Pathfinder Player Companion: Adventurer's Armory (PFRPG)

Since Sean Reynolds seems to be watching this thread, and taking notes:

The Hollowed Pommel on page 7 doesn't have the DC listed to spot it.

"is a DC Perception check."

Interesting. That should be DC 15.

My copy of this is in the mail, I look forward to adding it to my gaming bookshelf. I wonder if this book got a good enough reception that paizo will continue to produce 'crunch heavy' companion books as I believe had been mentioned by staff members back when this was first anounced.

We're not adverse to crunch--that's typically what the Combat, Faith, Magic, and Social backmatter articles are for, after all. :)

Opening paragraphs of the Adventurer's Armory -

This list of weapons supplements the list in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. If a weapon’s description says it is “treated as” another weapon, a character lacking the appropriate exotic weapon proficiency, can still use it as if it were the other kind of weapon and feats such as Weapon Focus still apply, as do abilities requiring a certain weapon.

For example, the butterfly knife allows a proficient user to open or close it as a free action and is otherwise treated as a dagger, meaning she can wield it as a dagger, gain the benefit of Weapon Focus (dagger) when wielding it, use it as the target of a spell that only affects daggers, and so on.

There's some weirdness in the PDF. The bolded words in the paragraph above appear as Pathnder, prociency, buttery, procient and benet when viewed in Adobe, but are normal when cut and pasted into, for example, this message. Something about "fi" and "fl" it doesn't like?

I've noticed on some previous Pathfinder PDFs, "fi" and "fl" are visible in the Adobe Reader but are followed by a blank space is I cut and paste a paragraph into, for example, MS Word: Pathfi nder, profi ciency, butterfl y, profi cient and benefi t.

I've noticed on some previous Pathfinder PDFs, "fi" and "fl" are visible in the Adobe Reader but are followed by a blank space is I cut and paste a paragraph into, for example, MS Word: Pathfi nder, profi ciency, butterfl y, profi cient and benefi t.

Yes - I've noticed similar things occasionally. How odd.

I'm kind of confused over the intent of a few sections:

Mounts, Pets, and Related Gear: The opening paragraph talks about animal companions and familiars, but not pets or mounts. So is this list of animals only supposed to be for buying animal companions and familiars, or does it mean they are all open for being bought as pets and mounts for any class to purchase?

It's a great list with a lot of evocative options. If it was open to pets then you'd almost be able to fill out the Beastmaster's animal crew :)

I guess the most important question is can a Fighter buy an elephant as a mount?

Equipment Tricks: The feat Equipment Trick makes it sound like any piece of equipment can have a slew of tricks associated with it. Then we just get two items, the heavy blade scabbard and shield tricks.

I guess I find this whole section odd, with two random items and then a random list of tricks associated with them.

On the one hand they seem like examples, a kind of blue print for a DM to create sets of tricks to be associated with an item.

However, the structure of these tricks are so open ended, there isn't really any systematic structure to them. And so unless you're a DM who's willing to roll up his sleeves to do some rather intense game design, it just seems like this whole approach cries out for a 500 page book breaking out every item and its five or six tricks associated with it.

It just seems like a very cumbersome mechanic structure, with a vast design tree attached to it. So I guess I'm just wonder what the intent was behind this section? It seems like it would have made more sense to make some kind of "page 42" universal system that would allow some stunting with equipment, but keep it bound within a unified structure.

I've noticed on some previous Pathfinder PDFs, "fi" and "fl" are visible in the Adobe Reader but are followed by a blank space is I cut and paste a paragraph into, for example, MS Word: Pathfi nder, profi ciency, butterfl y, profi cient and benefi t.

Some fonts have issues with typographic ligatures if they're not installed properly on the computer. As Lisa discussed above, the computer we used to print the final proofs-for-us-to-eyeball for this book handled the ligatures fine, but the computer used to make the PDFs-to-go-to-the-print-company didn't, which is why all the FL and FI look weird in the print version of the book. We're aware of the problem now and its causes and it shouldn't happen in the future.

I'm kind of confused over the intent of a few sections:

Mounts, Pets, and Related Gear: The opening paragraph talks about animal companions and familiars, but not pets or mounts. So is this list of animals only supposed to be for buying animal companions and familiars, or does it mean they are all open for being bought as pets and mounts for any class to purchase?

The equipment categories in AA mirror the equipment categories in the Core Rulebook; there's just a slight difference in the AA section's name (Mounts, Pets, and Related Gear) vs. the Core Rulebook section (Mounts and Related Gear). The title isn't intended to limit who can buy things from it.

