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My characters tend to become attached to particular weapons that they use even if there are better weapons available. They'll use something else if they have to, but otherwise they'll reach for "old faithful". Often it's a weapon that they start with, but sometimes it's something they acquire along the way.

This is a trait common of fictional characters in movies and books, but in my experience, RPG PCs tend to switch weapons whenever a "better" weapon becomes available (just like in many videogames). But rather than assume my experience is representative of the entire gaming community, I thought I'd start a poll and see how things turn out.

Some times I have charters that have a signature weapon that they favor above all else. Some times the charter just use what ever works depends on how I see the charter. In the case of a ninja tw i had his signature weapon was a bow that he used with tech and TW arrows. So it was more useful than most normal weapons.

I seldom change a character's weapon, but not due to any significance to the character.

Honestly I play a JA-11 and Modified Dead Boy armor. Who ever is in it ... well that is less important
Be it a Juicer, a CS Ranger, a transformed ice dragon, maybe a Atlantian UD Slayer.....what ever....

Player: Fell
Character Name(s): Elise & Daisy
O.C.C.(S): JA-11 & Dead Boy Armor!

just kidding...?

Depends on the character really.

Cyber-Knights, Assassins, Gunslinger and Gunfighter usually have a favorite weapon or method of killing.

I'm goofy though, and will play scholars and non-combatant OCCs even in a hack and slash game. They tend to be less picky on what the fight with and more concerned with just surviving. Although I did play a scientist one time that had a couple of robots he built that fought for him, so I guess you could call those his signature weapons.

One of my characters is attached to Wilk's guns.

another loves to enter melee combat with his tattoo claymore. His favored weapon for ranged combat is a KEP pistol from Atlantis... he also likes Naruni guns and plasma ejectors.

I have had two characters where the dice seemed to favor use of a given weapon over other weapons available (or made available). I kid not, one was a scientist where the dice favored him using a crowbar over scavenged guns and another was a RT Cyclone operator (1E) where the dice again favored wielding CADS over mini-missiles and gun.

Also had a master psychic who could be said to have a signature attack utilizing his powers.

ShadowLogan wrote:I have had two characters where the dice seemed to favor use of a given weapon over other weapons available (or made available). I kid not, one was a scientist where the dice favored him using a crowbar over scavenged guns and another was a RT Cyclone operator (1E) where the dice again favored wielding CADS over mini-missiles and gun.

Also had a master psychic who could be said to have a signature attack utilizing his powers.

LOL some times it happens I had a paladin in DnD that the dice favored unarmed strikes over weapons. When I attacked with weapons I rolled 1s when I ran out of weapons and punched or grappled I would roll a 20. Do not think any other charter lost or broke as many weapons.

Never on accident ...

So unless my character was created with a weapon of choice (my TW sharpshooter liked his TW Sniper Rifle) it hasn't come up

The only character I ever made with Enchant Weapon: Minor had a small .22lr machine pistol that he used with enchanted bullets. It was a high-powered phase world campaign and half-way through it we detoured back to Earth to stock up on more .22lr ammo. The other players were highly amused.

Another character was a Titan Ley Line Walker with a custom TK machine gun made for his huge hands. I don't think he ever used any other weapon.

When mercenaries introduced ramjet rounds, I played a gnome wilderness scout that had a gnome-sized lever-action rifle chambered for 9mm. It did 1MD with ramjets and couldn't fire bursts. Decent for hunting, terrible for combat, but he used it anyways. I think we used pistol stats for range and SDC damage.

Less interesting, but many of the characters I've played started with L-20 pulse rifles and used them almost exclusively until the character was retired or the campaign fizzled out.

My signature weapon is Bionics. Though lately the Paladin Steel Pulverizer Super Shotgun is quickly beginning a Favorite Weapon.

well I do have a character that had an interesting "signature" weapon.
the char for several years (of RL time) used the old 10MDC damage taking shemarrian railgun as her go to weapon
this is when due to D hopping, the char had a couple lightsabres, tons of blasters, phasers, and other general weapons she still used the shemmarian rail gun.

in fact a couple years ago when I played the character again she even went so far as to build a robotech syncrocannon into a dimensional pocket inside a shemarrian railgun shell, so it LOOKED like a shemmarian railgun and then when she fired it ... BOOOOM 50ft wide 2 mile long path of "absolutely destroyed" stuff.

Ive played a Juicer that loves short range combat and arms himself with as many pistols as he can holster to himself and will jump within pistol range using jump boots

One of my favorite recurring NPCs is a Mega-Juicer dual wielding juicer chainsaws.

In a Three Galaxies campaign I made a gunslinger that used TW flintlocks exclusively. He had a dozen or so in holsters all over his body with a length of cord tied to them so he could draw, fire, and drop them without losing them.

