I'm not sure if there are stats for necron warriors and their weapons in some of the more specialized books (I've only bought the core rulebook so far), but I wanted to have a got at creating stats for the basic Necron weapon: The Gauss flayer. Now I thought I should post it up so people can take a look and see if its too overpowered or silly in your opinion.

I'm hoping to have a single Necron warrior face my adepts at some point. As you can probably see from the attack explanation, the weapon can be utterly unfair if used by several enemies at once.

+++ Necron Gauss Flayer +++

Type >>> Exotic
Range >>> 12m
RoF >>> S/-/- (Special*)
Dmg >>> Special*
Pen >>> Special*
Clip >>> Infinite
Rls >>> N/A
Special >>> Gauss, Necron only, terrifying
Wt >>> 15kg
Cost >>> N/A
Avail. >>> Impossible

+++ Gauss +++

The gauss weapon is a fearsome weapon, enveloping its victim in a field of destructive energies, which flay its victim micrometer by micrometer, until nothing but a bloody skeletal ragdoll remains. The weapon functions as follows.

The wielder of the weapon rolls for hit as normal.
If the to-hit roll is a success by less than two degrees, the hit affects a single body part for this round only. The weapon can be fired normally next round.
If the to-hit roll is a success by two or more degrees, the weapon successfully traps its victim, lifting him/her off the ground by several inches and taking full effect on all parts of the victims body. The victim becomes helpless and can't do anything until the attack is broken off or the victim is dead.

+++ How to damage +++

Body part(s) damaged is subject to a flaying effect, whick quickly whittles down all physical matter.

If the body part(s) affected is armored, each round of effect lowers the armor rating of the armor by one. The damage is permanent and may not be countered.

If the armor is depleted, or there was none to begin with, the energy field begins to attack the body. (Normal clothes do not affect the attack). In the first round of damage beyond armor, the victims skin is flayed off, causing hideous disfiguration and near complete inusability of the affected body part (as well as the expected excruciating pain involved with flaying). The second round of damage flays out a good layer of flesh. In case of limbs, this translates to nothing remaining, but bone and a thin coat of flesh and blood. This effectively makes the affected limb unusable and causes massive bleeding and usually a shock or unconsciousness. If thus affected part of body was the head, the victim loses his/her skull and is likely killed by the cranial damage. If the part of body affected was the torso, the internal organs and ribcage suffer massive damage and the victim dies. On the third round of damage, the affected part of the body simply ceases to exist altogether, leaving naught but a pool of spattered blood where the victim stood moments before.

Thus, if the victim had 5 armor on all body parts, and 7 armor on the head, in 7 rounds the victim would be reduced to a discarded nearly undamaged head attached to a bloody skeleton barely held together by strips of flesh and sinew. In one more round (round 8), there would be nothing left of the victim, save for the skinless, eyeless head and a pool of blood.

GM's should add strength, toughness, fellowship and other such penalties to best describe the injuries and disfigurements suffered by the victim, if they do survive.

+++ About fate points +++

The victim of the attack can ONLY spend or burn fate points to avoid the initial attack (to dodge the hit). If the victim cannot avoid the full-on attack and is enveloped in the energy field, the victim CANNOT use his/her fate points in any way to escape the attack, or to preserve his/her life. Only outside help can cause the wielder of the weapon to break off the attack.

Note, however, that other characters can spend their fate poitns to make more successful attacks on the Necron wielding the weapon to break off the attack and to spring free the victim.

+++ Necron only +++

The weapon itself is a self-contained unit, complete with a near infinite power supply. However, the weapon CANNOT be fired by any living creature. Only a body made of Necron living metal can expend its internal energies to activate the gauss flayer.

+++ Terrifying +++

To witness, or to be attacked by the weapon is a terrifying experience indeed.
On each round the victim of the weapon is enveloped by a gauss flayer's energy field, the victim must make a Willpower test with the following modifiers to avoid panic:

Base test: Horrifying (-20 to WP). Add +10 to test modifier for each armor point left on the LOWEST armor value of the victim. If the victim fails, he/she is reduced to a screaming fit, which lasts until death or release. In case of release, the victim loses consciousness for 1D100+10 rounds and suffers 1D10 Insanity points.

