pathFinal Fantasy

Arms Smithing

A crafter can become well versed in the peculiar, yet effective creation of gunblades. The gunblade is the fusion between a melee weapon and a ranged firearm weapon. To do so, the crafter must decide if they are integrating a firearm to a melee weapon . A gunblade cannot be crafted with an already present melee weapon and firearm: it is much like crafting an item out of special material in that sense.
The crafting cost of a gunblade is equal to crafting costs of each weapon +50% of that total cost.
A gunblade, with it’s melee and ranged portions, effectively acts as a double weapon for all intents and purposes. The only exception is when a gunblade has the trigger attack attachment.

The crafter must then decide if the gunblade will receive attachments. Attachments are additional functions or abilities that the gunblade may perform. When applying an attachment, the gunblade gains an additional weapon trait related to the attachment.

An example is trigger attack. A gunarm with the trigger attack attachment receives *[trigger attack]* in the special quality section of their weapon's entry. This trait appears primarily on the melee portion of the gunarm for trigger attack specifically. The attachments below are what can be selected to apply to a gunarm during the crafting process:

• Trigger Attack: So long as it has at least one round of ammunition loaded, the gunblade’s wielder may pull the trigger when attacking to make a trigger attack. When making a trigger attack, the wielder receives a Misfire chance of 2 (treating the attack as if firing a firearm in conjunction with making a melee attack) and uses a round of ammo. If the gunblade already has a Misfire chance, increase it by 2. On a successful hit, the strike deals additional fire damage damage based on the handedness of the weapon: +1d4 for light, +1d6 for 1h, and +1d8 for 2h. Like the Vital Strike feat, this additional damage is not multiplied on a critical hit. The cost of applying this attachment is 80 gil. A trigger attack attachment may be applied to a melee weapon without needing to attach a ranged weapon in conjunction for the purposes of determining the craft DC. However, this still requires a firearm-like chamber to be installed somewhere on the weapon (such as the hilt of a blade, shaft of a spear, between the rivets of a gauntlet, etc) to create and cause the extra explosive force. When installing a trigger attack mechanism in this way, reduce the critical multiplier by 1 (to a minimum of x2). If the weapon already has a multiplier of 2, reduce any hardness the weapon may have (based on it’s material) by 1. You may pay double the attachment’s cost to avoid receiving the hardness and critical reduction.
• Magiteknical Extension: The wielder must have at least 2 rounds loaded into their gunblade. As a move action, the wielder can spend 2 rounds of ammo to extend the reach of the melee portion of the gunblade by 5ft for 1 round. The wielder of the gunblade cannot threaten additional squares with the reach provided by this attachment. The cost of this attachment is 70 gil.
• Form Switch: Your gunblade will be primarily one weapon at a time - the firearm or the melee weapon. The crafter who applies this attachment can choose which portion of the gunblade is the "default" form of the weapon for the purposes of which weapon statistics the gunblade begins on after the crafting process is done. When this attachment is applied, it allows the gunblade to transform (via with complex machinery or with faint wisps of magic) from one portion of the weapon to another, instead of being both at the same time. To engage a form switch, the user must spend a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. This allows the gunblade to morph into it's melee form, gaining all it's weapon statistics and vice versa.

Crafting Gunblades

To craft a gunblade, the crafter must have at least 3 ranks in Knowledge (Engineering) and 1 rank in Craft(weapons) skill. A creature can ignore the Engineering prerequisite if they have the Gunsmithing feat. However, for any gunblade made with propulsive weaponry (such as bows and slings), they can only be crafted with the [form-switch] attachment and require 1 rank in Craft (bows). Gunblades cannot be crafted with alchemical items, alchemical weapons, artillery, or siege weapons. A gunblade can be crafted with double weapons, however the double weapon must come with the form-switch attachment: The ends of the double weapon cannot have a ranged portion on each end.
The DC for crafting a gunblade is based on the complexity of it’s melee portion plus a modifier related to the complexity and firearm type of it’s ranged portion as listed in the table below:

Ammunition
A gunblade typically uses the ammunition and capacity statistics of its firearm portion. In the case of a gunblade with the trigger attack attachment (and no firearm portion), the gunblade uses alchemical cartridges as ammunition. Most gunblades use paper cartridges as the simple blackpowder mix is enough to generate the force and recoil needed to execute a trigger attack. However, a wielder may use other cartridges (such as Entangling Shot or Gray Dust). When doing so, the user can choose to instill the effects of a cartridge on a successful trigger attack instead of the standard effect a trigger attack instills.
The capacity of no firearm gunblade is based on the complexity of the melee weapon: Simple weapons can hold up to 4 cartridges, Martial can hold up to 6, and Exotic can hold up to 8.

