The books and supplements I am currently using in the campaign that I am running are
D20 Modern CoreRulebook (Duh!)
Modern Players Companion
D20 Future
FutureTech
CyberScape
Apocalypse(Mostly for feats and mutations)
Future Players Companion
Martial Arts Mayham
Urban Arcana
Modern Magic
DarkMatter
Past (For a few dream sequences that thrust the players way in the past to experience the history behind the artifact their searching for)
Weapons Locker
UltraModern Firearms
Okay... now for the important part, the questions
In Martial Arts Mayhem, do the feats Agile Riposte, Parry, and Redirect Attack all stack together; or do just Agile Riposte and Parry stack?
In D20 Future what exactly determines wether a suit should be Light, Medium, Heavy, or Powered; or is it just up to personal prefrence (For creating new armor varients and custom types I just add gadgets to existing armors as the base and count them as new armors)
And lastly; any advice on the workability of an anti-mech firearm? I have come up with one that I hope will function for it; opinions on it?
Name:
Primary Manufacture:
Damage/Critical
8d8/15-20
Range
130ft
Rate of Fire
Single
Magazine
2 - 20mm armor-piercing-fin-stablized-discarding Sabot (APFSDS)
Size
Large
Weight:
43lbs
Special Qualities:
Ignores 10 Hardness
Adjustable Fittings - +1 when using Dead Aim
Collapsable - Weapons shrinks down into a medium object (+4)
Compact - Weapon is Large instead of Huge (+2)
Expanded Magazine - Weapon chambers two rounds instead of one (+2)
Universal Scope Mount
High Reliabilty
Increased Damage Potential - Critical Threat range is increased (+10)
Additonal Notes:
The " " fires a highly modified 20mm APFSDS, designed specfically for Anti-Mech and Anti-Emplacment warfare. The weapon is the standard armament of the UEASC (United Earth Alliance Systems Commanwealth) elite Helljumpers. The " " is an upgraded version of the " " Anti-Material Rifle (AMR) used by seperatist fighters during the Belken Conflict of the late 23rd Century. This newer model see numerous upgrades and improvments over the orignal, including damage output, magazine capacity, and a reduction in weight and bulk, while still retaining all the lethality and rugged durability of the orginal. The weapon is easily reloaded through prefilled 2rd box cartridges, that are self ejecting after both shots are fired from the weapon.
Purchase DC: 39
Ammuniton - Modifed 20mm APFSDS
Special Qualities
Improved Stopping Power (+10)
Improved Penetration (+3)
Additonal notes
The " " Modifed 20mm APFSDS round, is a high powered anti-armor round, capable of inflicting significant harm onto specfic mecha-hard points, or well fortified structures and vehicles. The ammo is unqiuly chambered, becauses of its extensive modifcations and its fin stablization system, that it is only compatiable with " " and no other firearms of similar caliber.
Purchase DC: 26 (4 - 2 pre-loaded cartridges
Also any suggestions for a name for this rifle would be GREATLY appreciated. And if your curious I modified one of the Anti Armor Rifles in Weapons Locker to adjust it to what it is, also for what it does does the price seem reasonable?
I might post the premise of the campaign later if anyones curious; and of course thank you for your time in looking over this!
that have been saved over at BG?
Backstabbists 'Nefarious' thread
Plenty of toys for squishies to use against mechs in there, from the full set of Aliens Pulse Rifle tech weapons (from Pistol thru 15mm PulseAMR) to the ever popular MartyrMaker AT Dagger
... and the 5militon SlugNuke 12ga ammo, cause we have shotguns and we have nukes, its just obvious to put them together
Dont try to adjust a current gun to be what is used in the future,
else you end up with what I refer to as Mechs vs Museum-Guns.
Future gun ordnance developemnet will rely heavily on active munitions,
so run with the concepts of soulderfire rockets for the heavy work and grenade launchers / rifle grenades for medium AT/AM work.
Look for the thread We Need Rockets for discussion on what the children and grandchildren of the Bazooka-Law-AT4-Dragon-Javelin chain will bring in the future.
Lastly, consider advancements to the TemaJet set of weapons (gyrojet)
for a heavy weapons system for pl5-early7.
