weapon design
 

I created a weapon for a PC. It’s called a Gear Bow. Basically it’s a crossbow without the bow. It uses gears and springs and pulleys to cock the bow, pull it back and then shoot it, all with a pump action. Its semi-cinematic. It allows ROF 1, and the ST can be adjusted from a 5ST-20ST with a dial on it.

It was made by a gadgetteer in TL8. It allows for the lesser ST settings to get a higher ROF up to 3 also. At a 14ST or lower its ROF3.

my question is would weapon master bow add to the damage of this? It’s not a St powered weapon anymore, correct? It’s basically a gun.

Re: weapon design
 

I'd let WM help with it. You are still using your muscles as the source of energy - it's just stored in the gears and pulleys and whatnots. The same happens with a bow - the energy is stored in the frame and the string.

Re: weapon design
 

Yes but it has nothing to do with his ST right? its all the pulleys. Not sure. Basically at a 20ST he is doing 3-4d i think. 2d-1 [bow at 20ST], then +2 per die for a total of +4 (weapon master), so thats 2d+3. +2 for bolt. so thats 2d+5 or 3d+1.

Re: weapon design
 

Weapon master adds +1 per die of ST damage to the damage of a weapon, based on the ST of the weapon master. As this weapon does not use the ST of the weapon master, it's unaffected.

Re: weapon design
 

That sort of logic seems to apply to Low-Tech bows, which use their own ST too.

Re: weapon design
 

With bows, because they have their own ST, I would let Weapon Master boost the character's effective ST enough to get the damage bonus. I don't see any real problem with doing the same for crossbows and similar. So, if you've got an ST 16 character with Weapon Master (Gearbow) and enough skill for a +2 to damage, you're looking at 1d+4 thr, which is equivalent to ST 20 (in general, every +2 ST is +1 thr), so the character can use it at its maximum setting, or drop its ST for higher RoF.

Note above I specifically said Weapon Master (Gearbow). This is an entirely different beast from a normal bow, and is only somewhat-related to a crossbow. WM (Bow) shouldn't apply. I personally wouldn't allow for WM (Crossbow) either, although while WM (Bow and Gearbow) probably wouldn't be an appropriate pairing, WM (Crossbow and Gearbow) probably would be.

Re: weapon design
 

Arguably yes. In any case, the damage bonus for a low tech bow should be based on the user's ST, so if you're ST 11 and wielding a ST 17 crossbow, weapon master gives +1, not +2.

Re: weapon design
 

Then logically, can you tell me why weapon master gives a + to damage. Is it because of your superior skill you know how to do more damage? or something else?

because then why not apply to guns as well, since the Gear bow is basically a gun. You set it for a ST of X and then shot. So why is the player being given a bonus to Damage for simply pulling the trigger?

i really want to give the PC the WM bonus, I’m just trying to see why. And also for when the gun aspected PC asks why does he get it and i don’t when we are basically both using a gun?

the gear bow works by tension and pulleys, then a pump action to lock a new bolt in place, then pull the trigger. If its set for a lower ST, the pump is easier to pull to shoot more bolts per second.

Re: weapon design
 

Unspecified, perhaps greater efficiency of muscle use (in which case, WM should probably allow you to use a heavier bow). This came up a while back on 'does WM apply to the extra dice from vibro weapons' and word of Kromm was no.

It would clean up WM (and brawling/karate) by a bit to have it give a striking ST bonus instead of a per-die bonus.

Re: weapon design
 

Weapon Master is explicitly cinematic, although training-based bonuses to ST are probably realistic (just not necessarily to the extremes WM deals with). WM is basically "I'm so awesome with [weapon] I can deal far more damage than someone of equal strength," training-based ST bonuses (called Trained ST in Technical Grappling, where the concept was introduced) are more "I've built up musculature appropriate to this particular task as a side effect of training for it, and I've also learned how to most efficiently direct my strength for the task at hand." For the first, a character with WM (Gearbow) would, in theory, be able to pick up a weapon drawn by someone else of higher ST and fire it, doing more damage than the loader would have by sheer dent of being awesome. I personally treat Weapon Master as being more like Trained ST (if I don't just fold it into Trained ST outright).