Fire canons and Missile Weapons

Discussion on game mastering Earthdawn. May contain spoilers; caution is recommended!
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Spader
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Fire canons and Missile Weapons

Post by Spader » Thu Jul 11, 2019 11:03 pm

Not sure what edition it come from, but I was under the impression that the skill/talent to use for shooting a fire canon (or any other siege weapon) was Missile Weapon.

Since the rules for ship combat has not been upgraded to fourth edition, I have to assume it's from another.

My point is (it was brought to my attention from my players) neither the Air Sailor nor the Sky Raider, and by extension the Boatman or Sailor, have access to the Missile Weapon talent. (in fourth edition)
That means the crew of a ship (or any vessel) has to rely on skill or other disciplines to fire fire canons.

Anunnaki
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Re: Fire canons and Missile Weapons

Post by Anunnaki » Thu Jul 11, 2019 11:30 pm

Hiya,

Back to the ED1 source. ED1's Crystal Raiders of Barsaive, pp.123-124, covers using Ship Weapons in Combat (i.e. targeting individuals).Yes, Missile Weapons is the talent/skill used if you want to target someone with a fire cannon. It's a Called Shot and takes a lot more time between shots.

Bear in mind that most riverboat and airship crews aren't just made up of Air Sailors, Boatmen, Sky Raiders, et al. They have Archers to do the shooting things, Elementalists to do the elemental things, and so on.

Ship vs Ship uses the ship statistics, which are rated as Firepower, Speed, Maneuverability, and so on. These don't correlate to talents or skills, so an Air Sailor or Sky Raider at this scale is just another crew member.

Similar stuff in ED2/EDC/ED3, since they all build on the ED1 rules. No ED4 rules for ship combat yet, as noted, but you've now got some page references you can refer to if that helps.

Take kaer, James

Telarus
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Re: Fire canons and Missile Weapons

Post by Telarus » Thu Jul 11, 2019 11:45 pm

Thanks James! One other thing to note - because 1e combined all guns on a ship into one rating - you rarely roll damage for a single fire cannon. There is only one reference in 1e, but it does say cannons do Step 25 damage to anything they hit.

In my games that is an area 3 hexes in diameter (a center & all surrounding hexes). Must be a Called Shot against anything smaller than a sailboat/double-hull canoe/scout drakkar. USE the Scatter Chart on all misses.

As for 4e... patience is my only counsel. But I would give them +5 damage per additional success.

Anunnaki
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Re: Fire canons and Missile Weapons

Post by Anunnaki » Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:01 am

More incentive to get those rules out and about Telarus! :)

In ED3, we (RedBrick) expanded on the ED1 content. More information is in the ED3 Crystal Raiders book, p.136, which has a handy-dandy table covering a bunch of ship weapons, how many crew members are needed to shoot the weapon, range, etc., and even a column on how much damage an individual would take (yep, Step 25 for a fire cannon). And a bunch of other stuff related to ship weapons in general.

Not sure if any of this might help, but there is info.

Take kaer, James

Belenus
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Re: Fire canons and Missile Weapons

Post by Belenus » Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:55 pm

Telarus wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 11:45 pm
As for 4e... patience is my only counsel. But I would give them +5 damage per additional success.
Wow, this would make True Shot a bit too powerful with fire cannons, I would even think of adding one on a cart and have our obsidian pull it to oneshot each horror or dragon I meet :mrgreen:

Sharkforce
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Re: Fire canons and Missile Weapons

Post by Sharkforce » Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:05 pm

Belenus wrote:
Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:55 pm
Telarus wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 11:45 pm
As for 4e... patience is my only counsel. But I would give them +5 damage per additional success.
Wow, this would make True Shot a bit too powerful with fire cannons, I would even think of adding one on a cart and have our obsidian pull it to oneshot each horror or dragon I meet :mrgreen:
so we can expect a new obsidiman archer path by what date, then? =D

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