Minding the gaps

This page concocts a handful of new weapons for GURPS and Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (DFRPG). These aren’t built from any fancy “design system” (including GLAIVE), nor are they conjured out of thin air; they’re simply extrapolated from the games’ weapon tables to fill in “gaps” among existing models. Wherever possible, data from the newer Low-Tech, Martial Arts, and DFRPG is used as reference, superseding information in Basic Set. (Some of the existing weapons discussed don’t appear at all in Basic Set.)

In short, these serve no great need, and are some of the most mundane weapons you can find. But hey, what adventurer doesn’t appreciate more choices in the murder tool rack?

Meet the weapons

The following constitute “designer’s notes” on the weapons and the stats I’ve set in the tables that follow.

Arrows and bolts

Arrow

An arrow sans bow – thrown, or hurled with an atlatl. Definitely not the preferred way to use an arrow, but in a pinch…

Range, damage, and ST for thrown arrows and bolts are purely my own conjecture; let me know if these are already covered in some obscure corner of GURPS. ST 5 is arguably far too high for such light projectiles, but that’s the same ST for a tiny shuriken or dagger. (GURPS‘ weapon ST doesn’t track to anything measurable, especially at the low end. I’m just sighing and going along with things.) In any case, note that ST 5 limits damage for a thrown arrow to an effective ST 15. And thrown arrow damage is low to begin with, compared to a throwing dart – an arrow weighs only a tenth as much as the dart! (I’ve wavered a lot on the damage, which I’ve currently set to thr-3 imp: a thrown arrow beats a spike shuriken in range and cost, but loses to the spike in damage and Bulk.)

A further house detail for your consideration: I assume that while arrows with any sort of head can be thrown, throwing speed would be too slow to let bodkin heads gain their armor-piercing effect (i.e., they would act as normal projectiles inflicting pi damage).

Note: See Low-Tech p. 63 to use an arrow as a dagger.

Bolt

A crossbow bolt minus the crossbow. Although a bolt is lighter than an arrow, I’ve made damage the same as that of a thrown arrow to keep a bolt from being completely useless. (However, I took the opportunity to lower a bolt’s damage to 1 less than an arrow’s damage when hurled from an atlatl.)

As with an arrow, a thrown bodkin bolt should be considered too slow to gain its armor-piercing ability.

Blades

Boarding Cutlass

This name is merely descriptive; the stats could stand in for any variety of smallish shortsword (spadroon, anyone?). Falling between a cutlass and falchion in performance, the weapon adds a sw cut, thr imp damage combination not readily available after the shortsword leveled up to thr+1 imp damage in post-Basic Set books.

Heavy Saber

This invention exists to give Saber skill something more than one weapon. I’ve envisioned it as an entry spanning both Saber and Broadsword skill (in the manner of weapons like the long knife, which spans Knife and Shortsword). See notes below for more on what gap this weapon fills.

Katana

There’s nothing new in the tables, but see thoughts on the weapon further below.

Medium Katar

With stats (and a clunky name) that nestle semi-comfortably between the Knife-based katar and the Shortsword-based large katar, I see this weapon as bridging both skills, like the long knife.

Darts

Heavy Throwing Dart

Is it a long throwing dart or a shrunken javelin? Hurled with the atlatl, this heftier version of the throwing dart slots neatly between the throwing dart and the javelin in terms of damage, range, and other stats. Thrown by hand, however, it needs to take on either the thr damage of the throwing dart or the thr+1 damage of the javelin. I decided to go with the latter to add appeal to the little-loved (in my experience) Thrown Weapon (Dart) skill. The downside: the decision creates a weapon on par with the javelin in terms of damage, while a bit superior in range, cost, and compactness. On the other hand, the javelin shines with far better Accuracy, as well as handiness as a melee weapon. They both have merits.

Light Throwing Dart

Going the other direction from my heavy throwing dart, this one is only half the weight of the standard throwing dart. I’ve lessened Bulk, cut range considerably, and set damage to fit right between the standard throwing dart and the wee spike shuriken. The light throwing dart is still a better weapon than, say, the small throwing knife, which costs more to deliver the same damage at shorter range, but that’s nothing to worry about; a lot of thrown weapons are better than thrown knives. (Even the standard dart is cheaper than a small throwing knife, with better damage and much better range.) Buy Thrown Weapon (Knife) for broad utility and for a small throwing knife’s tiny size, not for optimal performance at low cost.

I’ve added the light throwing dart to the atlatl’s armory as well, where it’s understandably a lesser threat than a hurled standard throwing dart but a better performer than a hurled arrow.

Mini Throwing Dart

Going a step below the light throwing dart brings us to the mini throwing dart. Although its weight and cost remain higher than those of the dinky spike shuriken, there’s nowhere left to set damage but equal to that of the shuriken. To compensate, I’ve given the dart better range (although I’ll arbitrarily decree it too small to use with an atlatl).

Should you want darts even lighter than mini throwing darts… I think sporting darts are the next step in the devolution. Get out of the dungeon and go take your toys to the pub.

Heavy-headed weapons

Combat shovels

I’ve played around with solidifying the weapon modifiers that turn tools into weapons and vice-versa. It’s not easy, though, especially as the base stats for tools like shovels aren’t consistent among GURPS publications. For now, I’ve set that aside and have pulled appropriate-sounding numbers out of the air to give the combat shovel from the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game two groundbreaking new friends.

The long combat shovel adds weight and length to boost damage a bit and, perhaps more importantly, adds proper two-hex weapon reach. (To stay fair to other weapons in its class, I’ve also saddled it with the dread “requires Ready after swing” drawback.) It’s a full-speed digging tool, though the GM may halve speed in tight tunnels or in the hands of small users.

The one-handed short combat shovel is a soldier’s compact entrenching tool that fulfills two historical uses: digging trenches and bashing enemies. As a tool, its small size achieves only half the digging speed of full-sized shovels. (I’m uncertain on what damage should be. Setting dam at sw cut/cr feels a bit low for a weight of 3.5 lbs, but the sw+1 cut/cr that I’ve set is only 1 point lower than the damage of the full combat shovel, which is heaver, longer, and two-handed. I may reset dam to sw cut/cr.)

I’ve added a thrust attack to the long combat shovel, mainly as a way to avoid “Ready after swing”. The short combat shovel and the (regular) combat shovel should also be usable with thrusts, should a fighter wish: change damage from sw+x cut to thr+x cut, and reduce ST by 1. Beyond the lower ST requirement, though, there’s little benefit to using these smaller shovels this way.

