Mano a Mano:Equipment

Equipment

Mass, Power and Agility

Heavier hand weapons are more powerful, so power is closely related to the mass of the weapon. The arm strength (AS) a character needs to wield the weapon easily is based on the weapon's mass. (See Character Creation/Arm Strength.) A hand weapon's power is usually one-fourth of the arm strength (AS) required to wield it easily. A weapon which maximizes the power of an attack without being unwieldy, such as a mace, might have a little extra power.

Lighter hand weapons may have more agility. A hand weapon's agility is usually close to the agility of the template of the characters intended to use the weapon, or eight minus one-fifth of the arm strength (AS) required to wield it easily. A well-balanced hand weapon, such as a sword, might have a little extra agility, while a poorly balanced weapon, such as a chair, may have less agility.

The mass, power and agility of thrown weapons are similar to hand weapons. The mass, power and agility of other missile weapons, such as bows and firearms, depend on the details of the technology used. Heavier missile weapons tend to be more powerful, but there are many exceptions. The agility of a missile weapon has more to do with the accuracy of the weapon than it's mass.

Equipment Lists

Equipment lists show the features of items in the game: CP value, mass, heft, power and so forth. These are similar to the features in the equipment section of a character sheet, except that they are independent of the character using them. (See Character Creation/Character Equipment.) Most equipment will have CP and mass, and most weapons will have heft and power. Other features are listed in the Features column of the equipment list. A detailed equipment list may include details such as the reduced pull required to keep a compound bow drawn, the procedure for operating firearms (cocking, reloading, burst fire, etc.) or the type of damage inflicted by weapons.

Item Name       CP  Mass   Heft Power Features
______________ ____ ____kg ____ __-__ __________________
______________ ____ ____kg ____ __-__ __________________
______________ ____ ____kg ____ __-__ __________________
______________ ____ ____kg ____ __-__ __________________
______________ ____ ____kg ____ __-__ __________________
______________ ____ ____kg ____ __-__ __________________
______________ ____ ____kg ____ __-__ __________________
______________ ____ ____kg ____ __-__ __________________
______________ ____ ____kg ____ __-__ __________________
______________ ____ ____kg ____ __-__ __________________

CP (Character Points)

The CP value of this item.

mass

The item's mass in kilograms. Weapon mass is based on heft (see below.) The mass of medieval armor is typically the wearer's mass multiplied by the armor's cover and absorption divided by 100. Some armor is heavier, especially scale armor and brigandine which are held together by a heavy cloth or leather backing. Modern armor and armor that only protects a vital area, such as a helmet or breastplate, can be lighter.

heft Heft is the power a character must have to wield the weapon easily. A weapon's heft is usually based on it's mass, but a hand weapon weighted for extra attack power, such as a mace, may have a little more heft. The heft of a bow reflects it's pull rather than it's weight. A firearm with a strong kick may have extra heft to reflect it's kick. If a weapon's heft is greater than the power of the character using it, the weapon is unwieldy. Unwieldy weapons may only be used to do one quick action per turn (and no powerful actions.) A heavy weapon may increase a character's encumbrance penalty too, reducing speed and movement.	Heft	Mass		Heft	Mass
	0	0 g		13	100 kg
	1	30 g		14	200 kg
	2	100 g		15	300 kg
	3	300 g		16	500 kg
	4	500 g		17	1 tonne
	5	1 kg		18	2 tonnes
	6	2 kg		19	3 tonnes
	7	3 kg		20	5 tonnes
	8	5 kg		21	10 tonnes
	9	10 kg		22	20 tonnes
	10	20 kg		23	30 tonnes
	11	30 kg		24	50 tonnes
	12	50 kg		25	100 tonnes

power

The equipment list shows two numbers for power. The first number is half of the weapon's power, rounded down. The second number is the weapon's full power. Power is the weapon's maximum attack power. A weapon's power is almost never less than it's heft. A well balanced hand weapon might have more power than it's heft, and a firearm can have much more power than heft.

range

Range is a value which is the weapon's maximum effective range in meters. Most natural weapons and hand weapons have no range. Small amounts of reach which make a big difference in combat are reflected by higher template agility and combat abilities or reach for some hand weapons (longer swords, staffs and polearms.)

