Weapons

This page goes into specific details on weapons, weapon mods, and shields in this TTRPG system.

Weapons are used in combat to harm your opponents.

They are part of the dicepool calculation for your attacks.  For more information on attacks, see here.

Equipped Weapons Limitations

A character may wield up to 1 weapon per hand at any given time, or hold a single weapon in two hands.  There are benefits for both two-handing and dual wielding.  Characters may have more than 2 weapons on their person, but they must use a ready weapon action, which is a simple action, to wield them

All player characters have 2 hands.  It is possible to effectively gain more than 2 hands with the purchase of certain powers, such as Triple Wield.

Weapons & Character Creation

At character creation, a character is assumed to have two of their weapon(s) of choice, and one set of armor of their choice.  There is no need to purchase this basic starting equipment.

If you wish for this equipment to be special, see the Magic Item Assets, and Power Limiters.

At character creation, mods purchased for weapons via the Magic Item Asset apply to both of your starting weapons.

Weapon Types

There are 2 major types of weapons: ranged weapons and melee weapons.

Ranged weapons are used with the Ranged Combat skill.

Melee weapons are used with the Close Combat skill.

When you select a weapon, you must choose for it to be a ranged weapon or a melee weapon.

Weapons Table

Weapon Caliber

Caliber in this case does not refer to the literal measurement of the rounds the weapon fires – it is merely a way to describe the relative size of the weapon.

Larger weapons tend to be more potent, but less easily concealed, and potentially less socially acceptable.

Weapon Caliber Examples:

Holdout – ankle-daggers, retractable claws, holdout pistols, empty hands

Small – daggers, pistols, shuriken, brass knuckles

Medium – short swords & spears, SMGs, hand-crossbow

Large – long swords, long spears, halberds, rifles

Very Large – great swords, pikes, lances, great bows, machine guns, rocket launchers

Stupidly Large – Anime style massive weapons of all stripes.  Weapons that in real life would outweigh the person wielding them.

Weapon Rating

Rating = The number of dice added to your attack dicepool by the weapon.

Concealability

Dice added to the (Social) + (Stealth) roll to conceal weapons and armor.  This roll is contested by (Mental) + (Physical Awareness).

Dual Wielding

Dual Wielding can provide a number of benefits.

When wielding two of the same weapon, you gain a +2 bonus to your attack dicepool.  Two empty hands qualify for this bonus.  Characters with more than 2 hands can benefit from this bonus only once.

When wielding two different weapons, you are given the choice of which one you would like to use for any given attack or defense.  This can provide big tactical benefits because it gives you access to different Weapon Mods.  Characters with more than 2 hands can benefit from this mechanic once for each additional hand.  Most notably, you could wield a ranged weapon in one hand and a melee weapon in the other.

Wielding a weapon in one hand, leaving the other hand empty, is the same as wielding two different weapons.  You get the non-lethal, disarming, & grappling mods that come for free on empty hands.

There are no mechanics, penalties or bonuses, for dominant handedness.

Two Handing

Using a single weapon in both hands grants you a bonus to damage.  If your attack succeeds(1 net hit on your attack roll), deal an additional 1 damage automatically.

For example, Dean attacks Sam, beating Sam’s defense by 3, which would normally deal 3 damage.  Because Dean is two-handing his weapon, he deals an additional 1 damage, for a total of 4 damage.

When targeted by a disarming attack, you gain a +2 bonus to your defense.

Shields

Shields grant +1 dice to your Soak defense & Parry defense dicepools.

A shield occupies 1 hand.  You cannot benefit from wielding more than 1 shield, no matter how many hands you have.

Shields can have the Fantastical Weapon asset mod on them.  With this mod, your shield could appear to be an energy field, a floating flaming sword, etc.

Ammo & Reloading

As in most popular fiction, ammo is not of great concern in this system.

The GM may declare that you are low on ammo, and thus need to take some action to find more ammo.  This GM power should be used rarely, and certainly not used in every fight.

Reloading has no mechanical impact in this system.  It is assumed that characters reload whenever they need to, and costs no actions or energy.  Players may feel free to use reloading as part of their action description.

Weapon Cosmetics

As with all cosmetics in this system, the appearance of your weapons is entirely up to you, the player, as long as they look like weapons.  If you want weapons that look extremely fantastical or magical, see below.

The Fantastical Weapon asset mod lets you make your weapons look .  It’s a very cheap mod, and we recommend that everyone read it in full.  This mod will let you have the appearance of any weapon you wish, ranging from bare hands to throwing lightning bolts.

Weapon Mods

Most weapons won’t have any mods on them.