I developed the TemaJet for his alternate ww2 idea, but I can easliy dial the PL up to 6 and like in final jeapordy, the scores will really change
keep in mind that the BG thread was a hastey grab from one of the time WoC was trying to destroy the Modern community here... so many of the posts in that thread are attempts at compiling antire thread conversations into one post on the subject. Also, since then my web host died so many of my graphic creations have been lost.... including the graphic chart showing all nominal role sizes of each weapon tech, such as the LtPistol thru AMR for laser/plas/rail etc... wouldnt a Laser AMR or MagnumPistol Plasgun be nice, I thought they would so I made the chart for them
(grrr, where is the Aliens Pulse Rifle pictures I did....)
wow, good thing the WoC board didnt let us upload all that good suff
that second one is the main one I was worried about.
The first one you posted was a workup in progress (stalled) for generic firarms,
while the second one is the table for expanding the different technologies to all nominal size roles
The firearm is in itself using a similar load out as the base, if you were to look at the stats for the orignal and the one I posted they don't even come close to matching up at all.
As for the weapons premise, I understand that even the LAW's 10d6 is comparable to a Mechs rocket launcher. Which is weird, but it an entire line of armaments designed orignally off a real world gurriella warfare rifle that was used to demolish the vital points of Russian tanks. Consider this the PL6 version of that rifle with a complete rearrangment of stats and effectiveness. Using the optional critical hit chart on Mecha where equipment is damaged or destroyed and this weapon has so far proven far more insanly effective then most explosive oradance.
My main question, does it seem balanced for the price of everything you recieve? The ammo by the way does boost the weapon to 9d8 due to its modifer. The base damage of the weapon is 8d8 and can be chambered for a cheaper round that keeps its base damage the same, the stat and price givin are for the advanced round that gives it a total of 9d8 damage.
So anyone else want to take on the OTHER questions listed for me?
Well, if we say the squishys get to use big cannons that have been Compact/Miniaturized to be use able in roles way to small for them, then we will be seeing the Mech pilots ALSO using Compact/Miniaturtized 8"Navalguns on their Gargan mechs instead of the foolish noncompact guns they come with.... right?
Its the classic problem of introducing the technology of Compact/mini
... folks only want it to be used in one specific application without admitting the military will OBVIOUSLY be using it in the much larger roles as well. Sure a 16" Iowa Battleship gun is too big for a PT-Boat... well, it was too big till we just Compact/Mini it, and if the technology to make guns too big for squishys exists then it also applies to the guns too big for PTboats/Mechs. I refer to the technology as Uber Gunpowder Extreme (UGPX)... of course ALL military ordnance will be using it if any ordnance does.
We will shrink the 25mm Bushmaster down to be the m14 Rifle (large) replacement for squishys.
How? Use the UGPX in the 7mm rifle to get 20mm performance.
We shrink the 57Bofor Autocannon down to ba a 6d8 AMR (Huge) for squishies.
We shrink the 5" RF navalgun to be a 1-Slot armgun for Large mechs (20rnd semi: 15d12 DTap) as a direct replacement for the Warpath Recoilless
Speaking of the WpRR, if we shrink that ait we looking at the SquishyPathRR using Warpath stats?
And Huge mechs get the ROF1 10"navalgun shrunk to fit on them.
Remember how the Navy told the PT boat guys that a 40mm dont fit on a PTboat,
and remember how the PT crews mounted the 40's on their boats despite what the navy said?
More gun.
Crews will ALWAYS put on More Gun.
Tell me if you want me to paste in the stats for the TwinLink Battery6 Fender Bayonets
Just fast-forward to PL6, and you have the mech crewcheifs using UGPX just like the squishys do to fit way too much gun on a mobility platform... be that a Large McChassis or Jungleboots, both will use UGPX weapons to kick more but than they could using stnd weapons.
That tankgun inthe pic?
