More to spew on.

[Wright Frazier <khelek@ns1.cioe.com>]

I've spent the last bit writing up weapons...joy...simple, just desc, but
it it brought up a couple of issues for my writeup that I want to
bounce off of folks.

1) Some weapons that have already got the okay to go in, man-catcher,
	swordbreaker, etc... are gonna require some wierd rules.
	It also opens up a whole huge can of worms for other things, and
	I'm pretty torn on how to do it...hopefully someone else will have
	some good ideas.

2) how to handle these rules.

Okay here we go.  The first major difficulty, is the use of the weapon
	properly.  In the case of the swordbreaker or sai, you
	truely have to be attacking the opponents weapon, not the
	opponent, for the weapon to be used.  A swordbreaker does
	just that, breaks, and a sai disarms.  For an initial DV
	to hit a weapon, give it a base CDV of 12 + the weapon
	skill of the victim.  i.e. I'm tring to disarm Claude, I'm
	gonna have to hit a 12 + 17 = 29.  The weapon itself is
	pretty hard to hit, and Claude really doesn't want it to
	be hit, so that is gonna make it harder to hit it.

	Opinions?

Next, breaking a weapon with the swordbreaker.
	Provided the guy hits your sword, he rolls as many dice
	against his swordbreaker skill as he chooses(1+).  If
	his check succeeds, he then rolls that same number of
	dice against the strength of the weapon.  If that die check
	exceeds the strength of the weapon, it is broken.  If either
	check 'fails', then the opponent automatically frees his
	weapon for his next attack with no penalties.  Fairly simple
	and fast.

Next is the Sai, and any other weapons capable of disarming folks.
	To do this, you have to first succeed in an attack against
	the opponents weapon.  Then you, as the disarmer, attempt
	to make as many dice against your sai(or whatever weapon
	skill).  Then if you make your check, your victim must
	make a strength check of an equal number of dice.  If he
	fails his check, his weapon is torn from his grasp.  Things
	like lanyards and the stickum spell remove 1 die from the
	check, cumulative.  A glue would remove 2 dice from the check,
	and if the victim still blew it, he'd suffer 1d4 damage from
	having his skin ripped off(assuming barehanded).

Now we come to the shuriken..this one is a pisser.  If its going
	to be at all realistic, its gonna require a special skill and
	won't follow the normal one for missile weapons.  In RL the
	shuriken does piss poor damage, its benefit is that you can
	toss a shitload of'em.  Here is what I came up with for it.

	Base 300 or so skill(throwing multiple things is a powerful
	ability), then you can throw 1 additional shuriken per
	die you make against your skill. Standard multi attack so far.
	The differenec ist hat you only apply your missile mod to
	the 1st one thrown.  The subsequent ones may be effected by
	skill or natural elven abilities(this is if we go with Steve's
	split dice pool thing).  Or if we don't go with it just add
	the elven mod.

	Also note that shurikens are more than just the throwing stars,
	but are also small spikes and darts(not the war darts different
	weapon there).  Opinions?

Lastly we have the Pike.  I personally LOVE the pike.  Its a beautiful
	weapon system.  And to do it right I had to essentially outline
	how to properly use'em.  Here is what I have for it.  Sorry for
	the bad formatting, doing a straight C/P on this.  Also there
	is a party in it on the weapon having DP.  This is the only
	way other than making the pike have to make a strength check.

Pike
The pike is the dominant military weapon for foot soldiers.  It is an eighteen to twenty-two foot long pole onto which a spearhead has been attached.  The weapon is only useful when used by large numbers of men simultaneously, as it is very easy to get inside of the weapon's range.  However if employed properly by groups of men, it is lethal.  In proper formation the pikemen, or pikes, are lined up in a classical phalanx formation, but more spread out.  The front rank kneels to fight, the second rank leans forward, and the third rank fights over handed.  This allows as many as nine pikes to be brought against a single target.

Other benefits of the pike hedge formation.  First, if an opponent is charging a pike formation, the pikemen will impale the target and stop him at the pike's melee range.  Secondly, when used to impale in this fashion, the pikemen may apply their full combat modifier to hit.  Next, the opponent may not advance on the pike hedge until he meets certain conditions.  He must either win initiative and advance, this will bring him inside the range of the first row of pikeman, but not the second, third, or fourth.  Or he must destroy the pikes being brought against him.  This is not as easy as it sounds.  While the long pike is quite unwieldy and fairly easy to hit physically, the wood is quite flexible and hard to damage sufficiently.  It has a CDV of 12 + the weapon skill of the wielder, and takes 8 + 1d6 pts of edged damage to break.

The disadvantages of the pike are also fairly great.  To be used properly, the weapon must be used in groups of greater than 20.  Next the pike hedge formation makes it a natrual target of area effect spells.  Lastly, when in formation, pikemen may only move at up one half of their normal movement and remain in formation.  It requires 1 round per member of the formation to form a pike hedge, with a modifier of minus 2 rounds per die of Land Tactics that the unit commander makes