I’ve been thinking about how to make weapons breaking a thing in my game to spice things up. I think Logan Knight from Last Gasp perfectly describes my motivation here:
“I find it really boring for characters to be able to pick a weapon when they start out and then hold onto it forever unless they find something magic or wake up naked in a pit. I mean sure, it’s nice to have a weapon with history, but don’t you want that history to actually mean something? I also want some kind of indication that all this murdering necessitates equipment maintenance, but I don’t want that to be a gaping pain in the arse.”The breakage rules from the GLOG are pretty close to what I’m aiming, but also I really, really like the ideas in Last Gasp’s (namely, notches and weapon quality).
My goals
- Weapons take damage on a critical fail.
- Weapons take get progressively worse as they take damage (they don’t break immediately).
- Keep it as simple and system-neutral as possible.
- Dice rolls should only have one > or < check.
- Add as few additional rolls as possible.
- Add as few variables as possible.
Thematically related Yu-Gi-Oh! card: Shattered Axe
Weapon Breakage
Whenever you roll a natural 1 on an attack or do something that would obviously damage it (like stabbing a stone golem with a dagger), roll a d6. If the result is equal to or under your weapon's quality, it withstands the hit. Otherwise, it’s damage die is reduced one step (1d10>1d8>1d6>1d4). If it can’t go any lower, the weapon snaps in two. The standard rate for repair is 50% of the item's full cost per die.Every weapon has a quality rating that depends on material and craftsmanship. Higher quality weapons are less likely to break but also more expensive.
Quality
|
Cost
|
Example
|
1
|
0.5x
|
Improvised weapons; corroded or rusted metal.
|
2
|
0.75x
|
Poorly made; soft metal like gold or silver.
|
3
|
1x
|
Average craftsmanship; average quality steel.
|
4
|
1.5x
|
Well made; high-quality material.
|
5
|
2x
|
Superb craftsmanship, rare material (something like mithril).
|
6
|
-
|
Rare artifacts; the stuff of legends.
|
