Introduction
Sufficiently Swooshy Sticks is a supplement for Pathfinder 1e written by yours truly. It is designed to give GMs the ability to easily create unique melee weapons. Why would you want to do that? In real life, there are thousands (if not tens of thousands) of unique sword designs alone. The standard D&D concept of a longsword makes it seem like all longswords were the same. This is hardly true. Longsword is actually a family of swords.
Each culture in real life has its own blades, so why shouldn't your cultures have their own too? In fact, why shouldn't your cultures have a whole host of unique weapons? What would the Azteks be without their obsidian-studded clubs? What about the plethora of Indian weapons like urumi and chakrams? The sheer girth of the human armory in real life makes all fantasy weapons pale in comparison.
What makes a dwarven weapon dwarven? What makes the elven fullblade elven? These questions cannot be answered in a meaningful way. This guide aims to solve that problem while addressing another. The TTRPG fan's need to have unique and individual stats for every, single, last, melee weapon, from each, and, every, era, of, history.
That dream is certainly not possible. A guide with instructions to create weapons from components is.
The stats presented here are the result of my personal knowledge as a HEMA practitioner, hundreds of tests by experimental archaeologists, dozens of studies by historians, and of course, the Great History Oracle, Lindybeige. While everyone has their favorite weapons of history, this book does its best to be as true to life as possible. Any perceived insult to any culture, marshal traditions, or real-life ascetic choice is strictly unintentional.
Melee Weapon Rules
The core rules for Pathfinder in terms of how one uses their melee weapon are solid enough for the purposes of abstracting martial arts into an easily playable game. While there is some call for more complexity in martial classes' actions and capabilities, such things are beyond the purview of this guide. This guide is about improving the sticks marshal classes are going about and smacking things with.
These improvements are accomplished in two primary ways:
- Adding real-life-like variety to the weapon pool.
- Using that variety to make the weapon more than a damage die and critical threshold.
- Ensuring the weapon and its user are two halves of a whole.
Point one is accomplished by ensuring each weapon is built from a variety of parts, a sort of à la carte of death-dealing equipment. Part two is accomplished by ensuring those parts do what they were designed to do via appropriate stats and special features. Part three is accomplished by a small tweak to how Pathfinder calculates weapon damage.
In Pathfinder, weapon damage is calculated in the traditional 3.5 D&D methods. Namely, weapons just kind of have damage ratings that were assigned to them (Probably just whatever some guy thought sounded right based on a random book he read once. Remember, D&D is pre-Internet.), and that's how much damage the weapons do. A dagger is 1d4.
Of course, the user does factor in. The user adds (or subtracts) a bit of damage to the weapon depending on their ability scores. There's also attacking itself that comes into play. A sword that can do 300d9000 damage is useless if you have a -20 to your strength.
What. Abject. Nonsense.
Yes, in real life, some weapons will cut deeper, stab through more flesh, or smash bones a bit harder. But all of them will get the job they were designed to do done. Well, assuming the user is competent and knows what to do with their weapon of choice.
Take yourself out of the d20 world for a moment. If you were given a sword and told to cut a thin branch from a tree in one swing, could you? You probably think you can. Maybe you do. But can you do it consistently? Every time? Could you cut every branch from that tree if asked?
If you're being honest with yourself (and don't happen to be a swordsman), you'd probably admit that you'd likely need a chop or three per branch. You also know that sword would grow heavier and heavier, and your arm would start to burn after a while too. Clearly, that's why strength is the stat used for attacking in Pathfinder. Right?
Real-life swordsmen who can cut those rolled-up mats with extreme precision must be so incredibly strong.
No. That's not how this works.
Edge alignment is the term used for how well the edge of a bladed weapon is aligned with the direction of travel of the blade itself. If you get the edge alignment right, the weapon will cut easily, effishently, and does the work rather than your arm.
A sword is just a lever with a sharp wedge on it. We all know how levers work. You put force on one end, and the lever pivots around a fulcrum and adds power to the opposite end. The type of lever a sword depends on where its center of balance is, sure, but they are all still levers.
If you want a sword to work well, you're not trying to swing it as hard as you can. You're trying to get every ounce of mechanical advantage out of it you can.
Obviously, a stronger person can get more power out of a lever than a weaker person. Thus, naturally, a stronger person with a sword can cut deeper than a weaker one. However, that's not always the result you'll get if you give a bunch of bookworms and strongmen swords and ask them to cut things. A strongman whipping his blade into a wooden beam at a bad angle is still going to glance off, while a bookworm who gets their edge alignment right is going to bite deep into that wood.
You've probably experienced this yourself, just in your kitchen. Think about the last time you chopped vegetables. It's much easier to cut them when you're in full control over your knife and pushing it straight down against the cutting board, right? Remember that time you slipped a little, and your knife glanced off that carrot and knicked you? That's what this is. That scales up to all blades.
Swords, and all other cutting weapons, are all about leverage, technique, and efficiency. This is because if you just power your way through every strike you make, putting all your strength into the attacks, you're going to get tired. Real tired. Real fast.
A tired swordfighter is a dead swordfighter. So yes, if you hit your opponent in the neck quickly with all your might, you just might decapitate them... But if you miss, well, how much of your stamina did you deplete? How much endurance do you have? What if you didn't mess up, but they're faster than you thought and parry your blow?
Only amateur swordsmen swing as hard as they can for every blow. Real swordplay, even with greatswords, is about finesse, consistency, and mechanical advantage.
By now, you've probably come to realize I am advocating for using dexterity for attacks with swords. You may even agree with me. However, I'm not arguing for dexterity for attack for swords. I'm arguing for dexterity as the attack stat for all melee weapons.
