| 3 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
There have been several - ultimately inconclusive - attempts on these forums to make sense of the rules that govern the use of the net:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2t346?Request-for-FAQErrata-regarding-Net-Feats
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2n1zs?All-Tangled-up
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2r5ys?Net-rules-are-very-weird-and-unclear
With this post, I would like to present a proposal I made to our GM on how to interpret the rules concerning this weapon in our campaign. It is a close reading of the rules, with suggested rulings stated as affirmative clauses, but only as the basis for discussion. Your comments and criticism would thus be welcome.
Please note that this post deals only with the net, not with the snag net, which is a different weapon.
I. The Net as a Thrown Ranged Weapon
1. Classification
a) The net is an exotic weapon; if you use it without the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Net) feat, you suffer a -4 penalty to attack rolls. It is listed in the ranged exotic weapons table and is exclusively a thrown weapon – you cannot use it as a mellee weapon or deliver combat maneuvers with it unless you have the Net Adept feat.
2. Handedness and Two-handed Use
a) The net’s entry in the weapons section doesn’t specify handedness, but the “two weapon fighting > thrown weapons” entry in the combat section of the CRB mentions that “when you throw a weapon from each hand you (...) treat a bolas, javelin, net, or sling as a one-handed weapon”. This reading takes precedence over the text in the “Net and Trident” feat, which erroneously states that the net is normally “a two-handed ranged weapon”.
b) Therefore, when thrown, the net can be used one-handed as a non-light weapon, but only in conjunction with another thrown weapon (or an empty hand). You can not use the net as a one-handed thrown weapon while wielding a shield, or a weapon which cannot be thrown.
c) After it has been thrown, one hand is needed to hold the trailing rope if you want to continue to control the net. For as long as you do, you are still wielding it as a one-handed, non-light weapon and take the appropriate penalties if fighting with a second weapon, which may only be a thrown weapon. As above, this still precludes you from using a shield, or a weapon which cannot be thrown.
d) After the net has been thrown and the trailing rope remains in your hand, thrown weapons wielded in your other hand can but do not have to be thrown. You may thus use a dagger, javelin, throwing axe, trident etc. to stab or slash while controlling the net’s trailing rope.
e) Attacking with both the net and another weapon in the same round requires a full round action and thus precludes movement. You may however take a five foot step before, after, or between the two attacks, and thus throw the net at 10 foot range, step 5 feet and attack the target from an adjacent square.
f) If you are only holding on to the trailing rope, you can move and attack normally but still suffer the appropriate two weapon fighting penalty for wielding the net in your off hand. Similarly, you can move and then throw the net, while holding but not using a thrown weapon in your off hand, but will suffer the appropriate two weapon fighting penalty.
2. Net Folding before Use
a) A net must be folded to be thrown effectively. The first time you throw your net in a fight, you make a normal ranged touch attack roll. If you miss, the net is unfolded and you take a –4 penalty on further throwing attempts with it.
b) If you hit, you cannot use the net to attack again for as long as there is an entangled target inside it.
c) It takes 2 rounds for a proficient user to fold a net and twice that long for a non-proficient one to do so. With the Net Adept feat, it takes only one full round action or two move actions to fold a net.
3. Making the Ranged Attack
a) When you throw the net you make a ranged touch attack (BAB + dex-bonus vs. opponents dex-bonus + 10; natural armor, armor, and shields do not count). The net is thus highly effective against heavily armored, low dex opponents – but only when you use it as a thrown weapon. An opponent’s loss of AC may offset even the -4 to hit of an untrained net user or a trained dual-wielder.
b) A net's maximum range is 10 feet – you cannot throw it any further. You can throw the net onto an opponent in an adjacent square (5 ft range) at no penalty. However, making a ranged attack from inside an opponent’s threatened square provokes an AOO.
c) As a thrown weapon, the net does not threaten any squares. It can however be readied with the condition of an enemy coming into range and thus be used to interrupt an enemy’s attack.
II. The Net as a Melee Weapon
1. Classification
a) Only with at least +1 BAB and after you take the Net Adept feat can you use the net as a one-handed melee reach weapon.
b) Using the net as a melee weapon means you attack using BAB + str (rather than dex) bonus and do not draw an AOO when attacking from within an opponent’s threatened square.
c) Using the net as a melee weapon is a regular melee attack, not a touch attack.
d) As a melee weapon, the net has 10-foot reach. To attack an opponent in an adjacent square, you must first take a 5ft step away from him or use the net as a thrown weapon, provoking an AOO as outlined above. Similarly, you may use the net to deliver AOOs on opponents who enter your threatened squares.
e) As a one-handed melee weapon, you can now wield it with any other one-handed weapon in the other hand. However, you may still only throw it while wielding another thrown weapon, as outlined above. The melee net is still not a light weapon, so you suffer the appropriate penalties for attacking with two weapons.
d) When you use the net as a melee weapon, you do not take a penalty for using an unfolded net.
e) Using the net as a melee weapon does not unfold the net.