Equipment Tricks: The feat Equipment Trick makes it sound like any piece of equipment can have a slew of tricks associated with it. Then we just get two items, the heavy blade scabbard and shield tricks.

The feats in the Core Rulebook aren't the only feats in the game, and there is plenty of room for expansion. Likewise, there are hundreds of pieces of equipment in the game, and plenty of room for expansion. Thus, there is plenty of room for adding new equipment tricks for other items not listed there--after all, we wouldn't have room to do one trick for every single item in the Core Rulebook, so clearly the two-page spread is just an example of the sort of things you can do with the Equipment Trick feat--just as the feats chapter is a non-comprehensive look at what sort of things you can do with feats, without trying to present hard-and-fast rules on designing feats.

A little typo I noticed for the Paizo note takers:

On the weapon chart, the Critical for the Bill (Two Handed Martial Weapon) is listed as v3, when it should be x3.

Some fonts have issues with typographic ligatures if they're not installed properly on the computer. As Lisa discussed above, the computer we used to print the final proofs-for-us-to-eyeball for this book handled the ligatures fine, but the computer used to make the PDFs-to-go-to-the-print-company didn't, which is why all the FL and FI look weird in the print version of the book. We're aware of the problem now and its causes and it shouldn't happen in the future.

Just to clarify, is this also the reason FL and FI are "missing" from the Adventurer's Armory, which just came out?

I just got the Armory and was wondering what the weapons in the off-color boxes are for. They have no stats on the tables (examples: Boomerang, Aklys, Hunga Munga)

Sean K Reynolds wrote:

Some fonts have issues with typographic ligatures if they're not installed properly on the computer. As Lisa discussed above, the computer we used to print the final proofs-for-us-to-eyeball for this book handled the ligatures fine, but the computer used to make the PDFs-to-go-to-the-print-company didn't, which is why all the FL and FI look weird in the print version of the book. We're aware of the problem now and its causes and it shouldn't happen in the future.

Just to clarify, is this also the reason FL and FI are "missing" from the Adventurer's Armory, which just came out?

Yup! It'll be fixed in the next printing. Although I'm kind of amused by the implication that a buttery knife can be used as a weapon.

I just got the Armory and was wondering what the weapons in the off-color boxes are for. They have no stats on the tables (examples: Boomerang, Aklys, Hunga Munga)

I see all of them in the list...they indicate that the weapon in question is represented in the neighboring art piece.

The weapons are broken in to simple, martial, and exotic, but those headings don't stand out from the page.

Aklys: front page, one-handed (exotic)
Boomerange: back page, ranged (exotic)
Hunga-Munga: front page, ranged (martial)

On the rear cover table, the Urumi doesn't have "reach" or "disarm" listed in the special section.

Shar Tahl wrote:

I just got the Armory and was wondering what the weapons in the off-color boxes are for. They have no stats on the tables (examples: Boomerang, Aklys, Hunga Munga)

I see all of them in the list...they indicate that the weapon in question is represented in the neighboring art piece.

The weapons are broken in to simple, martial, and exotic, but those headings don't stand out from the page.

Aklys: front page, one-handed (exotic)
Boomerange: back page, ranged (exotic)
Hunga-Munga: front page, ranged (martial)

lol! I should have checked the back page :x

there they are

Yup! It'll be fixed in the next printing. Although I'm kind of amused by the implication that a buttery knife can be used as a weapon.

James, I assume all the errors that have been mentioned in this thread will be fixed in the next printing as well? And any idea when the next printing will be?

Animal Questions...

Animal Stats - Are there stat blocks listed in some publication for:

Canary
Donkey Rat
Uskwood Bat
Osirion Wise-Eye Cat
Nex Gecko Lizard
Verduran Owl
Ox
Yak
Blue Rat
Vision Toad

If not, what should be used?

Dog, Combat Trained - In the text it is listed as medium. Is this a typo for the normal dog, which is small, or should these be treated as riding dogs, which are medium? Or something else, like an advanced template dog?

Elephant - For the purchase price, are these considered to be "combat trained" and "heavy labor" trained as implied in the text?

Also, it says that the elephant's upkeep is "exorbitant," since the only core rules I can find on upkeep for animals is the 5cp of feed per day, what would it be for an elephant?

Animal Harness - are these now required to train animals with the handle animal skill? If not were they intended to have some effect on training rolls, such as a +2 bonus to animal handle checks for training? Or is it just a fluff piece of equipment for players to spend gold on?