Any who witnessess a gauss weapon attack which causes any damage beyond the armor of the victim, must take a Disturbing fear test, which in case of failure causes the witness to flee in terror for 1D10 rounds, dropping any heavy objects in hand to make for easier escape.

+++ Necron Gauss Flayer +++

Type >>> Exotic
Range >>> 12m (the range is too short, if necron used weapons this short range they would never win battles, also the guass flayer is akin to an assualt rifle in functionality) should be between 60-110m range...
RoF >>> S/-/- (Special*) (Again as above, why would a super powerful race have a single fire gun only???)
Dmg >>> Special*
Pen >>> Special* 0
Clip >>> Infinite (Good, cannon never mentions the necrons needing to reload)
Rls >>> N/A
Special >>> Gauss, Necron only, terrifying
Wt >>> 15kg
Cost >>> N/A
Avail. >>> Impossible

+++ Gauss +++

The gauss weapon is a fearsome weapon, enveloping its victim in a field of destructive energies, which flay its victim micrometer by micrometer, until nothing but a bloody skeletal ragdoll remains. The weapon functions as follows.

The wielder of the weapon rolls for hit as normal.
If the to-hit roll is a success by less than two degrees, the hit affects a single body part for this round only. The weapon can be fired normally next round.
If the to-hit roll is a success by two or more degrees, the weapon successfully traps its victim, lifting him/her off the ground by several inches and taking full effect on all parts of the victims body. The victim becomes helpless and can't do anything until the attack is broken off or the victim is dead. ( Arbitrarioly causign PC death wothout him being able to escape is bad play on the GM's part... it also doesnt make sense as a weapon, this doesnt line up with canon either, I would scrap it personally.)

+++ How to damage +++

(your rules are a wee bit complicated, also abit finicky, why does the Guass Rifle damage armour at 1 point per round but kill you in 3 after armour, perhaps you may want it to damage the armour first as you have it but from real damage, perhaps worded as such

1d10+1-2 damage, this damage is resolved against armour and cover first , reducing armour just as it would HP, the Guass Flayer deals 1 critical damage in addition to any normal damage caused to the opponent.)

+++ About fate points +++

The victim of the attack can ONLY spend or burn fate points to avoid the initial attack (to dodge the hit). If the victim cannot avoid the full-on attack and is enveloped in the energy field, the victim CANNOT use his/her fate points in any way to escape the attack, or to preserve his/her life. Only outside help can cause the wielder of the weapon to break off the attack.

Note, however, that other characters can spend their fate poitns to make more successful attacks on the Necron wielding the weapon to break off the attack and to spring free the victim. ( Why is this here, no player will want to try the challenge if thier Fate Points are arbitrarily negated, fate points causing survival can eb by any means... As a game mechanic this is way too harsh I think )

+++ Necron only +++

The weapon itself is a self-contained unit, complete with a near infinite power supply. However, the weapon CANNOT be fired by any living creature. Only a body made of Necron living metal can expend its internal energies to activate the gauss flayer. (good mechanic)

+++ Terrifying +++

To witness, or to be attacked by the weapon is a terrifying experience indeed.
On each round the victim of the weapon is enveloped by a gauss flayer's energy field, the victim must make a Willpower test with the following modifiers to avoid panic:

Base test: Horrifying (-20 to WP). Add +10 to test modifier for each armor point left on the LOWEST armor value of the victim. If the victim fails, he/she is reduced to a screaming fit, which lasts until death or release. In case of release, the victim loses consciousness for 1D100+10 rounds and suffers 1D10 Insanity points. (this seems abit much, too many finicky rules

Any who witnessess a gauss weapon attack which causes any damage beyond the armor of the victim, must take a Disturbing fear test, which in case of failure causes the witness to flee in terror for 1D10 rounds, dropping any heavy objects in hand to make for easier escape.

