D&D General How would you describe a laser rifle in d&d?

[Oofta]

I assume they are more tools (especially star trek that can cut or heat a rock like a fire) mixed with short range point and click weapons (yeah pistols have sights but not really the default use). Also this seems like we are WAY too into the weeds on realism when I talk about my pretend elf hunting a dragon impregnated by a cthulu like monster with a star trek phaser...

or even old style (if you are an old man like me) Infravision that always seemed more scifi then fantasy anyway.

Well, I've used pistols, rifles (with and without scopes), bows and crossbows. They all have a way of sighting targets so when I look at something like

It just makes me scratch my head. On the other hand most battles in Star Trek seem to be at a maximum range of about 15 feet and they miss a lot so I guess that could explain it.

But I was just giving an alternative view and what I would do in my campaign, people should do whatever makes sense to them.

 

[HammerMan]

Well, I've used pistols, rifles (with and without scopes), bows and crossbows. They all have a way of sighting targets so when I look at something like
View attachment 153111

It just makes me scratch my head. On the other hand most battles in Star Trek seem to be at a maximum range of about 15 feet and they miss a lot so I guess that could explain it.

But I was just giving an alternative view and what I would do in my campaign, people should do whatever makes sense to them.

yeah, and you can set them to wide beam (AKA SHOT GUN SPREAD) too don't forget... and I assume if you practiced with a laser pointer you would get better (You not me... My hand eye quordination is bad...as I have said before I have all dump stats)

 

[not-so-newguy]

The reason we think of lasers looking like modern day assault rifles is because it's what we associate with weapons of war. Advanced technologies could just as easily be head mounted, they appear to shoot lasers out of their eyes. On closer inspection, they wear an odd helmet and the eyes are completely covered. Unfortunately you have no way of knowing how to initiate the neural link that make these work.

They do have a Rakasta companion. Maybe a laser cat? Hmmm

 

[Oofta]

yeah, and you can set them to wide beam (AKA SHOT GUN SPREAD) too don't forget... and I assume if you practiced with a laser pointer you would get better (You not me... My hand eye quordination is bad...as I have said before I have all dump stats)

I do remember somebody explaining once in DS9 about how phasers had auto-targeting and so on. That the Klingon weapons were better because they were simpler and less prone to breakdown. All I could think is "how do they miss so often then?"

Ah well. All goes back to Rodenberry not wanting phasers to look too much like weapons.

 

[Umbran]

That's the needler rifle if I remember correctly. The Barrier Peaks laser rifle is even more out-there. There where some seriously imaginative designs in that module.

I am convinced that a significant part of the point was to make sure the player didn't know on sight/description that this was a "rifle". You slip your left arm through a loop, have some buttons on your left shoulder, and this folding arm that presents a control to your right hand, and this screen thing next to the left side of your head? I daresay a lot of people, on description, thought it was a camera or scanner, not a weapon.

 

[Bagpuss]

That is so D&D!

(And so is this).

You come cross that and they are likely to think it is a sword and it will break the first time it is used in combat.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Well, I've used pistols, rifles (with and without scopes), bows and crossbows. They all have a way of sighting targets so when I look at something like
View attachment 153111

It just makes me scratch my head. On the other hand most battles in Star Trek seem to be at a maximum range of about 15 feet and they miss a lot so I guess that could explain it.

But I was just giving an alternative view and what I would do in my campaign, people should do whatever makes sense to them.

Eh, gunslingers in the Old West days did not use the sights on their revolvers. More often they filed the front one off to make the draw quicker and smoother. Star Trek did the Space Western thing and the "shoot from the hip" thing a lot.

 

[Oofta]

Eh, gunslingers in the Old West days did not use the sights on their revolvers. More often they filed the front one off to make the draw quicker and smoother. Star Trek did the Space Western thing and the "shoot from the hip" thing a lot.

First, how many "gunslingers" were there really in the old west? Despite what TV and movies would have you believe they were actually few and far between. The fast draw thing was mainly for entertainment such as Wild West shows where people are shooting the same stationary target. I grew up on a farm and when I was younger I annihilated way too many tin cans, I was a pretty good shot but there's absolutely no way I would have been anywhere near as accurate without sights. Don't confuse trick shots with real world accuracy.

There are exceptions to every rule of course, including this one. But most shootists (the gunslinger term wasn't coined until the 20th century) preferred rifles or shotguns. Fast draw sharpshooters are largely an invention of Hollywood and dime novels before them.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

 

[not-so-newguy]

I decided to post a new thread