Greething, brethern,

one of my players itches for a "real sniper rifle". He uses a "hunting rifle" and I told him that "this is a sniper rifle", but to him the expression stuck that the is running around with a rather mediocre weapon. And he seems to want "to pull it of" like in the movies.

Anyway, I roamed the IH, but besides the "Nomad", I did not found anything "sniper rifle style". He WOULD be fine with the Nomad, but since this one is handcrafted master piece, I do not want him to own it right now (About Rank 3).

My ideas so far:
Based on the "Hunting Rifle", I thought about raising the range to 200m, increase the damage to 1w10+4 (to show a more heavy caliber) and to increase the weight by +1kg. In addtion, the rarity ofit would climb to "Rare" instead of "Scarce". The weapon would be build to be dis-assembled in a rather short period of time. Talking about price, I thought about 250 throne gelt. Please take note that his is the "base price". It does come equipped with a "Telescopic Sight", but not any other gadgets.

Thoughts/critic and/or other ideas welcome!

Gregorius21778 said:

Generally speaking, within the various military forces of the Imperium, the Long-las (particularly with hot-shot charge packs) and the Needle Rifle are both commonly used as sniper weapons.

The main advantage of sniper type weapons in DH is the Accurate quality, which as per the errata, makes them a lot more effective when used for carefully-aimed shots (every two degrees of success on a to-hit roll with an Accurate basic weapon fired on single-shot gains +1d10 damage, to a maximum of +2d10).

A BS40 Imperial Guardsman with a Hotshot Long-las, telescopic sight, and no specific talents to aid his shooting will, after a full-action aim, hit 70% of the time against a target aware of his presence, and 100% of the time against an unaware target, regardless of the range. The worst possible hit (unaware target, roll of 81-100) will deal 1d10+4 E tearing damage with a Pen of 3. A roll of 61-80 would result in a 2d10+4 E tearing, Pen 3 hit. A roll of 60 or better deals 3d10+4 E Tearing damage, Pen 3...

Against a tough human target (TB 4, 12W mercenary with full stormtrooper carapace), 3d10+4 damage, rolling an extra dice and discarding the lowest, and ignoring 3 points of armour is likely to bring the enemy down quickly. And, as said before, that's without talents. Throw in Crack Shot, Mighty Shot and Sharpshooter, and the character can pretty much pluck the head from any human target within several hundred metres with little difficulty. Swap the Telescopic sight for a laser sight and add in Marksman, and you increase your rate of fire from a shot every other turn (full aim, shoot next turn), to a shot every turn (half aim, then shoot) without losing accuracy.

The Needle Rifle isn't quite as damaging in its own right, but the Toxic quality makes up for that.

The Hunting Rifle is slightly inferior to the Long-las in this regard, but a maximum of 3d10+3 I damage is still not to be sniffed at.

Beyond that, only the Nomad and the Angelus (which, as a bolt weapon dealing basic 2d10 X Tearing Pen 5 is an extremely nasty weapon), and a couple of specialist Needle weapons, fit the sniper-weapon category (being Accurate basic weapons and thus benefitting from increased damage when fired on single shot). Oh, and there's the Eldar Ranger Longrifle in Disciples of the Dark Gods, which deals 1d10+4 E Pen 2 and adds +2 to the Pen for a half aim or +4 for a full aim...

Thanks, No-1here

but the player wants a "Solid Projectile" and I am seeking for something "not in the book". The angevine should be a little to loud, (since it is a "bolt weapon") and the nomad is not a choice right now (as explained).

While needle rifles are good, the talent is still two ranks away and my player would like a weapon "now".


What I am looking for is a "home brewn", SP basic which is a little better then the hunting rifle but not "out-of-balance".
Any "introduces" in that category?
Or any comments on my introduction in that category?

