Gun Question Number One:
Should there be a bonus given for using a medium or small gun with two hands instead of one (i.e., a +1 bonus to hit)?
Cons:
It hurts the style of play. People who see their character as leaping around with the gun held in one hand are going to feel the pressure to minmax by ALWAYS holding their gun with both hands.
It adds to the complication. Rules will be required for when you can use two hands and when you can't. Should you be able to use shot on the run while holding the gun with both hands? That sounds awkward. How about while looking around a corner? You really can't fire from around a corner while holding a gun in both hands.
Pros:
It's more realistic. The person who wants to play a NON-trenchcoated anime-wannabe superhero deserves an advantage, because in real life, police officers tend to hold their guns with both hands. It might not look as cool, but it steadies the gun a bit and makes things a tad easier.
It adds more choices for gun users. Someone using a club or a longsword has the choice to use their medium-sized weapon with one hand or with two -- and you get a bonus from using it with two (the potential of extra damage from your Strength bonus). Gun users deserve a similar choice between using the gun one-handed and having a hand free, or using the gun with both hands and having a slightly better shot.
Gun Question Number Two:
What are people planning to do on rules for cover that is weak enough to be shot through?
Example: Our hero is shooting from behind a door, which would give him half cover, meaning that any shot that misses by 4 or less hits the cover instead of hitting him. An evil bad guy fires some huge weapon that hits for a ton of damage. The damage is enough to destroy the door, although since this is a single bullet, we just rule that a hole gets blown in it instead. What happens to the hero?
Possibility one: Simple
Nothing. The bullet gets deflected harmlessly somewhere else. Holes getting blown in doors are strictly cinematic.
Pros: Easy. Fast.
Cons: Not realistic. Sure, the door gets destroyed, but the idea of bullets zinging through adds to the flavor, and still ought to be some threat. It should be better to hide behind a brick wall than an empty wooden crate.
Possibility two: Concealment
If the damage delivered by the bullet would be enough to get through the door, then treat the cover as concealment. Instead of one-half cover, he has one-half concealment, meaning that there's a 20% chance that the shot misses him as it goes through the door.
Cons: More dice rolling.
Pros: No need to do complex damage calculation. Uses an existing game mechanism.
Possibility three: Skip shot
If the bullet gets through the door, it hits the hero, but for a lesser amount of damage. Treat it as a skip shot, which does one die less damage, rolled normally.
Cons: More rolling. Heroes could eat a lot of damage.
Pros: Uses an existing game mechanism.
Possibility four: Damage reduction
Roll the total amount of damage that the bullet does, and subtract however much would be necessary to get through the door. Whatever's left is the amount that hits our hero.
Pros: Realistic, in terms of you getting hit for as much as is left over once the bullet is slowed down.
Cons: Deviates from normal game mechanic a bunch.
Possibly a combination of concealment and skip shot?
New Alien Weapon
I'm trying to make a powerful but limited weapon for my evil aliens to use. Please tell me if this is horribly overpowered -- it should be powerful, but not a game-breaker.
Name: Arc Gun
Medium, 2d12, 20 ft. or 50 ft. range, S or A, can't buy.
The Arc Gun uses a dimensional warp to fire a powerful blast of energy with a linear, planar shape. The heroes will initially find victims who are sliced cleanly in half, roadsigns with their corners chopped off, and trees with sections of branches cleanly cut away. Imagine the Arc as the little electric zing between the filaments of a light bulb, except that it's bigger, and it rotates slowly as it flies through the air, sometimes hitting at an odd angle. It can cut through just about anything.
In storage mode, the Arc Gun appears to be a small-sized cylinder. Shifting the Arc Gun to active mode is a move-equivalent action. When shifted, the Arc Gun locks to the user's wrist, and a pair of antennae coil out to either side of the user's hand. Each antenna is approximately eighteen inches long.
The Arc Gun can be fired in two modes -- Targetting Mode or Free Mode.
