Vehicle Changes:
The PF2E rules as published for vehicles are fairly slim, so for the sake of having vehicle-centric campaigns (oceanfaring, airships, trade caravans etc), some additions feel relevant to bring the vehicles themselves up to scratch - an object, even one with 15 hardness and 280 hit points at 15th level, won't actually take that long to become broken or destroyed in a larger combat, provided that at least some of the combatants are aiming at the vehicle.
Likewise, the list of vehicles has some notable gaps in which progression may feel underwhelming to the players.
As such, some additions are being made to the vehicles and siege weapons systems to make these options feel more hefty and compelling, including siege weapon runes, vehicle reinforcement runes, and vehicle/propulsion upgrades, amongst other additions and changes.
This page lists all the generic vehicle upgrades, runes, and changes, with specific forms of vehicle (sea, air, and land) having their own category pages.
Note: vehicles can only make a single action with the Move trait each round.
Vehicle Reinforcement Runes:
| Name | Level | Cost | Benefit |
|---|
| Reinforcement 1 |
4 |
50% of vehicle cost |
Increase the vehicle's hardness by 1/3, rounding up. |
| Armor Potency +1 |
5 |
160 gp |
+1 to vehicle AC |
| Reinforcement 2 |
7 |
100% of vehicle cost |
Increase the vehicle's hardness by 1/3, rounding up. Increase the ship's hp by 25%. |
| Resilient 1 |
8 |
340 gp |
+1 to vehicle saves |
| Reinforcement 3 |
10 |
250% of vehicle cost |
Increase the vehicle's hardness by 1/3, rounding up. Increase the ship's hp by 50%. |
| Armor Potency +2 |
11 |
1,060 gp |
+2 to vehicle AC |
| Reinforcement 4 |
13 |
300% of vehicle cost |
Increase the vehicle's hardness by 2/3, rounding up. Increase the ship's hp by 50%. |
| Resilient 2 |
14 |
3,440 gp |
+2 to vehicle saves |
| Reinforcement 5 |
16 |
375% of vehicle cost |
Increase the vehicle's hardness by 2/3, rounding up. Increase the ship's hp by 75%. |
| Armor Potency +3 |
18 |
20,560 gp |
+3 to vehicle AC |
| Reinforcement 6 |
19 |
500% of vehicle cost |
Double the vehicle's hardness and hit points |
| Resilient 3 |
20 |
49,440 gp |
+3 to vehicle saves |
Siege Weapon Changes:
Some of the siege weapons detailed in the Pathfinder ruleset (namely, those ones that specify a single target) have some very odd rules and are, frankly, very underwhelming compared to those that target a burst or cone. As such, "single target" siege weapons (Cannon, etc.) are undergoing a slight change in how they function. Instead of affecting a single target, they instead function as a special line attack, affecting creatures closest to the siege weapon differently from those further away. Each target hit, starting from the creature or object closest to the siege weapon, makes a saving throw, as specified in the weapon's profile;
Critical success the target takes no damage, and the attack continues on to the next closest target without losing momentum (see below
Success the target takes half damage and the attack loses twice as much momentum (to represent deflection
Failure the target takes full damage and the attack loses momentum;
Critical failure the target takes double damage, and the attack loses half as much momentum.
Attack momentum: when the attack loses momentum, decrease the amount of damage it causes to the next target hit by an amount equal to the amount of damage it has just dealt to a target (to a maximum of that target's current hit points prior to the siege weapon attack).
Example: Johnny fires a Cannon at Fred, who fails his saving throw, taking 6d12 bludgeoning damage. The attack rolls 34 damage, but Fred only had 6 hit points. The Cannon's attack continues on with 28 damage left, hitting the next closest target on the same line, Sally, who critically fails her saving throw, taking 56 damage. As Sally had 42 hit points prior to the attack, the Cannon's attack loses 21 damage (due to the critical failure), carrying on with only 7 damage left.
Siege Weapon Runes:
| Name | Level | Cost | Benefit |
|---|
| Potency +1 |
2 |
170 gp |
+1 to siege weapon DC |
| Striking |
4 |
50% of siege weapon cost |
Increase number of damage die by 1/3 rounded down |
| Potency +2 |
10 |
1,720 gp |
+2 to siege weapon DC |
| Greater Striking |
12 |
100% of siege weapon cost |
Increase number of damage die by 2/3 rounded down |
| Potency +3 |
16 |
24,720 gp |
+3 to siege weapon DC |
| Major Striking |
19 |
200% of siege weapon cost |
Double number of damage die |
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