CONSTRUCTION RULES - MELEE WEAPONS

Melee Weapon Design & Construction

INTRODUCTION
Since the dawn of civilizations, sentient beings have utilized weapons a means of gaining an advantage or defending oneself in a conflict or contest. Beginning with clubs, spears, slings, arrows, knives - and even common tools (such as stone hand axes or heavy grinding stones), various species across the Galaxy used these as weapons as needed. Since then, melee weapons have evolved, ranging from simple to advanced weapons enhanced with modern technology.


Size and Damage
The first thing to consider when making a melee weapon is its SIZE of the weapon and the DAMAGE rating it supplies the wielding user. The bigger the weapon, the lower the difficulty to achieve a higher damage outcome. Smaller weapons are easier to create but cannot match the raw damage output of a heavier weapon.


Melee Weapon Construction
A simple chart of weapon sizes and damage levels is provided below. MAX indicates that a base damage level would exceed the maximum allowable for the weapon size. MIN indicates that the weapon is unable to deal the indicated damage due to being too large to deal low damage. The number indicates the Base Construction DC of the weapon; this may be modified if you wish to add features to your weapon. Whether a weapon is one or two handed is noted in brackets, next to its size rating.

Note: Add +5 to Base Construction DC values on this chart for Blunt melee weapons.

Weapon Enhancements
Once you have decided on your weapon's size and damage rating, you should consider the kind of modifications you would like to add to your weapon - if any. Below is a list of 'common' modifications; depending on what you choose, each one will add to the base DC of your weapon. NOTE: If you have an idea for a modification that has not been listed here, please PM the HGM in chat or on the forum so he may advise you further as to how to proceed.


Hilt Enhancements
Once you have finished with the blade, you may opt to enhance your weapon's hilt. Most hilts are created without additional functionality, but should you prefer something more 'fancy', the process to do so is relatively straightforward. Constructing the blade is split between the hilt and the blade itself, so creating the hilt will require a separate Melee Weapon Repair roll once you have determined the appropriate DCs involved.


Blade Types
Metallurgists, Melee Weapons scholars, and others who study the art of creating Melee Weapons, are able to forge their blades using exotic alloys and molding them in curious shapes. Listed below are common blade types along with the DC modifiers (added to the blade construction.) Players possessing either Scholar: Metallurgy, or Scholar: Melee Weapons, may decrease the modifier by 1 (to a minimum of 0) for each D in the skill. The 'Side effect' automatically applies to the weapon when the blade type is added.

DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION

The following steps will guide you through the design of the weapon, the costs involved, and finally constructing the weapon. Materials used during Step 2 or Step 3 are consumed by the process, with the requisite costs being paid for each attempt. A failure during Step 4 could possibly damage or destroy any of the components of the weapon, and may require additional rolls, at the GM's discretion.

Step 1 - Design

The first step is to create the design of the Melee weapon, which includes the equipment, methods and materials to be involved. Start by calculating the Feature Design Modifier, then add this modifier to a base Design DC of Easy (6-10). There is no cost for creating a design.

Calculate the difficulty of designing the weapon according to this formula:



Step 2 - Blade Construction

While some melee weapons may not have 'blades', we use this term to describe the functional part of the weapon. In other words, the part that does the work and the damage when scoring a hit.

Note: Rare Alloys will require a Streetwise roll to obtain the materials Out of Sim (GM Discretion)

Calculate the difficulty of forging this part of the weapon according to this formula:


Step 3 - Hilt Construction

The Hilt is the grip of the weapon in which the wielder holds the weapon during use.

Calculate the difficulty of forging the hilt of the weapon according to this formula:


Step 4 - Assembly

The last step in the process is to assemble the previously constructed Blade, Hilt, and any other technological components into a finished weapon. This also includes side materials, consumables, and other things required for polishing, sharpening, hardening, annealing, carving, inscriptions, and the like. Decorations may be added without additional DC, if they do not change the underlying structure of the weapon. Those that do must be stated and the GM will adjust the DC and costs involved at their discretion.

Calculate the difficulty of assembling the weapon according to this formula:


Once all costs have been paid and all skill checks passed, the weapon is complete.