Savage Rifts and Weapons

First, let's start with the good. Combat is, as advertised, Fast, Furious, and Fun. Combat tends to be more "deadly", in that characters can and will be incapacitated relatively quickly. On the up side, however, incapacitated does not necessarily equal dead. Possibly just maimed, or otherwise marked, but not necessarily dead.

One thing is certain, however - the current release that we backers have needs some TLC. It looks like some sections, and even some weapons (since that's the focus of this post) were designed one way, and then forgotten when another design choice changed how the weapon actually interacted in away completely different from the intent.

For example, let's look at the Portable Rocket Launcher. It has an AP of 20 and does 6d6 damage. The mounted version has the same AP, with 7d6 damage.

Okay, so the PRL ignores pretty much any armor value, ever. The highest armor in the game that I've seen so far is on the Glitter Boy, at +18. What is supposed to be the pinnacle of personal powered armor is useless against a bazooka.

Surely the missiles are just as insane ... wait, they're not?

Vehicle Missile Launchers (VMLs)
VML:Mini - 5d6, AP 6
VML:Light - 6d6, AP 8
VML:Med - 8d6, AP 15
VML:Large - 10d6, AP 20

So, the closest we get to equivalent AP is the large missile launcher. For damage, we're looking at the light launcher.

A theory was proposed that the PRL was put in when they were doing armor like in Hell on Earth, where apparently tanks are running around with +100 armor as standard. When the changed how they were handling armor, they didn't update the PRL.

I think it's an even simpler transcription error. When looking at the text about missiles, the player's guide describes AP missiles over HE (HE being the default). AP missiles lose 2 damage dice, but gain +5 AP. If you look at a medium missile, it has a default statline of 8d6 AP 15. An AP medium missile would be 6d6 AP 20. There's other issues, but most of it can be chalked up to not paying attention when transcribing the data.

Still, I think its a problem that a Glitter Boy is at serious threat from a bazooka. I'll probably swap the medium missile for a light missile and give it the same treatment (4d6, AP 13) - painful, and can possibly take out GB, but less likely. An even less likely one-shot would be an AP mini-missile (3d6, AP 11).

That said, let's break down the categories:

Ammunition and E-Clips

My biggest issue with ammo and e-clips is the overall simplification. I get that it makes things more "Fast, Furious, and Fun", but the way they handle it is that an e-clip is rated based on total shots, not total energy. For example, let's say I have a laser pistol with 20 shots and an ion rifle with 20 shots. I can use the same e-clip between either of them (at least, that's how I read it - the alternative is that e-clips are per weapon, which is just counter to the source material of e-clips being universal). However, I could not use the same e-clip in a laser pistol that has a capacity of 10 shots. That needs a 10 shot e-clip.

This comes into play when pricing new e-clips and recharging them - the cost of recharge is the number of shots * 100 credits, and a new clip is double the recharge cost. So there's a definitive difference between a 20 shot e-clip (2000 to recharge, 4000 new) and a 10 shot e-clip (1000 to charge, 2000 new).

Grenades

Overall, grenades are grenades. Throw 'em, shoot 'em, get them over there somehow and they go boom - preferably amidst the enemy.
One oddity, however, is with the middle to entries, both Fragmentation (as opposed to Armor Piercing or Plasma).

The first one is 3d6 damage, LBT, 550 credits.
The second is 3d8 damage, MBT, 750 credits.

Not sure if the blast templates got switched or it was intended to have a larger blast for less credits. The difference in damage is at most 6 and on average 2, which doesn't really account for a smaller blast radius. I'll probably be swapping them.

Ion Weapons

Apparently in Savage Rifts, ion weapons act sort of like shotguns - +2 to hit due to spreading but loosing of damage at each range past short. Okay ... I can sort of dig that. It gives ion weapons a uniqueness beyond damage ratings, and I'm okay with that.

Lasers

Default weapon type in Savage Rifts, nothing especially special about them except that they provide +2 to vigor rolls to avoid bleeding out after incapacitation due to cauterizing the wound.

Particle Beams

Listed as a sub-set of lasers ... okay. Sure, why not. Supposedly they trade the range of a laser for extra punch, but in this case the "punch" is one increased die type and a straight bonus to damage.

If I recall my source material correctly, PBs were the premier anti-armor energy weapon type, typically used to take out giant robots, tanks, large supernatural creatures like dragons, etc.

As such, I would probably either trade the damage bonus for AP on a one to one basis, or simply double the AP. That would give the single PB example in the book (a pistol), an AP of either 4 or 5. That's enough to negate most of the armor bonus on most body armor, making PBs something to truly fear.

Plasma Weapons

Plasma ejectors are now large, unwieldy affairs, incurring a Snapfire quality.
Plasma engulfs the target completely, all at once, and so is treated as hitting the least protected area of the target. Not wearing a helmet? No armor bonus, then.
Plasma has a default 1 in 6 chance of igniting, causing 1d10 fire damage per round until doused.
Plasma is always Mega Damage.

So, big honking brute force weapons, and always effective (such as it is) against any target. I like it - it really cements its place as a squad heavy weapon.

Summary

Overall I like it, but it needs work. I have issues with how they handle ammo, and I think they need to tighten up some of the entries. Otherwise ...

• Lasers are your default, go-to weapon.
• Particle Beams are armor peelers (the way I have them set up).
• Ion weapons are energy shotguns.
• Plasma weapons are brute-force kick down the door heavy weapons.
• Grenades are grenades.