Monofilament Blade

[Killer Shrike]

Yeah, well. At the time I was reading the Niven with the variable sword in it (was it Ringworld? Did Speaker-to-Animals use one in an attempt to hijack the ship?) my father was stitching up people's facial lacertions with monofilament suturing material. Which is to say nylon or silk that had been extruded at the thickness required, and was not spun or braided out of separate filaments. One filament = monofilament, all fair and above board.

But words sometimes have who meanings, and I don't think that we are in desperate danger of confusing nylon monofilament with monomolecular filament, even if they both go by the same name. So let's not bust anyone's chops. Mkay?

Wow. Not much of a sense of humor on some folks I guess.

[Agemegos]

Wow. Not much of a sense of humor on some folks I guess.

Not when so many people's quips sound exactly like other folk's put-downs, no. For a person who is unfamiliar with extruded nylon 'monofilament' your post would not have seemed so side-splittingly funny. You know, and I know, that suture material, fishing line, and spaghetti shoelaces are monofilaments. But some people in this conversation have only come across the word in SF contexts, as a portmanteau of 'monomolecular filament'. There has to be a way of pointing out the existence of the non-SF sense of the word without being obscure and crushing.

[Curufea]

I've always assumed that roleplaying rules in a scifi setting use the term "monofilament" because the rules are incapable of adequately simulating the Niven monomolecular weapon (otherwise known as the Variable Sword - which had the disadvantage of not being able to thrust, and therefore could not be used to escape from a locked room or any other concave area). And therefore they fall back to a similar sounding word, and just make it more armour piercing than average. Although I think Shadowrun calls it "dicoat" for a diamond-coated weapon, that has the same basic effect.

[Killer Shrike]

Not when so many people's quips sound exactly like other folk's put-downs, no. For a person who is unfamiliar with extruded nylon 'monofilament' your post would not have seemed so side-splittingly funny. You know, and I know, that suture material, fishing line, and spaghetti shoelaces are monofilaments. But some people in this conversation have only come across the word in SF contexts, as a portmanteau of 'monomolecular filament'. There has to be a way of pointing out the existence of the non-SF sense of the word without being obscure and crushing.

Actually, it was a Shadowrun reference; from the Street Samurais Catalog.

But all that aside, so sorry to have affended your delicate sensibilities.

[Susano]

Actually, it was a Shadowrun reference; from the Street Samurais Catalog.

I knew I should have called you on it!

[Killer Shrike]

I knew I should have called you on it!

And I knew that you would get it {bows}

[NuSoardGraphite]

Yeah, well. At the time I was reading the Niven with the variable sword in it (was it Ringworld? Did Speaker-to-Animals use one in an attempt to hijack the ship?) my father was stitching up people's facial lacertions with monofilament suturing material. Which is to say nylon or silk that had been extruded at the thickness required, and was not spun or braided out of separate filaments. One filament = monofilament, all fair and above board.

But words sometimes have who meanings, and I don't think that we are in desperate danger of confusing nylon monofilament with monomolecular filament, even if they both go by the same name. So let's not bust anyone's chops. Mkay?

You wanna talk about "busting chops"?

How about we forget the physics or whether or not the weapon will actually work, and help a fellow gamer design an ultra-cool weapon.....

[Agemegos]

You wanna talk about "busting chops"?

How about we forget the physics or whether or not the weapon will actually work, and help a fellow gamer design an ultra-cool weapon.....

Okay. How about Desolid, usable against others, area effect radius, no range, personal immunity, one charge per day continuing for 24 hours? That is pretty cool if you can get a nice little NND does body affects desolid. Of course it isn't much like a monofilament knife, but neither are a lot of things.

Me, I'd rather help a fellow GM construct a game that doesn't run into problems with the consistency and capability of technology.

[Agemegos]

Actually, it was a Shadowrun reference; from the Street Samurais Catalog.

Ah! So now a lack of sense of humour is the same thing as not having read the same Shadowrun supplements you have read.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Me, I'd rather help a fellow GM construct a game that doesn't run into problems with the consistency and capability of technology.

Some people don't require that for a fun game.

For some people, its all about ideas. Imagination.

Whether or not something is possible in the realm of physics if often secondary for most GM's and completely irrelevant to some.

He didn't give us any details on his campaign setting. Perhaps he's running Space Opera or Science/Fantasy, where adherence to real-science is irrelevant and contradictory to the genre.....

[NuSoardGraphite]

I have a gadgetering character who uses a monofilament blade as one of her weapons. I have so far had it be an HKA with armor piercing. But I wanted to post so other suggestions as well. Any thoughts?

An HKA with AP is a good start, but how effective do you want this weapon to be?

Do you want it to be like a lightsabre, and capable of cutting through nearly anything? If so, you might want an NND or AVLD does body (defense is FF or perhaps double hardened armor)

Do you want it to be able to slice through "most" materials easily, but only if sufficient STR is put into the attack? In which case an Armor Piercing HKA is the answer. You might want to go AP X2 though. That way, even armor that is normally hardened falls prey to the deadly MonoSword! The rare-expensive Crysteel armor can repell it though (i.e. Crysteel is Hardened X2)

My suggestion is to go with the HKA APX2. That way you get a character who has a weapon that can slice through body armor as if it isn't there. It can even slice into the hulls of some military vehicles, but tanks and heavy armored vehicles are out of its league...

I would also give the blade a base damage +1DC higher than the norm for that weapon type (if its a Longsword with a mono-edge, it would rate at 5DC or 1 1/2D6K instead of the typical Longsword's 4DC or 1D6+1K) to help represent the fact that it cuts through flesh like a hot knife through butter....

[proditor]

Some people don't require that for a fun game.

For some people, its all about ideas. Imagination.

Whether or not something is possible in the realm of physics if often secondary for most GM's and completely irrelevant to some.

He didn't give us any details on his campaign setting. Perhaps he's running Space Opera or Science/Fantasy, where adherence to real-science is irrelevant and contradictory to the genre.....

Well said.

If, for instance, this guy was trying to replicate the sword used by Nemesis in the comic Alpha Flight, referred to as "Thinner than a molecule" or come up with something similar to a lightsaber, well, we should just chuck the science books out the window.

My personal take on it:

If I'm going for monomolecular/Di-cote, etc, I go with a moderate HKA ( 1 1/2 or 2d6) that has at least AP and probably penetrating, possibly both as much as twice. So the most extreme might be a Di-Coted Dai-Katana at about 2d6 HKA, AP (x2), Penetrating (x2)

Lightsaber/Laser sword constructs, I usually go with RKA (Around 3-4d6), NND (Force fields and certain campaign defined metals), Does BODY, No Range.

[Killer Shrike]

Ah! So now a lack of sense of humour is the same thing as not having read the same Shadowrun supplements you have read.

On the contrary, my argumentative fellow forumite; the humor was self-apparant, no awareness of the original source necessary.

I do wonder why you seem so hell-bent on being confrontational however.

[Susano]

I have always felt that "STR Does Not Add" (-1/2) is a valid limitation for these swords. No matter how hard you swing it, it isn't going to do any more damage when it hits.

[Agemegos]

For some people, its all about ideas. Imagination.

Whether or not something is possible in the realm of physics if often secondary for most GM's and completely irrelevant to some.

Indeed. And it is exactly such people who think "We've got an immensely strong, incredibly fine, light thread? Cool! That'd make great armour."