Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Rules for Gamma World Weapons and Armor

April 22, 2018 27 minute read

Notes

The following is being play-tested by myself and a couple others. There are no rules yet for radiation, as those will be posted separately. I also have an entire list of weapons and armor that need to be posted as well.

Weapons in Gamma World

Weapon Attributes

The following attributes are tracked for each weapon in Gamma World.

Weapon Name. This is the name of the weapon.

Type. This is the type of weapon. The weapon type consists of 3 parts:

Simple / Martial - A weapon can either be Simple or it can be martial. It cannot be both.

A simple weapon can be used by anyone with proficiency.
A martial weapons requires specialized training to be used by anyone with proficiency.

Melee / Ranged - A weapon may be used as both a melee weapon and a ranged weapon. Example: Dagger, Spear.

A melee weapon is used to Attack a target within 5 feet of you.
A ranged weapon is used to Attack a target at a distance.

Personal / Siege - A weapon may be used by an individual or it may be used as a part of a vehicle or as a part of a building. Siege weapons are labeled as such. Personal weapons do not have a label.

Tech Level. This is the tech level that the stats for this weapon are for. There is a complete chapter covering each tech level. The tech levels are:

Tech Level 0: The Age of Stone
Tech Level 1: The Age of Fire
Tech Level 2: The Age of Metal
Tech Level 3: The Age of Steam
Tech Level 4: The Age of Industry
Tech Level 5: The Age of Information
Tech Level 6: The Age of Wonder

Complexity. This is either Simple, Complex, or Multipurpose. A simple object uses the rules for discovering the use of simple objects. Complex objects use the rules for discovering the use of complex objects. Multipurpose objects can have multiple ratings for each purpose in which case you might see a rating of 4S 1C for 4 simple purposes and 1 Complex purpose.

A simple example of this is a bayonet, which is essentially a dagger attached to a gun, this would be rated a 2S complexity; one for the gun, and one for the dagger.

Cost in Copper. The cost of this object in copper. I am using the D&D 5e copper piece as the standard currency. The basic translation method I employ is that 1 copper is equal to $1 American Dollar which is equivalent to 1 French penny from the 1300. This enables me to triangulate into a price using 2 modern sources at two seperate tech levels. This also gives people a way to transport their character into and out of Gamma World Settings.

Status. Various groups / ideologies such as organizations, cities, towns, and economic systems will find some items from Gamma World to be priceless, or they will be unable to give proper monetary value for this. This status attribute will give you a reputational value for the object if it is turned into authorities. It can also be used to determine the amount of awe or fear someone has of a PC / NPC if they are seen carrying around a working version of a weapon.

Damage. This is the amount of dice needed to roll to determine how much damage a weapon will do.

Damage Type. This is a comma delimited list of the damage types the weapon does. Please see what each entry means below.

To hit bonus. This is any to hit bonuses you get when using this weapon.

Range. This is the range of the weapon in the even that it is a ranged weapon.

Radius. This is the radius an area effect weapon / ammunition type does. This also might be expressed as a formula to calculate the area of effect.

Aim / Rate / Reload. Aim is the number of actions it takes to prepare the weapon for attack. Formally Aiming a weapon will be determined by class, proficiency and feats. This number represents the number of actions regardless bonuses from proficiency, feats, or class that it takes to get the weapon ready to attack.

Rate of Fire is the number of actions it takes to attack with the weapon. Some weapons may take multiple actions. Some weapons may allow for multiple attacks per action.

Reload is the number of actions it takes to reload a ranged weapon. Please see Weapon Properties on Ammunition and Firearms to further understand this action.

Operators: This is the number of people required to operate the weapon. Some large siege weapons and weapons with higher tech levels require more than one person to successfully use the weapon.

Weight. This is how much the weapon weighs in pounds.

Properties. This is the properties of the weapon. See what each entry means below.

Rarity. This is how rare a weapon is at each tech level.

Description. This is a description for the weapon. There is a seperate description for each weapon for each tech level. A Tech Level 6 genetically engineered orbital human will see the spears carried by the Tech Level 1 Aquatic tribesman as a stick, while the Tech Level 2 Mutant Dog will see it as a improvised or old spear.