cover

Cover is a value which determines how likely the item will block an attack. The chance that an attack will target the particular area protected by this item is as important as the amount of that area actually covered. For example, a helmet covering the head (a very important target) might have the same cover as armor completely protecting the feet and shins (more area, but not more important than the head.) Items with cover also have absorption.

absorption

Absorption is a value which determines how much attack power is absorbed by this item when it blocks an attack.

grapple

A weapon with grapple is especially effective at trapping limbs and weapons. Most flexible weapons have this feature. Add 1 to grappling attacks with this weapon.

reach

A weapon with reach is long but still easy to control. Add 1 to a character's combat modifier with this weapon. Flexible weapons usually have grapple instead of reach because they are more difficult to control.

sharp

sharp weapons do all damage instead of half damage and half stun.

padded

padded weapons do all stun instead of half damage and half stun

two-handed

Two handed weapons are normally used with two hands. It is possible to wield a two-handed weapon in one hand, but then the weapon loses it's grapple or reach advantage.

Equipment CP

power CP

The CP of power is 10 times it's modifier. (So for example, a power of 3 would be worth 30 CP.)

heft CP

The CP of heft is -10 times it's modifier. (So for example, a heft of 3 would be worth -30 CP.)

absorption and cover CP

Absorption and cover CP is 5 multiplied by cover and absorption. For example a piece of equipment with 5 cover and 2 absorption has 30 CP worth of absorption and cover.

special modifier CP

+1 parry (Par) or grapple (Grp) is worth 10 CP. +1 attack (Atk) is worth 10 CP.

sharpness CP

Most items can be used as a blunt weapon, so the CP of "blunt" sharpness is 0. Padding a weapon so that it only does stun damage is difficult and actually increases it's CP value by 5 CP. Making a useful cutting or piercing tool is more difficult and makes the item a deadlier weapon, so "sharp" sharpness is worth 20 CP.

Range CP

Each meter range is worth 1 CP.

Two Handed

A weapon being two-handed is worth -10 CP.

Combat Bonus

Some weapons give an extra combat bonus (Cmb). An additional combat bonus modifier of 1 is worth 20 CP.

The number of shots a bow or gun can fire without reloading and the number of turns required to reload the weapon can reduce the weapon's CP:

CP	shots		CP	reload time
0	10 or more		0	1 turn
-1	9		-4	2 turns
-2	8		-6	3 turns
-3	7		-8	4 turns
-4	6		-10	5 turns
-6	5		-12	6 turns
-8	4		-14	7 turns
-10	3		-16	8 turns
-15	2		-18	9 turns
-20	1		-20	10 or more

An item's mass also modifies its CP:

mass	CP		mass	CP		mass	CP
1 g	-1		1 kg	-10		1 tonne	19
2 g	-2		2 kg	-11		2 tonnes	20
5 g	-3		5 kg	-12		5 tonnes	21
10 g	-4		10 kg	-13		10 tonnes	22
20 g	-5		20 kg	-14		20 tonnes	23
50 g	-6		50 kg	-15		50 tonnes	24
100 g	-7		100 kg	-16		100 tonnes	25
200 g	-8		200 kg	-17		200 tonnes	26
500 g	-9		500 kg	-18		500 tonnes	27

Easily Detected weapons

A weapon having a flash is worth -5 CP (the weapon makes a bright, but not blinding, flash when fired, like a gun.) A weapon having a report is worth -10 CP (the weapon makes a loud, but not deafening, noise when fired, like a gun.) A weapon having smoke is worth -20 CP (the weapon makes a lot of smoke when fired, which impairs aiming and stealth, like a black powder gun)

Armor

Any equipment with cover and absorption is armor. Normally, the best absorption of all the armor worn by a character is subtracted from the power of successful attacks against the character. However an attacker can aim any attack to avoid armor, which increases the difficulty of the attack by the cover of the armor avoided. The attack can avoid all or just some of the armor a character is wearing. An attack cannot avoid armor that has complete cover.

Consider for example a character wearing a leather jacket (5 cover, 2 absorption) and a crash helmet (2 cover, 5 absorption). If an opponent attacks the character without specifically avoiding the character's armor, the armor will absorb 5 power from each attack. If an opponent tries to hit the character where the armor provides no protection, the armor will absorb no damage, but the difficulty will be increased by 7 (5 cover from the jacket plus 2 cover from the helmet.) However, the opponent can also try to avoid only the helmet. Then the leather jacket absorbs 2 power from each attack but the difficulty of the attack is only increased by 2 (the helmet's cover.)

