Umm...
Darkwood
This rare magic wood is as hard as normal wood but very light.
Any wooden or mostly wooden item (such as a bow or spear) made from darkwood is considered a masterwork item and weighs only half as much as a normal wooden item of that type.Items not normally made of wood or only partially of wood (such as a battleaxe or a mace) either cannot be made from darkwood or do not gain any special benefit from being made of darkwood. The armor check penalty of a darkwood shield is lessened by 2 compared to an ordinary shield of its type.HP/inch 10
Hardness 5
Cost To determine the price of a darkwood item, use the original weight but add 10 gp per pound to the price of a masterwork version of that item.
then...
Shield, light wooden 3 gp +1(ac) –1(penalty) 5%(arcane failure) 5 lbs(weight).
If we use the rules for Darkwood to make that ^ into a Darkwood shield it would match EXACTLY to what "Darkwood Buckler" stats and price would be
If used on a buckler it would have the same stats but be priced at 205g instead of 203g
I think RAI it was supposed to act as a buckler (if not WHY NAME IT THAT) but using the RAW of making a shield out of Darkwood it matches a light wooden shield, not a buckler
Yes...its ONLY a 2g difference...but thats the exact difference if you happen to make each item separately out of Darkwood but I don't even know if you can make a buckler out of darkwood for sure tbh
In a previous thread it was pointed out to me that the buckler description specifically calls them out as being made of metal... and thus actual bucklers are not eligible to be made of darkwood.
That said, I think that's really dumb & think most people would be happy to house rule handwave their way around that. If you want to (or have to) be strict about RAW, well no darkwood (actual) bucklers for you - save your cash and buy mithril.
I agree as to it being dumb and think it should be treated as a buckler...but I always answer based on the rules first, then give opinion :)
I don't see why your GM wouldn't allow you to have an ACTUAL Darkwood "buckler", as you can see based off my other thread the only real difference in anything is 2gp between a light wooden shield and a buckler being made into Darkwood versions
Personally, I believe it is supposed to be a darkwood light shield.
Which is more likely to happen - one thing being wrong about it (the name), or three things being wrong about it (the cost, bucklers being made of metal and so can't normally be made of darkwood, and its description)?
But then again, I dislike how bucklers are treated anyway. They were held in the hand, not strapped to the arm, and very well could be used to attack with.
Lesson...number...1, Darkwood bucklers...there's no such thing.
...by strict RAW ... there is no such thing.
Lesson...number...1, Darkwood bucklers...there's no such thing.
Not that I want to cast raise thread, but this is wrong. By RAW you can have a wooden buckler.
If you flip through the Gamemastery Guide, on page 116 (I could be wrong cause last time I checked I used a PDF and wasn't paying close attention and don't feel like double checking the page number now, so correct me if I am) there's a table for random loot, table 5-4, that references rolling random shields. On that table there's a special material column to indicate what special materials you can roll for if you get that. Buckler says "wood, steel" and then on the appropriate random material table, table 5-7, you see that darkwood is one of the materials listed.
So it's pretty clear that bucklers can be made out of wood and darkwood for that matter. Otherwise why would that be there?
Edit: typos and grammar
For what it's worth, nothing in the Gamemastery guide is a legal rules source for PFS.
I understand that. I was referring to the "by strict RAW" part and that's actually why I omit the PFS part of the quote. And responded with by RAW.
I don't play PFS and therefore don't know enough to speak for it.