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<blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 7436977" data-attributes="member: 6669384">I've seen a lot of people going on about &quot;super&quot; weapons in games;&nbsp; The speed and armor piercing power of a the Katana, the punch of compound bows and the actual armor shredding capacity of things like Lucern hammers etc.&nbsp; I'm kind of burned out by it all, to be honest, so I'd be tempted to rate a compound bow as simply Master Worked:&nbsp; A plus to hit but not to damage.The fact that it's mechanically complex and cleverly designed not withstanding, in the end it's a fancy, well made bow.You want greater accuracy boosts than the compound bow can give?&nbsp; Come up with rules for counterweights, vibration dampers and sights.And then convince a DM that target sights are applicable in a running battle where the range isn't a known thing in advance (something needed for sights to be effective).The difference between these add-ons and simply &quot;master worked&quot;?&nbsp; They're add ons.&nbsp; That is, they can be added after the bow is made, unlike actual master work quality.&lt;Tangent&gt;I was at a game convention running a pick-up game in the open gaming area.&nbsp; Scene was a spring festival, where the heroes had been invited and were to be honored.&nbsp; At the various games they were asked to be judges, rather than having locals compete in the various games against the PCs, who were pretty much top professionals.One player decided that her character was going to teach the Dwarven smiths how to make a Katana, the whole folded steel technique and the mixed metlaurgy involved.&nbsp; (It takes two grades of steel, one high carbon and one low, layered together in a particular way, to make that blade work.)&nbsp; Turned out her &quot;master smith&quot; character had a total of two ranks in weapon smithing.&nbsp; I'd always figured that if the smith couldn't reach &quot;Master Work&quot; on a take-10, they weren't a master at that trade.&nbsp; So anything less than 10 ranks need not apply.Also turned out that, for all she claimed to know about the exotic Japanese combat blade, she thought she could make one in a week, while teaching the smiths.&nbsp; Apparently her skills at &quot;Knowledge - Rules for Crafting&quot; were as extensive as her weapon smith skills.In real life, from start to finish, it takes 14 months to make that blade, at least according to the Nova episode I saw on PBS. So remember that there's a vast difference between knowing *about* a craft, and knowing the craft.&nbsp; I mean, I know more than she does, but I couldn't make that blade if my life depended on it.&lt;/tangent&gt; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Greenfield, post: 7436977, member: 6669384"] I've seen a lot of people going on about "super" weapons in games; The speed and armor piercing power of a the Katana, the punch of compound bows and the actual armor shredding capacity of things like Lucern hammers etc. I'm kind of burned out by it all, to be honest, so I'd be tempted to rate a compound bow as simply Master Worked: A plus to hit but not to damage. The fact that it's mechanically complex and cleverly designed not withstanding, in the end it's a fancy, well made bow. You want greater accuracy boosts than the compound bow can give? Come up with rules for counterweights, vibration dampers and sights. And then convince a DM that target sights are applicable in a running battle where the range isn't a known thing in advance (something needed for sights to be effective). The difference between these add-ons and simply "master worked"? They're add ons. That is, they can be added after the bow is made, unlike actual master work quality. <Tangent>I was at a game convention running a pick-up game in the open gaming area. Scene was a spring festival, where the heroes had been invited and were to be honored. At the various games they were asked to be judges, rather than having locals compete in the various games against the PCs, who were pretty much top professionals. One player decided that her character was going to teach the Dwarven smiths how to make a Katana, the whole folded steel technique and the mixed metlaurgy involved. (It takes two grades of steel, one high carbon and one low, layered together in a particular way, to make that blade work.) Turned out her "master smith" character had a total of two ranks in weapon smithing. I'd always figured that if the smith couldn't reach "Master Work" on a take-10, they weren't a master at that trade. So anything less than 10 ranks need not apply. Also turned out that, for all she claimed to know about the exotic Japanese combat blade, she thought she could make one in a week, while teaching the smiths. Apparently her skills at "Knowledge - Rules for Crafting" were as extensive as her weapon smith skills. In real life, from start to finish, it takes 14 months to make that blade, at least according to the Nova episode I saw on PBS. So remember that there's a vast difference between knowing *about* a craft, and knowing the craft. I mean, I know more than she does, but I couldn't make that blade if my life depended on it.</tangent> :) [/QUOTE]

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