I based the design on descriptions given in the W40k Necrons codex, as well as the idea that the weapon (and the creature wielding it) is utterly alien in its workings and therefore bypasses rules that the players are so used to working with.

On your mentions about range and RoF: The range is short for a reason. I plan to make the Necron just as unforgivin and hard to kill as the 40k canon lets us believe. Boltgun shells to the head: BAH! It might just slow us down! Thus the idea is that the Necron slowly, unstoppably marches to its enemy and then unleashes this weapon in full terror. The RoF is ´single shot only, but as you can see from the damage explanation, with a good hit the weapon traps its target and can keep dealing damage until victim is dead if need be.

On your second point: It will be up to the GM to use this weapon and its wielder in a fair manner. If the player is forced by the GM to a one-on-one combat with a Necron wielding this, I think the GM should go look in the mirror. However, as a boss at the end of a scenario, this enemy/weapon combo could make for an interesting and terrifying encounter. (A singular Necron that escapes stasis field in a Mechanicum facility and slaughters those around it, turning against the players as they arrive, finally disappearing in a green haze and a bright flash just as the players thought they had the creature defeated.)

About damage: As mentioned in the weapon description (and in the official canon) the Gauss flayer literally flays its target. This would make it logical that it first goes through the armor, layer by layer, and then, as the energy field attacks the soft flesh directly, the damage rapidly escalates. The idea behind the mechanic was principally to avoid the standard damage system and to create a weapon that works outside the standard rules, making it seem more alien to the players as well as their characters. ("Wait! What!? What about my armor saves! What do you mean my power armor is being shattered!? WHAT!?") I admit it is a bit gimmicy, but I personally find your suggestion slightly boring... What is the point in having strange and alien weapons if they all abide the same rules. Of course it simplifies things, but don't you want to surprise the players occasionally? Keep them on the edge?

About fate: Again, I would not want to see a GM (I certainly won't) using this agains a single player character, who couldn't save him/herself. However, if the victims allies are fast enough, they might just be able to force the Necron to reel back due to damage or blast effects, and break off the attack, saving the victim. Again my goal was to portray a weapon that is alien, frightening and powerful at the same time. ("WHAT!? I can't use my fate point to get out of this mess! But the Emperor protects... Help! Somebody help me!" It would be recommandable that the GM portray the weapon in use agains an NPC first, so that the players can have some slight idea how the weapon works, making it easier for them to understand that this energy field weapon will not just let go because the Emperor will's it.

Sorry if I seem to take the critique poorly, I just wanted to try defending the way I created it for now.

Honestly... I don't think it quite matches up to what a Gauss Flayer does. They're not ordinary weapons by any means... but that doesn't mean they're quite so out-and-out lethal, nor so slow to take effect (a lasgun can incapacitate an unarmoured man in 3 hits on average, which may only take a single turn... so why does the arguably more powerful Gauss Flayer take up to three times as long?). Similarly, while Necron Warriors are extremely hard, they're not impossible to damage, slow or stop (that's why they've got self-repair and emergency teleportation capabilities)...

A Gauss Flayer does flay its target... but I've not read anything to say that it does so all at once, nor that it traps its target while it does so. Personally, I've always imagined the discharge of a Gauss Flayer to be akin to coruscating bolts of green lightning that turn whatever it touches into fine grey dust. A single hit from one might not slay utterly in a single hit (if it did, then why would you bother with bigger, deadlier versions?), but it'll blast through cover and armour and flesh and leave great gaping wounds that do not easily heal (IMO, 2d10+2 R, Pen 1d5+2 is sufficient as a baseline, adding that injuries caused by it impose an extra -20 on Medicae tests to treat, and reduce the armour value of armour and cover struck by the Pen value rolled - a single hit strips away armour and cover and leaves lingering wounds)

I can understand your intent... but I don't necessarily think that a normal Necron Warrior and a normal Gauss Flayer are the right choices to accomplish what you want to accomplish. Thankfully, the Necrons have the potential to possess all manner of bizarre and deadly weapons and machine-warriors, giving you ample room to create whatever you want for whatever devious purpose you have in mind. The 'alienness' of a given device or situation are all in the presentation, in my experience; a stack of complex rules aren't necessary, IMO.