Thanks a lot

Gregorius21778 said:

ummm....from what i can think of how about a "custom" hunting rifle with range 250m, damage 1d10+5 I, pen 2, clip 1, Rld full, special Accurate, 7kg, 300 thrones, and it is very rare, because u have to find the shop which will sell it for u, plus custom rounds so they would be about 10 thrones for 1 round, and then u can pay various amounts of money to increase clip size, range, pen, damage, and other stuff, plus it comes with telescopic sight, already built in.

I was faced with a similar situation and came up with the following:

Anti-Material Rifle:

• Range: 750metres
• D10+4I
• Pen 3
• Heavy
• S/-/-
• Clip:8
• 14Kg; accurate

Basically I modified the Heavy Stubber stats based on the idea it would fire the same calibre ammunition in much the same way that modern anti-material rifles fire heavy machine gun calibre rounds.

Edith The Hutt said:

Thanks , Edith. Would you use "Heavy Weapon (SP" or still "basic weapon (SP)" for it? And how many thrones would you charge for one?

from what i can think of how about a "custom" hunting rifle with range 250m, damage 1d10+5 I, pen 2, clip 1, Rld full, special Accurate, 7kg, 300 thrones, and it is very rare, because u have to find the shop which will sell it for u, plus custom rounds so they would be about 10 thrones for 1 round, and then u can pay various amounts of money to increase clip size, range, pen, damage, and other stuff, plus it comes with telescopic sight, already built in.

Many thanks to both of you!

Gregorius, In my campaign I did require the Heavy Weapons (SP) proficiency to use it properly and I required that it was braced before firing.

I think I just handed it over as loot but to my mind about 1000 Thrones would be about right (the cost of a Needle Rifle), although I'd probably only make it Rare rather than anything else. My approximation is that this is a military sniper rifle and would probably be used by elite groups of PDF and IG units rather than a custom-built weapon for the occasional noble who wants to go Grox-Hunting from a long distance away.

I'd be wary of giving the PCs a gun which boils down to "like the ones in the book but a bit more powerful" as this can lead to power-creep. I created the anti-material rifle to fill a genuine hole in the DH arsenal, which was for an extremely long ranged rifle. Given that these exist in modern militaries today I simply looked at what an Imperial version would probably looked like and put some stats together, it has a specific use and doesn't act as a direct replacement for any of the existing weapons in the RAW.

Edith The Hutt said:

The Antimaterial rifle sounds nice but it is way better than the Nomad.
Increased range, range beyond any other weapon and almost twice the clip.
I do like the heavy so I would go for this.

Anti-Material Rifle:
SP Heavy

Range: 150 meters
S/-/-
Dam: 1d10+4 I
Pen: 3
Clip: 1
Rld: 1 Full
Weight: 14kg
Special: Accurate
Cost: 750 Thrones

I would increase the cost of ammo a bit from 1 for 20 round to 20 for 1 round.

GrtZ,

S.

Hey there. If you are going to call it an AMR man it up.

SP Heavy

Range: 300 meters
S/-/-
Dam: 2d10+4 I
Pen: 3
Clip: 5
Rld: 2 Full
Weight: 20kg
Special: Accurate
Cost: 750 Thrones

Ammo is Exotic i.e. 15 for a full clip (I think)

But then this is a heavy weapon so probably not what you are looking for. This would be a bolt action large calibre rifle.

SP Basic

Range: 150 meters
S/-/-
Dam: 1d10+4 I
Pen: 1
Clip: 5
Rld: 2 Full
Weight: 10kg
Special: Accurate
Cost: 300 Thrones

Then there is one I gave to a guy in my group, basically a really heavy guage rifle that's a bit too heafty to use effectively without bracing.

Pantheon Sniper Rifle

SP Basic

Range: 200 meters
S/-/-
Dam: 1d10+5 I
Pen: 3
Clip: 5
Rld: 1 Full
Weight: 14kg
Special: *
Cost: 1500 Thrones

*When braced weapon counts as accurate.

The custom graded ammo costs 1g for 1 shot and is Rare.

