03-20-2019, 12:55 PM
In pathfinder/3.5, there are two primary methods by which you can enchant your weapon.
The first, the bread and butter way, is permanent enhancement via magic item enhancement rules. These are your +1 flaming sword and your +2 deflecting breastplates and whatnots.
The second, consumable items. These are weapon capsules from complete adventurer, silversheen from the core books, oils that you apply to weapons for temporary enhancements.
But now FFD20 has introduced a third element, something that DOES stack. Materia. And it does so without changing something that was already inherently broken.
In 3.5 and pathfinder both, it costs 16,350 gold pieces to get a +4 breastplate that provides a total of +9 to AC. But, according to those exact same rules, under spell effect, I can simply enchant a ring that grants a +4 to armor from Mage Armor, continuously, for 2000GP, and a second ring that grants a +4 to shield from the spell Shield, again, for 2000GP. 4000GP to gain a +8 to my AC. Oh, and since it is a continuous effect of shield, I would technically forever be immune to magic missiles as well.
Now, take it a step further. Those specific bonuses are to shield and armor. Not enhancement, not circumstance, not luck.
So what if I take a Masterwork padded armor, and a masterwork mithral buckler for basically the lowest armor and shield bonus. Because I am wearing the ring of mage armor, and the ring of shield, I do not receive the armor or shield bonus from either of these.
However, if I enchant them, as per the normal bread and butter rules, bumping them both up to +5. I DO gain that, because that is an enhancement bonus to my shield armor rating, not a shield bonus. 25K and 26K (for the mithral), for a total of 51K, + the cost of the rings, that's a total of 55,000GP to circumvent the rules and gain basically double an armor and shield bonus with zero cost to my mobility, zero cost to my dex cap, zero cost for basically anything. Heck, if I'm a wizard or sorcerer, the only downside to this, which I don't even have to be proficient in wearing either at this point because of how THAT works, is the 5% arcane spell failure chance each time. That's it. When I cast a spell, if I roll a 1, it fizzles, and I receive all of this.
That, in and of itself is inherently exploitable and broken. But now let's add in the current Materia rules.
Imagine a +2 Vorpal longsword of Speed. Speed specifically mentions that it is not cumulative with similar, 'magical' effects, such as haste.
In the hands of a 20th level fighter, who has 5 attacks, that is 1 extra attack at his full base attack bonus for a total of 6.
But make it a +5 vorpal longsword, instead of having speed, putting doublecut in it at level 3? Now all of the sudden, he has 8 attacks. And yes, I know that they are at a -6, but remember how vorpal works. It isn't dependent on the result of the die roll, but the die roll itself. Hitting or missing becomes irellevant with this weapon, with this build. Now, every round, he could possibly have 8 chances to roll a 20, 5% chance each time, to sever the head of nearly any enemy in the game. There's no saving throw.
This is why I believe the weapon/armor enhancement system, the +1 flaming longswords/+2 deflecting breastplates, need to be redesigned entirely for this, specific, final fantasy system.
The first, the bread and butter way, is permanent enhancement via magic item enhancement rules. These are your +1 flaming sword and your +2 deflecting breastplates and whatnots.
The second, consumable items. These are weapon capsules from complete adventurer, silversheen from the core books, oils that you apply to weapons for temporary enhancements.
But now FFD20 has introduced a third element, something that DOES stack. Materia. And it does so without changing something that was already inherently broken.
In 3.5 and pathfinder both, it costs 16,350 gold pieces to get a +4 breastplate that provides a total of +9 to AC. But, according to those exact same rules, under spell effect, I can simply enchant a ring that grants a +4 to armor from Mage Armor, continuously, for 2000GP, and a second ring that grants a +4 to shield from the spell Shield, again, for 2000GP. 4000GP to gain a +8 to my AC. Oh, and since it is a continuous effect of shield, I would technically forever be immune to magic missiles as well.
Now, take it a step further. Those specific bonuses are to shield and armor. Not enhancement, not circumstance, not luck.
So what if I take a Masterwork padded armor, and a masterwork mithral buckler for basically the lowest armor and shield bonus. Because I am wearing the ring of mage armor, and the ring of shield, I do not receive the armor or shield bonus from either of these.
However, if I enchant them, as per the normal bread and butter rules, bumping them both up to +5. I DO gain that, because that is an enhancement bonus to my shield armor rating, not a shield bonus. 25K and 26K (for the mithral), for a total of 51K, + the cost of the rings, that's a total of 55,000GP to circumvent the rules and gain basically double an armor and shield bonus with zero cost to my mobility, zero cost to my dex cap, zero cost for basically anything. Heck, if I'm a wizard or sorcerer, the only downside to this, which I don't even have to be proficient in wearing either at this point because of how THAT works, is the 5% arcane spell failure chance each time. That's it. When I cast a spell, if I roll a 1, it fizzles, and I receive all of this.
That, in and of itself is inherently exploitable and broken. But now let's add in the current Materia rules.
Imagine a +2 Vorpal longsword of Speed. Speed specifically mentions that it is not cumulative with similar, 'magical' effects, such as haste.
In the hands of a 20th level fighter, who has 5 attacks, that is 1 extra attack at his full base attack bonus for a total of 6.
But make it a +5 vorpal longsword, instead of having speed, putting doublecut in it at level 3? Now all of the sudden, he has 8 attacks. And yes, I know that they are at a -6, but remember how vorpal works. It isn't dependent on the result of the die roll, but the die roll itself. Hitting or missing becomes irellevant with this weapon, with this build. Now, every round, he could possibly have 8 chances to roll a 20, 5% chance each time, to sever the head of nearly any enemy in the game. There's no saving throw.
This is why I believe the weapon/armor enhancement system, the +1 flaming longswords/+2 deflecting breastplates, need to be redesigned entirely for this, specific, final fantasy system.