The Revised Inquisitor Armoury

[GAZKUL]

out of curiosity is there any chance of rules for Revolving Rifles, been watching a lot of westerns recently and wondered if there was rules for them, if they're already in then thanks

[MarcoSkoll]

Revolver rifles are actually already in development. So you know, planned/in progress additions include:
- Mare's Leg
- Thompson Contender
- MTs-255
- LeMat Revolver
- Xenos Weaponry (Currently only Eldar and Tau, but there may be more)
- Suspensors, recoil dampers and related shooting aids
- A few new ammunition types, including Sorcerous ammunition and Astartes Bolt rounds
- More disrepair effects
- And the one many of people have asked for, modifications and master crafting rules

There are also updates, the most relevant of which are to the Recoil and Hazard rules, but the Neural Shredder is also being rewritten, making it less limpwristed than the last rules did.

[Inquisitor Octavian Lars]

Can't wait to see the tau rules, from the fluff they were very reliable and easy to recharge. Just a bit of help if you wish to use it

[GAZKUL]

once again you amaze me, can't wait to see the rules.

on the Xenos weapons part, any chance of one or two Ork weapons, perhaps sluggas or shootas? i figured that they'd fall into the category of being heavy, loud,  jam prone, innacurate but with substantial punch.

cheers

[MarcoSkoll]

Afraid this is not version 6 of the Revised Armoury, it's v5.2 - it's basically the updated rules from version 6, but I've dropped a lot of the new additions that I was still procrastinating over (unfortunately, including the Xenos weapons section) and scrapped the fluff passages.
These were things that were taking a long time, so rather than make you wait for me to try and sort those out, here's the improved rules:

http://www.mediafire.com/?tmrdryt6eytxbho

It's not big stuff - a few additions, but it's mostly just standardising things to use the new stock rules (like Rending, Tearing, Light/Heavy AP, Fused projectiles, etc) and some mild changes where I had better ideas later on.

[Draco Ferox]

You have cleared up many of my questions about the document, and have fixed the spray vs scatter shot rules (in v5.1 scatter was better in every situation). I love the name change for the "compensating for something" revolver, and the new rending and the new rending, tearing and trivial rules add more depth to weapons, which is great. I still have a few questions, however:

1. Do sniper rifles and AMRs come equipped with a telescopic scope as standard (i.e. included in their enc) or do they have to have one fitted as a modification?
2. The heavy stubber has a higher fire rate than the auto stubber- is this right?
3. Are there going to be restrictions on attachments for guns, to prevent things like grenade launchers on pistols?
4. Where are the rules for covering fire, mentioned in the blank rounds section? I see them mentioned in the main rulebook, but can't find the effects.

[Aidan]

Excellent, an update! That's enough to get me out of my antisocial corner for a moment.

Looking good. Of course, now I'm going to be spending a while tripping up over older rules (and this is only the .2 update!) but I can see some good improvements. I'll also have to update a lot of profiles (with 80+ characters I have to worry about that more than most).

The simplification of damage rules is great, for a start - particularly the replacement of those negative damage modifiers with 'trivial' damage. This might make AP rounds more attractive, particuarly when put in low damage guns (those poor, suffering PDWs).

Liking the new recoil rules. A great many strength tests will be had now, I think. Am I to infer, however, that 'normal' recoil weapons no longer lose aims on semi-automatic fire?

One rule I think might be needlessly complicated is the new scatter rule. (I understand it powers down the brutality of scatter shot at point-blank) however, I'll give it a try and see how it works out. A good thing abou =][= is the ability to house-rule when you please.

. . .

There are still a few issues I can see - las weapons are still easy to over-power, for example, and I'll have to see if that trivial damage won't underpower some weapons too much.

This should give me a good excuse to cut down on my players' death ray guns, though. 

. . .

Might give more feedback as playtesting happens.

-Aidan.

[MarcoSkoll]

1. Do sniper rifles and AMRs come equipped with a telescopic scope as standard (i.e. included in their enc) or do they have to have one fitted as a modification?

Unless explicitly stated, weapons come plain. This does mean that sniper weapons can get heavy after bolting a multi-function scope to them, but this is not unrealistic.

2. The heavy stubber has a higher fire rate than the auto stubber- is this right?

Probably not. I'll flag it for rethinking.

3. Are there going to be restrictions on attachments for guns, to prevent things like grenade launchers on pistols?

No. While the rules do suggest that Aux weapons are only normally fitted to Basic weapons, if a player can make an odd combination  WSYIWYG, then I can't see why I shouldn't allow it. You could even have multiple Aux weapons on a pistol, but don't blame me if your character gets a reputation as a mall ninja.

4. Where are the rules for covering fire, mentioned in the blank rounds section? I see them mentioned in the main rulebook, but can't find the effects.

The Exterminatus Space Marine article.

now I'm going to be spending a while tripping up over older rules (and this is only the .2 update!)

Well, it's not really 5.2. It's really version 6, but it was missing a lot of the content I had promised and thus didn't get the title.
But given how large an overhaul it is, perhaps I should have. Or at least split the difference with v5.5 or 5a or something.

Dunno. Not really important.

