Weapons and Power Sets

[Waxfire]

Some villains have weapons, and I'm particularly asking about guns/knives/etc., as part of their power sets. For example, Crossbones has Mercenary Arsenal including a Crossbow D6 and Fighting Knife D6.

I'm wondering if a hero or a villain that does not currently carry a weapon picks up a gun or other weapon, do they gain a new power set?

For example, I'm playing Beast and he picks up a Pistol D6 and starts shooting. Would he use it as a separate Power Set? In this example, could I make a dice pool including Enhances Senses to shoot someone far away or in the dark and use dice from the two Power Sets?

I realize picking up weapons isn't very common in the superhero world, but I'm just trying to understand how it works mechanically. It would seem to make sense that picking up a new weapon would make a new Power Set, but then some of the existing power sets (i.e. Black Panther) include Weapon as part of their existing Power Sets, so would this be an unfair advantage?

Finally, I'm assuming that simply picking up a weapon doesn't require creating an Asset, but then it does add a die for an extended period, so might be required?

Thanks for the clarifications.

[EldritchFire]

Mechanically it's usually a stunt based on the combat specialty. It gives you a d8 for that roll—at the cost of a plot point. You still have the pistol, but it doesn't add any dice to your roll.

However, if Watcher rolls a 1, you may activate that opportunity to gain a combat resource. It is rated at 1 step lower than your combat specialty. If your hero doesn't have the combat specialty, it could work for tech (hi tech pistol) or your character just isn't combat savvy enough to get that constant die without paying a PP for it.

TL; DR
You never get another power set unless bought with XP. Temporary things are push dice, stunts, or resources.

-EF

[Lindharin]

Another way to handle it would be to treat it as an asset. He picks up the gun, rolls against the doom pool or the thug he's taking it from, and gets an asset for the rest of the scene or until he's disarmed. If he wants it longer, spend a PP to make it persistent. If he wants to keep it permanently, it could become part of a power set between acts/events.

[MidnightBlue]

Yeah...this might seem counter-intuitive based on other RPG's...needing to create an asset/resource/stunt to use an acquired item.

How I look at it is this...just picking up a weapon doesn't make you skilled in that weapon. I.e. you won't necessarily hit better or even do more damage if you do hit.

If you already have Combat Expert/Master and you pick up a weapon, then you've just added narrative as to how you are using your Specialty. I.e. you are using a gun to shoot at your foe, which explains and justifies the use of the Combat Expert/Master die.

But without creating an asset/stunt/whatever, you don't get to include an extra die for the gun itself.

I think we've got a discussion floating around these boards somewhere that uses Cap's Shield as an example.

[figurefour]

You don't need a Stunt/Asset/Resource to use a weapon. You need a Stunt/Asset/Resource to get an extra DIE from a weapon.

If Beast picks up a Pistol (d6) he can now make ranged attacks using the pistol. He just doesn't add the d6 to his pool until he takes some sort of action to allow that.

Changing the situation is just as important as changing the dice.

[MidnightBlue]

Changing the situation is just as important as changing the dice.

Good point...and something I tried to say, but not so elequently.

The weapon can still be used narratively even if you don't get a die from it for the dice pool.

Very good point.

[EldritchFire]

Another way to handle it would be to treat it as an asset. He picks up the gun, rolls against the doom pool or the thug he's taking it from, and gets an asset for the rest of the scene or until he's disarmed. If he wants it longer, spend a PP to make it persistent. If he wants to keep it permanently, it could become part of a power set between acts/events.

[sarcasm]
Sure, show the new guy that there are many answers to each question. Show them how versatile the game is. I'm sure that'll help show them how cool this game is.
[/sarcasm]



-EF

[vitruvian]

You don't need a Stunt/Asset/Resource to use a weapon. You need a Stunt/Asset/Resource to get an extra DIE from a weapon.

If Beast picks up a Pistol (d6) he can now make ranged attacks using the pistol. He just doesn't add the d6 to his pool until he takes some sort of action to allow that.

Changing the situation is just as important as changing the dice.

Intuitively, though, it seems like shooting the pistol is precisely the sort of action to allow adding the die associated with the pistol.

[chaosnet]

I don't necessarily agree with having to add an asset to pick up a D6 pistol and begin firing. This seems very counter-intuitive.

I would all said pistol to be picked up and a D6 added into the pool contigent on the fact that said pistol was not a specialty item belonging to someone else. In that case, I may allow a roll against the doom pool to secure the weapon temporarily until a Gear Limitation is activated on the hero or the villain that dropped it succeeds on an opportunity and recovers it.

[MidnightBlue]

How I'm looking at it...

The die code of the weapon isn't the damage capacity of the weapon...it is the character's skill at using it that the weapon is attributed to.

As has been noted, there is no cost for Beast to pick up the pistol and even gets the benefit of having a narrative excuse to make ranged attacks.

However, he doesn't get an extra die for the weapon (without creating the asset) because it isn't a "normal" part of his concept, as defined by the datafile.

But then again, if you find something that works better for your game, have at it.