One of the games I'm involved with right now has a Vanara Monk, who is looking to trail the "Monkey King Legend" closely - in fact, worships the entity as a God and aspires to be like him, so they can feast in the beyond. Pretty neat, considering he went straight for the original legend, and not one of the anime spinoffs... Heh.
ANYWAY - the complication.
The player wants a magic weapon that basically does the Monkey King's extending trick. This would essentially be a staff that can threaten up to 10ft away instead of only 5ft. For the purpose of the character (and considering the party's on the cusp of 8th level), it doesn't seem like it would be too bad a thing to allow. I'm just not sure such an enchantment option already exists. Does it?
Is there a magical property that already exists (preferably 1st party Pathfinder), or will I need to roll with a custom ability to compensate?
If there isn't an existing option, here's what I propose:
* Weapon must be +1 first (of course)
* Use system for continuous spell effect, with a modified function. In this case, Enlarge Person, though the spell would be applied effectively to the weapon provide no other bonus than the reach effect.
* Total cost being about 4,000gp for the constant effect, or 6,300gp for a +1 "Extending" quarterstaff. Probably double the 4,000 for cause of purpose.
* Or 22,300 for a +1 Ki Focus, ???, Extending Quarterstaff.
(Note: The ??? are because I can't remember the weapon mod... It was a +1 that allowed use of Wisdom in place of STR for Attack and Damage rolls - it was from a 2008 Pathfinder resource, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called or where it was from).
So to reiterate: Is there an already existing ability to fulfill this need?
If there is no such thing, do you feel my compromise is a reasonable one?
Edit: The weapon property was called "Guided", for a +1 it let you use Wisdom in place of strength (though not x1.5 with a 2h), and imposed a -2 on attacks with it relying on Strength instead. It's technically non-core, but as from "Pathfinder 10: History of Ashes"
he wants reach? treat it as a quarterstaff with reach. no special property needed, and he can fake the extending part with the lunge feat.
reach doesn't need to be a magical property. it's a mundane weapon property. just make it from a bigger stick.
if you want to charge for the reach part, you can replace the double weapon part, or add like 5 gold pieces to the price of this longer ((but not harder hitting)) stick.
(I'll take that as a "no such thing exists")
Well, it sounds good and all, but there are still two things:
1) "Reach: You use a reach weapon to strike opponents 10 feet away, but you can't use it against an adjacent foe."
True that reach doesn't need to be a magical property (that it's possessed by mundane objects), though all mundane reach objects that don't involve chain disallow you to threaten adjacent with it. We're looking to make a weapon that can strike 10ft away, and within 5ft as well, preferably without a feat or bending (ba-dum-tiss) the rules if at all avoidable.
2) In the legend, the staff could extend to strike targets, and it's the feel we're trying to match, though still within reasonable guidelines for the game itself. Also, he's interested in keeping it magical to fit the story. I guess the idea is to have it be a sort of unspoken gift from his role-model, though still applying it to his 7th level starting wealth pool (he's joining in later).
Do you think: "Extending" - adding +5ft to a weapon's threatened area, applicable only to wooden-body weapons, would be a reasonable +1 Enhancement mod? Magical extension of course. Would actually probably require some Druid-ish spell to make (Possibly Warp Wood).
This would make a +1 Extending, Guided staff cost effectively cost 18,300gp - which is easily within his budget.
The real trick is to maintain threat at both 5ft and 10ft without the spending of a feat, and he is willing to pay for it. It's just a matter of coming to a reasonable solution, which I personally don't think is hard (I'm mediating with him and our GM for a resolution though the GM thinks it should probably take a feat and he's already accounted for his - though the GM is open minded).
Instead of making it constant make it command word, and then use wood shape instead of warp wood which calculates as a +10800gp. Alternatively you could use the transformative weapon enhancement at +10000gp, it doesn't specify that you can change reach category but otherwise it's the most appropriate preexisting enhancement. Though unless you made it a free or immediate action to change shape it couldn't threaten at both 5 and 10 ft at the same time.
There's a weapon in the first book of the Skull & Shackles AP that can do the extending trick you're looking for, it's called the boarding pike of repelling:
Boarding Pike of Repelling
Aura: Faint Transmutation
CL: 5th
Slot: None (Weapon)
Price: 4308gp
Weight: 9lbs---
This +1 boarding pike (Pathfinder Player Companion: Pirates of the Inner Sea 18) is an 8 foot long pole topped with a tapered metal spear point and a backwards-facing hook, used to draw vessels together or repel boarders. A metal skull caps the butt of the pike.
On command, a boarding pike of repelling can extend as a swift action, giving the wielder a reach of 20 ft. for 1 round. While the pike is extended the wielder does not threaten adjacent creatures, or creatures up to 15 ft. away.
---
Requirements: Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Wood Shape
Cost to make: 2308 gp
I'd suggest using that as a base, changing the boarding pike to a quarterstaff, and working from there. It performs the trick he wants while not being ridiculously powerful too, which is useful.
