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[SR5] Shoulder-mounted turret

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ve4grm

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« on: <09-27-13/1932:31> »
So I'm starting up SR5 (first time in Shadowrun), and one of my players is playing a Street Samurai. This player wants to focus on melee for himself, but has asked for a shoulder-mounted turret.

And I have decided to grant that request. Mainly because it sounds awesome.

This is what I have come up with. If anybody has suggestions, feel free to give them. This is my first time designing anything for SR, so let me know if I'm missing something.

He asked for it to operate independent of himself, as an auto-turret. So I'm using the drone rules to build it.

I started with the stats of a basic drone with a single weapon mount, the GM-Nissan Doberman. This will give it its base cost (5000), and its Body, Pilot, and Sensor stats. It loses the movement speed, but gains the advantage of not being its own target in a fight.

He will be able to fit any pistol, SMG, shotgun, or assault rifle onto the turret. Concealability will range from Hard (pistol) to Impossible (assault rifle). It will, however, be removable if he needs to hide it. (The mount will still be implanted, but the gun and the arm holding it can be taken off, making it not-quite-flush with his own skin.)

It will need autosofts to operate, just like a drone. So it needs Clearsight and Targetting. With a Pilot of 3, and thus Device Rating of 3, it can handle those 2 autosofts. It will be commanded (as a drone, issue commands, then let the dog brain work) by virtue of having a direct cybernetic attachment to it. Remote control will be possible using Gunnery + Logic, but only when using an AR overlay through a commlink. This is the Wireless bonus. Manual control is not possible.

Because it is mounted on him, it needs some special rules.
  • It can be targetted by matrix attacks, and bricked. It can be turned against him, like a drone. If it is, it can be shut off as a simple action, but it will never miss on attacks vs him.
  • While not its own target, it will take a certain fraction of the damage the character takes (1/3? 1/2? Not sure on this one). It will need to be repaired occasionally, with the Cybertech skill.
  • Recoil penalties will apply as though he was firing the weapon himself. He will use his Strength as recoil compensation, plus any built into the gun. When recoil accrues, the penalty will affect melee attacks made in the same action phase as well.

I may recommend using a shotgun as the mounted weapon, in SS mode, to avoid any recoil problems.

Thoughts?
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JackVII

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« Reply #1 on: <09-27-13/2000:23> »
Sounds hilarious. Why not just lightly modify the Smart Firing Platform on p. 433?
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TX_DM

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« Reply #2 on: <09-27-13/2034:28> »
I'd say it's not a bad idea if the character never leaves the Barrens. As soon as he goes into a more prosperous area he'd better have a license for it or just remove it.

I wouldn't make it take a percentage of damage that he takes, after all, flesh reacts differently to bullets than steel or plastic even.

As far as making the recoil affect his melee actions, I guess I can see it since you're only using it to offset any perceived imbalances.

The fact is, the recoil wouldn't bother him that much, it's the noise that'd just about make him crap his pants every time it fired (especially if the gun was larger than a 22 caliber). If you've never fired a handgun, go do it right next to your head and see if it's loud or not, then have someone else start firing the gun for you and see if you jump a little and leave that hearing protection off! Which may just be an added element of fun.

ve4grm

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« Reply #3 on: <09-27-13/2149:41> »
Sounds hilarious. Why not just lightly modify the Smart Firing Platform on p. 433?

Primarily because I didn't want it to offer additional recoil compensation (since it's mounted on him) and I wanted it to be more expensive. But I may alter it to be based on that, just with recoil reduction based on his strength.

Actually, that's probably a good idea. It also makes the turret an F availability, as it probably should be.

I'd say it's not a bad idea if the character never leaves the Barrens. As soon as he goes into a more prosperous area he'd better have a license for it or just remove it.

That's the plan.

I wouldn't make it take a percentage of damage that he takes, after all, flesh reacts differently to bullets than steel or plastic even.

Yeah, that's just because I want it to have a chance of being disabled, but not to worry about having two targets joined together. Regardless, the character is a walking tank, so he won't be taking a lot of damage anyways. I may drop this, and make it its own target.

As far as making the recoil affect his melee actions, I guess I can see it since you're only using it to offset any perceived imbalances.

The fact is, the recoil wouldn't bother him that much, it's the noise that'd just about make him crap his pants every time it fired (especially if the gun was larger than a 22 caliber). If you've never fired a handgun, go do it right next to your head and see if it's loud or not, then have someone else start firing the gun for you and see if you jump a little and leave that hearing protection off! Which may just be an added element of fun.

The recoil penalties are for that reason (he's not in control of it) and also because despite not shooting a gun, it will be imparting kickback onto his shoulder as if he was. If he's making a melee attack in the same action phase, this will throw him off somewhat.

Since he's a melee focused Ork, he'll have a solid strength. He should be able to go a good 8 rounds without suffering any penalties if firing in SA mode. I just want him to feel it if he starts into burst fire or full auto.
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Noble Drake

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« Reply #4 on: <09-27-13/2218:50> »
They actually had rules for this sort of thing back in the day... a little SR2 book called Cybertechnology and updated for SR3 in Man & Machine.

Doesn't look like they would be too hard to convert to SR5 mechanics, either, but they are considerably expensive (110,000 nuyen for an articulated mount, for example - 200,000 nuyen if it is able to retract into your body).

They had to be installed into a cyberlimb or cybertorso, and basically worked like firing the gun normally except for a few minor details.

ve4grm

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« Reply #5 on: <09-28-13/1347:05> »
Interesting. I'll need to see if I can find the stats anywhere. Probably not, unfortunately. Thanks, though.
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mrcatman

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« Reply #6 on: <10-10-13/2120:26> »
Didn't the cyberzombie Burnout from the novels have some kind of weapon like this? I sort of remember it being stored in his cybertorso and it would pop out and BAM!

Ryo

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« Reply #7 on: <10-10-13/2223:27> »
4th edition totally had a shoulder mounted weapon mount, too.

Mirikon

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« Reply #8 on: <10-10-13/2309:44> »
Instead of reinventing the wheel, look at Augmentation, page 43. The Articulated Weapon Arm is what you want. Requires a cybertorso before you can even bother with getting it, but it is considered the same as a smart firing platform, and requires both the weapon and user to be smartlinked before it will operate. Has almost a full range of motion (except for dead spots depending on where the gun is placed, can't go shooting yourself afterall). Ready with a Simple Action, and then you can go. However, do note that it is 24F availability, meaning it will be hard to get, and every law enforcement or corpsec who even spots you on camera will be well within their rights to take you into custody immediately, even if you took the weapon off.

A better option might be to get a suit of milspec armor from Arsenal, since there's an upgrade option for having the same articulated weapon arm put on the armor. This will be more expensive, since you have to pay for the armor as well, but you can take it off when you don't want to draw every cop in the sprawl down on you and your team.

But do remind your player that while it might look cool, there are SEVERE ramifications to going down this road, both for himself, and the rest of the party. And I would tell him this, in exquisite detail, in front of the rest of your group. This is the kind of thing that can screw with everyone's characters because of the heat it brings down, so don't allow it unless the whole group understands and signs off on it. This kind of thing has the potential to lead to PvP when players realize everything's going wrong because someone's walking around drawing all the heat in town, and because of it, they're only sent on suicide runs.
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