Powerguns

[Susano]

POWERGUNS

 

Powerguns appear in the far-future universe of David Drake's Hammer's Slammers. They fire bolts of cyan-colored plasma by converting a circular wafer of plastic with an imbedded matrix of copper and cobalt into a bolt of directed energy. Because of the intense heat produced, a powergun's barrel is made from iridium, while a blast of nitrogen (or some other noble gas) is used to cool the barrel for the next shot. Even so, a rapid series of shots can render a barrel white-hot, leading to warping, while extended use will degrade the barrel, requiring replacement.

 

A powergun is a true line-of-sight weapon and the plasma bolts have ranges measured in kilometers. Although the bolts don't have a great deal of penetrating power, and discharge all their energy on the first thing they hit, they tend to do a great deal of damage simply due to superheating the target. A person, for example, will have internal fluids flash-heated to steam, causing horrific internal injuries. A tree may be blown to splinters as water and sap are converted to steam, while walls may have large chunks blown to dust with each impact. The one major drawback, as stated before, is the weapons have no real penetration ability. A plasma bolt will release its energy into the first target it hits, be it an enemy soldier, or a tree branch just a foot in front of him, and none of that energy will continue onwards (unlike a bullet, which might punch through the said tree branch and still hit the target). Another major problem is the possibility of liquified discs of spent ammunition clogging the ejection port, preventing further use (at least until the stuff can be chipped away).

 

The technical specs for these weapons (and the vehicles to follow) is taken from the recent series of Hammer's Slammers books released by Baen in the late 1990s. They were The Tank Lords, Caught in the Crossfire, The Butcher's Bill, and The Sharp End. Consisting of all the Hammer's Slammers novels, novellas, and short stories to date (along with a few essays), they are presented in a chronological order set up by David Drake, and allow for some fairly good guesses as to how his fictional weapons and armor should work. However, it should be pointed out that Drake's descriptions of how the gear works isn't consistent from story to story, which, to be honest, is only to be expected. I also must point out that books suffer from some terrible editing, with missing punctuation and incorrect punctuation in a few spots (not to mention incorrect words!).

 

Now for a few comments on how powerguns work before the HERO System stats are presented. First is the ability for a powergun to "chew" its way though armor and the like. Normally, if an attack hits a vehicle and doesn't do sufficient BODY to bypass the vehicle's DEF, then there is no further effect. However, a powergun will tend to vaporize metal and the like were ever it hits, meaning that multiple shots to the same general area will burn their way through whatever it is they are hitting. For simplicity's sake, I have given the various powerguns the Armor Piercing advantage, figuring that best simulates the weapon's ability to damage a wide variety of targets. As for "chewing" through armor, it sounds like some sort of Drain (each hit makes the DEF that much weaker), although creating a Drain that would work properly would be hideously expensive. A better idea might be to simply use the Ablative limitation on any vehicle DEF, or to make it a game universe rule that "x" BODY from a powergun hit will eliminate "x" DEF from a specific hit location.

 

The second item that requires a moment's examination is the idea that a weapon's barrel can end up white hot after extended use. In this case, "extended use" is defined as any use of Autofire, Rapid Fire (3 or more shots), or Suppression Fire. Touching someone with the barrel after even a single Phase of this usage will result in 1 pip to 1/2d6 RKA of burn damage. Laying the weapon down on certain surfaces (wood, plastic, and so on), will result in burns, cracks, and scaring. A holster will need to be either metal, or treated plastic/leather to not burn and distort from the heat of a pistol placed in it. Rolling a Burnout means one of two things: either the expended rounds have clogged the ejection port, or the barrel has superheated to the point where it can no longer be used (and may have even warped). This might almost qualify as a Side Effect, although I see it more as the definition of the powergun's Real Weapon Disadvantage.

 

Then, comes the idea that a powergun bolt expends all of its energy at moment of impact. You really can't just "graze" someone with a shot from a powergun, as the all the energy will be released upon (the slightest) contact. One way to simulate this is to apply the Standard Effect Rule for powerguns, meaning that a powergun does 3 BODY per die whenever it hits something.

