Simplified Weapons (Revised)

Previously... Part 1|Part 2|Part 3

I’ve changed my mind about a few things. The biggest thing is that I’ve now been swayed into restoring simple weapons, which is where slings and bludgeons now live. I’ve also added a few thrown weapons that don’t require the feat to create and reduced the range of ranged weapons. I removed backlash due to concern over it, and I’ve given flails brutal; this also means that I’ve gotten rid of picks altogether. Finally, I’ve added shields as a weapon group, inspired by Wrecan.

Elements in orange have been changed since the previous version.
Elements in blue have been added since the previous version.

Simple Weapons

Type	Range	Damage	Properties
Improvised Melee
Off-Hand Melee	1	1d4	—
Main-Hand Melee	1	1d6	—
Two-Hand Melee	1	1d8	—
Bludgeons
Off-Hand Bludgeon	1	1d6	—
Main-Hand Bludgeon	1	1d8	—
Two-Hand Bludgeon	1	1d10	—
Improvised Thrown
Off-Hand Thrown	5	1d4	Load draw
Main-Hand Thrown	3	1d6	Load draw
Two-Hand Thrown	2	1d8	Load draw
Improvised Ranged
One-Hand Ranged	7	1d4	Load move
Light Ranged	10	1d6	Load move
Heavy Ranged	10	1d8	Load move
Slings
One-Hand Sling	7	1d6	Load minor
Light Sling	10	1d8	Load minor
Heavy Sling	10	1d10	Load minor

Advanced Melee Weapons

Type	Range	Damage	Properties
Axes
Off-Hand Axe	1	1d6	High crit
Main-Hand Axe	1	1d8	High crit
Two-Hand Axe	1	1d10	High crit
Reach Axe	2	1d8	High crit
Blades
Off-Hand Light Blade	1	1d4	Accurate 2
Off-Hand Heavy Blade	1	1d6	Accurate 1
Main-Hand Light Blade	1	1d6	Accurate 2
Main-Hand Heavy Blade	1	1d8	Accurate 1
Two-Hand Blade	1	1d10	Accurate 1
Reach Blade	2	1d8	Accurate 1
Flails
Off-Hand Flail	1	1d6	Brutal 2
Main-Hand Flail	1	1d8	Brutal 2
Two-Hand Flail	1	1d10	Brutal 2
Reach Flail	2	1d8	Brutal 2
Hammers
Off-Hand Hammer	1	1d8	—
Main-Hand Hammer	1	1d10	—
Two-Hand Hammer	1	1d12	—
Reach Hammer	2	1d10	—
Spears
Off-Hand Spear	1	1d6	Defensive 1
Main-Hand Spear	1	1d8	Defensive 1
Two-Hand Spear	1	1d10	Defensive 1
Reach Spear	2	1d8	Defensive 1
Shields
Off-Hand Shield	1	1d4	Shielding 1
Main-Hand Shield	1	1d6	Shielding 2
Two-Hand Shield	1	1d8	Shielding 3
Reach Shield	2	1d6	Shielding 3

Advanced Thrown Weapons

Type	Range		Damage	Properties
Off-Hand
Off-Hand Thrown Axe	5	1d6		High crit, Load draw
Off-Hand Thrown Blade	5	1d4		Accurate 2, Load draw
Off-Hand Thrown Flail	5	1d6		Brutal 2, Load draw
Off-Hand Thrown Hammer	5	1d8		Load draw
Off-Hand Thrown Spear	7	1d6		Load draw
Main-Hand
Main-Hand Thrown Spear	5	1d8		Load draw

Advanced Ranged Weapons

Type	Range	Damage	Properties
Bows
Light Bow	10	1d8	Accurate 1, Load minor
Heavy Bow	10	1d10	Accurate 1, Load minor
Crossbows
One-Hand Crossbow	7	1d8	Load minor
Light Crossbow	10	1d10	Load minor
Heavy Crossbow	10	1d12	Load minor
Firearms
One-Hand Firearm	7	1d6	Brutal 1, High crit, Load move
Light Firearm	10	1d8	Brutal 1, High crit, Load move
Heavy Firearm	10	1d10	Brutal 1, High crit, Load move

Weapon Properties

Accurate: You add the specified number to your attack rolls.

Brutal: You reroll any damage dice that display the specified number or less.

Defensive: You add the specified number to your (AC and) Reflex defence(s).

High crit: When you score a critical hit, you deal 1[W] extra damage per tier.

Load: You must spend the specified action to reload your ranged weapon after firing it before you can attack with it again. Powers than allow you to make multiple attacks with the same action take this extra time into account with Load free, Load minor, and Load draw weapons, but Load move weapons must be primed with a move action first.

Shielding: When you are hit by a melee or ranged attack, you can reduce the damage taken by the specified number per tier. A reach shield can reduce damage taken to an adjacent ally.

Brutal

Though it wasn’t noted in the response I got, I thought that perhaps I should explain why weapons are getting Brutal 2 rather than 1. It comes down to math; if you have a weapon that deal 1d8, your average damage on a hit will be 4.5, and if the weapon deals 1d6, the average damage will be 3.5. Adding Brutal 1 to a weapon raises its minimum possible result by 1, which in turn raises its average damage by 0.5. When you go up or down die step, such as a change from 1d8 to 1d6, the average damage has changed by 1, because the maximum result changes by 2 and each one alters the average by 0.5. What this means is that a 1d6 Brutal 1 weapon has an average damage of 4, a 1d6 Brutal 2 weapon has an average of 4.5, and a 1d8 weapon has an average damage of 4.5. So, by giving reducing the damage a die size and giving the weapon Brutal 2 I maintain  the average damage, so the choice you make is between a higher potential maximum with the 1d8 weapon and a more steady stream of damage with the 1d6 Brutal 2 weapon. The benefit of brutal is that you get rid of the lowest results, but you also lose the highest results because of the smaller die size.

Feats

The feats are mostly unaltered in this version, except that Throwing Balance would be renamed Thrown Weapon and would become part of the Weapon category of feats, thus restricting you from stacking it with the other feats. I suppose you could remove that restriction from all of the feats, but that opens you up to potentially uncontrolled horror.

Let’s Get Rid of Load

Another possible course of action, as suggested by Wrecan in his recent blog post, is that one could get rid of the load property altogether, effectively making all ranged weapons Load free, and simplifying the use of ranged weapons. The only weapon group that change would really affect would be firearms. So there are three options: firearms can do less damage and hold onto both Brutal and High crit; they can lose High crit; or they can lose Brutal. Alternatively you could just remove firearms altogether, but I think that leaves ranged weapons a little bit sparse.

Type	Range	Damage	Properties
Option 1
One-Hand Firearm	7	1d4	Brutal 1, High crit
Light Firearm	10	1d6	Brutal 1, High crit
Heavy Firearm	10	1d8	Brutal 1, High crit
Option 2
One-Hand Firearm	7	1d6	Brutal 2
Light Firearm	10	1d8	Brutal 2
Heavy Firearm	10	1d10	Brutal 2
Option 3
One-Hand Firearm	7	1d6	High crit
Light Firearm	10	1d8	High crit
Heavy Firearm	10	1d10	High crit