I agree with N0-1_H3r3 and I would handle it in some similar way. Gauss weapons are strange and alien things for sure, but this should not be portrayed by needlessly complex rules but by how you describe them. The sound that they make when they fire, the malevolent glow of the power core, etc. Having complex rules for complexities sake is never a good thing and if you can give it the same actual effect by the normal rules then you should.

And since it is a pet peed of mine I would be pissed if a GM messed with how Fate worked for a single weapon. A good rule is to never make exceptions from core rules, they are there for a reason. I have seen it happen in other games (even in 40k). Armor A can never be ignored even by things that ignore armor. Attack B however can ignore armor even if it can never be ignored by things that ignore armor. Then along comes armor C which can never be ignored even if the attack can ignore armor that can never be ignored by things that ignore armor (true example).

How about this for a Gauss Flayer:

- Low Range. I'm thinking around 30m, which is short for a basic sized weapon.

- Single Shot.

I justify these because the Necron Warrior unit in Dawn of War had short range slow firing ranged weapons. The Necron Warrior units would also be slow moving, maybe having a trait that prevents any movement other than a half action move.

- High Damage. I'm thinking a 2d10 or 3d10 weapon. However since it flays the molecules, I don't think it would have any armour penetration.

Now for the special rules:

- Each time a character is hit by the gauss flayer, the AP on the hit location is reduced by 1d5 until the armour is repaired/replaced. If the AP reaches 0, that piece of armour is destroyed and any protection it provides against the local environment is also lost.

- If a player is taken below 0 wounds from a Gauss Flayer they do not take critical damage. Instead a hit on an arm or leg, will destroy that limb and cause blood loss. If the hit was on the body or head then the characters body is completely destroyed and the character does not survive.

If I ever make use of a Necron Unit, I'll want something that is a serious threat to a Rogue Trader group in equal numbers.

One thing about Necron warriors is that they don't really appear alone in the fluff, they work in groups and tend to phase or teleport out if to many of them are disabled. So making each warrior to much of a badass will make things difficult if you want to follow the fluff an find several of them at once

Although you could always find a necropolis about to awaken, and justify having only one or two active with that. But in this case I would personally go for a Tomb Spyder or a Wraith instead. Traveling down into a slowly awakening xeno temple while being stalked by a metal ghost that can pass through solid matter should make for a pretty good horror/stress themed story.

.

Unknown said:

Dawn of War also brought us Stealth Suits whose weapons (short range heavy bolter equivalents) struggled to deal worthwhile damage...

Bilateralrope said:

Any particular reason? When you've got a low Agility (as Necrons would generally have), you don't need to have your movement reduced further. Ag 25 and Hulking (same size as Space Marines in full armour) gives a half move of 3m, a charge of 9m and a run of 18m, which is already fairly slow.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

I was thinking of making them an enemy that keeps shooting as it advances on the PCs. Though now that you mention it, forcing them to only use half move is a bad idea. Maybe give them a modified form of hip shooting that works with Gauss Flayers, but with a -10 penalty.

As for using Dawn of War, I don't have any better options.

If you look at the tabletop they are not particularly slow (at least not normal warriors). They are not fast either, simply normal. Of course the table top is limited when it comes to speeds so this could represent everything from slightly slower to slightly faster than normal humans.

In my mind one of the core concepts of the Necrons is how relentless they are. The will move towards you and fire their weapons and simply never stop until you are dead. Even if you shoot them down they will just get up again and keep moving. Thats the image I would aspire to. So I would probably make it so that they never run, not really as a limitation but as in the way they fight. They always make a half move and fire their weapon (or stand still and do auto if they have the capability and are close enough). They don't run or dive headfirst into cover, they move slowly and with clear a purpose.

Honn said:

Is there any mention in any of the fluff that would support the Gauss Flayer having a rate of fire faster than single shot ?

