Capítulo 2: La Vuelta a Colombia entre pueblos y naciones
2.3. Pedaleando al exterior: diplomacia deportiva
A rapido fires dozens, if not hundreds of rounds per minute. These weapons store ammunition in long, curved boxes, heavy drums or on long, snake-like cloth belts. Swapping out a box or drum is a move equivalent action. Changing an ammo belt is a full round action.
Rapido Magazines: These curved ammo boxes
hold 30 rounds, ready to fire. They are designed to plug into the top, side, or bottom of the weapon. Orc armorers are notorious for putting their ammo feed-ports in decidedly quirky locations, and it seems that every weapon works a little bit differently.
A loaded rapido magazine costs 35 GP, and weighs about a pound.
Rapido Drum: This huge, flattened barrel fits on
the underside or top of a rapido, and holds 60 rounds. A loaded rapido drum costs 70 GP and weighs about four pounds.
Rapido Ammunition Belt: Only a few specific types
of rapido can be belt-fed. Those that are possess more firepower than an entire rifle company. A loaded ammunition belt is nearly 6 ft long, weighs upwards of 20 lbs, and holds 200 rounds of ammunition. These belts cost upwards of 300 GP.
Magical Ammunition and Magazines
It’s possible to mix magical and mundane ammunition within the same magazine, drum or belt. The prices given above are for mundane quality ammunition. Special ammunition can be mixed into an ammo holder at any ratio the shooter can afford. Just keep track of where in the shot sequence the special ammo is located (example, the 1st, 5th, 10th and 20th shots). However, for the sake of simplicity, only one form of special ammunition may be added to a particular magazine, belt or drum.Boom Shaft: Boom Shafts are the most aptly named
firearm in existence. A crude bugbear invention, this bastardized, knock-off version of a repeater is as dangerous to the shooter as his enemies. This weapon is a large and bulky pistol. It’s rotating barrels consist of six fore-arm length tubes, each loaded with an arrow-thin shaft of sharpened steel. The weapon uses controlled Draksmoke ex- plosions to launch the barrels, as bugbears haven’t mastered the concept of ‘firing pins’ or hammers yet. The Boom Shaft inflicts half it’s base damage on its shooter every time it is fired. This damage is not multiplied on a critical hit. Bugbear pistoleers pray for critical hits, which hurt a little, but usually blow their enemy apart in a single good hit. Boom Shafts function like lesser Draksmoke weapons and ignore up to a +3 armor, natural armor or shield bonus to AC.
Black Burner: A Black Burner is a deadly flame
cannon fueled by draksmoke-laced alchemist’s fire. A thick, cauldron-like tank is worn as a backpack, and burning, clinging fuel spews from a long, carbine-like weapon attached by a thick leather and brass hose. The wounds inflicted by this terrible weapon never fully heal, often leaving behind layers of gnarled black scar tissue, giving the fearsome weapon its name.
A Black Burner can belch out a 10 ft line of flame as an attack action, inflicting 4d6 points of damage to anyone caught within its path, with a DC 16 REF Save allowed for half damage. Those burned by the flame must also succeed at a DC 16 FORT Save or suffer 1d4 points of temporary CON and CHA damage, from the massive tissue damage caused by the flames.
The tank can hold up to 6 shots. Each shot requires the use of a single unit of refined Draksmoke. If lesser Draksmoke is used instead, the REF and FORT Save DCs associated with the weapon are reduced to DC 14.
Using a Black Burner isn’t without its risks though. The tank has Hardness 10 and 20 hp. If breached, or if the wearer fails his save against any fire-based attack, it explodes inflicting its damage upon the wearer without allowing a save.
Gnoll Bludgeon: The Gnoll Bludgeon is a massive,
multiple barreled longarm. This impressive weapon fires two to four barrels simultaneously, and has multiple in-line magazines which feed large caliber rounds into each magazine with a single pump of the loading slide. Originally invented by Gnoll bandits, this fearsome hand cannon is often found among Orc and Dwarven warbands. With it’s short range, but massive damage, it is also a favorite of guild-aligned rogues, who use it to blow open doors or chests as often as they use it to kill targets.
Hold Out Shooter: This tiny, single shot pistol
is small enough to fit into a lady’s hand and is designed for quick operation and shocking surprise. Popular with thieves, mages, and women of all races, these easily concealed weapons are a great equalizer, especially in a grapple. A Hold Out Shooter receives a +2 circumstance bonus on Sleight of Hand checks made to conceal it. A character who is proficient with the weapon may fire a Hold Out Shooter as a free action, once per round.
Bard’s Favorite: This variant on a hold out shooter
is used by clever (or larcenous) bards from dozens of nations. Invented by a gnomish bard with a penchant for gunplay, who tired of the obvious solutions for weapon concealment: instrument cases. This shooter is built directly into a Medium or larger masterwork quality musical instrument. Guitar guns, a trumpet or saxophone with a surprise built right into the brass. More than one bard has escaped a tight situation by reaching for his favorite ‘instrument’.
The modifications to the instrument put it slightly out of tune, costing it the masterwork bonus on perform checks. The weapon acts as a basic pistol with a +0 attack roll (Perception DC 22, Disable Device 18), attacking anyone who plays the instrument without ‘safeing’ it in a way unique to each musician and instrument. The Bard’s Favorite can be fired as a standard shooter, but its unique construction imposes a -1 penalty on attack rolls with the weapon.
Killbore: This heavy weapon is often used to
tunnel beneath a besieged castle or cut through defensive trenchworks as well as in civilian mining, and is rarely used as a melee weapon. More precise than tapping-casks, this new device has found a warm reception in Dwarven mines. When it is wielded in anger though, it’s capable of mincing a knight in full field plate!
The Killbore is a huge steel drill, the head of which is nearly as wide as a man’s torso, covered in row upon row of jagged teeth. The shaft of the enormous device is a clockwork engine fed sulfurous fuel. This weapon belches black stinking smoke when in use.