Lately, I have been toying with some weapon characteristics that do not appear in the core rules. Not that they are truly needed, but I fear I am basically a fighter and always searching to expand their options...
I have attached a proposition for an expanded weapon table including some new stats and would like very much to have feedbacks on those. Please note that this is only a first draft and likely need to be tuned finely.
Those new stats are :
1. ENC = not truly a game stat, it is just weight*length and was use as a broad guideline to sort weapons out.
2. Hands = the number of hands required to use the weapon
3. Reach = this stat tries to simulate the impact of longer weapons in combat. Each weapon is rated either short (roughly 1-2 feet), medium (2-4 feet), long (5-6 feet) or very long (6+ feet). That is the standard weapon reach. Basically, if two combatants are equipped with weapons with the same reach, they are likely to stay at the standard reach. But when two combatants use weapons with different reaches (dagger vs spear for example), one is likely to try to close with the other (the guy with the dagger) whereas the Spearman will try yo keep the dagger wielder at bay.
Each round, you can try to close or increase the distance between two combatants by using one AP and making an opposed Save vs Spd or acrobatic roll. If fighting is not in the standard weapon reach, each attack is made at an additional cost of 1 AP per difference in reach (eg. a short weapon at long range needs 2 additional APs to atack). Note that this give smaller weapons an edge as they require less AP to attack.
Weapon reach may be altered by combat moves (haft jab reduces reach - allowing a spear to be used at medium range without penalty - whereas lunge increases it). Reach may become an additional element for combat moves but I have not delve into this much yet).
4. Init mod = a simple adjustment to initiative roll to simulate weapon speed.
5. DR (Main type) & DR (Secondary) = most weapons can be used to achieve different kinds of damage. For example, you can use the flat of a sword blade to cause bashing damages. Most of the time, the secondary DR is lesser than the primary DR (translating the fact that a weapon is more efficient when used in the way it was designed to be) but still it can be useful to change the kind of damage delivered (some monsters or different armor types may be more susceptible to slashing than to bashing attacks).
6. Min Str = some weapons require above average strength to be used effectively. I propose that for each point of strength below the minimum, the DR of the attack is reduced by 2. Somone with a stregth of 11 using a greatsword will only cause 6 points of base damage.
7. Min Dex = some weapons are trickier to use than others (chains for example). I propose that for each point of dexterity lacking, each attack requires 1 additional AP.
Comments ?
