Dead Wood and Dead Wood Weapons

[shadrak]

DEAD TREE

The Dead Trees appear to be old, gnarled, blackened Oak trees. These trees appear to be dead and don’t appear to grow. It is unknown whether this particular species is a mutation of a naturally occurring Oak Tree or if they come from another dimension through the Rifts.
They seem to grow only in a grove in the town of Dead Tree in the Coastal Bend of the Pecos Empire, but there are rumors that arborists have successfully grown them in New England and in Europe.
These trees bloom for just 2-3 days out of the year and for about a week they grow leaves and acorns before dropping their leaves and fruit and appearing to go dormant again.

In truth, the Dead Trees grow through “Psycho-Synthesis”, a process where the tree “osmotically” draws ambient PPE into it to promote its growth.

The leaves of a Dead Tree each contain 1D4 PPE and they retain this PPE for 2D6 days after they have been plucked. If the leaves fall from the tree naturally, the leaf will contain no PPE whatsoever and the leaf will appear to be an ordinary Oak leaf (albeit more gray or black than brown, red, or gold).

The acorns of the Dead Tree taste delicious, but are poisonous. They can be processed into a tea that provides the person who consumes the beverage supernatural abilities, but the side effects are debilitating (sometimes permanently). Consuming the acorn directly can make a human sick and consuming more than three or four can kill.

If a person were to consume a whole Dead Tree acorn, they would find that it would not kill them and they would only be sick for a few days. During this time, they would find their PPE reduces by 6D6. Some mages will take the risky act of swallowing a whole acorn so that they can masquerade as a non-magic user.

Dead Tree reproduction is a complex problem. The acorns will only grow if they are planted with a dead body and they will only “germinate” if they have absorbed 2D6 PPE. That is part of the reason why this species of tree has appeared in such tight groves. New trees have grown from the dead bodies of the poisoned animals that ate the fruit and the fruit has been germinated from the PPE of the animal.

It is not necessary that the dead body provide the PPE to the fruit though. It is enough to “charge” the acorn with PPE and plant it with a dead body. In the town of Dead Tree this is the origin of most of the plants in the grove. The grove is, essentially, a graveyard with the trees as the headstones for generations of inhabitants.

[shadrak]

The wood of the Dead Tree has several unique characteristics when it is partially burned in a funeral pyre (it is not enough to burn the wood in a normal fire, it will simply be consumed). In a funeral pyre, the wood will become a mega-damage structure. Unlike Ironwood, Dead Wood will not hold an edge through the burning process, but Dead Wood can be fashioned into a variety of weapons before it is burned in the pyre including arrows, spears, clubs, and staves.

Dead Wood weapons offer “The Kiss of Death” to all creatures save the Dead, including the Undead. In fact, Dead Wood is especially effective against the undead.

- Dead Wood weapons do normal SDC damage to non-living things, including Skeletons, Robots, and Golems. Dead Wood weapons are MDC structures, though, so firing a Dead Wood arrow from an MDC Bow or using a Dead Wood Club with Supernatural/Robotic Strength might do MD to a non-living structure like body armor.

- To living, mortal creatures, they do SDC equivalent damage to the creature’s HP or MDC.

- To living creatures of magic and supernatural creatures Dead Wood weapons do triple their SDC damage to MDC in addition to any natural vulnerabilities to wood!

-To undead creatures including Vampires, Zombies, Vampire Intelligences, etc. Dead Wood Weapons do 6x their SDC damage to HP, SDC, or MDC as appropriate in addition to any natural vulnerabilities to wood!

When using a Dead Wood weapon, the Wielder’s entire damage bonuses are added to the attack but are not multiplies. For example, if a Juicer (PS 32) hit a Crazy with a Dead Wood Club (1D6), the Juicer would do 1D6 HP damage to the Crazy and 17 SDC damage.

If attacker was a Brodkil with a supernatural PS of 23, he would do 1D6 HP and 2D6 MD to the Crazy and he would do 5D6 MD to a fellow Brodkil (3D6 MD from the club and 2D6 MD from his SN PS).

Standard Dead Wood Weapons:
Club: 1D6
Maul/Heavy Club: 2D4+2
Staff: 2D4
Spear: 2D6
Arrow:
Short Bow: 1D6
Long Bow: 1D10
Heavy Crossbow: 2D6
Nunchaku/Mace and Chain: 1D6+2

Dead Wood weapons can be produced relatively cheaply if someone has access to a Dead Tree and a body for a funeral pyre. Still, most Dead Wood weapons are sold for a fairly high price due to their unique nature and rarity.