These weapon-tools are great for filling in graves, unearthing buried treasure, and otherwise digging up dirt on underground goings-on. They fall a bit short of full-fledged axes and the like in combat prowess, but are serious weapons. Feel free to set more exciting names: the Gardener’s Glaive, the Disinter-grator, the Disem-trowel-er, etc. (And if a player excitedly pits a PC’s shovel against a dirt elemental, be nice and award a high wounding modifier.)

Allow combat shovels a new weapon modifier:

Folding: The shovel head can be locked in one of three positions:
Open: The head is fully extended for normal combat or digging. Use the stats in the Table.
Closed: The head is folded against the haft. The short combat shovel gains reach C, 1; the combat shovel and long combat shovel have reach 1. All damage is crushing only. Holdout penalties are reduced by 1. No digging!
Folded: The head is locked between open and closed. Reach is that of the closed position. Swing damage may be cutting or crushing; thrust damage is crushing only. The weapon can use the Hook technique (although for no damage). Used as a tool, this position is convenient for hoe-like digging and scraping.
Take one Ready maneuver to change between closed and folded position or between folded and open position. Any combat shovel: +0.5 CF.

Light Flail

Filling the damage gap between nunchaku and morningstar, this weapon could also stand in for heavy nunchaku. (Note that Basic Set and Low-Tech treat nunchaku as “lesser” flails that inflict only half the usual defense penalties of a flail; DFRPG does not. Feel free to use the GURPS interpretation of nunchaku in DFRPG if you like, but if you do so, consider reducing the cost of these “heavy nunchaku” from $60 to $40 to compensate.)

Light Maul

A more wieldy version of the maul, perfect for the mace-favoring cleric who wants to “anoint” the heathen from a more discreet 2-hex distance. (Whether you pick up this or the existing heavier version, feel free to call it a long mace, a war club, a sledgehammer, a mason’s mallet, whatever you like. The name doesn’t matter for game purposes; if you’ve seen one giant hammer, you’ve seen a maul.)

Picks and throwing picks

The light pick, pick, and heavy pick listed under Axe/Mace skill below are simply the hatchet, small axe, and axe turned into picks. This changes damage from cut to imp, boosts cost by $25, and adds the pick’s ability to target chinks in armor and its vulnerability to becoming stuck. This transformation turns the small axe into GURPS‘ existing pick, while the hatchet and axe become the new light pick and heavy pick.

Hm, is a throwing pick a cinematic, unrealistic weapon? Maybe so, at least outside of fantasy. Either way, I’m making the assumption that, like GURPS‘ axe and small axe (but unlike its hatchet), these picks are not ready for throwing. The throwing models listed under Thrown Weapon (Axe/Mace) skill add another $10 to create picks equally suited to melee and throwing. (Another option: for $10 less, any throwing pick can be a dedicated throwing weapon that lacks a proper handle, giving -2 to skill as a melee weapon.) Other throwing-related stats are lifted from the thrown hatchet, small throwing axe, and throwing axe, as appropriate (but with Acc left at 1 for all models).

Missile weapons

Atlatl and Woomera

I haven’t added anything new to spear throwers (atlatl and woomera) themselves; I’ve only expanded the weapons’ ammo selections with added existing and new projectiles. However, examining these throwers in play turns up some points of note, detailed below along with comments on how I set stats for new hurled projectiles.

Light Crossbow and Pocket Crossbow

My Ranged Weapons Table below repeats the crossbow and the one-handed pistol crossbow stats for reference, then adds two new offerings: a light crossbow that fits neatly between the regular and pistol crossbows, and a one-handed pocket crossbow that’s even smaller.

These simple additions bring up a number of considerations about crossbow ST, number of hands, and so on. See notes below.

Sling

There’s nothing new in the tables, but see thoughts on the weapon further below.

Spears and friends

Light Harpoon

Because some whales (and monsters) are smaller. There’s not actually much of a niche for this weapon, which differs little from the regular harpoon. But smallish monsters might choose this lighter model as the preferred tool to pin down PCs. In melee, treat the light harpoon as a clumsy long spear with range 1, 2* and -2 to skill. (See a similar description under “Harpoon” on Low-Tech p. 72.)

Stats for harpoons lighter than the light harpoon won’t differ substantially from stats for similar spears and javelins. As a general suggestion, use the stats for any thrown spear weapon, limit Acc to 2, add $10 for the barb and tether, and change skill to Thrown Weapon (Harpoon); wield with Spear skill at -2 if used in melee.

Heavy Javelin

This javelin packs a punch with weight between a javelin or short spear and a regular spear. It’s partly inspired by a note from Low-Tech Companion 2 p. 7, which says javelins came to replace bows on chariots as “…arrows were far less likely than javelins to punch through armor.” As far as game stats go, that statement is true only for the short bow – but short bows probably were commonly used from chariots, so the statement holds. Historical records depicting javelins as more powerful than bows may also have been referring to something closer to what GURPS calls a spear. But whatever comparisons are made, this new weapon offers another choice for hurlers looking to out-perform the archers.

Light Javelin

This weapon is patterned after the slim, lightweight spears used by hunters in areas where prey is usually small and where bulky javelins and spears would be overkill. It makes for a fine fishing spear, too. I’ve set weight, damage, and ST on par with throwing darts, though with lesser range. (For both throwing and stabbing, I’ve left ST at that of the 2-lb javelin, ST 6. This may seem strange, but ST 6 is well in line with other 1-lb weapons. I think that ideally, the light javelin would keep ST 6 and the regular javelin would use a higher ST 7.)

Like other spear weapons, a light javelin can be used in hand to skewer prey. However, I’ve set an increased chance of breakage in melee to reflect spindly wooden construction.

Light Spear

This spear is inspired by this video, featuring a couple of long, serious-looking spears that weigh in at only 3 and 3.5 lbs., less than GURPS‘ spear. (Feel free to think of this new light spear as throwing-oriented, and the GURPS model as a more robust “melee spear”.) The light spear falls between the javelin and regular spear in its stats, and thus ends up identical to the heavy javelin (above), save for longer reach. To compensate, I’ve made the assumption that this spear is necessarily less robust than GURPS‘ hefty 4-lb. spear and the stout heavy javelin, with an increased chance of breakage. I’ve left its melee damage equal to that of the regular spear (otherwise it’d oddly deal less damage than the heavy javelin), while letting its lightness relative to the regular spear show up in lower ranged damage.

Sticks and staffs

Thrown sticks

This group of weapons includes the boomerang and throwing stick from Low-Tech (included on the table for reference) and two original entries: a thrown baton or short staff, and a thrown unshaped stick (tree branch, etc.).

