The Fantasy Armory · Chapter 3

Weapon Qualities

Damage and Critical tell you how hard a weapon hits. Qualities tell you what it is for.

This book uses thirty-five qualities. Eleven come from the Exodus NDS core rules and work exactly as written; they are listed here for reference only. Twenty-four are defined in this book and are given in full below.

How Qualities Work

Passive qualities are always on. They require no activation and no dice are spent. Reach, Defensive, and Cumbersome are passive.

Active qualities must be triggered, almost always by spending Boon from a successful attack. Bleed, Parry, and Sweep are active. An active quality that is never triggered does nothing at all.

Ranked qualities have a number after the name, and the number sets the magnitude. Vicious 2 is twice the Vicious of Vicious 1. Where the same quality appears more than once on a weapon, or from more than one source, ranks add together unless the entry says otherwise.

Drawback qualities are marked as such. They make the weapon worse, they are not optional, and they are a substantial part of why some very effective weapons cost very little.

Qualities never replace the universal Boon spends

Every combat option in the core rules remains available with every weapon in this book. Any character may spend 3 Boon to disarm an opponent, 2 to add a Bane to their next check, 1 to recover strain, and so on, whatever they are holding.

No quality here duplicates one of those. Where a quality touches the same ground, it changes the terms: Disarming reduces what disarming costs rather than granting an ability you already had.

Core Rules Qualities Used in This Book

These appear in the Exodus NDS core rules or in published Universe equipment chapters, and are used here without change. The summaries are reminders, not rules text.

Everything else in this chapter, including several qualities a reader may expect to be standard, is defined in this book.

Quality	Ranked	In brief
Accurate	Yes	Add Boon Dice to attacks
Blast	Yes	Spend Boons to damage everyone Engaged with the target
Burn	Yes	Spend Boons to set the target alight for a number of rounds
Defensive	Yes	Adds Melee Defense while readied
Disorient	Yes	The target suffers Bane Dice on its checks for a time
Ensnare	Yes	Immobilises the target
Inaccurate	Yes	Adds Bane Dice to attacks
Knockdown	No	Knocks the target Prone
Limited Ammo	Yes	A set number of uses before recovery or reload
Pierce	Yes	Ignores that much Resistance
Vicious	Yes	Increases the severity of Critical Injuries

New Qualities

Balanced X

When an attack made with this weapon generates Bane, cancel up to X Bane. Balanced cannot cancel a Calamity.

Accurate makes an attack more likely to succeed; Balanced makes it less likely to go wrong. The two stack and are priced separately.

Bleed X

After an attack with this weapon inflicts at least 1 wound, spend 2 Boon. At the start of each of the target's turns, it suffers X wounds, ignoring Resistance, until the bleeding is treated.

A character may use an action to make an Average (⬥⬥) Medicine check to end all Bleed resulting from a single injury.

Bleed does not stack with itself. A second activation refreshes the effect at the higher of the two ratings rather than adding to it.

Bleed and Burn are separate qualities. Burn deals the weapon's full base damage for a set number of rounds, and Resistance applies. Bleed deals a small fixed amount indefinitely, and Resistance does not.

Brace X

When attacking a target that moved from Short range or farther into Engaged range with the wielder since the end of the wielder's last turn, add X damage.

Brace rewards holding ground, and does nothing against an enemy that stays put.

Brutal X

When an attack made with this weapon generates at least one Breakthrough, add X damage to the hit.

Brutal changes nothing on an ordinary roll and a great deal on an exceptional one.

Concealable X

Add X Bane Dice to checks made to find this weapon when it is deliberately hidden on the wielder's person.

Disarming X

Reduce the Boon cost for the wielder to disarm an opponent by X, to a minimum of 2.

Disarming an item held in two hands costs 1 additional Boon. This is what gives ranks above 1 a purpose: a rank 2 hook strips a two-handed weapon as readily as a lesser hook strips a one-handed one.

Guarded X

After the wielder performs a combat action with this weapon, they gain X melee defence until the start of their next turn.

Unlike Defensive, Guarded does nothing for a character who spends the round on anything other than a combat action.

Momentum X

If the wielder performed a maneuver to move into Engaged range this turn and then attacks, add X damage.

The inverse of Brace: Momentum rewards closing the distance, Brace rewards holding it.

Parry X

After hitting with this weapon, spend 2 Boon. The target upgrades the difficulty of its next melee attack against the wielder X times, before the end of its next turn.

Note that Parry upgrades rather than adding Bane. Any character may already spend 2 Boon to add a Bane to an opponent's next check. Parry buys something that spend cannot: Crisis Dice, and with them the possibility of a Calamity.

Reach

The weapon may attack targets at Short range using its normal melee skill. Attacks made at Engaged range add 1 Bane Die.

Some entries override the Engaged clause entirely. The Pike, for example, cannot attack at Engaged range at any penalty.

Sweep X

After a successful attack, spend 2 Boon to deal X damage to one additional target of the wielder's choice who is engaged with the wielder. Resistance applies normally. Sweep damage does not scale with Successes.

Sweep and Blast are separate qualities. Blast strikes everyone engaged with the target, friend and foe alike, for its rating plus total Successes. Sweep strikes one target of the wielder's choosing, for a flat amount, and does not scale with Successes.

