Customizing weapons for Trolls Options

[Apathy]

1. Think I remember something about troll-sized weapons having a cost = 1.5 times the base price to enlarge grips, etc. Does this count for all weapons (ranged and melee)? I would think it would, but wanna make sure.

2. If he's dikoting a weapon, would you assume the larger size associated with the troll would correspond to a similar increase in dikoting cost?

3. If I recall, the standard min strength on a Ranger X bow was 4 (is this right?). If the character wanted a drastically different strength (Troll with strength 11), how much customization (additional cost) do you think that'd take? My initial call was to more than double the cost, but I want to be fair about it. This is in addition to the 1.5 mulitplier for using a troll-sized weapon (bow's got to be damn big to accomodate those long troll arms.)

[A Clockwork Lime]

1. Trolls have to pay +25% to the cost of any equipment that has to be tailored to their size (such as most weapons, armors, vehicles, and lifestyles). It's mentioned in the beginning of the Gear chapter of the SR3 core rules.

2. Yes, unless the troll doesn't mind looking like a twit by having what looks like a tiny weapon on a huge hilt.

3. It doesn't require special customization, oddly enough, beyond the base +25% for the troll's size. The Ranger is an insane weapon in the hands of any equally insanely strong character.

[TheScamp]

[broho_pcp]

I don't see how making a weapon bigger would make it sharper.

The weapon does more damage because the troll is stronger, if it was larger the only thing I see changing is that it might have a "minimum strength 4 to use" or something like that.

[TheScamp]

[Kagetenshi]

And straight razors are far sharper than any sword you'll find. Should they do more damage?

A troll-scale katana would be a no-dachi, which has its own rules and a decidedly higher damage code.

~J

[Moon-Hawk]

I totally agree, although I want to point out one thing...
A no-dachi is a two-handed weapon, so when a troll uses a two handed melee weapon in one hand they take a +1 to their TN. This is offset by the additional reach that such a weapon has over a katana.
I had a troll use one of these, and since he was so huge I let him use edged weapons, even though it's listed as a polarm for a human.
(for the record, I think listing large, two handed swords as polearms is appropriate, the fighting style is more similar) But for a troll, he can use it like a regular sword.

[Fahr]

A troll sized Bow would need to be biggger regardless of strength, mainly because a Compund bow like the ranger X has a very specific draw length (ex: my PSE II at home has a draw length of 28" ) making a bow a troll could fire would mean increasing that draw length considerably.
for low poundage bows (50 is minimum for hunting in texas) it would mean a lighter bow overall with large lengths, for a troll with str 11 it would mean a huge draw weight... I figure I have a STR 4 (I am stronger than most of my freinds, but not all of them) So I figure my 65# compund would be a good equivelant to a ranger X set up for strength 4, my stronger freinds could likely pull a 75-80 pound draw weight, making a Str 5 bow a 15 pound increase... if str is linear (probably not) that would make a str 11 bow have a draw weight of (65 + (7*15)) 170 pounds.

for a troll that would likely have a draw length of close to 55-60 inches.. that would make for one huge bow. probably 80+ inches tall. with arrows that were 55-60 inches long too...

-Mike R.

edit: darn you non-ergonomic keyboard!!! (missed a dash)

This post has been edited by Fahr: Mar 19 2004, 08:11 PM

[Kagetenshi]

As cool as a 5560 inch arrow would be, I'm assuming you missed a dash ;)

~J

[Shadow]

At 5 feet long it is no longer an arrow, it's a ballistic missile!

[Kagetenshi]

5560 inches isn't five feet, it's just shy of 464 feet.

I'd love to see the bow that would fire that thing...

Edit: oh, you were talking about the actual arrows. Well, given that normal-sized people would shoot arrows up to three to three and a half feet, I'd say five feet is far from unreasonable for a Troll.

~J

[nezumi]

So whats the damage code for a weapon big enough that the troll can only use it two handed? Instead of a polearm, is it a polewholefriggintorso?

[Apathy]

So, the cost for troll-sizing melee weapons is +25%, not +50%, because all that's being adjusted is the handle.

Since troll-sizing doesn't increase the blade size, dikoting costs won't go up. (Technically, the tang gets dikoted too, which would mean a slight increase in overall area, but that's probably a nit-pick and not worth calculating.)

Troll-sizing the bow is a more substantial change because it effects the draw length, but I'm not too ridiculous just using the same +25% modifier for size adjustment.

Did I remember correctly? Is the Ranger X Strength min = 4? If you wanted to make that strength min higher, I'd guess that you'd need stronger materials and an enhanced pulley system. How much would those adjustments modify the overall cost?

[Kagetenshi]

Well, the cost given in the book is STR Min*¥120...

It also gives the minimum STR min as 2, not 4.

~J

[Cain]

[Tziluthi]

[A Clockwork Lime]

I think people are just letting reality slip in a bit too much.

Logically, if it were only the grip being altered, trolls should get a bonus to the Concealment of their weapons... which they don't. I can't think of any art that supports it just being the grips, either; trolls are seeing carrying weapons sized appropriately for their own size.

So what if no extra damage is being done? It's an image thing. I'd rather suspend my disbelief so that a troll walks around with a knife that looks like a knife in his hands rather than a tiny sliver of metal on a hilt ten times bigger than the blade. But maybe that's just me.

[Kagetenshi]

[TheScamp]

[Kagetenshi]

[TheScamp]

And waaay bigger toilets.

[A Clockwork Lime]

Like I said, I'd rather suspend my disbelief by having trolls have proporitionally-sized weapons that, in all other ways, introduce fewer logic problems into the game vs. forcing them to use silly looking weapons that make little sense when it comes to relative Concealability and all that hubalabub.

If a human picks up that troll's knife and starts using it, it's a lot easier for me to just say that while the blade may look like a machete, the grip makes it awkward enough so that the damage inflicted with it is still equivalent to that of a knife whether or not we're using the optional rules in CC for using troll weapons.

And yes, I use the same philosophy with firearm, too. That +25% increase goes into making the firearm look proportionally larger even if the ammunition it shoots is exactly the same as its smaller cousin.

[TheScamp]

And like I said, to each his own. :)