| kragshot_prime |
Alright...it's been three years or so, but I'm going to tag in anyway.
First off; the Flying Guillotine is primarily, an assassination weapon of terror. If you look at the original first movie; it is almost never used as a "combat weapon." The Emperor's assassins throw the guillotine at range from cover and kill their targets from stealth. The assassin gets away because of the sudden terror generated within the witnesses by seeing somebody instantly decapitated. Unless there is a trained bodyguard or guardsman in the vicinity of the kill, the assassin will get away in the chaos. And that's assuming that the kill is a public assassination. If the target is secluded, then there will be no witnesses to the kill.
The only two ways that the player characters will ever be exposed to the weapon is if they are either targets or witnesses. A smart assassin will almost never use the flying guillotine as a primary weapon, let alone allow anyone to even know that they possess the accursed thing.
However, if you look at the second movie, "One Armed Boxer vs. The Flying Guillotine (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVXNMkXL4Yo)," then you see it being used similar to a spiked chain or a rope dart because that version of the weapon has blades on the outer rim as well meaning that this particular version can and does do damage even if it does not land on the target's head. The people in the movie end up being slashed with it both at range and in melee.
As for the Mythbusters episode; with all due respect, that should not have even entered into the conversation. The fact that it is part of the Wuxia milieu, already establishes it as an item that could be allowed in a fantasy campaign.
In regards to the mechanics of the weapon and assuming that you are using the rim-bladed, "One Armed Boxer..." version of the weapon; here's what I came up with.
In standard combat, if the attacker makes a simple successful strike, then the target takes damage from the rim blades of the guillotine (fixed damage, no Str bonus dmg). If the attacker's roll exceeds the target's AC by 10+, then the guillotine has successfully landed on the target's head.
The target then has to make a reflex save vs. the attacker's roll in order to remove the basket from his head before the chain is pulled activating the internal blades. If successful, then the target only takes conditional damage from the internal blades (fixed dmg one die type greater than the rim blades, and again no bonus Str dmg) and if a 20 is rolled, then they take no damage whatsoever. If they fail the save...then goodbye head....
However if the guillotine is used from stealth, then this is when the weapon gets real ugly. First off, the attack roll margin for getting the guillotine basket over the target's head is reduced to 5+ rather than 10+. Second, the reflex save is replaced with a Coup de Grace save based on the damage of the internal blades of the guillotine (DC 10+ internal blades damage). In either case; if the attacker gets a confirmed critical hit, then they have successfully decapitated their target.
As for limitations for the weapon; I totally agree with the availability of an "attack of opportunity" against the attacker if the Flying Guillotine is used in standard combat. Second, the use of the weapon in standard combat is a full-round action as all the attacker can do is to aim, throw, and retrieve the weapon within a combat round. Next, the flying guillotine would only be a ranged weapon (unlike the version in "One Armed Boxer...."). Furthermore, it should also be a "fragile" weapon to further discourage it from being used in standard combat (the lightness required to make the guillotine a viable weapon contributes to its fragility). Finally, you can even eliminate the rim blades from the weapon if you feel that they are too much. If the roll is not high enough to land on the target's head, then it just misses and does no damage to the target at all; end of discussion. That should discourage it from being used in standard combat even further.
If you have a character (or NPC) who is an assassin in your campaign, then you (the GM) should do everything to encourage the use of this weapon only from stealth (always) and anonymity (unless you are running an "evil" campaign, of course...then it could be a source of infamy for the character). The very mention of this weapon should scare the feces out of most people (NPC commoners and non-heroic folk) who hear it. And if any of your non-heroic NPCs happens to witness the guillotine being used (i.e. seeing a magistrate or noble being killed by it), then they should react in stark terror as the target's body does the "headless chicken dance."
On a side note; I'm trying to build this damn thing in Hero Lab and having a hell of a time with it...sigh.
Thanks for reading and comments are welcome....