 

Finally, for those who wish to really simulate the energy released by a powergun bolt, try giving the weapons extra dice of damage with the Limitation of "Only Versus Organic Targets." The idea being that flash heating blood, sap, and other internal fluids into steam is not good for anyone.

 

1 CM PISTOL

Effect: RKA 3d6, Armor Piercing, +1 Increased STUN Multiplier

Shots: 5/10

Combat Modifiers: +1 OCV, +4 RMod

STR Minimum: 8

Range: 1,000"

 

Description: A powergun pistol uses a 10 mm wafer to produce its plasma bolts. More than capable of blowing off limbs with a single shot, the weapon is standard issue to officers and the like. It takes either a 5 or 10-round clip loaded into the grip. A standard kit comes complete with two spare barrels and a changing wrench.

 

Game Information: RKA 3d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2), +1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+1/4), Increased Maximum Range (1,000"; +1/4) (90 Active Points); Burnout 15- (-0), 5 Charges (-3/4), OAF (-1), Real Weapon (-1/4) (total cost: 30 points) plus +1 OCV (5 Active Points); OAF (-1), Real Weapon (-1/4) (total cost: 2 points) plus +4 versus Range Modifier (12 Active Points); OAF (-1), Real Weapon (-1/4) (total cost: 5 points). Total cost: 37 points.

 

Options:

Some descriptions give the pistol 10 Charges instead of 5. The Charges Limitation becomes (-1/4), and the final cost of the pistol is 43 points.

 

1 CM SUBMACHINE GUN

Effect: 3d6, Armor Piercing, +1 Increased STUN Multiplier

Shots: 50

Combat Modifiers: +2 OCV, +4 RMod

STR Minimum: 10

Range: 1,000"

 

Description: Usually carried slung from a strap over one shoulder, the submachine gun version of a powergun seems to be a stubby weapon, with fore grip under the barrel and replacement magazines loaded into the butt of the weapon. As they are usually used to fire a large number of shots in a short period of time, they are more prone to jamming and barrel wear.

 

Game Information: RKA 3d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2), Autofire (5 shots; +1/2), +1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+1/4), Increased Maximum Range (1,000"; +1/4), 50 Charges (+1/2) (135 Active Points); Burnout 14- (-1/4), OAF (-1), Real Weapon (-1/4) (total cost: 54 points) plus +2 OCV (10 Active Points); OAF (-1), Real Weapon (-1/4) (total cost: 4 points) plus +4 versus Range Modifier (12 Active Points); OAF (-1), Real Weapon (-1/4) (total cost: 5 points). Total cost: 63 points.

 

Options:

The 50 Charges is taken from a story where a character has a bandolier of SMG magazines and is described as carrying 500 rounds. Ten 50-round magazines made far more sense than 20 25 -round magazines. However, it is possible the SMG uses a 40-round clip. In that case, substitute 40 Charges (+1/2) for the same point total.

 

2 CM RIFLE

Effect: 4d6 RKA, Armor Piercing, +1 Increased STUN Multiplier

Shots: 20

Combat Modifiers: +2 OCV, +6 RMod

STR Minimum: 13

Range: 2,500"

 

Description: This shoulder-fired weapon is said to be heavy, and fires the same type of 20 mm round as the tri-barrels mounted on combat cars and hovertanks (the rounds are interchangeable). Capable of hitting targets kilometers away, it is standard issue for Slammer's infantry and anyone who wants to make sure their target goes down and stays down.

 

Game Information: RKA 4d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2), +1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+1/4), Increased Maximum Range (2,500"; +1/2), 20 Charges (+1/4) (150 Active Points); Burnout 15- (-0), OAF (-1), Real Weapon (-1/4) (total cost: 67 points) plus +2 OCV (10 Active Points); OAF (-1), Real Weapon (-1/4) (total cost: 4 points) plus +6 versus Range Modifier (18 Active Points); OAF (-1), Real Weapon (-1/4) (total cost: 8 points). Total cost: 79 points.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Powerguns

 

Looks good to me, although you didn't add any limitations about the lack of penetrating power. In heavily wooded terrain, a powergun should be at a fairly large disadvantage compared to more primitive slugthrowers, as the slugthrowing riflemen could take cover behind almost any leafy bush, or even tall grass.

