Bola Weapon stats

[renset]

While researching weapons for characters I discovered there are none listed for Bolas or rules for any type of entangle or trip they might cause

can anyone provide these or a location to find them

ps I do not own previous editions

[David Scott]

2 hours ago, renset said:

While researching weapons for characters I discovered there are none listed for Bolas or rules for any type of entangle or trip they might cause

can anyone provide these or a location to find them

I'd use the Ranged and Thrown Weapons weapon rules on page 108. As the intent of these is not to injure, no damage bonus is used if you have one. On a success the target is entangled. If they were moving they fall over, if not on a Regular success they are just entangled, on Hard or Extreme they fall over. I'd not damage the target at all unless the bolas or net was modified do so. It seems lassos would use thrown too.

In the Investigator Handbook, Bolas are part of the Whip Fighting Specialization. No details otherwise are given.

Although stats may exist elsewhere in CoC publications, the only actual one I know are In Different Worlds 22 (1982):

Quote

Bolas are listed in Foes under Bolo Lizard Clan, but the implement does not appear anywhere else in RQ literature. The bolas is still used by Argentine gauchos, but its use goes back to neolithic times as a hunting weapon. The gaucho uses them against the legs of livestock, and neolithic hunters used them against large waterfowl (the whooping crane may have started down its road to near extinction in the late ice age due to hunters using this weapon).

The bolas consists of two or three weights, usually encased in leather pouches for padding, attached to a cord joining them together. The bolas is held in the middle of these cords, swung around the head, and thrown with a snap of the wrist so that the weights fly outwards, revolving. The intent is to wrap the cords tightly around the target, immobilizing, but not necessarily doing damage.

Because the ideal way to use a bolas is to immobilize the target, not just damage with the weights, damage is only done by the weapon if the bolas-user rolls equal to or higher than half his normal percent chance to hit. If he does damage this way, he has no chance of entangling his target. If he rolls a special roll. he both entangles the target and does damage. For example, a character with a 50% ability in boia$ throwing will entangle his target on a roll of 25 or less on DI00, and will merely cause damage on a roll of 26-50.

Damage is 1D4

Edited November 7, 2019 by David Scott

[Ian Absentia]

In the RuneQuest forum, we were just discussing the whip as a weapon, which brought up the Entangling rules from BRP (not present in RQG).  I just added stats for the bola, which you can modify as needed for other BRP games.

!i!