Liking the new recoil rules. A great many strength tests will be had now, I think. Am I to infer, however, that 'normal' recoil weapons no longer lose aims on semi-automatic fire?

No, normal recoil weapons lose their recoil on Semi as they always have - even Light Recoil weapons still do that.
However, Considerable or High Recoil weapons can lose their aim bonuses on single fire or when used by characters with Rock Steady Aim (which I should probably make sure is noted).

And in theory, if I ever introduce High Recoil weapons that can fire on modes other than Single, those could even lose their aim mid-action.

One rule I think might be needlessly complicated is the new scatter rule. (I understand it powers down the brutality of scatter shot at point-blank)

Actually, they're exactly the same as they've been for all of v5 - reworded to use the "Degrees" terminology, but they play identically.

las weapons are still easy to over-power, for example

Actually, I did have concerns about this myself, but I broke my nastiest variant yet at the Ammobunker OpenBash on Saturday - the Callahan Fullwave Auto-Las. (Hotshot Magazine, Extended barrel, Blueshift Muzzle, 21 Megathule Lasing chamber, Triplex Phall Discharge Generator, Standard Frame, Skeleton Stock).

A 28 Megathule chamber would be "worse", but even at 21 MTh it was eating power packs like chocolate buttons and despite completely running out of ammo, I didn't actually put anyone out of the game.
In any case, GMs/Players should really be treating hellguns (or approximate equivalents) as getting up towards bolter territory anyway.

However, I think I may agree - and also think I have a solution. Scaling back the capacity of some of the larger powerpacks would mean there was more downside to using increased power settings (as opposed to just having so much ammo that it didn't really matter) without having to nerf damage stats.

I'll have to see if that trivial damage won't underpower some weapons too much.