Rune weapons make for great signature weapons.

Most of my characters end up with a signature weapon (or signature weapons) at some point.
Some of them start off that way (the Private Investigator who never went beyond his trusty Wilk's 320, or the flooper assassin with his paired NG-57s and fusion blocks), but many of them end up acquiring their weapon of choice along the way at some point.
"Killer Cyborg From Heck," for example, acquired his paired TB-9 Auto Pistols on Mars, and his runesword Mindprancer on the world of Palladium.
"Basil The Bold" started off with a nonmagical wolfen longbow, then upgraded to a dwarven-made longbow which he then started heaping enchantments onto as he got the money. His two magical daggers, "Godbolt" and "Spite" he custom-ordered from an alchemist once he got enough money for them.

In many ways, Palladium is a system where most power upgrades come in the form of gear, so most of my characters trade up their equipment as soon as something better comes along, until they reach the power-ceiling where further upgrades don't make significant difference.

Most of my char's have signature weapons, that they prefer over others, even one's with better stats.

Often this is a Light saber (Wilks laser sword, well the NG knock off or other 'energy' sword), for the melee, and Northern Gun Firearms for pistols and rifles. For ages, even before the NG books came out, NG was presented as the "Drop it in the mud, run over it with a tank, have a gargoyle chew on it, and bury it in the sand for a year, then pull it out, knock the crud out of it and it'll still work first time, every time" sort of weapons/company. So they got a sort of Customer Loyalty from me and often my groups.

Then I actually moved up here to the area and it cemented it even further. Not only is it a Customer Loyalty thing but "The home team" Sort of loyalty.

I know other weapons often have better 'stats' alot of the time. That's fine. Often my char's are still loyal to NG stuff. Not to suicidal levels. If they're disarmed or something and find/steal another weapon they'll use it. It's just a "strong preference"

They'll use NG Guns over other guns if the option is possible.
They'll use NG Lightsabers (Or other light sabers/laser swords, whatever) over vibro blades.

To be specific, I love the NG-LG6 Laser Rifle and Grenade launcher.(Mercenaries pg 100, but pops up in other placed too) The one Breaux ripped off from Aliens. lol That's my "Go to rifle" Though in our games time has passed and they're up to the NG-LG8. A bit lighter, a bit more range and higher payload. Nothing stupid but more on par with other guns(But that's a house rule. I'll use the book standard LG6, if GMs aren't keen on progress or such)

I've had a few characters with signature weapons:

My Temporal Wizard started with the TW Ice Shard pistol and I intended that to be a signature weapon for him, but I think he only ever got to use it once. Eventually he acquired the rune sword Lytsong (from Palladium Fantasy) and the two became inseparable after that. Level 11 is a tough time to pick up W.P. Sword but damned if he didn't do that and I never regretted it.

The last super-hero character I played had a power to create knives/daggers and specialized in knives, knife-throwing, and paired knives. She acquired two Mecurial Daggers (from the Black Vault book) that she took a liking to and served her well throughout her career.

The 'Borg mercenary I played years ago enjoyed the single-shot mini-missile launcher from Rifts Mercenaries. It wasn't the most powerful weapon then, and it gets eclipsed pretty badly in later books, but it was his go-to weapon and some of the most memorable scenes with that character came from that weapon.

None of the other Rifts characters I've played have really had a specific, signature weapon that I can recall. My early days in Rifts I was all about the damage over the flavor, so whenever something that could do more damage presented itself I casually discarded whatever it was that I was using and gladly upgraded.

I have favorite weapons, which often become the signature of a character.

For example, I had(ve) a Headhunter who used a Q1-02 all the time. His best friend got killed, and he also used one, except his had a four-leaf clover inscribed into the handle.

Now I had(ve) a Headhunter who uses a pair of Q1-02s all the time.

Or larger weapons depending on the range, but his favoured sidearms are these.

I tend towards melee with my characters and if I can help it they have a pair of wilks laser swords. GM permitting I usually go nuts with my character working on and customizing the weapons with often cosmetic tweaks. Can't tell you the number of times an easily concealed competitive damage blade has saved my characters and in a one campaign the freaking world.

most of my characters have something like this, though i suppose i should define the term as i see it.

IMO there are several different types of signature weapons.
There are the decorated weapons. which are basically normal stats but they have special paint schemes, markings, or decorations that make them stand out. a lot of my rifts characters have these since they are an easy way to give your character a little extra depth and descriptive appeal. note that these don;t have to be fancy decorative. a little tape on the grips or magazines, or a bit of graffiti go a long way, if it is well thought out. other examples would be things like patterns made from brass-tack, carved images on the stock, etc.

then there are the Customized weapons. weapons that have been, with the GM's permission, fitted out with mods. be it the simple and straight-from-the-book options like fancier Scopes, re-balancing, or custom fitting, or the GM-approval-only stuff like having different stats, or a special feature.

also Unconventional weapons. these are ones that while more or less 'normal' in stats, manage to stand out for being distinctive or less common. like say a character that carries a Ruger Mini-14. or a .44 magnum. or a Mateba Autorevolver. otherwise regular options that still manage to stand out in some way.

as well you have out of place weapons. these are the weapons that you'd not expect to see in the hands of that OCC or in that area of the world. like a New navy assault rifle in central colorado. or a Vagabond with a machinegun. etc. the things that catch your attention for being not just out of place, but outright going against expectations.

