A pressor weapon is any melee weapon which incorporates a pressor onto its striking surface, generating a heavy, gravity-assisted blow. They're far more commonly found in the form of blunt weapons like knuckles or caestus, batons, maces and mauls, but can also be made as bladed weapons. Pressor weapons can be set to activate either on contact, or while a switch or pad on the handle or haft is held down. A contact-triggered pressor weapon will also be activated on a successful parry. Switching between modes requires a Ready manoeuvre. When activated, the emitters produce a gravitic pressor field that pushes anything within a yard or so away with significant force, dealing 2d crushing damage with the double knockback modifier. At TL12^, this increases to 3d crushing damage.
Despite what might feel appropriate, pressor weapons shouldn't produce any recoil when they activate. Pressor beams in general don't, otherwise they wouldn't be very useful! They might kick, jostle or vibrate when the effect is activated, especially if the weapon was embedded in the target, but there's nothing strong enough to be described as recoil.
Parrying with pressor weapons requires an extra bit of discussion. When in contact-trigger mode, the pressor activates when parrying with the striking surface. Whether an individual parry involves the striking surface is up the GM and/or player. When a pressor weapon is activated in a parry, any non-pressor weapon automatically takes 2d crushing damage. In addition, the person wielding the non-pressor weapon must make a Quick Contest of the pressor weapon's ST vs. either their ST, weapon skill, or Retain Weapon technique, whichever is higher. For this purpose, the pressor weapon has ST 37 at TL11^ and ST 55 at TL12^*. If the pressor weapon wins, double the crushing damage you applied as damage and treat this as knockback to the weapon.
Pressor Fist: Sometimes also called a "power fist", this is a two-part assembly with one part fitting over the knuckles and the other over the wrist, connected by two heavy-duty cables. The pressor emitter is on the knuckles while the wrist part contains other circuitry and the power cell. Pressor fists can be built into gloves, or concealed under heavy gloves. Use DX, Brawling, Boxing or Karate to wield. 2B/3 minutes.
Pressor Mace: A heavy-headed mace with a pressor assembly built into the head, powered by a C cell in the handle. Use Axe/Mace to wield. C/15 minutes.
Pressor Maul: The classic pressor weapon – a heavy, two-handed hammer with a pressor emitter built into the striking face. The fact there's only one emitter makes power cells last longer. Use Two-Handed Axe/Mace to wield. C/15 minutes
Pressor Staff: A full-length quarterstaff with a pressor emitter assembly on either end, powered by two C cells in the centre handle. The staff can also be telescopic, reducing in size to a foot-long rod, for an extra $50. Use Two-Handed Sword or Staff to wield. 2C/15 minutes.
| TL | Weapon | Damage | Reach | Parry | Cost | Weight | ST | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
11^
11^ 11^ 11^ |
Pressor Fist
linked Pressor Mace linked Pressor Maul linked Pressor Staff or linked |
thr cr
2d cr dbkb sw+3 cr 2d cr dbkb sw+5 cr 2d cr dbkb sw+2 cr thr+2 cr 2d cr dbkb |
C
– 1 – 1, 2* – 1, 2 1, 2 – |
0
– 0U – 0U – +2 +2 – |
$200
– $300 – $270 – $510 – – |
1.5
– 8 – 13.5 – 10 – – |
–
– 12 – 13‡ – 7† 7† – |
Under the Hood
Pressor weapons are combination gadgets, combining a grav hammer (GURPS Ultra-Tech, p. 84) with a melee weapon. The grav hammer is usually expensive for two-thirds weight (excluding the power cell) and double cost. Pressor weapons need at least one grav hammer per striking surface and one per foot of length. If more than one is being used, only one needs to activate at any given time, so each additional one is 50% cost and weight instead of 80%.
If designing your own pressor weapons, keep in mind that blades, spears, axes, mauls and hammers typically have only one or two striking surfaces, whereas clubs and maces use the entire circumference of the head as a striking surface, needing four or more grav hammers for full coverage. For double-sided weapons, you must add grav hammers to both sides of the weapon, otherwise one edge will lack the pressor effect. The point requires one more, if desired.
If designing weapons for very large creatures, you might want to use the grav ram instead of the hammer. This deals 4d cr dbkb, costs $1000 and weighs 10lbs, including a D cell that weighs 5lbs. Damage increases to 6d at TL12^.
Two worked examples are below. The other weapons were created using the same method.
The pressor maul combines a maul (GURPS Low-Tech, p. 70) with a grav hammer (GURPS Ultra-Tech, p. 84). The grav hammer is expensive for double cost and two-thirds weight, excluding the 0.5lb power cell. The maul is heavier so 80% of the grav hammer's weight is used. The grav hammer is more expensive so 80% of the maul's cost is used. This turned out to be 13.0333...lbs and $264, which were rounded to 13lbs and $270. The ST requirement was recalculated using the new weight but did not change.
The pressor mace combines a mace (GURPS Low-Tech, p. 65) with a grav hammer (GURPS Ultra-Tech, p. 84). This time, four expensive grav hammers are needed for full coverage of the mace's head but since only one of the hammers will activate at once, we can use 50% cost and weight for them. This works out to 2.5lbs, excluding the 0.5lb power cell, and $250. Now the grav hammers are complete, we add this with the mace. This turns out to be 7.5lbs and $300, plus a 0.5lbs power cell. The ST requirement was recalculated using the new weight but did not change.
* – This was calculated by taking the knockback damage a pressor weapon does and treating it as thrusting damage, then looking it up on the Damage Table (GURPS Basic Set, p. 15). This gives the pressor's strike an effective ST of 37 at TL11^ and 55 at TL12^.
I like it!
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine playing golf with these things? :-D