Yes, all. Everything I just said applies equally to all other melee weapons.
Clubs are literally just levers, and you better believe that a poor swing can make them bounce right off someone, just like a sword. Spears? Sure it takes some strength to jam a spear into someone, but you can only do that once you've lined up your little thrusting point with their body and also gotten it in past their defense. Axes? Everything about swords applies to axes but even more so since they are all end heavy and harder to control.
All melee weapons rely on your skill and dexterity to strike their target and ensure that the strike is effective. All of them. Even your fists.
The fix for Pathfinder is very simple.
Rule: Your attack bonus with a melee weapon is Base attack bonus + Dexterity modifier + size modifier.
This is a much better representation of reality, but it's only half of the fix. Strength is still important to weapons. YOu do need to be able to lift it. You also need to be able to easily manipulate it. This is where your strength comes in. Fortunately, this part of the fix is also simple.
Rule: All weapons have a Strength Requirement. Attempting to use a weapon with a higher strength requirement than your strength score cuts your attack rolls and damage rolls in half.
You may think half is a bit harsh. If you do, I advise you to find a nice broom handle and swing it about. Light, whippy, and easy to do with as you please, yes? Now duct tape a bunch of those large lead fishing weights all down the length of the broom handle. Can you still move it exactly as you please? Is it taking a lot more effort?
Sure, we could be more nuanced about the penalty, but dividing by two is fast and easy to do while also making the penalty something players will absolutely want to avoid. A 20% reduction might be something you can overcome with a particularly meta build, but even the most munchkiny of PCs will not want to cut their DPS in half.
On the more positive side, this may give your players a reason to use those ability score-increasing rules in the downtime actions. A few months of working out can let your fighter use that zwihander effectively. Not to mention the steep penalty makes strength-boosting items more than a damage boost. It opens up more of the armory.
We've now reached a ruleset where your strength determines what you can wield effectively, and your dexterity determines how well you can put that weapon on target. We're not done yet though.
It is true that assuming good technique and identical swords the stronger of two people will cut deeper into the same target. The thing about strength and melee weapons is that yes, strength matters a good deal in terms of how much damage they do when you do get that solid hit in.It's also true that the weapon itself matters a lot for how much damage it can do to a target with one hit. That said, its the user that matters most in this equation, not the weapon.
Fortunately, this is also simple to model in d20 systems. We simply take the damage die-off of the weapon and put it on the user instead. The weapon itself factors in by determining how many dice are rolled and by adding static damage numbers.
With this system, a big strong orc can lop off a peasant's hand with a kitchen knife because they're a big strong orc, rather than that knife having to be magical for the game rules and story beats to align. More importantly, players will stop asking "How much damage does it do?" and start asking "How much damage will I do with it?" thereby increasing player investment in their character.
The damage die is pinned to a character's strength score based on Table: Strength-Based Damage. Due to the number of entries required for this table and the lack of a d14 in a standard d20 die set, there is an entry marked d1. Obviously, no such die exists, but the table was confusing when it was simply a 1 or +1. You may ask why not have a d2 be the lowest and do something like 2d6+2. Any time you roll multiple dice you loose the flat (aka fair) damage roll and get a bell curve, which means you'll roll average damage more often than not, and you'll also get some insanely high damage rolls.
There's some justification for this in that very strong people probably wouldn't be dealing low damage often, but there are other concerns involving the underlying math on top of this. However, the opposite makes just as much sense without having the dice fairness problems.
Given that a ten in an attribute means "average" and every +/- two points raises or lowers an individual by one category, we can begin to make some assumptions about what these mean in context of the Pathfinder world. Let's work from the fairly solidly stated idea that 10-11 is "strong as most people". In real life, average strength is judged by employers with the question "Can you lift 50 pounds without difficulty?" In Pathfinder, a strength of 10 treats 50 pounds as a medium load. Your DEX is capped at +3 while carrying it, your skills takea -3 penalty (IE you're a bit worse at climbing ladders, moving across a wet for without slipping, and so on) and you're slowed by 33%, but you can still run if you gotta.
In human terms, 50 pounds will burden the average person a little but not much, and they most certainly can lift it and move it around without much difficulty. This seems like normal human strength. When we look at the encumbered for people with a STR of 9 we see they can still manage that 50 pounds. Same with a STR of 8. However, starting with a STR of 7, that 50 pounds becomes a heavy load.
In Pathfinder, a heavy load caps your dexterity at +1, puts a -6 penalty to all skill checks (IE greatly reduces your ability to balance, safely cross difficult or hazardous terrain, swim, climb a ladder, etc.), and you're still slowed by 33%. In context of Pathfinder's acrobatics skill, a -6 is 3x the penalty for crossing a wet floor, and 1 greater than crossing a slick patch of ice.
50 pounds is not all that much. That's a large bag of dog food, a medium sized dog, a sack of potatoes, six gallons of water, or your average 7 year-old human child. If someone's movement is as hampered by picking up their dog or kid as they would be by crossing a patch of slick ice, that's not just being weaker than most people. That's a disability.
It stands to reason that someone who is that weak wouldn't be very good with melee weapons at all, and almost entirely reliant on the tool itself to deal damage rather than themselves. Thus, with a strength of 7 or less, a character deals flat, static damage, based on the number of dice the weapon they are using would inflict. It makes sense story wise and keeps damage rolls flat and fair.
Addressing Issues With This System
Making these changes has caused a few imbalances. Let's address them now.
