That's sort of why I included the possibility of a detonation right out of the barrel. From a narrative perspective, they'd continue to make sniper rifles and grenade launchers because of the inherent instability of compressed plasma. Satchmo points out a point I need to consider, however, in that someone with 3 Brawn (to satisfy the Cumbersome rating) will likely Soak most or all of the damage. I mean, with a 1 in 12 chance of an Engaged detonation on an upgraded roll, you're taking your health into your own hands, but that doesn't mean much if you don't have any chance of taking damage.

Maybe a better solution would be to give it the Concussive property, rather than Blast damage. That way it's still only affecting the main target, but it does have that something extra without overpowering the weapon. I'm also exchanging Prepare 1 for Slow-Firing 1. How does this compare, in your opinion, to the E-11s?

                LR-42               E-11s
Damage          10                  10
Critical        3                   3
Range           Extreme             Extreme
Encumbrance     6                   6
HP              3                   3
Price           3750 (R)            3500 (R)
Rarity          7                   7
Special         Accurate 2          Accurate 1
                Cumbersome 3        Cumbersome 3
                Concussive 2        Pierce 2
                Slow-Firing 1       Slow-Firing 1
                

Essentially you're exchanging Pierce 2 for an extra point of Accurate and Concussive 2.

Essentially you're exchanging Pierce 2 for an extra point of Accurate and Concussive 2.

For my part, I’d look for one other area in which the LR-42 is not as good as the E-11s. Maybe it has one more point of Encumbrance, slightly worse critical rating, or one less HP, or one higher rank of Rarity, or something.

IMO, if you’re going to be one point/rank better in one area as compared to one of the best weapons in the game, you should be at least one point/rank worse in some other area. Being roughly comparable in all the other areas would then be fine.

But maybe that’s just me. YMMV.

So what is a weapon that fires a round that explodes at extreme range called?

The point is that the round itself isn't an explosive, but rather a compressed plasma bolt that essentially "splatters" when it hits, much like how Satchmo describes it: it bursts like a paintball round.

• An explosive is a material that explodes, like those listed in Dangerous Covenants.
• An explosive weapon is a weapon that explodes, like a Thermal Detonator or a missile.
• A grenade is... well, a grenade.

This weapon is none of those things.

There are examples of weapons with the Blast property that aren't explosive weapons - the Czerka Flamestrike, the R-88 Riot Rifle, the L70 Acid Projector, the KS23 Hammer, the Charged Particle Array Gun - and this is just another one of them.

Instead of using Blast, why not use Burn? Your description of the plasma splattering is more indicative of Burn damage rather than Blast damage. If the PC rolls a Despair or 3 Threat upon firing the weapon, the weapon suffers Sunder 1 for each time it happens. Up the Rarity and Price a bit too.

Instead of using Blast, why not use Burn? Your description of the plasma splattering is more indicative of Burn damage rather than Blast damage. If the PC rolls a Despair or 3 Threat upon firing the weapon, the weapon suffers Sunder 1 for each time it happens. Up the Rarity and Price a bit too.

That's not a half-bad idea, and it keeps me from having to rewrite the description too much.

Click here for the new description, and scroll to the top of that page for current stats.

Shouldn't the sniper rifle also have Limited Ammo 4? That's what the description says.

-EF

Shouldn't the sniper rifle also have Limited Ammo 4? That's what the description says.

-EF

D'oh! Yes. I meant to include that. Thank you.