Weapons

WEAPONS Weapon Categories Each weapon fits into a category (blades, hafted weapons, missile weapons, improvised weapons, or natural weapons), which describes its approximate use. Bladed Weapons Bladed weapons are weapons that have a short handle and proportionally longer edge. Lash Weapons Lash weapons are weapons that generally must be swung about or whirled to attack because they have a chain (or other flexible portion) as part of their construction. Hafted Weapons Hafted weapons are weapons that have a longer handle and a proportionally smaller area mounted on the tip for attacking. (While quarterstaffs don’t exactly follow this model, they’re close enough.) Missile Weapons Missile weapons are all weapons that are used to deliver some sort of projectile. Under each missile weapon, there is statistical information for the type of ammunition that the respective weapon uses. Improvised Weapons Improvised weapons are any weapon that is a makeshift weapon, from a chair in a barroom brawl to a salmon in a fishery fight. Most of the statistical data for improvised weapons is determined by the DM. (For reference, the aforementioned salmon would be a small weapon and a chair would be a medium weapon.) Natural Attacks Natural attacks are any type of weapon that a creature has based on its physiology. A cat has claws and a bite, for instance, while a rhinoceros would have a horn attack. For the most part, playable races only have unarmed strikes as their natural weapons; this encompasses a wide range of attack forms, such as biting, kicking, punching, headbutting, and so on.

Reading the Table To get the statistical information for the weapon you want to use, you’re going to have to know how to read Table 3-1, so listen up. Weapon This column designates what type of weapon you’re dealing with. Some of the rows have additional weapon types listed in parenthesis. That just means that those items are statistically identical to the weapon type that’s not in parenthesis. A kukri and a sickle, for instance, are statistically identical to a short sword because they are similar enough to the short sword that there’s no real point in having a separate entry for them. Missile weapons all have the ammunition they use listed directly below them. Cost and Weight These are pretty self-explanatory—the former is how much the item costs when you’re trying to buy it, and the latter is how much the item weighs. See the section on weapon sizing (below) for information on how weapon weight changes with size. Bonus This is a value representing a weapon’s overall speed and accuracy. You add this number to your attacks made with the weapon if you are trained in the weapon’s use. Dmg (S) and Dmg (M) These are the base damage values listed for (S)mall and (M)edium versions of the weapons. Critical This entry determines the weapon’s threat range. When you make an attack with the weapon and the d20 rolls a number within the threat range of the weapon, you’ve scored a critical threat. Weapons with a threat range of 18-20 score a critical threat on a natural roll of the d20 that is an 18, 19, or 20. Weapons with a critical threat range of 19-20 score a critical threat a natural roll of the d20 that is a 19 or 20. Weapons with a critical threat range of 20 score a critical threat on a natural roll of the d20 that is a 20.

Range This is distance to which you can fire or throw a given weapon accurately. You can fire or throw a weapon up to twice this distance, but you take a -4 penalty on the attack roll. Weapons without a range listed are treated as improvised weapons of their size category when thrown. Type This is the type of damage the weapon does on a successful attack—piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning. (This is largely unimportant except in a few cases of damage reduction, but I put it in there anyhow.) Properties This column lists all the special properties that a weapon has. These are detailed below. ADJUSTABLE Adjustable weapons can be used in one or two hands. When wielded in two hands, they do an additional +1 damage.

RELOAD This indicates the amount of time required to reload a particular weapon. Blunderbusses can be reloaded as a standard action, crossbows can be reloaded as a move action, longbows can be reloaded as a free action, and slings can be reloaded as a swift action. Even if a reloadable weapon is also adjustable, you need two free hands to reload it. USER UNFRIENDLY User unfriendly weapons are dangerous to both the attacker and his target. On a natural roll of 1, the wielder of a user unfriendly weapon takes 1[D] damage.

Weapon Sizing Sometimes, you’ll run into a situation where you need to increase or decrease the size of a weapon. Weapon sizing is as follows: 1d2  1d4  1d6  1d8  1d10  2d6  2d8  2d10  3d8  3d10  4d8  4d10 and so on and so forth.

CHARGE Charging weapons automatically score a critical hit when you make a successful attack at the end of a charge. (If you make a successful attack that scores a critical threat, charging weapons do an additional +1 damage per critical die.)

Some weapons have a base damage of 2d4. Their sizing has a progression of 1d2  1d4  1d6  2d4  2d6  2d8  2d10 ad infinitum.

DOUBLE Double weapons are weapons that can be used in conjunction with two-weapon fighting (even though you’re only wielding one weapon). When you use a double weapon with two-weapon fighting, you must wield it in two hands.