[Blue_Lion]

Interesting idea-nice use of a pun.

If does not hold a edge then arrows would be blunt they should do less damage, a blunt arrow is less effective. (a point is an edge so using this for arrows seams a contradiction to not holding an edge.)
Also you should define the term "kiss of death" or say where it is defined in rifts for clarity. As it is you gave it an undefined power that can lead to confusion.

[shadrak]

Interesting idea-nice use of a pun.

If does not hold a edge then arrows would be blunt they should do less damage, a blunt arrow is less effective. (a point is an edge so using this for arrows seams a contradiction to not holding an edge.)
Also you should define the term "kiss of death" or say where it is defined in rifts for clarity. As it is you gave it an undefined power that can lead to confusion.

Broadhead arrows might need an edge...

But a pointy stick does not have an edge ...

Stilettos do not have edges...

Bullets do not have edges...

Most spears do not have edges




The kiss of death is simply the fact that it does damage directly to the hit points...and for undead creatures it does a rather high amount of damage.

[shadrak]

And as far as why they do not have edges, there are two reasons:

Reason 1 - Game mechanics...these weapons don't identically match in damage other weapons in Palladium's compendium of weapons...so this limits the need to define a specific damage for the 10,000 different weapons Palladium has introduced...No need to find the damage for a flamberge or katana.

Reason 2 - These weapons are fire hardened...the wood is SDC going into the flame...MDC when it comes out. You could say that you whittled a sharp edge into a board and somehow it didn't deteriorate in the flame, or you could say you broke out your handy-dandy MDC whetstone and sharpened the hell out of your MDC wooden weapon, but that would be a pain in the butt...

But you could say that...

I don't because, again, it would be a pain in the butt...

You aren't going to pound an edge into a piece of wood and finish it on a grinder.

[Blue_Lion]

Interesting idea-nice use of a pun.

If does not hold a edge then arrows would be blunt they should do less damage, a blunt arrow is less effective. (a point is an edge so using this for arrows seams a contradiction to not holding an edge.)
Also you should define the term "kiss of death" or say where it is defined in rifts for clarity. As it is you gave it an undefined power that can lead to confusion.

Broadhead arrows might need an edge...

But a pointy stick does not have an edge ...

Stilettos do not have edges...

Bullets do not have edges...

Most spears do not have edges




The kiss of death is simply the fact that it does damage directly to the hit points...and for undead creatures it does a rather high amount of damage.

My understanding of the use of edge as it applies to weapons is sharp or side.
So a pointy arrow head is a sharp side of the arrow. If it can not hold an edge it would not hold a sharp point.


Stilleto knifes and spears do have edges. Most spear heads are simular to broad arrow heads.

Most bullets are more blunt then a sharpned stick for pearcing.

[Shark_Force]

actually, using fire to sharpen wooden weapons is exactly what people did for making wood spears and similar other objects.

recent science suggests it is done more to speed up the process of sharpening wood than it is to make a superior weapon (it does make the wood harder, but also more brittle, which is generally not desirable), but it does work.

[shadrak]

Bladed and edged weapons[1] are types of melee weapons used throughout history for combat, hunting and in ceremonies. Bladed weapons include swords, knives and, in more recent times, bayonets. Edged weapons are used to hack and slash but, depending on the weapon, to also thrust and stab. Not all swords, knives and bayonets have blades, but points – intended for thrusting rather than slashing. Other dedicated edged weapons include battleaxes and poleaxes.[2]

Many edged tools, especially agricultural tools such as axes and scythes, have been used as improvised weapons by peasantry, militia, or irregular forces – particularly as an expedient for defence.

