| CAHaugen |
Got bored at work and began thinking about the Dwarvenforged and Elvencraft Armor and Weapons. I began realizing how I've yet to read anything on Orcish Armor and Weapons. Thought it'd give it a go and create a system for them. A bit overpowered, but I feel it captures the essence of what an Orc truly is.
Orcish Armor and Weapons;
Warforged Armor and Warforged Weapons.
Orcs are brutal, there’s no doubt about that. But the question of their brutality arises when their methods of carnage and chaos are simply mundane. Now, with seasoned experience, a smith can forge armor and weapons the way Orcs do; Fiercely.
Orcs have taken to calling their methods by several different names, depending on the tribe you associate it with. Bloodskin, Ironhide, and Vileflesh are typical names for armor, whereas Crushing, Fierce, and Brutal are typical names for weapons. All-in-all, the actual “art” (assuming it can be called that) of forging anything the way the Orcs do is generally called “Warforged” by the rest of society.
Warforged Armors and Warforged Weapons have a very unique method of crafting them. They are typically uneven in both thickness and width. Their edges are usually sharpened, even if that particular edge isn’t meant to be. They are excessively heavy, making them very difficult to wield appropriately. They tend to be bulky and cumbersome as well. But all of this comes with a great benefit. They have astoundingly high defense and tend to multipurpose themselves in the midst of combat. Each item must be crafted as a Warforged item during it’s initial creation. Although crude and completely ignorant in any typical design, a true Warforged item is always a Masterwork item because Orcs may be dumb, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t smart. A Warforged piece of Armor costs an additional 1,200 gold, whereas a Warforged Weapon costs an additional 650 gold. For Double Weapons, the price is doubled. Although some Orcs wield Shields, in their general society a Shield is considered pathetic and a symbol of weakness. Therefore, there is no such thing as a “Warforged Shield”.
Firstly, Warforged Armor can never be Light. It can be considered Light if it is a Medium suit of armor that has the material made of Mithral, but something such as Leather can not be made in this fashion. Additionally, in order to benefit from Warforged’s bonuses, it must be made of metal. Crystal, stone, bone, wood, leather, scale, coral, and other similar materials do not count. When attempting to make a Warforged suit of Armor, add an additional +10 to the Craft (Armorsmithing) DC. Warforged Armor must also be some sort of “plate”; Chainmail and such that drapes can not be Warforged. A suit of Warforged Armor benefits from it’s drawbacks. Firstly, it’s Dex AC, if any, is reduced by one if Medium, or two if Heavy. However, for each point the Dex AC is penalized, the AC is improved by the Dex AC loss plus one. So a Medium Warforged Breastplate will have an AC of +7 and a Dex AC of +2, rather than +5 and +3. Additionally, a Warforged suit of Armor comes complete with your choice of Armor Spikes or Armor Razors. However, you must still have the appropriate Feat to use them without penalty. They are only considered Exotic if the suit of armor you are attempting to craft as Warforged is Exotic. They deal 1d4 for armor of Medium Size and 1d6 for armor of Large Size. Every Size greater than Large scales the damage up appropriately according to Weapon Size Damage. Rather than functioning by physically adding them to the armor per normal, they are forged from the flanges and creases of the armor’s natural physique. However, the additional thickness of the metal and the corrupted flanges cause it to be both heavier and bulkier. Your ACP is increased by -2 for Medium and -3 for Heavy. Your ASF increases by 10% for Medium and 20% for Heavy. The weight is also increased by +5 pounds for Medium and +10 pounds for Heavy. Lastly, the overall HP increases for the Armor by +10, regardless of it’s size or type.
A Medium Warforged Breastplate, therefore, has the following stats;
+1 Medium Warforged Breastplate;
AC: +7
Dex AC: +2
ACP: -6 (-5 with +1 Masterwork)
ASF: 35%
Weight: 40 lbs
Health: 35 HP.
Additions: Your choice of Armor Spikes (Piercing) or Armor Razors (Slashing) for 1d4 Damage.
