Weapon traits
Weapons cover a range of items capable of hurting someone or something. As such, they could have a range of different behaviours and special abilities. However, the standard weapons traits are as follows.
Weapon size
The size of the weapon. A character generally gets a penalty of to attack rolls when using weapons belonging to a larger category than herself. This penalty is generally -2 for every size category the weapon is larger than the character.
Weapon size also plays into dual wielding mechanics.
Damage type
Determines what type of damage the weapon deals, lethal or non-lethal damage (L = Lethal, N = Non-lethal).
Clip size
How many rounds a weapon can fire before it needs to be reloaded.
Rate of fire
Ranged weapons sometimes have alternate firing modes. Common possibilities are :
- Single shot (S) – The weapon fires a single shot at a time (ex. revolver)
- Burst fire (B) – The weapon can fire a few bullets at a time (generally 3 or 5 bullets)
- Full Auto (A) – The weapon targets an area and sprays it with bullets (generally 10 bullets)
For an assault rifle, the syntax might be something like this : SB3A10
This means that the weapon has a single fire mode, a burst which uses 3 bullets and a full auto which spends 10.
Burst : Each extra bullet adds another 1d6 to damage, so a weapon that does 1d6+2 on a single shot would deal 4d6+2 on a burst.
Quick shot / Aim shot
Ranged weapons generally have two types of attack, quick shot and aim shot. A quick shot uses agility and adds the quick shot modifier. An aim shot uses perception and adds the aim shot modifier.
Reach bonus
Melee weapons may extend the reach of a character. For example, an adult may have a natural reach of 2 and a sword which gives an additional reach of 1, meaning reach with that weapon is 3.
As melee weapons get further reach, they generally become less effective at very close range (unless otherwise specified). For example, hitting someone with the pointy end of a long spear may become harder if they are very close to you and many weapons require a little space to be wielded properly. The general rule is that weapons that have a reach bonus are not effective against adjacent spaces, unless the character wielding the weapon is either small or tiny – or have a special ability that allows her to ignore this penalty.
Close combat penalty : damage halved
Damage
Damage states the base damage dealt by a successful attack with that weapon. Ex. a damage of 1d6+2 means you roll one six-sided die and add two to the result.
Strength modifier, attack bonus and additional die from burst or full auto may also be added to the damage.
Weapon list
For now, a list of weapons is maintained in a google spreadsheet. This spreadsheet contains two sheets, one for ranged weapons and one for melee weapons.