Acreage throwing knives

By Lars Thorson, in Dark Heresy House Rules

The party Assassin suggested these and asked me to derive stats, thought I'd get some feedback before submitting to our GM.

Acreage Throwing Knife

Class: Thrown Range: 5m Damage: 1d5+1R Penetration: 0 Special: Primitive, Shocking, Special Weight: 0.5 kg Cost: 25 Availability: Average

Special: If used as a melee weapon without insulated handgear, the wielder takes 1 Damage (bypassing Armor and Toughness) and must pass a Toughness check or be Stunned for 1 round.

Comments/Suggestions?

And shouldn't the Availability for the Chain and Gauntlet be swapped, the Gauntlet being "much rarer as they require far more skill to create"?

RT ItS has a shocking throwing weapon, shock stars I think.

Cost seems way cheap and availability too high.

Haven't seen the shock stars, our group is just getting started with DH. As for the cost and availability being low, I would agree, until you take into account the stats for the Chain and Gauntlet. A throwing knife would require far less material and skill to manufacture, thus the lower price and greater availability.

I'd up the rarity a notch or two when not on Acreage.

I would say 40 thrones a piece and availability Scarce or Rare....depending on your mood.

Though I must say you should encourage your Assassin player because throwing knives a rarely used

Knives in general are underpowered in this game. Even a chairleg or pistol butt deals more damage (1d10-2). In fact because of this I houseruled all knives to exchange 1d5 with 1d10-2 as default. I even modified Street Fighting to give a flat +2 damage to knives, unarmed and similar attacks.

It doesen't really seem to have unbalanced anything in my game yet, even though you could theoretically use knives as effectively as other uses swords if you have the right talents. And really, a knife is a very lethal weapon in the hands of an expert, and a pretty lethal weapon in the hands of an amateur compared to that same amateur's bare hands.

The solution to any Knife-woes is in the Inquisitor's Handbook, under War Zones -> Melee Weapons. Combat Knives deal 1d5+3 base, which IMO is better then a sword since the minimum damage is much greater. As far as I can tell, the standard "Knife" profile represents something akin to a large pocket knife, a 3-6 inch (~13 cm) blase with minimal serration, if any, and the stats reflect this well. An improvised weapon, at 1d10-2, has a maximum damage of 8, which is greater then a knife, yes, but the minimum is, for a weak (<30) character, 0, while a Knife deals a minimum of 1+SB. I think this covers the greater effectiveness of a blade over a table leg well, since getting stabbed hurts a great deal more then a glanced hit by a table leg and is far more likely to cause real damage, but an improvised weapon should have greater potential then a small blade, since a knife will never shatter your skull the way a 3 kg hunk of wood will. Furthermore, a knife can be upgraded with a Mono-edge, giving it penetration 2 and making it immensely more effective. There's nothing wrong with the current balance of Knives, and matching them to an Improvised weapon doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

I like your knife profile, but the cost is definitely too low. People often forget that a throwing weapon is easily picked up again, and that current knife can just as easily be used in melee. The lowest listed shock weapon is the Shock Staff, at 100, dealing 1d5+1, Pen 2, and you cut that to 1/4, which would render it more or less disposable, which it's not. I would put it at 50 Thrones, availability Common on Acreage, Rare elsewhere.

Just my (humble) two cents.