Forums of the Megaverse®

If we wanted to get really technical we could list size level limitations for just about everything. A modern pistol for example could be used by anyone from SL 5 to 14 (just a quick guess there, haven't though about it too much). Smaller than that and it's to big to hold, larger and the trigger finger won't fit in the guard.

For ancient weapons, a small sized sword is basically a knife. A small sized polearm is basically a throwing spear with a fancy head on it. For ones that don't seem obvious, or have no smaller equivilant, just go down a damage step. For 1d4 weapons that have been scaled down just have them do a single point or two.

I was thinking about a SL 1 character and how normal weapons would look to him. A 45 ACP cartridge will look look like a howitzer shell. So, how about a very small cannon/artillery piece that fires full size pistol ammo? Damage would be the same, though rate of fire would become single shot with a 3 man fireing crew. Say one aimed shot per melee with a skilled team. 2 per melee in more of an area saturation effect. A team of these could cause a lot of damage in a hurry. The pefect thing for a village of SL 1 mutants to use to fend off wild animal preditors and the occasional feral mutant. Unwanted visitor strolls into town looking for a easy meal or plunder and the last thing it hears is a tiny voice shouting
Ready! Aim! FIRE!

A friend of mine suggested that they might also try and weaponize bottle rockets. Possibly as a poison delivery system.

for ancient weapons the small weapon for goblins etc from PF2 will work of guns drop the damage by a dice, 1/2 the range and double the price. For armor for each size level below 6 reduce the SDC by 10% (size level 4 -20%) and add about 20% to the cost regardless of how small its made.

I had an idea for a martial arts for characters of very small size level, Squirrel Kun Do (ok, could use a better name). It's a martial arts speciallizing in fighting creatures significantly larger than the character, at least 5 times their size level. So a Size level 1 character gets extra bonuses against size level 5 and up, size level 2 gets bonuses against size level 10 and up, and so on. So not particularly useful for characters of size level 3 or more. The way the martial arts works is that the character climbs up his opponent and positions himself in a hard to reach spot, like in the middle of the back. After that stabby stabby, scratchy scratchy, bitey bitey. I figure autododge, but no autoparry. When you're getting weapons the releative size of telephone poles swung at you parrying probably isn't a good idea. It's just a rough idea right now, but if anyone is interested I could work on a full write up.

i suspect that small vehicles like RC cars or planes equipped with pistols or other 'full sized' weapons would be popular for small characters.

someone made a suggestion to look at the movie small soldiers for ideas.

of course, in more high tech settings like HU, there is always the option of the 'robot suit' piloted by the mouse or hamster.

While browsing a blog, I found this little revolver called the "Swiss Mini Gun"

http://www.popgive.com/2008/02/swiss-mini-gun.html

It’s 5.5 cm long and fires 2.34 mm ammunition. Probably would only do 1D4 Damage, max.

Nuadar wrote:I don't know if this counts as derailing a topic, but I would be more afraid of said small animal village's potential for psionics...
Also consider that poison is the little critter's best friend.

Good point. The world is full of species that have come up with interesting ways of protecting themselves: camouflage, venom, symbiosis, shells, etc.

In AtB, for smaller characters (and the sake of this thread), it's developing smaller firearms. Unfortunately, smaller firearms really don't (or shouldn't) amount to a hill of beans against larger adversaries. I could see them working on better explosives, chemical weapons.

Imagine a small character using an RPG with a high-explosive, anti-tank, incendiary, or chemical payload! Now that's gonna make any enemy think twice.

Another thing we should think about is armor for characters of a size level 5 and smaller. Should they be able to offer as much protection (AR) due to their diminutive size?

Nuadar wrote:Speed and cover should be the best defense of the little ones. If you hit something that small with a bullet, the impact "bleedthrough" should be enough to kill them...
<snip>
meh, I don't think there is a dmg bleedthrough armor mechanic in the game so ignore what I wrote. I need coffee.

There may not be a mechanic in the game for "bleedthrough" or impact damage, but it does make sense. I can't remember if there were rules for it in the Modern Weapons book, but they did go into more detail regarding modern weapons damage (penetration values and armor ratings), so you might want to check it out.

On the other hand, we are dealing with a comic-book world, or at least one that can be considered the offspring of one, and we could treat it with the same sense of a suspension of disbeleaf.

Even with armor, knockdown/back for a small-statured character's going to be a factor too...Even if that .45 doesn't penetrate Mrs. Brisby's kevlar poncho, she's going to be bowled over something big...

Almost makes you wish for a simplified size system:
Tiny
Small
Average
Large
Huge

macksting wrote:I'd still think there'd be an appreciable difference between SL 1 (a mouse) and SL 3 (a house cat.) I think I'll just go with my own table.

Just out of curiosity, how many people here have played or had a player run with a size level 1 or 2 character, and how did it work in the game/campaign?

Just a suggestion. I'm a fairly big guy, myself, and I frequently find that I have trouble using things designed for smaller people. I'd say that most things should have a size level they're designed for. If something is one size level larger or smaller, you can use it without penalty... if I'm SL 11, I can use things designed for SL 10 or 12 without a penalty.

However, for every size level outside of your "comfort zone", you get a -1 to strike, or a -5% on skills. So, if I try to use something designed for a SL 9 person, I get a -1 to strike or a -5%. If I pick up a pistol designed for a SL 15, I get -3 or -15%.

Now, some tools will have a range of size levels. A screwdriver will work pretty well at SL 6-12... much smaller, and you're going to have to work it two-handed, while much larger and its a fiddly little thing, too hard to use properly.

I'm 6'5" and a bit over 300#. Given my size, I'm either SL 11 or 12.

And I don't play American football.

Well, a satchel usually carries things, so it doesn't do much damage at all.

Unless you're using some variation on the word that I'm not aware of.

I think Joscap is referring to a satchel charge.

The answer would then be determined by how much explosive was placed in the satchel. There are rules in the books regarding explosives, so just figure out how much of what kind of explosive the little guy would have in a satchel.