Number Crunching: Ikonis Weapons & Augments
One of the most unique aspects of the Motherboard campaign frame is the use of an Ikonis instead of Daggerheart’s normal selection of primary and secondary weapons. The rules are pretty straightforward:
- Every character has a single Ikonis, which is a two-handed weapon.
- There are 5 range/damage dice combinations to pick from, as well as 2 damage types.
- An Ikonis has an inherent feature that provides a bonus to damage rolls equal to the character's level.
- An Ikonis can be further modified with up to [1 + Tier] augments, each providing a unique feature.
- Augments can be constructed from various quantities and types of Scrap as a downtime move.
Ikonis augments are entirely gated by how fast a party can acquire Scrap, so let’s dig into the assumptions the CRB makes for Scrap acquisition and availability.
Average Scrap
We have 18 different types of Scrap divided evenly amongst 3 categories: Shards, Metals, and Components. When calculating Scrap rewards, the CRB assumes a 50-session campaign, with 1-2 fights per session. Rewards will further vary based on the difficulty and number of remnants involved in a given fight. For a baseline calculation, I'll assume 2 average difficulty fights per session, consisting of "mostly remnants".
This puts the per fight Scrap reward will be roughly: 2 Shards, 2 Metals, and 1 Component. Over a 50-session campaign, each player would earn on average: 200 Shards, 200 Metals, and 100 Components. Not too shabby.
Average Quantum
Per the CRB, Scrap can be bought and sold with Quantum (the Motherboard currency) for its face value. So let's convert the expected Scrap rewards into their Quantum equivalents.
Shards have values ranging from 1-6 Quantum based on a d6 roll. There is an equal likelihood of each value when we roll a Shard reward, so the average Quantum per Shard reward will therefore match that of a standard d6 roll: 3.5.
Metals have a slightly different weight. It's a d8 roll with only 6 results. There are higher weights for an outcome of 1 or 3, so we will need to average out: 1, 1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8. This gives us an average Quantum per Metal of 4.125.
Components are also weighted more heavily towards the lower values. It's a d10 roll, with possible outcomes of: 1, 1, 3, 3, 3, 6, 6, 8, 9, 10. This gives us an average Quantum per Component of 5.
When considering the average Scrap earnings calculated previously, each player would earn on average 2025 Quantum worth of various Scrap.
Augment Costs
We have 16 total Augments in the CRB. Using the standard Quantum conversions, we have the following costs for each Augment:
| Augment | Quantum | Feature |
|---|---|---|
| Force | 26 | +1 damage. |
| Guard | 38 | +1 Armor Score. |
| Converge | 78 | +1 Attack Rolls. |
| Amplify | 92 | Roll additional damage die. Drop lowest. |
| Scope | 65 | Increase range 1 step. |
| Deny | 67 | +2 Armor Score. |
| Target | 126 | +2 Attack Rolls. |
| Split | 124 | 1 Stress to target an additional creature. |
| Fix | 161 | Clear 1 HP when dealing Severe damage. |
| Scare | 117 | Target marks 1 Stress on a crit. |
| Sear | 196 | +2 damage. |
| Absorb | 330 | Can mark an additional Armor when damaged. |
| Kick | 421 | 2 Stress to force the target to mark 1 HP. |
| Block | 579 | +3 Armor Score; -1 Evasion. |
| Zip | 507 | Move up to Far range during attack. |
| Bury | 420 | +3 damage. |
| Follow | 599 | 2 Stress to reroll attack. |
| Override | 1105 | Attack Rolls have Advantage. |
None of these take into account Relics, which don't have a cost and can only be found on specific remnant adversaries. Notably, only two Augments in the CRB require relics: 1 for Bury, and 5 for Override.
Damage and Range Optimization
As with the standard CRB weapon tables, there is the tradeoff between Ikonis range and damage. A higher range is paired with reduced damage. This gives us the following average damage rolls (before modifiers) for every Ikonis range and proficiency:
| Proficiency | Melee (d12+1) | Very Close (d10+2) | Close (d10) | Far (d8+1) | Very Far (d6+1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 4.5 |
| 2 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 8 |
| 3 | 20.5 | 18.5 | 16.5 | 14.5 | 11.5 |
| 4 | 27 | 24 | 22 | 19 | 15 |
| 5 | 33.5 | 29.5 | 27.5 | 23.5 | 18.5 |
| 6 | 40 | 35 | 33 | 28 | 22 |
Notably, once our Proficiency is 3+, we will sacrifice at least 2 damage if we wish to increase our base Ikonis range by 1 step. Since the Scope (+1 range) augment costs somewhere between Force (1 damage) and Sear (2 damage), we will always want to choose a higher base damage for our Ikonis and augment with a Scope over a higher range Ikonis and augment with a Force or Sear.
Other Optimizations
There are a few other mathematical outliers in this list that are worth discussing:
Similar to the above, Amplify will increase our damage more than Sear (+2 damage) as Proficiency and dice size increase. With 6 proficiency and a d12 weapon die, Amplify will even beat out Bury (+3 damage) for a fraction of the cost.
