Ultimate equipment for a Supers campaign.

[Wavefunction]

I'm trying to put together a heroic normal character at the moment for a Supers campaign. His major 'super' power is going to be high levels of wealth, basically arbitrarily high in that he can afford the best equipment money can buy. The problem I'm having is what actually is the best equipment money can buy?

The character's sort of a Punisher style combatant, mainly using guns and such like. But I do have access to enchanting to give my gear a boost. I'd like the enchanting to be more of a sideline though so I'm not going to give him armour with all of the attribute boosting spells permanently enchanted into it. But I will give him full level Deflect, Lighten and Fortify enchants, and Penetrating Weapon + Puissance on his weaponry. But whatever he can achieve through mundane gear he will achieve through mundane gear.

So what weaponry do you think is the best at TL8? Including quality modifiers, ammunition types, etc... For both ranged and melee weaponry. What other equipment would you pick up? Three-Point Sling, Load Bearing Vest, Tactical Headset, etc...

You don't have to pay much attention to the character concept, I'm intrigued to see what the collective imagination of the Forum-dwellers can achieve. Just restrict options to realistic TL8 technology, I'm aware increased TL can exponentially increase the power of a high wealth character, but I don't want it.

[thulben]

Take a look at B345 and just buy all of your equipment at Fine (or better) quality.

[Phantasm]

I'd probably go with a pistol for a sidearm; an assault rifle, assault carbine, or sub-gun as the primary weapon; a second carbine or sub-gun as a backup weapon; a ballistic tactical vest with trauma plates; laser sight on the primary weapon, tactical flashlight mounted on the weapon barrel, and underbarrel shotgun for CQB. A combat knife (large knife stats) always works for a melee weapon, though I'd probably look at superfine or vibroblade in its construction just because supers tend to have innate DR.

The ammo should probably be AP or APHEX rounds. Personally, I'm fond of AP-HPF (3e's Ultra-Tech called them APHP) for supers games, a dual-purpose armor-piecing hollow-point frangible round sold in .40S&W and wider rounds; those would run the same basic price as AP rounds. Many players would go for APEP rounds, which cost 10x the standard price.

Also, I'd look at advanced sights for any helmet you have, with a TL9 thermograph or multispectral visor.

Belt pouches with plastic explosives, smoke bombs, etc. are also useful. Don't overdo the pouches, though, unless you're going '90s Anti-Hero with this guy (if you do, be sure to add oversized shoulderpads to the outfit ^^; ).

[Wavefunction]

Take a look at B345 and just buy all of your equipment at Fine (or better) quality.

I've no problem with choosing from Basic Set, it's when you look at all the options in High Tech, Tactical Shooting, Gun Fu, and other material like Monster Hunters that my head starts spinning with all the options.

I'd probably go with a pistol for a sidearm; an assault rifle, assault carbine, or sub-gun as the primary weapon; a second carbine or sub-gun as a backup weapon; a ballistic tactical vest with trauma plates; laser sight on the primary weapon, tactical flashlight mounted on the weapon barrel, and underbarrel shotgun for CQB. A combat knife (large knife stats) always works for a melee weapon, though I'd probably look at superfine or vibroblade in its construction just because supers tend to have innate DR.

Some interesting points here, but I'm more looking for specific examples of guns, preferably as customised as possible, rather than general types. As previously mentioned I'm using TL8 gear only, so no superfine or vibroblade weapons, but I'm using enchantments for Armour Divisors.

Personally, I'm fond of AP-HPF (3e's Ultra-Tech called them APHP) for supers games, a dual-purpose armor-piecing hollow-point frangible round sold in .40S&W and wider rounds; those would run the same basic price as AP rounds. Many players would go for APEP rounds, which cost 10x the standard price.

Where are those ammunition types from? I can't seem to find them anywhere.

Belt pouches with plastic explosives, smoke bombs, etc. are also useful. Don't overdo the pouches, though, unless you're going '90s Anti-Hero with this guy (if you do, be sure to add oversized shoulderpads to the outfit ^^; ).

:) Only as many pouches as necessary, I'm not going to add them purely for decoration, unlike some anti-heroes.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

Where are those ammunition types from? I can't seem to find them anywhere.

