:42 PM	Thanks DS. I was considering that, given it would be like pretty much any set of BoA. And then add the price for making them BoA and the magic weapon enchantments together for the full price of them both.
bludmarine 04-15-07, 06:39 PM	Something extremely similar to both items can be found In Dawnforge, published by Fantasy Flight Games. The exact stats elude me at the moment, but I'm pretty sure the armbow is more like a hand crossbow rather than a light one. As to the price, you could probably get away with charging around 20gp for each bracer rather than the exorbinant 300+.