 

Which means the GM can throw the Slammer PCs into a "guaranteed win" situation against farmers with WWII era tech, and drive them totally insane.

[Tom Carman]

Re: Powerguns

 

Another of Drake's novels The Forlorn Hope is set in the same universe, but introduces a different weapon technology: Cone-Bore rifles. The gun barrels are diamond and the needle-bullets are osmium. I think the cannon models also used osmium penetrators, not explosive shells. Toward the end, there was a short battle between powergun-armed tanks and a starship being moved cross-country using landing repulsors and a small power-beam receiver (its own powerplant was wrecked by an attack). Mercenaries were in the cargo hold with cone-bore cannon, and a pump spraying mercury out above the open hatch. The powergun hitting the mercury spray flashburned some of the mercs, but the osmium rounds had no such problem...

[Susano]

Re: Powerguns

 

Looks good to me, although you didn't add any limitations about the lack of penetrating power. In heavily wooded terrain, a powergun should be at a fairly large disadvantage compared to more primitive slugthrowers, as the slugthrowing riflemen could take cover behind almost any leafy bush, or even tall grass.

 

Which means the GM can throw the Slammer PCs into a "guaranteed win" situation against farmers with WWII era tech, and drive them totally insane.

 

I just got Dark Champions and briefly saw the section on shooting through walls and the like to hit targets on the other side. I'll need to rework this a bit to reflect a powergun's inability to do that (if needed).

[gewing]

Re: Powerguns

 

The tanks they were fighting had lasers. That is actually one of my favorite books, one of my two favorite Drake books (from the Heart of darkness ??)

 

The osmium penetrators were encased in a "flourocarbon" sabot, that partially sublimed iirc under the pressure and temperature of passing through the Diamond Squeeze bore.

On the other hand, Diamond doesn't actually handle hight temperatures all that well....

Don't drop one into an oven.

 

 

 

Another of Drake's novels The Forlorn Hope is set in the same universe' date=' but introduces a different weapon technology: Cone-Bore rifles. The gun barrels are diamond and the needle-bullets are osmium. I think the cannon models also used osmium penetrators, not explosive shells. Toward the end, there was a short battle between powergun-armed tanks and a starship being moved cross-country using landing repulsors and a small power-beam receiver (its own powerplant was wrecked by an attack). Mercenaries were in the cargo hold with cone-bore cannon, and a pump spraying mercury out above the open hatch. The powergun hitting the mercury spray flashburned some of the mercs, but the osmium rounds had no such problem...[/quote']

[Tom Carman]

Re: Powerguns

 

The tanks they were fighting had lasers. That is actually one of my favorite books, one of my two favorite Drake books (from the Heart of darkness ??)

 

The osmium penetrators were encased in a "flourocarbon" sabot, that partially sublimed iirc under the pressure and temperature of passing through the Diamond Squeeze bore.

On the other hand, Diamond doesn't actually handle hight temperatures all that well....

Don't drop one into an oven.

Yes, I noticed the laser bit when I re-checked after posting. On the other hand, lasers and powerguns have much the same effect on their targets. A powergun is probably more compact, while the laser has that handy continuous beam.

[Kaeto]

Re: Powerguns

 

The powergun is just like the Hellbore of Laumer's Bolo series. Except that the Hellbore's plasma is at the point of fusion and is sent downrange at .6 lightspeed.

[ehelmers]

Re: Powerguns

 

What about the explosive effects of hiding behind a tree that gets hit by a powergun bolt, superheating the sap and blowing up the tree?

 

Powerguns were not the only weapons used by the Slammers. They had other military munitions such as artillery, motars, etc.

 

 

Also Night Shade Books is going to print all the Hammer's Slammers stories in a three volume set.

 

 

Looks good to me, although you didn't add any limitations about the lack of penetrating power. In heavily wooded terrain, a powergun should be at a fairly large disadvantage compared to more primitive slugthrowers, as the slugthrowing riflemen could take cover behind almost any leafy bush, or even tall grass.

