Equipment Failures

A number of objects in Chapter 7 of the Player's Handbook irk me because they don't fit or just have problems mechanically. Let's start with the basics.

Armor is where we find some of the worst equipment failures. For one thing, several types of armor are redundant unless you are creating a very poor 1st-level character. Why purchase a set of scale mail when you could have a chain shirt? The same goes for chain mail and breastplate, as well as banded mail and splint mail respectively. Splint mail, for example, isn't really historically accurate. Many people have doubts if armor of this type ever really existed, and if it did, it is not very practical. A breastplate is effectively hastily donned plate. Why do we need an addendum for something that already exists. And the chain shirt? Well, that's just power creep for lightly armored characters. I say ditch all three types (splint mail, breastplate, and chain shirt) from the game. If any come up in a published adventure you are running, don't worry about making adjustments to the statistics as they are negligible for the most part, but substitute the nearest thing when the PCs loot the body. Chain shirt becomes studded leather. Breastplate becomes chain mail. Splint mail becomes banded mail.

Next we have weapons that aren't realistic. Spiked chain, I'm looking at you. Now I can swallow the idea of someone using a chain as a weapon, but the benefits it confers are simply beyond the pale of reason. Not only does it have an impressive critical threat range, it also grants the ability to strike both opponents adjacent to you and 10 feet away. Further, it lets you take attacks of opportunity as if it were a polearm. And you can use it to trip and disarm. Yikes! Now it is an exotic weapon, so it ought to be cooler than a typical weapon in at least one way, but I think the benefit of allowing you to strike as both a reach weapon and a normal melee weapon is enough without also letting you threaten opponents at reach. So just make this change; allow wielders of spiked chains to strike opponents 10 feet away, but nix the whole idea of threatening opponents that far away. You only threaten adjacent opponents while wielding a spiked chain.

Now let's address the scythe. A x4 critical threat modifier? Really? All I have to do is throw a handful of orcs wielding scythes against 1st and 2nd-level PCs and I am just asking for instant death. A x3 modifier is scary enough, so let's tone it down. Some say just use DM judgment, but on this issue, what if the DM wants to use scythes because the bad guys are followers of a cult of death?

One final issue I want to bring up is the price of masterwork weapons and armor. While the +300/+150 gp rule is nice and simple, here is an optional rule in case you find that a bit unrealistic. Masterwork light weapons cost 150 gp extra, one-handed weapons cost 300 gp extra, and two-handed weapons cost 600 gp extra. Masterwork light armor and light shields (including bucklers) cost 75 gp extra, medium armor and heavy shields cost 150 gp extra, and heavy armor and tower shields cost 300 gp extra.

A similar formula can be extended to the pricing of magic weapons and armor if you like. The base multiplier for light weapons becomes 1,000 gp, for one-handed weapons it's 2,000 gp, and for two-handed weapons it's 4,000 gp. The base multiplier for light armor and light shields is 500 gp, for medium armor and heavy shields is 1,000 gp, and for heavy armor and tower shields is 2,000 gp.

One warning if you decide to muck with pricing. Because the power level of 3rd edition D&D characters is highly dependent upon their wealth in magical items, be careful on the pricing issue so that you don't award too much or too little treasure. Make sure you periodically check to ensure your PCs are at the appropriate wealth for their level.

That wraps it up for this week. Until my health improves, this will likely remain a bi-weekly blog. Two weeks from now, This Spells Trouble Part III.