Obviously a Miniaturized 12" navalgun.... why would it mount any smaller gun than the biggest it can... it already has plenty of smaller guns so it NEEDS the big gun to shoot at capitol ships
The colapsable mod I edited slightly to mimic folding capabilities. A good example would be Sulu's collapsiable katana in the new Star Trek or any of the weapons in Mass Effect. The gun CANNOT be used in its collapsed state (sorry I didn't mention that; an oversight since all my players know) and second I allow only ONE application of the compact gadget; which is interestingly INCLUDED standard in the D20 Future gadget. Which means that it is a static ability I pulled directly out of the book itself.
So I hadn't imagined an issue with something located in the D20 Future book in the Gear/Gadgets section. So yes it is possiable to make a Huge gun large... its in fact covered in the basic Future rules suplement... you know, the same book that also includes Mech's and starships? And considering my single application rule... noo you couldn't mount a starship weapon on a tank, or give a tank cannon to a human. The weapons ability to absorb the shock from the firing mechnisim and propellent gases would be so great that the poor human or tank firing the respective weapon would still be blown away. I have numerous house rules on firearms and additonal rules taken from the supplements to give them a more natural feel. As for the compact gadget to shrink a weapon down a size category; we've already miniturized numerous guns already, so the advance of technology will further decrease their size. Regardless considering the house rules and the fact that the initial item was LISTED in the Future book I don't forsee a problem with it. At all.
As for the ability to collapse into a medium size object for storage, thats so it can fit in a large size pod that drops from the underside of a starship from extreamly low orbit. Also the caliber is a 20mm rifle round, which by the way has been adopted for rifles several years ago. Good example the RT20 which was designed to destroy the heavily fortified Infared sights of Serbian M-84 Tanks. The round caliber is technically 20x110mm, and despite its power is able to be fired by a single person. Assuming we jump 1, maybe 2PL's it could easily be envisioned that with the advances in firearms that firing a slightly more damaging version would be fairly simple.
Also for information the entire point of making it compact to drop it from Huge to Large; because the orignal RT20 is only LARGE was to prevent the PC's from turning this anti-mech weapon into a Medium size object when being fired. So TECHNICALLY for the sake of game balance I increased the gun by one size category to provide some history (as the orignal of this weapon, NOT the RT20 but the one mentioned in its additional notes was huge, this is the more advanced compact version) and to keep the greedly little PC's from shrinking it down so that ALL of them would want to carry it.
~EDIT~
Above I stated I modified a previous gun from Weapons Locker; this seemed the most easy explanation but seems to be the greatest problem with the firearm as presented. To clarify, I used the weapons locker gun as a refrence point for the weight, and size of a 20mm rifle. The rest, including the ungodly amount of damage increasing mods are added due to various house rules that limit the number of times you can apply certain mods as to prevent the PC's in my campaign from taking this weapon (especially if its base damage was 8d8) and turning it into an unstoppable death machine.
Trust me they would try... from the Half-Dragon TOR (Total Organ Replacement) with combined cybernetic implants to heighten strength and the Martial Arts School Kobujutsu (Martial Arts Mayhem) where he ended up wielding the mech scythe using DOUBLE his strength modifer for damage. Or another character who managed to modify a magic firearm, added a decent scope and phasing bullets to effectivly create a character with over a 2 1/2 mile range with a gun that negated obstacles between him and the target. Cast the spell true strike for a +20 bonus to hit, and it starts to become apparently obvious where this is going. Lol.
So when adding new gear that is already going to be extreamly powerful I have to add the gadgets previously to it or drop the base effectiveness of the weapon. Realisticlly speaking a military organization will NOT make a weapon that one or two people (the PC's in this case) can make into as effective as it was supposed to be; stead they will build it as effective as it needs/supposed/wanted/whatever to be for everyone that is supposed to wield it. And since several instances of this game has focused around huge inter-planetary battles with the players divided up between infantry, APC drivers, starfighter pilots, and the captain of a Dreadnaught fighting entire armies and fleets the importance of supporting oridnary marines (and this was at the PC's insistance to include the massive battles between armies; which are for the sake of time handled in smaller areas with maybe 6-8 oridnary soldiers aiding them in combat for speed and simplicity) which means the Anti-Mech rifle needs to be as powerful in the hands of an oridnary soldier as it does the PC's. Not always wielded as effectivly because of attack bonus, class features, etc. but at least effective enough to do the job it was designed for. In this case destroy Mecha equipment with a high critical chance while dealing very decent damage. Unfortunatly to keep it from becoming to powerful I had to add a WHOLE bunch of gadgets already to it, just to limit the PC's capabilities to maximize it to game ending potential. And yes; they end a lot of things in crazy ways.