Proficiency
A gunblade does not belong in a weapon group, and therefore does not require proficiency in and of itself. Rather the gunblade is more akin to applying a weapon quality, such as Disarm, Double, and Blocking. Since a the gunblade acts as a double weapon, it stands to reason that it's wielder must be proficient with both or at least one end of the weapon or suffer non-proficiency penalties as normal. Upon creation, the fused weapons receive the gunblade special weapon quality which functions as the double weapon quality, in essence. The difference being that one end is a firearm and other is a melee weapon. Once the gunblade quality is applied, any attachments are applied with. An example is gunblade:form switch.

Weight
To determine the weight of a gunblade, add the weight of the melee portion and the firearm portion together (this is before adding the weight of ammunition loaded into the firearm). Then divide that total weight by half, rounded down. Should this calculation result in an amount of weight less than the melee portion's weight, simply use the melee weapon's weight instead.

Feats and Features
For the purposes of feats and class abilities, gunblade do not function as singular weapons. Relevant feats affect relevant ends of the gunblade: Weapon Focus (katana) will benefit a gunblade who’s melee portion is, or counts as, a katana. However, this would not affect the firearm portion of the weapon. Furthermore, when a gunblade is drawn, it is usually assumed that the melee portion is drawn and threatening first before the firearm portion. So feats that interact with a threatened area always prioritise the melee portion of the gunblade. Should a creature fire the ranged portion to make a ranged attack, they are treated as having the threatened area of the firearm (if any) for 1 round. Feats like Two-weapon Fighting function normally on a gunblade as it functions as a double weapon in this sense (treating the melee portion and ranged portion as the “ends” of the weapon). However, making a ranged attack with the gunblade still provokes attacks of opportunity as normal.

Handedness
When using a gunblade, it is standard to think of using the handedness required of the melee portion - as the firearm is grafted in such a way as to accommodate for the increased weight and grip. However, when making a ranged weapon attack with the gunblade, the wielder must use the greater handedness of weapon portions: If the melee portion requires two hands to use (such as a spear), but the firearm portion is one-handed (heavy handgun) - the wielder must use the greater handedness of the spear to fire a ranged attack successfully. The reverse is also true: If the firearm portion requires two hands to fire while the melee portion requires one hand or is light, the wielder must hold the weapon in two hands to attack in melee successfully. Elsewise the wielder will suffer the appropriate penalties regarding the handedness for the weapon.
A form-switch gunblade needs to only accommodate the handedness of the current form the weapon is in.

Special Materials
Gunblades are normally created with combinations of steel, iron, and leather materials as wood is often too brittle to handle the explosive recoil of the firearm portion. The exception being when the ranged portion is a manually propulsive weapon (such as bows, slings and crossbows). When attempting to craft a gunblade out of special materials, such as Elysian Bronze or Adamantine, the crafter can choose which end of the weapon to become modified by the material. All other costs and DCs are as normal. Should the crafter choose to modify both ends of the gunblade, it must be with the same material, not different ones.

Hardness and Hit Points
To determine the hardness of a gunblade, simply prioritize the statistics and material of the melee portion of the weapon. Do the same for the hardness and then reduce that hardness by 1 (to a minimum of +0). To determine the hit points of a gunblade, add the total hit points of the melee portion and the ranged portion together and then divide it by 2 (round down).

Magical Enhancements and Enchantments
A gunblade is treated as a double weapon for how it is enchanted or enhanced: Each end must be upgraded separately. Normally, the total enhancement bonus a single weapon can have is a +10, this is still true for the gunblade. However, no end of the gunblade can go past a total enhancement bonus of +5 (this includes enchantments, like flaming).