Balance: Weapons – NEWPROTEST Publishing

Weapons

In Balance: The World of Isora, weapons are not restricted by Class or Core Stat. However, weaponry skill requires spending points that might otherwise be used to enhance other skills. Magic users often more inclined to use their Discipline Core Stat to increase their Attune attribute to enhance their spell casting ability.

Below is a list of weapons and their point-value. The points (X) indicate their Attack Dice, as well as their initial Familiarity Cost.

ATTACK DICE

Attack dice refer to the number of dice that are rolled, from which the highest two are selected. In the case of weapons with (2) Attack Dice, the player rolls 2d6 for the attack. But for a weapon like a Great Axe (5), 5d6 are rolled, from which the highest two dice are selected for the attack.

Unarmed Strikes are considered Class (1) weapons, and only use 1d6 for attacks. To cause damage, the Attack Roll must be greater than each individual Defense die.

Weapon Familiarity

All characters must be familiar with their weapons in order to use them effectively. Without Weapon Familiarity, characters suffer -4 to Attack Rolls and -6 for Attack Rolls with bows.

To become familiar or gain greater skill with a weapon, a player spends points of Weapons Familiarity on a specific weapon type (e.g., Long Sword, Short Bow, War Hammer). Points of Weapons Familiarity are derived from their Discipline: Knowledge attribute, plus any additional bonuses their Class may provide.

Familiar: To gain Familiarity with a weapon, the character must first spend points equal to the point-value of the weapon. For example, Daggers (2) have a point-value of 2, so the character must spend 2 points of Weapons Familiarity to become familiar with it. Long Swords (4) have require 4 points to gain familiarity. Weapons Familiarity removes all penalties from a specific weapon type and reduces penalties to -2 (-3 for bows) for similar weapons.
Mastery: Costs 1 Additional Weapons Familiarity Point. Gains +2 to Attack for a specific weapon type and removes penalties for similar weapons. Weapons must be Familiar before they can be Mastered. Weapons that obtain Mastery gain Chain Attack (1).
Supremacy: Costs 2 Additional Weapons Familiarity Point. Gains +4 to Attack for a specific weapon type. Weapons must be Mastered before gaining Supremacy. Weapons that obtain Supremacy gain Chain Attack (2).

As characters advance in Class levels, their skill increases, but ranged weapons (bows and thrown weapons) can only increase their distance accuracy by moving to Mastery or Supremacy.

Similar Weapons

When a character is at least familiar with a weapon, they gain some skill in “similar” weapons. For the sake of simplicity, “similar” weapons refers to weapons of the same type. For example: A Long Sword is similar to all swords; a Short Bow is similar to all bows; a Hand Axe is similar to a Great Axe.

Ranged Weapons

Bows and other ranged weapons have the benefit of causing damage from a distance. The available distances are as follows:

Familiar

Bow: 100 feet
Thrown weapon: 20 feet

Mastery

Bow: 200 feet
Thrown weapon: 30 feet

Supremacy

Bow: 300 feet
Thrown weapon: 50 feet

Beyond the stated ranges, the Attack Roll suffers penalties at a rate of 2 Dice per additional 50 feet for bows, and per additional 10 feet for thrown weapons.

Damage Type

Weapons can inflict damage and injury three main ways: Piercing, Slashing, and Bashing. Certain enemies and armor types are less susceptible to particular types of injury, so penalties to hit and injury may apply.

This also applies to non-combat actions involving weapons, such as trying to delicately pry open a latch with a dagger, vs a war hammer. Similarly, a door is likely easier to be destroyed with a Great Axe than with a Short Sword.

[Table of Contents]