For example; (other then the super strong half dragon and uber-sniper) an enemy fleet was preparing to warp into the system through a jump gate. Their brilliant idea? Fly their ship into the jump gate, set the self destruct device and escape with a small fighter readied for launch hoping to destablize the gate with the explosion of the ships reactor. It did. After the effort, skill checks, and ingenuity in the manuver making it fail would of been heartbreaking. Worse yet, one of my players acctually studies astro physics and described a VIABLE but high tech process to destabilize the fusion reactions inside a star. Worse he explained how that technology no higher then PL7 were required to do so. He basically created a device that accelerated the stars decay so that it would only last a few hours... the drawback? Insanly expensive. Long story short? He did manage to blow up the star... saved the rest of the universe at one point.
I really hate limiting their creativity so I do my best to include the ideas they discuss among themselves in some small way or another. And I'd like to say I've done something right since half my players live about 50 miles away from me one way and have been making the drive 1-2 times a week for over 2 years now.
ANYWAYS, I do hope that clarifys the insane modifications to the gun, and why they are kind of a nesscarry to include in its descriptions.
Have you considered the more traditional military method for giving infantry bigger guns: the three-man team?
One guy get's X portion of the gun, one gets Y, and the other gets the tri-pod for the other guys to mount it on. Each man has ammunition for the big gun as well as a slightly lighter load-out for their assault rifles/smgs/whatever. Once the weapon's set up, the marksman of the group starts bringing in the pain and the other two guys guard him (or one spots, depending on range.)
Here's an example of something like that (from a campaign I seriously need to run. @_@) :
Mk-175 "Javelin III" Rail Cannon (Exotic ranged weapon)
Damage: 16d6 ballistic (or other, depending on ammunition)
Critical: 20/x3
Range: 150ft
Rate of Fire: Single
Capacity: 5 Box-magazine +1 in chamber, .65 caliber spear.
Weight: 30lbs.
Size: huge
Cost: PDC 31
Special: Anchored - medium-sized and smaller characters must fire this weapon from a supported position (using the accompanying Su-21 HMS tripod or a rail-mount. The weapon is too powerful to use a normal bipod or resting support)
Set-Up Time - A team of three medium to small humanoids with the Personal Firearms Proficiency feat 2 full-round actions to set up the Javelin and its tripod (meaning that it can be fired on the third round.) Untrained teams require 3+1d4 rounds to set up the weapon and tripod.
Su-21 Heavy Munitions Support
Damage: 2d6 fire
Range Increment: 5ft
Rate of Fire: Single, requires 1d4 rounds to recharge after every shot.
Capacity: N/A
Weight: 25lbs.
Size: Large
PDC: 22 or free with Mk-175 Rail Cannon
Special: Support - This tri-pod is designed to act as a support for heavy munitions. It can be used to anchor any huge or smaller weapon with the "anchored" special trait. This tripod uses lasers to bore holes for the legs to anchor into; the lasers can also be used in combat, but are rather useless as anything but a last resort against a foe rushing into melee. Any character attempting to attack with the digging lasers takes a -4 to hit in addition to the normal -4 penalty for non-proficiency. (This item takes up the underside accessory slot on any weapon that it is attached to.)
.65 Caliber APFS Spear.
Weight: 1lb
Cost: PDC 10 (+3Mil) for 5.
Special: Ignore 20 hardness.
.65 Cal. Fragmentation Spear
Weight: 1lb
Cost: PDC 13 (+3Mil) for 5.
Special: Deals damage in a 15ft cone after a designated point. Reflex save (DC15) for half damage.
.65 Cal. HE Tank Buster Spear
Weight: 1lb
Cost: PDC 17 (+3Mil) for 5
Special: Explodes within target, dealing extra damage to vehicles. Ignore 20 hardness, +8d6 damage.