Edged weapons and blades are associated with the premodern age but continue to be used in modern armies. Combat knives, machetes and bayonets are used for close combat or stealth operations and are issued as a secondary or sidearm.[3] Modern bayonets are often intended to be used in a dual role as a combat knife.[4] Improvised and dedicated edged weapons were extensively used in trench warfare of the First World War. Entrenching tools and shovels were modified to take an edge and used as weapons.[5][6]

or

Melee weapons can be broadly divided into three categories:

-Pointed weapons, which cover spears, pikes and almost all pole weapons. They typically have a sharp point designed to inflict penetrating trauma, even against heavily armoured opponents, and the length of such weapons gives a range advantage. Certain variants may also hook at enemies to disrupt and disarm them, or pull them from atop horses.
-Edged weapons, which cover swords, axes, fighting knives and daggers. These weapons are designed to cause incisions, dismemberment and exsanguination injuries, and are most effective against minimally armoured opponents. These are used to cut, hack, slash, thrust or stab.
-Trauma weapons [BLUNT WEAPONS in Palladium terminology, which cover clubs, maces, war hammers, staves, and flails. These weapons are designed to cause blunt trauma, even through armour that would protect against penetration by pointed or edged weapons.
Many weapons fit into multiple categories, or fit in between them; many polearms such as halberds, lucerne hammers and guisarmes add edged and blunt methods of attack to a spear base, and various hooked weapons such as billhooks, fauchards, falxes and becs de corbin evade easy classification; while flexible weapons such as whips don't fall into any of these categories.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edged_and_bladed_weapons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melee_weapon

Generally, weapons for cutting and slashing are considered edged weapons. Weapons capable of penetrating but ineffective for slashing/cutting (e.g.: bullets, javelins) are not considered edged weapons.

If you believe that a bullet is an edged weapon then this particular fictional dead wood arrow/spear would be an edged weapon as well

[shadrak]

Some "spears" would be designed to cut...

Most, however, were designed to thrust/penetrate.

A flint arrow might cut, but its primary function was to focus force on a very narrow point in order to penetrate the body...the same is true of bulletpoint arrows...a bodkin point would also be an example of a penetrating arrow...

A 5.56mm NATO round is rather pointy...


The reason for limiting the weapons to non-edge (that is "NON SLASHING/NON CUTTING") weapons is to:
1. Limit the types of weapons that can be created
2. Recognize that this wood is SDC when it is shaped and SDC wooden weapons generally cannot be crafted with a cutting edge that can sustain use.

Also note that the damage is not a direct conversion of SDC to HP damage. This is to account for the fact that these types of weapons are less efficient as weapons...it is the "Kiss of Death" (the fact that they do damage direct to hit points and extra damage to MDC beings) that makes them so effective. Were these regular wooden pointed arrows, they would be 30% less damaging than normal counterparts.

Since it is my creation, I fully authorize you to use it so that these weapons could also include edged weapons.

[Blue_Lion]

Bladed and edged weapons[1] are types of melee weapons used throughout history for combat, hunting and in ceremonies. Bladed weapons include swords, knives and, in more recent times, bayonets. Edged weapons are used to hack and slash but, depending on the weapon, to also thrust and stab. Not all swords, knives and bayonets have blades, but points – intended for thrusting rather than slashing. Other dedicated edged weapons include battleaxes and poleaxes.[2]

Many edged tools, especially agricultural tools such as axes and scythes, have been used as improvised weapons by peasantry, militia, or irregular forces – particularly as an expedient for defence.

Edged weapons and blades are associated with the premodern age but continue to be used in modern armies. Combat knives, machetes and bayonets are used for close combat or stealth operations and are issued as a secondary or sidearm.[3] Modern bayonets are often intended to be used in a dual role as a combat knife.[4] Improvised and dedicated edged weapons were extensively used in trench warfare of the First World War. Entrenching tools and shovels were modified to take an edge and used as weapons.[5][6]

or

Melee weapons can be broadly divided into three categories:

-Pointed weapons, which cover spears, pikes and almost all pole weapons. They typically have a sharp point designed to inflict penetrating trauma, even against heavily armoured opponents, and the length of such weapons gives a range advantage. Certain variants may also hook at enemies to disrupt and disarm them, or pull them from atop horses.
-Edged weapons, which cover swords, axes, fighting knives and daggers. These weapons are designed to cause incisions, dismemberment and exsanguination injuries, and are most effective against minimally armoured opponents. These are used to cut, hack, slash, thrust or stab.
-Trauma weapons [BLUNT WEAPONS in Palladium terminology, which cover clubs, maces, war hammers, staves, and flails. These weapons are designed to cause blunt trauma, even through armour that would protect against penetration by pointed or edged weapons.
Many weapons fit into multiple categories, or fit in between them; many polearms such as halberds, lucerne hammers and guisarmes add edged and blunt methods of attack to a spear base, and various hooked weapons such as billhooks, fauchards, falxes and becs de corbin evade easy classification; while flexible weapons such as whips don't fall into any of these categories.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edged_and_bladed_weapons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melee_weapon

Generally, weapons for cutting and slashing are considered edged weapons. Weapons capable of penetrating but ineffective for slashing/cutting (e.g.: bullets, javelins) are not considered edged weapons.

