The world of Sulos is a bit more technologically advanced than the typical D&D setting. Advances in firearms are rapidly making the protective value of heavy plate armor ineffective. Given that the rules in the Players’ Handbook are not capable of reflecting the revolutionary effect of firearms on the battlefield. I have implemented a class based AC bonus system and will be using armor as damage reduction. The defense bonus is applied to a character’s armor class, although when caught flat-footed or immobilized a character does not benefit from his defense bonus.  

A: Fighters and Swashbucklers

B: Demon Knight, Divine Knight, Ranger

C: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Favored Soul, Lurk, Psychic Warrior, Rogue, Scout

D: Archivist, Erudite, Sorcerer, Wilder, Wizard 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Armor as Damage Reduction 

Each type of armor provides a varying degree of damage reduction verses the three types of weapons (bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing). Armor enhanced with magic increases the damage reduction of the armor by the number of the enhancement bonus against all types of weapons. Heavy crossbows and firearms partially bypass piercing damage reduction. Piercing damage reduction is treated as though it were 1 point lower vs. heavy crossbows and as though it were 2 points lower vs. firearms.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

New Exotic Weapons 

 
 

Descriptions 

Bayonet 

A bayonet is a thrusting weapon similar to a long stiletto that can be fastened to the end of a rifle. While it is almost strictly used as a weapon of last resort, used in melee after ones enemies have closed the gap from ranged combat, a bayonet is quite effective none-the-less. A wielder proficient in both the batonet and the rifle may use them both as part of a single attack. If the wielder successfully strikes his opponent with a bayonet, and his rifle is loaded, he fire his rifle after stabbing his victim automatically hitting, and inflicting rifle damage on top of his melee damage. A bayonet may be set verses a charge.  

Kalij 

The Kalij is a long heavy scimitar used by the people of Kesh, and particularly by their priesthood. The weapon is too large and unwieldy to be used effectively as a one-handed weapon by non-proficient wielders, however a proficient wielder may use the kalij either one-handed or two-handed as he sees fit.  

Pistol 

The pistol is a popular weapon for those wealthy enough to own one. A pistol can be fired one handed and may be used in conjunction with two weapon fighting as a light weapon, however it may only be fired once before it needs to be reloaded. Reloading a pistol requires two hands. A non-proficient wielder can reload a pistol in one minute, but a proficient wielder can reload the pistol as a full round action. A character with the rapid reload feat can reload the pistol as a blazingly fast move action.  

Rapier 

The rapier is the sword of gentlemen. This long thin blade is not heavy enough to be suitably wielded as slashing weapon, but she makes a fine thrusting and piercing weapon. The rapier though quite long is still very light and amazingly balanced; characters with the weapon finesse feat may apply their dexterity modifiers to attack rolls with the rapier. A rapier also provides a wielder with a +2 bonus to disarm attempts.  
 

Rifle 

The rifle is the weapon of choice for ship to ship combat.  With great range and amazing firepower, the rifle has become the latest and greatest of the weapons of Sulos. A rifle requires two hands to fire and reload. It can only be fired once before it needs to be reloaded. A non-proficient wielder can reload a rifle in one minute, but a proficient wielder can reload the rifle as a full round action. A character with the rapid reload feat can reload the rifle as a blazingly fast move action. 

Saber 

The saber has replaced the lance as the favored weapon of mounted cavalry men. The long heavy saber has a slightly curved slashing blade capable of delivering vicious blows with both precision and power, though it is not so unwieldy that it cannot be wielded with precision or speed. While mounted a character wielding a saber gains an additional +1 to his attack rolls.  
 

Armortech 

One of the more impressive feats of engineering and the Font of Science are the advances made to prosthetics. Arms and legs lost in industrial accidents, war, or by other means, can be replaced with armortech. An armortech limb can be made from flexible galvanized stainless steel, mithril, or adamantine. They are complicated clockwork devices that are extremely expensive, and extremely rare. Very few people can actually afford such technology, and as of yet many nations have not passed laws to regulate it.  

Armortech limbs can be enhanced through non-magical means to grant an ability bonus to strength of + 2, + 4 or + 6 (with the same gp cost as a magical enhancement of the same numeric value). These bonuses apply only to skill checks and attack rolls that specifically harness them. An armortech arm will grant bonuses to arm wrestling checks or with a sword wielded in that arm, but not to strength checks that involve use of the whole body. However they do provide a partial bonus to climb and jump checks. A character with an armortech arm gains half of his strength bonus (rounded down) for climb checks if he has a single armortech arm, and the full bonus of he has two; he would also gain one half of his strength bonus to jump checks (rounded down) if he had a single armortech leg and the full bonus if he had two. They may also be used as buckler shields or as a light melee weapon. 

Armortech limbs have some side effects on spell-casters. Spell-casters suffer an arcane spell failure penalty, due to some unusual interference their armortech limbs cause with the other planes. Psionic manifesters clerics, druids, and favored souls also suffer similar penalties. Curiously archivists, erudites, and wizards however are completed completely unaffectedArmortech limbs seem incompatible with magical or psionic enhancements however, and all attempts thus far to do so, have resulted in failure (though the expenses and XP paid are still lost).  While the limbs are finely crafted and do not cause any armor check penalty, they do cause a cumulative -2 penalty to swim checks per limb, which are not offset by strength enhancements to the limbs.  

A character with Craft (Clockworks) can repair armortech. The DC is 20, and the craftsman can repair 1 HP of damage per 5 gp he spends on the repair. Only one repair check may be made per hour the craftsmen spends working on the limb, and a craftsman can repair no more than 5 Hp of damage per hour no matter how much money he invests in the work. Repairing armortech is very precise and difficult work.