Especially well crafted, high tech, or magical weapons may have mods, which are gained via the Magic Weapon Asset.  The Magic Weapon Asset is not meant to be used alone to create Excalibur or similarly legendary weapons.  To create your own Excalibur, see the required equipment power limiter.

Empty hands have 3 free mods: Non-lethal, Grappling, and Disarming.

Magic Weapon Asset Mods

Mods added via the Magic Weapon Asset use the following rules:

Each point of this Asset allows you to put an equal number of points of mods on the weapon.   Mods which have multiple levels of effectiveness do not have prerequisites; the cost is baked into the cost of the mod.

Weapons intended to be dual-wielded may be purchased together, sharing the same mods for no additional cost.

Fantastical Weapon

Cost: 1

This mod enables you to create whatever cosmetic appearance you wish for your weapon, including using bare hands and feet.

Your weapon needn’t have the cosmetic appearance of a typical weapon; a sword, gun, bow, etc.  Your weapon can have a very exotic, and obviously magical, appearance: a ball of swirling energy, fire pouring forth from your eyes, lightning crackling around you, etc.

This weapon does not have a physical existence until such time as you materialize it with a Ready Weapon action.  Instead, your weapon has an astral, spiritual, presence.  Those with spiritual senses properly tuned can detect that a person with a Fantastical Weapon is more dangerous than they appear to be.

This mod changes the roll to detect the weapon from (Mental + Physical Awareness) to (Mental + Spiritual Awareness).  Concealability is still added as a modifier to the concealment roll.  No amount of Physical Awareness can detect the weapon while it is not materialized.  Once materialized, the weapon is obviously magical, and is automatically detected with no need for rolls.

You can dematerialize your weapon with a free action.

This mod does not obviate being disarmed.  Disarm still functions as normal.  The in-universe explanation for being disarmed will vary – glowing red eyes may have sand thrown into them, a swirling vortex of energy may lose power, etc.

Aside from the things mentioned above, all the normal rules still apply to your weapon..  The weapon still requires a hand to hold it, even if it cosmetically appears to not require a hand to use.

Disarming

Cost: 2

A disarm attempt can be made at no penalty when using a weapon with this mod.

This mod comes for free on empty hands.

Grappling

Cost: 3

A grappling attempt can be made at no penalty when using a weapon with this mod.

This mod comes for free on empty hands.

Deadly 1

Cost: 2

The weapon is particularly well crafted or magical.  Add 1 die to the weapon rating.

Deadly 2

Cost: 6

The weapon is particularly well crafted or magical.  Add 2 dice to the weapon rating.

Deadly 3

Cost: 10

The weapon is particularly well crafted or magical.  Add 3 dice to the weapon rating.

Concealed 1

Cost: 1

The weapon has the Concealability of a weapon 1 Caliber below its own Caliber.

Concealed 2

Cost: 3

The weapon has the Concealability of a weapon 2 Calibers below its own Caliber.

Concealed 3

Cost: 5

The weapon has the Concealability of a weapon 3 Calibers below its own Caliber.

Spirit Slayer

Cost: 2

The weapon can hit immaterial spirits.  Your character may still require some means of sensing immaterial spirits, usually handled via the Spiritual Awareness skill.

Spirits can observe that you have a Spirit Slayer weapon with a contested (Mental + Spiritual Awareness) vs (Social + Stealth + Concealability) roll.  If they fail this roll, they may have to wait for you to hit them before they figure it out.

Non-Lethal

Cost: 3

The weapon does not suffer from the -3 dice penalty for non-lethal attacks.  This mod comes for free on empty hands.

Common Weapons

Empty Hand

Caliber: Holdout

Concealability: 12

Rating: 1

Ranged or Melee?: Melee

Mods: Non-lethal, Grappling, Disarming

Asset cost:  0

Combat Knife

Caliber: Small

Concealability: 6

Rating: 2

Ranged or Melee?: Melee

Mods: Grappling

Asset cost:  0

Long Sword

Caliber: 3, Medium

Concealability: 6

Rating: 3

Ranged or Melee?: Melee

Mods: None

Asset cost:  0

Assault Rifle

Caliber: Large

Concealability: -6

Rating: 4

Ranged or Melee?: Ranged

Mods: None

Asset cost: 0

Short Bow & Arrow

Caliber: Medium

Concealability: 6

Rating: 3

Ranged or Melee?: Ranged

Mods: None

Asset cost: 0

Long Bow & Arrow

Caliber: Large

Concealability: -6

Rating: 4

Ranged or Melee?: Ranged

Mods: None

Asset cost: 0