If you believe that a bullet is an edged weapon then this particular fictional dead wood arrow/spear would be an edged weapon as well

The difference between appoint and edge is the distance the edge runs. If something can not hold a sharp edge it would be unlikely to hold a point either.

The link you gave for edge weapons if you keep reading under refences says-
2 ^ Spear heads, arrow heads and some thrown weapons may have sharpened edges but are not generally considered edged weapons
**So having a edge and being a edge weapon are not the same thing according to your own sources. That means a weapon does not need to be a edge weapon to have edge.


Odd how when i read the full text in countered your claim that arrows are not edge weapons so do not have a edge.

Your word was not that they could not be edge weapons but that they could not hold a edge. The two are not the same. A point is structurally the same as an edge just over a shorter distance, and a point hold sup as well as a edge in wooden weapons. (not very well)

Fire is used to speed up the process of making the point but fire will not leave a sharp point you then have to grind it a bit to get it sharp. Fire typically just does ruff shaping. Fire was used to make a dug out canoe but the fire does not make the canoe on its own it just speeds up the process, but does not do it on its own.

But this is all really off tangent based on a misunderstanding of what you said. I do apologize for hijacking you thread, I did not mean to come off as attacking you.

[shadrak]

Bladed and edged weapons[1] are types of melee weapons used throughout history for combat, hunting and in ceremonies. Bladed weapons include swords, knives and, in more recent times, bayonets. Edged weapons are used to hack and slash but, depending on the weapon, to also thrust and stab. Not all swords, knives and bayonets have blades, but points – intended for thrusting rather than slashing. Other dedicated edged weapons include battleaxes and poleaxes.[2]

Many edged tools, especially agricultural tools such as axes and scythes, have been used as improvised weapons by peasantry, militia, or irregular forces – particularly as an expedient for defence.

Edged weapons and blades are associated with the premodern age but continue to be used in modern armies. Combat knives, machetes and bayonets are used for close combat or stealth operations and are issued as a secondary or sidearm.[3] Modern bayonets are often intended to be used in a dual role as a combat knife.[4] Improvised and dedicated edged weapons were extensively used in trench warfare of the First World War. Entrenching tools and shovels were modified to take an edge and used as weapons.[5][6]

or

Melee weapons can be broadly divided into three categories:

-Pointed weapons, which cover spears, pikes and almost all pole weapons. They typically have a sharp point designed to inflict penetrating trauma, even against heavily armoured opponents, and the length of such weapons gives a range advantage. Certain variants may also hook at enemies to disrupt and disarm them, or pull them from atop horses.
-Edged weapons, which cover swords, axes, fighting knives and daggers. These weapons are designed to cause incisions, dismemberment and exsanguination injuries, and are most effective against minimally armoured opponents. These are used to cut, hack, slash, thrust or stab.
-Trauma weapons [BLUNT WEAPONS in Palladium terminology, which cover clubs, maces, war hammers, staves, and flails. These weapons are designed to cause blunt trauma, even through armour that would protect against penetration by pointed or edged weapons.
Many weapons fit into multiple categories, or fit in between them; many polearms such as halberds, lucerne hammers and guisarmes add edged and blunt methods of attack to a spear base, and various hooked weapons such as billhooks, fauchards, falxes and becs de corbin evade easy classification; while flexible weapons such as whips don't fall into any of these categories.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edged_and_bladed_weapons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melee_weapon

Generally, weapons for cutting and slashing are considered edged weapons. Weapons capable of penetrating but ineffective for slashing/cutting (e.g.: bullets, javelins) are not considered edged weapons.

If you believe that a bullet is an edged weapon then this particular fictional dead wood arrow/spear would be an edged weapon as well

The difference between appoint and edge is the distance the edge runs. If something can not hold a sharp edge it would be unlikely to hold a point either.

The link you gave for edge weapons if you keep reading under refences says-
2 ^ Spear heads, arrow heads and some thrown weapons may have sharpened edges but are not generally considered edged weapons
**So having a edge and being a edge weapon are not the same thing according to your own sources. That means a weapon does not need to be a edge weapon to have edge.


Odd how when i read the full text in countered your claim that arrows are not edge weapons so do not have a edge.