Versatile

The weapon has two listed profiles. Choose which is in use when the weapon is drawn, or switch between them as a maneuver.

The second profile always trades. It gains something and gives something up, so neither profile is strictly better than the other.

Versatile most often changes the weapon's damage type, which is what makes weapons like the poleaxe and warhammer answer more than one kind of armour.

Wrapping

Ignore any Defensive or Deflection bonus granted to the target by a carried shield. Wrapping does not affect Resistance, worn armour, cover, talents, or defence from any other source.

A weighted head on a chain travels around a raised shield rather than into it. Wrapping has no effect against a target not carrying one.

Awkward X

Add X Bane Dice when attacking while prone, while engaged with more than one enemy, or in confined space such as a corridor, stairwell, doorway, or crowd.

Awkward is the standard drawback on long or heavy weapons, and the conditions it lists cover most indoor and close-quarters fighting.

Fragile X

If an attack made with this weapon generates a Calamity, the weapon gains the Inferior quality until repaired with an Average (⬥⬥) crafting check.

At Fragile 2 or higher, the weapon breaks outright instead and cannot be repaired.

Fragile is the opposite of Reinforced. It appears on cheap and improvised weapons, and it reduces their price accordingly.

Concussive X

Spend 2 Boons. The target is Staggered for X rounds. A Staggered character may still perform Maneuvers and may still move, but may not perform Actions.

Concussive takes a target out of the fight without killing it, and it is the heaviest control effect in this book. Nothing carries it above rank 1.

Deflection X

Add X Ranged Defense while the item is readied and usable.

Deflection is the missile-facing counterpart of Defensive, and in this book it appears only on shields.

Reinforced

This item cannot be damaged or destroyed by Sunder, and it ignores effects that would break or degrade it short of deliberate destruction.

Sunder

Spend 1 Boon to damage one item the target is carrying: a weapon, a shield, or a piece of armour. Spend 2 Boons instead to render that item unusable until it is repaired.

An item with Reinforced cannot be affected.

Stun Damage

All damage dealt by this weapon is applied to Strain rather than Wounds. A character whose accumulated Strain meets or exceeds their Strain Points from a Stun Damage weapon is incapacitated, unconscious or overwhelmed, rather than injured.

Resistance applies to Stun Damage as normal.

Cumbersome X

The wielder needs Might X to use this weapon properly. A wielder whose Might is lower adds Bane Dice equal to the shortfall to every check made with it.

Unwieldy X

The wielder needs Agility X to use this weapon properly. A wielder whose Agility is lower adds Bane Dice equal to the shortfall to every check made with it.

Cumbersome gates on raw strength; Unwieldy gates on control. A weapon may carry both.

Prepare X

The weapon must be readied before it can be used. The wielder must spend X Maneuvers preparing it, after which it may be attacked with normally. It must be prepared again after being moved, stowed, or fired.

Inferior

The item is badly made, damaged, or worn. It automatically generates 1 Bane on any check made with it, and deals 1 less damage, to a minimum of 1.

Inferior is a state rather than a trigger. Fragile is the trigger that inflicts it.

Qualities at a Glance

Quality	Type	Ranked	Effect in brief
Accurate	Passive	Yes	Boon Dice on attacks
Awkward	Passive	Yes	Drawback: Bane when prone, crowded, or confined
Balanced	Passive	Yes	Cancels Bane
Blast	Active	Yes	Damages all engaged with the target
Bleed	Active	Yes	Unsoakable damage each turn until treated
Brace	Passive	Yes	Bonus damage against a charging enemy
Brutal	Passive	Yes	Bonus damage on a Breakthrough
Burn	Active	Yes	Sets the target alight for X rounds
Concealable	Passive	Yes	Bane to find it when hidden
Concussive	Active	Yes	Staggers the target
Cumbersome	Passive	Yes	Drawback: requires Might
Defensive	Passive	Yes	Melee defence while readied
Deflection	Passive	Yes	Ranged defence while readied
Disarming	Passive	Yes	Cheaper to disarm, minimum 2 Boon
Disorient	Active	Yes	Bane on the target's checks
Ensnare	Active	Yes	Immobilises
Fragile	Passive	Yes	Drawback: damaged or destroyed on a Calamity
Guarded	Passive	Yes	Melee defence, but only after attacking
Inaccurate	Passive	Yes	Drawback: Bane on attacks
Inferior	Passive	No	Drawback: poorly made
Knockdown	Active	No	Knocks prone
Limited Ammo	Passive	Yes	Finite uses
Momentum	Passive	Yes	Bonus damage when the wielder charges
Parry	Active	Yes	Upgrades the target's next attack on you
Pierce	Passive	Yes	Ignores Resistance
Prepare	Passive	Yes	Drawback: maneuvers to ready
Reach	Passive	No	Attacks at Short; Bane at Engaged
Reinforced	Passive	No	Immune to Sunder
Stun Damage	Passive	No	Damage becomes strain
Sunder	Active	No	Damages equipment
Sweep	Active	Yes	Damages one additional chosen enemy
Unwieldy	Passive	Yes	Drawback: requires Agility
Versatile	Passive	No	Two profiles, switched as a maneuver
Vicious	Passive	Yes	Worse Critical Injuries
Wrapping	Passive	No	Ignores a shield's Defensive and Deflection

Bold entries are defined in this book. The rest come from the Exodus NDS core rules.