New Siege Weapons and Ammunition

[JamesIntrocaso]

I needed some more fantastical siege weapons for my campaign as well as some variety in the ammunition for cannons and catapults. Take a look and let me know what you think!

http://worldbuilderblog.me/2015/05/05/siege-weapon-update/

[Inevitability]

Looks nice.

To be honest, I kind of expected something along the lines of 'dead horses' for ammunition. It was a common medieval tactic to fling them at the enemy to infect them with various nasty medieval diseases.

[JamesIntrocaso]

Looks nice.

To be honest, I kind of expected something along the lines of 'dead horses' for ammunition. It was a common medieval tactic to fling them at the enemy to infect them with various nasty medieval diseases.

I definitely thought about that! It's a great idea, but I think that's actually more about designing new diseases, which I'm doing for another blog post. The bodies get hurled, and then enemies exposed... that's pretty much the extent of the rules for hurling a dead horse, ya know?

[weaseldust]

The bodies get hurled, and then enemies exposed... that's pretty much the extent of the rules for hurling a dead horse, ya know?

I don't know if it's that simple; determining the splash radius for a dead horse would require detailed and harrowing empirical investigation.


Suggestions for the non-equine weapons:

- The ammunition for the cannon could get stats of its own, since it is presumably large enough to target and could explode entertainingly when damaged.

- I feel like the force canister should push targets away or knock them down or something.

- You could give the drill the equivalent of a burrow speed (10ft is probably fine). It also can't really drill through walls as written: it moves up to them, stops, and deals them damage until they break in front of it (after which it presumably can move through the rubble or something), but it can't drill holes through them or undermine them. The present mechanism is fine for smallish structures, like city gates, cottages, or other siege weapons, but not for city walls. If it had a burrow speed it could just pass through or under the latter and deal them damage due to undermining (say d10 damage per 5 feet the wall is high).

- I'm not sure how long the chains in chain shot were, but it feels a bit underwhelming to me for it to hit only one target. I imagine it more like sweeping out a line, say 100ft long and 10ft wide. That may not be historically accurate, though.


I also want to note that I really like the persisting effects of the acid and pitch ammunition. You could also consider one that spreads caltrops.

[JamesIntrocaso]

I don't know if it's that simple; determining the splash radius for a dead horse would require detailed and harrowing empirical investigation.


Suggestions for the non-equine weapons:

- The ammunition for the cannon could get stats of its own, since it is presumably large enough to target and could explode entertainingly when damaged.

- I feel like the force canister should push targets away or knock them down or something.

- You could give the drill the equivalent of a burrow speed (10ft is probably fine). It also can't really drill through walls as written: it moves up to them, stops, and deals them damage until they break in front of it (after which it presumably can move through the rubble or something), but it can't drill holes through them or undermine them. The present mechanism is fine for smallish structures, like city gates, cottages, or other siege weapons, but not for city walls. If it had a burrow speed it could just pass through or under the latter and deal them damage due to undermining (say d10 damage per 5 feet the wall is high).

- I'm not sure how long the chains in chain shot were, but it feels a bit underwhelming to me for it to hit only one target. I imagine it more like sweeping out a line, say 100ft long and 10ft wide. That may not be historically accurate, though.


I also want to note that I really like the persisting effects of the acid and pitch ammunition. You could also consider one that spreads caltrops.

Hahaha. Fair enough on the dead horse. I was thinking airborne diseases, but I guess contact diseases make more sense.

Those are all awesome ideas and great observations. I'll definitely take those into consideration!