Your word was not that they could not be edge weapons but that they could not hold a edge. The two are not the same. A point is structurally the same as an edge just over a shorter distance, and a point hold sup as well as a edge in wooden weapons. (not very well)

Fire is used to speed up the process of making the point but fire will not leave a sharp point you then have to grind it a bit to get it sharp. Fire typically just does ruff shaping. Fire was used to make a dug out canoe but the fire does not make the canoe on its own it just speeds up the process, but does not do it on its own.

But this is all really off tangent based on a misunderstanding of what you said. I do apologize for hijacking you thread, I did not mean to come off as attacking you.

That is fine...

Again, if you like the idea feel free to modify it.

My thoughts are as follows:

Sharpen a wooden dowel and stab it into a moderately hard object and it might lose its tip, but the force is distributed along the axis of thrust of the stabbing weapon and the "Sharpness" of the point is not as important as the force behind the thrust. Having a tip 1/8th of an inch in diameter might work a little better than a tip 1/4 inch in diameter, but both should penetrate flesh given enough force.

Sharpen the edge of a wooden board and use it against a moderately hard object and you will probably damage the edge of the wooden board...possibly more than you will damage the target. In this case, the force of the blow is distributed across the entire surface of the edge that connects with the target...so the edge must be much sharper. Also, the force of the blow is focused on the edge of the weapon itself and is distributed laterally through the blade as opposed to along the entire axis of thrust.

Can you effectively use a sharpened wooden dowel as a weapon (spear, for example) and can you effectively sharpen a wooden 1x2 into a sword?

Now if you wanted to ADD an edge after the wood had been turned into an MDC weapon, I think you certainly could.

Of course, then you have to figure out what kind of damage you would like it to do, what kind of processes you would require your players to conduct to produce the edged weapon, etc.

Or, like I said, you could just go with allowing players to make wooden swords that do 2D4 and 2D6 SDC damage and turn them into MD weapons.

In any case, I think that Rifts needs more opportunities to introduce weapon systems that advantage players while not allowing damage creep or increasing the munch factor too significantly...

It is sad that after playing a fairly long campaign a player can cut down 100 NPCs in Plastic Man armor armed with NG-L5s because they are wearing TW armor w/Invincible Armor and a TW sword that allows the player to face down a dragon single handedly...

There should be weapons that make the NPCs more formidable while also allowing the player the opportunity to grown in capability without requiring the GM to constantly scale up monsters...

I don't like the feeling of:
Level 1 (early character development) = 30 MDC and 1D6 MD
Level 13 (late character development) = 1000 MDC and 2D6x10 MD

And now I will take the threat off in a tangent:
If you look at K.S. argument for the logic of MDC and how an unarmed man can't go up against a tank, you will see several flaws--

1. Combat damage simulation in Rifts is not logical in the first place...we don't sandblast armor. We defeat armor and kill what is inside. You don't hit a tank 20 times and then it is dead...it is not attrited. You either have the power to overcome the tank with your weapon or you find a weak spot in the armor.
Same is true for body armor. Body armor either does or doesn't stop a round. You don't fire 20 .22 rounds into Level IV body armor and then the Level IV body armor fails. Perhaps you can introduce failure through multiple shots, but it still isn't like a sandblaster...it would be more like reducing the AR level (to use an SDC term) of the armor.

2. Even the most powerful weapon systems can be overcome with low tech solutions. Tanks that hit a large IED will be killed. Vehicles that can't be killed directly can have their crews targeted. SDC fire may not damage the external armor of an MDC vehicle, but what does it do to the temperature in the vehicle? What does it do to the air in the vehicle?
An SDC explosion may not damage the armor of a Big Boss ATV, but can you flip a Big Boss ATV with a large explosion?

This is the reason that I try to inject low tech, low cost, sub-optimal solutions into my campaigns...

The 100 level 3 farmers that have come out to defend their lands from rampaging PCs wear bits of leather armor (MDC 15-20) and carry bows and arrows that contain a tip with the MD acid of a D-Bee bug.

The farmers have ropes of braided MDC leather or plant fibers that they can use to trap the PCs.

The farmers have a Wagon-mounted crossbow (similar to the MD Bow from Spirit West) that they fire SDC Arrows that do MD and are coated in poison or a biological agent.


Dead Wood weapons offer a new opportunity for a low tech, low cost, sub optimal weapon system for use by NPCs...and might be something PCs find beneficial as well.