Custom Ammo Recipes

[kgambit]

I decided to take a stab at creating some additional ranged weapon and ammo crafting recipes. Here's what I have so far. (Note: I've revised this completely from the previous post to make it easier to read and I've expanded it to include the entire range of ammo and thrown weapons.)


Basic Crafting of ammo and thrown Weapons:

Unenchanted ammo and ranged weapons can be crafted using the normal craft weapon skills and do not require a feat, just access to the appropriate components, the correct mold, a blacksmith's workbench and smith's hammer.

Crafting levels for base ammo would be identical to the crafting level of the launcher. Arrows, bolts and bullets would require the same crafting levels as bows, crossbows and slings respectively. In addition, the same material modifiers would apply to ammo. Crafting silver or cold iron arrows would require +5 on the crafting skill, adamantine would be +15.

The molds for arrows, bolts, darts, shurikens and bullets would produce 99 of each ammo type. The molds for throwing axes and throwing daggers would only produce 25. The difference is an attempt to account for the amount of material required. This may require further balancing.

Note: It would be nice to add feathers to the bolt and arrow (and perhaps dart as well) recipes as a component.

Arrows (normal x99)
- Arrow mold (cost 1gp)
- 2 wooden planks
- 1 iron ingot

Bolts (normal x99)
- Bolt mold (cost 1gp)
- 2 wooden planks
- 1 iron ingot

Bullets (normal x99)
- Bullet mold (cost 1gp)
- 1 iron ingot

Shurikens (normal x99)
- Shuriken mold (cost 1gp)
- 1 iron ingot

Darts (normal x99)
- Dart mold (cost 1gp)
- 1 iron ingot

Throwing axes (normal x25)
- Throwing axe mold (cost 5gp)
- 1 wooden plank
- 1 iron ingot

Throwing dagger (normal x25)
- Throwing dagger mold (cost 5gp)
- 1 iron ingot

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Exotic material crafting:

Crafting ammo or throwing weapons from exotic materials is as simple as replacing the regular material (e.g iron ingot) with the exotic material of your choice. The material modifiers for the launcher are identical for the ammo. Crafting silver or cold iron arrows would require +5 on the crafting skill, adamantine would be +15.

Only ONE exotic material can be used at a time. Now archers can get the same benefits of the material bonuses that normal melee fighters do.

Exotic Metals:

Cold Iron Arrows (x99) / Bypasses Demon, Fae, and Warlock Damage Resistances
- arrow mold
- 2 wooden planks
- 1 cold iron ingot

Alchemical Silver Arrows (x99) / Bypasses Devil and Lycanthrope Damage Resistances
- arrow mold
- 2 wooden planks
- 1 alchemical silver ingot

Adamantine Arrows (x99) / +2 magical damage Bypasses Iron Golem/Stoneskin Damage Resistances
- arrow mold
- 2 wooden planks
- 1 adamantine ingot

Darksteel Arrows (x99) / +2 electrical damage
- arrow mold
- 2 wooden planks
- 1 darksteel ingot

Mithril Throwing Axes (x25) / 50% weight reduction
- Throwing Axe mold
- 1 wooden plank
- 1 mithril ingot

Exotic Woods:

Zalantar Arrows (x99) / +2 bludgeoing damage
- arrow mold
- 2 Zalantar planks
- 1 iron ingot

Sheddaran Arrows (x99) / +2 piercing damage
- arrow mold
- 2 Sheddaran planks
- 1 iron ingot

Duskwood Arrows (x99) / +2 Magical damage
- arrow mold
- 2 Duskwood planks
- 1 iron ingot

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Basic Enchantments:

These are taken from The Complete Craftsman without modification.

These recipes can be used interchangeably for arrows, bolts, bullets and shurikens. The recipes require a FULL sheath of arrows or bolts, or full pouch of bullets. I.e. You must use 99 of the appropriate ammo, shurikens or darts.

Note: The recipes for bullets would add Bludgeoning damage instead of piercing damage, but would otherwise be identical.

Arrows (x99) +1 piercing damage
Requires: Caster level 3, Craft Magical Arms and Armor feat
- arrows x99
- Obsidian
- Faint Power Essence
Cast Light

Arrows (x99) +2 piercing damage
Requires: Caster level 6, Craft Magical Arms and Armor feat
- arrows x99
- Diamond
- Faint Power Essence
Cast Light

Arrows (x99) +3 piercing damage
Requires: Caster level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor feat
- arrows x99
- Obsidian
- Weak Power Essence
Cast Light

Arrows (x99) +4 piercing damage
Requires: Caster level 12, Craft Magical Arms and Armor feat
- arrows x99
- Diamond
- Weak Power Essence
Cast Light

Arrows (x99) +5 piercing damage
Requires: Caster level 15, Craft Magical Arms and Armor feat
- arrows x99
- Emerald
- Glowing Power Essence
Cast Light

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Elemental Damage:

These recipes can be used interchangeably for arrows, bolts, bullets and shurikens. The recipes require a FULL sheath of arrows or bolts, a full pouch of bullets or full bandolier of darts. I.e. You must use 99 of the appropriate ammo type, darts or shurikens.