Free Mode: This mode does not involve any special targetting. The user simply fires as best he can. The gun can be used for Autofire purposes in this mode, although it takes the -4 autofire penalty on top of the penalty listed below. The gun is not really made for Free Mode, and is difficult to manually target.
In this mode, the Arc Gun takes a -4 to hit in addition to any other penalties. It has a 20 foot range increment.
Targetting Mode: Only someone who is proficient in this weapon (it requires an Exotic Firearm Proficiency) can use the targetting mode. This mode requires that the user spend one full round targetting an opponent before firing. The lock is not acquired until just before the user's next round, and the user must make a Concentration check.
Targetting an opponent who is not in combat is DC10.
Targetting an opponent who is in combat or engaged in fast-moving activity is DC15.
If struck for damage while trying to make a lock, the Concentration DC is adjusted by the damage dealt (i.e., a target in combat becomes DC15+damage to lock onto). If struck for damage after the lock is established, the user must make a Concentration check equal (10+damage dealt) or lose the lock.
Once targetting is acquired (a full-round action), the Arc Gun can be fired at the target. This use of the Arc Gun does not take a -4 penalty. It ignores concealment, having locked onto the target, and has a range increment of 50 feet. Users with the Burst Fire or Double Tap feats can use these feats as they normally would.
Damage from the Arc Gun is one-half electrical and one-half sonic. When striking objects (particularly important for cover), the Arc Gun ignores Hardness, and does full damage to objects.
So that's my weapon.
A non-proficient user will be firing at -8 -- -4 for not being proficient, and -4 for being stuck in Free Mode. A proficient user can deliver massive damage, but only if they spend a full round targetting someone -- and after the first time the heroes fight someone with one of these things, they'll be doing their darndest to disrupt his concentration.
Too powerful? Too complicated? It's definitely not going to be encountered in anything other than secondhand form ("Then this line of energy sheared the telephone pole in HALF! He's not human, I tell you!") for quite some time.
-Tacky
Should there be a bonus given for using a medium or small gun with two hands instead of one (i.e., a +1 bonus to hit)?
Cons:
It hurts the style of play. People who see their character as leaping around with the gun held in one hand are going to feel the pressure to minmax by ALWAYS holding their gun with both hands.
It adds to the complication. Rules will be required for when you can use two hands and when you can't. Should you be able to use shot on the run while holding the gun with both hands? That sounds awkward. How about while looking around a corner? You really can't fire from around a corner while holding a gun in both hands.
Pros:
It's more realistic. The person who wants to play a NON-trenchcoated anime-wannabe superhero deserves an advantage, because in real life, police officers tend to hold their guns with both hands. It might not look as cool, but it steadies the gun a bit and makes things a tad easier.
It adds more choices for gun users. Someone using a club or a longsword has the choice to use their medium-sized weapon with one hand or with two -- and you get a bonus from using it with two (the potential of extra damage from your Strength bonus). Gun users deserve a similar choice between using the gun one-handed and having a hand free, or using the gun with both hands and having a slightly better shot.
Gun Question Number Two:
What are people planning to do on rules for cover that is weak enough to be shot through?
Example: Our hero is shooting from behind a door, which would give him half cover, meaning that any shot that misses by 4 or less hits the cover instead of hitting him. An evil bad guy fires some huge weapon that hits for a ton of damage. The damage is enough to destroy the door, although since this is a single bullet, we just rule that a hole gets blown in it instead. What happens to the hero?
Possibility one: Simple
Nothing. The bullet gets deflected harmlessly somewhere else. Holes getting blown in doors are strictly cinematic.
Pros: Easy. Fast.
Cons: Not realistic. Sure, the door gets destroyed, but the idea of bullets zinging through adds to the flavor, and still ought to be some threat. It should be better to hide behind a brick wall than an empty wooden crate.