Yebng: True about the Transformative property - and pretty interesting option. Would require a total of 12,300gp wich is 850gp over half his starting total, though I'm sure the GM would be OK with that. Good additional option.
Gluttony: That is a really interesting thing to use for a base... I'm thinking if you couple that idea (reduced to 10ft) with Shuriken Nekogami's suggestion of a longer staff, it could mechanically fill the gap with a preceding official example.
Hmm... Considering all of the above, how does this sound?
Long exotic staff meant to be held in such a way that one end has Reach, while the other can strike adjacent. Apply the premise of "Boarding Pike of Repelling", allowing a swift action command to change its threat from 10ft/5ft to 15ft/10ft (giving +5ft to each end and leaving 5ft without threat until reverted)? Using the double-weapon rules, which you'd need to for the purpose of the long staff suggestion, it would cost 8,608gp to enchant each side respectively at +1.
That actually sounds really neat!
If the GM wasn't actually good with that specifically, Yebng's Transformative idea could fill the gap reasonably when applied to the staff concept, though it would still probably be an Exotic weapon.
I'm liking this - thanks for the assistance so far!
Does the above I suggested sound reasonable?
One of the games I'm involved with right now has a Vanara Monk, who is looking to trail the "Monkey King Legend" closely - in fact, worships the entity as a God and aspires to be like him, so they can feast in the beyond. Pretty neat, considering he went straight for the original legend, and not one of the anime spinoffs... Heh.
ANYWAY - the complication.
The player wants a magic weapon that basically does the Monkey King's extending trick. This would essentially be a staff that can threaten up to 10ft away instead of only 5ft. For the purpose of the character (and considering the party's on the cusp of 8th level), it doesn't seem like it would be too bad a thing to allow. I'm just not sure such an enchantment option already exists. Does it?
Is there a magical property that already exists (preferably 1st party Pathfinder), or will I need to roll with a custom ability to compensate?
If there isn't an existing option, here's what I propose:
* Weapon must be +1 first (of course)
* Use system for continuous spell effect, with a modified function. In this case, Enlarge Person, though the spell would be applied effectively to the weapon provide no other bonus than the reach effect.
* Total cost being about 4,000gp for the constant effect, or 6,300gp for a +1 "Extending" quarterstaff. Probably double the 4,000 for cause of purpose.
* Or 22,300 for a +1 Ki Focus, ???, Extending Quarterstaff.
(Note: The ??? are because I can't remember the weapon mod... It was a +1 that allowed use of Wisdom in place of STR for Attack and Damage rolls - it was from a 2008 Pathfinder resource, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called or where it was from).So to reiterate: Is there an already existing ability to fulfill this need?
If there is no such thing, do you feel my compromise is a reasonable one?Edit: The weapon property was called "Guided", for a +1 it let you use Wisdom in place of strength (though not x1.5 with a 2h), and imposed a -2 on attacks with it relying on Strength instead. It's...
As far as an actual item property is concerned, I do not see one. There are feats and such that you can apply on items to give them that, so offering a weapon that would grant the respective feat and such would be appropriate, since there are Wondrous Items that have properties of weapon enhancements and such. (e.g. Gloves of Weapon Focus)
Making your own item is up to you to make your own rules in regards to how the unique properties are priced; my GM has given us a couple items from the other 3.x+ books, and you may find what you're looking for in those as well. If not, then it's back to the drawing board. In regards to that, I believe the limitation should be applied to only two-handed weapons, and that it should work vice-versa; a 2h weapon with 5 ft. reach should be able to affect 10 ft., and a 2h weapon with 10 ft. reach should be able to affect 5 ft.
For the ???, I would suggest the Ki Focus property, allowing the staff to be used in conjunction with Ki options, instead of the Guided, which isn't as official.
However, you need to understand the base Price modifiers for weapons. You take 2,000 multiplied by the Enhancement Bonus^2. For a +1 Ki Focus "Extension" Quarterstaff, that's 18,000; not including Special Material costs, and the Masterwork Costs, and the Base cost, etc.
Getting a Superior Wyrwood +3 Enhancement Quarterstaff would amount to a total of 22,305 gold.
Another thing to remember is that you can only apply enhancements to one section of a Double Weapon in regards to enhancement bonuses. So if you're going to apply all of those enhancements, it will only be for one side of the Quarterstaff. The other side will not get those enhancements.
There is a reason why I don't piddle around with Double Weapons, and that kind of stuff is the exact reason why.
Yeah... It's nice to be able to enchant each end separately, though it can also be a tremendous pain in the rear. I think the GM would allow him to enchant it as a single weapon if he didn't seek to vary each side, but that's up in the air.
It's looking like he can get what he's after for 8,616gp using the above Pike as a guideline, though only at +1 on each end. Then again, he's getting it for style more than power - his unarmed strikes will easily be doing more.
As for the Guided property... It IS actually on the pfd20srd under a Pathfinder source. Weird that it hasn't been filed in with the regular stuff yet, considering there's a Dex equivalent one there. Huh.