Weapon Abilities (Action)

Heroic Action Role-Play

Weapons in Action generally have extra maneuvers available to them, and some have inherent effects; these are all explained here.

Some abilities are noted as limitations. These always apply, training or not.

Area

Limit Break

You attack everyone in a globe with a diameter equal to the damage value in meters centered on the target point. Make a separate attack roll against each target, including friends and bystanders.

Autofire

Limit Break

This weapon can fire on full automatic, covering an area with a diameter equal to your Reflexes in meters. Make a separate attack roll against each target, including friends and bystanders.

Block

Trigger Action

Used to block incoming attacks; gives a +5 Dodge bonus during the current shot. If an attack fails because of this bonus, the blocking weapon takes the impact. Usually it can withstand this just fine, but an attack of a higher tech level or by a much stronger opponent might cause it to break or weaken at the gamemaster's whim.

Charge

Basic Action

You do a charge when mounted on a vehicle or riding beast. You can do a double move and still attack, and must move at least 5 meters to do a charge. A charge does +3 damage.

Disarm

Basic Action

You can entangle other weapons, especially long and powerfully unbalanced weapons. Add the damage add of your opponent's weapon to Melee rolls to Disarm. This gives no bonus against ranged weapons unless they are currently being used as improvised weapons with Melee.

Entangle

Basic Action

You can make an attack that does no damage, but entangles your target so that he loses three shots. If you score an Outcome matching the target's Reflexes, he loses six shots instead. The target can spend no shots until his next shot comes up.

Extra Damage

Inherent

The weapon has a condition under which it does extra damage. If the condition is fulfilled, add +2 to the damage value.

• Armor Defeating The weapon does extra damage against all objects and against creatures with at least three points of armor.
• Armor Exploiting The weapon does extra damage against creatures with no armor.
• Elemental The weapon has some sort of elemental aspect that increases damage. Unless the target has some extra resistance to the damage type (such as fire or acid resistance for those attacks), he takes +2 damage. Against someone with a special resistance to either the ordinary damage of the weapon or to the elemental effect, the weapon does its basic damage. A target resistant both to the elemental damage and the regular damage takes the basic damage and gets to apply its resistance against it. See also Touch

Great Blow

Basic Action

The weapon is suited for grandiose all-out attacks. This adds +3 to damage. After great blow, you may not take any trigger actions until your next shot comes up.

Example moves include the flèche, impale, or roundhouse blow. For a ranged weapon, this is generally an extended burst (and the subsequent reload).

Improvised

Inherent - Limitation

You can improvise a weapon from materials at hand. Improvised means it's not made as a dedicated weapon - it has been found or scrounged from civilian gear. Examples include broom handles used as quarterstaves or spears, wood cutting axes used for war, signposts used as shields, and so on. Certain weapons are easily scrounged, while certain people have a knack for improvising almost anything (as long as they can somewhat convincingly describe how they do it).

Such scrounged versions are less durable than the real thing, and are unreliable. Of course, a purposely crafted version of the weapon does not have this drawbacks.

Intercept

Trigger Action

You can intercept opponents attacking you in Melee, striking would-be attackers that you manage to keep at bay. Whenever an opponent misses you with a Basic Action attack in Melee, you can use this weapon to make a Melee attack on them.

Loud

Inherent - Limitation

The weapon makes a lot of noise and can be heard a good distance away, depending on its size. A loud weapon alerts neighbors but it is often difficult for witnesses to pinpoint where a ranged weapon is fired, as the trajectory makes as much noise as the weapon itself. Larger weapons generally make much more noise; a Small or smaller weapon is only audible nearby and dampened by a simple wall, a Medium weapon can be heard a cross a hall or through an interior wall, while a Large weapon is audible over a wide area, possibly kilometers away if the conditions are right.

One-Shot

Inherent

The weapon is one-use and destroyed when used, such as a grenade.

Parry

Trigger Action

The weapon can be used to parry other melee attacks, giving a +5 Dodge bonus for the shot, but only against melee attacks.

Powered

Inherent

The armor has servo-motors powering it, directed by sensors inside the armor so that it matches body movement. If the power fails, the armor turns rigid and it is generally time for emergency escape. If the armor is remote controlled, there are still manual explosive bolts that should remove the armor. You just need to access them.

Reload

Basic Action - Limitation

The weapon is slow to reload (or otherwise prepare for a second use) and requires a basic action to reload before each attack. It also suffers the drawbacks of a Slow weapon.

Returning

Inherent

After you throw a weapon, you can use this to instantly retrieve it. It might be attacked to a string, bounce back to you, or naturally return to you like a boomerang does in movies.

Saturation

Inherent

The weapon saturates an area, making it immune to all effects of cover. A typical example is the flamethrower.

Scatter

Inherent

The weapon fires in a tight cone, like a shotgun or particle weapon. It does not lose accuracy over range, instead losing damage at the same rate. Apply any range penalties to damage instead of to the attack roll.

Second Strike

Trigger Action

Your weapon can deliver an extra attack as a follow-up when one of your attack miss. Whenever you make an unsuccessful melee attack, you can use this to make an additional melee attack on the same opponent. You must be using your weapon with two hands to do this.

There are several variants of second strike, with various additional rules.

• Butt strike You deliver the second strike with the butt end of your weapon. Such a strike always does Body +2 blunt damage, regardless of what weapon you are using.

• Double strike Your weapon has two weapon heads, and uses the same damage for both.

• Offhand strike You must be holding two weapons to use this second strike, and the attack that triggered it must be held in the other hand (though it can be a paired, identical weapon).

Slick

Inherent

The weapon does not look like a weapon, and can pass observation by all but the most astute observers. It can be hidden in plain sight.

Slow

Inherent - Limitation

The weapon is slow to reload (or otherwise prepare for repeated use). It cannot combine several attacks into one action, such as firing at several targets. A slow weapon cannot attack as a trigger action.

Static

Inherent - Limitation

The weapon requires preparations to use or is very unwieldy, making it impossible to move in the same action you use it to attack.

Stowed

Basic Action

A stowed weapon is large and unwieldy and likely worn on your back to be out of the way. It is a Basic Action to draw such a weapon, and while worn it easily gets in your way. On a snakeyes roll, a worn (not wielded) weapon with this ability snags on something, requiring a Basic Action to sort out, or the weapon is dropped. These weapons are often carried in hand to avoid the encumbrance of wearing one.

Stun

Inherent

This attack does not cause any direct injury on a Damage Setback, instead favoring stun, knockback, and other non-lethal effects.

Throw

Inherent

This weapon can be thrown as a ranged attack using either the Shoot or Melee skill. If it is a melee weapon it can also be used in close combat, but only the Melee skill applies there. If the weapon has no given range category, it has Close range.

Unreliable

Inherent - Limitation

The weapon is mechanically unreliable and sometimes fails spectacularly. Treat any snake eyes roll using this weapon as a fumble, quite often breaking the weapon or harming the user. This is a common drawback with experimental or improvised weapons.