Dexterity / Strength Imbalance
The elephant in the room with using Dexterity for attack is that dexterity already does quite a lot. Officialy, Dexterity is responsible for:
You apply your character’s Dexterity modifier to:
- Ranged attack rolls, including those for attacks made with bows, crossbows, throwing axes, and many ranged spell attacks like scorching ray or searing light.
- Armor Class (AC), provided that the character can react to the attack.
- Reflex saving throws, for avoiding fireballs and other attacks that you can escape by moving quickly.
- Acrobatics, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Fly, Ride, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth checks.
For reference, in base Pathfinder, Strength is responsible for:
You apply your character’s Strength modifier to:
- Melee attack rolls.
- Damage rolls when using a melee weapon or a thrown weapon, including a sling. (Exceptions: Off-hand attacks receive only half the character’s Strength bonus, while two-handed attacks receive 1–1/2 times the Strength bonus. A Strength penalty, but not a bonus, applies to attacks made with a bow that is not a composite bow.)
- Climb and Swim checks.
- Strength checks (for breaking down doors and the like).
We've just added melee attack rolls to this list, removing it from the strength list. This has nerfed the strength stat and buffed Dex. To make things balanced again, we need to make some further adjustments. These adjustments are included with this guide. All weapons made with this system will have a strength requirement to use them effectively. This buffs the damage rolls aspect of strength by ensuring that more strength means more damage not only from what dice you get to roll, but allows you to either roll more damage dice too, or use weapons with multiple useful features, or greater reach.
Dexterity has one other major function which the official Pathfinder rules don't mention when explaining what the ability scores do. Dexterity is the stat which determines who acts first in combat. To quote the combat rules:
At the start of a battle, each combatant makes an initiative check. An initiative check is a Dexterity check. Each character applies his or her Dexterity modifier to the roll, as well as other modifiers from feats, spells, and other effects.
This is the aspect of Dexterity we will nerf, while giving the lost importance from it to strength (and thus restoring balance). Weapons have mass. Bigger weapons have more mass. More mass means more inertia, more inertia means its harder to start/stop and change direction. While this is largely modeled with Strength Requirements for weapons based on their weight, it's finished by having a weapon's weight impose a penalty to initiative rolls.
The initiative system is Pathfinder's way of simulating how reflexes and general swiftness factor into what happens in a fight. A combat round is six seconds long, and while we're taking turns rolling dice, everything that happens from those rolls is meant to be happening in real time for the characters during that six second span. Given this context, it taking Jarrd a fraction of a second longer to bring his mace and chain to bear on Leia due to its bulk and weight than it takes Leia to flick her much lighter dagger to bear on Jarrd should matter and be a factor. After all, the more agile weapon striking first could mean Leia doesn't get her last 4 hit points smashed in along with her skull because despite the two having equal strength, Jarrd is magically able to make a 12 pound bulky weapon move faster than a dagger weighing less than a pound (unless of course his weapon is enchanted to be fast. Then it makes prefect sense).
Obviously weapon weight shouldn't be the soul factor. Reflexes matter too. General swiftness is very important in combat. But the weapons mass also matters. A slight initiative penalty on heavy weapons makes sense, and helps balance the books. Between this direct transfer of power from dex to str, and the boost to str's power in damage rolls, the value of both stats is largely equal.
Multi-Attribute Dependency
One thing many PCs hate is Multi-Attribute Dependency, or MAD for short. FOr those who do not know what MAD is, here is a wonderful quote by GreySage from RPG.StackExchange on the topic:
Multiple Ability (score) Dependent means that a class needs high numbers in multiple different ability scores to function well. The archetypal MAD class (in my mind) is the Monk from Pathfinder. ... Monks need 4 (or 5) out of 6 ability scores to be high. Additionally, 3 of those are physical ability scores, and as such share magic item slots for items that enhance them (Str, Dex, and Con are enhanced by belts). Getting 1 or 2 ability scores high isn't too hard, but 4 is.
Single Ability (score) Dependent means that a class only needs a single ability score to be high to function well. Several classes fall into this category, including most pure casters, ranged fighters, and rogues (depending on archetype). ... There is pretty much nothing a Wizard will want to do that isn't benefited by Int, or that is benefited by other ability scores. They don't even need a high Con since they won't be on the front-line and probably won't be hit.
Because they only need 1 ability score to be high, Wizards can devote more resources into pumping that one score until it is as high as can be, and then direct those resources into other useful items without needing to stretch to cover lots of different scores. Additionally, getting a higher Con is easy since Con boosting items use the Belt slot, while Int boosting items use the Head slot, meaning there is no opportunity cost to increasing both.
Basically SAD classes are much easier to make and to play effectively. MAD classes need more resources to achieve similar levels of effectiveness, and may require more real-life time dedicated to finding obscure bonuses and builds to make up for their shortcomings. Additionally MAD classes can find it hard to stay relevant at higher levels as the effective tax on their upgrades takes its toll, especially in a party with SAD classes.
That doesn't mean that SAD classes are inherently better than MAD classes, or that MAD classes can't be effective or fun. Obviously it depends on what system you are playing (Pathfinder is much more punishing than DnD5e, for example), but DnD is a game, and you can have lots of fun with any class. Unless you are playing a high level, optimization heavy, all combat campaign don't feel like you need to shy away from a MAD class, although if you are new to the system it will obviously be easier to go for a SAD class.
Most players will look at moving attack rolls to dex and see an increase in melee based characters playing marshal classes MAD from 2 to 3. After all, melee fighters need to have a high constitution because they are likely to be hit in combat more. They also need high strength to have good attack and damage. This makes playing a melee character necessarily require some MAD, but only a MAD of 2. This is an understandable and logical complaint, but its rooted in some faulty logic.