For the latter two, I set damage and Bulk equal to those of the throwing stick, but with Acc 0. I also set Range stats that are considerably worse than those of the boomerang and throwing stick, yet still far more generous than the Range suggestions for hurled melee weapons on MA p. 220 so that thrown sticks remain an interesting option.

Going the other direction, a boomerang or throwing stick could be used as a melee weapon. I suggest treating either as a baton using Shortsword skill, but at -2 to skill (and therefore -1 to Parry) like other dedicated throwing weapons not balanced for melee combat (Low-Tech p. 78).

An unshaped stick, meanwhile, isn’t a dedicated throwing weapon and thus doesn’t suffer that -2 skill penalty in melee, but it is clumsy all around: -1 skill whether used with Shortsword or with Thrown Weapon (Stick). Depending on the wood and its condition, it may also be considered cheap. (On the bright side, you can find one anywhere in a forest, or in many other places on a Scrounging roll.)

6′ Pole

The adventurer’s staple tool, pressed into combat service. I’ve handled this as a quarterstaff for its length, with -1 damage and +1 to odds of breakage as it’s lighter than a quarterstaff and presumably not made for fighting. I’ve left ST at 7, though, as there’s no open space between the quarterstaff’s ST 7 and the jo’s ST 6. (For Two-Handed Sword configuration, I’ve reduced ST by 1.)

10′ Pole

The show-off adventurer’s staple. Length and weight are both on par with the long staff, so I borrowed its stats – but with +1 to odds of breakage for the cheaper cost and presumably less robust build. (Tangent: If you need to equip a party with just a pole, I’d think you could cut a 5-lb. long staff at the right spot to get both a 4-lb. quarterstaff and a 1-lb. short staff; or cut a 5-lb. 10′ pole to get a 3-lb. 6′ pole and a 2-lb. jo. Or whatever other combination of poles and jos and batons and short staffs seems right. Just don’t expect the moneys to add up!)

Melee Weapons Table

This table lists the new creations, alongside a few existing weapons (marked with [1]) where useful for comparison.

AXE/MACE (DX‐5, Flail‐4, or Two‐Handed Axe/Mace‐3)

Weapon	Damage	Reach	Parry	Cost	Weight	ST	Notes
Light Pick	sw imp	1	0	$65	2	8	[8, 12]
Pick	sw+1 imp	1	0U	$70	3	10	[1, 8, 12]
Heavy Pick	sw+2 imp	1	0U	$75	4	11	[8, 12]
Short Combat Shovel or	sw+1 cut sw+1 cr	1 1	0U 0U	$60 –	3.5 –	10 10	[13]

BROADSWORD (DX-5, Rapier-4, Saber-4, Shortsword-2, or Two-Handed Sword-4)

Weapon	Damage	Reach	Parry	Cost	Weight	ST	Notes
Heavy Saber or	sw cut thr+1 imp	1 1	0 0	$850 –	2.5 –	9 9

KNIFE (DX-4, Main-Gauche-3, or Shortsword-3)

Weapon	Damage	Reach	Parry	Cost	Weight	ST	Notes
Medium Katar or	sw-2 cut thr+1 imp	C, 1 C, 1	0 0	$240 –	1.5 –	7 7	[2, 7] [8]

FLAIL (DX-6, Axe/Mace-4, or Two-Handed Flail-3)

Weapon	Damage	Reach	Parry	Cost	Weight	ST	Notes
Light Flail	sw+2 cr	1	0U	$60	4	10	[9]

SABER (DX-5, Broadsword-4, Main-Gauche-3, Rapier-3, Shortsword-4, or Smallsword-3)

Weapon	Damage	Reach	Parry	Cost	Weight	ST	Notes
Heavy Saber or	sw cut thr+1 imp	1 1	0F 0F	$850 –	2.5 –	9 9

SHORTSWORD (DX-5, Broadsword-2, Jitte/Sai-3, Knife-4, Saber-4, Smallsword-4, or Tonfa-3)

Weapon	Damage	Reach	Parry	Cost	Weight	ST	Notes
Boarding Cutlass or	sw cut thr imp	1 1	0 0	$320 –	1.75 –	7 7	[2] –
Medium Katar or	sw-2 cut thr+1 imp	1 C, 1	0 0	$240 –	1.5 –	7 7	[2, 7] [8]

SPEAR (DX-5, Polearm-4, or Staff-2)

Weapon	Damage	Reach	Parry	Cost	Weight	ST	Notes
Light Javelin	thr imp	1	0	$20	1	6	[3]
Javelin	thr+1 imp	1	0	$30	2	6	[1]
Heavy Javelin	thr+2 imp	1	0	$35	3	8
Light Spear two hands	thr+2 imp thr+3 imp	1* 1, 2*	0 0	$35 –	3 –	9 8†	[3]
Spear two hands	thr+2 imp thr+3 imp	1* 1, 2*	0 0	$40 –	4 –	10 9†	[1]

STAFF (DX-5, Polearm-4, or Spear-2)

Weapon	Damage	Reach	Parry	Cost	Weight	ST	Notes
6′ Pole	sw+1 cr	1, 2	+2	$5	3	7†	[3]
or	thr+1 cr	1, 2	+2	–	–	7†
10′ Pole	sw+2 cr	2, 3	+2	$8	5	10†	[3]
or	thr+2 cr	2, 3	+2	–	–	10†

TWO-HANDED AXE/MACE (DX-5, Axe/Mace-3, Polearm-4, or Two-Handed Flail-4)

Weapon	Damage	Reach	Parry	Cost	Weight	ST	Notes
Combat Shovel or	sw+2 cut sw+2 cr	1 1	0U 0U	$100 –	5 –	10† 10†	[1, 13]
Long Combat Shovel or or	sw+3 cut sw+3 cr thr+3 cut	1, 2* 1, 2* 1, 2*	0U 0U 0U	$110 – –	7 – –	11‡ 11‡ 10†	[13]
Light Maul	sw+4 cr	1, 2*	0U	$70	9	12‡

TWO-HANDED SWORD (DX-5 or Broadsword-4)

Weapon	Damage	Reach	Parry	Cost	Weight	ST	Notes
6′ Pole or	sw+1 cr thr cr	1, 2 2	0 0	$5 –	3 –	8† 8†	[3] [3]

Ranged Weapons Table

CROSSBOW (DX-4 )

Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Wgt	Shots	Cost	ST	Bulk	Notes
Pocket Crossbow	thr+1 imp	1	x10/x15	3/0.6	T(4)	$150	6	-3	[4]
Pistol Crossbow	thr+2 imp	1	x15/x20	4/0.6	1(4)	$150	7	-4	[1, 4]
Light Crossbow	thr+3 imp	3	x15/x25	5/0.6	1(4)	$150	6†	-5
Crossbow	thr+4 imp	4	x20/x25	6/0.6	1(4)	$150	7†	-6	[1]