Weapon Properties

Ammunition. You can use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a ranged attack only if you have ammunition to fire from the weapon. Each time you attack with the weapon, you expend one piece of ammunition. Drawing the ammunition from a quiver, case, or other container is part of the attack (you need a free hand to load a one-handed weapon). At the end of the battle, you can recover half your expended ammunition by taking a minute to search the battlefield.

If you use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a melee attack, you treat the weapon as an improvised weapon (see “Improvised Weapons” later in the section). A sling must be loaded to deal any damage when used in this way.

Finesse. When making an attack with a finesse weapon, you use your choice of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls. You must use the same modifier for both rolls.

Heavy. Small creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls with heavy weapons. A heavy weapon size and bulk make it too large for a Small creature to use effectively.

Light. A light weapon is small and easy to handle, making it ideal for use when fighting with two weapons.

Loading. Because of the time required to load this weapon, you can fire only one piece of ammunition from it when you use an action, bonus action, or reaction to fire it, regardless of the number of attacks you can normally make.

Range. A weapon that can be used to make a ranged attack has a range in parentheses after the ammunition or thrown property. The range lists two numbers. The first is the weapon’s normal range in feet, and the second indicates the weapon’s long range. When attacking a target beyond normal range, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. You can’t attack a target beyond the weapon’s long range.

Radius. A weapon or the ammunition a weapon uses may do damage to more than just the target. In the case of explosives, this represents the damage done to everything within that radius.

Reach. This weapon adds 5 feet to your reach when you attack with it, as well as when determining your reach for opportunity attacks with it.

Special. A weapon with the special property has unusual rules governing its use, explained in the weapon’s description (see “Special Weapons” later in this section).

Thrown. If a weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack. If the weapon is a melee weapon, you use the same ability modifier for that attack roll and damage roll that you would use for a melee attack with the weapon. For example, if you throw a handaxe, you use your Strength, but if you throw a dagger, you can use either your Strength or your Dexterity, since the dagger has the finesse property.

Two-Handed. This weapon requires two hands when you attack with it.

Versatile. This weapon can be used with one or two hands. A damage value in parentheses appears with the property—the damage when the weapon is used with two hands to make a melee attack.

Explosive. The explosive property denotes that the weapon does damage to everyone within the weapon’s radius as calculated from the point of impact. The number found after the Explosive keyword is the DC for the dexterity check that is required to avoid damage.

High Explosive. The high explosive property is a subtype of the Explosive property. This property denotes that the weapon does damage to everyone within the weapon’s radius as calculated from the point of impact. The number found after the High Explosive keyword is the DC for the dexterity check. On a successful check, the target takes half damage.

Firearm. The firearm property is a subtype of the ammunition property. Firearm ammunition is destroyed upon use. Some firearms use bullets while futuristic firearms are powered by a special type of ammunition called energy cells. An energy cell contains enough power for all the shots its firearm can make.

Burst Fire. A weapon that has the burst fire property can make a normal single-target attack, or it can hit a single target with three shots with one attack. Each shot must roll to hit separately. This action uses three pieces of ammunition.

Auto Fire. A weapon that has the auto fire property can make a normal single-target attack, a burst fire attack, or it can spray a 10-foot-cube area within normal range with shots. Each creature in the area must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take the weapon’s normal damage. This action uses ten pieces of ammunition.

Reload. A limited number of shots can be made with a weapon that has the reload property. A character must then reload it using an action or a bonus action (the character’s choice). You must have one free hand to reload a firearm.

Scatter. An attack is made against each creature within a 30ft cone. If an affected creature is adjacent to you, they suffer double damage to a hit.

Misfire. Whenever you make an attack roll with a firearm, and the dice roll is equal to or lower than the weapons Misfire score, the weapon misfires. The attack misses and the weapon cannot be used again until you spend an action to try to repair it. To repair your firearm , you must make a successful Tinker’s Tools check (DC equal to 8+ misfire score) If your check fails, the weapon is broken and must be repaired out of combat at half the cost of the firearm.

