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A new Spot Rule...


NickMiddleton

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My Thursday group are about to play some Stargate (yay!) d20 (Boo!) but we got in to conversation about a notorious incident from another Stargate came several years ago, which lead to me mulling over this Spot Rule:

Awkward Weapons

Some personal weapons (missile or melee, primitive or high tech) are awkward to use - whether because of the technology or the specific mode of combat they are optimised for. The game master can designate certain weapons (or even certain uses of a weapon) as Awkward: and when using an awkward weapon on a target within the users DEX/3 meters, the awkward weapon ALWAYS go last and the GM may rule they cannot be used at all against such an opponent. Some example Awkward weapons - an English Civil War Pike (a good case for just NOT being usable against opponents closer than DEX/3 meters ; a black powder musket (used as a firearm, when used as a club it's NOT awkward); a longbow (always awkward); a Barrett M82 sniper rifle (again, as a missile weapon, NOT as a club...); a Jaffa Staff weapon (again, only as a ranged weapon, as a staff it's not awkward).

Any comments?

Cheers,

Nick

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and when using an awkward weapon on a target within the users DEX/3 meters, the awkward weapon ALWAYS go last and the GM may rule they cannot be used at all against such an opponent.

So, let me see... a DEX 1 character cannot use a pike within 1 foot, but 5 feet is okay. On the contrary, a DEX 20 elf cannot use that same pike at all, as it becomes awkward at 20 feet, but the pike is just 18 feet long - assuming you can grab it by the tip.

Dunno, I feel there is something vaguely... awkward in this spot rule, but I cannot spot exactly what. ;-D

Proud member of the Evil CompetitionTM

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So, let me see... a DEX 1 character cannot use a pike within 1 foot, but 5 feet is okay. On the contrary, a DEX 20 elf cannot use that same pike at all, as it becomes awkward at 20 feet, but the pike is just 18 feet long - assuming you can grab it by the tip.

Dunno, I feel there is something vaguely... awkward in this spot rule, but I cannot spot exactly what. ;-D

Fair cop - albeit I suspect I wouldn't allow a DEX 1 character to use ANY melee weapon tbh...

Awkward Weapons (take II)

Some personal weapons (missile or melee, primitive or high tech) are awkward to use - whether because of the technology or the specific mode of combat they are optimised for. The game master can designate certain weapons (or even certain uses of a weapon) as Awkward: and when using an awkward weapon on a target within 3 meters, the awkward weapon ALWAYS go last and the GM may rule they cannot be used at all against such an opponent. Some example Awkward weapons - an English Civil War Pike (a good case for just NOT being usable against opponents closer than DEX/3 meters ; a black powder musket (used as a firearm, when used as a club it's NOT awkward); a longbow (always awkward); a Barrett M82 sniper rifle (again, as a missile weapon, NOT as a club...); a Jaffa Staff weapon (again, only as a ranged weapon, as a staff it's not awkward).

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Isn't this subsumed already into the minimum Strength and Dexterity requirements, or in the case of firearms their shots/mr? It doesn't include your range restrictions, but as you've pointed out some weapons are always awkward (longbow).

If you were to go with something like this, I'd probably keep the weapon STR requirements and get rid of the DEX requirements... which is something I've been considering myself.

SDLeary

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Is this already covered by the Weapon Length weapon rule, p.235 BGB? In a nutshell the longer weapon always goes first, the fighter with the shorter weapon must successfully dodge to 'step' inside the reach of the longer weapon in order to attack. Once inside, the fighter with the longer weapon must sucessfully dodge the shorter weapon, to regain his tactical advantage: and cannot attack again until he has successfully done so.

Depending upon the conditions, or the skill of the wielder, you can apply modifiers as appropriate: "Upon the narrow ramparts, you don't have room to effectively dodge-- your dodge skill is effectively halved for purpose of trying to work your way inside the reach of that attacking orc spearman."

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I would think this is more than the exceptional awkward weapon, a rifle at 5 feet is going to be more difficult to use than a pistol. Perhaps something like within 2x or 3x the length of the weapon the penalty applies (maybe 3/4 or 1/2 dex so a really fast hindered person may still beat a slow person with advantage). For missile weapons like bows that are taller than long, just use the height, so the traditional English longbow would have a penalty based on being 5-6 feet long. This would provide a reason to use small weapons in close quarters which doesn't happen in most games. There is a reason hostage rescue and swat teams like smgs and carbines over longer rifles when clearing buildings.

I think the post above already addresses use of melee weapons.

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