Acid Arrows +1d6 Acid damage
Requires: caster level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- arrows x99
- emerald
- faint earth essence
Cast Melf's Acid arrow

Fire Arrows +1d6 Fire damage
Requires: caster level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- arrows x99
- ruby
- faint fire essence
Cast Fireball or Flamestrike

Electrical Arrow +1d6 Electrical Damage
Requires: caster level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- arrows x99
- sapphire
- faint air essence
Cast Lighting bolt or Call Lightning

Arrows of Frostbite +1d6 Cold Damage
Requires: caster level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- arrows x99
- diamond
- faint water essence
Cast Ice Storm

Sonic Arrows +1d6 Sonic damage
Requires: caster level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- arrows x99
- star sapphire
- faint power essence
Cast Balagorn's Iron Horn or Sound Burst

Poison arrows +1d6 poison damage DC?
Requires: caster level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- arrows x99
- emerald
- faint earth essence
Cast Poison

Damage progression is still up in the air but here are the two possibilities:

+2d6 upgrade Caster level to 12 and increase essence level to weak
+3d6 upgrade Caster level to 15 and increase essence level to glowing
+4d6 upgrade Caster level to 18 and increase essence level to radiant

OR

+1d10 upgrade Caster level to 11 and increase essence level to weak
+2d6 upgrade Caster level to 13 and increase essence level to weak + faint
+2d10 upgrade Caster level to 15 and increase essence level to glowing

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Special Purpose Ammo:

These recipes are specific to the type of ammo listed, and are generally not interchageable with other ammo types. Although there are some exceptions. Some of these still need some balancing and modifications.

Arrows:

Arrow/Bolt of Smiting: adds +1d6 of BLUNT (bludgeoning) damage
Requires: Caster Level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- arrows x99 or bolts x99
- diamond
- faint power essence
Cast Weapon of Impact

Arrows of Stunning: No bonus damage; On Hit: Stun [DC=14] [Duration: 50% / 2 Rounds]
Requires: Caster Level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- arrows x99
- diamond
- faint power essence
Cast Hold Monster

Vampiric Arrows +1:
Requires: Caster Level 7, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- arrows x99
- ruby
- weak power essence
- weak fire essence
Cast Enervation

Vampiric Arrows +3:
Requires: Caster Level 11, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- arrows x99
- canary diamond
- glowing power essence
- glowing fire essence
Cast Enervation

Vampiric Arrows +5:
Requires: Caster Level 15, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- arrows x99
- beljuril
- radiant power essence
- radiant fire essence
Cast Enervation

Arrows of Petrification: On Hit Cast Spell: Flesh to Stone [Level 7]
Requires: Caster Level 15, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- arrows x99
- beljuril
- radiant power essence
- radiant earth essence
- radiant air essence
Cast Flesh to Stone

(Note: Not sure about the arrows of petrification. They seem undervalued and overpowered. I also worry about their potential impact as script busters during combat. Might be better to leave them out.)

Bolts:

Paralytic Bolt: No bonus damage; On Hit: Stun [DC=14] [Duration: 50% / 2 Rounds]
Requires: Caster Level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- bolts x99
- diamond
- faint power essence
Cast Hold Monster

Paralytic Bolt (Greater): No bonus damage; On Hit: Stun [DC=20] [Duration: 50% / 4 Rounds]
Requires: Caster Level 18, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- bolts x99
- diamond
- glowing power essence
Cast Hold Monster

Bullets:

Bullet of Screaming: adds 1d4 Sonic damage
On Hit: Silence [DC=14] [Duration: 50% / 2 Rounds]
Requires: caster level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- bullets x99
- star sapphire
- faint power essence
Cast Balagorn's Iron Horn or Sound Burst / Silence?

Bullets of Smiting: adds +1d6 of Bludgeoning damage
Requires: Caster Level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- Bullets x99
- diamond
- faint power essence
Cast Weapon of Impact

Giant's Bane
Damage Bonus: Piercing [1d6]
Damage Bonus vs. Racial Type: Giant [1d6]
Requires: caster level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- Bullets x99
- diamond
- faint power essence
Cast Weapon of Impact

Farel's Gold: Acid [1d4] On Hit: Slow [DC=14] [Duration: 50% / 2 Rounds]
Requires: caster level 9, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- Bullets x99
- diamond
- faint power essence
Cast Weapon of Impact

Darts:

Hornet's Nest: +2d6 bonus piercing damage
- Darts x99
- diamond
- faint power essence
Cast Insect Plague

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Comments would be appreciated

[Liso]

Bump! :P up up in away!!

