The Bowcaster... underpowered? My take on it.

[vanir]

A lot of the RAW for personalised equipment is clearly designed for house ruling on penalties, with suggestions supplied by listed material.

eg. blaster pistols do 4D

you can modify one, +1 pip, +2 pips, after that you get penalties and the maximum is +1D+2 on any stat before it has to be completely re-engineered as a new class of weapon.

ie. using blaster repair you can go +1D+2 max, with penalties. Using (A) blaster engineering you create an entirely new weapon with a specific GM ruling on nature, features and quirks (and cost and difficulty or other requirements).

eg. a heavy blaster pistol does 5D, essentially a modified blaster pistol variation placed into mass production by arms companies but it sacrifices range and ammo capacity for reliability at the higher output in the same weapon class (blaster pistols).

if you don't want to sacrifice range for the higher power output, you come up with a hybrid pistol/rifle in the blaster carbine, limited ammo but good ranges and a bigger and heavier frame. The reason you can't further field-modify a blaster carbine without serious problems is because it already is.

Same reasoning a heavy blaster pistol modification would be limited to 5D+2, it's already a modified blaster pistol design to start with.

The aforementioned are really examples of modifying a blaster pistol, and serve as a guideline for GM ruling on player mods.



Just apply the same measure to the bowcaster. Straight up 4D+2 is no problem, and some tribes probably make that power rating as standard for theirs. Others might have scope features for a +1D fire control instead.

Now because of the nature of the Wookie Bowcaster there's no rationalé really to give it any penalties for damage modification, it already has limited ammo, is hard to use and has a limited range.

So given that, player mods or unique bowcasters (say a Wookiee hero's personal weapon), shouldn't have any trouble weighing in at up to 5D+2 damage.
This already makes it slightly better than a blaster pistol. Considering it uses a very different approach and was never designed to be quite as high powered as military grade energy weapons of the best galactic manufacture, it's quite an accomplishment.



Now all that's not to say you couldn't re-engineer the thing to do up to 7D damage, but you'd have to place some penalties if you wanted to keep it in the same class.

eg. a 6D+1 damage re-engineered bowcaster might require a vehicle or bipod mounting, even for a Wookiee. It might be 2m long.


also keep in mind the standard measure for the damage capability of weapons in SWRPG is a 2D "standard galactic citizen" irrespective of the source or manufacturer.

[Naaman]

TFA SPOILERS!!!!!!
































So much for bowcasters being too large/heavy/awkward for non-wookiees. And they CLEARLY do significantly more damage than a blaster rifle/heavy blaster pistol.

I still feel they warrant a unique skill (Han's dex should be high enough to hit a storm trooper who has a penalty to dodge on account of armor).

So lets see... 6D damage?

[Whill]

Some things to consider. I've always ruled that it doesn't take Wookiee strength to fire a bowcaster, only to load it with the ammo cartridge. That isn't changed by the new film. The other thing to consider is, Chewie may have a modified his bowcaster. I didn't see anything to make me think that his bowcaster is necessarily typical.

That being said, I agree about the increased damage for Chewie's bowcaster based on film evidence. And should we also consider an area of concussive effect? Didn't it hit the ground near two stormtroopers and they both went flying?
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[shootingwomprats]

Seriously I post nine friggin ships/vehicles to the forums and THIS is the thread that gets noticed? How damn powerful or underpowered a weapon is? Now I understand I am in an EXTREME amount of pain currently (gout in the right ankle) but come on!
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[garhkal]

Maybe this is the only one people wanted to comment on..??
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[Naaman]

[Whill]

My Bowcasters did already predict the film aspect of beings of lesser-than-Wookiee-strength being able to fire the weapon.

[CRMcNeill]

It's noteworthy that WEG's stats for the Bowcaster are entirely based on Brian Daley fleshing it out for his Han Solo trilogy. I'm not even sure if it was ever called a bowcaster in the films; in fact, Luke specifically calls it a crossbow in ROTJ. In fact, also in ROTJ, Chewie gets off multiple shots at a fleeing speeder bike in pretty rapid succession, possibly too fast for a pump-action weapon.

I recall seeing alternate stats posted once where the bowcaster was more of an under-over weapon, combining a blaster rifle with a more standard crossbow which had the advantage of being silent. Alternately, since this is Star Wars, it could be a crossbow-style weapon that uses gravity pulses to fire its bolts, as opposed to the more mundane kinetic energy of a tensed string.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

[garhkal]

[Naaman]

Interesting.

Is it general consensus that Chewie's bowcaster (or crossbow) is upgraded, or are we generally split on this?

In the end, I tend to think of the bowcaster like a lightsaber: each one is unique and custom made according to the needs of the maker and the materials available. Though, we DO have a "standard" set of stats for lightsabers, and on that basis, I'm inclined to rule that even if a bowcaster is unique, that it still uses the same basic stats as 99% of all other bowcasters.

If that is so, then I'd say that the base bowcaster should do substantially more damage than 4D, and even be noticeably more powerful than a proper blaster rifle. To me, 6D feels just right.

I also am intrigued by the idea of an over-under deal, having the option to fire either blaster rifle-like energy bolts or crossbow bolts with the benefit of silence. Although, I'm 50/50 on the concept: can't decide which is cooler: the "traditional" bowcaster or the over-under deal.

[CRMcNeill]

My problem with the "traditional" bowcaster is that a blast fired from a bowcaster in the films is indistinguishable from other blaster weapons. The scene where Chewie takes out the speeder bike in ROTJ is pretty distinctive, but TFA also gives the bowcaster plenty of on-screen action, and it behaves much like a blaster there, too.

The more I think about it, the more I'm inclined toward the under-over version, with a high-powered blaster as the primary and a crossbow as the under. You could even keep the stats for the bowcaster as the stats for the crossbow, with a Silenced Weapon rule thrown in. On top of that, you can throw in rules for different kinds of quarrels, which make the bowcaster even more versatile. That'd also be a useful explanation for all the ammo on Chewie's bandolier; he's packing for the blaster as well as multiple quarrel mags for the crossbow.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[garhkal]

In the sparks group, we do have a wookie resistance fighter template which has special quarrels for their bowcasters, and have them 'upgraded' using the main rules for weapon upgrades, to 5d base damage (1d above normal)..

bandolier with 50 standard quarrels,
10 explosive quarrels (+1D damage),
10 stun quarrels (stun damage only),
5 glop quarrels (radius 0-1/3/5; damage 6D/5D/3D; opposed strength roll to break free)

On of the other quarrel types that was offered up during the council discussion when the template was being made, was an Ion damage quarrel, specifically for anti-droid use, but it was voted down iirc.
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[Whill]

[CRMcNeill]

I'll be seeing it again this afternoon, so I'll keep an eye out for it.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index