MOAR STUFF! The equipment chapter. We start with weapon creation, drugs and addiction for your needy needler ammo needs, more bionics (no artifact versions though). That's it. With this chapter we'll be done with book 2.

Weapon creation. Very beta rules here, I have the feeling they weren't really tried out on anyone before being published. You can use them to duplicate some of the published weapons, some I don't think you can duplicate, others I think come out better.

1) Choose a template. 2) Choose a type. 3) Apply mods. 4) Determine price.

Choose a template, sets the base stats. Options (everything does impact damage and is single shot at this step):
* pistol, 2k2 damage, penetration 0, 30m, clip 6, reload 1 full action.
* basic, 3k2 damage, penetration 0, 40m, clip 12, reload 1 full action.
* heavy rifle, 2k2 damage, penetration 2, 60m, clip 40, reload 1 full action.
* cannon, 3k3 damage, penetration 4, 60m, clip 4, reload 2 full actions.
* melee, 1k2 damage, 0 penetration.

Choose a type, the type of weapon matches the categories in the first book and of the vehicle weapons (yay consistency!). It changes some stats and defines which mods a weapon can take. Not all weapons can get all the mods.
Guns
* Ordinary, -1 final rarity (cheaper).
* Las, energy damage, reliable, double ammo.
* Plasma, energy damage, +2 penetration, double reload time.
* Melta, energy damage, +4 penetration, half range.
* Bolter, explosive damage, +1k0 damage, +2 penetration.
* Syrneth, energy or rending damage, 1 extra mod.
* Exotic, any damage type, 1 extra mod.
* Flamer, energy damage.
Melee
* Ordinary, rending or impact damage, -1 final rarity (cheaper).
* Parrying, rending or impact damage.
* Cavalry, rending damage.
* Flail, flexible, +1 final rarity (more expensive).
* Fencing, rending damage, balanced.
* Two handed, two hands, +1k1 damage.
* Syrenth, any damage type, +3 penetration, 1 extra mod.
* Chain, rending damage, tearing.
* Shield, defensive.
* Unarmed, rending or impact damage, brawling.

Choose two mods. Syrenth and exotics get three. You can't double up on mods but there are some with I & II and the same effect, so faux doubling up. Ranged and melee have different mod tables. The weapon type restricts which mods it can take. Each mod adjusts the rarity/cost either -1 (flaw), +0 (just two melee mods), +1, or +2. There is also absolutely no way I'm listing all those buggers. I'l pick a few of the interesting ones.

Melee (22 mods), all the specials found on the melee weapon in the first book plus a few new ones.
* Defensive, +0, ordinary parrying cavalry fencing syrneth, gains defensive.
* Extra damage and extra pen I & II, +1s, all types, these are the double-ups, +1k0 damage and +2 pen.
* Incendiary, +2, parrying two-handed syrneth, sets people on fire.
* Orgone Array, +1, syrenth, hit targets roll on the warp crap tables.
* Power Field, +2, any, gains power field.
* Toxic, +2, parrying fencing syrneth, gets toxic.
* Volatile, +1, fencing syrneth chain, damage dice explode on 9 & 10.

Ranged (46 mods), all the gun special effects form the first book plus a couple new ones.
* Arm mounted, +1, all, leaves the hand free (pistol fine, but cannon? both arms or only one?).
* Beam, +1, las, new property.
* Blast shield, +1, all, gains armored (+2 armor on that arm).
* Breacher, +1 melta, +1k0 damage at short range or less.
* CombiWeapon, +1, all, new property.
* Compact, +1, not bolter or flamer, new property.
* Cone, +1, flamer, gains the flame property (dex save instead of to-hit roll).
You know, that could go really long. Ok, quickly, stuff like half reload-range-ammo, double reload-range-ammo, blast 3, blast 5, treat targets as one size smaller, damage & penetration boosts, full-auto RoF options, as a spear or chainsword in melee, damage dice don't explode, they explode on 9 & 10, reroll 1s & 2s on damage, no darkness penalties, gain quickdraw, on hit roll 1d10, on 1 half damage and on 10 double damage. Lots of stuff.