[kgambit]

continued:

One of a kind items:

Here are some special items I came up. Most have been implemented in previous games. These still need some fleshing out on details.


Arrow of Slaying:
Requires: Caster level 18, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- any SINGLE arrow
- King's Tear
- Radiant Power Essence
- 2 additional Radiant Essences depending on creature class
Cast Power Word Kill

Axe of Recall +5; Returns to user at the end of each round / attack
Requires: Caster level 18, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- any unenchanted Mithril hand axe
- Radiant Power Essence
- Radiant Air Essence
- Radiant Fire Essence
- Blue Diamond
Cast Freedom of Movement

Hammer of Recall +5; Returns to user at the end of each round / attack
Requires: Caster level 18, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- any unenchanted Mithril light hammer
- Radiant Power Essence
- Radiant Air Essence
- Radiant Fire Essence
- Blue Diamond
Cast Freedom of Movement

Spear (or Javelin?) of Lightning; causes 12d6 of electrical damage; disposable item ONE TIME USE
Requires: Caster level 18, Craft Magical Arms and Armor
- any unenchanted Spear (Javelin)
- Radiant Air Essence
- Star Sapphire
Cast Lighting Bolt or Call Lightning


Miscellaneous:

Change the distillation process for essences so that downgrading an essence gives TWO lesser essences instead of one.

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Comments, criticisms, or helpful suggestions will be MOST appreciated.

[Sicar Eneco]

Very cool; I had absolutly no idea the crafting system was so big. I'll really need to look into this, your former threads and the crafting guide. Seems like something that has some really big potential, if it would be used in modules somewhat more.

I'm really surprised I haven't looked into crafting a lot. I assume these recipes are editable in some way, so one can add their own, right? Modgasm, the possibilities.

[kgambit]

Very cool; I had absolutly no idea the crafting system was so big. I'll really need to look into this, your former threads and the crafting guide. Seems like something that has some really big potential, if it would be used in modules somewhat more.

I'm really surprised I haven't looked into crafting a lot. I assume these recipes are editable in some way, so one can add their own, right? Modgasm, the possibilities.

Thanks Sicar. :D

It's surprising how much untapped potential there is in the crafting system. The Complete Craftsman mod adds a lot and fills some holes, but imo it just scratches the surface. :) The possibilities are endless!

Recipes can be added without resorting to the toolset. It only requires editing the crafting.2da file by adding in the recipes with the proper components. The trick is making sure that you don't duplicate an existing recipe and that requires a fair amount of cross checking. I've played around with the .2da files in NWN1 and making alterations was fairly simple, but I haven't yet looked at depth into the current .2da file to see what all would be required.

The only drawback is that the developers have hinted at changes to the current crafting system with the release of the expansion. With the release of NWx1 scheduled before the end of the year, I am hesitant to start something now until I can see what changes are going to be implemented in the expansion. :)

[Sicar Eneco]

It's surprising how much untapped potential there is in the crafting system. The Complete Craftsman mod adds a lot and fills some holes, but imo it just scratches the surface. :)


That mod seems like a nice expansion on the vanilla crafting system, and I'd like to use it's potential in my modules. However, now that I mentioned the word expansion:


The only drawback is that the developers have hinted at changes to the current crafting system with the release of the expansion. With the release of NWx1 scheduled before the end of the year, I am hesitant to start something now until I can see what changes are going to be implemented in the expansion. :)

That's what I'm a bit worried about. I hope they don't do a complete overhaul of the crafting thing, but rather expand upon the one we have now if they have to change it. I see no direct concerns with the current system, it seems to be working the way I'd only see it as natural. (Course, I'm still just reading a bit into it. I need to test out some stuff ingame and with the toolkit)

The 2DA editing doesn't seem that hard, if I put some effort into it. Though now I have examples of how other people did 2DA editing. 'The Birthday' it's deity stuff jumps to mind. I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out, the override dir can help a lot.

