D&D 4E Balista, catapult and cannon damage in 4E?

[Blue]

A few months back Dragon had an airship, and it had ship-mounted balista. Short story was it was a 3d6 crossbow. (The crossbow part made our rogue VERY happy; we ended up doing a star-wars style trench run through hill and dale.)

 

[RangerWickett]

I'm writing an article on naval combat to pitch to Dragon, and what I was planning to do is:

Armament
This trait adds 1 to the level of a ship. (Ships have levels like magic items, so a level 5 ship costs 1000 gp. Different components add levels, increasing the cost.)

Choose either 1 trebuchet, 2 ballistae, or 4 fusils* to add to your ship. Trebuchet and ballistae can be mounted anywhere on the top deck. Fusils can be mounted in any square along the outer edge of the ship, on any deck. These weapons have their own attack powers, and cannot be used with normal character attack powers.

*Fusils are cannons. I often hear gamers complain about guns in D&D, so I thought using a different name might get a better result. It's still basically a metal tube that fires metal balls, but instead of gunpowder it uses alchemicals, and it's probably etched with arcane sigils.

These weapons have a 90 degree firing arc, and can only target creatures or objects within that arc. Changing a weapon's firing arc is a move action.

(By the way, the ranges of these items are much shorter than their real-world analogues, but games never have huge distances anyway, and you'd be hard-pressed to actually target anything 50 squares away with a cannon, unless whatever you're shooting at is stationary.)


Ballista.
Typically a ballista is controlled by two creatures, who by working together can fire once every round. Ballistae are primarily useful for targeting large creatures at great distance, but they can be turned against ships or against smaller creatures when needed.

Crossbow. Space 1 square by 1 square. Load standard. Range 25/50. Proficiency +0.

Target: One creature. Atk: Dexterity vs. AC.

Hit: 3d6 damage.


Trebuchet.
Typically a trebuchet is controlled by two creatures, who by working together can fire once every other round.

Sling. Space 2 squares by 2 squares. Load 3 standard actions. Range 25/50.

Target: All creatures and objects at the highest elevation in a square within range. Cannot hit anything closer than 10 squares away.

Atk: +0 vs. AC. Special: Indirect firing arcs allow this attack to ignore cover.

Hit: 4d10 damage.


Fusil.
Typically a fusil is controlled by two creatures, who by working together can fire once every other round.

Load 3 standard actions. Space 1 square by 1 square. Range 25/50.

Target: One creature or object. Atk: +0 vs. AC.

Hit: 4d10 damage.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

RW, with the Fusil and the Trebechet, did you mean to use either INT or WIS on the attack?
a +0 vs AC seems to limit the usefullness of these weapons.

Also, as Silverblade points out.. grapeshot is better against ground troups and sails, perhaps have an alternate attack powers that trades dice of damage for an area burst.

 

[webrunner]

Is vs AC really the way to go? I suppose it depends on the size, but a giant boulder from a catapult, I'd imagine you ain't tankin' that, you're dodgin' it.

 

[Mengu]

Attack: Level+3 vs Refl, or Level+5 vs AC
Damage: --> see damage expression for appropriate level. If reload happens on a recharge (or every other round), see limited damage expression.
Other effects: Flavor to taste.

 

[RangerWickett]

RW, with the Fusil and the Trebechet, did you mean to use either INT or WIS on the attack?
a +0 vs AC seems to limit the usefullness of these weapons.

Also, as Silverblade points out.. grapeshot is better against ground troups and sails, perhaps have an alternate attack powers that trades dice of damage for an area burst.

It's for attacking objects, which have ACs of, like, 2 or 5. You can't aim a trebuchet at a person, not really. And a cannon, if I were going for realism, would attack everything in a straight line until it hits something. For simplicity, I figure they should just target squares, so they might occasionally hit a person on a nat 20.

I'm still working out the kinks.

 

[webrunner]

It's for attacking objects, which have ACs of, like, 2 or 5. You can't aim a trebuchet at a person, not really. And a cannon, if I were going for realism, would attack everything in a straight line until it hits something. For simplicity, I figure they should just target squares, so they might occasionally hit a person on a nat 20.

I'm still working out the kinks.

You could put in a thing:

Effect: If the target had cover from the cannon by one or more creatures, objects, or walls, make the following secondary attack:
Attack: +whatever vs AC
Target: Each covering creature, object, or wall
Hit: If the initial attack missed, and the target is the one closest to the initial target, [original damage], otherwise X damage


So if you fire on someone in cover, you'll damage everything between you and the target. If you miss, it'll doit's full "final" hit on the thing that blocked you.