Simply put, if your character can take a lot of hits and hit hard, but cannot dodge the enemy wizard's fireball, they will be loosing a lot of HP. Even worse, if that character can't not just dodge, but also is one of the last to act in combat, they will be taking many fireballs, arrows, and stabbings before their turn comes about. It is entirely possible to die before your first turn in a larger combat encounter simply due to the action economy and being unable to either reduce the enemy teams actions via killing one or two of them, or healing to mitigate damage taken by drinking a potion, moving for cover, and so on.
Melee characters need good physical stats across the board to be fully effective in the base game. In other words, all melee marshal characters are already MAD 3. All we have done is shift what those same three stats do, and drawn attention to the overlooked third MAD attribute which most people overlook.
Marshal classes built for melee combat are a balancing act between getting their hits in, dealing damage, surviving being hit, and ensuring they can act swiftly to overcome opponents with high damage (or save or suck / save or die spells). Not understanding the importance of dex in these builds is part of why many people find it hard to make an effective melee character. After all, a suit of fullplate only mitigates so much damage and actively hampers your ability to mitigate damage from AOEs by capping your Dex to a relatively low value.
I trust you understand that Dex for Attack has not affected MAD at all in regards to adding another attribute to focus on for melee characters. Of course, it does change the meta in other ways, but that's sort of the point of using an alternate rule system to begin with. Changing things up for fun or novelty. You wouldn't be here if you were perfectly happy using the basic PF rules always and forever.
Weapon Damage Changes
Under this system, some weapons will do less damage than their vanilla counterparts. Others will do more. Lets take the humble longsword, and assume a level 5 fighter with 15 strength and 16 dex for this comparison. In base Pathfinder a longsword deals 1d8 damage and crits on 19-20 with a x2 multiplier. It also exclusively deals slashing damage, meaning a longsword cannot overcome something's DR if it requires piercing or bludgeoning damage. Our fighter friend is attacking with his longsword with a +7, deals 3-10 slashing damage on a normal hit and 6-20 damage on a critical hit, which he gets 10% of the time.
With this system, a longsword consists of a long blade, a short handle, and a crossguard (as that is the minimum required components to create the weapon.). It deals 1dX+4 piercing/slashing damage, crits on 19-20 and has a critical damage multiplier of x2. Our fighter friend is attacking with a +8, deals 5-10 piercing/slashing damage on a normal hit, and 10-20 on a critical hit which he receives 10% of the time. Additionally, he has several other nice bonuses form his weapon. The long blade has the special property Half-Swording which allows the weapon to be used in a grapple if attached to a short or medium handle (This is a historical technique). His crossguard also grants him a +1 dodge bonus against other melee weapons when in combat, because when your hands are protected, you can defend yourself in melee with less risk.
You can see in this case, the longsword does more damage initially. However, the keen of mind among you will have noted that since your str mod is increasing a damage dice, its a nerf of sorts. In normal Pathfinder, every 2 points placed in an attribute gains the user +1 to that attribute's modifier. For strength, that is a guaranteed +1 to damage, and it scales forever. With this system, +2 to an ability score equates to +2 potential damage, and there is seemingly no benefit to melee damage for having strength beyond 20.
This change was intentional. This system increases minimum damages in exchange for maximum damages from stats going from a guaranteed +1 to a possible +2 depending on the dice's mood. Obtaining more damage for a weapon in this system comes from buying better weapon parts via weapon utilities, with most weapons offering interesting tactical features to broaden the warrior's toolbox. It also makes that +1 enchantment much more important and significant, which is something yours truly believes needs to be done. It also means PCs don't loose as much damage capacity if they change weapons. In base Pathfinder there's no way a claymore wielding fighter will use their dagger, even though that claymore can't be used inside the space he's standing in due to the low ceiling by the base rules of the game. Going from 4-14 damage to 4-8 damage is a problem. Going from 4-14 to 4-11 isn't that big a deal.
Of course, it is a problem that there's no point to a a strength of 23 for damage. Unfortunately, there simply isn't sufficient dice to keep adding +2 damage range per 2 ability score points. But this dosn't have to be a problem. If a GM wishes to cap damage because there's not much point in being able to kill an additional peasant in one swing of a dagger (given they average 6 hp a d12 dagger can theoretically kill two normal people at once), and decide "this is enough". That's their right at their table.
However, there is an easy solution. After 20 strength, simply begin adding static damage as per normal. After all, superhuman strength changes a lot about hand to hand combat.
With these simple changes to the base Pathfinder rule set explained, our characters now the deciding factor in how well their weapons work, and hopefully a greater understanding of how melee weapons actually work, we can progress to the next step. Weapon design.
Building Melee Weapons
Melee weapons are composed of two primary components, a striking surface and a handle. Many melee weapons have other features, such as defensive and utility parts. Plenty have more than one striking face.
To build a weapon, read through the following sections and pick the components you wish to have for your weapon. Keep track of the GP price of each component and their weight as a running total. Once all components are chosen, these totals will be used in determining the final price.
- Weapons created with this system require at least one striking face and one handle to be complete.
- A weapon may have multiple striking faces (as many as desired), and can have striking faces from multiple categories, or several of just one kind. Weapons with more than one striking face use the stats of an individual face when making an attack with that face (IE; if face A has a 3x crit but face B has a 2x crit, and a critical hit occurs when using face B, the weapon deals double damage, not triple).
- A weapon may have as many defensive features as desired. Only the highest rated defensive feature applies, unless specifically stated in the description.
- A weapon have as many gimmicks and utility features as desired. These can only apply to the parts of the weapon they are compatable with (IE if a weapon has a serrated blade on one side and a hammer on the other, strikes with the hammer do not inflict bleeding).