Being stationary still lets them take a half action aim.

http://darkheresy.wikia.com/wiki/Necrons

I have had that link for a while. The stats for the units themselves seem decent if I add The Stuff of Nightmares to their traits. Maybe alter Phase Out so that they don't teleport away until a large percentage of their group is incapacitated. I'll hold off the fear test on Necron Warriors until one of the 'dead' ones stands up.

The problem with that link is that the weapons are rather weak. The only weapon given there that sounds threatening to RT PCs is the warscythe, but only because of phase out, which has it's description on another page: Phase Weapons count as as Warp Weapons, except that a Phase Weapon also ignores protection from force fields.

If I go with a penetration 0 weapon, I can expect that at least 10 points of damage will be stopped by an explorers armour and TB. I'm now thinking of making it around 2d10+10.

Well, IIRC they are rapid fire, meaning they have the same rate of fire as lasguns and bolters. But since the timescale is quite different from Dark Heresy things are lumped together so this could really mean anything. I don't remember any fluff that specifies the rate of fire.

Looking again at the tabletop the Gauss Flayer isn't actually that dangerous. Its a good weapon, pretty much identical to a bolter, but nothing over the top in any way and not great at cutting through armor (although good enough for normal flak). While Necron Warriors are dangerous they are still just "normal" troopers, a single warrior shouldn't really be a threat to an experienced group.

Honn said:

Are you comparing the gauss flayer to an Astartes or human bolter ?

From the Deathwatch preview we know that Astartes bolters do 2d10+5 pen 5 tearing with each hit. I think I'll up my Gauss Flayer to 3d10+10 to compensate for the lack of tearing and lower ROF.

Well the table top is more limited than DH so it can't show as much variety, but they are comparable to astartes bolters as far as can be seen. Don't remember exactly, but I think they are pretty much identical. So "not that dangerous" is a relativ term. Its not a melta gun that cuts through armor like paper, but its going to tear through most weaker stuff.

Honn said:

Identical after abstractions is still something I can work with, if I get details of the abstraction. So if you take two TT weapons that are identical except that one has rapid fire, how does that alter what happens when someone decides to attack with them ?

Actually they both have rapid fire

In the TT rapid fire allows you to fire twice instead of once in certain conditions (like range). It seems to me like an abstraction of hits, you get more shots at close range since your are spraying bullets, which is not so effective at long ranges.

Honn said:

So what kind of weapons (preferably weapons with official rules for DH/RT/DW) don't have rapid fire ?

Bilateralrope said:

In terms of basic, iconic weapons used by different species (and the locations where their 40kRP rules can be found), the Stormbolter (Ascension, Rogue Trader rulebook), Shuriken Catapult (Disciples of the Dark Gods, Creatures Anathema, Rogue Trader rulebook), Ork Shoota (Creatures Anathema, Rogue Trader rulebook) and Fleshborer (Oblivion's Edge scenario) are all Assault weapons (get X number of shots regardless of movement) rather than Rapid Fire (2 shots at short range, 1 shot at long range if stationary).

N0-1_H3r3 said:

I notice that all those weapons can fire at full auto, except the fleshborer which is single shot only. If the ROF on the fleshborer hasn't been reduced as part of simplifying the rules then it means that:

- Rapid fire includes full auto weapons (bolters) as well as semi-auto (lasgun).

- Assault weapons range from faster than full auto (storm bolter) down to single shot.

Since Assault weapons look to be mainly high ROF weapons but also includes single shot weapons, it means there is enough abstraction there that I have to get the ROF from other sources.

If the fleshborers get faster ROF when deathwatch is released, then it means that your answer is completely unhelpful, despite it directly answering the question I asked

So what kind of ranged weapons only get 1 shot each round on the TT ?

Bilateralrope said:

All Assault (and Heavy) weapons in 40k have a number associated with the weapon type, determining the number of shots (dice rolled to hit). Lascannons and Meltaguns, for example, are Heavy 1 and Assault 1, respectively, while a Heavy Bolter is Heavy 3 and a Shuriken Catapult, Shoota or Stormbolter is Assault 2.

There is no direct conversion method, really, but they can be used in broad terms to determine whether a weapon should be fast firing or not.