SPEAR THROWER (DX-5 or Thrown Weapon (Spear)-4)

Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Wgt	Shots	Cost	ST	Bulk	Notes
Atlatl	–	–	–	1	1(1)	$20	–	–	[4]
Bolt	sw-4 imp	0	x1.5/x3	0.06	–	$2	5	-3
Arrow	sw-3 imp	0	x1.5/x3	0.1	–	$2	5	-3
Light Throwing Dart	sw-2 imp	0	x1.5/x3	0.5	–	$15	5	-3
Throwing Dart	sw-1 imp	1	x3/x4	1	–	$20	5	-3	[1]
Heavy Throwing Dart	sw imp	1	x2.5/x3.5	1.5	–	$25	6	-3
Light Javelin	sw-1 imp	2	x1.5/x2.5	1	–	$20	6	-3
Javelin	sw+1 imp	3	x2/x3	2	–	$30	6	-4	[1]
Heavy Javelin	sw+2 imp	1	x1.5/x2	3	–	$35	8	-5
Light Spear	sw+2 imp	1	x1.5/x2	3	–	$35	8	-5	[5]
Woomera	–	–	–	4	1(1)	$40	–	-6	[4]
Heavy Javelin	sw+2 imp	2	x1.5/x2.5	3	–	$35	8	-5	[5]
Light Spear	sw+2 imp	2	x1.5/x2.5	3	–	$35	8	-5	[5]
Spear	sw+3 imp	2	x1.5/x2	4	–	$40	9	-6	[1]

THROWN WEAPON (AXE/MACE) (DX-4)

Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Wgt	Shots	Cost	ST	Bulk	Notes
Light Throwing Pick	sw imp	1	x1.5/x2.5	2	T(1)	$75	8	-2	[8, 11, 12]
Throwing Pick	sw+1 imp	1	x1/x1.5	3	T(1)	$80	10	-3	[8, 11, 12]
Heavy Throwing Pick	sw+2 imp	1	x1/x1.5	4	T(1)	$85	11	-3	[8, 11, 12]

THROWN WEAPON (DART) (DX-4 or Throwing-2)

Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Wgt	Shots	Cost	ST	Bulk	Notes
Bolt	thr-3 imp	1	x1/x1.5	0.06	T(1)	$2	5	-2
Arrow	thr-3 imp	1	x1/x1.5	0.1	T(1)	$2	5	-3
Mini Throwing Dart	thr-2 imp	1	x1/x2	0.2	T(1)	$10	5	0
Light Throwing Dart	thr-1 imp	1	x1.5/x2.5	0.5	T(1)	$15	5	-1
Throwing Dart	thr imp	1	x2.5/x3.5	1	T(1)	$20	6	-2	[1]
Heavy Throwing Dart	thr+1 imp	1	x2/x3	1.5	T(1)	$25	6	-3

THROWN WEAPON (HARPOON) (DX-4 or Thrown Weapon (Spear)-2)

Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Wgt	Shots	Cost	ST	Bulk	Notes
Light Harpoon	thr+4 imp	2	x1/x1.5	5	T(1)	$55	10	-5	[6]

THROWN WEAPON (SPEAR) (DX-4, Spear Thrower-4, or Thrown Weapon (Harpoon)-2)

Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Wgt	Shots	Cost	ST	Bulk	Notes
Light Javelin	thr imp	2	x1/x2	1	T(1)	$20	6	-3
Javelin	thr+1 imp	3	x1.5/x2.5	2	T(1)	$30	6	-4	[1]
Heavy Javelin	thr+2 imp	2	x1/x2	3	T(1)	$35	8	-5
Light Spear	thr+2 imp	2	x1/x2	3	T(1)	$35	8	-5
Spear	thr+3 imp	2	x1/x1.5	4	T(1)	$40	9	-6	[1]

THROWN WEAPON (STICK)

Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Wgt	Shots	Cost	ST	Bulk	Notes
Boomerang	sw cr	2	x6/x10	1	T(1)	$20	6	-2	[1]
Throwing stick	sw-1 cr	1	x4/x8	1	T(1)	$10	6	-2	[1]
Baton or short staff	sw-1 cr	0	x2/x4	1	T(1)	$20	6	-2
Unshaped stick	sw-1 cr	0	x1/x2	1	T(1)	$0	6	-2	[10]

Weapon notes

[1] Stats are for an existing published weapon, repeated here for ease of comparison.

[2] The medium katar includes a closed metal hilt that protects the hand with DR 4 (and can be worn with gloves for added DR, but cannot be worn with metal gauntlets). The boarding cutlass can add this feature as a closed basket hilt for an additional $80 and 0.25 lbs., or as an open basket hilt for an additional $80 and no added weight; the open basket hilt’s DR protects the hand on 1-3 on d6. Either basket hilt adds +1 to punch damage. See Low-Tech Companion 2 p. 15.

[3] The weapon is cheaply built, light for its length, or otherwise less robust than more martial counterparts. Modify the odds of breakage when parrying a very heavy weapon by +1.

[4] Requires two hands to ready, but only one hand to attack. (See further house-rule notes above for spear throwers and crossbows.)

[5] The projectile can be used with either the atlatl or the woomera. See weapon notes above.

[6] Tethered. See rules on Basic Set p. 411 or DFRPG Exploits p. 44.

[7] Use Boxing, Brawling, or Karate parry if better than weapon parry.

[8] Specifically designed to target chinks in armor. Reduce the penalty for this by -2.

[9] Attempts to parry flails are at -4; knives and fencing weapons (“F” parry) can’t parry at all! Attempts to block such weapons are at -2.

[10] Clumsy. Use at -1 to skill.

[11] Dedicated throwing picks that lack proper handles cost $10 less, but give -2 to skill as melee weapons (and thus -1 to Parry).

[12] May get stuck; see Picks (p. B405).

[13] The combat shovel and long combat shovel are fully functional as a digging shovels. Halve digging speed for the short combat shovel. Halve digging speed for the long combat shovel used in tight quarters or by a SM-1 or smaller digger.

New weapon modifiers

Blunt-tipped blades

Some GURPS weapons with standard-sounding names like “greatsword” carry a surprise: the weapon table entry actually offers a blunt-tipped version, with the expected pointy-tipped version a separate entry with a name like “thrusting greatsword”.

I respect the game’s inclusion of both blunt and sharp tips, but the former certainly aren’t popular with weaponry shoppers. And even if a real thing historically, they almost never show up in the movies and novels that gamers thrive on. (See a bit of a rant here.)