APHP and AP-HPF don't appear in High-Tech or Ultra-Tech; they're hollow point rounds with a harder core sticking out into the cavity of the hollow point. Against armored foes they should probably be treated as APHC in cinematic universes or as HT's AP rounds in more realistic settings, and as HP against unarmored foes. I price them as APHC ammo (High-Tech, p. 167).

APEP is in Ultra-Tech, p. 152. A round from High-Tech that might work for you, though, is the APHEX (Armor-Piercing High Explosive).

As for the specific models... oh hells, there's all kinds. I'm personally fond of the M1911 and either Ingram MAC10 or Thompson M1 (Tommy Gun), all in .45 ACP so they can share ammo, but the AR15/M16/M4 family of weapons is popular as a main weapon throughout the western world, or the AK-47/AK-74/AKM series in the Eastern and Third World countries.

[Wavefunction]

APHP and AP-HPF don't appear in High-Tech or Ultra-Tech; they're hollow point rounds with a harder core sticking out into the cavity of the hollow point. Against armored foes they should probably be treated as APHC in cinematic universes or as HT's AP rounds in more realistic settings, and as HP against unarmored foes. I price them as APHC ammo (High-Tech, p. 167).

APEP is in Ultra-Tech, p. 152. A round from High-Tech that might work for you, though, is the APHEX (Armor-Piercing High Explosive).

Thanks, I'll have a look at those. I'd been working on the principle that more letters is better so I fell in love with APFSDSDU rounds :)

As a rule you will want all your equipment to be 'expensive' (Cost x2, Wt x 2/3) (HT10), and consider the Rugged and Styling options too, from the same page.

Yep, I'd seen that, quick question about the expensive modifier, Monster Hunters: Loadouts gives the legendary loadouts expensive gloves and boots, despite that being expressly forbidden by the description. Which precedent should I go with?

All your blades should be Very Fine. All your firearms should be tuned by a gunsmith to include Fine (Accurate) and Fine (Reliable) options from HT79. Weight reduction is a nice option too, discussed in Tactical Shooting. Also you should look at the best ammo options as well (HT161-175). Incendiary, multiball, APDS all have their place in a proper arsenal.

Yep, I was working on the basis that all weaponry would be of high quality.

Reflex sights, HUDs, Wristwatch Smartphone, small computers with expensive upgrades, patrol slings, pilot's survival LBV, bug detectors, laser mikes, synthetic cord, pocket torch, anti laser ballistic goggles/sunglasses, climbing shoes, smart flashlight, night vision gear, surviellance endoscope, radio beacons.

Some nice suggestions there.

A Very Fine Long Knife with brass knuckes is nice for real fighting.

That's what I was thinking of going for actually as a melee weapon, so it's nice to have someone else agree.

For pistols, consider the Glock that fires 10mm or the Molot machine pistols from Gun Fu. For a rifle, it's hard to beat a tricked out, modernized M14.

Oooh, I like the Molot, but since my character will probably have ST 13 I might wield a TDI Kris Super V (Rcl 1!) one-handed instead if I can persuade the GM to let me buy the Hand Cannon perk. And wow, I hadn't seen the M14, it's objectively better in almost every way than most of the guns that come a TL after it, and arguably better than the rest.

[mlangsdorf]

Your best choice for a pistol might be the H&K USP in S&W .40 (HT102), paired with a H&K UMP in S&W .40 (HT126) as a submachine gun. I don't really recommend carrying back-up guns, since they're rarely used, but the Kahr K40 (HT103) is a good choice.

For a shotgun, the Benelli M3T Super 90 (HT106, under Benelli M1 Super 90) is a good choice if money is no object. Load up with weird shotgun shells for emergencies - HT and Monster Hunters have extensive lists of options.

For a long arm, as noted, the Springfield M14 is a good choice - probably in the RIA M21 version (HT115). Leave an Accuracy International AWM (HT118) in your vehicle for long ditsance sniping, and a Barrett M107 (HT118 under Barrett M82A1) for dealing with villains in powered armor. The Barrett fires .50 BMG, so you can get some pretty exotic bullet loads if necessary - APFSDSDU is theoretically possible, though realistically the gun's rifling would wreak havoc on the fin-stabilization.