Useually for an assault you take the enemy in stages, first you dominate the surrounding orbit and then deploy a full on ground assault. Helljumpers are sent in when that tactic isn't possiable to pull off. Useually because of heavily fortified anti-air and anti-ship based planetary defenses in reinforced and shielded locations. Meaning that the odds of winning the space battle is slim-to-none due to defensives measures located on the planets surface, and dropships with conventional troops; and even air cover, cannot see effective deployment due to anti-air defensive systems.
The pods themselves are only large objects, no more then a few feet high and wide, allowing them a better chance of reaching the ground then dropships, mech or starfighters. Once on the ground they useually have a fairly simple mission objective. Which is normally neutrilize a small area of the enemies antiair defense network. Once the Helljumpers have opened up a weakness in the enemy defenses a small number of prepped and readied dropships will launch from the orbiting ships that are engaging any enemy vessals and Orbital Defense Platforms. The dropships once successfully arriving at the Helljumpers current position will deploy Ground Pounder IFAs (Infantry Fighting Armor - Heavily armed Large Mechs) to secure a forward position and further disable any nearby defense systems so that a FDCS (Forward Deployment Command Ship) can deploy a mobile command center on the new front lines, fully stocked with an arsenal of tanks, air support, useually in the form of modified IFAs, additonal ground troops and a full compliment of supplies.
Due to the very rapid and blitzkreig style of the tactics employed by Helljumpers their gear requires equally rapid deployment by a single unit. Hence why the gun is kind of heavy, but can be shrank down for storage and carring. That, and it wouldn't really leave much room in the pod if it couldn't.
Long story short again, Helljumpers have to have highly specilized equipment that can be deployed in the field rapidly and quickly by about eight people. So anytime you have a gun that requires multiple soldiers to deploy you drop down the avaliable manpower to complete the mission. Hence why each soldier is trained to fill a variety of rolls, and their weaponry, armor, and equipment are easily specilized and adaptable for a variety of situations.
Naturally considering the importance of their missions they deploy in two, eight man teams per designated mission area. And any givin mission can have any number of respective mission areas; meaning they could deploy anywhere from 16 to 320 Helljumpers (Approx 25 teams) each with specific objectives located in diffrent areas around the planet their deployed to. When each team completes their specific objective they move to other mission areas, leaving one of the fireteams (depending on casulities about 2 to 8 soldiers) while the other moves on to reinforce another Helljumper team; and so on and so on
Which is the reasoning why their gear needs to be deployed so rapidly and by a single person; if they fail to secure their objectives in a certain amount of time, the enemy will have enough time to organize a counter attack, which means the Helljumpers would have to begin to fight a defensive battle against a superior enemy force. Worse, and still possiable is that the orbital battle AND the land battle will either end in a stalemate or a loss leaving the Helljumpers without additonal support requriering them to fight a prolonged gurriella war until reinforcements can at long last be deployed to the surface. Its because of the demands of their missions and the number of additonal risks they face, each soldier has to be able to utilize equipment, resources and manpower to peak efficency. Meaning that any weapon that takes time to set up, costs them precious seconds from an already dwindling mission clock before the enemies approaching counter attack.
Now I do like the idea of the weapons you've listed; and could easily see them deployed by more conventional troops (those that arrive with the FDCS, and as a defensive emplacement) or even by the Helljumpers themselves should they be required to fall back and abandon their mission zone for a reinforcable location. So its likely a weapon they would carry only to have and not need; then to need it and be up s*** creek without a paddle.
So additonal thoughts... and the other questions I asked possiably?
In D20 Future what exactly determines wether a suit should be Light, Medium, Heavy, or Powered; or is it just up to personal prefrence (For creating new armor varients and custom types I just add gadgets to existing armors as the base and count them as new armors)
Well, the general rule I get is that the higher the bonus, the more restrictive the unit, and thus the heavier the grade of armor.
Higher Tech armors should be able to provide better bonuses and fewer penalties, and require a lower level proficiency than normal.
Personally I just took the rules for Mecha and made a medium sized variant for powered armor.
Sadly I don't have martial Arts Mayhem, so I can't really answer your question there.