A Warforged Weapon is actually a very unique design. The additional Craft (Weaponsmith) DC is +10. More often than not people assume Orcs do not understand basic fundamental mechanics, so a sword is often crooked or bent or an axe is often riddled with large cracks. The ironic truth of the matter is, they are crafted like this on purpose. A Warforged Weapon is of Masterwork Quality, despite the fact they do not appear to be so. They are carefully forged in such a manner that they are faulty in both design and function. But this is exactly what they want. A Warforged Weapon must be mostly metal. A sword can be Warforged, but a spear can not. For Hafted weapons, such as a greataxe or a halberd, because the head of the weapon is large enough, it can be Warforged. Essentially, if the weapon can naturally be thrown (Throwing axes, throwing knives, spears) or fired (Ammunition, arrows, bolts), then it can not be Warforged. This is because all weapons which are Warforged gain the Fragile component, which means that on a Nat 1 the weapon becomes Damaged (Rather than waiting to be Sundered below ½ HP), or if it is already Damaged it becomes Destroyed. This is in regardless of the fact most often a Masterwork Weapon can not be Fragile. The reason for these weapons becoming Fragile is that the Orcs have found a way to take this damaged quality and create even more carnage from them. When a Warforged Weapon becomes Damaged, it deals extra damage due to it’s fractured make. A “Fractured” Warforged Weapon loses it’s +1 Attack Bonus gained from it’s Masterwork Quality, but gains +2 Damage instead. On a Confirmed Critical this additional Damage is multiplied. Additionally, the weapon deals a number of Bleed Damage equal to 1 x Critical Multiplier. So a Fractured Warforged Greatsword will deal +4 Damage and +2 Bleed Damage on a Critical, while a Fractured Warforged Greataxe will deal +6 Damage and +3 Bleed Damage on a Critical*. It’s Critical Threat Range also increases by +1 (After modifiers such as Improved Critical). By breaking their own weapons, Orcs have found a way to make them even more lethal. However, a Fractured Warforged Weapon costs an additional 100 gold to repair, and an additional Craft (Weaponsmith) DC of +5. If the weapon is Destroyed, it can not be used – per normal rules. Additionally, because the Orcs purposely want their weapons to become Damaged, their Hardness is reduced by -2, however their overall HP remains in tact. This means it has physically less tensile strength, but it’s overall strength remains the same. While a Warforged Weapon retains it’s status as either an Exotic or a Non-Exotic Weapon, once it becomes Fractured, it becomes Exotic and the wielder succumbs to the appropriate penalties. Orcs treat Fractured Warforged Weapons as if they are not Exotic, and Half-Orcs still treat it as if it were Exotic but only suffer a -2 Attack Penalty rather than -4 if they do not have Exotic Weapon Proficiency.
*While many may argue that a Bludgeoning weapon can not cause Bleed Damage, it must also be understood that your Bludgeoning weapon is now Damaged; It has been riddled with cracks and full sections may have shattered off, making it quite sharp despite being blunt. So yes, it actually can. But it retains it's "Bludgeoning" type, since that's it's primary method of dealing damage.
A Medium Warforged Greataxe, therefore, has the following stats;
+1 Medium Warforged Greataxe;
Status: Martial Two-Handed
Attack Bonus: +1
Damage: 1d12
CTR: 20 / x3
Fractured Medium Warforged Greataxe;
Status: Exotic Two-Handed
Attack Bonus: None
Damage: 1d12 + 2
CTR: 19-20 / x3 (+3 Bleed Damage on Critical)
Pricing: I chose the 1,200/Armor and 650/Weapons because it literally "felt right". For adding in the qualities I have, I originally went with 900/Armor and 500/Weapons, but those felt to low. So I increased it to 1,200/Armor which I feel quite content with, and the weapons I jumped around a bit, but ultimately you are paying for something which gains no benefits until it's Damaged, which is literally one step from no longer being of any use. I settled on 650/Weapons only because of the potentially high Bleed Damage that you can cause on a Critical. If anyone feels this these are either to high or to low, just let me know and I'll fix it. I work very long 12-hour days in a factor, so I apologize if I don't remain "up-to-date" on it all.