Weapons

Melee

Strikes at contact range or the reach of a held weapon.

• Reach

  A long melee weapon such as a spear, polearm or whip lets its wielder strike a foe beyond the adjacent space or past a front rank, often at the cost of not striking adjacent foes or of slower handling

  PropertyBoard & card · Tabletop RPG · VideoUnverified

• Two-Handed

  A weapon needs both hands to wield, so its user gives up a shield or second weapon for greater damage, or a one-handed weapon gains damage or new attacks when its user holds it in both hands

  PropertyBoard & card · Tabletop RPG · Video

Thrown

The weapon itself leaves the hand and travels to the target.

• Returning Throw

  A thrown weapon comes back to the thrower after it strikes or reaches the end of its flight, often hitting targets on the way back, so it can be thrown again without being fetched or lost

  BehaviourTabletop RPG · Video

Projectile

Fires or launches a missile with travel time, which can be dodged, led, or blocked in flight.

• Charge Shot

  Holding the fire button, or drawing a bow, before release fires a stronger shot than a tap does, its power set or stepped by how long the hold lasted, while firing without a hold gives the weapon's ordinary shot

  BehaviourVideoUnverified

• Homing Projectile

  A projectile that steers itself toward a target after launch, either one locked before firing or one it finds in flight, so the shot can follow a target that moves and an unguided shot would miss

  BehaviourVideo · Board & cardUnverified

Hitscan

Resolves at once along a line from the weapon, with no travel time; continuous beams included.

• Shotgun

  A close-range gun that fires a spread of pellets in one shot, so it strikes hard when the target is near and loses force as distance widens the spread and fewer pellets land

  ClassVideo · Tabletop RPGUnverified

• Sniper Rifle

  A long-range rifle with a zooming scope that deals heavy damage per shot at a slow rate of fire, so a precise hit from far away can kill outright while the weapon is weak at close quarters

  ClassVideoUnverified

Area

The effect is a radius, cone, or region rather than the object that carries it there.

• Flamethrower

  A short-range weapon projects a continuous stream or cone of fire that damages everything in its path and often sets targets burning, at the cost of fuel that runs out quickly

  ClassBoard & card · VideoUnverified

• Splash Damage

  An explosive shot, shell or blast damages every target within a radius of where it lands, not only the one it strikes, often less the farther a target is from the centre, so a near miss still harms

  BehaviourBoard & card · VideoUnverified

Placed

Set down or attached at a location and set off later, by the user or by a timer.

• Remote Detonation

  An explosive charge is placed, thrown or stuck at a spot and left there, then set off by its user with a second input or action at a moment of their choosing, rather than by a fuse or by a target that touches it

  BehaviourBoard & card · VideoUnverified

Any delivery

A rule or property that applies to weapons whatever their delivery, with no single delivery dominant.

• Armour Piercing

  A property of a weapon or round that reduces, ignores, or penetrates the target's armour, so the weapon keeps more of its effect against an armoured target than an ordinary weapon does

  PropertyBoard & card · VideoUnverified

• Range Falloff

  A weapon is fully effective out to an optimal range and loses accuracy or damage beyond it, in steps between range bands or along a curve, so the distance to the target sets how well each shot lands

  RuleBoard & card · Tabletop RPG · VideoUnverified

• Reloading

  A weapon holds a limited number of shots in a magazine, cylinder or loaded state and must be refilled when they are spent, which takes time or an action during which it cannot fire

  RuleBoard & card · Tabletop RPG · Video

• Target-Size Accuracy

  A weapon's chance to hit, or the share of its damage that lands, depends on the target's size, often measured against the attacker or the weapon, so that small targets are harder to hit well than large ones

  RuleBoard & card · Tabletop RPG · VideoUnverified

• Weapon Durability

  Weapons wear with use and, after a number of uses or hits, break, weaken or must be repaired, so a player cycles through weapons or spends on their upkeep

  RuleBoard & card · VideoUnverified

• Weapon Proficiency

  A rule that divides a character's weapons into those they are trained in and the rest, or trains each weapon type through use, so a weapon outside their training hits less often, strikes fewer times, or loses its features

  RuleTabletop RPG · VideoUnverified

Kinds

Behaviour

One way a weapon acts, found on weapons of many classes. Charge Shot, Homing Projectile, Remote Detonation, Returning Throw, Splash Damage

Class

A named type of weapon whose identity is a bundle of traits: range, damage profile, rate, handling. Flamethrower, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle

Rule

A system that governs the use of all or most weapons in a game. Range Falloff, Reloading, Target-Size Accuracy, Weapon Durability, Weapon Proficiency

Property

A trait or tag printed on, or attached to, individual weapons. Armour Piercing, Reach, Two-Handed

Delivery by kind and limit