[WOIN] Weapons/Damage Types

Think my original post got eaten by the internet. Sorry if this ends up as a double post.

I've been running a scifi/cyberpunk game (limited to 8B tech level) since April, and my players and I have noticed that combat greatly favors ballistic weaponry over other types.

Using pistols as an example, the slugger and blaster are both 2d6 with the sidearm trait, and both have comparable costs, ranges, and weights. But the slugger is compatible with all specialty ammunition, and the blaster is not. Since the cost of specialty ammunition is negligible, this means that at the cost of only a free action to reload, a ballistic weapon can increase its damage by sacrificing an attack die, ignore 5 SOAK, deal non-lethal damage, or improve the team's aim as the situation requires. The blaster has none of this versatility.

My players aren't min-maxers, but the advantages of ballistic weaponry are pretty overwhelming. I'd love to have more diversity and variety in my game, but NPCs using lasers are starting off at a disadvantage just from the weapon choice. Outside of giving NPCs ridiculously high ballistic-specific SOAK (reasonable as a one-time trick) or clear vulnerabilities to other damage types, I'd love any thoughts on ways to make heat-based weapons more competitive. I'm considering a house rule to give them a static bonus that combines the benefits of several ammunition types (e.g. +2dmg and ignore 3 SOAK) but still allows ballistic weaponry to have the versatility advantage.

On the topic of diversity, there aren't too many different options in the non-exotic future ranged category, and beyond a range differential and requiring different skills, the categories didn't have much to separate them. One of my players and I came up with a list of guns and new weapons rules. Since I can't link to it yet, I'll try to copy/pasta it below. Feel free to use it or provide any critiques you may have! Are there any plans for official expansions to the weapons/equipment lists?

The table isn't translating nicely from google docs. Here are the rules:

New Special Traits:

Scatter: Weapons with this special trait deal 1.5x damage when used within 3 units of the target. These weapons can only equip standard or nonlethal rounds.
Compact: Weapons with this special trait may be fired in melee range at no penalty (they do not gain a bonus like weapons with Sidearm do). They can be fired in one hand with a -2d6 penalty to attack.
Sniper: Weapons with this special trait gain +1d6 damage on attacks that benefit from an Aim action.

Reworked Special Traits:

Auto: Weapons with this special trait grant an additional +1d6 cover bonus when providing suppressive fire; however, non-Heavy weapons must spend one action to reload after using this ability. In addition, automatic weapons may use Burst Fire, which allows them to trade 1d6 from attack for 1d6 of damage, once per attack. Subsequent Burst Fire attacks in the same round will have a -2 penalty to attack rolls due to recoil.

Unique Skills Rule:

The submachine gun class of weapons can benefit from the Pistols or Rifles skills rather than requiring its own skill.

Link to the expanded weapons list.

I always figured that in the future, we'd still use ballistic weaponry. It seems to me its the best thing for the job (though sonic bypasses SOAK, which gives it a different advantage). Ray guns look cool, but would they really be better than a bullet to the head?

I dunno. I agree with you that ballistic weapons are favoured by the rules (though phasers can do two of those things, too). The easiest way to change that, I think, is just to give heat weapons an additional 1d6 damage. Or perhaps strictly enforce ammo on ballistic weaponry while giving energy weapons virtually unlimited power packs. Or maybe do something with recoil? Or make swapping out ammo more of an issue.

That weapon list is awesome, BTW.

Morrus said:

I dunno. I agree with you that ballistic weapons are favoured by the rules (though phasers can do two of those things, too). The easiest way to change that, I think, is just to give heat weapons an additional 1d6 damage. Or perhaps strictly enforce ammo on ballistic weaponry while giving energy weapons virtually unlimited power packs. Or maybe do something with recoil? Or make swapping out ammo more of an issue.

Click to expand...

After some brainstorming, my players and I landed on giving laser weapons a cumulative +1d6 bonus to the attack for each consecutive turn of firing on the target, as long as LOS hasn't been completely interrupted. Functionally, it's a stronger version of pinning rules. Flavor-wise it reflects higher precision from energy-based weaponry. Thoughts?

The latest EONS article changes crits and makes damage type a lot more relevant.


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