 

Which means the GM can throw the Slammer PCs into a "guaranteed win" situation against farmers with WWII era tech, and drive them totally insane.

[Susano]

Re: Powerguns

 

What about the explosive effects of hiding behind a tree that gets hit by a powergun bolt, superheating the sap and blowing up the tree?

 

*shrug* What about lasers and plasma guns doing the same thing? Neither ALIEN WARS and TERRAN EMPIRE address these issues, and for simplicities sake, neither did I. I presume you could add some sort of 1d6 RKA Explosion Linked to the main RKA with a limitation of "Requires Suitable Target," but that's getting into more detail than I can handle.

 

Powerguns were not the only weapons used by the Slammers. They had other military munitions such as artillery, motars, etc.

 

Sure. And most of that can be worked up from various published sources. Although the 250mm rocket howitzers do see to be in a class by themselves.

 

Also Night Shade Books is going to print all the Hammer's Slammers stories in a three volume set.

 

Interesting. I have a three book set of these stories as well, as I noted in my introduction. What makes this one so different?

[Metaphysician]

Re: Powerguns

 

Well, plasma guns *are* Explosions in Star Hero. As for any side effects of being too near to a laser impact, if it seems appropriate for the situation, you could always justify a Body or two on the Real Weapon limit.

[ehelmers]

Re: Powerguns

 

*shrug* What about lasers and plasma guns doing the same thing? Neither ALIEN WARS and TERRAN EMPIRE address these issues, and for simplicities sake, neither did I. I presume you could add some sort of 1d6 RKA Explosion Linked to the main RKA with a limitation of "Requires Suitable Target," but that's getting into more detail than I can handle.

 

Sure. And most of that can be worked up from various published sources. Although the 250mm rocket howitzers do see to be in a class by themselves.

 

Interesting. I have a three book set of these stories as well, as I noted in my introduction. What makes this one so different?

 

Fair enough. Over complicating things usually never helps. I was just curious. I am new to the Hero system, and am really loving it.

 

The Night Shade books are harback, and there will be 2 editions of each of them: a standard hardback, and one limited edition signed by Drake, the into author and Vincent Di Fate who is doing the cover artwork. I believe the content will be the same as the latter Baen editions, which I also have in addition to the original Hammer's Slammers series.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Powerguns

 

As far as chewing through armor is concerned. How about a 3D6 0end Uncontrolled Suppress?

 

Suppress does not suffer from the standard limitation that applies to adjustment powers...there is no maximum amount that can be suppressed...all attempts to suppress are automatically cumulative!

Suppress is also already Constant/continuous. Thus adding Uncontrolled and 0End only constitute a total +1 advantage.

Thus a 3D6 OEnd Uncontrolled Suppress would be a mere 30 Active points.

 

A 3D6 Suppress could remove between 1 and 4 DEF from a target with every hit! Add autofire (quite a bit more expensive) and the target will be "naked" in no time!

[Susano]

Re: Powerguns

 

As far as chewing through armor is concerned. How about a 3D6 0end Uncontrolled Suppress?

 

Suppress does not suffer from the standard limitation that applies to adjustment powers...there is no maximum amount that can be suppressed...all attempts to suppress are automatically cumulative!

Suppress is also already Constant/continuous. Thus adding Uncontrolled and 0End only constitute a total +1 advantage.

Thus a 3D6 OEnd Uncontrolled Suppress would be a mere 30 Active points.

 

A 3D6 Suppress could remove between 1 and 4 DEF from a target with every hit! Add autofire (quite a bit more expensive) and the target will be "naked" in no time!

 

Once you stop shooting, wouldn't all the DEF come back?

[Slim_McCoy]

Re: Powerguns

 

Once you stop shooting' date=' wouldn't all the DEF come back?[/quote']

 

Well, in the definition of Supress, it states that Supress "remains in effect as long as the attacker spends END" (SK p 59). Seems to me that a 0 END Supress is something that GM's should look closely at, if it's not explicitly forbidden somewhere that I don't know about.

