Toward a Theory of Weapon Stats

[Falenthal]

Of course I'd also give a malus to the Stealth roll for approaching!

I was just saying/joking that, in the rules, there's no indication that when a group wants to ambush the enemies, the characters with great weapons have any kind of malus.

[Rich H]

There's a need with TOR, as with a lot of RPGs, for GMs to apply rulings. It does require some experience but is often more rewarding and satisfying than rulesets that attempt, and fail, to cover every eventual scenario by over-defining things.

[Otaku-sempai]

Sling
Damage: 3
Edge: 10
Injury: 12
Encumbrance: 0
Called Shot: None
Usable by Hobbits
Part of the 'Dagger' group
Balance: 0

I've revised my own stats for the Sling using the AiMe/D&D 5e statistics as guidance. They are now much more like yours, save for the Called Shot and not including it in the 'Dagger' group.

Sling
Damage: 3
Edge: 10
Injury: 12
Called Shot: Piercing blow regardless of the outcome of the Feat die.
Notes: Ranged weapon (as Bow). Encumbrance rating is 0.

[amajo]

Wow. Having worked on Francesco's early TOR drafts and especially on stats and things such as the weapon values, monsters, cultural virtues and designing the cultural rewards, I have to say this calculator is quite impressive. I didn't use the same parameters for the balancing of weapons, but it goes pretty close and it works perfectly well as a tool to craft your own new weapons. Good to see those years of work in the early days weren't worthless. If someone is interested I can share some of the parameters that we used to balance the weapon stats, unless we want to keep it as a hidden "theory"
Kudos to Glorelendil and the rest of the crew for this amazing contribution.

Amado

[Glorelendil]

Wow. Having worked on Francesco's early TOR drafts and especially on stats and things such as the weapon values, monsters, cultural virtues and designing the cultural rewards, I have to say this calculator is quite impressive. I didn't use the same parameters for the balancing of weapons, but it goes pretty close and it works perfectly well as a tool to craft your own new weapons. Good to see those years of work in the early days weren't worthless. If someone is interested I can share some of the parameters that we used to balance the weapon stats, unless we want to keep it as a hidden "theory"
Kudos to Glorelendil and the rest of the crew for this amazing contribution.

Amado

Yes, please! If I can decrypt my own spaghetti code I might even update the calculator....

[Falenthal]

Kudos to Glorelendil for this amazing contribution.

Amado

Glorelendil is a Mastermind.
Of the evil kind, of course.

[Elmoth]

Slings are as dangerous as bows. Damage 3 is way too low.

[Otaku-sempai]

Slings are as dangerous as bows. Damage 3 is way too low.

Personally, I agree, but in AiMe Slings only do 1d4 bludgeoning damage, bringing them in line with Daggers. If I had my druthers, the Sling would inflict the same Endurance and range as the Bow/Short Bow (Damage 5; Range 80/320).

[Glorelendil]

Slings are as dangerous as bows. Damage 3 is way too low.

No, they are not, because it is harder to hit things with them. Which means that even if a successful hit does the same damage (of which I'm skeptical, but let's accept it for now) then average damage done over many attacks will be less.

To reduce average damage we either have to impose an attack penalty or a damage penalty. TOR doesn't really have attack bonuses/penalties based on weapon type, so it has to be damage.

Q.E.F.D.

[Otaku-sempai]

Slings are as dangerous as bows. Damage 3 is way too low.

No, they are not, because it is harder to hit things with them. Which means that even if a successful hit does the same damage (of which I'm skeptical, but let's accept it for now) then average damage done over many attacks will be less.

Let's say for the sake of argument that it's a different type of damage, bludgeoning vs. piercing; though even that would be a bit of an oversimplification. A sling bullet can strike with enough force to penetrate light armor and flesh.

To reduce average damage we either have to impose an attack penalty or a damage penalty. TOR doesn't really have attack bonuses/penalties based on weapon type, so it has to be damage.

Q.E.F.D.

I would argue that a skilled slinger can be very accurate, perhaps as accurate as a bowman. However, I don't want to start an argument. An unskilled slinger might be more dangerous to himself or bystanders than to a target.