Maybe Reinforcing Arsenal Should Be More Frequent

[John R.]

Anyone else think the Reinforce Arsenal ability should be a 10 minute or 1 hour process that should be available at all times in order to properly prepare between encounters for when new, relevant information becomes available?

[Teridax]

Yes. Looking at the Slayer's signature tools, here are the benefits you get from reinforcing them:

Bloodseeking Blade:

* You change the type of the bonus damage you deal on your first Strike each turn.

* You change your weapon's bonus property rune.

Chymist's Vials:

* You change the special vision you gain.

* You change Ignition Vial's damage type.

Consecrated Panoply:

* You change the traits and traditions you gain a +1 status bonus to saves against.

* You change whether your spikes are holy or unholy.

* You change the precious material type of your spikes between adamantine, cold iron, and silver.

Warded Mail:

* You change the damage type you resist.

Because each of these are permanent benefits and Reinforcing these tools after the first time merely switches damage types, traits, etc. around, the benefits of Reinforcing after the first time are mainly just that you get to better adapt to the enemies you're currently fighting. This is the kind of benefit that I think is worth being able to do frequently, because otherwise the Slayer can easily end up getting stuck with an ill-fitting loadout. I don't even think these benefits need to be tied to trophies or a quarry, to be honest, because a trophy harvested from a higher-level enemy can easily have nothing to do with other enemies you end up fighting. Some of these effects are already adjustable independently of trophies, and this could be applied more comprehensively (or else trophies could be made easier to collect).

[Dubious Scholar]

At minimum, I think you should be able to do it as part of Mark Quarry, even if you find out your target isn't high enough level to claim a trophy from (that's no reason to fight unprepared, after all!). And of course, after you Recall Knowledge on it if possible.

[Castilliano]

Dubious Scholar wrote:

At minimum, I think you should be able to do it as part of Mark Quarry, even if you find out your target isn't high enough level to claim a trophy from (that's no reason to fight unprepared, after all!). And of course, after you Recall Knowledge on it if possible.

Yeah, I was about to respond "at minimum" when I noticed you already had said that. That seems exactly what marking a quarry would be, prepping one's tool set to address the target creature. You bring all these trophies along for a reason, right? Is this to put Slayers in the same boat as prepared casters? Would it be too powerful to always have the right tool when your class is built on tooling up? (Maybe?) Seems similar to those feats (that I doubt anyone takes) where you can spend 10 minutes to swap a slot to a specific spell. Seems similar enough given the limited options a Slayer has to switch to.

[Dragonchess Player]

It seems like you should be able to switch more often than with your daily preparations, but it requires the Field-Forged Tools feat:

"FIELD-FORGED TOOLS (FEAT 8)
SLAYER
Your experience working with monster parts and salvaged equipment makes you adept enough to create weapons and armor directly from your trophies. You gain the Monster Crafting skill feat (Player Core 258) even if you don’t qualify for its prerequisites, and when you use it you can consume an unused trophy in addition to the body of a monster, incorporating the trophy into the item’s construction. If you later designate the item as a hunting tool (for example, a bloodseeking blade or warded mail signature tool), you gain its reinforced benefits as if you had reinforced it with the consumed trophy. You can still reinforce the item normally with another trophy, and you can switch which trophy’s characteristics it uses as a 1-minute activity with the manipulate trait."

You are limited to only two different choices (the consumed trophy when creating the item and the one used to reinforce at the start of the day), however.