You probably don't need anti-tank rockets or recoilless rifles, but getting an H&K AG36 (HT144) grenade launcher specially adapted for your rifle is a good idea. The good ammo here is your choice of Camera, HEDP-Extra Powerful, Gas, or Net, depending on who you're fighting and whether you need to capture or destroy.

As far as further customization, buy all the pistols as Fine (Accurate) and the longarms as Very Fine (Accurate), get Tritium Reflex Sights (HT156) for everything but the sniper rifles, and integral targeting laserse (HT157). You might also want sound supressors, depending on how much you intend to snipe silently versus run and gun. Unless you're a Gunslinger, in which case put enormously huge baffle suprressors on everything that you don't want to conceal since you ignore Bulk in combat.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

Some interesting points here, but I'm more looking for specific examples of guns, preferably as customised as possible, rather than general types..

There is very little difference between specific guns in Gurps.

For example, in a basic 9mm semi-automatic pistol do you choose between the Glock 17 or the Sig 226? Both come with the Very Relaible footnote straight from the factory. The Glock is lighter, cheaper and holds 17 rounds compared to the SIG's 15. Unless you get aftermarket magazines. Then the Glock holds 19 and the SIG 20. The real world features of the SIG that appear to be desired by some users such as manual safety and decoking lever have no truly significant game effect in Gurps. Flip a coin.

That said, if you want to lock at which guns hit the breakpoints go with the Glock 22 with the LAPD load from Tactical Shooting. You'll have to resign yourself to shooting only unarmored targets but you'll get 2D+3(0.5) P++. That's an average of 20 pots of wounding which gives you a survival Rol that smaller calibers or weaker ammo doesn't.

You could pick some weapon that had some small advantage in each category if you knew which advantages you were looking for. They'll be small advantages though.

[Wavefunction]

First of all thanks mlangsdorf for a a very thorough post (thanks in particular for the page references), I've just got a few queries, most of them probably stem from my lack of knowledge, so bare with me. First of all, why pick the H&K UMP over the Kris Super V? The H&K has a very slight edge in damage and range, but the Kris Super having Rcl 1 seems to be an absolutely huge factor. Second, why choose the Benelli over the Daewoo USAS-12? Apart from weight the Daewoo is better than the Benelli in every way. Though admittedly the weight may be an important factor. The basic Springfield M14 seems better than the RIA M21 variant since you can recreate all the benefits of the RIA M21 with the basic version and still maintain the RoF 12. And finally, doesn't the Barrett make the AI AWM rather pointless, especially if your going to keep it in a vehicle since it seems to do the sniping job better.

There is very little difference between specific guns in Gurps.

I know, and that's part of the problem, there's so much fluff to mine through before you get to anything interesting, but you do find the odd hidden treasure.

[Fred Brackin]

You've mentioned having enchanted items and this actually changes some of your best choices.

For example, if you want a shotgun your best choice is actually the Lefever 10G from HT. Why? Because it's the best of the double-barrels. Why do you ant a double-barrel? Because you're going to max out Fast-Draw(Ammo) with the Double Loading Technique and the Quick Reload Perk from Gun Fu.

Then you put a pair of shell holders on the butt of the gun and Enchant them as Cornucopias. You'll have a never-ending supply of ammo and with your Skills/Perk the ability to reload in just one second. You're definitely off to a good start come the Zombie Apocalypse.

Then you add more enchantments. +1 Puissance to bring you to a nice 2D per pellet and Penetrating weapon to keep light armor from stopping your attacks. The piece de resistance would be Flaming Missiles. Not only do you get the +2 damage to each pellet but firing double-barreled flaming shotgun blasts ought to be give you good bonuses to your Intimidation skill. :)

Is this absolutely the best possible combo of weapon, skills, perks and magic? Maybe not. A .600 nitro double rifle would do more damage in one chunk while still giving you the never-ending ammo trick.

It's got style though. Loud, violent, excessive style but superheroes with guns usually don't do subtle.

Consider other cornucopia items too. Take a $20 MKIII concussion grenade and spend 1000 energy on cornucopia and you can have a Pouch of Endless Grenades. Wouldn't that be everybody's favorite magic item?