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Just knocking some ideas around, so it's nothing too detailed as of yet. Just curious what people think, and if they have any other ideas:
Dwarves--I feel like their warlike and industrious nature would warrant quite a few options.
- grandfather maul (two-handed, 2d8 ×3) --+2 damage over an earthbreaker
- dragon hammer (two-handed, 1d10 ×3 brace, reach, trip) --a bardiche type weapon with trip
- arbalest (two-handed, 2d8 19-20×2, 120ft) --giant crossbow
- throwing cleaver (light, thrown, 1d8 ×3, 20ft) --+1 damage, better crit and range throwing axe, also better version of handaxe for TWF builds?
- chain-hammer (two-handed, 1d8 ×2, disarm, 5-10ft reach, trip) --slightly worse 3rd spiked chain
Elves-- on one hand, they're not necessarily as dedicated to the art of war as the dwarves. On the other, they're still a very old race, so they should have some decent options.
- dueling sword (one-handed, 1d8 18-20×2, finesse, blocking)--+1 damage and blocking on a rapier
- war spear (two-handed, 1d10 ×3, finesse)--finesseable glaive? The branch spear feels kind of wonky to me.
- hunter's scythe (two-handed, 1d10 ×4, finesse, trip) -- -1/+.5/+2 damage scythe
- great bow (two-handed, 1d10 ×3, 150ft) --+1 damage and more range longbow
- forest bow (two-handed, 1d8 ×3, 100ft, counts as a light weapon for squeezing) -slightly shorter range longbow with less penalties in some situations that come up specifically in my games.
- moonblade (two-handed, 1d6 18-20 ×2, double, finesse) --two-bladed sword that uses scimitars instead of longswords as the base
Gnomes- not as warlike as the dwarves, but maybe more inventive. I'd like them to feel strange and complex without actually adding a lot of complexity to gameplay.
‐ gnommishmm halberd (two-handed, 1d12 ×2, blocking, brace, disarm, distracting, reach, trip) -- basic pole arm with all the stuff.
- bolas bow (two-handed, 1d6 ×2, 60ft, trip) --light or heavy crossbow that launches bolas
- tanglehook net (one-handed, --, 20ft, entangle) --a slightly better net.
- springlance (1d8 ×3, special) --can be a sportspear, spear, longspear or heavy lance, can have blocking, disarm, distracting or trip, concealable
Halflings-- they'd probably have the least, but I want their options to be actually good.
‐ dart (one-handed, thrown, 1d8 ×3, 30ft, concealable)-- just a better version of a dart
- cinquedea (one-handed, light, 1d8 19-20×2, blocking)--+1 damage shortsword with blocking
- dagger (one-handed, light, 1d4 18-20×2, 20ft, concealable, distracting) --a kukri that you can throw and conceal
- cudgelcrook (two-handed, 1d12 ×2, blocking, non-lethal, reach, trip) --a non-lethal Lucerne hammer with blocking and trip
- dueling cape (one-handed, light, --, blocking, disarm, distracting) -- not sure if this is a weapon or a shield, really.
Orcs --less about craftsmanship than the v dwarves or the elves, but far more devoted to warfare
- felling axe (two-handed, 2d8 ×3) +1/+2/+4 damage greataxe
‐ foecleaver (two-handed, 1d10 18-20×2) --a heavier, non-finesseable elven curve blade
‐ skull-splitter (two-handed, 1d10 ×4, +2 sunder) a slightly boosted scythe with sundering instead of tripping
‐ gut hook (two-handed, 1d8 ×4, reach, trip) --a pole arm with trip and a high crit multiplier?
‐ maulstone (two-handed, thrown, 2d6 19-20 ×3, 10ft square where it lands is difficult terrain/caltrops) --a big weight on a chain? Won't see regular use at higher levels, but offers some form of battlefield control?
Does the arbalest require some longer action to load than the existing heavy crossbow?
I like the dueling sword, getting rid of that annoyingly bad Aldori dueling sword by including a superior replacement seems good. The elven branched spear is apparently based off some RL Korean weapon. I have a little difficulty imagining how a scythe would be a finesse weapon, but then I have the same problem with the branched spear. IIRC there's something identical (stats and description tho' not name) to your moonblade in D&D 3.5 Eberron and it's used by a group of elves there too.
There's light & heavy slaver's crossbows (exotic) which fire bolas in PF already, if you want to compare rules. I'm guessing the springlance converts between different forms somehow?