You can make a half range, half ammo, overheating exotic (-3 total mods) to a syrneth proven (reroll 1s & 2s damage), volatile (damage explode 9 & 10), blast 5 (+6 total mods). Melee min/max would be ordinary, unbalanced, throwing (-2 total mods) to a power field, toxic, shocking, syrneth (+6 mods).

Mods determine rarity for buying purposes. Everything starts a +0 mods with common (DC 10) rarity. -3 is 'worthless' and DC 0, or you can go up to 'fabulous max' +6 for DC 40. Which does imply that a 2k2, pen 2, s/-, 30m, clip 20, heavy rifle (2 hands, must brace) that may overheat is basically free (drop the overheating to get to a DC 2 wealth test to buy one). On the other hand you can't make a melta gun (basic, 4k3 E, pen 12, s/-, 20m, clip 5, 2 full, rare) using these rules, which was a complaint by some players.

Frankly I've found it works OK for creating the occasional variant or signature weapon, buzz-saw tridents or an advanced sniper rifle for example. It is abusable, full-auto-burst beam las heavy rifle (DC 20 or 25, keep shooting full auto bursts using previous round to-hit roll) or half ammo armored hands free ordinary cannon (DC 10, only 2 shots each but +2 armor each arm and hands free). And, of course, I have no idea how some things are supposed to work, like full auto blast 5 weapons or the fact that you can make a "flame" version of a las gun. The last one is mechanically simple, basic + flame + reliable + double ammo, I just don't know what it's doing in the fiction.

Well, here are the new weapon qualities for ya.
* Beam - like a laser pointer, when you make attacks in subsequent rounds you can reuse last round's to hit roll.
* CombiWeapon - like an underbarrel grenade launcher, Attach the weapon to something the same size or larger, half the ammo and double the reload time.
* Compact - +10to the DC to find them if they are concealed (uh, no rules or suggestions were ever given for that), and it makes basic weapons one handed (no penalty for one hand use).
* Incendiary - sets stuff it hits on fire. The book 1 flamer effect was split into cone + incendiary for the purpose of mods, cone is the dex save instead of to-hit roll and incendiary is the set on fire part. Although this one apparently just automatically set stuff alight instead of having to fail an additional dex vs. DC 15 save.
* Proven - reroll damage dice below the proven number. The only one in the official list is 'proven 3', so reroll 1s & 2s.
* Razor sharp - if you hit by at least +10 double the weapon armor penetration.
* Storm - when firing full auto it gets +2k0 to damage per raise instead of +1k0 to damage per raise. The number of raises for the damage boost is still only limited by RoF. So your s/6 gun can got from a +30 over the DC doing +6k0 to that same +30 over the DC doing +12k0 -> +10k1.
* Twin linked - when firing a single shot +1k0 to hit and if you hit by +10 or more +2k0 to damage. (accurate + twin + red dot on syrneth or exotic, DC 30 to buy, +4k0 to hit on a half action aim, +3k1 on the first +10 over, +1k1 for every other +10 over).

Drugs. Buy 10 doses at once, +5 wealth test DC to double (double doubling allowed?), comes in 3 styles: needler ammo (does no damage but delivers the drug), social form (pill, powder, patch), or hyposprays that you can use with a melee attack (undefined type, brawling I presume). Every time you take one check willpower against the 'addictivity' or be addicted, this ranges from zero to 25. Keep checking once you're addicted because you move up a track. The addiction track is minor -> moderate -> major and the withdrawal symptoms are cumulative, major addiction gets al three levels of suckage. Minor: -1k0 all rolls. Moderate: your dice don't explode. Major: another -1k2 plus minor = -2k2 all rolls. To cure suck down the withdrawal for a week and make the addiction willpower check again. Success and you go down by one level of addiction, major -> moderate -> minor -> kicked the habit.

Oh, the "addictivity" sets the time before the first withdrawal symptoms kick in. Non = DC 0 = N/A, low = DC 10 = 1 week, med = DC 15 = 3 days, high = DC 20 = 1 day, extreme = DC 25 = as soon as the drug wears off.