- The weight and price of all weapon components are added together to determine its final cost and weight. (If allowing players to create their own weapons with these rules, GMs should remember that a player's weapon idea could be too difficult for the local blacksmith to create, and that more complexity isn't just more money but also more time.).
Once a weapon is completed, it can be given a single Manufacturing Trait to further modify it (often reducing it in price and quality).
Cutting Weapons
Cutting weapons are all weapons designed to cut, chop, and pierce. This includes all swords, knifes, axes, and similar weapons. Long-bladed spears and other polearms can also be made using these parts.
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Hand Blade | 1dX-2 (Minimum 1) | x4 | P/S | 1 gp | 0.5 | |
Description | A very short blade which can fit within a human hand. Typically found on a knife. | |||||
Special | Flurry: +1 attack at lowest BAB when making a full attack, if attached to a hand handle. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Short Blade | 1dX | 19-20 x2 | P/S | 15 silver | 1 | |
Description | A very short blade no longer than a human arm. Typically found on daggers. | |||||
Special | Bood letting: +1d4 bleed on a natural 20. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Sword Blade | 1dX+2 | x2 | P/S | 15 silver | 1 | |
Description | A blade roughly the length of a human arm. Typically found on short swords. | |||||
Special | ||||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Long Blade | 1dX+4 | 19-20 x2 | P/S | 15 silver | 2 | |
Description | A blade roughly half the height of a human. Typically found on longswords. | |||||
Special | Half-Swording: Can be used in a grapple if attached to a short or medium handle. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Great Blade | 2dX | x3 | P/S | 20 gp | 4 | |
Description | A blade roughly half the height of its user, minus their head. | |||||
Special | Reach: This blade grants +1 reach to the final weapon. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Chopping Blade | 1dX+4 | x2 | S | 20 gp | 5 | |
Description | A thick, usually short, blade commonly found on scimitars, dao, axes, and meat cleavers. | |||||
Special | Axe, Man: Crits on 19-20 at x3 if mounted to any pole handle. | |||||
Cutting Weapon Utilities
Curved Blade: Curved blades cut better, but stab worse. +2 slashing damage, -2 piercing damage. Multiply the final weapon cost by 1.25.
Thrusting Blade: A long narrow blade optimized for stabbing, useful for piercing armor. Weapon only deals piercing damage, but ignores 2 points of armor. Incompatible with Curved Blade. Multiply the final weapon cost by 1.5.
Serrated Blade: Serrations can help cut deeper by tearing through fiber. +1d4 bleed, but -2 regular damage. Also every smith you ask to sharpen the blade hates you and charges 2-3x more. Multiply cost by 2.
Blade Catch: A spikey bit on the blade can help catch an opponent's blade while parrying. +1 to disarm attempts. +5 gp.
Swordbreaker: A series of blade catches can transform a weapon into a potent defensive tool. Adds weapon's damage dice to AC as a deflection modifier, but only against edged weapons. Also imposes a -4 penalty to piercing damage (minimum 1). Multiply cost by 2.
Fuller: Specialized blade geometry can decrease weight while maintaining or even improving strength. Reduce weapon weight by 20%, multiply cost by 2.5.
Hollow Ground Edge: A very thin and precise edge makes for an excellent cut. +2 damage, but requires special training and equipment to sharpen. Sharpening without that training or equipment destroys the edge and removes the bonus. Multiply cost by 2.
Double Edged:Putting another edge on a blade enables certain tricks and maneuvers like the backstroke cut. Grants an extra attack at minimum BaB during full attacks, but using the attack reduces your AC by 2 for the next round. Multiply weapon cost by 2.Broad Blade: A wide blade adds mass, and F=MA. Adds blunt damage to the weapon, but multiply weight by 2. Multiply cost by 2.
Stabbing Weapons
Stabbing weapons are all weapons designed to pierce. This includes all spears, lances, javelins, war picks, knitting needles, and any other spiky thing which can pierce but not cut or chop.
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Spike | 1dX | x4 | P | 1 gp | 1 | |
Description | A simple rounded cone designed to focus power to a very small area. | |||||
Special | Impale: A critical hit made during a charge attack stuns the target for 1 round. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Knife-like Spike | 1dX+2 | 19-20 x2 | P | 3 gp | 1 | |
Description | A flattened cone, similar in shape to a knife, designed to focus power to a very small area and penetrate easily. | |||||
Special | Deep Impale: A critical hit made during a charge attack causes 1d8 bleed. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Trocar | 2dX | x2 | P | 5 gp | 2 | |
Description | A triangular, often twisted, conical-blade-like structure designed to pierce and leave wounds that cannot be treated. | |||||
Special | War Crime: Deals 1d8 bleeding on a critical hit, and 1d4 bleed on all other hits. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Leaf Blade | 1dX+4 | 19-20 x2 | P | 10 gp | 2 | |
Description | A flat, wide, leaf-shaped blade that’s not suited for cutting, but meant to create a wide wound channel when piercing. | |||||
Special | Big ‘ol Hole: Critical hits on targets with less than 25% HP subject them to a save vs death. Fort vs damage dealt. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Hooked Spike | 1dX+4 | x3 | P | 5 gp | 3 | |
Description | A spike that’s bent slightly to one side to better align the spike with the circular motion of a swing. | |||||
Special | Let ‘em Trip: +5 on trip attempts if mounted to any pole handle. | |||||
Stabbing Weapon Utilities
Barbs: What's better than stabbing on the way in? Why stabbing again on the way out, of course! -2 damage, but adds 1d4 bleed damage. Multiply the final weapon cost by 2.
