Siege Weapon Rules

[Lannis]

Hello everyone,
The very short of the rationale here is that siege weapons are cool and cinematic, but it's pretty lame for characters to be sniped by a cannon. Considering that near everything classified as a siege weapon is effectively an instant kill if it hits a character, we're introducing some rules and guidelines to gear them towards use against ships and castles instead of individuals.

In General:

• Rolls with siege weapons are generally Mind+Ranged, but a DM can decide otherwise
• The larger a siege weapon gets, the less likely it is for an individual to get hit by it. It's also cooler for characters to be injured by near-misses instead of immediately killed, so this is the expectation
• Most siege weapons take a long time to build, and most aren't readily moved around. The big ones should really only be seen for prolonged sieges/fixed on castles
• Backfire rules for cannons still apply, but will likely be updated to reflect more modern rolling systems

Targeting:

• Scorpions roll Mind+Ranged at one step of disadvantage when targeting another character
• Ballistae roll Mind+Ranged at two steps of disadvantage when targeting another character
• Anything larger (cannons, catapults, trebuchets) can't be used to target specific characters, only structures

Portability:

• Scorpions may be moved around readily, i.e on a cart
• The pieces for a ballista may be moved around, but it should be put together on site. Doing so takes several hours
• Cannons may be moved around, but require both solid roads and several horses per cart to pull one
• Catapults and trebuchets are not portable, and must be constructed where they're to be used. Doing so takes a long while, and is only practical for prolonged sieges