Weapon Familiarity with a new Weapon Bond.

[Blood Legend]

If a player commissions a custom fit weapon, would they still suffer a familiarity penalty going from their old stamped out assembly line weapon?

[Bilanthri]

A custom fit for a familiar model of weapon? If the only difference was the grip, I would say no, since the weapon would still function the same as the stock model. If the customization includes a change in weight, or the way in which, or speed at which, the mechanism operates (cartridge ejection, bolt action, etc.) then I would assess a familiarity penalty. But that's what the firing range/practice dummy is for.

[Anaraxes]

Per Basic, familiarity applies to different types of items. A specific counter-example not requiring a penalty is two similar types of Colt revolvers, even though they're different models. High Tech gives the example of all the variants of the AK as not requiring a familiarity penalty. I wouldn't assess a penalty for changing between two different instances of the same kind of item; that's even narrower than different models. "Customized" as a fluff justification for a Weapon Bond is just that. It makes the item better for you, not worse. Customization for other purposes (changing game stats) is going to become a GM call as to when the changes mean the original and modified item aren't even as similar as two different models of revolver.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Blood Legend

If a player commissions a custom fit weapon, would they still suffer a familiarity penalty going from their old stamped out assembly line weapon?

I don't actually think these two are related to each other.

Of course you could commission a custom weapon, and pay more for it, but it would then be a fine or very fine weapon. By definition, fine or very fine weapons don't count as weapons of different kinds, and don't require gaining a new familiarity..

But you wouldn't have a Weapon Bond with such a weapon. Weapon Bond isn't something you pay for with cash! Rather, you spend a character point on it. This represents, not paying to have a weapon specially made, but having had the good luck to find just the right weapon for you. You can have a Weapon Bond with a weapon of any quality, from cheap up to very fine, and it doesn't alter the price for you to have that bond.

And if you lose your personal favorite sword or bow or rifle, the character point is lost. To get it back you have to (a) spend another character point and (b) tell a story about how your character keeps visiting new makers or dealers until they find another weapon that perfectly suits them. Or, I suppose, if you get a sword as a gift from the king in honor of a heroic deed, you could fairly ask the GM for permission to spend a character point . . . but that's not an automatic yes; it's something that might make a good enough story to be allowed.

[PK]

Actually, having a weapon custom-designed to fit your exact needs is one of the ways to justify the Weapon Bond perk; this is discussed a bit in GURPS Tactical Shooting. Otherwise, Bill's spot-on.

If that's the case, you will already be familiar with that type of weapon (if not, you wouldn't know enough about it to have one custom built for you), so there'll be no familiarity penalty. Familiarity is for using a type of weapon that you've never used (e.g., a long knife when you're used to daggers), not for switching individual weapons of the same type.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by PK

Actually, having a weapon custom-designed to fit your exact needs is one of the ways to justify the Weapon Bond perk; this is discussed a bit in GURPS Tactical Shooting.

I'm kind of perplexed at that. Wouldn't you expect to pay extra to have that kind of work done? At least by the original definition of Weapon Bond, the weapon never costs extra. I'm not sure how those two can be reconciled.

[PK]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I'm kind of perplexed at that. Wouldn't you expect to pay extra to have that kind of work done? At least by the original definition of Weapon Bond, the weapon never costs extra. I'm not sure how those two can be reconciled.

Not necessarily. A character starting off with a bespoke weapon need not have paid extra for it. And in many settings, especially low-tech ones, every weapon is handmade or customizable. If the smith in a fantasy game is already making your sword by hand, it isn't going to raise the price if you ask him to work toward a specific end. If your patron organization can obtain a wide variety of guns, they probably won't blink if you ask for something assembled (or easily assembled by you) from a specific set of parts. And so on.

In a setting where custom gear always costs more, then this particular rationalization for Weapon Bond may indeed be unfair unless it's the only way that the GM will allow that perk. Given a choice between "I spend $1,600 on a pistol, and luck into it being a perfect fit for me, so I buy Weapon Bond," and, "I spend $3,200 to have a custom-made pistol that fits per well enough to buy Weapon Bond," the former is obviously a better deal for the player. But that won't always be an accurate dichotomy in every setting.

[Anders]

You could also imagine having Weapon Bond as a trainable advantage, where you learn the specifics of a weapon so well it's worth a bonus. If a person is willing to put himself through 200 hours of intensive training with a specific weapon...

[GodBeastX]

Keep in mind, points are not a finite idea that must be paid from a player's piggy bank. They are just a total on a sheet.

So what I am saying is, if a person DOES pay extra cash to commission a weapon, and you just give them the perk, that doesn't break GURPS. You might make them go negative or you just might say "Whatever, you spent cash, here you go."

This is how I handle Cybernetics in Ultratech. Anyone can get cybernetics as equipment, going to the doctor, having surgery done, etc. They are still recorded on the sheet as points spent.

[Emerald Cat]

Originally Posted by PK

And in many settings, especially low-tech ones, every weapon is handmade or customizable. If the smith in a fantasy game is already making your sword by hand, it isn't going to raise the price if you ask him to work toward a specific end.

[...]

In a setting where custom gear always costs more, then this particular rationalization for Weapon Bond may indeed be unfair unless it's the only way that the GM will allow that perk.

In settings with mature mass production (~TL6+), I would expect custom gear to cost more.

However, I think giving the player their bonded weapon for free would be fair. For comparison, you could buy a piece of gear worth 50% of your starting wealth as Signature Gear per point. At TL8, that would be $10K.

I doubt that it would cost more than $10K to custom order a weapon with the properties granted by Weapon Bond.