Malazan FATE/Weapon Rules

Weapon, Shield and Armour Rules

Weapon rules

Weapons have aspect assigned to them.

• Light weapons are all types of knives up to the long knife.
• Medium weapons range from the shortsword and up to the bastardsword wielded one-handed.
• Heavy weapons are all two-handed weapons and the bastardsword wielded two-handed.
• Pole arms are heavy weapons but also have the “reach” aspect.

Twice a session you may make a special invocation when you successfully land an attack. It costs a fate point as usual, but provides neither a +2 nor a reroll. Instead, you can force your opponent to take a consequence instead of stress. The size of the weapon determines the type of consequence:

• Light weapons forces the target to take a mild consequence.
• Medium weapons force the target to take a moderate consequence.
• Heavy weapons forces the targe to take a severe consequence.

If you succeed with style, move the consequence up by one level of severity—minor to moderate, moderate to severe, severe to either taken out or an extreme consequence (victim’s defender’s choice). If the appropriate consequence slot is already in use, move the new consequence up by one level of severity.

This special invocation also acts a little bit like a compel. When you invoke a weapon aspect in this way, you offer the fate point to your target. If he takes the fate point, you deal the consequence. He can refuse the fate point and pay you one of his own to not take the consequence, but then he takes the stress he would have taken normally anyway.

Invoking and compelling these aspects outside of the rules described here may lead to overuse/abuse. If that becomes a problem limit their use to only as described above.

Shield rules

Shields functions a bit like weapons, only in reverse.

• Light shield are target shields/archer shields and can absorb one minor