More Modern Weapon Distinctions.

Other pages in my Firearms in Cypher System series:
Firearms in Cypher System
Shotguns (and a Varmint Rifle)
More Weapon Distinctions

Gun Store Posts:


Gun Store 1: Modern Firearms

A brief interlude in the Vehicles rules to take another look at weapons, and specifically Weapon Distinctions you would find on military weapons and vehicular mounted armaments.

These are additions to the Weapon Distinctions presented in Firearms in Cypher System

Range bands are based on the size class of the attacker as per Vehicles Part 1.

Applying Multiple Weapon Distinctions: 

Most weapon distinctions have a benefit and a downside, so taking a single weapon distinction shouldn't significantly increase the cost of a weapon. A weapon with more than one distinction however has certain benefits of flexibility that a weapon with no distinctions or a single distinction wouldn't have, so that can increase the cost. Actual increases in cost may vary with the way the GM is counting wealth.

A distinction labeled "Limiting" reduces the effectiveness of a weapon, but will offset any costs associated with having an additional Weapon Distinction. IE: an Explosive, Dead Fall Ordinance, Single Shot(limiting) would have effectively one Weapon Distinction as Single Shot offsets one of the other two.

A weapon with only a limiting distinction may be once price class lower than an equivalent weapon without a distinction.

Weapon Distinctions:

Condition Detonated Ordinance: Most weapons are assumed to inflict damage on contact, whether it be a kinetic slug or a shaped charge. Condition Detonated Ordinance inflicts damage based on certain conditions other than contact with a surface. Different types of conditions may include the following:

Command: Command Detonated ordinance is set off by a remote command, at the simplest technology this could include yanking on a very long string tied to a pin, however most purpose-built Command Detonated Ordinance is set off by an electrical signal through a wire, or by a radio signal and a small receiver on the device itself. The downside of Command Detonation is there are often ways to prevent the weapon from going off, be it cutting the string/wire, to the use of electronics jamming to prevent the device from receiving it's' detonating signal..

Magnetic: Typical of Anti-Tank or Anti-Vehicle mines, these devices detonate when large metallic masses pass near them and disturb a series of magnets in the device.

Pressure: Rater than detonate when they come in to contact with a target, these weapons wait for the target to come in to contact with them.

Timed: A Timed warhead goes off after a certain number of rounds. Keep in mind a typical timed-fuse hand grenade has a fuse of less than 6 seconds, less than 1 round of combat, so they are not Timed Detonation devices by these rules.

Vibration: Typical of anti-personnel or Anti-Tank mines, these devices are set off when a sensor in the device detects vibration. These sensors are typically calibrated to trip with certain levels of vibration, such as anti-personnel mines being tripped by quantities of footsteps, or anti-tank mines being tripped by the vibration of a large vehicle passing over it.

Dead Fall Ordinance: These weapons inflict an additional 2 points of damage, but must be thrown or 'dropped' which increases the difficulty of hitting the target by one step. If a vehicle has robotic arms it may throw DFO a Short range, otherwise DFO are dropped from the vehicle like aircraft bombs. The rounds dropped from a vehicle will inflict their damage on impact, though a weapon selected to be both Dead Fall and Condition Detonated would be deployable like mines from a minelayer. Dead Fall Ordinance distinction does not include the Explosive modifier (from Firearms in Cypher System).

Guided Weapon: Attacks with Guided weapons receive one inability at Immediate range, one Asset to attacks at Long or farther ranges, and one level of Skill at ranges more than long (ie: 1 step more difficult at Immediate range, no modifier at Short range, 1 step easier at Long, 2 steps easier when range is modified to reach beyond Long*).

Inaccurate (Limiting):  Attacks from an Inaccurate weapon are modified one step in the defender's favor.

Unreliable (Limiting): An Unreliable weapon will jam on a natural 2, requiring 1 action spent clearing the jam. On a natural 1 the weapon breaks and is unusable until it is properly repaired. This is in addition to the GM Intrusion for rolling a 1.