Reskin weapons in PFS 2e?


Pathfinder Society

Grand Lodge 4/5 ** Venture-Agent, Colorado—Denver

I created a Lizardfolk druid and want to have his weapons be similar to stone-age weapons. I couldn't find anything regarding stone-age materials on Archives of Nethys for 2e.

I want his spear to have a clovis point made of obsidian. And a tortoise shell shield.

I also have a woodlands ranger and I want to say his bow is made partly of large deer antlers and that his dagger is a hunting/skinning knife.

Is this ok to do in 2e?

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

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Sure.

My Lizardfolk with Tanning Lore describes his Hide Armor as reeking like the Slurk that it's made from, and my Crafting-focused Dwarf will have his weapons and armor fashioned in the thick and clunky style of his people.

As long as you're not trying to gain a mechanical advantage from your flavor, and your items are otherwise recognizable as their base form (as in, your antler longbow still functions and is recognized as a longbow), you're good.

It's been like that across PFS1 and SFS. PFS2 is no different.

Grand Lodge 4/5 ** Venture-Agent, Colorado—Denver

Stone weapons have the fragile property in 1e, though. Unless they're masterwork/magical. And, I think stone weapons in 1e are resistant to acid. Oh, and rust, too.

I hope to see primitive materials for 2e get addressed in a future book or blog.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

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Again, mechanically, as long as it functions and is recognizable as its base form, you can flavor it however you want.

That is how every edition of Paizo's Organized Play has operated.

Doesn't matter if you flavor your shield spikes to be made of tyrannosaur teeth or your longbow to be made of antlers and sinew.

If you want the mechanical benefits of a special material, which for primitive materials in PF1 was cheaper costs and lighter weight, then you have to acquire them. You then could flavor those however you wished, turtle shells or crocodile scutes or pterosaur crests what-have-you, so long as the mechanics and recognizability were similarly unaffected.

I had this discussion years ago regarding the Shoanti Klar. The flavor of a Klar's construction is that of a reptile skull, but mechanically you only gained the benefits of primitive materials if you paid for them (which, for magically strengthened bone, was substantial).

Same thing for this Edition.

Grand Lodge 4/5 ** Venture-Agent, Colorado—Denver

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Thank you for the explanation, Nefreet.

Yay! Clovis point spear and tortoise shell shield! They're much more fitting for my lizardfolk druid.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

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Nice.

Canonically, in the Pathfinder Tales, Iruxi spears were tipped with Adamantine, but given the Level requirements in 2nd Edition, I don't think anybody else will nitpick you ^_^

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ***

Christian Dragos wrote:
I created a Lizardfolk druid and want to have his weapons be similar to stone-age weapons.

Expect some table variation on this. You can describe your weapons being made by anything you want, but for the GM and anyone else, it is made from the materials defined in the item’s entry. Now with regards to the bow, that’s fine because it can be made of laminate wood, bone, horn, and sinew. However, you might get some objections for your tortoise shell shield since shields are listed as wood or steel and a spear is listed as a long metal shaft with a sharpened metal spike at the end. Some GMs stick strictly to the purchasing rules so if it is not available in a list somewhere they won’t allow it. Good luck.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

We literally just covered that up thread?

1/5 * RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

I had similar questions about a character wielding a barrel as a weapon that's basically just a reskinned greatclub.

I would imagine doable but I can't actually drink from it since it's mechanically a greatclub?

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ***

You are much more likely to get your reskinned item permitted if it’s not trying to be something that actually exists. IMO, no you cannot call your barrel a great club. It would be an improvised weapon. If you want to to call your greatsword a claymore I would be okay with that, until/unless a book was published that contained a weapon called a claymore that had different stats.

2/5 5/5 *****

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Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Yeah, the difficulty is when the visual reskinning tries to do something more.

'My bow is made of antlers' -- cool. 'I want to use it to assist in a disguise check to hide as an elk' -- no, the visual reskinning does not extend to also counting as a disguise kit, etc.

'My great club looks like a barrel' -- cool, to me. 'I dump my barrel out on my ally to put out the fire' -- no its not actually a barrel, it can't be filled, it can't be drunk from, etc. It can't be dropped over someone, or used as a floatation device.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

I concur with all of those examples.

And a barrel would indeed be an improvised weapon.

Grand Lodge 4/5 **** Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento

I worry a little bit about heat metal and rusting grasp when dealing with things that are normally metal (and warp wood, except that WW isn't in PF2 yet as far as I can tell.)

Antler bows and tortoise shell shields seem like a good way to avoid what is usually a binary choice in PF1 (would you like to be affected by anti metal effects? or anti wood effects?)

Silver Crusade 5/5 5/5 **

There are also various anathemas to consider (the druidic one against metal armor and shields being the main example but I'm sure there are others).

That "tortoise shell shield" better have the stats of a wooden shield or my druid wants one :-).

Grand Lodge 4/5 ** Venture-Agent, Colorado—Denver

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Yeah, I'm going with:

"My druid's shield is mainly wood and it's decorated with a tortoise shell on the front."

That way the GM knows my shield is primarily wood.

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