I'm thinking of implementing the crafting system more into my modules now, with certain crafting quests for instance. Or like I've said before, I find it strange that players simply just 'find' epic weaponary/swords during their adventure, while it would only seem more normal to me their create their own personal outfit and upgrade it over time. I wonder how much I'll be able to play with this, but I'll wait for the expansion until I do some testing on this. For now, I'll just focus on writing down ideas and dialogue. I'm pretty confident they won't change that. :p

[kgambit]

That mod seems like a nice expansion on the vanilla crafting system, and I'd like to use it's potential in my modules. However, now that I mentioned the word expansion:

It is a nice *expansion*. ChainsawXVI did a really nice job of filling in holes for adding sonic damage, adding attack bonuses to bows (a HUGE gap before) and several other things. It's very well balanced. The only issue that might exist with it is it's compatibility with certain versions, but that's an issue with almost ANY hak or mod. :)



That's what I'm a bit worried about. I hope they don't do a complete overhaul of the crafting thing, but rather expand upon the one we have now if they have to change it. I see no direct concerns with the current system, it seems to be working the way I'd only see it as natural. (Course, I'm still just reading a bit into it. I need to test out some stuff ingame and with the toolkit)

The 2DA editing doesn't seem that hard, if I put some effort into it. Though now I have examples of how other people did 2DA editing. 'The Birthday' it's deity stuff jumps to mind. I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out, the override dir can help a lot.

I'm thinking of implementing the crafting system more into my modules now, with certain crafting quests for instance. Or like I've said before, I find it strange that players simply just 'find' epic weaponary/swords during their adventure, while it would only seem more normal to me their create their own personal outfit and upgrade it over time. I wonder how much I'll be able to play with this, but I'll wait for the expansion until I do some testing on this. For now, I'll just focus on writing down ideas and dialogue. I'm pretty confident they won't change that. :p

My info on the crafting *changes* is a bit vague atm. I am fairly sure that the changes WILL allow for something akin to the dyes that you could get in NWN1 which would be a great addition. I've also seen *unconfirmed* reports that weapon appearance will be customizable as well. None of those should impact the basic crafting system in the least. At least not so far as the recipe driven system.

As long as the system remains as currently implemented in the expansion, the ONLY issue that would occur if the developers grab more space within the .2da files for their own additions. Even that is manageable though, as it simply (haha, as if anything involving custom content is *simple*) would involve moving your custom content to new locations in the .2da files. And .2da editting IS fairly easy, although it can get tedious depending on how much material you add.

I like the idea of having crafting related quests in a module. :) Whether it's a wizard that wants a special staff made for him before he gives you access to his spells, or the thief who knows something special about someone but wants a better set of armor in exchange for the info, ahhh the mind bogels! :D

BTW, I'm still tweaking the lists at the top of the thread. There are still some issues on costs, balance, item mix and a few other odds and ends I want to finish off. And I'm trying to find out if it's possible to animate a weapon of recall. Even if not, I want to finish up the recipes for the Axe and Hammer of Recall. I think the Axe will end up be based on the Axe of Hurling. :)

EDIT: Well, you got me interested in checking things out, so I opened the crafting.2da file to take a peak. Here's what I have figured out aleady:

a) I can EASILY alter the file so that the distillation of an essence would now return TWO of the lower quality essences instead of only one. I always felt we got shortchanged in that deal. lol

b) It looks like you might have to change both the crafting.2da file and the crafting_index.2da file unless the crafting_index file is simply a reference for the programmer. The index file shows the start lines for the code for the various crafting categories such as alchemy and distillation.

c) The way the recipes are coded in the crafting.2da file is fairly straightforward, but the effects applied to armor and weapons are a bit obtuse. It's going to take a while to figure some of that out.

d) There are actually FIVE crafting related files. crafting.2da, crafting_index.2da, and three alchemy related files. One is related to manufacturing potions, not sure of the function of the other two. Two of them have references to components that as far as I know we have NOT encountered in NWN2. Yet. :)

[Laoch The Brave]

Ok I am simply astounded at the amount of crafting that can be done. I am curious, however, why it is only magic users that can create items. But that is for another discussion.

My question involves creating arrows and bolts. In the PW I play on they have a quiver of arrows that can be used for crafting (I am not sure this is used in the regular game or not) The quiver properties say that they require two perfected alchemical agents to craft arrows. I assumed this was, for example two perfected alchemist fire to create flame arrows but this doesn't seem to work. Any suggestions.
Cheers,
Laoch

[kgambit]

Ok I am simply astounded at the amount of crafting that can be done. I am curious, however, why it is only magic users that can create items. But that is for another discussion.

My question involves creating arrows and bolts. In the PW I play on they have a quiver of arrows that can be used for crafting (I am not sure this is used in the regular game or not) The quiver properties say that they require two perfected alchemical agents to craft arrows. I assumed this was, for example two perfected alchemist fire to create flame arrows but this doesn't seem to work. Any suggestions.
Cheers,
Laoch


It sounds like the PW you are playing in is using a custom crafting system as the use of a quiver is not standard in either the OC or the expansion. It would be almost impossible for anyone outside of the PW to guess at what they might require.