Can a Wizard with the arcane bond feature begin play with a masterwork firearm as their bonded weapon?
Firearms are weapons so they should work just fine.
Can a Wizard with the arcane bond feature begin play with a masterwork firearm as their bonded weapon?
Depends on your GM.
IF your GM is PFS, the answer is no.
I would require the feat investment to gain proficiency and only allow it if I saw firearms as campaign appropriate.
Can a Wizard with the arcane bond feature begin play with a masterwork firearm as their bonded weapon?Depends on your GM.
IF your GM is PFS, the answer is no.
I would require the feat investment to gain proficiency and only allow it if I saw firearms as campaign appropriate.
I don't believe that Arcane Bond requires that you be proficient with a weapon to be bonded with it. Can you cite a source for this?
I don't believe that Arcane Bond requires that you be proficient with a weapon to be bonded with it. Can you cite a source for this?
It doesn't... Drahliana was explaining how they would house rule it at their table, no citation is necessary.
Rules as Written a wizard can start with a Masterwork Revolver as their bonded item. However, Arcane Bond was written before there were mundane weapons worth thousands of gold...
While the idea of building a "Shotgun Mage" is funny and perfectly legal as far as the rules are concerned, it is also very abusive. If paizo were willing to revise the Core Rulebook like I think they should have long ago, I'm certain arcane bond would have long since been nerfed to prohibit this very behavior.
As a GM I am typically very permissive, and usually all about the RAW, but I wouldn't allow this. I can't imagine many of the GMs I've played under would either. Worse, I can think of one previous GM just evil enough to let me play it, but have some orcish barbarian sunder my bonded boomstick to "teach me a lesson" (about putting all my eggs in one basket I assume)
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Can a Wizard with the arcane bond feature begin play with a masterwork firearm as their bonded weapon?
Yes...but given that they must be holding their bonded item to cast spells without penalty, weapons they can't use are a liability.
On a side note, it isn't explained in the CRB what happens to the previous arcane bonded item when it is replaced by a new item, but my general assumption is that it disappears or otherwise is destroyed when the bond is passed. I would treat any attempts to sell a bonded item equal to attempts to sell illusionary items with regards to NPCs buying them. So not only will you likely make the shopkeeper angry, but most cities will consider it a crime. I would definitely explain my stance on this to the PC prior to any attempts to sell their arcane bond.
Still, if the PC really wants a very unreliable firearm at 1st level, their choice. If the setting doesn't have firearms, I'd still let the wizard have one, but they won't be able to buy any ammunition for the thing. Just seems very wizard-like to have items from another time and place. Likewise, if they really wanted something from the technology guide, that would be allowed, even if they can never learn to use it...
Same with tech weapons and batteries.
Although the rules get more than a little vague here... numerous references heavily imply that technological items are equivalent to magic items unless otherwise noted; as if "technological" were just a special effect of a particular category of magical items (like wonderous items). Is there a FAQ for the technology guide? I couldn't find it.
Examples: The phrase "technological item" is used all over the place, as though it were a category of items as distinct as "magic items", "mundane items" or "alchemical items". Technological weapons such as laser pistols and rail guns are created through item creation feats just like magical items. When pricing a technological item you use the same rules as for pricing magical items (with a few small differences regarding the fact that technological items almost always consume charges), which is to say they are priced as money sinks so that GMs can be expected give players 880,000 gp worth of crap by level 20. There are Technological Artifacts (I've yet to see a mundane artifact). Technological items have very similar rules for crafting them, as opposed to using the rules for creating mundane items found the description of the Craft Skill. Technological items are even formatted the same way magical items are (with a construction bar at the bottom of their entries). Granted... none of this is conclusive evidence, firearms have an item creation feat too, but they can also be created with craft (firearm)... it just take forever due to their bloated gp value. However, at my table "technological" and "magical" are equivalent, but separate categories of non-mundane item.
So while I am sure you can start with a bonded item that looks like a laser pistol, I think it's just a (nearly) worthless chunk of masterwork metal until your wizard meets the prerequisites of the relevent item creation feat. IE: he has the Technologist feat, and 7 ranks in Craft (mechanical) and Knowledge (engineering). At which point the wizard is considered to have Craft Technological Arms and Armor for the purpose of making the item technological (and it will only work for them, just like any other bonded item they improve). Don't forget they will also need access to a crafting laboratory as well!
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While the idea of building a "Shotgun Mage" is funny and perfectly legal as far as the rules are concerned, it is also very abusive. If paizo were willing to revise the Core Rulebook like I think they should have long ago, I'm certain arcane bond would have long since been nerfed to prohibit this very behavior.
There's no need to. Modern Day GMs need to remember that the game is THEIRS to run, not the rulebook's. RAW is not a weapon for abusive players to club their GMs into submission.
PFS published it's home rules on this which removes all ambiguity because of the way PFS is run.
That's a bit melodramatic, isn't it? "club their GM into submission" because the OP wants a silly weapon he's not going to get any mileage out of anyone for his arcane bond?There's no need to. Modern Day GMs need to remember that the game is THEIRS to run, not the rulebook's. RAW is not a weapon for abusive players to club their GMs into submission.
Not really. because the worst munchkiners, the most manipulative, and definitely the most argumentative, are those who go entirely by RAW.
Designing the game around them as suggested earlier, is not the way to go though.
Modern Day GMs need to remember that the game is THEIRS to run, not the rulebook's.
Oh I know, that clause is actually in the RAW (CRB 9; "The Most Important Rule"). It's one of my favorite rules to quote!