Adventurer's Armory 2 & Golarion


Rules Questions


If My questions have been asked, pls direct me to the thread. (Newbie)

I have serious reservations about allowing the Orc Hornbow & Butchering Axe from this book into Golarion. Were they written to be part of Golarion or just campaigns that also use Orc?

If allowed in Golarion, why? They set the new standard, upon which other weapons will be built, just like the mistakes made in 3 & 3.5. Larger weapons and better dmg. does not a better campaign make. I have already house ruled these weapons.

Allowed in Golarion:
1. Orc Hornbow be reduced to D10/x3 D8/x3 for small
2. Butchering Axe be reduced to 2D6/x4 D10/x4 for small

Reducing these to weapons places them still as Exotic Weapons per the rules of creation, and also does not break a damage threshold that has been set for Medium characters for some time as 2D6 / D12.

The Strength requirement does attempt to deal w/ imbalancing, but I believe not enough. My power-mad group are finding some interesting ways to get them on character builds, and I had to stop the madness.

Any assistance would be welcomed, Thank you. G.


Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

If you are the GM, you determine what doesn't and does exist. Otherwise, yes, they both exist in Golarion. Mind you, the Butchering Axe is not an Orc weapon, so that makes it slightly better, but I do agree they are broken.

If you aren't the GM, my only suggestion is to ask the GM to make that option not legal or reduce it's ability. You'd be in houserule territory though. If it helps, Pathfinder Society bans both because of this.

In other words, yes they exist, but if you are the GM, I suggest making them not exist.


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Both do exist in Golarion, for the record, both by their nature as part of the Player Companion line and in the specific context of the Hold of Belkzen. Specifically, I imagine the butchering axe as a creation of the Steel Eaters tribe, while the orc hornbow may be made from the horns of these creatures.

As for your concerns about game balance, I support you doing whatever is best for your campaign. If your group enjoys the weapons more with their stats adjusted, then you've made the right choice. ^_^


TrinitysEnd wrote:
If it helps, Pathfinder Society bans both because of this.

No surprise there. An enlarged Titan mauler with Vital strike could deal 12d6 at level 6. 16d6 With Lead Blades on top. Instant killing most monsters of its CR.

Grand Lodge

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LoBandolerPi wrote:
TrinitysEnd wrote:
If it helps, Pathfinder Society bans both because of this.
No surprise there. An enlarged Titan mauler with Vital strike could deal 12d6 at level 6. 16d6 With Lead Blades on top. Instant killing most monsters of its CR.

So first off, how is the Enlarged Titan Mauler getting Lead Blades? It's a personal spell, so no one can cast it on them and no potions. Actually impossible for them to do at the level you claim without dipping. And then it'd last for what? Maybe 1 encounter?

Secondly, let's compare that to a greatsword. Since your little trick with lead blades is impossible singleclassed, let's just use enlarge person for 12d6. A greatsword in the same circumstances will do 8d6. so that's an average increase of 14 damage. Seems really good, until you realize how much you're losing over your static damage from your iterative attack.

It's literally only super good with vital strike, and even then it's not OP by a longshot. Just to get that much of a damage difference between it and a greatsword you have to lower your to hit by 4 by wielding a large butchering axe with titan mauler. And that -4 is a pretty damn big penalty.

You'll actually end up doing more damage with a medium butchering axe or greatsword on average. All using Titan Fighter does is make it seem like the disparity is higher than it really is.

And if you really want to talk about killing most creatures of your CR, you should check out a well built Beastkin Beserker Barbarian. Natural attack barbs will 1 shot things far more than this build, it's really not as strong as you make it out.


they are fine as is(tho i wish the str requirement for the butchering axe was a little less) its nice to have some exotic weapons that are actually worth the feat besides the falcheta, they need more weapons like these


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Isabelle Lee wrote:

Both do exist in Golarion, for the record, both by their nature as part of the Player Companion line and in the specific context of the Hold of Belkzen. Specifically, I imagine the butchering axe as a creation of the Steel Eaters tribe, while the orc hornbow may be made from the horns of these creatures.

As for your concerns about game balance, I support you doing whatever is best for your campaign. If your group enjoys the weapons more with their stats adjusted, then you've made the right choice. ^_^

I truly appreciate the work you have done. I love your creativity, and descriptions of the items you created / reworked into the system. I am honored to have the creator take the time to give an answer, and so rapidly. The book is done exceptionally well, and the work you put in is astounding. I have written several times and I understand how people come up with some questioning. I am a veteran playing since 1979, my mother taught friends and Iand was our 1st DM for the Original box set during winter when weather was inclement. I have DM'd now for 20+ yrs. and I respect and appreciate all that you do to further the game I love.

