Roleplayer #12, December 1988
CHANGES TO FIREARMS DAMAGE
The biggest changes in Basic
Set (Third Edition) involved firearms damage. Here is
a recap of some of these changes, along with the Shot and Immediate
Action rules from High-Tech.
Limitations on Damage
The amount of damage the limbs can take is limited; damage over HT/3 on
the hands and feet, or HT/2 on the arms or legs, is lost.
For a single blow to the torso, impaling or bullet damage of more than HT
is lost . . . it just goes "through" the victim and is wasted.
For the head or vitals, damage over HT x 3 is lost.
Beam, fireball or lightning attacks do double the above maximum
damage to torso, head or vitals.
However, there is no maximum damage for injuries to the brain. There is
also no maximum damage cutoff for weapons doing more than 15 dice basic
damage; such huge weapons do so much damage going through that any "wastage"
is moot.
Shot
Shot comes in many sizes. 20th-century standard loadings run from dust
shot, at 4,665 pellets to the ounce, to 000 buckshot at 100 pellets
to the pound. All shot can be assigned to one of three categories:
1) Buckshot has 1/3-inch or larger pellets, used for combat and
big game; 2) Birdshot has 1/10- to 1/3-inch pellets, used for birds
and small game; 3) Smallshot has less than 1/10-inch pellets, used
for target shooting, pest control and non-lethal riot loads.
A load of shot begins to spread as soon as it leaves the muzzle. No two
pellets have quite the same initial energy, mass or ballistic coefficient.
This increases the likelihood that something will hit the target, but decreases
the amount of energy that will be delivered. The amount of damage depends
on how much of the shot hits the target and the retained energy of each
pellet at that time. Retained energy decreases faster with shot than with
single bullets. Smaller projectiles lose energy to atmospheric resistance
faster than larger ones.
Shot loads are +1 to the base skill of the firer, but the maximum Acc bonus
is 5 (with a smoothbore) and may be less, depending on the weapon. 1/2D
for smallshot is 25 yards; Max is 150 yards. Birdshot and smallshot have
both 1/4D and 1/2D. 1/2D for birdshot is five yards; 1/4D is 10 yards; Max
is 50 yards. 1/2D for smallshot is three yards; 1/4D is six yards; Max is
20 yards. Most materials get a +1 to DR at any range. (The GM is the authority
on what materials -- soap bubbles, glass Christmas tree ornaments, typing
paper -- do not get the bonus. Human flesh does, except for the eyes.)
Damage from Shot Loads
Any smoothbore gun can fire shot loads. Use the gun's basic damage as for
a single bullet, but roll separately for each die of damage to determine
penetration against DR. Bonuses and penalties are applied to any damage
that gets through the armor.
Example: A smoothbore with damage 2d-1 hits, with a load of shot,
a man in leather armor (DR2+1 because the attack is with shot). Each damage
die is rolled separately, giving two 1-die attacks. The first roll is a
4. One point of this damage gets through to tissue. The second roll is a
5; two points penetrate the armor. Now the -1 to damage (because the gun
did 2d-1 basic damage) is applied. The human tissue also has the +1 to DR,
so only one point of damage is done to the target. This is a correction
to pp. 11-12 of GURPS High-Tech.
Rifled guns are not effective with shot loads. The spin imparted
by the rifling opens the patterns and makes them very irregular. After the
smokeless powder revolution (about 1890), most rifled guns have too small
a bore and chamber for an effective load of shot. Shot damage from a rifled
gun depends on bore capacity. Use this table:
Up to .25 -- smallshot only, damage 1d-5
.25 -- .35 -- smallshot or birdshot, damage 1d-2
.35 -- .45 -- smallshot or birdshot, damage 1d
.45 -- .65 -- smallshot, birdshot or buckshot, damage 2d-5
The greatest possible Acc with a rifled gun firing shot is 3; the greatest
Aim bonus is 1.
Ammunition
Name DMG Damage Modifier
Pistols, .40 caliber x 1 x 1.5
Pistols less than .40 caliber x 1 x 1
20th C. (FMJ) x 1 x 1
20th C. rifles (SP) x 1 x 1.5
pre-20th C. x 0.5 x 2
20th C. .22 LR x 1 x 1
Smoothbores (ball) x 1 x 1
Smoothbores (shot) x 1 x 1
Smoothbores (slugs TL6+) x 2 x 1
Armor-piercing x 2 x 0.5
Hollow-point x 0.5 x 2.5
Note: The bullet, not the gun, is what determines damage. Changing
the type of bullet for the gun can change the damage. The Damage Modifier
is applied to whatever damage gets through all of the target's DR.
Immediate Action For Revolvers and Multi-Barrels
If a revolver malfunctions, the user can always hope the problem was with
the ammunition and pull the trigger again, rather than taking immediate
Action to fix the gun. Similarly, the user of a multi-barrel
gun can try to fire another barrel.
If the malf was the result of a critical failure, the GM already knows what
is wrong with the gun, and can play it accordingly. Otherwise, the GM should
immediately roll against the weapon's Malf number, minus 2 For weapons with
no Malf number, roll against a 15. A "failed" roll (greater than
the Malf number) indicates a true malfunction; the next bullet or barrel
won't work either. A successful roll means the next shot can be fired normally.
(Back to Roleplayer
#12 Table of Contents)