Hello all you Scummy Villains!
So i love playing a Heavy but i find myself wanting something new in the weapon department. It seems like my choices always boil down to some kind of huge machine gun blaster or explosive launcher. And while those are awesome, variety is the spice of life. I find it weird that almost all the man-portable Gunnery options are full-auto, weapons ... even the dedicated anti-vehicle Breach weapons are full auto, like the Reciprocating Quad Blaster. Why isn't there something like the Panther Assault Cannon from Shadowrun, a simple, dedicated anti-material weapon? The only thing close is the Heavy Verpin Shatter rifle, but that is more of a sniper/railgun and its price, rarity and light-weightedness are just stupid! So I decided to homebrew one for myself, and for inspiration i turned to one of my favorite Star Wars weapons: the Bowcaster!
As we all know, just about any gun can be upscaled, and this thing is even Canon; in the Battle for Kashyyyk scene in the movies you can briefly see one of those flying boats with a wookie tail gunner firing an oversized mounted bowcaster. Also one of the nice things about projectile weapons is the possibility of specialty ammo loads, this in even mentioned in the Bowcaster weapon entry but unfortunately those are never stat-ed out, so i decided to include a couple of special ammo's for you guys too. Tell me what you think:
Wookie Heavy Bowcaster
Description: The forests Kashyyyk are home to many of the galaxy's most dangerous predators, and it is the Wookies that call these forests home that must most often face them. But while the famed wookie bowcaster perfect for downing a kinrath or branch runner, it not always enough. The Wookie Heavy Bowcaster was originally built to hunt down great beasts such as Wyyyrshokk spiders and Terentetaks, and is a larger version of its little brother, build using the same crossbow/magnetic launching mechanism and plasma envelope technology but firing much heavier, and slightly different, quarrels. Instead of a simple explosive round, the Heavy Bowcaster fires a large caliber quarrel with a solid durasteel tip in front of a small shaped charge that detonates on impact, driving the tip into and through the target. While the weapon is not equal in size or weight to something like a Heavy Repeating Blaster, the weapon's tremendous recoil requires it to often be mounted on a vehicle or in a concealed firing blind, as only the strongest of wookies can free fire this weapon without breaking a shoulder. The size of the weapon necessitates that all of them are build with Automatic-Recocking devices since even Wookies have difficulty cocking these large guns.
Like standard bowcasters, these weapons have often be pressed in to service as weapons of war.
Stats: Wookie Heavy Bowcaster
Skill: Gunnery
Damage: 14
Critical: 3
Range: Long
Encumbrance: 7
Hard Points: 2
Price: 8,000
Rarity: 8
Special: Cumbersome 5, Knockdown, Pierce 5, Vicious 1
The inventive wookies have also manufactured alternate munitions for the heavy bowcaster. These ammo types must be purchases separately, with each purchase buying 1 box of ammo. If the weapon ever runs out of ammo while using the special ammo, a new box must be purchased and reloaded.
One type involves the entire quarrel being filled with explosive wrapped in a case of fragmenting wire, designed to send shrapnel in a large blast radius.
Explosive Ammo: Change Weapon Profile to Damage: 10, Critical: 4, Special: Blast 7. Cost: 500, Rarity: 8
Another alternate munition is the made of 3 smaller blunt quarrels connected by durasteel wire. These heavy bola rounds can trip the mightiest of beasts mid charge. NOTE: it doesn't cost an extra [Advantage] to activate Knockdown on a size Silhouette 2 target.
Bola Ammo: Change Weapon Profile to Damage 5. Critical -, Special: Ensnare 3, Knockdown Cost 200, Rarity 8
Well thats it, tell me what you think.
For the ammo rules i borrowed heavily from the detonation rounds entry for the Czerka Arms Model 38 Sharpshooter's Rifle from Enter the Unknown (pg. 40). And as for why this thing isn't Restricted, well i point you to the aforementioned Verpine Heavy Shatter Rifle, and lets face it, the Empire has never given Wookie tech the respect it deserves.
Edited by truedragon5374