Hardened Tip: A small bit of extra hard material is used to form the very end of the weapon, useful for piercing armor. Ignores 2 points of armor. Multiply the weapon cost by 1.5.
Socketed: A tube connecting handle and pokey-bit improves many things. Weapon is immune to sunder attempts from non-magical weapons when being whielded. Multiply cost by 3 (Yes, they are that hard to forge.).
Skeletonized: A skilled designer can put holes in something to lighten it without weakening it. Reduce weapon weight by 20%, multiply cost by 2.5.
Striking Weapons
Striking weapons are all weapons designed to just hammer the shit out of things that are insufficiently flat. This includes all hammers, clubs, staves, mauls, rolling pins, and any other blunt thing which can be accelerated into something else for the purposes of smashing it. Except bullets. Those are covered in the other Sufficiently weapon guide book.
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Flat Hammer Head | 2dX | x2 | B | 2 gp | 3 | |
Description | A brick-like thing usually made from something heavy. | |||||
Special | Concuss: A critical hit made with this weapon has a 50% of stunning an opponent for 1d4 rounds. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Tapered Hammer Head | 2dX | 18-20 x2 | B | 5 gp | 4 | |
Description | A hammer head that tapers down to a small, mostly rounded, point. | |||||
Special | FOCUS PUNCH!: Deals double damage during sunder attempts. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Meat Tenderizing Hammer Head | 2dX | x3 | B | 5 gp | 4 | |
Description | A hammer head ending in a bunch of little points rather than a flat plane. | |||||
Special | F=MA: A critical hit with this weapon has a 50% chance to stagger your target. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Oversized Hammer Head | 2dX+4 | x3 | B | 5 gp | 12 | |
Description | A brick-like thing usually made from something heavy. But Big. | |||||
Special | Ow…: A critical hit with this weapon has a 50% chance of knocking over the target if they are within 1 size category of the user. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Thin Stick | 1dX+2 | x2 | B | 1 gp | 1 | |
Description | A thin section of material in a tube/cylinder shape. | |||||
Special | Ver Thwippy: Grants +2 extra attacks at minimum BaB during any full attack action, if attached to a polearm handle. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Thick Stick | 2dX+2 | x3 | B | 1 gp | 3 | |
Description | A big ‘ol hit’n stick. | |||||
Special | Ay, batter-batter… SWING!: Critical hits subject the target to an automatic bullrush attempt. If successful, the target moves back 5 feet and the attacker remains still. If the target cannot move, critical damage is increased to x4. | |||||
Name | Damage | Critical | Type | Cost | Weight | |
Round Thing On A Stick | 1dX+5 | x2 | B | 1 gp | 4 | |
Description | A lumpy round thing for hitting stuff with! | |||||
Special | Ay, batter-batter… SWING!: Critical hits subject the target to an automatic bullrush attempt. If successful, the target moves back 5 feet and the attacker remains still. If the target cannot move, critical damage is increased to x4. | |||||
Striking Weapon Utilities
Studded: Focusing striking power to a small point of contact greatly amplifies its force. That's why it hurts way more when you fall on your keys. +2 damage. Incompatible with hammers. Multiply the final weapon cost by 1.25.
Spiked: Like studs but worse for everyone! +4 damage, but the weapon gets stuck in shields (and enemies) on nat 1s, disarming you. Incompatible with hammers. Multiply the final weapon cost by 2.
Dead Blow: Hollowing out a striking implement and filling it with sand, shot, or small rocks makes the implement stop dead when it hits something rather than bounce back. This greatly amplifies concussive force. 20% chance to stun targets for 1 round on each hit. Multiply weapon cost by 3.
Banded: A few metal bands can increase durability and mass at the same time. +2 damage, but multiply the weight by 1.2. Multiply cost by 1.5.
Flanged: Like studs, except blade-shaped. Because you hate your opponents. +5 damage on sunder checks, multiply weight by 1.4. Multiply weapon cost by 3.
Handles of all Sizes
Handles come in all shapes and sizes. They mostly just determine how close to an opponent you gotta get.