Thank you. G.


Jurassic Pratt wrote:
LoBandolerPi wrote:
TrinitysEnd wrote:
If it helps, Pathfinder Society bans both because of this.
No surprise there. An enlarged Titan mauler with Vital strike could deal 12d6 at level 6. 16d6 With Lead Blades on top. Instant killing most monsters of its CR.
So first off, how is the Enlarged Titan Mauler getting Lead Blades?

My bad, You need an Impact weapon or Samsaran character and 1 level dip.

From level 6 the penalty is not -4, but -2 and decreasing every 3 levels. And the iterative attack penalty is in -5 increments.

About instant killing. I know that Natural attacks are even more OP at low levels. In my home games we cap their number with the Eidolon table, but at least you need to be able to full attack. So if the enemies are not dumb, they can strike and retreat. With Vital Butchering Axe you just approach, strike, kill.

The size increase table grows faster than linearly, and anything increasing the starting point is a huge difference. I noticed after writing the other day that there is no way to avoid taking the exotic proficiency. That is good and makes it less OP. But it is not a starved feat build.


Jurassic Pratt wrote:
LoBandolerPi wrote:
TrinitysEnd wrote:
If it helps, Pathfinder Society bans both because of this.
No surprise there. An enlarged Titan mauler with Vital strike could deal 12d6 at level 6. 16d6 With Lead Blades on top. Instant killing most monsters of its CR.

So first off, how is the Enlarged Titan Mauler getting Lead Blades? It's a personal spell, so no one can cast it on them and no potions. Actually impossible for them to do at the level you claim without dipping. And then it'd last for what? Maybe 1 encounter?

Secondly, let's compare that to a greatsword. Since your little trick with lead blades is impossible singleclassed, let's just use enlarge person for 12d6. A greatsword in the same circumstances will do 8d6. so that's an average increase of 14 damage. Seems really good, until you realize how much you're losing over your static damage from your iterative attack.

Cracked Vibrant Purple Prism wrote:
This stone stores one spell level, as a ring of spell storing (minor). Price: 2,000 gp.

or

UMD + wand

Very little is impossible in Pathfinder.


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I actually really like the Hornbow as a GM since it gets archers (those using the hornbow and those who aren't) to really think about range.

Since the longbow archer can always have a significant accuracy bonus over the hornbow archer that's shooting at them if they just stand further back. You only need to be in your 4th range increment for the hornbow user to be outside their max range.

"Archers want to move sometimes instead of just standing there like turrets" is a very good thing.


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Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
PossibleCabbage wrote:

I actually really like the Hornbow as a GM since it gets archers (those using the hornbow and those who aren't) to really think about range.

Since the longbow archer can always have a significant accuracy bonus over the hornbow archer that's shooting at them if they just stand further back. You only need to be in your 4th range increment for the hornbow user to be outside their max range.

"Archers want to move sometimes instead of just standing there like turrets" is a very good thing.

Most of my battlemaps are not 400 ft though, so while yes, that is a good thing they do, but most players are limited by the fact that they are in a building, dungeon, or pass where they can't necessarily stand 400 ft away and shoot. This is a problem a lot of archers face, and I've played the archer that had to move about firing in melee and I've played the archer that gets to play it safe in the backline.

The hornbow, while a great way to force the players into distance combat, only works against other archers or ranged people. The barbarian with his axe either twiddles his thumbs or charges in. The rogue juggles his daggers. And the bard sings for an audience of one, if you even have an archer or ranged person.

But for the most part, the battle map is 150 ft at most. The largest one I've played on was 510ft, and luckily had Extreme range on my kineticist. But that situation is rare in most games, and sure, you can set it up, but it punishes all the other players, and that's to say your player doesn't have one of these themselves! Or that the party can even understand the weakness of the weapon without metagame knowledge. If it's a bow you've never seen used, how do you know it isn't just a better version of your bow?

All in all, I disagree that the Hornbow causes the moving archer scenario. It just causes metagame knowledge, players that don't do anything for a fight, and is extremely unlikely unless you set up a large scene like this. Which, as stated, will end with the party that is melee dying as they charge in like normal unless they metagame it or you familiarize them with the bow first. Which then leads them to do nothing.

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