One of the areas of the game that I've noticed has received very little attention are ways to assist a PC in their use of the action economy.
Sure, there are options, such as Quick Draw or Quicken Spell, class abilities, etc.
However, there is very little in the way of items (be they magical or mundane) that give extra efficiency to a PC as they perform actions in combat.
I kind of find that unfortunate and tends to shift the system more towards a gamist orientation, rather than a simulation, because you aren't seeing mechanical benefits from the experience that we have every day with technology. That is, technology's major benefit is to make tasks more efficient.
The game system has a wide range of actions in the game that create an "action continuum":
Full-Round
Standard
Move
Swift
Immediate
Free
But this variation in efficiency isn't conveyed very much within the system itself.
Looking over the items in the game, I found very few that directly intend to improve the efficiency of a player's actions in a turn:
Scabbard, combat
Price 1 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Source: Adventurer's Armory
This scabbard is designed to allow you to remove it from your belt as a swift action when drawing the weapon it contains. Taking the Equipment Trick feat (see page 22) for a scabbard gives you additional combat options for using a scabbard. For the purpose of fighter weapon groups, a scabbard for a heavy blade is considered a hammer, and a scabbard for a light blade is considered a close weapon.
Wrist Sheath, spring loaded
Price 5 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Source: Adventurer's Armory
This item works like a standard wrist sheath, but releasing an item from it is an immediate action. Preparing the sheath for this use requires cranking the sheath’s tiny gears and springs into place (a fullround action that provokes an attack of opportunity).
Handy Haversack
Aura moderate conjuration; CL 9th
Slot —; Price 2,000 gp; Weight 5 lbs.
A backpack of this sort appears to be well made, well used, and quite ordinary. It is constructed of finely tanned leather, and the straps have brass hardware and buckles. It has two side pouches, each of which appears large enough to hold about a quart of material. In fact, each is like a bag of holding and can actually hold material of as much as 2 cubic feet in volume or 20 pounds in weight. The large central portion of the pack can contain up to 8 cubic feet or 80 pounds of material. Even when so filled, the backpack always weighs only 5 pounds.
While such storage is useful enough, the pack has an even greater power. When the wearer reaches into it for a specific item, that item is always on top. Thus, no digging around and fumbling is ever necessary to find what a haversack contains. Retrieving any specific item from a haversack is a move action, but it does not provoke the attacks of opportunity that retrieving a stored item usually does.
And that's about it, at least in terms of items that really are trying to shift an action a step along that action continuum.
There are other ways of deriving efficiency that are more layered into the system, but I'm just surprised at how little is out there that just speeds up the job that you're trying to do in that moment.
Are there other items I'm missing?
Sure, there are options, such as Quick Draw or Quicken Spell, class abilities, etc.
However, there is very little in the way of items (be they magical or mundane) that give extra efficiency to a PC as they perform actions in combat.
I kind of find that unfortunate and tends to shift the system more towards a gamist orientation, rather than a simulation, because you aren't seeing mechanical benefits from the experience that we have every day with technology. That is, technology's major benefit is to make tasks more efficient.
The game system has a wide range of actions in the game that create an "action continuum":
Full-Round
Standard
Move
Swift
Immediate
Free
But this variation in efficiency isn't conveyed very much within the system itself.
Looking over the items in the game, I found very few that directly intend to improve the efficiency of a player's actions in a turn:
Scabbard, combat
Price 1 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Source: Adventurer's Armory
This scabbard is designed to allow you to remove it from your belt as a swift action when drawing the weapon it contains. Taking the Equipment Trick feat (see page 22) for a scabbard gives you additional combat options for using a scabbard. For the purpose of fighter weapon groups, a scabbard for a heavy blade is considered a hammer, and a scabbard for a light blade is considered a close weapon.
Wrist Sheath, spring loaded
Price 5 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Source: Adventurer's Armory
This item works like a standard wrist sheath, but releasing an item from it is an immediate action. Preparing the sheath for this use requires cranking the sheath’s tiny gears and springs into place (a fullround action that provokes an attack of opportunity).
Handy Haversack
Aura moderate conjuration; CL 9th
Slot —; Price 2,000 gp; Weight 5 lbs.
A backpack of this sort appears to be well made, well used, and quite ordinary. It is constructed of finely tanned leather, and the straps have brass hardware and buckles. It has two side pouches, each of which appears large enough to hold about a quart of material. In fact, each is like a bag of holding and can actually hold material of as much as 2 cubic feet in volume or 20 pounds in weight. The large central portion of the pack can contain up to 8 cubic feet or 80 pounds of material. Even when so filled, the backpack always weighs only 5 pounds.
While such storage is useful enough, the pack has an even greater power. When the wearer reaches into it for a specific item, that item is always on top. Thus, no digging around and fumbling is ever necessary to find what a haversack contains. Retrieving any specific item from a haversack is a move action, but it does not provoke the attacks of opportunity that retrieving a stored item usually does.
And that's about it, at least in terms of items that really are trying to shift an action a step along that action continuum.
There are other ways of deriving efficiency that are more layered into the system, but I'm just surprised at how little is out there that just speeds up the job that you're trying to do in that moment.
Are there other items I'm missing?
