| 3 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
My character is wielding a salamander-class flamethrower with a static shock truncheon mounted on a heavy bayonet bracket.
The flamethrower is considered unwieldy, but the truncheon is not. Can I make a full attack with the truncheon while so mounted? Or is it considered part of the flamethrower and thus only able to make one attack each round as well? One of my GMs seems to think it's the latter, but I'm not so sure.
The bayonet bracket description is shockingly uninformative; it doesn't even say you can attack with the attached weapon.
I would say it's the former; you can full attack.
I would go by the wieldiness or unwieldiness of the bayonet weapon. The unwieldy property of ranged weapons doesn't always have anything to do with their bulk, but can also be a function of their firing cycle, which would not have any reason to affect your melee attacks.
It should be all or nothing, definitely. The only way I can see to get to a halfway status on the wieldiness of a bayonet would be by houseruling a requirement to use the shift grip swift action.
I can't help but think of this as a knife with a flamethrower for a handle. That sounds like a unwieldy weapon to me at least.
Some unwieldy guns may be bulky, others aren't. A yellow star plasma rifle isn't bulkier than an aphelion artillery laser, and from the CRB art, would be much easier to handle a bayonet on. But the plasma rifle is unwieldy, because it has a slower firing cycle than the artillery laser.
Using what feels logical to determine whether a bayonet inherits the unwieldy property would have to happen on a case by case basis, and would be extremely subjective, especially for weapons with no art. I do not believe that using one case of the weapon combination sounding unwieldy is a good basis for determining the rules interaction.
I agree with Hammerjack. The only way to be consistent is to have unwieldy weapons be unwieldy, and non-unwieldy weapons not be unwieldy, regardless of how they're used together.
I can't help but think of this as a knife with a flamethrower for a handle. That sounds like a unwieldy weapon to me at least.
A truncheon is a club, not a blade.
To inject a bit of plausibility, bayonets are intended to be used as a spear. Replacing a blade bayonet with a club (truncheon) bayonet sounds like a perfect way to bend/damage the barrel of the weapon. Modern weapons don't fare well when applying lateral force at the end of the barrel* so why should space weapons.
What the OP is suggesting seems alot like using a guitar as a club. Sure, it works, but you might not be able to make music with that guitar when you're done. Likewise, you may not be able to make fire with your flamethrower when you're done.
None of which is stipulated in the rules.
* Modern rifle barrels are often bent by dropping them from a small height, like a tree blind. Slings are never attached to barrels, only to stocks, mainly for the possibility of bending the barrel. Especially if the barrel is hot from firing.
Ironic side note: flamethrower barrels never get hot from being "fired".
That makes sense for a standard truncheon I guess, but a shock truncheon targets EAC and does electricity damage. It likely just needs to touch a person to deliver it's electric jolt. Doesn't necessarily have to be a forceful clubbing.
Starfinder has advanced magic AND technology. They have subsequently conquered the problem of gun barrels bending slightly after being dropped short distances OR used as a delivery system for melee weapons.
Starfinder has advanced magic AND technology. They have subsequently conquered the problem of gun barrels bending slightly after being dropped short distances OR used as a delivery system for melee weapons.
But lost ancient technologies, such as rifle slings and pointy knives.