PEACH: Enchantment, Snipers Weapon

[BabyJ]

(For those who dont know, that means Please Evaluate And Critique Honestly..)

My campaign reflavored crossbows for guns.
They let off a puff of smoke and the noise causes them to take a -10 penalty to stealth until the end of their next turn. Those who want to hide after will face this issue too (from PHB, pg. 188): "If you take an action that causes you not to remain hidden, you retain the benefits of being hidden until you resolve the action. You can’t become hidden again as part of that same action." (attacking being one of those actions that causes to become unhidden)

So I came up with this:

Sniper Weapon (+1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6)
Your shots strike quietly from the shadows and no smoke billows, helping to confuse your opponent about your location.
Applies to: crossbows that fire powder or bullets. Enchancement: applies to attack rolls and damage rolls. Critical: +1d6 damage per plus.
Property: You take take no range penalty for firing this weapon at Long Range. The Stealth penalty due to firing a gun is cut in half.
Daily Power * Free action. Trigger: You hit or miss an enemy you are hidden from with a ranged attack using this weapon as your implement or weapon. Effect:You can make a Stealth check to remain hidden during the same round in which you made this attack.

So whatcha think?
EDIT: Changed the effect to more closely match that of the Shadowdancer's Cloak. It still allows a Stealth check to be made against all enemies, instead of just the one you hit, but I made the Stealth penalty reduced all the time by half for this weapon, rather than half all the time and all the way on the daily.

 

[eriktheguy]

Welcome to the forums. I love FFVI too.

For your firearm weapons is there any incentive to take them to make up for the loss of stealth (other than flavor of course)? I was thinking a very small range increase (2/4?) would be cool without breaking balance.

For your sniper weapon, I like the idea. I judged by comparing to distance weapons, and I think that your sniper weapon is balanced, maybe even a little bit on the weak side.
I would suggest adding something of the form 'you don't get a -10 penalty to stealth checks when you use this firearm' as a property, first because the flavor suggests that this should be at least as quiet as a crossbow, and second because the stealth check that your weapon's power allows would be almost useless at -10.
Next, I don't think it would be imbalanced for your weapon to have
"Critical: +1d6 damage per plus, +1d8 damage per plus at long range"
and I think it fits the flavor well.

 

[BabyJ]

[wish I could delete double postings...happens everytime I hit Post, and then hit escape right after..]

 

[BabyJ]

Welcome to the forums. I love FFVI too.

For your firearm weapons is there any incentive to take them to make up for the loss of stealth (other than flavor of course)? I was thinking a very small range increase (2/4?) would be cool without breaking balance.

For your sniper weapon, I like the idea. I judged by comparing to distance weapons, and I think that your sniper weapon is balanced, maybe even a little bit on the weak side.
I would suggest adding something of the form 'you don't get a -10 penalty to stealth checks when you use this firearm' as a property, first because the flavor suggests that this should be at least as quiet as a crossbow, and second because the stealth check that your weapon's power allows would be almost useless at -10.
Next, I don't think it would be imbalanced for your weapon to have
"Critical: +1d6 damage per plus, +1d8 damage per plus at long range"
and I think it fits the flavor well.

Oh snap, yea the smoke penalty would be gone; good point. I said so in the flavor but failed to put a rule reflecting this!

Also, yea that extra crit damage would make sense with the flavor...but even considering that, though I am loathe to throw extra damage on it with the rule breakage already in both range and stealth. Already one of my level 7 players (an implements Bard no less..) wants to get a Musket Sniper Weapon +1 (4th level item, and hes 7th?? hmm) which makes me wonder if it needs any improvements once I have specified the lack of a stealth penalty.

 

[BabyJ]

Made the penalty reduced by half all the time for shots fired from this gun, and then made the note about the penalty reduced entirely when using the daily power. Really considering the extra damage during a long range shot. But then, would this qualify as a top level enchantment?

 

[eriktheguy]

I don't think it would. Many weapons in the books have a situation increase on critical hit dice. It's an average of +1 damage per plus on critical hits only. It's almost irrelevant at any level.
I'm not sure why your player is so keen on getting the item. Either he really likes the flavor (which can only add to a campaign) or it compliments his build. The property does him no good because spells don't have long range.

 

[BabyJ]

I don't think it would. Many weapons in the books have a situation increase on critical hit dice. It's an average of +1 damage per plus on critical hits only. It's almost irrelevant at any level.
I'm not sure why your player is so keen on getting the item. Either he really likes the flavor (which can only add to a campaign) or it compliments his build. The property does him no good because spells don't have long range.

Two words (or one..): Gunmage.

 

[BabyJ]

Also, I found something that makes me worry about the power of this item. The Shadowdancer's Cloak, is a 9th level item which lets the user only hide again from the target he or she attacks; and you are revealed to everyone else. Where mine would let the user hide from everyone.

Here is the text for it..for comparison..

Shadowdancer's Claok+2
Level 9
Enchancement: Fort, Ref, Will
Power (Daily): Free Action. Trigger: You hit or miss an enemy you're hidden from. Effect: You make a Stealth check to remain hidden from it. You are no longer hidden from other creatures as normal.

 

[eriktheguy]

Interesting. A sniper is usually hidden from everyone, not just the person they shoot. You could consider changing the power to 'only hidden from the target you shoot'. I think your weapon is at least partially balanced by the fact that it does not grant you a free stealth check, it simply allows you to make one (you have to spend the action yourself).

 

[BabyJ]

Interesting. A sniper is usually hidden from everyone, not just the person they shoot. You could consider changing the power to 'only hidden from the target you shoot'. I think your weapon is at least partially balanced by the fact that it does not grant you a free stealth check, it simply allows you to make one (you have to spend the action yourself).

Well, actually, the way I wrote it before was even worded like the Shadowdancer Cloak, wherein its a free action to perform the Stealth check triggered by the attack attempt. Though I changed it from triggering only on a hit, to triggering on an miss or a hit (sniper's sometimes miss too!). But yea, I could word it that way to be something that just grants the possibility of a Stealth check, requiring another action; and then I might feel better about taking the stealth penalty off completely for the daily powered shot.