Weapons

For ease of use, weapons are broken down into three broad groups: Light, Medium, and Large. Regardless of type, light weapons do 1d4 points of damage, Medium 1d6, and Large 1d8. We assume that these weapons are designed for man-sized creatures. Larger weapons, often used by giants, can double or triple the base damage as they are proportional in size to the giant wielding them.

Melee Weapons: When a weapon is used in melee, the wielder’s strength dice is also added to the base weapon damage.

Range Weapons (Thrown): When a weapon is thrown, strength determines its base range. Strength does add minimal damage to the damage of the base weapon. See the chart below for specifics.

Example: A warrior with a D10 strength wants to throw a standard spear (Medium weapon, designed for throwing). His range modifiers would be (20/30/50), and he would do 1D6+1 points of damage with a successful hit.

Example: A giant (18 ft tall, with a D20 strength) wants to throw a rock (Small, Light, unbalanced weapon in his hands). His ranges would be 30/60/120 ft., doing 3d3+2 points of damage on a successful hit. If he wanted to throw a boulder of humanoid size (Large, unbalanced). His ranges would be 10/20/30 ft., doing 3d8+2 points of damage on a successful strike.

Armor Piercing (AP value): these weapons are designed to punch through armor and ignore a given value of Physical Damage Reduction (PDR). Thus, AP=3 ignores 3 levels of PDR.

Splitting Attack Dice: Skilled individuals are able to split dice, taking multiple attacks with the same weapon in a single combat round. The tactic applies to melee weapons and draw bows automatically. Other weapon types, based on the whim of the GM, can also gain this advantage. Attack dice cannot be split until an individual reaches D8 in weapon skill. At this stage, the attack dice (not Dexterity) can be split into two D4 attack dice, allowing two attacks in the same period of time consumed for a single attack. Thus, a warrior (d10 dexterity) with a D8 Skill in the Long Sword could split his attack dice and gain TWO D4 + D10 (for dex) attacks in a single combat round with his long sword. An individual with a D12 weapon can split his attack by three, gaining THREE D4 + D10 attacks in the same combat round or TWO attacks at D6 + D10. D4 is the smallest ‘dice’ value that a skill rating can be reduced to. See the combat sequence later in this document for additional details.

Game balance notes: Standard bows in the PSG do NOT add strength to arrow damage, making them appear weak when compared to melee damage. This is designed and intended to reduce the impact of arrow fire/damage upon ranged targets. A standard arrow does flat D6 points of physical damage when fired from a long bow; short bow arrows do D4 points of damage. Crossbow bolts/quarrels are designed differently as the crossbows that propel them are often more potent.

Strength Bows: These rare items are constructed for a given pull based on the strength rating of the user. Virtually useless for individuals with a D6 strength or less, these weapons become much desired for stronger individuals. The Target Difficulty (TD) to construct a Strength Bow, which always requires superior materials, is TD=15 for D8 Strength Bows, TD=20 for D10, and TD=25 for D12 Strength Bows. The cost of the additional, often very rare materials simply doubles the base cost of the weapon. Thus, crafting a D8 Strength Composite Long Bow would cost 200 gps, one rated for D10 would cost 400, and one rated for D12 would cost 800 gps.

Crossbows cannot be enhanced for Strength; their ‘pull’ is pre-fixed. They can and often are enhanced to fire quicker through a variety of means. Tinkerers can design crossbows with clips, multiple tension arms, or an auto-loading mechanism. In all cases, these crossbows are not standard; they always cost more and are harder to find.

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