I prefer to simplify my weapon tables by keeping only the pointy versions (with “normal” names, like just “broadsword”, not “thrusting broadsword”), and letting a single weapon modifier handle any blunt-tipped blade variant.

Blunt-Tipped: Reduces a blade’s thrust impaling damage by 1 and converts it to crushing damage. Fencing weapons, knives, and swords only. Weapons with a base cost of $500 or less: -0.2 CF. Weapons with a base cost of over $500: -$100.

To blunt the tips of other stabby weapons, a proper solution will depend on what you’re working with. Working backward from “Combination Weapons” (p. 214) and Training Weapons (p. 234) in Martial Arts and “Weapon Design” (pp. 12-15) in GURPS Low-Tech Companion 2: Weapons and Warriors, you may want to simply leave a point unsharpened (convert damage to crushing; no change in cost), remove a mounted spearhead, replace a pick head with a hammer head, etc. See those books for details.

Wooden weapons

I don’t believe there’s a single modifier that turns steel weapons into wood for training or for low-budget combat. Rather than a modifier of my own, I have only some suggestions here:

Quick stand-ins

There are already several batons, clubs, and similar shortish sticks in the game. These are perfect stand-ins for wooden versions of knives, shortswords, and so on.

If you want wooden stand-ins for longer blades, try the club, jo, and quarterstaff for starters.

The stats for knobbed clubs, maces, mauls, and the like work for wooden axe-like weapons.

Published general rules

If you want a more general rule for lumber in the shapes of knives and swords, there’s a rule for wooden weapons on Martial Arts p. 234. This sets damage to crushing (with no reduction in basic hits) and cuts cost to 5-10%; other stats are unchanged.

I add these suggestions:

1. Use the 10% cost if basic hits are unchanged (per MA). Assume that the cheaper 5% cost is available for weapons that have an impaling point in steel form but take on a particularly blunted “point” in wooden form: change thrust damage to crushing and reduce its basic hits by 1.
2. The cost savings for all-wooden axes, maces, polearms, and other heavy-headed weapons should be much less, in my opinion – they’re largely wood to begin with. Suggestion: Use 60% cost if the weapon has an impaling point that becomes crushing but retains its basic hits (per MA). Use 50% cost if it has no point or if it takes on a very blunt wooden point that becomes crushing and has its basic hits reduced by 1.
3. MA appears to assume crafted, sparring-quality weaponry. Crude versions (from scrounged sticks, etc.) should also have the Cheap (-0.6 CF) and/or Poorly Balanced (-0.6 CF) modifiers. (Cheap and Poor Balance combine to minimum CF -0.8, per Low-Tech p. 59.)

Other thoughts

A smaller katana?

DFRPG offers a katana with 2-hex Reach, but not a shorter model with 1-hex Reach. I thought I’d invent one to add to this page, and decided that I’d start with cavalry saber stats but distinguish the weapons by giving the katana a longer hilt that enables two-handed use and adds about, oh, $50 to the cost.

Turns out I don’t need to do that: there’s a later-period katana in Low-Tech that beat me to it. This late katana has the same stats as the cavalry saber, with the difference being the option of two-handed use (+1 sw damage and -1 ST) and an extra cost of $50. Just what I had in mind!

So I have no added katana here; if you want that shorter model for DFRPG, just pick up Low-Tech (and get dozens more new weapons to go with it).

(See further notes below on whether the katana is overall a good weapon in the game.)

Just how do slings work, anyway?

DFRPG and GURPS Low-Tech offer three shared sling weapons: the basic one-handed sling that fires small stones/bullets, the two-handed staff sling that fires small stones/bullets, and the two-handed heavy sling that fires large (1-lb.) rocks.

DFRPG left me with one initial question: Is the heavy sling also meant for hurling potions and acids and flaming cocktails? I was under the belief that Low-Tech gives an explicit thumbs-up to hurling grenades with a heavy sling, so I happily adopted that for DFRPG, using the heavy sling’s stats for 1-lb. grenades and rocks alike. (The only change I added: a bottle or vial that breaks on its target inflicts only half damage for the impact, though its icky contents of course have full effect.) I further thought that Low-Tech allowed a regular sling to hurl grenades (and presumably 1-lb. rocks), though at Acc 0 and 40% range.

But a re-read of Low-Tech shows I was confusing things. What the text (p. 74) actually says, after introducing the above three types of sling, is, “Any of these three types of sling can lob stones or lead bullets – or even primitive Molotov cocktails (see Molotov Cocktails and Oil Flasks, p. B411), at Acc 0 and 40% normal range.”

This just leaves me with questions. Regular slings, sling staffs, and heavy slings can all hurl Molotov cocktails (and presumably any grenade) at 40% normal range? Does even the heavy sling suffer that penalty to its already short range? If so, isn’t it much worse than a regular sling at the task? If a regular sling can hurl 1-lb. projectiles, can’t it also hurl 1-lb. rocks? What’s the damage? And if a regular sling can do heavy tossing, what’s the heavy sling even for? Additional questions, for fun: What happens when a heavy sling hurls small stones and bullets? What would be good stats for a heavy staff sling? (It’d look something like this.) And then there’s Low-Tech‘s dart sling, which has its own unique (0.25-lb.) projectile size; what would be good stats for a heavy dart sling that can hurl 1-lb. throwing darts or even my 1.5-lb. heavy throwing darts?

And on and on, with questions that nobody else is interested in. Maybe I’ll tackle the complete sling line-up some other day.

A note on sling and prodd ammo

Unshaped rocks and stones aren’t eligible for the Balanced mod. Shaped rocks, lead bullets, and lead pellets apparently can take the Balanced mod – and given their paltry cost, it’s a waste to not take advantage of this upgrade!

The Fine modifier isn’t expressly prohibited for sling and prodd ammo, but it’ll do nothing for them – it adds to cutting and impaling damage only, and its effect on weapon breakage doesn’t matter for ammo.

Finally, a question: DFRPG Adventurers p. 104 lists ammo with these two different names, but identical stats. Are they meant to be the same thing? I don’t know.

Tweaking spear throwers

Examining and playing with the atlatl, woomera, and any other spear thrower (all of which I’ll call “thrower” for simplicity), the following tweaks come to mind:

Dart? What’s that?

I always assumed that the dart hurled by an atlatl is simply a throwing dart, but I now see that Low-Tech p. 74 emphatically states that it’s not. However, I don’t see stats for distinct atlatl darts (or for some of the many other differentiated projectiles in the book that all go under the name “dart”). Moreover, Low-Tech‘s table entry for “Atlatl w. Dart” appears to use the same cost and weight as the throwing dart. Further backing up my long-time assumption, DFRPG flatly states that these two darts are the same thing. (This direct contradiction of Low-Tech is presumably in the interest of simplifying equipment. I approve.)