Explosive. Upon a hit, Each creature within 5 feet of the target must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take the weapon’s normal damage. If the weapon misses, the ammunition fails to detonate, or bounces away harmlessly before doing so.

Stationary. A stationary weapon has to be set up before it can be fired. Setting up a stationary weapon requires an action.

Mass Produced. A society that is two tech levels higher than the tech level that introduced the weapon can mass produce weapon, ammunition, or armor. When this is done, the weapon acts like it is fragile as well costing half the amount it costs normally.

Mastercrafted. This weapon was crafted by a master craftsman. When rolling damage dice and any one dice rolls it’s maximum add an additional +1 to the total damage rolled.

Fragile Weapons. Fragile weapons will break when used by a Medium size creature to damage a Medium Size creature on role of a 1. For each size difference between the target creature and the weapon size, you need to roll increases by 1. See chart below for all the various ways this calculation works out.

	Attacker Weapon Size
Target is		Tiny	Small	Medium	Large	Huge	Gargantuan
	Tiny	1	1	1	1	1	1
	Small	2	1	1	1	1	1
	Medium	3	2	1	1	1	1
	Large	4	3	2	1	1	1
	Huge	5	4	3	2	1	1
	Gargantuan	6	5	4	3	2	1

Weapon Damage Types

Different attacks, mutations, and other harmful effects deal different types of damage. Damage types have no rules of their own, but other rules, such as damage resistance, rely on the types.

The damage types follow, with examples to help a GM assign a damage type to a new effect.

Acid. The corrosive spray of a mutants breath and the dissolving enzymes secreted by cleaning robots deal acid damage.

Bludgeoning. Blunt force attacks—hammers, falling, constriction, and the like—deal bludgeoning damage.

Cold. All forms sources of low temperatures including mutation abilities and the environments of open space deal cold damage.

Fire. All forms of fire including those generated by the rapid oxidation of combustible materials deal fire damage.

Force. Force is pure energy focused into a damaging form. Most effects that deal force damage are force field effects weaponized.

Lightning. An electrical attack, or even grounded electrical current deals lightning damage.

Necrotic. Necrotic damage is done by antimatter weapons, radiation, and damage caused by genetic modification damages.

Piercing. Puncturing and impaling attacks, including spears and monsters’ bites, deal piercing damage.

Poison. Venomous stings and the toxic gas released from the marsh deal poison damage. Chemical weapons do poison damage.

Psychic. Many mental mutations deal psychic damage.

Radiant. Radiant damage is dealt by lasers.

Slashing. Swords, axes, and monsters’ claws deal slashing damage.

Thunder. A concussive burst of sound. All sonic attacks deal thunder damage.

Ballistic. Ballistic damage is damage that firearms inflict. It is a subset of piercing damage.

All ballistic damage counts as piercing damage,
Not all piercing damage counts as ballistic damage.
Stuff that is resistance to piercing damage is also resistant to ballistic damage
Stuff that is resistant to ballistic damage is not automatically resistant to piercing damage.

Weapon Size Increases

Large weapons have double the number of dice they had at normal size.
Huge weapons have triple the number of dice they had a normal size.
Gargantuan weapons have quadruple the number of dice they had a normal size.
A weapon sized for an attacker one size larger is used at a disadvantage.
A weapon sized for an attacker two or more sizes larger is too big for the attacker to use at all.

Weapon Size Decreases

Weapons manufactured for Small attackers use the medium weapon charts. Small Attackers may use medium weapons at no disadvantage.
Small attackers use heavy weapons at a disadvantage.
Weapons manufactured for Tiny creatures do half damage.
Heavy Weapons may not be manufactured for Tiny Creatures.
A weapon sized for an attacker one size smaller is used at a disadvantage.
A weapon sized for an attacker two or more sizes smaller is too small for the attacker to use at all.

Weapon Construction Materials

Stone Weapons

Light and one-handed bludgeoning weapons, spears, axes, and daggers can all be made of stone.

