Let's say you're planning a game that will have a massive variety of equipment– anywhere from daggers and chainmail, to assault rifles and kevlar vests, to powered armor and laser guns. If so, six things are probably true:
1) You're awesome
2) So is your campaign
3) Your game will have hundreds of different weapons and armor options in it
4) You want these options to be somewhat balanced, such that plasma guns are better than longbows, but not realistically better– that is, the cowboy will be outmatched against the space marine, but will at least have a chance of doing damage and maybe winning
5) You don't want to individually write up those hundreds of items all at once
6) You want it to be easy to introduce new items as the game goes on, likely including weapons and armor designed by your players
I like the simplicity of systems that say, like, small weapons like daggers do d6 damage, medium weapons like longswords do d8, and large weapons like mauls do d12. In those systems, you can introduce any new weapon you want and immediately know what its stats should be.
This is the same concept, except a) much more comprehensive for systems where you have wide variances in tech level, and b) uses armor as damage reduction.
Weapon Types and Damage
Unarmed attacks do d3 damage.
Weapons fall into four sizes: small (dagger, pistol), medium (longsword, machine pistol), large (greataxe, rifle), and heavy (scorpion, mortar, bazooka, heavy machine gun).
In post-apocalyptic games, you have four tech levels: improvised or stone age weapons, low-tech weapons including medieval and wild west stuff, modern weapons of 20th and 21st century tech level like assault rifles and pump-action shotguns, and futuristic weapons like laser guns and lightsabers.
In cyberpunk games these have different names but are mechanically identical: improvised, civilian-grade (mostly legal with permit), military-grade (illegal but widely available), and cutting-edge (not mass-produced yet, the kind of stuff you'll be stealing from corporate research labs).
A weapon's damage value depends on size and tech level:
Improvised: d4 (small), d6 (medium), d8 (large), d10 (heavy)
Low-tech or civilian: d6, d8, d10, d12
Modern or military-grade: d8, d10, d12, 2d8
Futuristic or cutting-edge: d10, d12, 2d8, 2d10
Further, a weapon might have certain weapon tags, like it's silent, has an area of effect, needs to take an action to reload after every shot, or uses rare and expensive ammo. Every positive tag lowers the damage one step, every negative tag raises it a step.
A few exceptions: Automatic fire; weapons with full auto aren't less powerful, generally. Reach weapons aren't generally less powerful because greater reach isn't worth as much in these settings. And versatile weapons (can be used one or two handed) are kinda their own thing; the exact benefits of using two hands may depend on the weapon. Some tags are also not clearly positive or negative.
Examples:
Broadsword: medium low-tech/civilian melee weapon, d8 damage + STR mod, no tags
Three-section staff: large low-tech/civilian melee weapon, d8 + STR mod Tag: chain weapon, can ignore shields and be used to entangle enemies
Machine pistol: medium modern/military weapon, d10 damage. Tags: full auto, versatile (can only use full auto with two hands
Monofilament whip: light futuristic, d10 + DEX mod damage. Tags: chain weapon (ignores shields), precision weapon (uses DEX instead of STR for damage), dangerous (you hit yourself on a crit fail), powered (needs a battery or power source)
You can adjust somewhat from there, but use those as starting guidelines.
Armor Types and Values
As mentioned, armor acts as damage reduction rather than preventing you from getting hit. Shields, in this system, affect your defense (chance to get hit) rather than acting as damage reduction like armor.
Armor is divided by the type of material used and amount of coverage provided.
Armor Materials
Light primitive, like leather or cloth
Heavy primitive, like steel or iron
Light modern, like kevlar or plastic
Heavy modern, like titanium or modern steel alloys
Light futuristic, like aerogel, genetically engineered spider silk, or carbon nanotube mesh weave
Heavy futuristic, like liquid metal, adamantium, or crystalline metals
Certain mutant animal hides or carapace may count as modern or even futuristic material
Armor Coverage
Partial, less than half the body, like a jacket or vest
Majority, 50-90% of the body, like munition armor
Total, like plate armor or space marine armor
Armor Values
For armor with partial coverage:
d3- light modern or heavy primitive
d4- light futuristic or heavy modern
d5- heavy futuristic material
d6-
d8-
d10-
d12-
Roll your armor die when hit, counting a one as a zero, and subtract that value from the damage received.
Concealable form-fitting body armor made of spider-silk weave with aerogel reinforcement over the vitals: light futuristic material with majority coverage, d5
Space marine powered armor like in 40k: futuristic heavy materials, heavy total coverage (heavily encumbered and disadvantage to dexterity tests if it goes unpowered), d10
Bomb suit: Heavy modern materials, full coverage, ones actually count as one, specialized: explosions d5 vs most attacks, 2d4 vs explosions, fire and shrapnel
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