Ripper Gun as a melee weapon

By HappyDaze, in Only War Rules Questions

I'm toying with an Ogryn World regiment right now and I have a few questions about the melee use of a ripper gun.

1) Craftsmanship modifiers to a ripper gun certainly help with its ranged capabilities, but do they likewise give it the melee bonuses for Good or Best quality ripper guns?

2) Is there any reason that Mono cannot be applied to a ripper gun? It can be applied to a warhammer, and the ripper gun counts as a warhammer, so it should be okay, right? Obviously this would only improve the melee profile of the ripper gun.

I don't think there is anything in RAW for either, so here goes:

1) I'd say yes, because the melee capability is part of the weapon and good craftsmanship would take it into account.

2) I'd actually say no, because it only 'counts as' a warhammer but isn't actually one: The mono upgrade can't be applied to ranged weapons, so I'd say it cannot apply here.

Of course, that is just my interpretation, based on what I as a GM would think is fine. This way, the ripper gun is not an awesome gun and an awesome melee weapon in one, but can be fine in either role.

If you put a melee attachment on it, it counts as a spear. Would that also be ineligible for mono since it counts as a melee weapon but isn't actually one?

Since the melee attachment is a separate item, I'd say that it could be mono'd. Yeah, maybe it'd be better to allow it for both...

Edited by Myrion

This for some reason game into mind, on a bigger scale of course under the main barrel :P boxing_gray.png

The thing is; is the melee profile of the Ripper Gun the result of a melee attachment of some sort, or is it simply a matter of the Ripper Gun being used as a club?

I've been led to believe that it would be the latter, and since the mono upgrade at best is a fairly substantial change to a melee weapon (whether it's mass-enlarger, gravity displacers or whatever it would be on an impact weapon, or turning the edge of a sword monomolecular), I would say no.

If you put a melee attachment on it, it counts as a spear. Would that also be ineligible for mono since it counts as a melee weapon but isn't actually one?

Edited by Fgdsfg

I figured since it hit like a warhammer, strengthening the weapon's frame even more and possibly putting a few hardened spikes on the striking end would satisfy the Mono.

I figured since it hit like a warhammer, strengthening the weapon's frame even more and possibly putting a few hardened spikes on the striking end would satisfy the Mono.

I think this comes down to interpretation. I have no support for it that I can pull on, but mono to me was always fairly high-tech (by our standards) stuff, and the interpretation for non-bladed weapons would to me be fairly advanced.

A blade with mono gets a mono-molecular edge and becomes much harder than before.

A blunt weapon gets some kind of kinetic energy storage/release or mass-increaser-wibbly-wobbly, increasing the impact strength.

A mono-whip might be made out of monofilament wire, increasing it's slashing potential.

And so on. Mind you, this is only my interpretation of things. Sadly, the "Mono" upgrade isn't expanded upon in any of the WH40kRP game lines, and it's actually pretty sad. It should've been named something else from the beginning, with a short description on how this would work for each kind of weapon, along with the already existing note that for weapons not covered, the GM is encouraged to come up with additional explanations for weapons not covered.

I just don't think that hardened spikes would cut it. But again, that's just me.

The RAW is very ambiguous on this. One one hand, Mono can clearly by RAW be applied to all melee weapons, and it says that the Ripper Gun counts as a Warhammer, and the Melee Attachment counts as a Spear.

On the other hand, neither of these actually turns the Ripper Gun or whatever weapon the Melee Attachment is attached to into a an actual Melee weapon; it's still a Basic weapon, and by RAW, Mono can only be applied to Melee weapons.

Is "counts as" enough of a rationale to allow Mono on these weapons? I don't know, and I'm not sure I even want a blanket rule on it, seeing as how it either results in the Ripper Gun being Mono-able (which I don't like), or the Melee Attachment being un-mono-able (which I'd hate).

It comes down to asking the GM for an individual ruling and hoping it strikes where you want it to. In the defence of Mono-able Ripper Guns, it's not like it would become terribly overpowered by it, but I could see a GM being hesitant to put it into the hands of an Ogryn, especially one that decides to go for Melee.

...melee breacher Ogryn.. now there's a thought..

So yeah, I dunno. I think that's pretty much the end of this trail of thought of mine. I have no bleedin' clue.

Your description for Mono hardening an edge could apply to the head of a war hammer (or the end plate of the butt or the ripper gun) too. A war hammer often inflicted its damage by piercing rather than just bludgeoning (both are I-type damage in this system), and I think that an intentionally shaped and hardened metal projection from the barrel and/or stock that punches holes through armor should be reasonable.

This for some reason game into mind, on a bigger scale of course under the main barrel :P boxing_gray.png

I imagine reloading that thing (back into the barrel) is a huge pain. :lol:

Alex