Homebrew Question: One-Handed Version of the Stellar Cannon


Field Test Discussion


I have a Thaumaturge player who wants to try out the Stellar Cannon, but their class functionally mandates a one-handed weapon. I have a vague idea of a homebrew for them:

Knobs for Adjusting:
- Damage: Currently 1d10 (Drop to 1d6/1d4? 1d4 feels too low but 1d6 may outcompete)
- Burst: Currently 10ft burst (Shorten to 5ft burst? May be too small)
- Area Fire: Currently Two Actions (The main thing keeping it balanced against single-action pf2e weapons, IMO)
- Range: Currently 60ft (Drop down massively - 30/15 ft?)
- Capacity: 4 or 6 grenades per reload

Homebrew Proposition:
- Damage: 1d6
- Burst: 10ft
- Area Fire: Two Actions
- Range: 20 ft
- Capacity: 3 grenades per reload, 1 action reload

What do you think? How should I keep adjust this weapon to be viable to use compared to the two-handed version while not overshadowing similar pathfinder options (bomber alchemist, good one-handed pf2e weapons).


First, I would strongly advise against this.

The Thaum is a very action-intensive class, so introducing a mandatory two-action activity with no upgrades to it will probably not feel very good.

Then there is the balance problem. The Thaum gets their weakness stuff only against one target, but their 2x damage die bonus to damage from Implement's Empowerment applies to every target they would hit with the weapon. Which gets extremely strong very quickly.

The closest equivalent to this is the repeating hand crossbow. d6, 60ft range and five shots, after which you need to spend a full turn reloading. And that's an advanced weapon. I personally think this thing is underpowered af, but I think you can see the problem.

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If you want to go through with it regardless, I would go with what you proposed. Except the range, I would make that 30ft. 20ft more often then not feels like you basically don't have range at all. And they will already have to many actions they need to do without moving all the time. Other than that, making it use d4s would be more balanced, but rolling d4s feels bad, so screw that ^^.

This whole thing is only really a problem when it overshadows the other people in that game, though. If that isn't an issue, then just do it.

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