As for the helljumpers getting miniturized equipment, I can kinda buy it if the technology behind it is leading edge and ridiculously expensive (to the point where outfitting the entire army with equivalent tech wouldn't be cost-effective or time-effective.) If that's the case than even most helljumper teams wouldn't be equipped with the uber rifle. Probably something more like 1 for every four fireteams (depending of course on the mission.)
You'll find the occasional mecha ace who's been deemed valuable enough an asset to grant similar tech to. Could be he works with helljumpers often, too.
IMHO a shoulder-launched guided missile might be a more effective weapon, though, considering the launcher will be much lighter. Ammo will be more expensive, though.
If you do end up using the deployable railgun at some point during your game, it'd be cool to hear how things go. I always imagined it being primarily used as an ambush/long range anti-vehicle gun, but I guess it'd serve well as a defensive turret, too.
Rifle Purchase DC 39
Four Rounds Purchase DC 26
So it is WAY expensive and deployed only to Helljumper units; unless I suppose a standard Marine has saved a HUGE chunk of his paycheck away and intends to pay to have it loaned to him.
I was considering issuing the weapon 1 per fireteam. Meaning that the Helljumpers would deploy with 2 of them. As for the 'folding' equipment (modified collapsiable mod) almost all equipment issued is easily made to fold up rather inexpensivly. Most doesn't considering doing so is unneeded for standard troops, but is a comman upgrade for special force units. As for the minutirizing equipment via 1 size category, this weapon isn't the only to take advantage of it, considering Thorion Agents employ them quite often (Thorion being an alien race I designed for the campaign) using shortened Plasma Rifles or Plasma Pistols. This allows them to be more easily transported and concealed when needed.
Back to the rifle; its price is to reflect the diffculties in manufacturing it and that it is a weapon designed for two purposes only. Destroying Mecha hard points and fortified locations; both of which have strong armor and lots of hitpoints.
And as for using a rifle over a rocket launcher for this specific weapon is simple; it DOESN'T require Exotic Firearms, meaning it frees the gunner to take more specilized feats such as Dead Aim, FarShot, Quick Reload etc.
Don't get me wrong, the Helljumper fireteams do deploy with a rocket launcher. You'd be NUTS not to.
The rolls basically go like this for a fire team 4 Infantry armed with rifles, sidearms and LAP (Light Anti-Tank pistol - LAW rocket launcher only shorter; inside FutureTech) 1 rifle soldier armed with the unnamed rifle, and a sidearm, 2 powered armor soldiers, one with assault class armor the other with inferno class and the team leader, similarly armed as the infantry but with advanced tactical training.
The armor I designed for them is pretty wicked to I'd like to say.
So... does that all make more sense together now?
remember the Vanadium Breastplate and Fullplate armors I drafted up?
Futuristic Materials in my 'nefarious' thread at BG, with demonstarted future armor stating and an attempt to capture part of the dicussion about it. What happens when we make armors out of materials 3x as strong a mild steel? It weighs 1/3 OR it has 3x protection.
Man-in-the-Hat -
Do you have any sub OMGWTFBBQ-gun marksmen on a helljumper team? Y'know, people who use something equivalent to an advanced M14, or have a med-long range modded assault rifle? I ask because, to my knowledge, most modern armed forces don't restrict snipers/marksmen to carrying around M82's (today's BFG.)
Also: have you given any thought to smart bullets?
They are not so much restricted in carring multiple weapons so much as the bulk of the firearm in question and more importantly a drop pod no more then a few feet high and about two feet accross. It starts becoming a real question of what you need over what you'd like to have.
Now the firearm itself since it folds into a medium size weapon takes up no extra room over a standard assault rifle.
And I had considered smart bullets but technically D20 Future (Page 72) covers 'seeker' ammo, which is self adjusting rounds granting a +1 to attack rolls. I had considered an upgraded version but other then providing a better equipment bonus to accuracy there doesn't seem to be much not covered in the books for D20 Future and FutureTech; after all they even cover wicked little things called 'NanoRounds'. Which for those who aren't familiar with FutureTech nanorounds do one of the following; based on the object their programmed to affect.
