05-21-2018, 06:24 PM
I remember having a go at the other thread for Kingdom Hearts and keyblade ideas. Some of my opinions have changed a bit since then, but I'll still give this a shot.
Personally, I still see it as unfair to other characters for them to be anything that isn't a regular, equippable weapon, and so I'll make the suggestions here for them as such.
I'll start with prices. The basic keyblade is, more or less, a knight sword that can also do bludgeoning damage. The main thing that keyblades have over the other weapons to which they are comparable is their functionality with keychains, and while those are a very specific mechanic that I'll detail my idea for later, they're still a big benefit. Based on that, I would make a standard keyblade cost a nice, simple, easy to work with 100 gil. Quite spendy at 1st level, but worth it. It's 400 gil to get a masterwork one, which can be afforded in a level or two.
Power keyblades have somewhat better damage dice, but their main draw is being two-handed, which gives much more oomph when using things like Power Attack, and that increases your damage output immensely. For that, I would make those either 120 gil or 125 gil, whichever you feel is fairer.
Finesse keyblades I propose to make like a dueling sword from Pathfinder, i.e. a longsword to which Weapon Finesse can be applied, which deserves a price similar to that of the power keyblade. The word "finesse" in the name doesn't suggest being a choice weapon for two-weapon fighting so much as it does that it's a weapon for being quick and graceful. Based on that, there should probably be a separate keyblade all its own for that category.
Magic keyblades are a strange beast, but still workable. I would personally make them be one-handed melee weapons that deal either 1d6 or 1d8 and do not apply Weapon Finesse. However, they can be used to fire a bolt of elemental energy, determined when the keyblade is being made; the keyblade can choose from one of the six traditional elements (fire, ice, wind, earth, lightning, or water) and uses the element chosen as a prefix when describing the weapon (fire keyblade, ice keyblade, etcetera). If the keyblade's melee damage is 1d6, the elemental damage is 1d4, and if the melee damage is 1d8, then the elemental damage is 1d6. The range for either weapon is 30 ft., and adds your casting modifier (if you had one) as extra damage to the ranged attack; otherwise, it adds your Charisma modifier, whether positive or negative. These suckers will be awfully pricey, as they should be, since we're combining either a longsword with a power staff or a one-handed short sword with a power rod. The 1d6/1d4 keyblade I would set at 200 gil for the cost, and the 1d8/1d6 should cost 300 gil, since you're getting a lot of stuff in one package. When you enchant one, you add the enhancement bonus to both attacks, and can enchant it as spend slots as a melee or ranged weapon (the total can still be no higher than +10 between the enhancement bonus and other enchantments). However, the enchantments only apply to the melee or ranged function of it when that particular kind of attack is made, e.g. a +3 keen seeking fire keyblade only applies the keen enchantment to its melee attacks, while the seeking enchantment only works on its ranged attacks.
As for my idea about the finesse keyblades being something else, I think the best way to go about that is to make them be light weapons that deal 1d6 bludgeoning or slashing damage and have a crit range of 18-20; they're exotic weapons, and so they should be worth the feat for proficiency. Being light, they're perfect for dual-wielders, and they should cost 75 gil apiece.
As for the keychains, they could function like an alternative to materia. The keyblades themselves are enchanted normally, but keychains take up the materia slot and can add all kinds of properties to the keyblade. For example, a keychain that makes your keyblade deal damage as though it was one size category bigger could cost, say, 3,000 gil, whereas one that increases its effective size for damage dice by two size categories could be 7,000 gil. Keychains that give the keyblade the properties of different materials should probably cost, say, 1,000 gil on top of the extra cost of the material, since this is still something that can be swapped out with another keychain, granting far more versatility than having to make separate keyblades of different materials, and that versatility should cost something. On the other hand, the idea of making these not take up the materia slot on your weapon may be also fair, since these items can only be applied to keyblades, which are already an uncommon weapon.
The feats I'll go over in another post, which will be a little while.
Personally, I still see it as unfair to other characters for them to be anything that isn't a regular, equippable weapon, and so I'll make the suggestions here for them as such.
I'll start with prices. The basic keyblade is, more or less, a knight sword that can also do bludgeoning damage. The main thing that keyblades have over the other weapons to which they are comparable is their functionality with keychains, and while those are a very specific mechanic that I'll detail my idea for later, they're still a big benefit. Based on that, I would make a standard keyblade cost a nice, simple, easy to work with 100 gil. Quite spendy at 1st level, but worth it. It's 400 gil to get a masterwork one, which can be afforded in a level or two.
Power keyblades have somewhat better damage dice, but their main draw is being two-handed, which gives much more oomph when using things like Power Attack, and that increases your damage output immensely. For that, I would make those either 120 gil or 125 gil, whichever you feel is fairer.
Finesse keyblades I propose to make like a dueling sword from Pathfinder, i.e. a longsword to which Weapon Finesse can be applied, which deserves a price similar to that of the power keyblade. The word "finesse" in the name doesn't suggest being a choice weapon for two-weapon fighting so much as it does that it's a weapon for being quick and graceful. Based on that, there should probably be a separate keyblade all its own for that category.
Magic keyblades are a strange beast, but still workable. I would personally make them be one-handed melee weapons that deal either 1d6 or 1d8 and do not apply Weapon Finesse. However, they can be used to fire a bolt of elemental energy, determined when the keyblade is being made; the keyblade can choose from one of the six traditional elements (fire, ice, wind, earth, lightning, or water) and uses the element chosen as a prefix when describing the weapon (fire keyblade, ice keyblade, etcetera). If the keyblade's melee damage is 1d6, the elemental damage is 1d4, and if the melee damage is 1d8, then the elemental damage is 1d6. The range for either weapon is 30 ft., and adds your casting modifier (if you had one) as extra damage to the ranged attack; otherwise, it adds your Charisma modifier, whether positive or negative. These suckers will be awfully pricey, as they should be, since we're combining either a longsword with a power staff or a one-handed short sword with a power rod. The 1d6/1d4 keyblade I would set at 200 gil for the cost, and the 1d8/1d6 should cost 300 gil, since you're getting a lot of stuff in one package. When you enchant one, you add the enhancement bonus to both attacks, and can enchant it as spend slots as a melee or ranged weapon (the total can still be no higher than +10 between the enhancement bonus and other enchantments). However, the enchantments only apply to the melee or ranged function of it when that particular kind of attack is made, e.g. a +3 keen seeking fire keyblade only applies the keen enchantment to its melee attacks, while the seeking enchantment only works on its ranged attacks.
As for my idea about the finesse keyblades being something else, I think the best way to go about that is to make them be light weapons that deal 1d6 bludgeoning or slashing damage and have a crit range of 18-20; they're exotic weapons, and so they should be worth the feat for proficiency. Being light, they're perfect for dual-wielders, and they should cost 75 gil apiece.
As for the keychains, they could function like an alternative to materia. The keyblades themselves are enchanted normally, but keychains take up the materia slot and can add all kinds of properties to the keyblade. For example, a keychain that makes your keyblade deal damage as though it was one size category bigger could cost, say, 3,000 gil, whereas one that increases its effective size for damage dice by two size categories could be 7,000 gil. Keychains that give the keyblade the properties of different materials should probably cost, say, 1,000 gil on top of the extra cost of the material, since this is still something that can be swapped out with another keychain, granting far more versatility than having to make separate keyblades of different materials, and that versatility should cost something. On the other hand, the idea of making these not take up the materia slot on your weapon may be also fair, since these items can only be applied to keyblades, which are already an uncommon weapon.
The feats I'll go over in another post, which will be a little while.