Stone weapons are two thirds the weight of their base weapons
Stone weapons take a –1 penalty on damage rolls (minimum 1 damage)
Stone weapons have the fragile property
Stone weapons can be manufactured by TL0 and above

Bone (Horn, shell, and ivory) Weapons

Bone can be used in place of wood and steel in weapons. Light and one-handed melee weapons, as well as two-handed weapons that deal bludgeoning damage only, can be crafted from bone. Hafted two-handed weapons such as spears can be crafted with bone. Other two-handed weapons cannot be constructed of bone.

Bone weapons are one third the weight of their base weapons
Bone weapons take a –2 penalty on damage rolls (minimum 1 damage)
Bone weapons have the the fragile property
Stone weapons can be manufactured by TL0 and above

Unworked Wooden Weapons

Light and one-handed melee weapons, as well as two-handed weapons that deal bludgeoning damage only, can be crafted from unworked wood. Hafted two-handed weapons such as spears can be crafted entirely of wood. Other two-handed weapons cannot be constructed of wood.

Unworked wood weapons have the the fragile property.
Rustic Wood weapons take a –3 penalty on damage rolls (minimum 1 point damage)
Unworked Wooden weapons can be manufactured by TL0 and above

Bronze (Brass, Copper, or Tin) Weapons

Before the advent of iron and steel, bronze ruled the world. This easily worked metal can be used in place of steel for both weapons and armor. For simplicity’s sake, similar or component metals such as brass, copper, or even tin can use the following rules, even though in reality bronze is both harder and more reliable than those metals.

All weapons that can be made out of steel can also be made out of bronze. Bronze weapons have the same weight and do the same damage as steel weapons of the same type.

Bronze weapons have the the fragile property
Bronze weapons can be manufactured by TL1 and above

Iron

Items without metal parts cannot be made from iron. An arrow could be made of iron, but a standard quarterstaff could not.

Iron weapons lose all Light and Finesse properties
Iron weapons weigh one and one half times as much as the same item made from steel
Iron weapons can be manufactured by TL1 and above

Steel

Items listed in the manual are steel weapons.

Steel weapons can be manufactured by TL2 and above

Synthetic Metal (Durasteel, Plasteel, Duralloy, Titanium Alloy)

An item made from Synthetic Metal weighs half as much as the same item made from other metals.

Synthetic Metal is too light to be used for Heavy weapons and lose their effectiveness
Synthetic Metal weapons become Light weapons
Synthetic Metal Light weapons gain the Finesse property
Synthetic Metal Two-Handed weapons are now versatile instead
Synthetic Metal Ammunition it too light to be effective
TL5 Synthetic Metal weapons can only be Light
Synthetic Metal weapons can be manufactured by TL5 and above

Synthetic Crystal (Ceramic, Diamond, Crysteel, Glassteel)

Melee weapons and ammunition made with synthetic crystals are unusually effective when used to break objects.

Synthetic Crystals weapons and ammunition, when they hit, always hit with a critical hit.
TL5 Synthetic Crystals are Fragile and can not be used for ammunition
Synthetic Crystals weapons can be manufactured by TL5 and above

Armor in Gamma World

Armor Attributes

Name This is the name of the weapon.

A simple example of this is power armor that includes a shotgun in the arm. This would be rated a 1S1C complexity; one simple for the gun, and one complex for the powered armor.

Cost in Copper. The cost of this object in copper. I am using the D&D 5e copper piece as the standard currency. The basic translation method I employee is that 1 copper is equal to $1 American Dollar which is equivalent to 1 French penny from the 1300. This enables me to triangulate into a price using 2 modern sources at two seperate tech levels. This also gives people a way to transport their character into and out of Gamma World Settings.

Type of Armor

Light - Made from supple and thin materials, light armor favors agile adventurers since it offers some protection without sacrificing mobility. If you wear light armor, you add your Dexterity modifier to the base number from your armor type to determine your Armor Class.
Medium - Medium armor offers more protection than light armor, but it also impairs movement more. If you wear medium armor, you add your Dexterity modifier, to a maximum of +2, to the base number from your armor type to determine your Armor Class.
Heavy - Of all the armor categories outside of powered armor, heavy armor offers the best protection. These suits of armor cover the entire body and are designed to stop a wide range of attacks. Only proficient warriors can manage their weight and bulk.

