As the party has gained the services of a competent dwarves smith the character has asked him if maybe he could make some sort of braced gauntlet with a locked grip to hold his bow, and if maybe one could add the buckler to it as well. my first thougt was "no", but then the next ws "why the hell not?"
So I'v been looking at magic items that do something similiar, I came across the transformative effect that is a +4 (or +5? I can't remember) which allows your weapon to change into any other weapon, which is way beyond what I'm thinking. then there is the fighters fork that can extend itself which is closer, but still a bit off.
So I'm a bit stumped, what I was thinking about first was that the smith can make some kind of hand-to-elbow contraption that has a deflecting surface like a buckler and has a folded up bow under it, pulling some lever on it will let clockwork and other smart things pull out the 2 sides of the bow and attach them to the hand and then extend the bow and string it. it's not magic, but engineering.
The effect will be to remove the penalties he usually have for holding the bow, thats it. I guess I can make the bow masterwork and keen (as almost everything the smith makes gets those added) but the bare bones is just the ability to hold the bow.
Then I thought of the locked gauntlet, price 8 gp.
So I don't know quite what rules or thoughts to use here,
1.) I could give him a custom extended locked guantlet with a buckler attached, to a cost of roughly (masterwork+guantlet+buckler) 163 gp (?) maybe with an added price for the custum build. he would have to manually attach the bow to his grip and securing it.
2.) some kind of fancy clockwork thingybob, standard (or maybe a move?) action to ready from "shieldmode" to "bowmode" at a price of: hell if I know.
3.) option 1.) -but with some sort of integrated crossbow (light or hand version, cost will be (masterwork+guantlet+buckler+handcrossbow)413 + maybe something extra for the custom job (enchantments can be added to both buckler and crossbow maybe)
4.) give up, stop overhinking it, say "I'm sorry but you'r hand will always be a problem, but with time maybe you can compensate in other ways"
(like increasing your bab, or maybe waiting until they find somebody who could cast restoration or some similiar spell - there is currently no such person in their game. but one of the npcs is starting on that road ... )
I'd be happy with any thoughts you'd like to share on the subject, because I seem to have mentally painted myself into a corner and can't decide.
-LO
Why is the dwarf wielding a longbow?
That is very cool.It makes quite a bit of sense also.The crossbow idea sounds better and it could be a heavy. The problem then is reloading. Get a repeating heavy crossbow and just ask if he has a feat he wishes to replace and BAM, give it to him then he can make his way to crossbow master. Or ask if he wants to trade in for rapid reload for a light of hand crossbow.
Strap the crossbow on his gauntlet and arm with...VELCRO! If you don't have that do it with rope and give it the Don heavy armor time to strap it on and off. Cost: Light crossbow: 60 GP Hand: 150 GP Heavy: 80 GP
EDIT: Crossbow Master
Prerequisites: Dex 15, Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Reload, Rapid Shot.
Benefit: The time required for you to reload any type of crossbow is reduced to a free action, regardless of the type of crossbow used. You can fire a crossbow as many times in a full attack action as you could attack if you were using a bow. Reloading a crossbow for the type of crossbow you chose when you took Rapid Reload no longer provokes attacks of opportunity.
Why is the dwarf wielding a longbow?
That is very cool.It makes quite a bit of sense also.The crossbow idea sounds better and it could be a heavy. The problem then is reloading. Get a repeating heavy crossbow and just ask if he has a feat he wishes to replace and BAM, give it to him then he can make his way to crossbow master. Or ask if he wants to trade in for rapid reload for a light of hand crossbow.Strap the crossbow on his gauntlet and arm with...VELCRO! If you don't have that do it with rope and give it the Don heavy armor time to strap it on and off. Cost: Light crossbow: 60 GP Hand: 150 GP Heavy: 80 GP
EDIT: Crossbow Master
Prerequisites: Dex 15, Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Reload, Rapid Shot.Benefit: The time required for you to reload any type of crossbow is reduced to a free action, regardless of the type of crossbow used. You can fire a crossbow as many times in a full attack action as you could attack if you were using a bow. Reloading a crossbow for the type of crossbow you chose when you took Rapid Reload no longer provokes attacks of opportunity.
oops sorry, guess I wasn't clear: the character is a human bard(magician), he has an ally that is a dwarf smith/engineer.
And I don't charge a feat for using repeating crossbows, I just make them rare, each item a story itself. Another character has recently aquired a custom repeating heavy crossbow, he calls it "cassandra".I like the idea of a crossbow-guantlet, but do you think that a STR 10 nobleman should be able to lift and hold (not to mention aim) a heavy crossbow with his damaged arm? sounds a bit ridiculous, the hand crossbow is no prob and maybe the light but I think nu-uh on the heavy.
what could be the cost of having it arm itself be?