I'm ambiguous about reading the benefit of:

Sly Draw
The feat flavor describes it as: "You can draw your weapon with such speed and finesse that your opponents don’t realize they’re threatened."

The way I see it, there are two ways of interpreting the benefit:

• Either you are allowed to make a feint check (using Sleight of Hand) as part of the action to draw a light weapon (presumably against an opponent that hasn't seen this trick yet).
  
• Or you can, when you have drawn a light weapon, make feint checks using Sleight of Hand for the rest of the combat
  

The former option makes sense in terms of the flavor (though would benefit from clarification on what constitutes legal use of this technique - no opponent will be surprised after the 5th dagger that you pull from your boot).

The latter is a conditional skill-replacement effect that on-top of that has a so-so feat requirement; I'd consider its powerlevel on par with a trait. The benefit does not really match with the flavor text and again - no opponent will be surprised after the 5th time he was attacked (with the same dagger).

I'm torn, as the intention feels like it is the former, but the execution leans towards the latter. Please clarify the feat for me :)

very disappointed that it didn't include no firearm rules or weapons, just the bayonet which is really an accessory..

On the rear cover table, the Urumi doesn't have "reach" or "disarm" listed in the special section.

The reach part was deliberate. It appears the disarm was deliberate as well.

You'll see in this post. (Well, the one below the one linked... The post linking isn't working right.)

Damon Griffin wrote:

Just to clarify, is this also the reason FL and FI are "missing" from the Adventurer's Armory, which just came out?

Yup! It'll be fixed in the next printing. Although I'm kind of amused by the implication that a buttery knife can be used as a weapon.

That amused me as well. I wondered if it was meant to be a new halfling racial weapon. :)

I haven't received my printed copy yet, of course, as it only went out on Thursday. My "buttery knife" appeared in the PDF. Will that be corrected for re-downloading?

Question on the armored kilt... It doesn't have stats in the tables. The description just says "it changes armor to one class heavier" but I hope it does something else because I have no idea in what situation that would be a benefit.

Also - why is the boomerang exotic? Since it doesn't do any returning it's just a tossed club right?

Mok wrote:

On the rear cover table, the Urumi doesn't have "reach" or "disarm" listed in the special section.

The reach part was deliberate. It appears the disarm was deliberate as well.

You'll see in this post. (Well, the one below the one linked... The post linking isn't working right.)

Uh oh... my wife is now incredibly displeased. The only point she took the Urumi for her PFS character was to be able to wield a shield and have reach.

The Urumi does need to get listed on page 18 of the book then, as it has been converted from the PCCS.

Question on the armored kilt... It doesn't have stats in the tables. The description just says "it changes armor to one class heavier" but I hope it does something else because I have no idea in what situation that would be a benefit.

There are a number of items like the Armored Kilt that come from the Campaign Setting. Unless the book notes changes, you just use them as they are there. In the case of the Armored Kilt, you use the campaign setting version with the changes made in the Adventurer's Armory.

If you want the full details on all these items, check this out. Only has Paizo released material, all the non-core stuff, including the new AA stuff (with all of Sean's errata and fixes factored in).

Also - why is the boomerang exotic? Since it doesn't do any returning it's just a tossed club right?

I don't have the book yet, but iirc the war version of the boomerang doesn't return. It's heavier, does more damage than the lighter hunting version. It's advantage over the club should be in it's range increments. The regular boomerang doesn't return either if you hit your target for that matter.

As for it being exotic... just how common do you think a boomerang is? Well, the war boomerang is rarer still :) It's also fairly difficult to deploy properly and the skill to do so doesn't really relate to anything else. Hence, imo, exotic.

Just out of curiosity, where the inspiration coming for the combat scabbard? It gets quite a bit of ink in the AA and I can't ever recall any story where someone was running around bludgeoning people to death with their reinforced scabbard.

One thing I'm kind of confused about is the design of the Weapon Cord. It ends up functioning like locked gauntlet and is primarily there to help with disarms.

The problem is, beyond replicating equipment that already exists, is that what has been needed (and desired) has been some kind of cord device that would allow you to be able to drop a weapon, draw another and keep the original weapon with you. In a game that requires martial characters to have a golf bag of different weapons to deal with all of the various monsters, you want to be able to keep all of your gear with you.

Obviously there has to be a draw back, such as having a penalty to AC if you've got a weapon dangling from you.

Adventuring Gear questions...

Blanket - does this have any impact on fortitude or survival rolls?