Heavy armor doesn’t let you add your Dexterity modifier to your Armor Class, but it also doesn’t penalize you if your Dexterity modifier is negative.

Powered - Powered armor looks a lot like heavy armor, but instead is powered by energy cells and assists the wearer accomplishing superhuman physical tasks. These suits of armor cover the entire body and are designed to stop the most powerful of modern attacks. Powered armor can only be worn by someone who is proficient with it. This means that they are extremely rare
Shields - Shields are normally carried in one hand. Extremely high tech shields can also be worn as a belt or a harness and they project an energy shield around the wearer. You can only use one hand carried shield for every pair of hands (+6 AC max) and you can only use one shield belt / harness.

AC. Your Armor Class

Dexterity Bonus. How much of your Dexterity Bonus do you get when wearing the armor.

Size. This is the size the wearer of the armor must be to use the armor.

Stealth. Are you at a disadvantaged to stealth rolls

Strength. The minimum strength needed to operate the armor

Weight. How much the armor weighs in pounds

Tech Level. This is the tech level that the stats for this weapon are for. There is a complete chapter covering each tech level. The tech levels are:

Tech Level 0: The Age of Stone
Tech Level 1: The Age of Fire
Tech Level 2: The Age of Metal
Tech Level 3: The Age of Steam
Tech Level 4: The Age of Industry
Tech Level 5: The Age of Information
Tech Level 6: The Age of Wonder

Properties. This is the properties of the armor. It is a comma delimited list of properties. See what each below.

Rarity. This is how rare the armor is at each tech level.

Description. This is a description for the armor. There is a seperate description for each armor for each tech level. A Tech Level 6 genetically engineered orbital human will see the wooden armor carried by the Tech Level 1 tribesman as a sticks and bark, while the Tech Level 2 Mutant Dog will see it as a improvised armor.

Armor Properties

Resistance. This is a list of types of damage the armor is resistant to. Resistance Acid would be armor that is resistant to acid damage.

Damage Reduction. This property is followed by a number. This is the number of hit points armor will absorb before it damages the wearer or the armor itself. Damage Reduction and Hit Points operate in concert with each other. If armor has damage reduction of 6 and 100 hit points and someone attacks it with a bow and does 5 points of damage to the wearer. The damage reduction will reduce the attack to 0 hit points, and the armor will remain unscratched. However, if they got hit by a pistol for 8 points of damage, the damage reduction properties of the armor will reduce the attack to doing only 2 hit points, and the armor will be degraded from 100 hit points remaining to 98 hit points remaining. Once the hitpoints of the armor have been reduced to 0, the armor is considered fragile.

Hit Points. This property is following by a number. This is the number of hitpoints the armor has before it no longer works properly. Damage Reduction and Hit Points operate in concert with each other. If armor has damage reduction of 6 and 100 hit points and someone attacks it with a bow and does 5 points of damage to the wearer. The damage reduction will reduce the attack to 0 hit points, and the armor will remain unscratched. However, if they got hit by a pistol for 8 points of damage, the damage reduction properties of the armor will reduce the attack to doing only 2 hit points, and the armor will be degraded from 100 hit points remaining to 98 hit points remaining. Once the hitpoints of the armor have been reduced to 0, the armor is considered fragile.

Size. This property is followed by a number. This number shows how much bigger the armor will be above the wearer. For example powered armor will have the property Size 1. This means that if someone wears this armor, they will operate as a Large Humanoid. Plate armor has no size property, therefore Large Plate Armor will be wearable by someone who is large and they will present a large target to others.

Power Cells. The power cells required for one day’s worth of operation.

Armor Resistance Types

Different attacks, mutations, and other harmful effects deal different types of damage. Damage types have no rules of their own, but other rules, such as damage resistance, rely on the types.

Armors The damage types follow, with examples to help a GM assign a damage type to a new effect.