I think you missed including part of the name for the halfling's special daggers and darts. Or are they literally 'halfling dart' and 'halfling dagger'?
The gut hook looks identical in stats to the (martial for everyone) hooked lance. What does the maulstone do to the 10' area - does it shatter into ~caltrops, or is it supposed to break up the ground (which seems likely to be a 5' area) or what?
The above comments are grouped by the race, but in general there's a noticeable upgrade on damage over standard PF weapons, including exotic ones. Are humans the weakest link?
I figured the dwarven crossbow would just be a full-round action still, since crossbows are just awful.
I'll have to check on the branch spear. And the scythe...I guess I was just imagining something long and thin a la curved bladed, only extra curved?
Yeah, I figured...swift action on the springlance? I mean. An exotic weapon that's just other weapons with maybe an extra minor special rule isn't that great, and Quick Draw's already a thing so...
All I've got for the halfling stuff so far is like...halfling...throwing knife? Halfling...dirk? Open to suggestions.
The gut hook should do d10, then? I was thinking there should be some trade off for adding reach to the tetsubo.
And I was thinking the maulstone would treat a 10ft cube as difficult terrain and as if caltrops had been laid down there by being big and spiky and stuff. Like a 20lb multi-headed flail that you throw at people, or those throwing axe/giant caltrop things, only a bunch stuck together?
You think the damage is high on these? I dunno; the dwarven waraxe and bastard sword gives you an extra 1 point of damage on average. The double weapons only give you that extra point on your off hand. I never see people take Exotic Weapon Proficiency for those; it's always the Horned Bow and the Butchering Axe where you're netting an extra +3 or so, or for something with a specific set of abilities.
And humans are already pretty strong, aren't they? So I feel like...no sympathy for them, here. But that might just be due to all the houserules and limitations (no half orcs with +2 to all saves in my games, for example).
It's the Valenar elves in Eberron that use a two-bladed scimitar. The Valenar are basically an elven version of the Mongol Khanate. You may not care, I just remembered.
Anyway, for the halfling dagger and thrown weapon I'd steal names from whatever RL culture is closest to the one you've given them. Skean, stiletto, ulu, corradh, whatever - just not a name already used in PF. There's a lot of knife and throwing spear names out there.
10'x10' is a fairly large area for even a 20 pound weapon to impede. I'm not saying it's imbalanced, I'm saying it tweaks verisimilitude for me. But I'm not in your game so whatever.
I agree on the 10×10 being big. I felt like it's the smallest unit that still feels worthwhile?
Caltrops are awesome, but a full round action for a 5ft square is so rarely worth anything, even at low levels.
A smokestack might see some use, and that's a 10ft cube.
I figure, it's a two-handed throwing weapon, so it's a full round action to huck it. And if it covers *slightly* more than a 5ft square, we can just game-logic it as 10ft the same way a human takes up a whole 5ft cube?
If you've got any suggestions on ways to make it effective and reasonable, I'm open.
With the halfling weapons, I was thinking about those broad, double-edged long knives. The darts...no historical basis. Just "two steps better than darts" exotic weapons.
The smatchet. That's what I was thinking of. It was (is?) used by the British Special Forces, I believe. It looks like a solid, all-around blade and I think has a halfling-esque look.
Bird dart. Used to bring down small fowl in the field, or carved to look like birds, or to sound like them in flight? Either way, that sounds kinda nice, and it feels fitting.
Gnomes- not as warlike as the dwarves, but maybe more inventive. I'd like them to feel strange and complex without actually adding a lot of complexity to gameplay.
‐ gnommishmm halberd (two-handed, 1d12 ×2, blocking, brace, disarm, distracting, reach, trip) -- basic pole arm with all the stuff.
- bolas bow (two-handed, 1d6 ×2, 60ft, trip) --light or heavy crossbow that launches bolas
- tanglehook net (one-handed, --, 20ft, entangle) --a slightly better net.
- springlance (1d8 ×3, special) --can be a sportspear, spear, longspear or heavy lance, can have blocking, disarm, distracting or trip, concealable
This reminded me of a thread I started a few years back about my inspiration for the Gnome Lever Axe. The gist of it is that the gnomes designed an axe where the physics of the blade's shape causes extra damage. Mechanically, it negates the wielder's strength penalty, if any. It doesn't do anything to add to or take away from a strength bonus, but if the wielder had a strength of 9 or less (i.e. many gnomes), the attack and damage is still +0.