Sometimes armor is worn in layers. A brigandine (vest lined with metal plates) is often worn over a gambeson (padded coat) or chainmail. Bulletproof ballistic vests often have optional inserts which offer extra protection to vital areas such as the heart. If one piece of armor is completely overlapped by another, the overlapping area has the cover of the smaller piece of armor and the absorption of both pieces added together. (This is like subtracting the cover of the layer with the least cover from the cover of the layer with the most cover, and adding the absorption of the layer with the most cover to the absorption of the armor with the least cover.)

Hand Weapons - example hand to hand weapon list

Blades           Pwr Hft Mass Cmb Modifiers/Features

knife/gaff/spurs 1-3  3  1 kg     sharp
spiked knuckles  1-3  3  1 kg     sharp
rapier           2-4  4  2 kg +1  sharp
short sword/pick 2-5  4  2 kg     sharp
broadsword       2-5  4  3 kg +1  sharp
longsword        3-6  5  5 kg +1  sharp two-handed
axe              3-6  5  4 kg     sharp

Bludgeons        Pwr Hft Mass Cmb Modifiers/Features

stick/cane/baton 2-5  4  1 kg
staff/pole       2-5  4  2 kg +1  two-handed
wooden sword     3-6  5  1 kg +1  two-handed
club/hammer      3-6  5  2 kg
mace             3-7  5  2 kg
mattock/maul     3-7  6  5 kg -1 
warhammer        4-8  6  3 kg     two-handed
chair            2-4  5  3 kg +1  two-handed

Polearms         Pwr Hft Mass Cmb Modifiers/Features

spear/trident    2-5  4  3 kg +1  sharp two-handed
pike             3-6  5  10kg     sharp two handed 2m range
other polearm    3-6  5  6 kg +1  sharp two-handed

Flexible Weapons Pwr Hft Mass Cmb Modifiers/Features

flail/nunchaku   2-5  4  2 kg
3 section staff  2-5  5  3 kg +1  grapple two-handed
ball and chain   3-6  6  8 kg +1  grapple two-handed
whip/riding crop 2-4  4  1 kg
bullwhip         2-5  5  2 kg +1  grapple 3m range
rope dart        2-4  3  1 kg +1  grapple sharp 3m range
chain whip       2-5  5  2 kg +1  grapple sharp

Missile Weapons - example long range weapon list

THROWN WEAPONS	CP	Mass	Heft	Power	Cvr	Abs	Features
Boomerang		1 kg	3	2 - 4
Grapple		2 kg	6	3 - 6			grapple
Tomahawk/Javelin		1 kg	4	2 - 4			sharp
Harpoon		4 kg	6	3 - 6			sharp
Atlatl Dart		2 kg	4	2 - 4			sharp
Atlatl (Thrower)		1 kg	5	4 - 8			sharp, 30 m range
Stone/Bullet		0.1 kg	4	2 - 4
Sling		1 kg	5	3 - 6			15 m range
Staff Sling		2 kg	6	4 - 8			30 m range
BOWS	CP	Mass	Heft	Power	Cvr	Abs	Features
Light Bow		1 kg	4	2 - 4			150 m range
Composite Bow		1 kg	5	3 - 6			180 m range
Longbow		2 kg	7	4 - 8			240 m range
Compound Bow		1 kg	4	3 - 6			150 m range
Crossbow		3 kg	8	4 - 8			210 m range
GUNS	CP	Mass	Heft	Power	Cvr	Abs	Features
Blowgun		0 kg	3	1 - 2			sharp, 15 m range
Pistol		1 kg	5	2 - 5			sharp, 90 m range
Submachinegun		2 kg	6	2 - 5			sharp, 90 m range
Hunting Rifle		3 kg	7	3 - 6			sharp, 450 m range
Shotgun		3 kg	7	3 - 7			sharp, 45 m range
Assault Rifle		3 kg	7	4 - 8			sharp, 450 m range
Machinegun		15 kg	10	10 - 20			sharp, 600 m range
Grenade Launcher		2 kg	6	5 - 10			sharp, 150 m range
Rocket Launcher		5 kg	8	7 - 15			sharp, 200 m range