So, in the discussion below, and until presented with info on how I’m doing this wrong, I’m assuming that the atlatl’s dart is essentially the same as the throwing dart, and that my light and heavy throwing darts, too, are what they are whether hand-thrown or atlatl-ed. (That said, a GM is free to follow Low-Tech‘s (apparent) lead and declare that, even with identical stats, an atlatl dart and a throwing dart are different and non-interchangeable. Read on to the end of this discourse on spear throwers for more on this.)

Spear thrower ST

The ST score that GURPS/DFRPG hands a thrower is the ST score of the selected projectile, so I’ve stuck with that rule for my new projectiles. (Exception: the games’ dart + atlatl combo lowers ST by 1; I don’t know why that should be, but I’ve left it unchanged in my tables.)

However, the ST required to use a thrower should arguably be higher than the ST required to throw the same projectile by hand, to account for the projectile’s weight and the throwing tool’s weight. If I were to change my tables to reflect this, I’d go with this house rule:

Set thrower ST to whatever ST is needed to throw the projectile by hand, then add the square root of the thrower’s weight (round up). That adds 1 to ST for the 1-lb atlatl, 2 for the 2-lb woomera, 3 for a hypothetical woomera weighing more than 4 lbs and up to 9 lbs, etc. Example: a throwing dart requires ST 6 to throw by hand, ST 7 to hurl with an atlatl.

This rule is a simple change, handles throwers of any weight, and is a good thing for strong PCs, as the boosted weapon ST statistic allows a higher cap on maximum damage from triple weapon ST.

Spear thrower damage

A GURPS/DFRPG spear thrower changes a thrown javelin or spear’s thr damage into sw damage with no change in damage add, but the lighter dart takes on a -1 damage add when used with a thrower. I’ve followed that example for my arrow, bolt, and heavy throwing dart entries: damage using a spear thrower is that of the thrown projectile, changed to sw, with -1 damage add.

The method is fine in theory, although an oddity related to the Damage Table crops up: at low ST, hurling a light projectile with a spear thrower may yield no more damage than throwing it by hand. If that bothers you, make this small change: let any spear thrower projectile deliver the listed damage or deliver hand-thrown projectile damage +1, whichever is better.

Spear thrower Bulk

On the DFRPG table, a javelin or spear thrown with an atlatl or woomera maintains the same Bulk as the hand-thrown projectile, but a throwing dart oddly gets bulkier when thrown with an atlatl (going from -2 to -3). I’ll guess that that’s not an error; rather, I’ll derive a rule that -3 represents the Bulk of the atlatl itself, meaning that -3 is the best available Bulk for any projectile used.

This means that the woomera would also have a “best Bulk” of… -4? -5? I think I’ll go with -5. (Ack, that just leaves open a temptation to create a 1.5-lb heavy atlatl/light woomera, to fill in that “in-between” best Bulk of -4… Better not go there.)

With this rule, any combination of thrower and projectile has a Bulk of -3 for the atlatl and -5 for the woomera, or the Bulk of the projectile itself, whichever is worse.

Spear throwers and projectile weight

I’ve assumed that the “in-between” size of the heavy javelin and light spear (below) allows the weapons’ use with both the atlatl and woomera. But – for the dorks like me – how about a universal rule that sets what sort of projectile can be used with what size spear thrower?

I eyeballed the following rule that ties projectile weight to spear thrower weight:

• Projectile weight is less than thrower weight: The projectile is too light for the thrower. Reduce Acc by 1 from whatever it would be with an appropriately lighter thrower.
• Projectile weight is between 1 and 2 times thrower weight: The projectile is appropriate for the thrower. Set ranges appropriately higher than ranges for a hand-thrown projectile, and set Acc appropriately (generally the same as Acc for the hand-thrown projectile).
• Projectile weight is greater than 2 times and up to 3 times thrower weight: The projectile is too heavy for the thrower. Reduce Acc by 1 and ranges by some amount from whatever they would be with an appropriately heavier thrower.
• Projectile weight is greater than 3 times thrower weight: The projectile is way too heavy for the thrower. Further nerf Acc and ranges, or disallow use altogether.

Based on the above, the atlatl’s sweet spot is projectiles weighing 1 to 2 pounds. Accordingly, on my table, I cut Acc by 1 for too-light projectiles weighing less than 1 lb, and cut Acc by 1 and ranges by some amount for heavy projectiles weighing up to 3 lbs. Meanwhile, 4-lb spears are simply out of the picture.

The woomera’s sweet spot is projectiles weighing 2 to 4 pounds. These include the 3-lb heavy javelin and light spear (also usable with the atlatl but better with the woomera) and the 4-lb spear. The thrower could even handle spears weighing up to 6 lbs, although with diminished performance.

So far, that all looks good to me! However, by my rules, the 2-lb javelin becomes the perfect weapon that’s equally usable with the atlatl and the woomera, enjoying the same performance with either. And nothing in my rules above forbids the woomera from dipping into the light javelin, throwing darts of all sizes, and even the arrow and bolt, something published rules don’t allow.

Are these slight differences from published stats a problem? From a realism standpoint, I can’t say. But while letting the woomera use javelins doesn’t bother me at all, it seems there should be some limit on its use of even smaller projectiles.

One solution, of course, is simple fiat: “No, you can’t throw darts with a woomera.” But let’s take a shot at a calculated solution. (For the sheer obnoxiousness orneriness of doing so, if nothing else.)

Naturally, we could look again at comparisons of thrower weight vs projectile weight, and stop the woomera from hurling wee darts based on the ratio being too high – but that’s tough to do so while still allowing the atlatl to hurl near-weightless arrows. So let’s look at another stat: Bulk.

Spear throwers and projectile Bulk

Here’s a quick shot at restricting too-small projectiles based on the Bulk of the thrower and on the (hand-thrown) Bulk of the projectile:

In addition to the weight considerations above, a thrower is best used with a projectile having Bulk equivalent to or worse than the thrower’s (i.e., projectiles with Bulk of -3 or worse for the atlatl, -5 or worse for the woomera). A projectile with a Bulk that’s 1 or 2 points better than the thrower’s takes that difference as a TH penalty. A projectile with a Bulk 3 or more points better than the thrower’s can’t be used.