Flesh Tissue - 1d4 Con
Bone Tissue - 1d4 Str
Nerve Tissue - 1d2 Dex/1d3 Int
Metal - 1d2 Hardness/1d2 hit points
Wood 1d3+1 hardness/1d3+1 hit points.
It inflicts the damage for 1d3+1 rounds. Meaning that at maximum it can do 16 points of Con damage. ONE shot from a NanoRound almost killed one of my PC's who was a level 10 or so at the time. Kinda ended up with high rolls. I discovered that by the time the bullet had ran its course he was down to 1 Con.
FutureTech also covers Survelliance Rounds, Microphone Rounds, Jammer Round, Improved Stopping Power (+1 damage die) and a few others.
Now as for why take the rifle at all is to give a single soldier the ability to engage an enemy at stand off range without requiring an exotic firearms prof feat to allow them to take other specilized feats.
And as for an equivilent to an M14 or M82; I have (just not the stats for right now) the MX-7 which is a highly advanced light weight 7.62 assault rifle that is designed to fit a number of weapon attachments; and there is the as to yet be givin a numerical designation 'Komodo Dragon'.
On that regard though; considering the damage diffrence between a PL5 weapon and a PL6 (which is where most of the technology rests) isn't all that intense, plus with the numerous variable ammo types listed for the ballistic weapons most of the PL5 guns still function with perfect efficency in comparison. I understand that creates the whole 'muesum' weaponry and that the progress of the future is sadly going nowhere; etc. etc.
Easiest way to get around that, in my opinion, is to say that the weapons represent the successive upgraded technology tree; meaning they hold full price and count as a weapon of the current PL - granting all the new ammo types and modifications for the respective PL. This of course, is the most UNCREATIVE and UNORIGNAL. Just the simplist.
The method my PC's and I prefer is that they are a dieing breed of firearms preparing to enter the final stages of their humble lives before being replaced by the UEASC's newest lineup of armaments. Completing these firearms is MOSTLY a secondary concern; since NONE of the PC's even work for the UEASC. They work for another organisation known simply as the Galactic Administration - shortened to simply 'The Administration'. The only reason they need to be completed is because they in fact interact with the UEASC frequently.
I've been using Weapons Locker and UltraModern Firearms for the stats for diffrent ammo types, and numerous other features for inspiration when creating new firearms. So long story short I do have PL equivilent weapons designed I just don't have the stats avaliable to me.
So back to the orignal concern is the price for the rifle fitting for the damage that it deals? (remember that you will crit 1/4 of the time) And if anyone feels like it, I'm short for today on the inspiration for a numerical designation and a nickname. Ex. 'Komodo Dragon'
They are not so much restricted in carring multiple weapons so much as the bulk of the firearm in question and more importantly a drop pod no more then a few feet high and about two feet accross. It starts becoming a real question of what you need over what you'd like to have.
Now the firearm itself since it folds into a medium size weapon takes up no extra room over a standard assault rifle.
And I had considered smart bullets but technically D20 Future (Page 72) covers 'seeker' ammo, which is self adjusting rounds granting a +1 to attack rolls. I had considered an upgraded version but other then providing a better equipment bonus to accuracy there doesn't seem to be much not covered in the books for D20 Future and FutureTech...
It's been awhile since I've read through FutureTech. Still I was thinking more about beyond line-of-sight shots. You're currently on side X of the hill, while your buddies on side B have spotted a mech and really need it's railgun gone. You've only got seconds to react, and sprinting isn't going to work with your BFG, so your buddy on the other side tags it with an IR (or some new tech) laser. You fire with the bullet as close to the crest of the hill as you can, it spots the designated target and homes in on the desired hardpoint.
Sounds like a helpful tech for people who have seconds to work with.
Now as for why take the rifle at all is to give a single soldier the ability to engage an enemy at stand off range without requiring an exotic firearms prof feat to allow them to take other specilized feats.
Understood.
And as for an equivilent to an M14 or M82; I have (just not the stats for right now) the MX-7 which is a highly advanced light weight 7.62 assault rifle that is designed to fit a number of weapon attachments; and there is the as to yet be givin a numerical designation 'Komodo Dragon'.