Name | Reach | Throwable | Cost | Weight | |
Hand Handle | 0 | Yes | 5 silver | 1 | |
Description | A small, palm sized handle. Usually for a knife. | ||||
Special | Smol!: If pared with a Hand Blade, this weapon grants a +5 bonus on checks made to conceal it. Like, Smol tho…: Cannot be equipped with defensive attachments. | ||||
Name | Reach | Throwable | Cost | Weight | |
Short Handle | 0 | Yes | 1 gp | 1 | |
Description | A handle suitably sized for a single hand. Usually found on daggers, short swords, sicles, kama, etc | ||||
Special | |||||
Name | Reach | Throwable | Cost | Weight | |
Hand-and-a-Half Handle | 0 | Yes | 2 gp | 2 | |
Description | A medium sized handle suitable for getting two hands on in a pinch. Typically found on longswords, short hammers, hand axes, etc. | ||||
Special | Multi-Hand-Gripping: Can be gripped with two hands to multiply damage by 1.2 at the cost of -4 to attack. Cannot be used with a shield. | ||||
Name | Reach | Throwable | Cost | Weight | |
Long Handle | 0 | No | 3 gp | 2 | |
Description | A long sized handle requiring two hands to use. Typically found on great swords, axes, warhammers, war picks, clubs, etc. | ||||
Special | Wack ‘em Good: You can trade up to 4 attack for the same amount of damage, at the cost of reducing your AC on the following turn by half as much (minimum 1). | ||||
Name | Reach | Throwable | Cost | Weight | |
Throwing Haft | 1 | Yes | 3 gp | 3 | |
Description | A lengthy stick balanced for throwing with a weapon stuck to one end. Typically found on short spears, javelins, pilums, etc. | ||||
Special | YEEEET!: Weapons with this haft weighing less than 8 pounds can be thrown with a range increment of 10 feet. | ||||
Name | Reach | Throwable | Cost | Weight | |
Short Polearm Haft | 1 | No | 2 gp | 4 | |
Description | A lengthy stick designed to be tough to chop through and also hit slightly distant things with. Typically found on spears, pikes, halberds, glaives… Any polearm about the height of its user. | ||||
Special | |||||
Name | Reach | Throwable | Cost | Weight | |
Long Polearm Haft | 2 | No | 5 gp | 4 | |
Description | A very lengthy stick designed to be tough to chop through and also hit distant things with. Typically found on long spears, lances… Any polearm notably taller than its user. | ||||
Special | Brace!: These weapons can be braced against a charge as an immediate action so long as the charge beings at least 15 feet from the user. Doing so permits an attack of opportunity against the charging attacker, during which damage is doubled. But, tol tho…: Cannot be used indoors (unless the ceiling is vaulted or otherwise not a standard 1 story above the floor). | ||||
Name | Reach | Throwable | Cost | Weight | |
Extra Long Polearm Haft | 3 | No. | 10 gp | 6 | |
Description | An extra very lengthy stick designed to be tough to chop through and also hit very distant things with. Typically found on those hilariously long spears meant for killing horses mid charge. | ||||
Special | Brace!: These weapons can be braced against a charge as an immediate action so long as the charge beings at least 30 feet from the user. Doing so permits an attack of opportunity against the charging attacker, during which damage is doubled. If the attacker is chagring on a mount, the user may target the mount or the rider as they see fit. A rider hit by this attack will be automatically unseated from their saddle, but the mount will keep charging and gains a free overrun attempt. A successful attack on the mount has a 50% chance to stop the mount’s movement and negates the charge, but the rider can then make an attack of opportunity back at the user. Seriously tol!…: Cannot be used indoors. Like, period. Look at it. | ||||
Handle Utilities
Chain Link: Sometimes, you want to link a handle to a handle, or a handle to a striking face. But like, have it be all flexible. And not using a rope. You can join multiple handles, or put a striking face on a chain. This grants +1 critical threshold but adds a 50% chance to hit yourself on a natural 1. Adds special Thumm of Doom: Spinning the weapon up during combat for a strike grants the user a 15 foot fear aura. Multiply the final weapon cost by 1.15.
Ergonomic Handle: Sometimes bolting on an extra bit of wood to grip something in a new way is very helpful. +1 attack. Incompatible with non-polearms and throwing shafts. Does not stack with itself. +5 gp.
Ergonomic Grip: Its amazing how much difference shaping a handle for your hand can make. +1 attack. Incompatible with non-polearms and throwing shafts. Does not stack with itself or have an Ergonomic Handle. +10 gp.
Leather Grip: A layer of leather makes for an excellent grip surface. +2 to checks made to resist being disarmed. +30 gp.
Wire Wrapped Grip: One of the few times something that looks fancy is amazingly practical. +5 to checks made to resist being disarmed. Multiply weight by 1.15. Multiply weapon cost by 2.
Defensive Elements
Defensive Elements cover all crossguards, disc guards, basket hilts, swept hilts, and all other things meant to keep the user protected while using their weapon.
Rule: Many defensive elements grant a dodge bonus. This dodge bonus exclusively protects the user from attacks made by melee weapons within one size category of the user. The user must have their weapon drawn and be in combat to gain this bonus. They do not protect against projectiles, spells, area of effect abilities, or natural weapons.
Crossguard: A simple stick of metal between striking face and handle to catch opponents weapons. +1 dodge bonus vs melee attacks. +5 GP.
Nail: A little sticky-outy bit of metal, usually perpendicular to the striking surface, that catches an opponent's weapon. +1 dodge bonus vs melee attacks. Stacks with itself once. Incompatible with swept and basket hilts. +4 GP.
D-ring Hilt: A crossguard with one end made extra long and curved downwards to provide a knuckle guard. +2 dodge bonus. Short Handles only. +10gp.
Swept Hilt: An elaborate metal shell that protects the user's hand, synonymous with rapiers. +3 dodge bonus. Short Handles only. +20gp.
Basket Hilt: A full cage surrounding the user's hand. +3 dodge bonus and +2 to checks made to disarm an opponent. Short Handles only. +40gp.
Blade Catch: A handy notch, valley, nail, spikybit, or thingamabob designed to trap a weapon and allow you to bind it in place. +5 on CMD checks made to disarm an opponent. +40gp.
Hook: A handy hook, bend, curved doodad, nail, spiky bit, or any other whatchamacallit designed to hook onto an opponent what for pulling on them real good. +5 on CMD checks made to trip an opponent. +20gp.
Gimmicks
Gimmicks are elements of a weapon that are by definition a little flashy and of arguable utility. Each one has an advantage but comes at a cost. This cost is often to usability, durability, and your wallet. Gimmicks are fully compatible with one another unless specifically stated otherwise.
Folding Handle: The weapon's handle can fold, allowing the weapon to be compacted for storage... And totally just storage. Not for concealment. Only storage. +5 on checks made to conceal the weapon, but the weapon has 75% of its normal hitpoints and has a 20% chance to jam open on a natural 1, and also a 5% chance to break at the hinge on a natural 1. Multiply the final cost by 3.
