Futuristic Weapons?

[idrahil]

Ok, I searched here and even searched google and couldn't find a discussion on this and I know this has to have been discussed at some point.

I'm looking for ideas for handling futuristic weapons like laser rifles and stun pistols. I figured I could handle a weapon set for stun as a "Hold Person" effect but how is the probability to hit handled? Attack roll? Attack roll with penalty? Saving Throw?

And then, how about lasers? 2-12 damage? Saving throw?

[idrahil]

Seems simple and makes sense to me! And yeah, I want to throw a few guns in with a few shots left in each.

[waysoftheearth]

Another option might be to use a saving throws vs Wands and Rays against any 40s-50s sci-fi style "beam" attacks. The function of these weapons needn't differ dramatically from existing spells such as lightning bolt, disintegrate, or finger of death.

"Lesser" weapons could function as beam-weapon-wands of cause light wounds, or successively more powerful variants (moderate, serious, critical wounds).

I like the idea of a "hold person" gun. Some other interesting options might include web-guns, slow-bombs, levitate (anti-grav) guns, or any number of "flame-thrower" type weapons that could dish out say, fog wall, color spray, wall of fire or ice; or could do cause disease or cloudkills or insect plagues (chemical weapons). Grenades and rockets could function as fireballs that blast out rock instead of conforming to available space.

FWIW, I'd recommend anything with an area effect should require a save versus breath weapon rather than wands.

[cadriel]

I wrote this a while back about OD&D, but I figure it would do for Delving Deeper as well: Save vs. Death Ray!

[idrahil]

Good stuff guys. So, attacker makes and attack roll vs AC 9 (allow magic to bolster defense), target roll saves vs the effect.

The mitigating factor against the power of these weapons would be their limited capacity correct? Should anyone be allowed to use them? Minimum Int to use?

[premmy]

I'm not sure I agree with making an attack roll AND THEN having the target roll a save.

I mean, when you attack someone with a sword - or a ranged weapon like a crossbow -, the target doesn't receive an extra save, either; it's just the attack roll. Conversely, when you have some form of 'attack' that gives a save - a spell, or a gout of dragonfire -, you don't ALSO make an attack roll. It's always one or the other, but not both. I feel that making rayguns and the like require both an attack and a save is just nerfing them beyond reason. It's a raygun; it's meant to be much more powerful than a sword blow or an arrow. If you don't want a weapon in your game that's much more powerful than the usual medieval/renaissance armament, then don't have a raygun.

For actual experience, here's how we handled rayguns in Melan's Fomalhaut campaigns:
- Requires an attack roll. If the attacker is inexperienced with such weapons, the DM rolls 1d6 and subtracts and odd results from the attack. After three victorious fights in which he used rayguns, the character is considered experienced.
- Armour and shields provide no protection, but Dexterity bonuses do. Magical armour and shields also improve the target's AC, but only by the magic bonus (so a +1 leather armour and a +1 plate both improve AC by 1).
- If a character actively tries to dodge by moving erratically, he can make a reflex save. However, he cannot do ANYTHING else in that round. If there are several attacks against him in a single round, he must make a separate save against each - the second one incurs a -4 penaltry, the third one -8, etc..
- If a damage die comes up maximum (6 on a d6, 10 on a d10, etc.), the die is rerolled and the result added to the tally. Subsequent maximum rolls always grant a reroll.
- Old pieces of weaponry might be unreliable - a natural 1 on the attack roll causes them to misfire and discharge all stored energy.

As a baseline, a laser gun does 2d10 HP damage, triple damage on a critical hit (requires confirmation roll as per D20 systems), and can store up to 30 charges in two small batteries.

[Mushgnome]

In my Chainmail Carcosa game, I ruled that high-tech/space-alien weapons attack as "arquebus" (the best missile weapon) on the Man-to-Man table. NPCs with 1HD or fewer are slain outright, while PCs and higher-level NPCs take 1d6 damage (same as getting your head chopped off by a 2-handed sword).

[EdOWar]

Personally, I think that rayguns are sufficiently advanced technology as to be indistinguishable from magic, as least as far as a typical D&D adventurer is concerned. So, I'd just use a saving throw, instead of an attack roll (or both). Also, then I don't have to recalculate everything's AC to account for the power of ragygun beams, making allowances for magic armor, etc. etc. Nice and simple.

[oakesspalding]

I think the standard mechanics of OD&D and Delving Deeper handle things pretty well. OD&D has a "Save Versus Death Ray or Poison". DD has a saving throw vs. Wands and Rays. Thus, each has an EXPLICIT mechanic for dealing with death rays or ray guns. The idea is that such weapons are so powerful that if the ray touches you, you die. Thus I suppose the saving throw determines whether or not you succeeded in jumping out of the way at the last moment, or whatever.

Of course if you're talking about, say, a moderate-power phaser or laser, I would just plug it into the standard OD&D and DD mechanic for ranged weapons. The more I think about it, the more I dislike discounting armor. If you're pointing something like an industrial strength laser at me, I'd rather be wearing a steel breastplate than a silk robe. Will the breastplate completely protect me? No, but then it won't completely protect me from a crossbow bolt either. To simulate the quickness or power of a phaser/laser, have it do 2-12 or even 3-18 hits of damage or fire two shots in a turn--think of Star Trek "red shirts" rapidly aiming their phasers at different incoming targets. Or give it +3 to hit, and/or a longer range.

[Zenopus]

Magic swords should have a chance of deflecting laser blasts back at the shooter. The rule of cool.

[monk]

Just want to pop my head in here and say, "I love the fact that you guys are discussing ray guns/lasers/photon pistols/death rays in regards to OD&D/DD." My campaign world has always had the occasional blaster and it's tons of fun. Reading a lot of Leigh Brackett Mars stuff recently and it's recharged my inner-DM-powerpack in this regard.

[waysoftheearth]

Another relevant source might be Warriors of Mars which includes radium pistols and radium rifles.

These are treated as "better" bows, dealing 4/3rds and 5/3rds as much damage, respectively (vs human types). The pistol has twice the range of a bow, and the rifle has unlimited range.