Weapons in a Superheroic Campaign

[nnjguy]

I had one other question regarding a Low powered Superhero with power enhanced stats that uses weapons and martial arts.

I wanted to have him use 2 short swords and make use of martial arts and super speed. I was having some minor confusion on how weapons, martial arts and powers interact in a Superheroic campaign. I get that equipment is bought as powers.

I want to have his enhanced speed make his normal Hand to hand attacks do more damage so I buy Hand-to-Hand Attack. When I buy this does his Hand-to-Hand attack damage add to his STR? For instance, his STR is 20 and does 4d6, if I buy the it at 4d6 for 16 points does he do 8d6 when he hits someone? I assumed it did but when I used the character designer it didn't add the 2 together even though it does with a Killing Attack - Hand-to-Hand.

Do I have to also buy a Killing attack - Hand-to-Hand in order for him to use short swords? I guess what I am asking is what happens if a superhero who has powers not related to a specific weapon picks up a knife and stabs someone? Is there a way I can include some Heroic campaign equipment rules to account for this instead of buying powers? Is this already in the books somewhere and I am missing it?

A short sword does 1d6 Killing damage which is a DC of 2. Can I just say when this particular character picks up a short he does 2DC (short sword) + 4DC (STR) + 4DC (speed boosted power bought as Hand-to-Hand Attack) = 10DC (total 3d6+1 Killing Attack - Hand-to-Hand damage)? If yes would ou put restrictions on it?

[Steve Long]

1. Yes, the whole "rationale" of Hand-To-Hand Attack is that it adds to STR. As stated on 6E1 231, HA can't function on its own; a character has to be able to use at least 1/2d6 of STR damage before he can use HA. If you wanted to build a HTH Combat attack where STR doesn't matter, typically that's built as a Blast with No Range (-1/2). So yes, in your example your character does 8d6 damage.

2. In a Superheroic game, if a character wants to have a particular weapon all the time, he should pay Character Points for it. If a situation comes up in the game where there's a weapon and he picks it up and uses it against someone, the weapon does its usual damage (though he may suffer an Unfamiliar Weapon -3 OCV penalty with it). However, if he wants to keep carrying that weapon and keep using it, he should pay Character/Experience Points for it.

In short: don't apply the rules for buying equipment in ways that defy common and dramatic sense -- but don't let characters do end runs around 'em in ways that harm campaign balance. ;)

3. First, HKA 1d6 is 3 DCs, not 2. ;) Second, Hand-To-Hand Attack dice do NOT add to Killing Damage attacks of any kind; they just add to a character's Normal Damage from STR. In your example, all the character can add to increase the weapon's damage would be his STR (and possibly some Combat Skill Levels or a maneuver bonus of some kind).

6E2 99 discusses the rules for, and implications of, adding damage. The rules do not "officially" restrict how much damage can be added to an attack, for various reasons, but they do note guidelines the GM should consider. The freedom to add damage to attacks should not, generally speaking, be construed as the freedom to wreck the campaign by buffing a 1/2d6 Killing Damage attack up to 3d6 (or whatever) for just a few points; that's not the intention of the rules. So yes, you might want to consider some limits if your players don't have the common sense, dramatic sense, and maturity to restrain themselves on their own. ;)