I'm trying to figure out how to stat weapons like Halo's Spartan Laser or Sentinel Beam.
What I mean is: in Halo, these weapons do massive damage, but take a long time to charge up their shots. In terms of 5e, should it take an action to charge, then an action to fire? Considering they are rather hard to get, how much damage should they deal so it's not going overboard, but still slightly op? Should they deal radiant damage? Or maybe force?
Just looking for community thoughts, because I found it interesting to think about.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The world belongs to those who would never use it, yet is held by those who abuse it."
The closest thing in 5e mechanically would be something like a spell that gets cast as a bonus action, but the attack is made with an action (kinda like dragon’s breath, but without the multiple turn duration). That means it’s a full turn to use it and nothing else except walk.
Otherwise, if it’s an action to charge and another to fire then it would have to require concentration. Then it would have to deal really significant damage. Like, if it normally does 2d6 for a regular (1 action) shot, the “charged shot” would have to do at least 5d6 or more. But that gets wonky with Extra Attack and even wonkier for Fighters. 🤷♂️
Radiant or force, or necrotic or lightning might all be appropriate
One of the effects of slow is that anyone hit with it who tries to cast a spell has a chance of that spell not happening until the turn after they cast it. You could adapt something like that into the wording, where the attack doesn't happen until the turn after you use an action to attack
If the creature attempts to cast a spell with a casting time of 1 action, roll a d20. On an 11 or higher, the spell doesn't take effect until the creature's next turn, and the creature must use its action on that turn to complete the spell. If it can't, the spell is wasted.
If you want to have that 'recharge' be something close to an actual mechanic instead of just in the description, give the weapon 1 charge which its attack uses, and then to reset the charge the wielder has to spend one action (or more, if you want it to be able to fire every third round or something). So, one action to give it a charge, then one action to use the charge. That wouldn't stop, say, a fighter from Action Surging to do it all in one turn though
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
You could look at a Ballista or other siege weapons in the DMG, which require multiple turns to fire. Could do something like this:
Before it can be fired, it must be charged up. It takes one action to charge up the weapon and one action to fire it.
Siege weapons in general take between 3 to 5 actions to fire/use, and can do anywhere from 3d10 piercing at 3 actions for a Ballista, up to 8d10 bludgeoning at 5 actions for a Trebuchet. So something doing like 3d8, or 4d6 for a handheld siege weapon at 2 actions would probably be the slightly OP damage you're looking for. If you increase the charging time, or allow the user to charge variably, then you should probably increase these base damages by 1 die for each additional action used. In terms of damage type, it depends. Lightning is more resisted than Radiant, which is more resisted than Force. The futuristic laser weapons in the DMG use Radiant for their damage type, so you could follow their lead.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I'm trying to figure out how to stat weapons like Halo's Spartan Laser or Sentinel Beam.
What I mean is: in Halo, these weapons do massive damage, but take a long time to charge up their shots. In terms of 5e, should it take an action to charge, then an action to fire? Considering they are rather hard to get, how much damage should they deal so it's not going overboard, but still slightly op? Should they deal radiant damage? Or maybe force?
Just looking for community thoughts, because I found it interesting to think about.
The closest thing in 5e mechanically would be something like a spell that gets cast as a bonus action, but the attack is made with an action (kinda like dragon’s breath, but without the multiple turn duration). That means it’s a full turn to use it and nothing else except walk.
Otherwise, if it’s an action to charge and another to fire then it would have to require concentration. Then it would have to deal really significant damage. Like, if it normally does 2d6 for a regular (1 action) shot, the “charged shot” would have to do at least 5d6 or more. But that gets wonky with Extra Attack and even wonkier for Fighters. 🤷♂️
Radiant or force, or necrotic or lightning might all be appropriate
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
One of the effects of slow is that anyone hit with it who tries to cast a spell has a chance of that spell not happening until the turn after they cast it. You could adapt something like that into the wording, where the attack doesn't happen until the turn after you use an action to attack
If you want to have that 'recharge' be something close to an actual mechanic instead of just in the description, give the weapon 1 charge which its attack uses, and then to reset the charge the wielder has to spend one action (or more, if you want it to be able to fire every third round or something). So, one action to give it a charge, then one action to use the charge. That wouldn't stop, say, a fighter from Action Surging to do it all in one turn though
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
You could look at a Ballista or other siege weapons in the DMG, which require multiple turns to fire. Could do something like this:
Siege weapons in general take between 3 to 5 actions to fire/use, and can do anywhere from 3d10 piercing at 3 actions for a Ballista, up to 8d10 bludgeoning at 5 actions for a Trebuchet. So something doing like 3d8, or 4d6 for a handheld siege weapon at 2 actions would probably be the slightly OP damage you're looking for. If you increase the charging time, or allow the user to charge variably, then you should probably increase these base damages by 1 die for each additional action used. In terms of damage type, it depends. Lightning is more resisted than Radiant, which is more resisted than Force. The futuristic laser weapons in the DMG use Radiant for their damage type, so you could follow their lead.