Another outlier is Override, costing close to double that of any other Augment while also requiring 5 relics. Gaining no-cost advantage on an attack roll is certainly appealing, but mathematically, this will be an average of +3.5 to Attack Rolls. For 90% less cost though, we can get Target for a +2 to Attack Rolls (and it's available in Tier 1). Upgrading to (or stacking) Override may still be worth it if we have the materials to burn in Tier 4, but Target certainly feels like a value pick for those looking for an Augment that will stay relevant across all Tiers of play.
Last up are some minor efficiencies. Deny (2 Armor) is less than twice the cost of 2x Guard (1 Armor). The same is true for Target (+2 Attack) and Converge (+1 Attack). If we wish to stack Armor or Attack bonuses, we will always want to aim for the option that costs less and takes up 1 fewer augment slot, especially since they're all available in Tier 1.
Sample Builds
With all that out of the way, let's do some white room Ikonis building, assuming the average Scrap/Quantum values above and assuming we can trade Scrap at cost.
Max Hit Chance - 1x Override, 1x Follow, 1x Target, 2x Converge, and 5x relics. Total cost: 1986. We will have [1d6+4] as a bonus to Attack Rolls, and we can reroll the entire attack for 2 Stress. If we absolutely must hit, a specific adversary, this is one very expensive way to improve those odds. We should be able to obtain enough Scrap in Tier 4 to do this, but good luck with the 5 relics.
Max Damage - 2x Bury, 2x Sear, 1x Amplify, and 2x relics. Total cost: 1324. We will have a +10 bonus to damage rolls, which is in addition to the bonus we get from the Bonded feature. Amplify will give us at least another +1 damage, which increases with proficiency and dice size. If we assume we're lvl 10 and using a Melee Ikonis, this will be an average of ~64 damage before class and domain features. Compare this to an average of [6d12+12+5] 56 in other sustained damage builds, and it's easy to see that Ikonis hit significantly harder. The cost is also quite reasonable and achievable within Tier 3.
Max Defense - 1x Block, 1x Deny, 2x Guard, 1x Absorb. Total cost: 1052. We get an Armor Score bonus of 7, which is high enough to hit the Armor cap of 12 with most Tier 4 armors. If we have a build that doesn't attack for some reason, this could be worth considering. The cost is also low enough that we could build this by early Tier 3.
Invulnerable Valor - 2x Bury, 2x Fix, 1x Amplify. Total cost: 1254. This is the Max Damage build, but we sacrifice 4 damage for the absolutely insane healing of Fix. In Tier 3, tanky Valor builds can clear both Stress and Armor any time they mark HP (Rise Up, Valor-Touched). If we can also recover HP on a hit, our ability to stay in a fight improves drastically. Both Seraphs and Guardians will be doing ~60 damage per hit before class and domain features. Seraphs, we probably want to mark a Stress to double up on our targets. Guardians will likely want rage Up to guarantee Severe damage when it counts. But in either case, we get to turn offensive power into incredible defensive synergy.
Warriors Get Nerfed
As a final topic, let’s discuss how Warriors get nerfed in the Motherboard campaign frame relative to the other classes. Per the CRB, Warriors lose their Combat Training feature and instead get a free Force augment for their Ikonis. Combat Training notably provides 2 benefits:
You ignore burden when equipping weapons. When you deal physical damage, you gain a bonus to your damage roll equal to your level.
Ignoring burden means we can wield a two-handed primary weapon and a secondary weapon at the same time. But in Motherboard, every weapon is two-handed by default, so Warriors gain no advantage over other classes. If we consider the advantage this would provide with normal weapons, we can compare the Battleaxe (two-handed) and the Mace (one-handed). The Battleaxe has a better damage dice (d10 vs d8) as well as a flat +2 damage bonus. With maxed proficiency, this equals roughly 8 damage on a hit.
The second benefit is pretty straightforward; we get a flat damage bonus that will eventually reach +10. Along with the previous benefit, Combat Training can provide up to a +18 bonus to weapon damage rolls in a non-Motherboard campaign.
A free Force augment, by comparison, gives us a static +1 to damage and takes up a valuable augment slot. If all Scrap were sold, this would only be an additional 1.2% of our expected Quantum per campaign. That feels… lackluster… to say the least. I would personally want to offer Warriors something else as compensation.
Conclusion
I absolutely love the Motherboard campaign frame, both thematically and mechanically. Ikonis are such a fun way to encourage players to make their weapons their own and customize it to something truly unique. But, some of the mechanics may require some tweaking to maintain balance.
The CRB also encourages GMs to offer other augments to players, using the 16 provided augments as templates. I have no doubt that some of the other unique features from the standard weapons would be attractive to certain players: Returning, Versatile, Brutal, Retractable, etc.
Overall, I think Ikonis demonstrate one of my favorite aspects of campaign frames: giving the foundation of cool game mechanics (as well as flavor) that can be added to many different settings. I certainly can’t wait to take some inspiration from them into my next game.
Posted Sep 3, 2025, 1:53 PM UTC