16 drugs. Alpha, +1k1 vs. fear and for offensive social attacks, one scene, low addict. Bio-foam, stops bleeding, instant, non-addic (should this even work as needler ammo? super sharp paintball maybe?). Comfort, ignore your minor derangements and take 1 less insanity, unknown duration, low addi. Detox, ends all other drug effects and lowers withdrawal by 1 level, instant and unknown duration, non-add. Drive, +1 all mental characteristics & autofail perception checks, one scene, moderate ad. Flight, roll on the mental shock table & extra doses that day get another +1 cumulative to the roll, undefined duration (a day?), moderate. Frenzon, get the benefit of the frenzy feat & -1 to intelligence wisdom and fellowship, one scene, moderate. Hither, +2k1 to charm skill checks & -10 to willpower or wisdom to resist temptation, unknown duration, low. Null, -1k1 all spell casting checks & -1 caster level, 1 day duration, non (caster blaster). Obscura, 1d10 hours of mild & pleasant hallucinations, 1d10 hours, moderate. Polymorhpine, near perfect disguise of a scene or minor cosmetic surgery changes permanent, 1 scene or permanent, high. Slaught, +1 dexterity & +10 perception checks but +2 fatigue levels when it wears off, 1 scene, moderate. Spook, reverse mechanics of Null & all casting invokes warp crap, 1 scene, high. Stimm, ignore (but still take I presume) crit damage except for death causing ones & ignore all pain effects, 1 scene then suffer all of the ignored effects, moderate (this is the cyber-yeti bodyguard combat drug).

Well, pleasantly useable drugging. I'm assuming that all the stuff with undefined durations is basically a "one scene" thing. Nothing with extreme addiction though. Could be fun to TWF needler pistols loaded with slaught & detox for fast, fatigue based, take-downs.

Bionics. We're down to the last two pages before I have to think about reworking spells, sword schools, and gun katas. Or turning more of my helper app into web page versions. Or... Too dang much to do.

* Cortex implants, rare, cyber-brain stuff, poor: corpse -> "cyber-zombie" at -1 intelligence and fellowship, normal: just restores normal function to damaged brains, good: +5 to lore checks, best: as god & +1 intelligence.
* Implanted equipment, varies, implant stuff in yourself at +1 wealth rarity.
* Injector rig, uncommon, auto-drugging with personal OR remote controls as a half action, poor: 3 doses of 1 type of drug, normal: 3 doses of any drugs, good: 5 doses of any drugs, best: as good but you can use it as a reaction.
* Machinator array, very rare, implanted exoskeleton, base effect: +1 strength, -1 dexterity, +1 resilience, 3x your mass and no more swimming allowed. Poor: no more running or dodging, good: somewhat concealed and may look like armor, best: completely concealed. You can tell when a player has actually read the books by this showing up in almost any character build that doesn't need max dexterity and can wear concealing clothing.
* Voidskin, rare, built in space suit under your skin, poor: you have 3 rounds of air, normal: one minute of air, good: as normal plus 2 points of armor (no stacking), best: as good but 5 minutes of air and can't be detected without a decent medical scan.
* Mechadendrites, very rare, 5 types, no quality variations, only tech-prests can get them because they have the feat for the anchoring bionic bits and then they can only have a number of them up to their constitution. Ballistic: has a las pistol that can be fired once a round normally or as a reaction. Manipulator: a big claw with +2 strength for purposes of sustained force like griping or pulling, can lock around an anchor point as a free action to tether the tech-priest, can be used as a club with the +2 strength bonus, no fine manipulation. Medicae: +2k0 to medic checks, automatic stop blood loss as a half action, injector can hold one drug dose, small "chain-scalpel" as a 1k1 rending damage damage 0 penetration melee weapon, also adds +2k0 to interrogation checks. Optical: Camera, microscope, telescope, flashlight, all of that also in infrared (negates regular darkness penalties), and a +2k0 all perception checks. Utility: 2m of combi-tool, almost any normal tool you want to attach, and does fine & precision work.

That's it we're done. What next?