Wanted: Ideas for interesting and unique sci fi weapons.

[frogglesmash]

I want to homebrew some interesting sci fi weapons for a campaign I plan on running, but I'm having trouble coming up with anything, so I figured I'd come to the playground for inspiration/ideas. Ideas for other sci fi gadgets are also welcome.

[Firest Kathon]

For inspiration you can look to the Pathfinder Technology guide (available on the SRD (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/technological-equipment)). Most stuff is not particularly unique, but there are some neat things in there.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Pay attention especially to Ratchet & Clank:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKoeSRhF1nc

[Khedrac]

Do you mean man portable or vehicular?

Some man portable oddballs:

Courtesy of David Weber (I think):
Guns that project a Hyperspace field shoving part of what they hit into hyperspace, but leaving the rest behind...

From Strontium Dog (2000AD) comics:
Guns that shoot through hyperspace so with the correct adjustment can shoot straight past obstacles (without damaging them) to hit targets hiding behind them.

Courtesy of John Ringo/Travis Taylor (though for them it is a spaceship weapon):
Guns that fire a ball of "chaos" - random events (at a quantum level) happen where it hits usually creating a hole through armour (and possibly shields)

And some silly thoughts (possibly inspired by other sources that I don't remember right now):
A gun that electrically charges the target so if it touches anything it discharges spectacularly.
A gun that applies a magnetic field to the target.
Conventional "blasters" that don't shoot in straight lines...
A conventional blaster that can be switched between handgun and rifle modes (and carbine in between) for flexibility vs. accuracy.
A gun which is primarily held together by forcefields (very little physical material). When not in use there is not enough to detect, but hold the hand in the correct position and the gun 'appears' in it.
Handguns with point defence capability.
Time-stop weapons (freeze the target in place for a few seconds).
Short term amnesia weapons (might stop riots as people do not remember what they are doing).
Power draining guns (c.f. electro-magnetic pulse weapons).
For a super-hero type world: the power boosting guns - ramps up the target's powers to the point where they cannot control them.
Emotion guns - cause despair/fear/whatever in the target.

[Vogie]

I've always been fond of the Stouker Concussion Rifle from the original SW: Dark Forces game. Each shot looked like nothing happened, then a blue explosion would occur under the feet of the target. They referred to it as "compressed bullets of ionised air".

Any sort of Self-deprecating transforming weapon. I remember a thread concerning the Transformers series talking about how they seem to have limitless ammo and can generate rockets out of thin air, and how much more interesting it would be that their ammunition was instead literal pieces of themselves.

Expand on the Gravity hammer from Halo where the hammer literally impacts the effects the gravity of the bearer instead of just being a moniker for "hitting Hard"

You could use some 'sorcerous living weapon' tropes from non-sci-fi IPs that are refluffed as high technology, such as the Witchblade, or Irelia's floating blades from League of Legends.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

A plain ol' sizing/morphing dagger with the metalline, aptitude, and skillful properties can basically turn into anything, and you're always proficient, and you can apply all your weapons-based feats to it, which can have some very nifty results. Say you're from a stone-age culture but you're fighting killer robots from space? You can totally turn your little dagger into a hand-held energy blaster or an RPG, and you are entirely proficient with it. Not only that, but you're far better with it than most proficient wielders, because you're a master at hitting things with your club.

Add on the properties of Taulmaril the Heartseeker (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ask/20061227a) (nee Hank's energy bow), and you've suddenly got infinite ammo for that RPG or sandblaster from the MM3 (replete with ranged Power Attack). Heck, you've got a hand-cannon which can turn into a literal cannon. And you can fire it repeatedly, due to the energy bow properties.

Oh, and metalline is pretty nifty, too. Lots of uses for a morphing piece of adamantine. If it was originally made from aurorum, even getting sundered won't matter, because you can put it right back together again.

[Gruftzwerg]

How about a lasersword?

technically you can already have one as warlock with a Rod of Eldritch Power (least, Eldritch Glaive). works only 5/day, but I don't see any problems to homebrew it into a permanent item. Downside is that you need to be a warlock. But you could change that too into a fix lvl for Eldritch Blast (e.g. 1d6 damage).

On the same way you could create laser pistols.

[lylsyly]

Was it Vernor Vinge that wrote the book(s) about a "Bobble Generator" (whatever was inside the "bobble" was essentially in complete stasis).

A Bobble Pistol, on a successful hit it "bobbles" the target, putting it in a stasis bubble. Come clean up the trash later, you know, pick it up and keep it/throw it into a sun, yada .....

[Clopin Silk]

Okay (cracks knuckles), let's do this.

An osmotic rifle: if you hit someone, it drains the water out of their body.
The Downloader: an energy weapon that projects information into a person's head until they suffer brain damage. It kills people by downloading the library of congress into their heads, all at once.
Teleportation-based weaponry: I cribbed this one from the comic 'Irredeemable', and it's brilliant. This weapon works by teleporting a small amount of matter from whatever it's fired at to... somewhere else. Imagine what that means if you shoot someone with it. It get's used to hurt a Superman proxy. And it also come paired with the perfect defensive equipment; teleportation shielding, which basically surrounds the wearer in a shaped teleportation portal, meaning that attacks directed at them never hit.
The Hopscotch: this is really evil, so be forewarned. When fired, this weapon sends parts of the targets into different dimensions to each other. Messy.
Enjoy!

[IcarusWulfe]

Here's a few off the top of my head
-good old fashioned mass drivers
-Tyranid style living weapons(Flesh Beetles, Devourer, etc)
-Entropy acceleration gun, freeze targets to death instantly
-Laser Assisted Electrical Rifle

[Ruethgar]

Gramarie (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?291019-By-the-Inferior-Science-of-our-Enemies-Gramarie-Mark-II) is great for making a setting more Sci-Fi. There is also a Greyhawk article that gives you several magitec weapons, including ones that teleport the bullet near the sun to be super-heated and pulled by gravity to insane speeds then teleported out of the end of the barrel. Need to fin it, one sec. "Greyhawk 2000" article, Dragon #277