I made up the Armageddon Sharpshooter, a sniper rifle based on the Armageddon autogun pattern. It was put in the hands of an NPC sniper as a 'gift' for the assassin in the group. Alas, the NPC assassin turned out to be a little too resourceful, so they havn't had the option of looting her yet. She still use her pretty little rifle to great effect!

This was originally made before the accurate basic weapon errata, so it was more of a big deal that the weapon being able to fire semi-automatic, back then. I still like the option of being able to switch between single shot and semi-auto bursts, though, as both options have their advantages and disadvantages. I like that flexibility. And I just like the idea of long range sniper bursts.

Armageddon Sharpshooter (120m; S/3/–; 1d10+4 I; Clip 15; Reload Full; Accurate)

hey Gregorius21778

thanks for the inspiration to make a dedicated sniper rifle, i've just finished my first rules/stats set for the riifle i came up with. i had thought that one up in about 2 minutes on the spot. so i've made a new thred and put it in there. it will be in the house rules forum if anyone wants to take a look.

Slaunyeh said:

This is quite common in modern rifles to have a sharpshooter version and with a large number or specific expert weaponsmiths that the sector describes I think it makes sense for the background too. I'm sure technically there would be marksman versions of the other autoguns but the Armageddon is the one most people are going to go for.

I am a bit generous with basic stats because I don't use quite the same accurate rules from the IH (for one I don't let people gain the extra damage without calling a shot). Also for a proper sniper rifle (with better stats) I impose that it can't be quickdrawn and has to be braced to be accurate which makes it a lot less flexible.

If you are going to go for an actual heavy weapon then the stats can really start to let loose. I try to stay away from comparing modern weapons with the made up ones. But a heavy machine gun uses ammo from about 7.5mm to 12.5mm where as AMR uses bullets from 12.5mm to 20mm so there is plenty of room for manuever within the definition.

Sort of what I have floating around in my games as a dedicated platform, not an AMR, though I have those too

Kensington Pattern MARS-33 Class: Sniper Rifle
The premier Kensington rifle is also worthy of its nickname ‘Keyhole’ for its ability to put a large calibre piece of lead at high velocity into something the size of a keyhole at 300m with frightening consistency. Its template of simple bolt action feed, light trigger and heavy barrel pattern has formed the basis for close to 90% of the rifles in existence used for hunting and military sniper rifles to some extent. This kind of quality typically only comes from the forges of Mars itself though there are a number of patterns very similar, for around the same price and easier to obtain than the originals which are very rare firearms that collectors will pay a great deal more for, than its actual production cost.
Range 250m

RoF S/-/-

Dam 1D10+5

Pen 2

Magazine 6rd (Box)

Rld 1 Full

Wt 6.5kg

Cost 650

Avail Very Rare

Special: Accurate, Reliable, Tearing

Surely you must mean 6.500 thrones and not 650, 650 is way too cheap...

Its not cheap after the 15 years of shipping costs to have one arrive from the foundaries of Mars...

from france

if you want to send a religious message i will add the possibilty to fire amunition that send the target on flame at very long range. likewise because your killer can't be see it will appear as spontaneous burst of the target punsih by the wraith of the emperor. but that just an idea.

now thats an evil twist i'll have to think about using with my W2000.

If the name is all that's bothering him, take the Hunting Rifle Stats, add a silencer, add +1 to the damage, adjust the cost up by 50 thrones + silencer cost and call it an Exitus Rifle.

The rifle pictured in the rule book is a dead-ringer for the Vindicare Assassin's Exitus Rifle.

DarkWatcher said:

The Exitus, worse than a Nomad? I always pictured the Exitus as a heavy weapon anyway and thus really deadly .

For the weapons of the legendary Vindicare Assassins, I came up with this on the old forums. Fortunately, someone reposted them for me when these forums started up:

Wu Ming said:

N0-1_H3r3 said:

**** i had forgotten about that post. these guns are better than the custom rifle i made.