Extending Handle: The weapon's handle can be extended to allow greater reach. The reach of the weapon can be increased or decreased by 1 as a swift action, but the weapon has 75% of its normal hitpoints. It also has a 20% chance to jam in its current state on a natural 1. Even worse, when extended, blocking an attack with the weapon imposes a free sunder check on the weapon. Multiply the final cost by 4.
Gun-X: Fun fact, sticking guns in all kinds of melee tools was a common thing in real-life history! Open Sufishently Shooty Shootybangs and stick a gun on your melee weapon. The weight increases accordingly, and the weapon will fire on a natural 1. Multiply the final cost by 2 and also add on the cost of the gun.
Hidden Weapon: Making weapons look like not-weapons is a time-honored tradition of people the world over. The weapon is totally disguised as a cane, walking staff, part of a cycle, fake leg, or whatever. This grants a +10 on checks made to conceal the weapon. Incompatible with anything with a reach greater than 1, because duh. Multiply the final cost by 4.
Hidden Weapon, in a Weapon: Yo, dog. I heard you like weapons, so I put a weapon in your weapon so you can weapon while you weapon. A special hidden scabbard allows part of the weapon's handle to be removed, revealing it to be another weapon. Cool huh? Incompatible with anything smaller than a hand-and-a-half handle. Multiply the final cost by 2, and add the price of the second weapon.
Butterfly Weapon: To show you the power of Dual Wielding Feats, I sawed this sword in half! The weapon can be split into two weapons as a swift action. Useful for taking a long weapon and splitting it into shorter weapons so as to not get your weapon caught in a ceiling, or on corners. It also looks really cool. This reduces its hit points by 25%, and has a 25% chance to injure the user on a natural 1 without Two Weapon Fighting. Multiply the final cost by 2.
Manufacturing Traits
Manufacturing Traits are modifiers which effect the general quality of a weapon. These are applied as a final step in weapon creation, and are entirly optional. They are intended to represent the quality of labor used to craft the weapon, as well as any quirks of the craftsman left in their work.
Skookum as Frig: The weapon has been overbuilt in the best ways possible. +25% weapon hitpoints, and +1 hardness. Multiply cost by 1.5.
Visible Apprentice Marks: The weapon is a little slipshod, but hey, some stuff has to suffer in order for there to be the next generation of master craftsmen. -15% item HP. Reduce cost by 10%.
Apprentice Went at it With a Dull Beaver: You can't help but wonder what idiot decided to try and teach this buffoon to make weapons. -50% item HP, divide cost by 2. Weapon has a 50% chance of breaking on natural 1.
Fabricobbled: The weapon was slapped together quickly using whatever materials were on hand at the time. -1 damage. Multiply weight by 1.15. Reduce cost by 20%.
The Cockford-Ollie: The weapon has been crafted to the best standards for a weapon of its type. +1 damage, reduce weight by 1. Multiply cost by 3.
"Grinders and paint make me the welder I ain’t!": The weapon is gorgeous! Because it was built in a way that hides manufacturing defects. +2 on checks made for performance combat, but the weapon has a 50% chance of breaking on natural 1.
Industrial Lego: The weapon looks terrible, but it functions to spec, was built quickly, and cost little. -2 on checks made for performance combat. Multiply weight by 1.3. Reduce cost by 20%.
Pre Fuckulated: Oh, so that's why it was on the discount rack. The weapon is sold at a 33% discount, but comes missing 50% of its item HP.
Finishing Touches
Once a weapon is finished, there are a few things to do in order to give it its finishing touches. First, total up the cost of all components, multiplying as instructed for any utilities and gimmicks. Take this final number and multiply it by 1.25 to factor in the labor cost of the weapon. This is also the weapon's final price tag.
Next, total up the weight of each weapon component, multiplying as instructed for any utilities and gimmicks. This is the weapon's weight, which gives the weapon its Strength Requirement and Initiative Modifier (as per Table: Weapon Strength Requirements).
To determine if it is a marshal, simple, or exotic weapon, there are several methods which can be used:
- GMs can simply look at a weapon, and determine if it's used by the culture of a character's origin or not based on their world. If it is, it's not exotic. If it's not, it's exotic. This makes exotic subjective to where a character is from, which makes prefect sense when you realize in base Pathfinder a fighter who just immigrated to Fantasy Europe from Fantasy Japan would need exotic weapon proficiency to use a katana, a sword he grew up with, but magically just knows how to use a longsword, a sword that's entirely foreign to him and is intended for an entirely different form of sword combat than anything he would have trained for in his youth.
- Typically speaking, a marshal weapon is one which requires specific training to use effectively and a simple one is a weapon most people could use well enough after looking at it for a bit. A good rule of thumb, anything with more than one striking face or reach (that isn't a simple spear or javelin) is a marshal weapon. Everything else is a simple weapon. Or, GMs can think about how hard it is to effectively use a created weapon and assign things accordingly.
The weapon is now complete and can be used in game by anything capable of wielding it.
| Weapon Weight | STR Required | Inish Mod |
| >2 | 5 | +2 |
| 2 | 6 | +1 |
| 3 | 8 | -0 |
| 4 | 10 | -0 |
| 5 | 10 | -0 |
| 6 | 12 | -1 |
| 7 | 12 | -1 |
| 8 | 14 | -2 |
| 9 | 14 | -2 |
| 10 | 16 | -3 |
| 11 | 16 | -3 |
| 12 | 18 | -4 |
| 13 | 18 | -4 |
| 14 | 18 | -5 |
| 15 | 20 | -5 |
| 16 | 20 | -6 |
| 17 | 20 | -6 |
| 18 | 22 | -7 |