2. Benefits of the Net and Trident Feat (Requires Two Weapon Fighting Feat)
a) You can treat a net as a one-handed ranged weapon, allowing you to wield any light or one-handed melee weapon (not just thrown ones, as before, or tridents, as the title suggests) and also make ranged or mellee attacks with your net.
b) When you use your light or one-handed melee weapon to attack an entangled opponent, you gain a +2 bonus on damage rolls and on attack rolls to confirm a critical hit.
3. Using the Net to deliver Combat Maneuvers
a) Wielded as a melee weapon, the net can be used to deliver combat maneuvers such as trip or disarm instead of entangling opponents. No feats other than Net Adept are required for this.
b) Using Combat Maneuvers provokes an AOO if you do not have other feats to prevent it, but since you are be doing so from ten feet away, only foes who can attack at reach will be able to attack you at that range.
c) The Net Maneuvering feat lets you use a net to deliver combat maneuvers instead of entangling opponents as though it had the trip and disarm qualifiers. You gain a +2 bonus on trip and disarm checks made to use a net in this way and can drop the net rather than be disarmed or tripped yourself. Further, if you have an opponent entangled in your net, you can attempt to drag or reposition that opponent as long as he is within your net’s reach and you control the trailing rope of your net.
d) The Net Trickery feat allows you to use your net to attempt a dirty trick combat maneuver to blind an opponent instead of entangling opponents. Also, if you have an opponent entangled in your net, you can attempt to trip that opponent as long as he is within your net’s reach or you control the trailing rope on your net. You also gain a +2 bonus on drag and reposition combat maneuver checks you make using your net.
III. Effects on Target
1. Entanglement
a) If you hit, the net entangles the target but deals no damage. This precludes it from delivering sneak attack bonus damage.
b) An entangled creature takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls and a –4 penalty on dexterity. The condition thus reduces the opponents AC, CMD and CMB by two.
c) An entangled creature can only move at only half speed, and cannot charge or run. These restrictions take effect as soon as the creature is hit and can thus be used to break up a charge.
d) If the entangled creature attempts to cast a spell, it must make a concentration check with a DC of 15 + the spell's level (17 with a snag net) or be unable to cast the spell.
e) If you control (hold on to) the net’s trailing rope, the entangled creature can move only within the 10 foot limit that the rope allows unless it beats you in an opposed Strength check. If you lose, you drop or break the rope and are thus no longer wielding or controling the net, turning it into an inanimate object. The creature is however still entangled by the web.
f) You cannot pull the entangled creature by pulling on the trailing rope, or use the net to deliver combat maneuvers such as move or trip unless you have the Net Adept Feat and can use it as a mellee weapon. You can however use other weapons or your hands to do so, either letting go of the net or dual-wielding the weapon in your other hand at the appropriate penalty.
2. Breaking Free
a) An entangled creature can escape with a DC 20 Escape Artist check or burst it with a DC 25 Strength check; both full-round actions that provoke AOOs.
b) The net cannot be attacked with a weapon by the creature caught in it while the trailing rope is being held. Attacks on the creature inside the net do not damage the net.
3. Attacking the Net
a) The net can be attacked from the outside, but this requires a cutting weapon. Attacking the net does not damage the creature entangled in it.
b)If the net is still being held, attacking the net is a Sunder Combat Maneuver that provokes an AOO.
c) If the net’s trailing rope is not being held, it can be attacked freely from within or outside as an inanimate object. Attacks are against AC 5 (10 base, -5 for 0 dex). Creatures caught in the net still suffer the effects of entanglement, even when the rope is not being held.
d) The net has 5 hit points and 0 hardness; add 10 hp and 2 hardness for every level of +1 enchantment. Damaged nets gain the broken condition but can continue to be used at -2 to hit. Destroying the net ends the entanglement; a destroyed net cannot be used again.
IV. Repairing Broken Nets
a) Damaged nets can be repaired with an application of the appropriate craft skill. The net as an exotic weapon is rated at DC 18. You may “Take 20” on this roll. Repairing the net costs “one fifth of the original price”, 4gp in materials.
b) The mending cantrip/orison restores 1d4 hp to the net and removes the broken condition if the net has at least 3 hp after the spell is cast.