Any thoughts on "reptilian death" minor artiffact?

[Maklak]

At first glance, it appears to be a crudely made shortbow coloured dark gray (as opposed to most wood being brown). Detect magic reveals a strong conjuration aura, but otherwise it seems to be a +1 shortbow. Unlike some magical weapons, this one doesn't emit light.

It is a bow called "Reptilian Death". It is a bane of all reptiles and amphibians: Dargons, Kobolds, Dinosaurs, Crockodiles, Lizards, Lizardmen, Frogs, Boggarts, Nagas, Snakes and so on. In addition, each hit with this bow on a reptile or amphibian dazes it for 1 round, unless it makes a DC 20 Fortitude save. The durations from failed saves add up if the creature is hit multiple times in a round.

A shortbow can be used from a horse, while a longbow can't. Bane raises Enchancement bonus against that type of enemy by 2 and deals extra 2d6 damage.

Optional: It is a composite shortbow with "Adaptive" property (that normally costs +1), meaning it adjusts to the strength of the wearer in +0 to +5 range. Maybe increase the basic enchancement bonus to +2 or +3? Maybe upgrade Daze to Paralysis, but that would be a very nasty surprise for flyers.

This thing is a reference to "Juka Lord" bows from Ultima Online. They could be upgraded with gears to various slayer weapons, including reptilian death. "Paralysing blow" was a special on bows in UO and it stopped enemies for 3 seconds.

I want this thing to be pretty strong, especially at lower levels and basically tear through anything weaker than a Wyvern. It should still be pretty scary against true Dragons, but not nearly as good as a +2 dragonbane +1d6 elemental damage keen +5 strength longbow.

I don't have a clear idea how it could be destroyed, but it should involve doing something beneficial to reptiles or amphibians. Covering it in frog eggs until they hatch and consume it would be too easy.

[Ascalaphus]

What's the background of this thing? Why would someone WANT to destroy this thing? Well, obviously long-term thinking dragons might want to get rid of it, just in case. Don't need this falling in the hands of a Ranger with FE: Dragons.

So what's stopping dragons from arranging a special forces operation to get this thing? I'm thinking any serious artifact needs defenses against easily finding it with divination. As a bonus, whatever power the artifact uses to hide from dragon-divination may also protect the wielder from being casually Dominated by dragons into surrendering the bow.

It should definitely have Adaptive and probably also appropriate Bane. Maybe the Enhancement bonus scales a bit according to the level of the user; compare how the One Ring is supposed to be more powerful in the hands of Galadriel than it is on Frodo's finger. Important side benefit: the bonus will not become "backwards" in WBL terms.

I'd be careful with the Daze powers. PF was built with a minimum of stun-lock powers, and I personally like to hold onto that philosophy. Note that dragons are immune to Paralysis, but most other reptiles aren't. You can play around with that.

[Maklak]

Thanks.

Background information on artefacts is often unknown / mysterious, so not much info is needed. Let's say some minor godling or a powerful demon had a feud with several others, such as Gogunta (Boggarts) and Gozren (Lizardmen) and made some of these bows just to spite his enemies. The somewhat crude design (the bows look plain and not masterwork at all) is as much an effect of lack of skill, imagination and patience as a deliberate attempt to make reptilian deaths into a nasty surprise.

While these bows have no intelligence and no Ego score, they tend to find their way into the hands of those who can use them, such as swamp-dwelling rangers. If something is guiding the fate of these bows, it seems to be more concerned with quantity of slain enemies than quality, so to speak. Because these bows look so ordinary, it is easy for their owners to pretend they're nothing special and that they're just great shots or lucky. These bows sometimes show up in armouries, among dozens of similar weapons, without a good explanation of how they got there.

As for Dragons questing to destroy reptilian deaths, they are not easy to find (will register as +1 shortbows to divination), aren't such a big threat to begin with (well, compared to a 100kgp custom enchanted bow that an adventurer might have) and just like the book of vile darkness, no matter how many are destroyed, a few more are created each millennium or so.

That these weapons work against Dragons at all is a (welcome) side-effect rather than a deliberate decision. Reptilian death offers no protection against dragons to its wearer and have no mind-affecting or abjuration effects of any kind. They don't even instil the desire to kill any lizard or amphibian on sight, and are merely good tools to do so. Still, if unused for too long, they tend to find their way into more someone else's hands, weather by trade, theft or other serendipitous means.

Another interesting side-effect is that they work both against true form and polymorphed form. Which means they work both against humans polymorped into lizardfolk and dragons polymorphed into humans. Any such creature whose flesh touches reptilian death takes 2d6 damage per round, bypassing DR and must make a DC 20 Willpower save or drop it. Gloves aren't enough to prevent this effect, but tongs and telekinesis work.

> It should definitely have Adaptive and probably also appropriate Bane.
It has bane against all reptiles and amphibians. Adaptive would take this weapon from the "OK against reptiles, joke against anything else" territory to "OMGZ, gimme!", which I don't really want. I want these bows to become backwards compared to a +5 dragonbane composite longbow, but still worth keeping around for hunting crocodiles for their leather and similar lower-level threats. And definitely something that a lvl 3 ranger hunting in a swamp would prize.

> Maybe the Enhancement bonus scales a bit according to the level of the user
I don't like level scaling and the creator of these bows definitely didn't have enough imagination to make the bow unlock it's powers based on the "worth" of it's wearer. He doesn't care if it is used by lvl 6 ranger with FE:Lizardmen or a lvl 1 commoner, as long as it is used to kill reptiles. The maker of the one ring had much more foresight than whoever makes these bows.

Still, there could be a few different variants, some of them more powerful, as any design is improved over time. Or it could absorb a small part of the lifeforce of slain enemies (while leeching XP from the party) and "level up". But I think it should instead forever remain +1 reptilian_and_amphibian bane (keen?) shortbow.

> I'd be careful with the Daze powers.
Hm, I wanted to give it some special power to offset the fact that +1 bane shortbow is in itself nothing special. Maybe make it keen, even if bows normally don't have this property (19-20, x3) and make it daze or paralyse it's intended targets for one round (durations stacking) on critical hits. But then with 4 attacks, extra shot, many shot and haste, that 10% would work about half the time, which would be OP at high level against a dragon. Shaken, sickened or frightened might also make good status effects for this.