Alright. So it's sort of a multi-role weapon defined by how the owner customizes it.
On that regard though; considering the damage diffrence between a PL5 weapon and a PL6 (which is where most of the technology rests) isn't all that intense, plus with the numerous variable ammo types listed for the ballistic weapons most of the PL5 guns still function with perfect efficency in comparison. I understand that creates the whole 'muesum' weaponry and that the progress of the future is sadly going nowhere; etc. etc.
Easiest way to get around that, in my opinion, is to say that the weapons represent the successive upgraded technology tree; meaning they hold full price and count as a weapon of the current PL - granting all the new ammo types and modifications for the respective PL. This of course, is the most UNCREATIVE and UNORIGNAL. Just the simplist.
Huh. I would just blame the use of old weapons on lack of progress+supply and demand.
Why are soldiers in 2070 still using M16's, M4's, and M249's? Because that's what the colonists could afford when they were shipped out. Since colonists aren't going to be at war as often as the citizens of Terra, they aren't going to focus their funding/research on making new weapons. Terra won't send her peaceful colonies the new stuff, either, because she doesn't want them to have the strength to revolt against her. Now that there's a war involving the whole human race (maybe?) against an alien race, the people back on earth are kicking themselves for not creating enough of the new weapons for their colonists to use... so the colonists dust off the musium weapons and ship out in their musium armor. Earthborn troops will have more advanced equipment, but until enough factories can get up and running those further out are going to have to make due with less.
But that's just how I'd do it. Your way of handling it works just fine.
The method my PC's and I prefer is that they are a dieing breed of firearms preparing to enter the final stages of their humble lives before being replaced by the UEASC's newest lineup of armaments. Completing these firearms is MOSTLY a secondary concern; since NONE of the PC's even work for the UEASC. They work for another organisation known simply as the Galactic Administration - shortened to simply 'The Administration'. The only reason they need to be completed is because they in fact interact with the UEASC frequently.
Well, re-reading this, it sounds almost exactly like what I posted above. lol
So back to the orignal concern is the price for the rifle fitting for the damage that it deals? (remember that you will crit 1/4 of the time) And if anyone feels like it, I'm short for today on the inspiration for a numerical designation and a nickname. Ex. 'Komodo Dragon'
Your weapon costs as much as a small, customized transport ship. I think that's just fine considering it's a gun meant to damage mecha. If this is largely a war story, then honestly the equipment is only unbalanced if their enemies have unreasonably inferrior equipment. Be sure to make it only available through the military (or pirates) and thus difficult to obtain just anywhere. Just because it costs as much as a transport ship doesn't mean it's just as common.
Also, honestly, if you have a character who's broken the wealth system, it doesn't matter how high you price the gun. :\
Smart munitions? X-Ray Scope and Phasing rounds. All D20 Future. Gives you the ability to shoot through and see through objects.
As I said one of my PC's though used phasing rounds and magic to expand his range over a couple of miles with no need for LoS.
look what I found on my old laptop
now I just gotta get it put back into the threads with my Pulse Rifle stats for
5mm Pulse Pistol
7mm Pulse Magnum
10mm Pulse SMG/PDW
10mm Pulse Carbine
10mm Pulse Sniper
15mm Pulse ATR
If there is a GrenadeLauncher variant of the PulseGun technology weapon system,
it stands to reason there would be other variants as well... such as the carbine, sniper, pistols (lt/hvy) and AT/AntiMech
To add a grenade launcher to a standard pulse rifle
implies there to be a standard pulse rifle in the first place
And I prefer the terms 'Objectively Eccentric' to 'freaking insane', but if I can't get people to accept the fact I'm not a mental case; least I can do is grant you your 'astute'.
Very well, they are a series of very of 'astute' looking firearms. Not at all a bad idea in anyway, but unsuited for the campaign I'm running. All in all though; a very interesting take on the rather small list of firearms granted to the USMC in the Aliens movies. Very creative means of altering the original firearm; though admittedly a few variations do look a bit… off shall we say, just with the way the barrel and the framework all are put together. But that’s just one of a million opinions. Overall I must say though they are very classily done.