Possibility two: Concealment
If the damage delivered by the bullet would be enough to get through the door, then treat the cover as concealment. Instead of one-half cover, he has one-half concealment, meaning that there's a 20% chance that the shot misses him as it goes through the door.
Cons: More dice rolling.
Pros: No need to do complex damage calculation. Uses an existing game mechanism.
Possibility three: Skip shot
If the bullet gets through the door, it hits the hero, but for a lesser amount of damage. Treat it as a skip shot, which does one die less damage, rolled normally.
Cons: More rolling. Heroes could eat a lot of damage.
Pros: Uses an existing game mechanism.
Possibility four: Damage reduction
Roll the total amount of damage that the bullet does, and subtract however much would be necessary to get through the door. Whatever's left is the amount that hits our hero.
Pros: Realistic, in terms of you getting hit for as much as is left over once the bullet is slowed down.
Cons: Deviates from normal game mechanic a bunch.
Possibly a combination of concealment and skip shot?
New Alien Weapon
I'm trying to make a powerful but limited weapon for my evil aliens to use. Please tell me if this is horribly overpowered -- it should be powerful, but not a game-breaker.
Name: Arc Gun
Medium, 2d12, 20 ft. or 50 ft. range, S or A, can't buy.
The Arc Gun uses a dimensional warp to fire a powerful blast of energy with a linear, planar shape. The heroes will initially find victims who are sliced cleanly in half, roadsigns with their corners chopped off, and trees with sections of branches cleanly cut away. Imagine the Arc as the little electric zing between the filaments of a light bulb, except that it's bigger, and it rotates slowly as it flies through the air, sometimes hitting at an odd angle. It can cut through just about anything.
In storage mode, the Arc Gun appears to be a small-sized cylinder. Shifting the Arc Gun to active mode is a move-equivalent action. When shifted, the Arc Gun locks to the user's wrist, and a pair of antennae coil out to either side of the user's hand. Each antenna is approximately eighteen inches long.
The Arc Gun can be fired in two modes -- Targetting Mode or Free Mode.
Free Mode: This mode does not involve any special targetting. The user simply fires as best he can. The gun can be used for Autofire purposes in this mode, although it takes the -4 autofire penalty on top of the penalty listed below. The gun is not really made for Free Mode, and is difficult to manually target.
In this mode, the Arc Gun takes a -4 to hit in addition to any other penalties. It has a 20 foot range increment.
Targetting Mode: Only someone who is proficient in this weapon (it requires an Exotic Firearm Proficiency) can use the targetting mode. This mode requires that the user spend one full round targetting an opponent before firing. The lock is not acquired until just before the user's next round, and the user must make a Concentration check.
Targetting an opponent who is not in combat is DC10.
Targetting an opponent who is in combat or engaged in fast-moving activity is DC15.
If struck for damage while trying to make a lock, the Concentration DC is adjusted by the damage dealt (i.e., a target in combat becomes DC15+damage to lock onto). If struck for damage after the lock is established, the user must make a Concentration check equal (10+damage dealt) or lose the lock.
Once targetting is acquired (a full-round action), the Arc Gun can be fired at the target. This use of the Arc Gun does not take a -4 penalty. It ignores concealment, having locked onto the target, and has a range increment of 50 feet. Users with the Burst Fire or Double Tap feats can use these feats as they normally would.
Damage from the Arc Gun is one-half electrical and one-half sonic. When striking objects (particularly important for cover), the Arc Gun ignores Hardness, and does full damage to objects.
So that's my weapon.
A non-proficient user will be firing at -8 -- -4 for not being proficient, and -4 for being stuck in Free Mode. A proficient user can deliver massive damage, but only if they spend a full round targetting someone -- and after the first time the heroes fight someone with one of these things, they'll be doing their darndest to disrupt his concentration.
Too powerful? Too complicated? It's definitely not going to be encountered in anything other than secondhand form ("Then this line of energy sheared the telephone pole in HALF! He's not human, I tell you!") for quite some time.
-Tacky
