Okay, I was looking over IH recently and I have a couple questions about some stuff.

1. Is the Axe-Rake a 1 or 2 handed weapon, it just says it is R or I as well as primitive and unbalanced

2. Can Lightning gauntlets be used as Rending? It seems a bit odd they are Impact with the way their picture looks, which is more like a heavy duty lightning claw then a real punching item

3. What does silkmail look like? One fellow player thinks it is like chain mail, but with silk rings, but I thought it was just well woven special silk that is strong enough to be used as armor

4. Do Best Quality Photovisors look like small goggles? My thoughts for this are based on the shock gloves in the Radical's handbook.

PQ is crap, CQ is bulky, GQ is smaller but still noticeable, BQ can be disguised

Thanks in Advance!

To answer your questions:

1 - Since there is nothing saying it's a 2 handed weapon, I'd say it's one handed.

2 - Like the lightning chain, the fluff for these weapons say that they somehow store and release kinetic energy. That is what deals the damage, not the physical properties of the weapon. They are an odd weapon, which is why they exist in the exotic category.

3 - The silk part is just a name. Looking at the text, it sounds like it is just a well crafted set of chainmail, or maybe it was made with a lighter metal (it's from the same planet as the lightning chain and guantlet). But it's still chainmail.

4 - The way I house ruled photo-visors was that CQ was bulky. GQ could either have immunity to photon flash grenades, or be reduced in size to contacts/eyeglasses. BQ gets both.

Question 1.

I'd say one-handed very few melee weapons are actually two-handed and they are the exceptions not the rule.

Question 2.

Though the actual description implies it would do energy based damage, it possess the shocking quality and the fluff states it can cause burns due to the sparking discharge of kinetic energy, the Impact damage comes from the fact that it "stores" and then discharges the built up kinetic energy on impact. Thus, the hits have a bit of snap to 'em. If used, one would traditionally be throwing punches not swiping...probably why it's a gauntlet not a claw.

On a personal note, I was actually disappointed by this item. Nice artwork and cool fluff, but primitive and weak stats. Its also exotic which means unless your gm lets you upgrade it with mono (I would say giving it rending damage would make sense if you went this route and turned it into a claw type weapon) or a powerfield (if you're lucky this would change the damage to energy which actually makes sense to me) its a deadend item. There are better items out there that don't require their own talent, but if you like it, can pickup the training to use it, and have a gm that will let you do what you want with it... go for it.

I think someone had a cool idea, but for whatever reason failed short on the execution.

Question 3.

Not actually silk. Its lighter and finer than chain, but essentially chain so he's right. Like the mithril shirt bilbo gives frodo in lotr.

Question 4.

There is a lot of leeway on what they look like if you want them to be photo goggles that's fine. They can come in contacts so it implies all shapes and sizes from visor type blast shields on your helmet to contacts that let you wear sunglasses indoors increasing your character's cool factor.

Thanks

Yeah, the lightning gauntlets are a bit of a dissapointment overall

from france

not at all the acreage lightning gauntlet are quite good. per the errata they are a mélée weapons wich means they can be monoed witch improve their effectiveness. also remenber that they dissharge energy hence the shoke qualities with a litlle help from a tech prisest this can be use to fuel las pistol with forearm mounting.

plus compare them to similar obkect and once monoed they are better than the shock gauntlet who deals 1d5 damage.

I have checked over the rules, it is very strict. Any PRIMTIVE Melee weapon can be monoed. EVEN if it is not primitive and no matter what it is. So you can mono a table leg, but not shock gauntlets, as they are in the group of exotic, power, chain, shock, etc. group.

from france

i check the rules too it s exotic but also primitive and the erratat include arrows who are mléee weapon only if you use it as such.

so for me it can be monoed

The errata entry for Mono reads, "Upgrades: Any primitive close combat weapon." It then goes on to add a couple of exceptions like power weapons. There is no legitimate reason you couldn't add mono edged claws to the tip of each finger of the gauntlet.

Is the lightning gauntlet a close combat weapon?

Yes.

Is the lighting gauntlet primitive?

It has the quality which is what you want to get rid of. Mono doesn't change the class of the weapon so I don't seen an issue. and the wording in my opinion is open to interpretation cause technically it meets both requirements unless your gm is a jerk or if a designer steps in and wants to explain why the exceptions exist and why this wouldn't qualify.

I did notice a shock maul does the same damage has the shocking quality but not the primitive one. So stat wise it would work if you wanted a shocking weapon not as cool and about twice as much I think.

from france

i agree it s doesn't change the class of the weapon, they may be exotic but they stil are mélee weapon.page 99 table 3-2 feral and mélée weapons inquisitor handbook. a little clarification from my previous. in a old topics (wasn't able to fid wich one) a author said that for him it included arrows. anyway i asked it to the rules questions in the support.

in my opinion only alliens weapons can't be monoed because their thecnologies well are aliens....... and for what can be monoed if i take your point of view the "spindlethorn slieve blade" in the radical handbook p 152 is melee primitive weapons and not exotic ....... and its is a f......g plant. so you can mono a plant and not a gauntlet?

it sound absurd to me. the errata included hammer and say be creative for them why not for other mélee weapons

and here is the answer from Mack Martin

"Salutations Acolyte!

A bit is lost in the digital translation here, but I think that you are asking about mono weapons. If you take a look at the official errata, this passage appears starting on page 8: (

The Mono upgrade on page 142 should read “Upgrades: Any
primitive close combat weapon.”
The Mono upgrade on page 142 should include the addition
“The Mono upgrade can be applied to a power weapon, but it has
no effect when the power fi eld is active. If the power fi eld is ever
lost or deactivated, the Mono upgrade’s bonuses will then apply.”
9
There should be an additional special note that reads:
“The Mono upgrade may be applied to any melee weapon,
but when applied to close-combat weapons that do not use
an edge (e.g., hammers, mauls, etc.) it is defined differently. GMs
are encouraged to come up with interesting definitions for nonedged
weapons. For example, a hammer with the Mono upgrade
is defined as having a pneumo-shock enhancement. The in-game
effects remain the same.”

I hope this clears things up. Yes anything, even an arrow, can have the mono upgrade. However, if it doesn't use that edge to attack the GM will have to rule on how it functions, perhaps by creating something clever for your game, or if it causes a balance issue, disallowing it."

thanks mack so yes the acreage lightning guantlet can be monoed

I am still not entirely convinced that it can be, I know monoing works on hammers and technically you can mono a chair leg or broken bottle, but it is still a bit off.

from france

so you got a official answer and don't want it? you think that a broken bottle make a better choice for monoing (a improvised weapon) than a weapon (the gauntlet) ? okay have it your way. i don't care. do what you want with your game.

Um, I never said that, I just said that the mono-ing rules are complicated and at times confusing, as you can mono many things, even when it makes little sense.

But the official definition, as per the erratta is "Any primitive close combat weapon" Primitive is a group, so is Exotic and shocking and chain. A side of effect of mono is removing the primitive damage as well as adding pen 2, but from what I have seen you can apply mono to some of the few "primitive" weapons which lack the primitive quality.

Regarding the photo-visors: as was said, we allow for a great variety of patterns and designs for the equipment, but yes - the better the quslity, the easier it may be to disguise (seems logical, anyhow). I have mine as part of the visor of my helmet (BQ). But I used to have this bulky welder's goggles looking thing.

Yeah, that is probably the best and easiest way to deal with it, BQ is basically fancy, disguised, multi-function or something else (maybe two)