Hollowed Pommel - What is the DC for the perception check?

Marbles - How many squares are covered per bag?

Powder - How many squares are covered with a bag?

Pump Water Canister - The comment above about a holy water super soaker is pretty much what any proper gaming geek is going to leap at when seeing this included, followed up with what most likely would be disastrous experiments in making flame throwers, particularly if you match it up with Keros Oil.

If you want to spray an unwilling target, is this a ranged touch attack?

I forget how much volume a flask of liquid is considered in the game, but man... a gallon of holy water getting sprayed onto a Lich of Vampire is going to end encounters very quickly, particularly if several party members come equipped with these holy flame throwers. Sure, the holy water will be really expensive, but by the time you're facing nasty undead you've got the gold to pull this kind of thing off.

Animal Questions...

For the donkey rat, use a dire rat without the disease ability - I think that's in the Rise of the Runelord's Player's Guide

...I'm kind of a fan

Hollowed Pommel - What is the DC for the perception check?

That was covered.

EDIT:

The wrist sheath on page 9 could probably use a little rewriting.

It can hold any single light weapon, ranged weapon, or wand weighing less than one pound. So, as written in can only hold a single dart, unless the weapon is mithral. (There are no weapons that weigh less than one pound, except ammunition [covered next] and the dart.)
And: Alternatively, it may hold up to 1 pound of ammunition. So, it can only hold a dagger if it is mithral - but it can hold 20 longbow arrows.

Just out of curiosity, where the inspiration coming for the combat scabbard? It gets quite a bit of ink in the AA and I can't ever recall any story where someone was running around bludgeoning people to death with their reinforced scabbard.

I don't know how grounded it is in reality*, but in the rokugan material, a ninja's ninja-to has an all-purpose scabbard: You can use it as a breathing tube to hide underwater, use it to blow poison powder into people's faces, or even use it as a club.

*The whole ninja thing and what they were really like is shrouded in mystery. Which is pretty appropriate.

Mok - I can't say much about the others, but the weapon cord at least was an instant buy for the oracle in our game who had the 'ghost' curse, where anything he dropped flew 15 feet away. Now if he drops his weapon it doesn't fly completely away and he can grab it right back as a swift action. Hooray!

Mok - I can't say much about the others, but the weapon cord at least was an instant buy for the oracle in our game who had the 'ghost' curse, where anything he dropped flew 15 feet away. Now if he drops his weapon it doesn't fly completely away and he can grab it right back as a swift action. Hooray!

Unless the haunts can make the cord snap. Which they totally could in my games. You'd be lucky if they didn't strangle you for trying to weasel out of a curse.

There have been a couple of characters in some fictional books that would used a sheathed weapon to beat foes that were not worthy of their full skills. One such character is in Star Ocean 3.

Personally I really like the combat Scabbard and intend to use it with a ranger type character at some point in the future... I'm thinking Quick Draw and equipment trick at first level, free two weapon fighting at second and exotic weapon proficiency(bastard sword) at third.

Quick draw and hit them with the sheath before I full attack with a bastard sword and short sword... 3 attacks by level 3. For future fun the sheath will probably be +1 throwing/returning.

Must have... just one question. Would you guys say this is more Arms&Equipment-y, or Whole Realms Catalog-y? Either way, I wants it my precious, I wants it.

From the little I've seen of it Arms & Equipment.

There are also a few feats and a good number of traits. I am very happy with it!

I guess I will wait until the PDF gets the corrections it seems to need before getting this myself.

When can we expect the errata or corrected PDF version?

Karui Kage wrote:

Mok - I can't say much about the others, but the weapon cord at least was an instant buy for the oracle in our game who had the 'ghost' curse, where anything he dropped flew 15 feet away. Now if he drops his weapon it doesn't fly completely away and he can grab it right back as a swift action. Hooray!

Unless the haunts can make the cord snap. Which they totally could in my games. You'd be lucky if they didn't strangle you for trying to weasel out of a curse.

Eh, I'm fine with it. The haunts make it fly 15 feet away, the cord prevents that. To be honest, that bit is really the smallest part of the curse, the most annoying bit is the standard action it takes to get potions/scrolls/etc. out, which nothing can really change.

The sneezing powder looks suspicious. 60 gp and TWO POUNDS of powder really seem a lot for one dose. :)

So in what way is this book “optimized” for the Pathfinder Chronicles (Golarian) campaign setting?

Also, I have noticed this with the other Companion books that they are elves “of Golarian” or dwarves “of Golarian”. The Companion books are more geared towards playing Chronicles.

