Weapons

The Wild Wastes are no place to wander unarmed. This chapter covers the weapons, armor and shields that keep you alive out there.

Weapons come in four families, each used with its own skill:

• Melee Weapons: Axes, swords, hammers, polearms and the like, used with the Melee Weapons skill.
• Missile Weapons: Bows, crossbows, slings and blowguns, used with the Missile Weapons skill.
• Firearms: Pistols, revolvers, muskets, rifles and shotguns, used with the Firearms skill.
• Martial Arts Weapons: Staves, kama, nunchaku, sai, shuriken and your own body, used with the Martial Arts skill. Weapons marked † may also be used with the Melee Weapons skill.

Shields have their own skill, Shields (see the Shields page).

Reading a Weapon Entry

• Price: what the weapon usually costs in a town that sells it.
• Damage: dealt on an ordinary success. The letter gives the type: B bludgeoning, P piercing, S slashing. A number in parentheses is Secondary Damage: add it on a Good success and add double it on an Amazing success. For example, Versatile(1d10(5)) means 1d10 when swung two-handed, with Secondary Damage 5.
• Bulk: for a weapon sized for a Medium creature; weapons made for larger or smaller creatures are heavier or lighter. L is light Bulk.
• Requirement: the minimum ability (as a modifier) you need to use techniques with the weapon. Melee and martial arts weapons use Might (a weapon with Finesse may use Reflex instead); missile weapons and firearms use Reflex. Attacking with a weapon whose requirement you don't meet is allowed, and the attack card notes it.
• Hands: hands needed to wield or attack with it. 1+ (bows) means you can hold it in one hand, but the other hand must be empty to shoot it.
• Properties: the weapon's traits, defined on the Weapon Traits page.

Techniques

As you gain Ranks in a weapon skill you learn weapon techniques: 1 for every 2 Ranks (see Weapon Techniques). You can use a technique with any weapon that meets its requirement, as long as you meet the weapon's ability requirement. Weapons and shields have no separate specialization; only armor does (through the Armor Proficiency talents).

Attacking

An attack with a weapon is a check with its skill, opposed by the target's chosen defense (see Encounters). On a success you deal the weapon's damage plus your Might (or Reflex, for missile weapons, firearms and Finesse weapons); on a critical success add that ability twice. Ranged weapons use the Range rules on the Ranges & Ammunition page.