Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Spectral Arquebus (Wermspittle)

There's a terrible, underground trade in dead-lead; dull gray metal ripped scandalously from consecrated lead caskets and used to create shot for these weapons no one will take credit for having introduced into our lands. Like a pestilential scourge these Spectral Arquebuses cut down the flower of our knighthood, living or undead, without distinction or discrimination. These are vile, peasant's weapons that spread terror and anarchy in their wake...

Spectral Arquebus
Cost: No one will sell one for less than 75gp, and most will ask for twice that, depending upon condition & provenance.
Variable Damage: 3d4 + Save versus petrify or suffer discorporation or dismemberment (see table below).
Weight: 5 pounds unloaded, 2 pounds loaded
Rate of fire: Once every other turn
Chance of trapped soul: 30% (Base willpower 20 for influence check purposes)

A Spectral Arquebus actually gets lighter and more manageable once it is loaded, if one is using dead-lead shot. Anything else and the weight remains the same and the weapon incurs a -1 penalty to hit due to its unwieldiness. If used as a club there is a 25% chance of damaging the wrought iron firing mechanism, rendering it a heavy, unwieldy club until repaired by a gonnesmith or talented blacksmith.

4 comments:

  1. Like this a lot - there's something to be said for weapons requiring some kind of immoral behaviour to use properly.

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  2. @Satyre: Glad you liked it. These are very disruptive weapons. Very chaotic in their effect upon societies where they've been introduced. Chaotic and corrupting. Terribly destablizing. They foment anarchy and revolution.

    Who would have made such things?

    Who would sell such things to unsuspecting old model armies?

    Where do they come from?

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  3. The dismemberment table seems to have gone missing.

    Does the presence of dead-lead shot attract spirits and animated dead? It seems that its presence would be an affront to such beings.

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  4. The Dismemberment Table got missed in the process--thanks for pointing that out. We'll have it up there shortly.

    Dead-Lead does indeed attract spirits and will cause animated undead to pursue those carrying it to the exception of those who do not. It is not just an affront, though it does indeed offend the more intelligent/aware undead-types, it can also provoke a form of frenzy or pseudo-madness in otherwise mindless zombies and such.

    That was all included in the original piece, but was trimmed to reduce the size of the post. We'll do a post on Dead-Lead that will go into this and link it back to both the Spectral Arquebus and get the Dismemberment Table re-posted as soon as possible.

    Dead-Lead has a few other uses/applications that might be of interest to adventurers and undead-destroyers...and the more intelligent undead have uses for it as well.

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