ChalkLine's Rules

Back to 1439 Call of Cthulhu

A New Look at Weapon Statistics

If you’ve come to my site, chances are you’re an experienced RuneQuest player so I’m going to throw you into the deep end! First off, I’m going to rethink about how some of the weapons do damage. Before you disappear whilst thinking “What’s wrong with the old way!?” I just want you to give these concepts a go.

(1) Shortswords, Broadswords, Scimitars, Bastard Swords and Greatswords all do 1d8+1 damage on a thrusting attack, they retain their existing damage for cutting attacks. (Rationale: They all have roughly the same amount of blade cross section, I don’t really believe that the weight of the blade makes all that much difference between a Shortsword and a Broadsword. Please note that there is plenty of historical evidence showing thrusting attacks with Bastard Swords and Greatswords, in fact, execution swords are bastard swords made with a rounded, blunt tip because they’ll never had to be used for thrusting.)

(2) All spears do 1d8+1 damage. (Rationale: It’s not the size that counts or so they say! The difference between spears is the length and the lower strike rank that it conveys. The Pike or the even longer Sarrissa were all designed to kill your opponent at a distance, denying him the ability to get in a hit.)

Okay, now we’ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater, but the above changes are designed to go hand in hand with the following rules changes.

(1) Any Two Handed Weapon uses the next higher Damage Bonus. (Rationale: If you’re holding a shield out in front of you, you won’t be able to get the same leverage as if you were using both your shoulders.)

(2) At Negative Fatigue Points the next lower Damage Bonus is used. (Rationale: After wearing your Chubb Safety Gear for six rounds and swinging a bar of bronze about, you’re not going to be able to pack in the same Ooomph that you can in a T-Shirt)

Okay, you’re looking at me in a angry manner and yelling “This doesn’t change anything!” Well, not in a big way, but it does make weapon selection a little more balanced. If your PC’s are after big damage to kill that Scorpionman with Carapace up, they can dump the shield and swing their broadsword around their heads two handed for a big blow. Also, they all start buying Endurance like it’s going out of style! (Priests should ensure that is compatible with their cults!) Now, another change to clear up an irregularity.

• Pilums are Javelins that have 15AP, but cannot be used as melee weapons. Pilums are a long bronze shank with a wooden haft that only makes up half of the weapon. The Pilum had a twofold use, firstly it was a Javelin and designed to kill, secondly it had either a soft shank or a lead/wooden plug holding the haft to the shank. When it hit a shield it bent or the plug broke, making it useless (so it couldn’t be thrown back) but the long metal shank stuck in the shield, rendering it useless. Now the Pilum thrower comes up against a man with only a sword . . .

Special Attacks: Impales are a great thing, they really give you something to look forward to! (Unless you’re on the receiving end) RQ2 had Impales (for Stabbing weapons), Slashes (for Chopping weapons) and Crushes (for err . . Crushing weapons). An Impale did maximum damage plus rolled damage, a Slash did rolled damage rolled twice and a Crush did your damage bonus rolled twice. Now, if that’s a Great Troll using a Maul (2H) we’re looking at formidable dice! I can really see a case for bringing these back.

Finally, here's two things you may want to include as well

- When generating PC's, make the 'Fist' skill points into 'Natural Weapons' skill points, and allow the PC to choose between the natural weapons such as Fist, Kick, Grapple etc.

- Change the Hit Locations. The hit location chart came out of SCA combat and is really unbalanced towards leg hits due to the SCA rules against grappling (meaning fighters stand chest to chest; something you'd never do in a real fight, but it means they can hit legs without leaning into the danger zone and hazarding their head). Try this instead;

01-03 Right Leg

04-06 Left Leg

07-09 Abdomen

10-12 Chest

13-15 Right Arm

16-18 Left Arm

19-20 Head

In fact you could use this for spells/missiles as well and not be too wrong.