 

Why not a Drain vs Armor? The armor would return at 5 active points/turn, longer if you buy up the time increment. This could reflect an attack that temporarily liquifies the armor, but the armor begins to resolidify when the powergun is shut off.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Powerguns

 

Once you stop shooting' date=' wouldn't all the DEF come back?[/quote']

 

Nope.

 

As mentioned above, Suppress stops working when the character controlling the suppress stops paying END. With 0End attatched to Suppress (which is considered a STOP power I think) the controlling character only need maintain LOS contact and be conscious.

 

But wait! There's more!

 

The Uncontrolled advantage removes the power from both the character and the gun itself. Now, even if the character loses LOS or is K.O.ed, the suppress continues to operate. Even if the OAF-Gun is destroyed, the Suppress continues to operate.

 

Of course, Uncontrolled powers have to have a way to be turned off with some effect, and in this case, that would be a successful Armor Repair skill roll. Any device capable of repairing the armor would work as well.

 

Using this method, each attack that hits would remove a point or two of armor every time. After 3 or 4 hits, most enemies armor would have been completely blown off of them. Vehicles would have small craters in their armor. I would also give this the SFX of possibly destroying any environmental sealing that armor may posses (after more than half the DEF of the armor has been compromised)

 

Remember that suppress is an Adjustment power, even though it works a little differently than the other adjustment powers. That means only half of the points rolled effect the Defense of the target and those must be split between PD and ED (unless you want only to affect one type of DEF). This means that for every 6pts on the roll, you get to remove 1PD and 1ED. Thus, on 2D6 Suppress you will remove an average of 1Pd/1Ed. Maximum you will remove 2Pd/2Ed. On 3D6 Suppress, average you will remove 2Pd/2Ed, maximum of 3Pd/3Ed. On 4D6 Suppres (a mere 40 active) you will remove on average 2Pd/2Ed, with a maximum of 4Pd/4Ed!

[Susano]

Re: Powerguns

 

Well, in the definition of Supress, it states that Supress "remains in effect as long as the attacker spends END" (SK p 59). Seems to me that a 0 END Supress is something that GM's should look closely at, if it's not explicitly forbidden somewhere that I don't know about.

 

Why not a Drain vs Armor? The armor would return at 5 active points/turn, longer if you buy up the time increment. This could reflect an attack that temporarily liquifies the armor, but the armor begins to resolidify when the powergun is shut off.

 

Drain won't work as Drake states the weapons vaporize armor, leaving craters.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Powerguns

 

Well, in the definition of Supress, it states that Supress "remains in effect as long as the attacker spends END" (SK p 59). Seems to me that a 0 END Supress is something that GM's should look closely at, if it's not explicitly forbidden somewhere that I don't know about.

 

Why not a Drain vs Armor? The armor would return at 5 active points/turn, longer if you buy up the time increment. This could reflect an attack that temporarily liquifies the armor, but the armor begins to resolidify when the powergun is shut off.

 

I was thinking that the attack destroys armor by making holes and cracks in it. The extreme heat would cause the armor to expand to quickly and crack. Direct hits even tearing chunks from the armor. This is why I went with 0End, Uncontrolled Suppress vs a Drain (which consequently has the same point cost per die). I was thinking the only way to get the Defense back would be to repair the armor. Also, the effects of multiple hits need to be cumulative. Adding Cumulative to a Drain that has had its recovery time increased gets prohibitively expensive. Suppress already takes care of this (cumulative built right in) and with the relatively inexpensive advantages, it performs exactly as needed to generate the desired effect.

 

0End Suppress is not at all forbidden. In fact, its mentioned in the text of the Suppress power. It just states that if a Suppress has been bought to 0End, then some relatively common effect needs to be able to turn the power off. In this case, its the Armor Repair roll.

[Slim_McCoy]

Re: Powerguns

 

0End Suppress is not at all forbidden. In fact' date=' its mentioned in the text of the Suppress power. It just states that if a Suppress has been bought to 0End, then some relatively common effect needs to be able to turn the power off. In this case, its the Armor Repair roll.[/quote']

 

Gotcha. Not having a copy of FREd of my own, I have to make do with HD, Sidekick, and the BBB, so some of my ideas are not 100% current.