Pathfinder 1E Anyone using Trailblazer with Pathfinder?

[ThatGuyThere]

Yep those are the ones I am referring to. What I was getting at is if I get rid of +x weapons, then I'm right back to the old 3.5 way of needing a golf bag of different weapons to bypass DR.

Well, only sorta. They could suck up the -10 to damage, instead. The whiners. I'll point out the vampire only really has -7 by the time you have a +3 weapon, anyway - when you factor in the weapon's bonus.

And since all weapons give pluses to hit (since they're level based, now), switching to their "off weapon" won't hurt as much; attack bonus stays the same (or within just a few points).

Besides, outside of one character in one game I ran, I've never seen anyone (who didn't use ammunition) have the "golf bag of different weapons".

 

[Stormrazor2000]

Well, only sorta. They could suck up the -10 to damage, instead. The whiners.

Hey, how do you know my players so well?

 

[Soramain]

Yep those are the ones I am referring to. What I was getting at is if I get rid of +x weapons, then I'm right back to the old 3.5 way of needing a golf bag of different weapons to bypass DR.

So as an example, the group is facing a vampire which has a DR 10/silver & magic. If they don't have a +3 sword (as such things don't exist) they would have to have an actual silver sword to bypass the creature's SR. One of the things I liked about Pathfinder is that they simplified it to say a +3 weapon can bypass the requirement that the weapon be silver.

Ah, I see. The way I handled it was when I scaled up the attack bonus to compensate for no magic weapons, I just made a certain amount of it a level-based enhancement bonus. I developed a progression based on Oriental Adventures / Rokugan ancestral daisho rules to figure out about what level a character should have a +X sword.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

Yep those are the ones I am referring to. What I was getting at is if I get rid of +x weapons, then I'm right back to the old 3.5 way of needing a golf bag of different weapons to bypass DR.

So as an example, the group is facing a vampire which has a DR 10/silver & magic. If they don't have a +3 sword (as such things don't exist) they would have to have an actual silver sword to bypass the creature's SR. One of the things I liked about Pathfinder is that they simplified it to say a +3 weapon can bypass the requirement that the weapon be silver.

Yeah, this is something that folks have gone back and forth on. Some people like it the way it was done in 3.0, some like it the way it was done in 3.5. Pathfinder goes with an idea somewhat like what was posted by Monte Cook, one of the authors of 3.0.

Pathfinder:
Glossary

Monte Cook:
Damage Reduction Redux

 

[Stormrazor2000]

Ah, I see. The way I handled it was when I scaled up the attack bonus to compensate for no magic weapons, I just made a certain amount of it a level-based enhancement bonus. I developed a progression based on Oriental Adventures / Rokugan ancestral daisho rules to figure out about what level a character should have a +X sword.

Since I don't have those books, could you give me an idea of how that broke down? I would want to be careful that doing so doesn't make some of the class abilities that bypass DR (Paladin Smite and Inquisitor Exploit Weakness for example) superfluous.

 

[Soramain]

Since I don't have those books, could you give me an idea of how that broke down? I would want to be careful that doing so doesn't make some of the class abilities that bypass DR (Paladin Smite and Inquisitor Exploit Weakness for example) superfluous.

Sure.

Basically, it starts slow and speeds up as level goes on. The character can use the bonuses awarded to add additional enhancement bonuses to their weapon or to add special abilities, as they choose. For example, a 9th level character with a total +3 bonus could have a +3 weapon, a +2 keen weapon, or a +1 bane weapon. The breakdown was +1 at 4th, +2 at 7th, +3 at 9th, +4 at 11th, +5 at 13th, and then +1 for each additional level until you reach +10 at 18th level. You could never get an enhancement bonus above +5 with these pluses.

 

[Stormrazor2000]

Thanks for the info Soramain! So if I interpret it correctly by 9th level pretty much everyone can have a +3 weapon which bypasses DR X/silver or cold iron. By 11th level everyone can have a +4 weapon to bypass DR X/adamantine. By 13th level they would have +5 to bypass DR X/alignment.

 

[Soramain]

Thanks for the info Soramain! So if I interpret it correctly by 9th level pretty much everyone can have a +3 weapon which bypasses DR X/silver or cold iron. By 11th level everyone can have a +4 weapon to bypass DR X/adamantine. By 13th level they would have +5 to bypass DR X/alignment.

Yes and no - if they want funky flaming swords or swords that burn with holy fire, bypassing DR is delayed.

 

[TanisFrey]

I did not notice this change in Pathfinder DR. I will have to think about it.

I did not like the 3.0 DR where will over come any special material requirement, nor the 3.5 requirement of a +1 weapon to damage any creature with a DR x/magic.

I think that I would prefer a slightly different solution. Modify the Magic DR back to the 3.0 DR x/(+1, +2, +3, +4 or +5) with the material requirement from being over come by any magic weapon.