# Weapon Qualities
*The Modern Armory, Firearms, Explosives, and Ammunition for Exodus NDS, 1939 to Today. Source: https://exodusnds.com/sourcebooks/modern-armory/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
Passive
Ranked
Drawback
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
Passive
Ranked
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
Passive
Ranked
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
Active
Ranked
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
Passive
Ranked
Drawback
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
Active
Ranked
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
Passive
Ranked
Drawback
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
Passive
Ranked
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
Passive
Drawback
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
Active
Spend 2 Boons. The target falls Prone.
In this book Knockdown always costs 2 Boons.
### Prepare X
Passive
Ranked
Drawback
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
Passive
Ranked
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
Passive
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
Passive
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
Active
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
Passive
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
Passive
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
Passive
Drawback
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.