It shouldn't do. Trivial(1), when compared to -1 damage, is more likely to beat armour, does more injury total damage and is as able to score two injury levels. It falls down on scoring three levels or more, but that's fairly rare anyway.

~~~~~

In any case, you two have brought up a few good points, so there may be a fairly prompt update to cover a few of these.

[InquisitorHeidfeld]

Actually, I did have concerns about this myself, but I broke my nastiest variant yet at the Ammobunker OpenBash on Saturday - the Callahan Fullwave Auto-Las. (Hotshot Magazine, Extended barrel, Blueshift Muzzle, 21 Megathule Lasing chamber, Triplex Phall Discharge Generator, Standard Frame, Skeleton Stock).

A 28 Megathule chamber would be "worse", but even at 21 MTh it was eating power packs like chocolate buttons and despite completely running out of ammo, I didn't actually put anyone out of the game.
In any case, GMs/Players should really be treating hellguns (or approximate equivalents) as getting up towards bolter territory anyway.

Blueshift muzzle... It gets closer to you? :-)

I wouldn't suggest Hellguns should be that potent personally, though a centre mass hit is going to finish you just as effectively a hit in the meat is going to leave a fairly neat hole... whereas a bolter round will penetrate and then explode - removing a large volume of flesh in the process. The wound is likely to be far more significant with a bolt.
While the mechanics don't necessarily differentiate sufficiently (and they certainly don't in 40k, for obvious reasons) it's the attitude of the GM which can turn that differentiation into something which adds to the story - though it can also lead to "meh, it's a flashlight".

I'm also wondering where the Autoguns/pistols are...

[MarcoSkoll]

Blueshift muzzle... It gets closer to you?

While not technically correct language, it's a lot more self-explanatory and easier to remember than the use of more accurate non-linear optics terminology.

Everyone with even passing knowledge of wave physics can remember "Blueshift" and those with a little more can get into their head what it's doing and/or why that might be important. But talking about "Harmonic generation" is going to go over a lot of heads, because it's not typically taught in school physics lessons.

I wouldn't suggest Hellguns should be that potent personally, a hit in the meat is going to leave a fairly neat hole

The primary wounding effect of a laser weapon would be the explosively fast boiling of the water content of flesh.
In a powerful laser weapon like a hellgun, the wounding effect would be very similar to the "penetrate and then explode" that you've just described bolters with.

In any case, my wording was "towards bolter territory".

I'm also wondering where the Autoguns/pistols are...

I avoided pinning any of the categories down to either term because they can be such a broad range of things.

Autopistol can easily refer to semi-automatic pistols, machine pistols or SMGs. Hence, an autopistol could come from any of those categories.
Autogun can refer to self-loading carbines, assault rifles and sometimes things that would qualify as light machine guns or squad automatic weapons. Hence, the same applies here.

This choice of terminology will be covered in the fluff expansion, but the autopistols/autoguns have been there since I put out the first version three years ago.

[InquisitorHeidfeld]

Except that Autopistols and Autoguns are quite different beasts from the stub-esque weapons used today...

I realise that the Inquisitor rulebook isn't entirely helpful in terms of flavour on the subject so:

"Auto-gun. An auto-gun is comparable to a twentieth century automatic rifle in appearance and operation - although it uses caseless, small calibre ammunition and has a rate of fire far outweighing that ancient weapon. Its main advantage is that it has a long effective range. These weapons often find their way into the hands of human militia, and are the standard arm in some less advanced cultures."

"Auto-pistol. Auto-pistols are rapid firing automatic pistols similar to twentieth century sub-machine guns, but more compact. Still occasionally built on human frontier worlds and carried by less sophisticated aliens, these are deadly weapons at close range."
(From Rogue Trader)

I also seem to remember something suggesting that the munition was explosive tipped and that that was one of the things which separated the Auto-weapons from the stubbers (which, along with Aliens of course, was what prompted me to nominate 10mm explosive tipped caseless for the Autoguns on Shike IV (and yes, 10mm isn't a small calibre round... unless it's the cartridge length)).

[Draco Ferox]

A couple of other small things- the descriptions from the last edition of most of the weapon classes seem to have gone walkabout, with only hunting rifles having the description now. For controlled mode on the graviton gun, you have ended up stating the same thing about hazards and burning it out twice- I suspect that this was due to changing the rules to reflect the new hazardous standardisation and not deleting the old piece of text about risky actions. Whilst it doesn't detract anything, it may be a little confusing for newer players to read the same thing twice in your armoury.
          Rifles can't use sorcerous ammunition- this seems sensible, as high ROF sorcerous bullets could prove more effective than a bolter in some cases, but I would imagine that a battle rifle would be the weapon of choice for many who don't want the attention that a sniper rifle brings, and don't have the contacts to acquire a bolter, but similarly want something with more range than a pistol or SMG. The same question applies to PDWs.
        Finally, the pump-action and semi-auto shotgun magazines appear to be the wrong way round, with the semi-auto shotgun having more shots. Again, is this right?

EDIT: Thanks for the clarification regarding auxiliary weapons. I now need to build me a model which has an auxiliary weapon with an attached auxiliary weapon with.... you get the picture.

[MarcoSkoll]

Except that Autopistols and Autoguns are quite different beasts from the stub-esque weapons used today.

In some sources, yes. In other sources, no. Your idea of "small calibre, high ROF" autoguns clashes with other sources where a large box magazine is all of twelve shots. Combine those and you'd get half a second worth of ammo per magazine as well as a bruised bum from the recoil.
And there are authors who've written about autogun casings.

With what is now 25 years of 40k, what one person thinks an autogun is will not be the same as the next person's idea. As such, that is why I've rendered equivalents of modern weapons (equivalents at least in role, but not actual performance) into the rules and left it up to the individual to decide what they want their autogun to be.

For you and your definition, then the Light Assault Rifle or Support Rifle would do nicely, perhaps with the "Lightened bolt" upgrade to represent the increased ROF of a caseless weapon.
For someone who likes the idea of an autogun as a brutal beast that can reduce a man's insides to mush with a glance, the High Calibre carbine would work, maybe with Manstopper ammunition.

The descriptions from the last edition of most of the weapon classes seem to have gone walkabout

The descriptions are meant to be being replaced, but they were taking too long, so I removed them so you could get the rules without having to wait. Hunting rifles are one of the cases where I failed to remove the text.

For controlled mode on the graviton gun...

Whoops. I'll sort that.

Rifles can't use sorcerous ammunition

Not intentionally, this is an error on my part. Any ROF issues are rather reined in by the cumulative Wp and Nv penalties for every round carried.

Finally, the pump-action and semi-auto shotgun magazines...

They are the right way around. The PA shotgun is more reliable and lighter, the SA shotgun fires faster and has more capacity.

EDIT: Thanks for the clarification regarding auxiliary weapons. I now need to build me a model which has an auxiliary weapon with an attached auxiliary weapon with.... you get the picture.

You mean this picture, I take it?

[Draco Ferox]

Just remember, Heidfeld, EYHBTIAL.

Also, one two more questions.

I'm currently using an iPod to view the RIA, and the section for semi-auto pistols seems to be entirely white. I can still highlight the table, and copy and paste entries from it, but it's not displaying. I'll edit this post with wether the same is true for the version on my computer (both the on and off-line versions) tomorrow.

Also, there appears to be an errant "note 1" in red text on the entry for the ultra-light sniper rifle, with nothing underneath the table to describe what it is for.

Just to clear up the scope issue, it was mostly a question from V5.1 where a telescopic sight gave a fixed +10 accuracy bonus, but I figured I might as well include it for the new scope rules, just so I understand fully how to use the armoury.


EDIT: Hmm. The semi-auto pistols appear fine on my computer. Probaly something to do with mobile browsing.

[MarcoSkoll]

I'm currently using an iPod to view the RIA, and the section for semi-auto pistols seems to be entirely white.

Not sure why that would be, it's fine on the version I have.

Also, there appears to be an errant "note 1" in red text on the entry for the ultra-light sniper rifle, with nothing underneath the table to describe what it is for.

Another oops. I'm trying to work on ways to make D6+1 into a more threatening weapon, but didn't get around to deciding which definition I was using.

Just to clear up the scope issue, it was mostly a question from V5.1 where a telescopic sight gave a fixed +10 accuracy bonus

Nah, it was a +5% to aim actions at 30 yards plus.
Mind you, I thought I'd changed that WAY earlier than this version. Shows how long I've been working on it.