FASA Games, Inc.

The film (and, I suppose, the book) John Dies at the End opens with a puzzler (you can read it here: ).

Avoiding spoilers, saving typing, and reiterating Wong's query: "Is he right?"

Relevance: Say a Weaponsmith had used Forge Weapon to increase the Damage Step of the above axe ... or any axe, spear, etc., and the owner similarly subsequently breaks or otherwise damages the handle (and/or head) in such a way that it requires (piecemeal) replacement. Does the item continue to benefit from the Forge Weapon? Or is the Pattern (created by Forge Weapon) considered ruined and the weapon's Damage Step reduced to its basic level?

:K

The system for weapon damage is described on p.250 of ED3r. Each time a weapon takes damage, it loses one step of damage. If its Damage Step is reduced to 0 it is considered destroyed. Forged Weapons since they have a higher Damage Step can take more punishment than normal. A destroyed/ruined weapon is no longer considered forged.

Repairing or Creating weapons and armor is governed by the Craft Armor and Craft Weapon skills. Each repair of 1 Damage Step costs 1 Craft Weapon Test and 1 day of time as well as 10% of the cost of the weapon in silver pieces. A weapon like an axe, missing half its pieces (the head or handle) would likely be reduced 50% from Damage Step 7 to Damage Step 3 until repaired (or Damage Step 8/4 for the case of a Forged Axe). Repairing the axe would take 4 days and cost 40% of the axe's worth to repair 4 damage steps (Forged 1 250+35 battle-axe= 285 x.4= 114 silver pieces). IMB, only a trained Weaponsmith could repair it to Damage Step 8 who has knowledge of forging magic, a mundane blacksmith could at best make it Step 7 again, he cannot repair the forged Step. Or you could buy a new axe for 35 silver pieces, then forge it for 5 days to make a Forge 1 battle-axe as a Weaponsmith character. A new battle-axe Forged 1 would cost 285 silver/5 days for a Weaponsmith to create.

As for the situation here, its the call of the Game Master whether a weapon is ruined/destroyed. Ruined/destroyed weapons cannot be repaired. As long as a weapon is at least somewhat intact, magic can do a lot to keep it going in Earthdawn, for example the Elementalist Repair spell. Keep in mind, using a weapon that is just an axe-head or a handle is an improvised weapon (Harried penalty while using), as well as a -1 Initiative and Action Test penalty when using it (for a total of -3 attack/-3 damage, making the former Forged 1 battle-axe something like Str Step +1 effective).

As for JDATE probably one of the more disturbing things I ever read, but an engaging read when it was free online.

The system for weapon damage is described on p.250 of ED3r.

Which I knew existed. Why my brain didn't make the leap from "someone attacking your weapon" to "you invoked the Rule of Ones and damaged your weapon accidentally" I can't say.

"Thanks," he says, feeling stupid.

:K

Followup Query:

Forge Weapon improves the Damage Step of a weapon. Does this increase also mean the weapon can sustain more damage before being ruined, or is ruining based off of its original (unForged) Damage Step?

From my first post "Forged Weapons since they have a higher Damage Step can take more punishment than normal."

Since it increases the Damage Step, the Forge Weapon talent improves a weapon's resistance to being destroyed since ruination is based on reducing this rating to 0 as opposed to another method (such as damage dealt = weapon size =destroyed). This makes most thread weapons even more resilient to damage (since most get forged +size rating as Thread Rank One ability and more damage additions with each thread) on top of their regenerating properties.

Yes to Step 7, again the Warrior does not know forging magic, so he is a little lost on trying to fix that last step unless he also knows Forge Weapon IMB.