Creatures Wielding Inappropriately-Sized Weapons Sorry, but you can’t. A medium-sized longsword has weight, girth, and balance that a Small creature won’t be able to use effectively. Likewise, a large greatsword is going to throw a Medium creature way off balance. He’s just going to die horribly if he tries to do the Cloud Strife thing.

HEAVY Heavy weapons require two hands to use effectively and thus cannot be used one-handed. HIGH CRIT Weapons with this property roll d10s on their critical hits instead of d8s. LIGHT Light weapons are weapons that receive no benefit from being wielded in two hands. You may, however, add your Dexterity modifier in place of your Strength modifier on damage rolls with a light weapon. REACH Reach weapons double their wielder’s natural reach, but they cannot be used to attack adjacent targets. A Small or Medium creature wielding a reach weapon threatens creatures 10 feet away, but he can’t target creatures 5 feet away. Similarly, a Large creature wielding a reach weapon typically threatens creatures 15 to 20 feet away, but he cannot attack targets 5 to 10 feet away.

The minimum base damage a weapon does is 1d2.

Weapon Weights for Differently-Sized Weapons The weapon weights on the table gives all the weights for weaponry for Medium-sized creatures. For every size category larger than Medium a character is, the weight of an item doubles. For every size category smaller than Medium that a character is, the weight of an item is halved.

Table: 3-1

Weapon

Cost

Weight Bonus Dmg (S)

Dmg (M) Critical Range Bladed Weapons

Bastard sword Claymore Dagger Longsword, (Scimitar) Rapier Shortsword (Kukri, Sickle)

8 gp 10 gp 2 gp 8 gp 5 gp 6 gp

3 lb. 4 lbs. 1 lb. 3 lbs. 1 lb. 2 lbs.

+3 +2 +4 +3 +3 +3

2d6 2d6 1d4 1d10 1d6 1d8

Chain, spiked Whip

12 gp 2 gp

5 lbs. 1 lb.

+2 +3

2d4 1d6

2d6 1d8

Flail

8 gp

6 lbs.

+1

2d8

2d10

Axe Greataxe Halberd (Glaive) Lance Mace (Club, Hammer) Quarterstaff Scythe (Pick) Spear Warhammer

4 gp 10 gp 10 gp 12 gp 5 gp 2 gp 8 gp 4 gp 10 gp

2 lbs. 6 lbs. 6 lbs. 8 lbs. 3 lbs. 2 lbs. 4 lbs. 4 lbs. 5 lbs.

+2 +2 +3 +2 +3 +3 +2 +2 +2

2d6 2d8 2d4 1d10 2d6 1d8 2d6 1d8 2d8

2d8 2d8 1d6 2d6 1d8 1d10

Type

Properties

— — 20 ft. — — —

piercing, slashing piercing, slashing piercing piercing, slashing piercing piercing, slashing

adjustable heavy light, high crit adjustable light, high crit light, high crit

20 19-20

— —

piercing slashing

18-20

—

piercing, bludgeoning

heavy, reach light, reach high crit, adjustable, user unfriendly

20 ft. — — — — — 20 ft. —

slashing slashing piercing, slashing piercing bludgeoning bludgeoning piercing, slashing piercing bludgeoning

20 19-20 18-20 19-20 18-20 19-20

Lash Weapons

Hafted Weapons 2d8 2d10 2d6 2d6 2d8 1d10 2d8 1d10 2d10

19-20 20 19-20 19-20 20 20 19-20 19-20 20

adjustable heavy heavy, reach high crit, adjustable, charge adjustable adjustable, double heavy high crit, adjustable, reach heavy

Missile Weapons 100 gp

3 lbs.

+2

2d10

3d8

19-20

20 ft.

—

2 gp 35 gp 1 gp 50 gp 1 gp 12 gp 1 gp

2 lbs. 4 lbs. 1 lb. 4 lbs. 2 lbs. 1 lb. 2 lbs.

— +3 — +3 — +2 —

— 2d8 — 1d10 — 2d6 —

— 2d10 — 2d6 — 2d8 —

— 19-20 — 19-20 — 19-20 —

— 90 ft. — 120 ft. — 60 ft. —

piercing, bludgeoning variable piercing or bludgeoning — piercing or bludgeoning — bludgeoning

adjustable, reload (standard), user unfriendly — adjustable, reload (move) — heavy, reload (free) — adjustable, reload (swift) —

Any

—

varies

+0

1d4

10 ft.

variable

variable

Claws (Talons) Bite Horns (Tusks) Unarmed strikes

— — — —

— — — —

+3 +3 +2 +1

1d6 1d8 1d10 1d4

— — — —

piercing, slashing piercing, slashing piercing bludgeoning

light

Blunderbuss shot (10) Crossbow bolts (10) Longbow arrows (20) Sling bullets (20)

Improvised Weapons 1d6

20

Natural Attacks 1d8 1d10 2d6 1d6

20 20 20 20

light