Yes, the EMP pistol is useless. It costs 12,000gp and does 2d6 electricity damage against robots, half that (similar to 1d6) against androids and cyborgs, and nothing against anything else. In comparison, an arc pistol costs 10,000gp and deals 1d8 electricity damage period. The highly limited targets makes the EMP pistol too specialized, even if most of its targets did not nullify it with hardness.
In contrast, one PC in my Iron Gods campaign used an EMP grenade (375gp, 5d6 points electricity damage to robots and electronic-based gear, half damage to androids and cyborgs) against a large band of zombie androids. It destroyed the laser guns held by these creatures, reducing them to melee attacks with claws. If an EMP pistol could destroy technological weapons, then it would be worthwhile, but only melee weapons can make sunder combat maneuvers.
I consider the force field one of the worst designed technological items in the Technology Guide, worse than the EMP pistol. Treating a protective field as temporary hp creates odd side effects. For example, a barbarian who would drop dead from damage if he lost his bonus Con from raging could use the temporary hit points from a force field to stay alive. That makes sense for temporary hp from False Life, but not for "a field of force around the target." And though the force field has "force" in its name and in its design, it is not a force effect because temporary hit points cannot be a force effect. A force field provides no protection from Con drain touch attacks of incorporeal undead.
For easier bookkeeping, I houseruled the force field to be a separate pool of hit points rather than temporary hit points of the wearer. I keep two columns on my combat notes, robot's hp and robot's force field's hp. Damage, except light and negative energy, is first applied to the force field's hit points and only when the field collapses does the rest of the damage reach the wearer. But since the force field is not the wearer, it does not gain the wearer's own protective abilities, such as hardness, damage reduction, or energy resistance. This is not RAW, where the temporary hp is part of the wearer and are protected by anything that protects the wearer.
Adamantine is a skymetal and the Technic League wants to control the sale of skymetals as much as it controls the sale of technology. But since adamantine is also available outside Numeria, they cannot tell whether the adamantine in a particular weapon came from the crashed spaceship fleet or from a natural Golarion source. My party made themselves adamantine weapons, using adamantine scavenged from the formerly haunted Valley of Mists in Scrapwall. The anti-technology residents of Iadenveigh approved of their "robot-killing" weapons.
I allow the EMP weapons to bypass hardness. That's plenty of a bonus combined with the normal vulnerability to electricity. I also just treat force fields as affected by the normal robot traits, but that's because I use Fantasy Grounds and it's not worth changing the automation when it's confusing.
also I read somewhere hardness on robots doesn't halve the energy damage before applying hardness).Halving the energy damage is a quality of objects themselves not their hardness.
Hardness (Ex) When a creature with hardness takes damage, subtract its hardness from the damage. Only damage in excess of its hardness is subtracted from its hit points. A creature with hardness doesn't further reduce damage from energy attacks, ranged attacks, or other types of attacks as objects typically do. Adamantine weapons bypass hardness of 20 or less.
also I read somewhere hardness on robots doesn't halve the energy damage before applying hardness).Halving the energy damage is a quality of objects themselves not their hardness.Hardness (Ex) When a creature with hardness takes damage, subtract its hardness from the damage. Only damage in excess of its hardness is subtracted from its hit points. A creature with hardness doesn't further reduce damage from energy attacks, ranged attacks, or other types of attacks as objects typically do. Adamantine weapons bypass hardness of 20 or less.
Right, but robots are creatures, not objects.
The PCs in my IG campaign use their EMP pistol (one of the only non-timeworm guns they have) to great effect against robots. Static bonuses to damage are quite easy to come by and vulnerability to electricity more than compensates for hardness 10 that the vast majority of robots have.
I never noticed the price on tech gear, though. An EMP pistol should be less than an arc pistol for the limitations it has
Right, but robots are creatures, not objects.also I read somewhere hardness on robots doesn't halve the energy damage before applying hardness).Halving the energy damage is a quality of objects themselves not their hardness.Hardness (Ex) When a creature with hardness takes damage, subtract its hardness from the damage. Only damage in excess of its hardness is subtracted from its hit points. A creature with hardness doesn't further reduce damage from energy attacks, ranged attacks, or other types of attacks as objects typically do. Adamantine weapons bypass hardness of 20 or less.
Absolutely agreed, I was trying to point out that hardness itself has nothing to do with halving energy damage. Apologies for not being very clear.
What static bonuses your players got? Maybe I could use those as suggestions for my players.
Enhancement bonus and Deadly Aim, for starters. The two gun users are an Archeologist Bard and a Gunslinger who get Bardic Luck and Dex to damage respectively. The party also usually keeps some buffs going like Good Hope and Inspire Courage.
Other classes get bonuses to damage, too: Weapon Training, Favored Enemy, Judgement, Sneak Attack, Challenge. Arcane Casters get Arcane Strike.
Clustered Shots with rapid fire and rapid shot wreck robots, too.
Clustered Shots with rapid fire and rapid shot wreck robots, too.
Clustered shots do not work against hardness, only damage reduction.
When you use a full-attack action to make multiple ranged weapon attacks against the same opponent, total the damage from all hits before applying that opponent’s damage reduction.
It is a perfectly valid house rule to say it works against hardness too, but as written it doesn't.
Gunslinger deed Dead Shot does work against hardness.
Clustered Shots with rapid fire and rapid shot wreck robots, too.
Clustered shots do not work against hardness, only damage reduction.
When you use a full-attack action to make multiple ranged weapon attacks against the same opponent, total the damage from all hits before applying that opponent’s damage reduction.It is a perfectly valid house rule to say it works against hardness too, but as written it doesn't.
Gunslinger deed Dead Shot does work against hardness.
Huh. I always read clustered shots as any effect that recuces damage (i.e. damage reduction) rather than literal DR, but now I see how that might be a more appropriate interpretation.