I know one thing I liked about D&D 3.5, when you saw the specialized books (like Races of Stone, Races of the Wild, etc. or the Complete books) they weren’t geared towards any of WoTC’s campaign worlds, they were just a general book you could use for any campaign.

Are you going to come out with more specialized race/class books that can be used with any campaign setting, that are not geared more towards Golarian or optimized for it?

Yes, I know it also says the Adventurer’s Armory can be used for any campaign setting and it can probably be said for the racial books, as well. But I know with my DM, he will see the Dwaves of Golarian or Elves of Golarian and say they can’t be used. Unless we do decide to go down the Chronicles route.

Companions are player-friendly Golarion books with varying degree of usefulness for other settings. The blurb at the TOC page reads:

"This Pathfinder Companion book works best with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook and the
Pathfinder Bestiary. Although it is suitable for play in any fantasy world, it is optimized
for the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting."

And that's what it is :)

I guess I will wait until the PDF gets the corrections it seems to need before getting this myself.

When can we expect the errata or corrected PDF version?

No need to wait. Once you've purchased the PDF you can always go back and re-download the most recent version of it.

Companions are player-friendly Golarion books with varying degree of usefulness for other settings. The blurb at the TOC page reads:

"This Pathfinder Companion book works best with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook and the
Pathfinder Bestiary. Although it is suitable for play in any fantasy world, it is optimized
for the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting."

And that's what it is :)

Yes, I know, I did bring that up in my post, as well. Which is why I clarified on what does Paizo mean on “optimized for the Chronicles campaign setting”.

And even though I am sure you can use the other Companion books with a homebrew setting, as I said, my DM will see the Elves of Golarian or Dwarves of Golarian and may not allow it.

Elves of Golarion don't have such a "generic, but optimized for Golarion" statement. It is a very Golarion book, with some bits that might be of use in other settings.

Elves of Golarion don't have such a "generic, but optimized for Golarion" statement. It is a very Golarion book, with some bits that might be of use in other settings.

Yes, and that's what I was getting at. If we play Chronicles, it's all good. But if we do a generic campaign, I hope Paizo releases some specialized racial/class books that are generalized as well. Meaning, not geared or optimized towards Chronicles.

Optimized in this case would appear to mean "everything in this book has a place in Golarion". So people using the Golarion setting don't need to worry about deciding if a given item in the book exists in the setting.

Optimized in this case would appear to mean "everything in this book has a place in Golarion". So people using the Golarion setting don't need to worry about deciding if a given item in the book exists in the setting.

Hmm, ok. Well, that's a bit what I was talking about. I can hear the "the book is balanced for Golarian" from my DM. :D

The problem with his balancing argument, and he used the same when playing 3.5 D&D, is he found official (WoTC) 3.5 books that were not balanced (by his opinion).

I tell him being the DM, he should make the decision himself what is balanced or not. But his argument is he wants to just wants to be able to tell from the book if it is made for general use than for a specific setting. And I guess I can kind of see his point.

Either way, unless he reads into the description on your website (which I don't think he will) he will see "Pathfinder" and feel it it is good enough.

Hopefully we can just play Chronicles, it would just make everything so much easier.

Any firearms in here or expanded artillery? It'd save me tons of work on our PF SpellJammer campaign we're working on... :P

Ernest Mueller wrote:

Just read some of this. So this has a lot of good equipment, bit I'm personally disappointed at the huge missed opportunity to have cultural origins for the weapons.

1. Space.

2. Space.

3. Space.

I can certainly appreciate this and also understand that enforcing weapon availability wouldn't make it to every game table.

However, given the richness and diversity of Golarion, I would gladly pay for a supplement that equipment origins and the most common weapons/armors available by region.

Call me crazy, but I don't think every weapon or armor shop in Golarion should allow one to walk out equipped like a knight in full plate with a longsword or bastard sword.

Whether it would be released as a PDF, a separate book, a reprint, or a web-enhancement, I'd love to see (and gladly pay for) this type of source material.

Any firearms in here or expanded artillery? It'd save me tons of work on our PF SpellJammer campaign we're working on... :P

NM, finally found in thread where they aren't. Darnit. :P

The sneezing powder looks suspicious. 60 gp and TWO POUNDS of powder really seem a lot for one dose. :)

For a thrown weapon that covers a 5' square 2 lbs seems adequate enough to cover that area. If this was to be used as a ranged touch fashion a smaller portion would be more appropriate.