I like having signature weapons for my characters.

First character I ever played was a Plains Borg and the GM gave me the I-11 Long Gun as my starting weapon. This sucker had a +1 to strike, 1d6x10 md per blast and was nearly 6 feet long.
People moved out of your way in a hurry when this thing was strung across my back. I didn't even bother using a pistol for close range, I would either strike them with the butt of the gun or use my hands.

I had a Psi Slinger that favoured the Wilks-Remi line of products because they looked like Pre Rifts firearms. He would carry paired Wilks-Remi 136 "Big Man" or 137 "Kingdom Come" and liked the "Judgement Day Rifle".

I had a Gun Slinger that was only a teenager so he had custom made grips for his guns so they would feel more natural in his grip. Not a huge change but just had slightly smaller grips to fit his smaller hands.

My Grackle Tooth Gun Fighter liked to use the Big Bore series of weapons.

I had a Chiang-Ku disguised as an older man and I took all the healing psionics, he gave me a staff that let me purify water and things like that. So I used it for that, and clubbing people on the head.

I was a glitter boy pilot once, does that count as a signature weapon, lol

Like ShadowLogan mentioned above I played a Military Specialist in a game of Chaos Earth that favoured his pistol over his rifle simply because he got better rolls whenever he used it.
He couldn't hit the broad side of NEMA MX-422 APC from point blank range with his NEMA LSR 250 "Sharpshooter", but with his MIP-21 "Crime Stopper" Maxi-Ion Pistol he could hit called shots to a Subjagator's head and roll natural 20's while doing so.

A had a Juicer that loved his JA-11, and paired vibro knives (he used the knives more then the rifle). He called them Sir Reginald Stabbington the II and Eugene. He had a personality influenced by some of the old Deadpool comics.

That's all that I can think of at the moment.

One common trait among all my characters was the style of their weapons. I never used those crappy looking, IMO, space age futuristic looking weapons.
Now I don't mean crappy as in the artist did a bad job, I mean crappy as in I can't stand the look of them even though they were drawn awesome.
It's just not my taste for weaponry.

One of my current characters Lynette (A cybernetic sniper type) ended up with a Lemurian tentacle sword. Sure its stats are not great....
....but due to some in game events it has sort of become a running joke. EVERYONE knows that she has it, and she takes it everywhere...even when its not really appropriate.

Tentacle sword? ... Color me curious, where does one find the Tentacle sword in the books?

WB32, pg134

it's a Lemurian weapon, an organic sword with these tentacle things growing out of the hilt meant to trap other weapons and break them. also has one that acts to hold onto the user's hand so it can't be dropped.

i'll let Eli try to explain the joke involved with his character having one..

Signature weapon, yeah...guess I.might have had one of those.

Got a custom rifle that fires 15mm armor penetrating rounds that are essentially a casing for NE 9mm plasma cartridge. Good range, damage and rate of fire. Sounds like an AA-12, has similar kick. The district noise is a bit of a signal, but it helps keep the slags in line.

glitterboy2098 wrote:WB32, pg134

it's a Lemurian weapon, an organic sword with these tentacle things growing out of the hilt meant to trap other weapons and break them. also has one that acts to hold onto the user's hand so it can't be dropped.

i'll let Eli try to explain the joke involved with his character having one..

Sadly no pic on that one.

I'm thinking that thing is going to be misused. *Twitch*

Thanks for the info though.

Pepsi Jedi wrote:

glitterboy2098 wrote:WB32, pg134

it's a Lemurian weapon, an organic sword with these tentacle things growing out of the hilt meant to trap other weapons and break them. also has one that acts to hold onto the user's hand so it can't be dropped.

i'll let Eli try to explain the joke involved with his character having one..

Sadly no pic on that one.

I'm thinking that thing is going to be misused. *Twitch*

Thanks for the info though.

*Collects the twitch point*

glitterboy2098 wrote:WB32, pg134

it's a Lemurian weapon, an organic sword with these tentacle things growing out of the hilt meant to trap other weapons and break them. also has one that acts to hold onto the user's hand so it can't be dropped.

i'll let Eli try to explain the joke involved with his character having one..

Sounds like a Quinque from Tokyo Ghoul.