I know you can fire INTO melee with a penalty, but if you are IN the melee can you fire with a none pistol weapon?
Firing in melee
Short answer: No.
Long answer: Pistols are generally small, light, and maneuverable in close combat, Other ranged weapons are probably going to be heavy, long-barreled affairs which lack Pistols' finesse. Combatants locked in melee can be assumed to be bobbing, weaving, or otherwise commanding all of the participants' attention. All of those factors combined make it nearly impossible to properly train even a Basic weapon on a target. The book only explicitly lists Pistols as being able to fire in close combat as well.
Additionally, consider the possible consequences for allowing non-Pistol weapons to fire in melee. Ranged characters will generally have an exploitable weakness in their melee capabilities, for both PCs and NPCs. If NPCs could use, say, a Shotgun in melee, suddenly they don't have to care about protecting themselves from melee attacks and become much harder to fight as a result. Engaging an enemy in melee combat is an easy way to stop them from shooting you or your allies. NPCs follow the same rules that PCs do for the most part, so if you're able to use that Autocannon in melee, so should they. Needless to say, I don't think players would have fun dealing with that. Only Pistol-class guns should able to be fired in melee for players' sake.
1) Train your acrobatics to disengage as half action
2) Spend another half action to fire your heavy bolter at point-blank range into your melee opponent.
It's that simple.
Well, I do have 1 basic weapon that I have used in melee
It a Meathammer from DH1
I have it cutdown to range of 3m.
or as it is fluffed, there the trigger and pistol grip, and then barrel just enough to hold the 3 shotgun shells
This is bigger.
The ultimate Get off my tank gun
Edited by Angel of DeathMight be a good idea to star up a sawn off shotgun or something as a pistol class weapon. I could see my players using that as a sidearm.
Might be a good idea to star up a sawn off shotgun or something as a pistol class weapon. I could see my players using that as a sidearm.
I may be straying from the topic here, but I feel like that's moving into some risky territory. Assuming the following:
1. Hand Cannons (Pistol) have a profile of 35m Range, 1d10+4 I, 2 Pen, 5 Clip, at 1.5 kg and Scarce Availability.
2. Shotguns (Basic) have a profile of 30m Range, 1d10+4 I, 0 Pen, 8 Clip, at 5 kg and Average Availability.
3. Common Availability Solid Slugs trade the Scatter quality for +1 Damage, +2 Pen.
4. Sawn-Off trades 1/4 Range for 1/4 Weight and +2 Damage at Short Range or less.
Combining the last three points, we have a Shotgun with a profile of 22m/23m Range (depending on rounding), 1d10+5 I (or 1d10+7 at Short Range or less), 2 Pen, 8 Clip, at 3.75 kg that is fairly easy to access. Allowing this Shotgun to be used in melee rather blows Hand Cannons out of the water at best, barring narrative circumstances such as concealability. And this is without going into the fancier Shotguns with Semi-/Full Automatic fire, other Unusual Ammunition, and such.
The Hack Shotgun from IH is basically a sawed off doublebarreled shotgun. It's a Pistol(SP) 10m range, 1d10+4 I , Pen 0, 1 Clip, Inaccurate, Scatter, Tearing, or loose the tearing if you only fire from one barrel.
The shotgun part of the Puritan-14 pistol from IH is a 15m range 1d10+4 I, pen 0, clip 1, scatter.
Rogue Trader's Shotgun Pistol is 10m, 1d10+4 I, pen 0, clip 1, scatter.
I would argue that you can't convert a pump action into a pistol class weapon simply by cutting down the barrel - you'd need to reduce the size of the magazine and the length of the feed tube as part of the process to turn it into a pistol class weapon, at which point you're borderline making a brand new weapon pattern.
Those weapons are from an earlier time, so I take their profiles with a grain of salt. However, I also feel that they are appropriate/balanced considering A) their pitiful Range and B) their single-shot clip. Using more recent rules (e.g., OW's Customisations) to make sawn-off weapons won't explicitly make Pistols out of Shotguns, barring the [Micro] upgrade that can turn Basic weapons into Pistols. There are levers in place to balance the resulting Micro weapon.
If a player wants to apply the [Compact] and [sawn-Off] modifications simultaneously (nuking its Clip and Range with -1 Damage), maybe I'd consider dropping it down to Pistol class from Basic. Case-by-case basis.
Edited by AsymptomaticMy Meathammer has Compact, Hand grip (for 1 hand use), Red Dot (centered between the 3 barrels) and saw off so it wgt 2.85kg range of 6m (okay i was off by 3m)
2d6+5, with Tearing and Scatter and short or less +2 dam
So yes I agree that it should be on a case by case basis for a change to Pistol from Basic..
Edited by Angel of Death...I thought I was the only one who referred to it as my "meat hammer."