With that rule, the atlatl works fine with projectiles of Bulk -3 or worse (as long as they’re not too heavy!), suffers a -1 TH penalty with a bolt or throwing dart (Bulk -2), suffers a -2 TH penalty with a light throwing dart (Bulk -1), and can’t be used with a mini throwing dart or shuriken (Bulk 0). The woomera works fine with projectiles of Bulk -5 or worse, suffers a -1 TH penalty with a javelin (Bulk -4), a -2 TH penalty (plus lower Acc for too-low projectile weight) with a light javelin, heavy throwing dart, or arrow (Bulk -3), and can’t be used with a throwing dart, bolt, or anything smaller (Bulk -2 or better).

With all the above, we have a nice programmatic way to link spear thrower performance to the interplay of projectiles’ and throwers’ weight and Bulk stats. The rules should be usable with any made-up projectiles and throwers, though some holes remain to be filled. (Namely: How do you set Bulk stats for a frost giant’s woomera and oversized projectiles?)

Also, note that the above bit about Bulk and TH penalties creates one notable discrepancy with published weapon performance: it places a TH penalty on the combination of atlatl and throwing dart, a combo not penalized in Low-Tech or DFRPG.

Hmm, maybe the solution is to go back to “Dart? What’s that?” up above, and acknowledge that, as Low-Tech insists, an atlatl dart is different from a throwing dart. We can treat it the same as a throwing dart in terms of performance, per published rules, but then stretch it out from Bulk -2 to Bulk -3 for unpenalized performance with the atlatl. With that change, we eliminate the discrepancy and make Low-Tech happy!

The ultimate spear thrower

Whew. That’s a lot of hacking, all to detail an ultra-niche weapon that no one but Caverns and Cavemen GMs will ever care about. (And there’s more that could be done, too: create some way to derive Bulk for throwers and projectiles of any size, and create a calculated, not eyeballed, way to set the ranges of thrower-hurled projectiles. Well, some other day…)

Notes on crossbows

In creating the light crossbow and pocket crossbow, a number of considerations come up:

Pocket crossbow size

“Pocket” here is just a name; how big a pocket you’d need to hold the weapon is up to you. Going by the rules, a DF/DFRPG pouch can hold one. (Tiny “wrist crossbows” and the like would be fun to invent, though I think we’d need a new, smaller bolt size.)

Crossbow minimum ST

Oddly, GURPS‘ 6-lb. crossbow and 4-lb. pistol crossbow share the same minimum ST 7. (That’s the “firing ST” required to point and fire, not the “rated ST” for cocking, range, and damage purposes.) But it’s not odd if we assume that the pistol crossbow’s firing ST is set unusually high to account for one-handed use. Running with that idea, I’ve gone and set the 5-lb. light crossbow’s two-handed minimum firing ST lower than the 4-lb. pistol crossbow’s one-handed minimum firing ST.

One-handed and two-handed firing

Based on the above assumption about minimum firing ST, I’ll suggest the following rules for using one-handed crossbows two-handed and vice-versa:

• Using the pistol crossbow or pocket crossbow two-handed: Multiply firing ST by 2/3 (round down) and increase Acc by 1.
• Using the composite crossbow, light crossbow, or crossbow one-handed: Multiply firing ST by 1.5 (round up) and decrease Acc by 1.
  However, it’s reasonable to assume that, even if firing ST is met, these larger weapons simply aren’t configured for one-handed use. Take -3 TH, or spend an additional $50 to reconfigure the weapons for unimpeded one- or two-handed use. (Yes, this means that, with decent ST and a little extra outlay of cash, you can have a big pistol crossbow!)

Rated ST

Although crossbows’ rated ST (i.e., ST for cocking, range, and damage purposes) can be set freely, upper limits would seem sensible. As a simple solution, limit rated ST to weight x 3. Additional rated ST up to weight x 4 is possible, but at a cost of $50 per +1 additional rated ST. (Perhaps these upper limits should be increased for the composite crossbow?)

Prodds

GURPS‘ basic prodd sets all stats identical to those of the crossbow; the ammunition is the only difference. Following that example, I’ll assume that the composite prodd, light prodd, pistol prodd, and pocket prodd all exist alongside the composite crossbow, light crossbow, pistol crossbow, and pocket crossbow, respectively, with identical costs and other stats.

A prodd’s listed stats assume lead bullets. Could a prodd use the stones of a sling, instead? Sure, I say. Reverse-engineering the rules for slings: Halve range and reduce dam by 1 for a prodd using shaped stones; further add -1 TH for unshaped stones.

Combo prodds/crossbows

Is it possible to design a multi-ammo crossbow that accepts bolts and prodd pellets? Having no idea whether that passes a reality check, I’ll say it’s perfectly possible, at least in a fantasy game. Call it a $100 enhancement.

For crafty PCs, start with an existing weapon and attempt a 30-minute conversion using Armory (Missile Weapons). Failure means try again at a cumulative -1; critical failure means the weapon is broken or that the conversion appears successful but fails in the field.

More mace?

We have a 5-lb mace and a 3-lb small mace – but how about something even lighter? Inspired by videos like this, I thought I’d create a 2-lb mace and call it a light mace (similar to my 2-lb light pick). But what I envisioned as stats (sw+1 cr dam, Parry 0, ST 8) are already present in the knobbed club. So if you want a 2-lb mace, just get a knobbed club and call it a light mace. To throw it, use thrown hatchet stats, with sw+1 cr dam.

Consider one change from a knobbed club, though: raise the $20 price to $30 to replace the club’s (presumed) wooden parts with all metal. That won’t make any difference in foe-whacking performance, but it would protect the mace from hazards such as fire.

The impact weapon name game

And should you want to get all systematically consistent with naming things, I suggest this:

For one-handed axes, picks, and maces, rename the hatchet so that 2-lb versions of the weapons become Light Axe, Light Pick, and Light Mace, respectively. Name 3-lb versions Small Axe, Small Pick, and Small Mace. Name 4- or 5-lb versions Axe, Pick, and Mace. That still leaves “Heavy….” as a label available for even heavier versions of the weapons.

(Needless to say, even if your reworked and fussy weapon table now uses “Light Axe” for a 2-lb chopper, you can still use “hatchet” in play as the name for the weapon, or use “hatchet” for the tool version and “tomahawk” for the fighting version, or whatever you like. Utilitarian table names and game world names do not have to be the same!)

Weapons that fall short

Weapons in GURPS aren’t built through some “design system” that balances merits and trade-offs to avoid questionable applications of physics (namely, too-kewl weapons that outshine everything else). But as I note in GLAIVE, for a very long weapon list that (I believe) relies only on “eyeballing” to keep weapon stats reasonable, the game does a pretty darned good job! There aren’t many entries that feel overly favored or pointlessly inferior.

