The Modern Armory · Chapter 3

Weapon Qualities

Damage and range say how hard a weapon hits and how far. Qualities say what it costs to use and what else it does.

This book uses thirty qualities. Twelve come from the Exodus NDS core rules and work exactly as written; they are listed for reference only. Eighteen are given in full below. Seventeen of those were first published in other Exodus NDS books and are reprinted so this book stands alone. One, Backblast, is new.

How Qualities Work

Passive qualities are always on. They need no activation and no dice are spent.

Active qualities must be triggered by spending Boons from a successful attack. An active quality that is never triggered does nothing.

Ranked qualities have a number after the name, and the number sets the magnitude.

Drawback qualities make the weapon worse. They are not optional, and they are how a weapon pays for damage, concealment, or price.

Core Qualities Used in This Book

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

Quality	Ranked	In brief
Accurate	Yes	Add X Boon Dice to attacks
Auto-Fire	No	Add 1 Trial Die to the attack. On a hit, spend 2 Boons per extra hit at full weapon damage, on the original target or one within Short range of it
Blast	Yes	Spend 2 Boons to deal X damage to others Engaged with the target
Burn	Yes	Spend 2 Boons; the target suffers X Wounds at the start of each of its turns until an action ends it
Defensive	Yes	Add X Melee Defense while the item is readied
Inaccurate	Yes	Add X Bane Dice to attacks
Limited Ammo	Yes	X uses before it must be reloaded or replaced
Linked	Yes	After a hit, spend 2 Boons per extra hit on the same target, up to X times
Pierce	Yes	Ignore X points of Resistance. In this book Pierce also applies to vehicle Armor
Slow-Firing	Yes	After attacking, the weapon cannot fire again for X rounds
Stun	Yes	Spend 2 Boons to inflict X Strain in addition to the weapon's normal effect
Vicious	Yes	Add +X to Critical Injury rolls caused by the weapon

Qualities Given in Full

Backblast X

When the weapon fires, every character Engaged with the firer and behind the weapon suffers X damage, reduced by Resistance. If the weapon is fired from inside a room, a vehicle, or any space with a wall close behind, the firer suffers it too.

Backblast is new in this book. It is why a rocket launcher is fired from open ground, and why the loader stands to the side.

Breach X

A quality of personal-scale weapons built to defeat armour. Against a vehicle or a structure, multiply the weapon's damage and Successes by X and divide by 10 for its Hull damage, and ignore X points of the target's Armor. Against a person the weapon deals its printed damage. No weapon has both Breach and Siege. The Heavy Armory has the full rule.

Concealable X

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

Chapter 2 gives the scale and the rules for searches. A weapon with no rating cannot be hidden on the body at all.

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.

Only the Concussion Grenade carries it.

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.

This is the Might requirement on every heavy weapon in the book. Chapter 2 lists the ratings.

Disorient X

Spend 2 Boons. The target gains the Disoriented condition for X rounds.

In this book Disorient always costs 2 Boons. It is never automatic on a hit.

Fragile X

If an attack made with this weapon generates a Calamity, the weapon is damaged: add 1 Bane Die to every check made with it until it is repaired.

The Molotov Cocktail carries Fragile 1 with its own result: it breaks in the hand, and the thrower suffers its Burn.

Guided X

Remove X Trial Dice from the attack pool, to a minimum of none. If the pool holds fewer than X Trial Dice, downgrade the remaining difficulty to Bane Dice instead.

A guided weapon needs a target it can track. The entry says what that is.

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.

The printed damage of an Inferior weapon does not include the reduction.

Knockdown

Spend 2 Boons. The target falls Prone.

In this book Knockdown always costs 2 Boons.

Prepare X

The weapon must be readied before it can be used. The wielder spends X maneuvers preparing it, after which it attacks normally. It must be prepared again after being moved, stowed, or, for launchers, fired.

For a placed charge, Prepare is the number of maneuvers needed to set it.

Siege X

A quality of personal-scale weapons that deal mass damage, first published in The Ranged Armory. Multiply the weapon's damage and Successes by X. Against a person that is its damage. Against a vehicle or a structure, divide by 10 for its Hull damage, which is then reduced by Armor. The Heavy Armory has the full rule.

Silent

Attacking with this weapon does not by itself reveal the shooter's position. The target knows it has been hit. Nobody automatically knows where the shot came from.

The GM may still call for a check if the shooter is visible or the victim falls somewhere conspicuous. Silent removes the noise, not the consequences.

Stun Damage

All damage dealt by this weapon is applied to Strain, not Wounds. A character whose Strain is exceeded by a Stun Damage weapon is incapacitated, not injured.

Resistance applies to Stun Damage as normal.

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.

Superior

The item is exceptionally well made. It generates 1 automatic Boon on every check made with it.

No weapon in this book is Superior as printed. Accurising (Chapter 17) adds it at five times the weapon's price.

Suppressed

The weapon's report is heard only out to Short range, and a listener beyond that does not learn the shooter's position from the sound. Anyone within Short range hears a shot.

A Suppressed weapon loaded with subsonic ammunition counts as Silent.

Unreliable

If an attack with this weapon generates 2 or more Bane or a Calamity, the weapon jams. It cannot be fired until an action is spent clearing it.

This is the core rules' Overheat quality under the name a firearm earns. The two are the same rule.