Still, a handful of questionable weapon entries or weapon skills have hit my eye, or have been pointed out by players. Like these:

Blackjack

This weapon has higher cost, weight, and minimum ST than brass knuckles, but offers nothing better than knucks (or a gauntleted punch, or a rock in hand, or a bunch of better options). It’s all-round inferior to a baton or short baton, yet oddly requires greater ST than either. I’ll be suggesting something down the road. (See some initial ideas here.)

Baton and short staff

There’s nothing wrong with these weapons except their costs: Why do these short, 1-lb. sticks cost $20 when a long, 4-lb. quarterstaff costs only $10?

I highly recommend swapping the costs of these! A baton or short staff becomes $10 – and a short baton perhaps becomes $5, if you like. The quarterstaff gains a new price of $20, while the long staff presumably increases to $30 – in either case, still a very reasonable cost for a great weapon in GURPS.

Katana

An overpowered example of “ethnic cool”, right? Nope. The weapon in 4e doesn’t involve a special skill or unusual stats of the sort that spurred comments under 3e. Actually, the 4e version is almost underpowered now, what with the poor thrust damage it offers relative to bastard swords and longswords of the same or lighter weight.

I don’t see any harm in boosting thr damage for both longer (early) and shorter (late) katana models by 1 (from thr+1 to thr+2) when used two-handed. That seems a reasonable and fair effect of two-handed use, while still falling a damage point behind the more thrust-specialized bastard sword and longsword in the stabbing competition.

Naginata

Similar to the above, Low-Tech (and DFRPG) make this weapon decidedly uncool, in that it’s identical to the dueling glaive in every stat – save for less flexibility in Reach despite a higher price tag! I think the easiest fix here is simplification: drop naginata stats from the game, and let dueling glaive stats handle the naginata (and its variants noted in Low-Tech).

Saber skill

Saber is your skill if you really want to be a saber fighter, and that’s fine, but be warned that the skill covers only one weapon, in both GURPS and DFRPG. The Rapier skill, by contrast, covers several weapons – including the light edged rapier, identical to the saber in every way except for a negligible bit of extra weight. You don’t have to be much of a munchkin to see Rapier as clearly offering more utility than Saber. (Especially when, if you’re really stuck on the idea of being a saber fighter, you could just go with Rapier skill and call your light edged rapier a saber.)

Is there an easy fix that would make Saber skill more attractive? I like the idea of cutting Saber’s cross-defaults with Broadsword and Shortsword from -4 to -2 – and maybe even letting Saber use the cavalry saber at only -1 to skill. That makes the skill more versatile. On the other hand, the jump from the saber to the cavalry saber adds a really big +2 to swing damage. Giving Saber skill easy access to the cavalry saber is perhaps too generous.

Hmm, that leap in damage suggests room for a weapon falling between the saber and cavalry saber. So I added the heavy saber (for want of a good name – though I think it makes a fine shashka, or some sort of elvish saber thing), similar to the saber save for changes in sw damage from sw-1 to sw, weight from 2 to 2.5 lbs., ST from 8 to 9, and price from $700 to $850. That yields a heavy saber that’s superior to the saber and the light edged rapier in cutting power, at the expense of greater weight and cost. It’s as powerful a cutter as the (non-light) edged rapier, for a bit less weight and cost – but at the expense of the edged rapier’s great Reach. Meanwhile, the cavalry saber beats any fencing saber or rapier in cutting power, and does so at much lower cost than the saber, heavy saber, or any edged rapier – but it remains a pure Broadsword weapon, without the “F” Parry. In short, the heavy saber seems nicely balanced with respect to its significant competitors.

I think a lot of PCs will prefer the edged rapier as the most powerful fencing weapon, but the heavy saber gives fans of Saber skill a little extra something to work with.

Two-Handed Axe/Mace skill

This skill offers a decent selection of weapons, but most bear the feared “requires Ready after swing” limitation. (“Feared”? For most players, it’s a flat-out “nope”.) The alternative, Polearm, offers two-hex weapons that are just as good but much faster (as well as polearms that swing as slowly as the big axes but make up for it with amazing reach).

Check out this example: Two-Handed Axe/Mace’s combat shovel, while thankfully free from the unpopular re-ready requirement and doubling as a cool tool for yardwork, is shorter and lighter than Polearm’s dueling glaive, yet requires significantly more cash and ST.

And this: Say you’re shopping for a big, two-handed cutting weapon to complement your ST 12. You could go for the classic great axe, and cleave zombies with impressive sw+4 damage. Sweet… with just one drawback, that awful re-ready after every swing. Or, you could take the dueling halberd as a weapon that offers everything the great axe offers plus two more modes of attack – and no need for re-readying! You’ll attack twice as often, for no drawback except an extra $20 cost and 2 lbs of weight!

I wouldn’t even gripe about that if it were a case of the great axe just crossing some line into slow territory, a situation that, say, an extra point of ST would fix. That’d be fine. But the gap is huge: to fight at full skill and attack-every-turn speed with the dueling halberd, you need a healthy ST 12, while to do the same with the great axe, you’ll need a nearly superhuman ST 18! That’s a vastly higher ST requirement for the great axe – which is all the nuttier given that it weighs significantly less than the dueling halberd!

Two-Handed Axe/Mace skill is really a dog. I don’t have a simple remedy; a fix would involve a deeper rethinking of weapon ST and speed (i.e., a reworking of that Ready requirement), which is a tall order.

For a cheap’n’quick fix, try this: For any Two-Handed Axe/Mace weapon that has a reach of 1, 2*, change the slow-swinging “‡” on ST to a normal-speed “†” when you “choke up” to use the weapon at reach 1. That doesn’t explain why the weapons are so much slower than nearly-identical polearm weapons when used at reach 2, but it does give wielders some way to gain speed when needed.

And here’s one more cheap fix. Game-wide, allow a new All-Out Attack option: All-Out Attack (Ready), a combination of Ready + Attack (or Attack + Ready). That’ll give great axe wielders a way to attack at a decent once-per-turn speed, if at a big cost to defense, when desperation calls for it. (Or when a joyfully berserk axeman just wants to hew those zombies faster.)

Future updates

I’ll likely add to these tables in the future (perhaps with wholly new inventions, too, not only “filling in the gaps” entries). The stats above are also subject to change as I further tinker and test and turn up mistakes.

See any problems in the above? Or do you have some suggestions of your own for new weapons? Weigh in below!

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Header image: A rather unexciting image depicting a bunch of spear-carriers. Maybe I’ll look for something more interesting. (Then again, spears are cool…)

Version history: See Games Diner Site Updates.